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Thanks to Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals, Time magazine today cited Malaysia as second example of worst global corruption

Malaysia ended last year with the dishonor of being named by the international website, foreignpolicy.com, as the host country for the world’s third “worst corruption scandals of 2015” because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals.

Although two days after such unprecedented international dishonor, Najib said in his 2016 New Year message that his twin mega scandals had been resolved and are no more issues, the first eleven weeks of 2016 have proved that the Prime Minister could not be more wrong – Najib’s twin mega scandals have not only not been resolved or ceased to be issues, they continue to haunt and hound the Najib premiership and the nation inside and outside the country, almost every other day!

All this despite the rejection of an unprecedented number of oral questions by Members of Parliament on Najib’s twin mega scandals violating the parliamentary standing orders, culminating in the arbitrary and unparliamentary decision by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to refuse to respond to questions about Najib’s twin mega scandals on the spurious excuse that it would be “sub judice” as the Bar Council is seeking a judicial review.

What is very clear is that the Najib government is using all its might and resources to make the twin mega scandals vanish into thin air, and its utter failure to achieve this objective for the twin mega scandals are mushrooming into an ever greater spectre, despite all the best efforts of Najib and his clique of sycophants like Azalina and others.

Today, Najib’s twin mega scandals have given Najib as the sixth Prime Minister and the nation a new peak of international notoriety when international TIME magazine cited Malaysia as second worst example of current global corruption. Continue reading “Thanks to Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals, Time magazine today cited Malaysia as second example of worst global corruption”

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DAP@50 – the struggle continues

by Liew Chin Tong
Malaysiakini
18th March 2016

COMMENT | There was very little prospect of winning elections, not to mention running government, when Chen Man Hin and the first generation leaders formed the DAP, with Lim Kit Siang as the party’s sole full-time staff, on 18th March 1966.

As Lim Kit Siang puts it, the DAP had “no icon, no money (resources) and no gelombang (political waves).” The then closest rival competing for the same opposition space, Gerakan (founded in March 1968), boosted household names like former MCA president Lim Chong Eu, scholars Syed Hussein Alatas and Syed Naguib Alatas, well-known opposition MP Tan Chee Khoon, unionists V David and Yeoh Teck Chye, among its ranks.

Yet, the DAP perseveres, survives and prevails. Today, we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Democratic Action Party. Over those fifty years, there were plenty of memorable moments; probably more difficult moments than the easy ones. Continue reading “DAP@50 – the struggle continues”

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Silencing the media in Malaysia

by Sonia Randhawa
New Mandala
16 MARCH 2016

Malaysia has a long history of cracking down on freedom of expression, writes Sonia Randhawa. But that won’t stop Malaysians from fighting back.

Over the past few weeks, the number of websites blocked in Malaysia has more than doubled, from 149 to 339, leaving the promises made about the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor lying in tatters.

Banned websites include The Malaysian Insider and the blogging platform Medium.com — apparently because of one article published on the 1MDB scandal. It’s akin to blocking YouTube because of one video.

It’s a long way from the attempts to foster a knowledge-based economy and modern state by 2020. If technology was meant to send Malaysians sprinting down the information superhighway, these recent moves represent dangerous obstacles to oncoming traffic. Continue reading “Silencing the media in Malaysia”

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‘Save Malaysia’ campaign to oust Najib brings political foes together

By Melissa Goh
Malaysia Bureau Chief
Channel NewsAsia
16 Mar 2016

Political enemies in Malaysia have banded together in a campaign led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the man who has been leading a year-long campaign to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak, has called for a referendum on Mr Najib’s leadership.

In the campaign, political enemies came together in early March to sign a declaration calling for the removal of Mr Najib, in what they claimed was nothing less than an attempt to save the country from becoming a failed state.

The group included Lim Kit Siang, a former political prisoner from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and civil rights activists who have blamed Dr Mahathir for many of the perceived faults in the nation’s political system. Even Dr Mahathir’s former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, whom he fired and jailed, offered an olive branch from behind bars.

“What Dr Mahathir may be trying to get at in the Citizens’ Declaration and in working with Kit Siang and the DAP and other groups, is to prepare the ground for the next general elections. Mahathir’s support for DAP and the new grouping perhaps could be important in terms of mobilising rural Malay support,” explained Michael Yeoh, executive director of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute. Continue reading “‘Save Malaysia’ campaign to oust Najib brings political foes together”

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Not business as usual in Malaysia

by Bridget Welsh
New Mandala
17 March 2016

Malaysian politics is entering new and rough terrain, writes Bridget Welsh. And the longer Najib stays in power the worse the country will be.

The formation of an alliance of former foes this month marks a turning point in Malaysia’s contemporary political history.

The Citizen’s Declaration opposing premier Najib Tun Razak through peaceful means and calling for political reform was signed by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and leaders of the 1999 reformasi movement who opposed his leadership, other senior leaders in the dominant party UMNO, civil society activists who mobilised the masses to protest the party’s rule, and long-standing traditional political party antagonists.

To get these men and women to sit down together reflected the depth of concern among prominent Malaysians, who opted to put their country’s future before its political past. At issue was not just the scandals plaguing the country, but its declining economic fortunes, exacerbated by declining revenues from oil and gas and poor governance.

In response, the government has intensified a crackdown on international and Malaysia’s media, strengthened the government’s relationship with conservative elements in the Islamist party PAS, and to portrayed the Declaration as a conspiracy to topple the government — measures that have only deepened the ongoing crisis of confidence with Najib Tun Razak.

In contrast to the cool portrayal of ‘business as usual’, Malaysian politics is entering new and rough terrain. The democratic slide will continue, as Najib fights growing opposition to and disappointment in his leadership. Continue reading “Not business as usual in Malaysia”

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Najib’s Jekyll and Hyde playbook at work again – on the day Najib presented the sweet face of reason to Parliament to let it decide on the twin mega scandals, his Ministers were already playing hard ball refusing to respond to questions about the twin mega scandals

It was classic Najib from his Jekyll and Hyde playbook in Parliament yesterday.

On the same day that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presented the sweet face of reason to Parliament saying to let it decide on his twin mega scandals, his Ministers were already playing hard ball refusing to respond to questions about the twin mega scandals.

During question time yesterday morning, Najib said he will let the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) decide on his twin mega scandals – the RM55 billion 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals – but shortly after, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said announced that the Federal Government will not respond to any parliamentary question on the RM2.6 billion deposited in Najib’s personal banking accounts, invoking the sub judice rule on the ground that it was now the subject of a judicial review application by the Malaysian Bar.

In one fell swoop, Azalina had nullified and negatived the assurance Najib had implicitly given to Parliament earlier the same day, that the Prime Minister had nothing whatsoever to hide in the twin mega scandals, that the attacks against him on the twin mega scandals were “orchestrated” and that he would let the PAC and Parliament decide on both issues to uphold the “process of accountability”.

How can PAC and Parliament decide on Najib’s twin mega scandals to uphold the “process of accountability” when he and his Ministers refused from yesterday to respond, whether during Question Time or in the Ministerial winding-up debate next week, to issues raised by MPs on the twin mega scandals? Continue reading “Najib’s Jekyll and Hyde playbook at work again – on the day Najib presented the sweet face of reason to Parliament to let it decide on the twin mega scandals, his Ministers were already playing hard ball refusing to respond to questions about the twin mega scandals”

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Was Azalina acting as the Speaker’s Speaker when she unilaterally and arbitrarily announced that questions on Najib’s RM2.6 billion political donation scandal can no longer be raised in Parliament?

Was the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Azalina Othman Said acting as the Speaker’s Speaker when she unilaterally and arbitrarily announced yesterday that questions on Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion political donation scandal can no longer be raised in Parliament because of sub judice arising from the Bar Council’s suit against the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali?

The Bar is seeking a judicial review of Apandi’s decision to clear Najib of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion donation and the RM42 million SRC International cases.

Azalina quoted Standing Order 23(1) which states that “a question shall not be so drafted as to be likely to prejudice a case under trial, or be asked to any matter which is sub judice”.

Firstly, Azalina has committed a grave contempt of the Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, usurping his powers as Speaker as under the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders only the Speaker can decide if a matter is sub judice, whether under Standing Orders 23(1) or 36(2) with regard to questions or debates, and even then only after the issue has arisen whether in the course of question time or debate.

Azalina should not exceed her bounds as Minister in charge of parliamentary affairs for the government, which does not give her powers to be the Speaker’s Speaker!

Secondly, the Bar’s suit against the Attorney-General on Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation scandal cannot justify a blanket ban on the subject of the RM2.6 billion donation scandal in Parliament, whether during question time or in debates, although nothing would make Najib, Azalina and the Ministers happier than to have a total ban to prohibit raising the RM2.6 billion donation subject in Parliament. Continue reading “Was Azalina acting as the Speaker’s Speaker when she unilaterally and arbitrarily announced that questions on Najib’s RM2.6 billion political donation scandal can no longer be raised in Parliament?”

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Malaysia turns screw on media as politics realign

SIMON ROUGHNEEN
Asia regional correspondent
Nikkei Asian Review
March 16, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR — It was a brief, sudden goodbye. With its website blocked by the government since late February, hard-hitting news service The Malaysian Insider announced on March 14 that it would cease to publish on the same day.

“The Edge Media Group has decided to shut down The Malaysian Insider from midnight today, for commercial reasons,” wrote the editor, Jahabar Sadiq, in a notice posted on the publication’s website, which had been blocked because of its reports on corruption allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said The Malaysian Insider’s reporting broke the law as it amounted to “improper use of network facilities or network service.”

Najib has fended off calls for his resignation over hundreds of millions of dollars credited to his personal bank accounts in 2013, saying the money was donated by the Saudi royal family. He has also brushed off recent allegations that the total sum in his accounts amounted to $1 billion and came from troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, at which Najib is the chair of the advisory board. Continue reading “Malaysia turns screw on media as politics realign”

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Mahathir no solution for Malaysia’s mess

— Manjit Bhatia
Malay Mail Online
March 15, 2016

MARCH 15 — In hounding Malaysia’s scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak from office, the autocratic Dr Mahathir, his old foes and others have moulded a union — of sorts. Hailed a “realignment” of Malaysia’s politics, some analysts immediately claimed Najib and his clique can’t ignore its peerless example. But is this unholy alliance all that it’s cracked up to be?

Awfully doubtful. Cracks surfaced even before this “political force” is properly forged. A little over a week later and its legs are buckling already.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat wants Anwar Ibrahim, its jailed founder, symbolic head and one-time Mahathir protégé, unconditionally released from prison, to which Mahathir must agree as part of the overall agenda. And elections reformist group Bersih wants Mahathir to admit and apologise for his past sins.

Mahathir has sneered at these tangents. No doubt the alliance’s champions will paper over the cracks. Time will prove that utility. But time is shorter than 90-year-old Mahathir thinks. Continue reading “Mahathir no solution for Malaysia’s mess”

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How Malaysia’s push to stifle scandal questions backfired as journalists deported

By Philip Sherwell
Asia Editor
Telegraph
16 Mar 2016

Malaysia’s embattled prime minister Najib Razak is cracking down on critics as international probes into funding scandal intensify

The Malaysian administration has waged an increasingly heavy-handed campaign to muzzle dissent and divert attention as a funding scandal and corruption allegations shake his administration.

Earlier this week, Malaysia deported two Australian journalists who attempted to question the embattled prime minister Najib Razak about a $680 million payment into his bank account.

The reporter and cameraman from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation were detained and threatened with charges after they approached the Malaysian leader at a public event to which media were invited.

And Malaysian Insider, an outspoken news website critical of the prime minister, closed this week a few days after the government suspended its operations. Continue reading “How Malaysia’s push to stifle scandal questions backfired as journalists deported”

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The press has become too free for the government of Malaysia

Jahabar Sadiq
editor, the Malaysian Insider
Guardian
Wednesday 16 March 2016

The threat of being accused of sedition and possible jail time has succeeded: people are shutting up and our independent news site has shut down

The news portal The Malaysian Insider went offline on the first minute of 15 March 2016 – the Ides of March. With that, 59 staffers, including me, lost our jobs. And Malaysia lost another source of independent news.

The closure was ostensibly due to an inability to secure a deal with potential suitors and to stem losses that rose to RM10m (US$2.4m) in the 20 months it was held by the Edge Media Group

But it came nearly three weeks after the internet regulator – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) – issued a block order against us over a report that claimed the local anti-graft agency had sufficient evidence of a criminal charge against the prime minister Najib Razak, although the country’s attorney-general had cleared him of wrongdoing. Continue reading “The press has become too free for the government of Malaysia”

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Sasterawan Negara sifatkan BN yang tidak peduli undang-undang sebagai kerajaan “haram”

oleh Fatih Hassan Nordin & Hafiz Zainuddin
Roketkini
16 Mac 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 MAC: Sasterawan Negara, A. Samad Said, menyifatkan usaha gabunganraya Selamatkan Malaysia untuk menumbangkan Datuk Seri Najib Razak daripada tampuk kuasa negara adalah wajar ekoran daripada penglibatan Perdana Menteri dalam pelbagai skandal mega.

Beliau yang mesra dengan panggilan Pak Samad berkata, Najib bukan sahaja menyebabkan dunia mengenali Malaysia melalui imej buruk, malah imej dalam negara juga sudah kotor, termasuk perbuatan melanggar undang-undang dengan berbelanja berbilion ringgit dalam pilihanraya umum yang lalu.

Justeru, beliau menganggap kerajaan yang ditubuhkan oleh Barisan Nasional selepas PRU13 adalah tidak mengikut laras undang-undang, dan menyifatkan kerajaan kini sebagai sebuah “kerajaan haram”. Continue reading “Sasterawan Negara sifatkan BN yang tidak peduli undang-undang sebagai kerajaan “haram””

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Aktivis seni budaya sokong Deklarasi Rakyat

oleh Fatih Hassan Nordin & Hafiz Zainuddin
Rocketkini
16 Mac 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 MAC: Usaha menyelamatkan Malaysia daripada menjadi sebuah negara gagal bukan sahaja tugas ahli politik dan aktivis, ia juga melibatkan golongan budayawan dan aktivis seni.

Budayawan, Che Samsudin Othman yang juga lebih mesra dipanggil Dinsman, berkata penglibatan golongan seni dan budaya itu dalam gerakan politik di negara ini semakin mengecil sejak era 1990-an.

Sehubungan itu, beliau menyeru supaya budayawan dan aktivis seni menyatakan sokongan terhadap gerakan rakyat dengan menandatangani Deklarasi Rakyat, yang antaranya menuntut pengunduran Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dari tampuk pemerintahan.

“Saya tidak aktif dalam mana-mana parti politik, tetapi saya aktif dalam seni budaya. Apabila saudara Lim Kit Siang meminta supaya saya ikut serta (tandatangan Deklarasi Rakyat), saya bersetuju,” katanya dalam satu majlis tandatangan Deklarasi Rakyat di Ibu Pejabat DAP di sini, hari ini. Continue reading “Aktivis seni budaya sokong Deklarasi Rakyat”

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Development of a common core agenda to Save Malaysia to check the rot in the country and create a clean, democratic, incorruptible, inclusive government of excellence which upholds constitutionalism, rule of law and human rights

Whether March 4, 2016 goes down in Malaysian history as a historic watershed in the politics and nation-building in Malaysia will depend on whether the Citizens’ Declaration signed by 45 political and civil society leaders, including former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Cabinet Ministers, as well as Opposition and civil society leaders bridging the political divide calling for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s removal as Prime Minister of Malaysia as well as for democratic and institutional reforms gets the support of the majority of Malaysians.

Today’s gathering of distinguished personalities endorsing the Save Malaysia Citizens’ Declaration is a further step in developing a momentum to create national awareness of the urgent and imperative need for Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, politics, to stand as one Malaysian people to cure the country of the great sickness which has caused the nation to fail in achieving the great promises we aspired when the nation attained Merdeka 59 years ago with our rich human talents and natural resources.

Because of my six-month suspension from Parliament, I had the opportunity of visiting so far 92 parliamentary constituencies to take the pulse of the people on Najib’s twin mega scandals, and in the past two weeks, public reaction to the Save Malaysia Citizens’ Declaration.

Last week, I visited 12 parliamentary constituencies in Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis i.e. Ketereh, Machang, Tanah Merah, Tumpat and Kota Bahru in Kelantan; Sungai Patani, Merbok, Kuala Kedah, Alor Setar in Kedah and Padang Besar, Arau and Kangar in Perlis and I find that by and large, the Citizens’ Declaration resonates with the people’s deepest aspirations because all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics love this country and want to be able to be proud of Malaysia to secure world recognition and appreciation of our achievements.

We do not want to become one of the world’s most corrupt countries with our football ranking as No. 171 in the world, when in the early decades of the nation, we are one of the great football nations in Asia. Continue reading “Development of a common core agenda to Save Malaysia to check the rot in the country and create a clean, democratic, incorruptible, inclusive government of excellence which upholds constitutionalism, rule of law and human rights”

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Najib’s latest “achievements” – two self-inflicted “black eyes” on Ides of March

The sixth premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak has achieved another “first” – two self-inflicted “black eyes” on the Ides of March, 15th March 2016.

On this Ides of March, Malaysia became international news for a double event – the arrest and deportation of two Australian journalists from ABC “Four Corners” and the closure of the Internet news portal, The Malaysian Insider, as a result of government harassment against independent journalism and violation of the 20-year Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Bill of Guarantees of “No Internet Censorship”.

Malaysia was the subject of international news for these two events – not to Malaysia’s credit, but only to the national detriment in further undermining a plunging international reputation and image.

A sample of the adverse international reporting of the Malaysia’s first self-inflicted “black eye” on the arrest and deportation of the two ABC Australian journalists is as follows: Continue reading “Najib’s latest “achievements” – two self-inflicted “black eyes” on Ides of March”

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Four Corners reporter Linton Besser describes frightening detention in Malaysia

ABC reporter Linton Besser has revealed the frightening, frustrating, and at times “comical”, details of how he and cameraman Louie Eroglu came to be arrested, detained and threatened with charges while working on a Four Corners investigation in Malaysia.

Besser and Eroglu were arrested on Saturday after trying to question Prime Minister Najib Razak about a corruption scandal.

Yesterday they were threatened with charges, but the charges were abruptly dropped and the pair were escorted out of the country.

Now in Singapore, Besser shared his experience with PM’s Mark Colvin:

Colvin: Now you’ve been accused of crossing some lines (at the PM’s press conference) or breaking some rules. Were you aware of crossing any lines, any cordons, were there any rules that had been outlined to you that you broke?

Besser: Absolutely none, and that is why initially it was so disturbing when we were told we were going to be charged with a criminal offence, because as you’d expect, we have vision of this incident and it’s incontrovertible and there is absolutely no police cordon.

We have audio. There are no instructions given.

What did you ask him?

I asked him how he could explain or whether he could explain the hundreds of millions of dollars that have flowed into his personal bank accounts in recent years. Continue reading “Four Corners reporter Linton Besser describes frightening detention in Malaysia”

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Malaysia must arrest its decline

The Australian
March 15, 2016

Julie Bishop has good reason to express Australia’s “deep concern” over the arrest of an ABC Four Corners team in Malaysia. Detaining journalists is not the answer in the deepening political crisis the country faces over allegations about the personal probity and conduct of Prime Minister Najib Razak. It is imperative authorities in Kuala Lumpur are left in no doubt about the serious view taken of their actions.

Central to the crisis, as The Australian’s reporting has pointed out, is the stability of one of the most strategically important countries in our region — one that is a close partner of Australia, the US and other Western interests and has long been admired as a successful, free-market democracy that manages to navigate a path of moderate Sunni Islam while maintaining a highly regarded, British-based legal system.

That stability is being put at risk by Mr Najib’s failure, in the words of opposition Democratic Action Party leader Lim Kit Siang, to “come clean and fully answer the multiplying questions” about the scandals surrounding him. Last July our sister paper The Wall Street Journal first disclosed the payment to the Malaysian leader of almost a billion dollars as an unexplained “personal donation”. Continue reading “Malaysia must arrest its decline”

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Najib Razak: Malaysian PM has diminishing room to manoeuvre

Greg Lopez
The Interpreter
14 March 2016

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s scandal-linked tenure has continued unabated but now his foes from various sides of the political divide have coalesced to pressure him to resign. This latest unified effort to unseat him could push him over the edge.

International media last year pronounced Najib ‘a dead man walking’ after he admitted to an allegation — of having more than $700 million in his private account — made by the Wall Street Journal. Yet he has remained in power, due largely to the sheer coercive powers and vast resources of the Malaysian institutions that he controls as both prime minister of Malaysia, and president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

Najib was never the most popular within the party. He rose to the top of the UMNO over many colleagues by patiently waiting, and betting on the right horses at the right time. He made more than a few enemies along the way. As soon as he was named deputy prime minister in 2004, his opponents sought to bring him down. That he lasted as deputy (2004-2009), and now as prime minister (April 2009 – present), under the most trying circumstances reflects a determination and instinct his rivals did not anticipate. Continue reading “Najib Razak: Malaysian PM has diminishing room to manoeuvre”

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“Mo zhe shi tou gua he” is one approach of the Save Malaysia campaign launched by Citizens’ Declaration of March 4, 2016

Many questions have been asked following the 304 Citizens’ Declaration (March 4) signed and proclaimed by 45 political and civil society leaders, including the country’s longest-serving former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Cabinet Ministers and former UMNO stalwarts crossing the political divide in bringing together DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara leaders in their personal capacities.

Some of these questions include:

• Who will be the Prime Minister after Najib?

• Is Mahathir the puppet of Lim Kit Siang or Lim Kit Siang the puppet of Mahathir?

• Will Mahathir or Kit Siang benefit most from the Citizens’ Declaration?

• Will the Citizens’ Declaration be UMNO’s salvation?

• Is there a guarantee of success in the Citizens’ Declaration and Save Malaysia campaign?

There are no sure and clear answers to the teeming questions thrown up by the unprecedented and historic Citizens’ Declaration, but there are certain facts that should be put straight. Continue reading ““Mo zhe shi tou gua he” is one approach of the Save Malaysia campaign launched by Citizens’ Declaration of March 4, 2016″