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Invest In Our People!

by M. Bakri Musa

Millions of Chinese had a rude awakening when they returned last month from celebrating their Lunar New Year in their villages. They discovered that the jobs they had in the cities before they left only a few weeks earlier had now disappeared. Tragic though that may be to them individually, the aggregate loss pales in comparison to that suffered by their government through its massive investments in the stocks of American companies and other paper assets like bonds and Treasury Notes.

If only the Chinese government had invested in its people, imagine the good that would do to them, and to China. If their government had spent the funds to build better schools, Chinese schoolchildren would not have dangerous physical facilities that collapse with the slightest tremor. Had those funds been used to build affordable apartments, the Chinese people would have been better housed. That would at least help alleviate their miserable existence.

The Chinese people suffered twice. First, they worked incredibly hard under intolerable conditions and insufferably meager wages so the West could enjoy inexpensive consumer goods. Then the foreign currencies earned by their government from the exports created through their hard work vanished with the downward spiral of Western economies.

When Western consumers could no longer afford to spend, the Chinese were forced to work under even harsher conditions so the products they make could be sold cheaper still. This is just a modern twist to the old “coolie” concept. In the early part of the last century, millions of indentured Chinese were brought to America to work on the gold mines and railways. Today the coolies remain in China; America brings in only the products of their hard labor.

China is not alone in engaging in this folly of investing abroad instead of in their people, so is the rest of Asia. Singapore lost a hundred billion dollars on its American investments. On a per capita basis, Singapore’s loss is massive and readily dwarfs that suffered by China. Continue reading “Invest In Our People!”

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Najib’s unethical and unconstitutional power grab in Perak may sow the seeds for his downfall as the sixth Prime Minister

As the Prime Minister-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot be so ignorant as not to know that his statement that there could not be any Perak State Assembly meeting until the courts decide on the status of the state government is completely untenable, as it has no basis in law or constitutional practice.

The question is whether Najib is making this statement as Deputy Prime Minister after getting the proper advice of the Attorney-General’s Chambers or as UMNO Deputy President without the benefit of any proper expert legal opinion.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had acted most improperly when he had earlier advised the “pretender” Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir to lodge police report against the Perak State Assembly Speaker, V. Sivakumar for suspending Zambry and the other six “pretender” state exco members from the state assembly, which also attracted the criticism of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, when the Speaker’s decision or action is protected by law and conferred immunity from civil or criminal proceedings.

Clearly, Abdullah’s advice could not have emanated from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

But it has resulted in gross abuses of power by the Police as well as by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in subjecting the Perak State Assembly Speaker to interrogation, which are gross violation of established world-wide parliamentary laws, practices ,conventions and traditions. Continue reading “Najib’s unethical and unconstitutional power grab in Perak may sow the seeds for his downfall as the sixth Prime Minister”

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MACC: Old wine in a new bottle

by Tunku Abdul Aziz
Sin Chew

What a waste of public funds! The creation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission will go down in history as a feeble and pathetic final clutch at the straws by a sitting duck prime minister best remembered for his inexhaustible supply of good intentions but with nothing to show for them. The MACC was hastily conceived against a murky background of a web of duplicity and deceit. It was a desperate attempt at deluding the people of this country and the world anti-corruption community at large that the Abdullah Badawi administration still had a lot of fire in its belly to make corruption a high risk and low return business. The whole process was nothing more that a charade, a sleight of hand that we had come to expect of this government. In the meantime, corruption continues to be in robust good health.

In 1995 my friends and I started to look at corruption in our country seriously and to view with growing unease its debilitating effects on our society. This led incidentally to the formation of Transparency International Malaysia as it has come to be known. We saw the Anti-Corruption Agency for what it really was in operational terms. It was the weakest link in both the “supply and demand sides” of the corruption equation. We saw the ACA as part of the problem of corruption and not, as it should rightly have been, part of the solution. We thought its claim to “independence” was a joke in poor taste. It was as independent as a beached whale.

We demanded from day one that the ACA be converted into an independent commission along the lines of the highly professional Independent Commission Against Corruption with a strong and influential oversight civilian committee to keep an eye on the staff who could otherwise be tempted to abuse their wide powers. Continue reading “MACC: Old wine in a new bottle”

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Blog access

Note from sys admin :

We continue to receive complaints regarding access to the blog. Such as,

Sdr Lim, i have no problem accessing to other sites except your blog. I think they blocked your site. Please tell your IT people.

We strongly believe this is mainly due to the damage to TM Net’s
international link to North America via Asia Pacific. The international link named by TM Net in an announcement on 24 February 2009 is APCN2. According to their statement, “TM expects the complete recover of its services by 5 March 2009.”

We also understand that not all streamyx users are affected equally. Those with IP address starting with 118, 115 and 124 are affected severely while those with IP address starting with 60 experience almost no interruption. To check what IP address you are on, visit http://myip.dk.
Continue reading “Blog access”

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Abdullah/Najib – why their thundering silence on the Selangor Umno Youth mob in Parliament menacing Karpal and other PR MPs?

The outgoing UMNO Youth leader and contender for one of the Umno Vice President slots next month, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has proved it once again – that he has no qualms in subordinating parliamentary and national interests to personal and political interests in the upcoming Umno party elections.

In declaring his public support for the Selangor Umno Youth mob on Thursday which obstructed and menaced wheelchair-confined DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh in the discharge of his parliamentary duties in the very precincts and sanctity of Parliament and manhandled Pakatan Rakyat MPs Lim Lip Eng (DAP – Segambut), Fong Kui Lun (DAP – Bukit Bintang), Chong Chieng Jen (Bandar Kuching) and N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR – Padang Serai), Hishammuddin has shown that he is incapable of differentiating between right and wrong – in great contrast to the forthright denunciation of the Dewan Negara President Tan Sri Dr. Abdul Hamid Pawanteh of the incident as a national embarrassment caused by “hooligans” obstructing parliamentarians from doing their duty.

But Hishammuddin, Education Minister and aspirant to even higher office, has become a protector and defender of “hooligans” who subverted the parliamentary process by violating the sanctity of Parliament to obstruct and menace parliamentarians from discharging their duty.
Continue reading “Abdullah/Najib – why their thundering silence on the Selangor Umno Youth mob in Parliament menacing Karpal and other PR MPs?”

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“Foul is fair, fair is foul” – Malaysian politics getting uglier by the day as Najib gets close to be PM

With the Abdullah premiership nearing its end and the daily countdown for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to take over as the sixth Prime Minister in the first week of April, Malaysian politics is also getting uglier by the day – where “foul is fair and fair is foul”!

The shameful, shocking and outrageous violation of Parliament’s sanctity yesterday, where Selangor UMNO Youth leaders mobbed DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor, Karpal Singh in the precincts of Parliament, obstructing and menacing Karpal in the discharge of his parliamentary duties, as well as manhandling Pakatan Rakyat MPs Lim Lip Eng (DAP – Segambut), Fong Kui Lun (DAP – Bukit Bintang), Chong Chieng Jen (Bandar Kuching) and N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR – Padang Serai) who had gone to the aid of Karpal to protect him, is a blot in the 51-year history of Parliament marking a new low in Malaysian politics.

What was doubly shameful, shocking and outrageous was that the administration and security of Parliament were fully aware of the criminal intent of the Selangor UMNO Youth mob to commit the crime of parliamentary contempt under the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 in “assaulting, obstructing or insulting any member coming to or going from the House or on account of his conduct in the House or endeavouring to compel any member by force, insult, or menace to declare himself in favour of or against any proposition or matter pending or expected to be brought before the House” [Section 9 (e)], but they did not lift any finger to protect the safety and security of MPs in the parliamentary precincts from the Selangor UMNO Youth mob although they could alert MPs and the media to the crime of parliamentary contempt being committed against Karpal. Continue reading ““Foul is fair, fair is foul” – Malaysian politics getting uglier by the day as Najib gets close to be PM”

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‘Cops, security did not help me’

by S Pathmawathy & Rahmah Ghazali
Malaysiakini Feb 26, 09

DAP chairperson Karpal Singh said police and security personnel did not come to his aid when he was mobbed by a group of angry Umno Youth supporters at the Parliament lobby this afternoon.

“Although I called for the police to come and help, no one came… and my driver Michael called (DAP MP Fong) Po Kuan, who then called (DAP MP) Lim (Lip Eng).

“Lim came with N Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai-PKR), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-DAP) and Chong Chieng Jen (Bandar Kuching-DAP),” he told reporters after the incident.

“I might be in a wheelchair but I will not be cowed or intimidated by anyone,” he added.

The DAP chairperson and Bukit Gelugor MP said the Umno Youth supporters were so brazen that some of them had given him their name cards.

“They were very unruly and refused to let me leave,” said the veteran politician, who called for urgent action to be taken against the mob.

“Something must be done on a very urgent basis… how were these people even allowed in the precincts of Parliament? Where is the security if we are going to be accosted on our way to the House?

“I want action to be taken by the speaker, a rhetoric statement in the House is not enough, we want action and the speaker could do the necessary afterwards,” he added.
Continue reading “‘Cops, security did not help me’”

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Sultan has no powers to ask Nizar to quit

by NH Chan
Malaysiakini
20.2.09

According to the Perak constitution, the ruler has a personal discretion in the performance of two functions – the appointment of a menteri besar and the withholding of consent to a request for the dissolution of the legislative assembly.

On Feb 4, Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, the mentri besar, was granted an audience by the sultan to request for the ruler’s consent to dissolve the Perak State Assembly.

The next day, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak also requested for an audience with the sultan as the Perak BN chief and consent was granted for him to present himself before the ruler.

This is the account given in the Star, Feb 6:

“The four-page statement, signed by the sultan’s private secretary, Col Abdul Rahim Mohamad Nor, was issued at 2.15pm, Feb 5.

“It said Mohd Nizar had an audience with the sultan yesterday to seek the ruler’s consent to dissolve the state assembly. Earlier in the day, Najib, who is Perak Barisan chairman, had an audience with the sultan twice.

“At the audience in the morning, he informed the ruler that BN and its supporters now had the majority in the state assembly. The statement said the sultan had summoned all the 31 assemblymen before him to verify the information.

“‘His Royal Highness had used his discretion under Article XWI (2)(b) of the Perak Darul Ridzuan State Constitution and did not consent to the dissolution of the Perak State Assembly,’ the statement added.”

Bernama later reported that Mohd Nizar was summoned to an audience to be informed of the sultan’s decision not to dissolve the state government.

Now what is wrong with that? Continue reading “Sultan has no powers to ask Nizar to quit”

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ICAC’s praise for MACC “a good start for Malaysia to battle graft” – a supreme insult!

The Star headline, “Good start, says Hong Kong’s ICAC”, quoting the deputy commissioner and head of operations of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Daniel Li for the creation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officially launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday is no real praise but a supreme insult causing self-respecting Malaysians to cringe at such a serious indictment of Malaysia’s anti-corruption record whether in the 22-year premiership of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad or the five-year Abdullah premiership.

When the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) was founded in 1967 under the first Director-General Tan Sri Harun Hashim, the ACA’s public standing as an independent anti-corruption agency both regionally and internationally was highest in its 41-year history.

Unfortunately, after Tan Sri Harun Hashim’s tenure, the ACA had not been able to build on the public confidence enjoyed by the ACA.

Otherwise, the ACA should have become a premier anti-corruption body in the world instead of allowing the Hong Kong International Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) which was formed seven years after the ACA in 1974 to establish the international reputation as one of the best known and successful organisations dedicated to addressing issues of corruption in both the public and private sectors, to the extent that the Malaysia has to learn from ICAC, when it should be Hong Kong having to learn from the ACA! Continue reading “ICAC’s praise for MACC “a good start for Malaysia to battle graft” – a supreme insult!”

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This is because TMNet is having problem with their network. We do not know what is the problem they are facing, but the symptom is that data packets gets corrupted or lost along the way. This has been happening for sometime, but it got worse recently.

We thank many who have highlighted problems accessing this blog. We are constantly monitoring the situation and are trying to get TMNet to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

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Abdullah – retract statement that police report be lodged against Perak Speaker Sivakumar

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is right when he ridiculed the public statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asking Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir to lodge a police report against the Perak State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar.

As Mahathir asked in his blog, “If the decision of the Speaker can be considered a crime, then what will happen when the Parliamentary Speaker suspends opposition members for whatever reasons?”

Abdullah has not only made a ridiculous proposal, he had set a bad example as Prime Minister in publicly calling for an open breach of the law, as the Speaker’s decision or action, whether one agrees or disagrees with it, is protected by law and conferred immunity from civil or criminal proceedings.

This is why the Police should stop harassing Sivakumar as the police should be the first to uphold the law rather than to break it. Continue reading “Abdullah – retract statement that police report be lodged against Perak Speaker Sivakumar”

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Needing To Show Off

by M. Bakri Musa

The per-capita income of Malaysia’s Klang Valley is a mere fraction that of America’s Silicon Valley, but one would not know that from visiting their respective shopping malls.

At any time there are more (in absolute as well as relative numbers) Mercedes Benzes and other late model luxury cars in the parking lot of the Mega Mall in Klang Valley than at Stanford Shopping Center. And judging from the crowd, the purveyors of luxury goods at Mega Mall do a roaring business compared to their counterparts at the Stanford Mall.

I also see more gold Rolexes on brown wrists than on white ones. I must admit that the gold color looks good against a brown background!

Despite the residuum of the dotcom bust, as well as the current economic crisis, Silicon Valley still has one of the highest per capita incomes in America, which in turn is one of the highest per-capita income countries. Yet for the most part Americans lack the compulsion to show off their wealth.

This is not unique to Americans. The Norwegians also have a high per-capita income, and their sovereign fund is one of the largest in the world. Norway is also the Saudi Arabia of the North Sea. Unlike in Riyadh however, the most popular cars on the streets of Oslo are those fuel-stingy hybrid models instead of the gas guzzling Cadillacs that are the favorites with the Arabs. Continue reading “Needing To Show Off”

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Zambry – seek legitimacy as Perak MB through state polls

Yesterday, the illegal and illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar Dr. Zambry Abd. Kadir admitted that people were wondering whether he was truly the Mentri Besar and lamented that his position was considered illegitimate and illegal – undoubtedly by the majority of the people in Perak and Malaysia if they are given the opportunity to have their say.

Zambry should seek legitimacy as Perak Mentri Besar through a new snap state election in Perak as he will never gain legitimacy through the immoral, illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional power grab orchestrated by the new UMNO Perak chief and the Prime Minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Unless the Perak State Assembly is dissolved to return the mandate to the voters of Perak to elect the state government of their choice, Zambry will go down in Perak and Malaysian history with the dubious reputation as the “usurper” and illegal Mentri Besar who has no popular mandate or legitimacy to be the head of government because of the immoral, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab orchestrated by Najib.

The Perak political and constitutional crisis sparked by Najib’s immoral, illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional power grab had dragged on for too long and it is the responsibility of all the political leaders in both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional to end the political stalemate of two Mentris Besar to restore the people’s confidence and mobilise state and national energies to face the worst global economic crisis in 80 years. Continue reading “Zambry – seek legitimacy as Perak MB through state polls”

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Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone

By Tunku Abdul Aziz
MySinchew

Today, I begin a new life as a columnist for Sin Chew, an experience that I know I will enjoy enormously.

Two days ago, I had lunch with a parliamentarian and two senior bureaucrats from Germany on their first official visit to Kuala Lumpur. They came, they saw and were impressed with our capital city and the development they had seen so far as they travelled around KL and its environs. They had obviously been well-briefed by their own government agencies about the social and political climate in our country and apparently were extremely well informed on Malaysian affairs. The Germans, as we all know, are meticulous in everything they do, and so I was not at all surprised when one of them who headed his organization’s foreign department asked this penetrating question.

“Why is there all this flurry of activity to bring about a regime change when the government has brought so much prosperity to the country?” I must admit that for a while I was stumped for words. Why indeed! When at last I recovered my composure, I explained between mouthfuls of tasty offerings that what was apparent was not always real. In our wide-ranging conversation I reflected aloud our national concerns in the following terms.

Underneath all the glint, gleam and glitter of aluminium, stainless steel and plate glass lies a sad tale of greed and corruption, involving the political and bureaucratic elites who govern and administer this land. There will be official denials galore. Some years ago, Transparency International estimated, somewhat conservatively many thought, that Malaysian public infrastructure projects cost 30% more than they should. As far as political corruption is concerned, a major component of the ruling coalition has admitted that problem exists among its membership and the party is wrestling with it as best it can. Continue reading “Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone”

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MACC reduced into “Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows” – Ahmad Said should resign

What a letdown!

Members of Parliament and Malaysians were promised when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) 2008 Bill was debated in Parliament last December that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was finally going to honour his most important pledge when he became Prime Minister five years ago – to eradicate corruption and create a new political culture of public integrity with zero tolerance for corruption.

Parliament and the nation were told that MACC was going to become another ICAC (Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption) respected world-wide for its uncompromising and no-nonsense commitment against corruption without fear or favour for position, status or influence.

In less than two months, the MACC has become a joke. Instead of building public confidence in its journey to become another ICAC, feared and respected by all, it has quickly become a joke, reduced into a “Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows” for the Barisan Nasional government to victimize Pakatan Rakyat leaders. Continue reading “MACC reduced into “Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows” – Ahmad Said should resign”

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Perak political crisis can be ended in 30 days – with snap state elections

UMNO leaders, particularly, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should co-operate with Pakatan Rakyat to keep the palace above the political crisis in Perak as the issue in contention is not about the institution of constitutional monarchy but the popular will of the voters.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has rightly pointed out in his blog about the real nature of the constitutional crisis in Perak – it is not about the status of the Rulers like the 1993 constitutional crisis “which arose from an ugly confrontation between Umno and the Rulers over a question that had direct and profound implications on their sovereignty and that of the Yang Dipertuan Agong” but about the legitimacy of the process by which a new state government has been formed in Perak.

This is why Abdullah and other UMNO leaders created consternation yesterday when they sought to present the Perak political and constitutional crisis as a crisis of the system of constitutional monarchy using the language of “disrespect the Sultan” and even “treason” when it is solely and strictly about whether UMNO should be allowed to orchestrate an immoral, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak.

The best way to uphold the system of constitutional monarchy in the country is for all political parties, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, to keep the Rulers above the political fray – especially on the question as to who should form the legitimate and democratically-elected government in Perak. Continue reading “Perak political crisis can be ended in 30 days – with snap state elections”

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Disgust at the new low in politics

The Royal Address was a valedictory address to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the end of his address touched on the transition of leadership of the country, with the hand-over of the premiership to the Deputy Prime Minister next month.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong recorded appreciation to the Prime Minister for his leadership and contribution, mentioning specifically to issues concerning “democracy, accountability, integrity, the fight against corruption, strengthening the judiciary and the application of Islamic Hadhari approach”.

To the majority of Malaysians, Abdullah’s tenure as the fifth Prime Minister will be remembered more for its missed opportunities than any real achievements.

We are told that a second stimulus package in the form of a mini-budget would be presented in Parliament on March 10 to boost the country’s economy, when more than four months ago, I had called on the new Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to present a revised 2,009 Budget to take corrective measures to shield the country from the world’s worst economic crisis in 80 years so as to enhance competitiveness, boost growth and tamp down inflation. A missed opportunity.

We are told of a Cabinet Committee to Identify and Monitor the Participation of Indian Community in Government Programmes and Projects chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, when immediately after the landslide Barisan Nasional March 2004 general election, I had called for a high-powered Cabinet Committee to present a blueprint in the first meeting of Parliament to address the long-standing issues of marginalisation and alienation faced by Indian Malaysians in the country and to bring the Indian Malaysians into the mainstream of national development – political, economic, educational, social, cultural and all other aspects of the nation-building process. Another missed opportunity. Continue reading “Disgust at the new low in politics”

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Forum – “Can We Have Our Highways Back?”

Public Forum : “Can We Have Our Highways Back?”
Venue: Crystal Crown Hotel, Petaling Jaya (Map)
Date: 18 February (Wed) – TODAY
Time: 7.30pm

The panel speakers include:

* Sdr Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader
* Sdr Tony Pua, MP Petaling Jaya Utara
* Sdri Teo Nie Ching, MP Serdang
* Sdr Tommy Thomas, Corporate & Constitutional Lawyer
* Sdr Teh Chi Chang, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General

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Elizabeth Wong and Our Hope for a New Politics in Malaysia

By Farish A. Noor

As someone who has known Ms Elizabeth Wong, former ADUN and Exco member of the Selangor state government, for almost ten years, I am profoundly distressed by the treatment that has been meted out to her by the mainstream and tabloid press over the revelation of photos that have compromised her. There are no words adequate enough to describe my feelings of disgust and anger over how this capable and committed activist-politician has been slandered and abused recently.

The facts surrounding the case are well known by now and one need not dwell upon them here. Suffice to say that one of the brightest, capable and efficient politicians of our land has been discredited via a malicious campaign to tarnish her reputation, that reeks of hypocrisy and conspiracy of the highest order.

What needs to be emphasised in the midst of this media hullabaloo is this: That the private lives of politicians are as sacrosanct as the right of any other citizen, and that politicians deserve the same degree of respect as anyone else. This is what we are fighting for; and this is what the elections of March 2008 were all about: Our earnest wish to see a new kind of politics in Malaysia, a new politics that would reflect and mirror the new Malaysian society that we live in today. Continue reading “Elizabeth Wong and Our Hope for a New Politics in Malaysia”