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Najib’s countdown – shows again his “iron fist”

“Harakah, Suara Keadilan banned 3 months” – latest news from Malaysiakini, viz:

“The Home Ministry has suspended the organs of two opposition parties – PAS’ Harakah and PKR’s Suara Keadilan – for three months, effective immediately.

“With the suspension, both newspapers will not be able to publish until the end of June, missing out on a number of crucial political events including the three by-elections on April 7.”

Another example of Najib Razak showing his “iron fist” – with the countdown to his anointment as UMNO President reduced to less than two days and ever closer to his political prize as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

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Hobson’s Choice And Scraping The Barrel

by Tunku Abdul Aziz
MySinChew
20.3.09

Najib Abdul Razak will be remembered as the most controversial prime ministerial aspirant this nation has ever known. The deadweight political baggage he is lugging around, as he sets his course on what he fervently hopes will be the last lap to the best address in the country, is enough to make a grown man cry, but not Najib, the single minded man of destiny according to his wife, Rosmah.

He seems to take his travails in his stride. Is he not, again, according to Rosmah, predestined to occupy the highest political office in the land? I am inclined to think that there may be some truth in what Rosmah has been saying about his destiny because she has already begun, to preen herself, so the gossip goes, to play the part of Malaysia’s First Lady.

Unfortunately for her, and others who might harbour a similar ambition in the deep recesses of their fantasy, our country is a monarchy, albeit a constitutional one (may it always remain that way) and as such, the First Lady is our queen, not the wife of the prime minister. Her confident prediction of Najib’s political ascendancy and immortality could, in the event, prove to be just a little premature given the murky political waters he is wading through. Continue reading “Hobson’s Choice And Scraping The Barrel”

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First Things First With Najib Razak

by M. Bakri Musa

Barring divine intervention, or an incredibly stupid move on his part, Najib Razak is set to be Malaysia’s next Prime Minister come this April. He will assume office with an approval rating even lower than that of the man he will be replacing. He also has a dark cloud hovering over him that simply refuses to fade away.

Despite that, Najib could still lead Malaysia out of its current doldrums and on to greater heights. To achieve that, he must address two critical issues, one relating to his personal integrity and the other, his leadership. For the first, he must answer the many sordid allegations swirling around him, specifically with regard to the brutal murder of the pregnant Mongolian model Altantuya. With the second, he must select a cabinet and leadership team that would “wow” the nation.

One thing is certain. This is not the time for Malaysians to resort to extra constitutional means or set dangerous precedents that could later haunt us just to deny Najib his due. Asking the King to intervene is one such dangerous precedent. Allah aside, only Parliament or UMNO Supreme Council could legitimately remove Najib. As both moves are unlikely, we might just as well focus on the potentially more productive pursuit of at least trying to ensure that his tenure will be successful. We owe that to our children. Love for country should transcend obsession with politics.

This is also not the time to demonstrate on the streets just to express our loathing for the man. That would only hasten Malaysia’s degeneration towards another Pakistan. During these perilous economic times, Malaysians would not forgive their politicians should they indulge their followers in such theatrics.

Every new leader deserves the courtesy of a grace period. There will be time enough in the next election for us to express our judgment on Najib. Meanwhile be thankful that the incompetent and neglectful leadership of Abdullah is finally coming to an end. Continue reading “First Things First With Najib Razak”

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Malaysians Say Corruption is UMNO’s Worst Flaw

Angus Reid Global Monitor | March 21, 2009

Many people in Malaysia say the governing party’s main problem lies in corrupt practices, according to a poll by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. 35 per cent of respondents cite corruption as the most serious flaw of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

Being out of touch is second with 15 per cent, followed by having weak leaders with 12 per cent, having weak economic managers with 11 per cent, being arrogant also with 11 per cent, and being racist with 10 per cent.

UMNO—the biggest party in a coalition of 12 political factions known as the National Front (BN)—has formed the government after every election since the Asian country attained its independence from Britain in 1957.
Continue reading “Malaysians Say Corruption is UMNO’s Worst Flaw”

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Parliament should be extended for another week/a special sitting in April to debate confidence motion on new PM

The countdown has been reduced to four days for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be anointed as UMNO President in the UMNO General Assembly, as he has been nominated uncontested for the top Umno post.

The countdown for his ascension as the sixth Prime Minister will be slightly longer as guestimates are that the Prime Ministerial hand-over will take place either on April 2 or 3.

Except that there is growing and unprecedented nation-wide disquiet and even dismay that Najib would become the next Prime Minister despite the many unresolved allegations hounding and haunting him raising serious questions about his fitness, integrity and legitimacy to occupy the highest political office of the land, to the extent that it had found expression in the public domain by concerned and patriotic Malaysians – a completely new political phenomenon in the nation’s 52-year history as this had never happened before during the tenure of the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia about their ordained successors.

The latest voice to join the increasing chorus of doubters, sceptics and cynics about the propriety, suitability and legitimacy for Najib to become the next Prime Minister is none other than Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who, when asked in a Malaysiakini interview about the recent call by the former Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, that the Yang di Pertuan Agong should reject Najib if Umno puts him forward as Prime Minister to replace Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said “it is possible for the Yang di Pertuan Agong may not appoint Najib as Prime Minister despite being Umno president”. Continue reading “Parliament should be extended for another week/a special sitting in April to debate confidence motion on new PM”

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Who will investigate MACC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Said for abuse of powers and charge him for “corruption”?

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan is not shy in being seen as UMNO catspaw, not to fight corruption, but to further Umno’s ulterior motive and political agenda in its undemocratic, unethical, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak.

For the second time since his appointment as MACC Chief Commissioner this year, Ahmad Said has shown his open bias against Pakatan Rakyat when he said in Kuantan yesterday that there were “elements of misuse of power” in the suspension of the usurper Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir and his six illegitimate executive councilors by the Perak State Assembly Committee of Privileges, headed by the Speaker V. Sivakumar.

The first time was last month when Ahmad Said turned the MACC into a national joke, becoming known as “Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows”, when he publicly declared that the agency had “good and strong evidence” of corruption against the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid over the car and cows controversy, destroying whatever credibility the MACC might have among Malaysians that it would be independent, professional and uninfluenced by the dictates of its political masters.

After the nation-wide outrage and furore over Ahmad Said’s statement reducing the agency into a “Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows”, a statement was issued early this month after a meeting of the MACC Advisory Board chaired by the former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamed that the top MACC officials will not comment on ongoing cases before the investigation papers on the cases are completed or a decision is made by the deputy public prosecutor. Continue reading “Who will investigate MACC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Said for abuse of powers and charge him for “corruption”?”

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Ali Rustam just don’t get it – he should seek enlightenment from Mahathir

Disqualified UMNO Deputy President candidate, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam just don’t get it when he declared there was no reason for him to step down as Malacca Chief Minister after be was barred from contesting in Umno party elections for money politics.

He even came up with the riposte that “If that is the case, then they should also ask Lim Guan Eng and Anwar Ibrahim to step down as they had been convicted and imprisoned before”.

Ali has made himself into a laughing stock by exhibiting his shocking ignorance of the law, ethics, politics and the great difference between him and the cases of Guan Eng and Anwar.

Both Guan Eng and Anwar were victims of an oppressive and vindictive political apparatus which used the system of justice to do its dirty work through malicious and selective prosecution, jailing and disenfranchising them from elective office for five years.

Is Ali seriously suggesting that he is in the same shoes as Guan Eng and Anwar – a victim of a pernicious and vindictive political system as represented by Umno? Continue reading “Ali Rustam just don’t get it – he should seek enlightenment from Mahathir”

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In His Majesty we trust

by Tunku Aziz
The Malaysian Insider – Opinion | 20 March 2009

Zaid Ibrahim is one person I greatly admire because he, no matter what the subject is under discussion, is ready to take it on with courage and candour.

Zaid is his own man, beholden to no one as far as I know, and is not out there in the public domain to please his political masters because clearly he has none.

In my conversations with him over the last few months on a range of political issues, I have noticed, much to my surprise and delight, that he is apparently incapable of harbouring any malice, not even towards people who have acted malevolently against him.
Continue reading “In His Majesty we trust”

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Excitement over Gobind, Karpal and Ali

by Zainon Ahmad

GOBIND Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) was suspended on Monday by the Dewan Rakyat for a year for calling Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak a murderer but reference to the decision punctuated much of the debates throughout the week.

Discussion on that and on two events outside the House – the sedition charges brought against his father, Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), and the travails of Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ali Rustam – raised the temperature of the House as members abused their counterparts across the floor.

They generated a lot of excitement and this caused the Dewan Rakyat, its lobby and Members Lounge included, to become such a happening place that it attracted more visitors to the national legislature than previously. Finding a parking spot in the morning was like winning a lottery.

Sitting in the public gallery, the visitors would not take long to notice that there are more shouters than debaters. Of course there are those like Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit (BN-Mambong) and Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) who come prepared with notes like veteran Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who is never without his notes, newspaper cuttings and even reference books whenever it is his turn to speak. Continue reading “Excitement over Gobind, Karpal and Ali”

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Najib Countdown – double meaning for “N” in the RAHMAN prophecy

This is countdown time for Datuk Seri Najib Razak – with a week to go to his anointment as UMNO President next Thursday to be followed by his ascension as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia in the first few days of April.

What is clear is that Najib’s takeover as Prime Minister of Malaysia will not be on April 1 so that it would not go down in history as “April Fool’s Joke”!

As it is, Najib’s impending takeover as the sixth Prime Minister is sufficiently dogged, hounded and haunted by grave doubts and allegations about his integrity and legitimacy, to the extent that for the first time in the 52-year history of Malaysia, strong objections are being raised publicly about the suitability of the Prime Minister-in-waiting, hardly a fortnight to his ascension to the highest political office in the land – and which is growing stronger by the day.

There are so many so skeptical and cynical about Najib’s suitability, integrity and legitimacy to become the next Prime Minister that they have spawned an increasing chorus of calls to stop Najib from becoming the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The latest to join this chorus is the former Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who called on the Yang di Pertuan Agong to reject Najib if UMNO puts him forward as Prime Minister to replace Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and to appoint someone who would “bring us back from the brink”.

There are online campaigns to get Abdullah to remain as Prime Minister even after the UMNO General Assembly next week, not because Abdullah is an effective and successful Prime Minister but because his replacement, Najib, is “evil”. Continue reading “Najib Countdown – double meaning for “N” in the RAHMAN prophecy”

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Sad, sad, sad…

Former MCA President and MP for Kulai Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting made one of his rare appearances in Parliament today.

For what?

Not to speak on anyone of the many great issues currently disturbing thinking Malaysians.

But to complain at the 2008 Supplementary Estimates Committee stage debate on the Education Ministry at the breach of the promise made by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein when he was MCA President that the new SJKC(2) Kulai in his parliamentary constituency would be built with 30 classrooms.

He said that months have passed since his intervention, but the issue of the new SJKC(2) Kulai being built with only 24 classrooms instead of 30 classrooms as originally promised remains unresolved.

How the mighty had fallen when the former MCA President has to come to Parliament to complain about the disappearance of six classrooms despite the public pledge jointly made by him as MCA President and Hishammuddin as Education Minister only last year! Continue reading “Sad, sad, sad…”

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Damned, damned, damned…

“Damned if we do and damned if we don’t…”

This is the lament of Tengku Tan Sri Ahmad Rithaudeen, chairman of the Umno disciplinary board, for disciplinary action meted out to Umno members.

But shouldn’t the Umno board also be damned for being able to take action only against 15 Umno members, when the number should be in hundreds as UMNO is “awash” with money politics and corruption in the Umno party elections, running into hundreds of millions of ringgit.

This is the question I posed in Parliament this morning during the 2008 Supplementary estimates committee stage debate on the Education Ministry. Continue reading “Damned, damned, damned…”

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Sedition charge against Karpal

(The following is the charge preferred against DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh under Sedition Act 1948 at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Tuesday 17 March 2009)

DALAM MAKAMAH SESYEN DI KUALA LUMPUR
KES TANGKAP NO:
PENDAKWA RAYA
LAWAN
KARPAL SINGH A/L RAM SINGH

Pertuduhan

Kamu didakwa atas kehendak Pendakwa Raya dan pertuduhan terhadap kamu ialah:

“Bahawa kamu pada 6 Februari 2009 jam antara 12.00 tengahari dan 12.30 petang di Tetuan Karpal Singh & Co yang beralamat No. 67, Jalan Pudu Lama, dalam Daerah Dang Wangi, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur dalam satu sidang akhbar telah menyebut kata-kata menghasut (transkrip ucapan dilampirkan sebagai LAMPIRAN ‘A’ kepada pertuduhan ini dan kata-kata menghasut digariskan); dan oleh yang demikian, kamu telah melakukan satu kesalahan di bawah seksyen 4(1)(b) Akta Hasutan 1948 (Akta 15) dan boleh dihukum di bawah seksyen 4(1) Akta yang sama.”

Hukuman

Kamu boleh, bagi kesalahan kali pertama, didenda tidak melebihi lima ribu ringgit atau dipenjara selama tempoh tidak melebihi tiga tahun atau kedua-duanya, dan bagi kesalahan yang kemudian boleh dipenjara selama tempoh tidak melebihi lima tahun.

Bertarikh pada 16 Mac 2009
PENDAKWA RAYA
[signature]
(TAN SRI ABDUL GANI PATAIL)
PENDAKWA RAYA
Continue reading “Sedition charge against Karpal”

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If truth be told, Najib can’t be PM

Zaid Ibrahim
Mar 18, 09

(Speech by former law minister Zaid Ibrahim at the Royal Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur)

This is the second time I have been invited to address a Rotary Club. Thank you for the honour. Given the times we live in, perhaps it might be appropriate for me to speak about the leadership transition that has been foisted upon us Malaysians.

I say ‘foisted’ because neither me nor anyone in this room had any role or say in the choice of the person who will lead Malaysia next. We were mere bystanders in a political chess game. And yet the transition is a subject of great consequence to the nation, one I would say is of great national interest.

Leadership is definitive; the individual who assumes the mantle of leadership of this nation, whomever that may be, is one who for better or worse will leave his mark on us. His will be the hand who guides us to greater success, or possibly gut-wrenching disaster.

Save for the dawn of Merdeka, never in the history of this country has the choice of prime minister been so crucial: Malaysia is in crisis. We are facing tremendous economic challenges with unavoidably harsh socio-political consequences. Our much undermined democracy is once again being assailed by those who would prefer a more autocratic form of governance.

Our public institutions are hollowed out caricatures, unable to distinguish vested party interests from national ones, unable to offer the man in the street refuge from the powerful and connected.

Our social fabric that took us from colony to an independent nation and on through the obstacles of nation building has reached a point where it sometimes feel like we are hanging on by a thread. This is the Malaysia we live in. Continue reading “If truth be told, Najib can’t be PM”

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Najib heralds the coming of a New Dark Age

Parliament has just passed the RM60 billion Second Economic Stimulus Package in the form of a mini-budget, but there has been nothing “stimulating” on the economy.

Instead, the effect had been the opposite as illustrated by the unchecked fall in the Kuala Lumpur stockmarket index in the past six days since the announcement of the RM60 billion package, with the KLSE registering a fall from 858.22 points on March 10 to 841 points at the close of the market today.

Far from being able to stimulate the economy, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the main cause for the crisis of confidence gripping the country, even undermining the RM60 billion second economic stimulus package announced by him last week. Continue reading “Najib heralds the coming of a New Dark Age”

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BTN communal poison again

Yesterday, I received an indignant email from a recent participant in the course of the Biro Tata Negara (BTN), funded by taxpayers but acting as the propaganda arm of UMNO, pumping communal poison instead of spreading the message of national unity.

Despite criticisms against the BTN both in and out of Parliament, invariably followed by denials by the Minister or Deputy Minister concerned, it is clear from this email that BTN had not changed one whit its irresponsible ways.

I read out the complaints in the email in Parliament yesterday during the debate on the 2008 Supplementary Estimates, viz: Continue reading “BTN communal poison again”

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Not fit to contest as UMNO Deputy President but fit to continue as Malacca CM?

How can Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam be barred from contesting to be the Umno Deputy President for involvement in money politics (euphemism for corruption) but yet be fit to continue as the Malacca Chief Minister?

The same question applies to Khairy Jamaluddin, who was given a warning for being involved in money politics – as to how he could continue even as MP for Rembau.

I posed these questions in Parliament during the 2008 Supplementary Estimates after the announcement by the Umno Disciplinary Board this evening.

In my speech, I quoted the interview by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in Sunday Star (8.3.09) on money politics in the Umno elections, where he admitted:

“It’s still quite rampant except that it has gone underground.”

Continue reading “Not fit to contest as UMNO Deputy President but fit to continue as Malacca CM?”

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Karpal charged with sedition for saying Sultan can be sued

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
17.3.09

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 – DAP chairman Karpal Singh was charged this morning with sedition for saying Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin’s removal as Perak menteri besar by Sultan Azlan Shah could be questioned in a court of law.

The veteran lawyer-politician was charged at the Sessions Court here before Judge Mohamad Sekeri Mamat under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1946.

Karpal is further accused of several other seditious statements related to the entire Perak constitutional crisis which began a month ago.

He is accused of committing the crime during a press conference at his law firm here on February 6.

A partial transcript of the press conference, which formed the basis for the charge, was read out in open court.

Among the underlined statements, which are allegedly seditious are:
“With that ruling of the federal court which has stood the test of time for 32 years beyond a pale of a doubt, the Sultan of Perak has contravened Article 16(6) of the Constitutions of the State of Perak,” referring to a 1977 Federal Court decision that the King had acted beyond his authority in confirming three detention orders under the Emergency Ordinance.

“Clearly the Sultan of Perak cannot invoke his powers under Article 16(1) which states [His Royal Highness shall appoint an Executive Council] to appoint a Barisan Nasional Executive Council with a new Menteri Besar and a new government. The Government of a Menteri Besar Dato’ Haji Nizar bin Jamaluddin still had constitutional supremacy and legitimacy. The actions of the Sultan of Perak are clearly, premature.” Continue reading “Karpal charged with sedition for saying Sultan can be sued”