Category: DAP

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 06, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — Lim Guan Eng today challenged the MCA to prove its anti-Lynas stand by withdrawing from Barisan Nasional (BN) and standing under its own banner in the coming polls.

The DAP secretary-general cast doubt over the MCA’s sincerity in calling for the Lynas rare earth plant to be scrapped, saying the party could again change its mind after the polls to support the project.

“Therefore this is a last chance for MCA to prove its commitment to scrap the Lynas plant by withdrawing from BN and standing under its own banner at the next general election,” Lim said in a statement.

“Would (MCA president Datuk Seri Dr) Chua (Soi Lek) dare to announce that MCA would only rejoin BN when the Lynas plant is closed down?

“Any failure to do so will allow Malaysians to decide whether to trust a party that not only deceives itself but tries to deceive others,” he added. Continue reading “Leave BN to prove anti-Lynas stand, Guan Eng tells MCA”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 05, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 – The DAP formally voiced its support today for Bersih’s third rally for free and fair elections this April 28, agreeing with the group that the Parliamentary Select Committee’s (PSC) electoral reform proposals were inadequate.

Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement here that the PSC’s report, approved in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday, had shown a “serious lack of commitment” to addressing fundamental issues of electoral irregularities, which was the panel’s main objective.

“Given the lack of commitment to provide a clean electoral [roll] so that the next general election is free and fair, the DAP fully supports Bersih 3.0’s call to gather at Merdeka Square from 2pm to 4pm on April 28.

The DAP also reiterates its support for the full implementation of Bersih 2.0’s eight demands, out of which only one – the use of indelible ink – was sufficiently addressed in the PSC report,” Lim (picture) said in the statement. Continue reading “DAP gives thumbs up to Bersih 3.0”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 28, 2012

28 MAC — Sejak saya mengambil keputusan menyertai pihak alternatif melalui Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP) banyak rakan-rakan yang datang menemui saya untuk bertanya berbagai-bagai persoalan tentang tindakan saya itu.

Rata-rata yang datang bertanya itu adalah dikalangan mereka yang telah berkawan dan bersahabat dengan saya sejak puluhan tahun dahulu. Rakan-rakan yang jauh bertanya kepada saya melalui emel dan talipon dan memahami saya setelah saya memberikan kefahaman yang sebetulnya.

Apa yang saya nampak mereka lebih bertanya kenapa saya memilih untuk tidak lagi bersama Umno. Jarang-jarang mereka bertanya kenapa pilih DAP kerana mereka juga memahami yang DAP itu adalah sebuah parti yang berpengalaman dan telah berusia hampir lima dekad lamanya.

Mereka memahami yang DAP telah melalui semua ujian dan dugaan untuk “survival” nya kerana tekanan dan momokan oleh pihak pemerintah terhadap parti itu tidak henti-henti dilakukan oleh pihak yang takut dengan perkembangan pengaruhnya, lebih-lebih lagi sejak akhir-akhir ini. Continue reading “Umno akan terus gagal memperjuangkan Melayu”

Recently, there has been a coarsening and vulgarisation of politics in Malaysia, even in this august House of Parliament, where lies and falsehoods are disseminated without conscience or compunction whatsoever.

During the present and past meetings of Parliament, the most irresponsible and despicable falsehoods had been made against me, accusing me of having instigated the deplorable May 13 riots 43 years ago in 1969.

For four decades, the police, the security forces and the government could not pinpoint who caused the May 13 riots in 1969, but suddenly, somebody knew who caused the May 13 riots – and I have been accused in this House of having caused May 13, through making the most racist slogans in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969.

As a result, these lies and falsehoods that I had incited and sparked the May 13 riots, particularly in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969 had been blazoned on the blogs of UMNO cybertroopers. Continue reading ““I was born in Malaysia and I shall die in Malaysia” – I am proud I have stood by my statement of commitment and patriotism to Malaysia when I was 28 years old under my first ISA detention 43 years ago in 1969”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 19, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The DAP will abstain from participating in the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on the Lynas issue, its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today, calling the panel a “sham”.

He charged that the PSC, expected to be proposed in Parliament tomorrow, was the Najib administration’s way of legitimising the controversial Lynas Corporation plant, which activists claim would be an environmental hazard.

“DAP will not participate in a sham PSC which serves to deliver a ‘fait accompli’ by endorsing the Lynas plant and forcing public acceptance without any due regard for safety, environmental and health concerns,” Lim said in a media statement here. Continue reading “DAP to stay out of Lynas PSC”

Free Malaysia Today
March 18, 2012

Penang CM Lim Guan Eng gets a good mark for his manner of governing the state.

By Dan Martin
AFP

GEORGETOWN: Former political detainee Lim Guan Eng wasted no time leaving his mark on Penang after the brash opposition politician won power in the Malaysian state in 2008 general election.

He quickly balanced the books of the former British colonial outpost, which were stained red after a half-century under the control of Malaysia’s authoritarian ruling coalition.

He has virtually eliminated its debt, launched a campaign to halt official corruption, and has, by most accounts, injected new vigour and efficiency into the government of the important economic hub.

Today, Penang — a colorful mix of colonial architecture, pre-war Chinese shophouses, tropical beaches and high-tech factories — is on the up, as property values soar and foreign investment rolls in.

With potentially pivotal new elections expected to be called within months, Lim — a 51-year-old ethnic Chinese former banker with slicked-back hair and a wide chin — says the implications of his record are clear. Continue reading “Penang shining, thanks to Guan Eng”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 18, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Lim Guan Eng today called for extra vigilance from DAP members to counter Barisan Nasional’s (BN) vote offensive, reminding them that the party’s political survival would be at stake in the coming polls.

Predicting that the 13th general election would be the country’s “dirtiest” in history, the DAP secretary-general said it was crucial for party members to stay resilient in the face of attacks from the ruling BN pact.

“DAP urges all leaders and members to redouble efforts to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wins the next general elections so that DAP can remain a party in power in state governments and hopefully in the Federal government too.

“The danger signals are evident that the 13th general election will be the dirtiest in Malaysian history,” Lim said in a statement here in conjunction with DAP’s 46th anniversary today. Continue reading “Guan Eng rallies DAP members, says survival at stake in GE-13”

Kee Thuan Chye | Mar 5, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

Blogger Hussein Abdul Hamid aka Steadyaku47 made waves when he wrote in a posting asking the Chinese not to blame the Malays for being treated as ‘second-class citizens’.

Civil society activist Haris Ibrahim felt “troubled”. He was equally disturbed by what Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) had written about the Malays having become “kecik hati” (disappointed) because they feel the Chinese are not real friends to them.

Haris asked a senior journalist friend about what RPK had expressed, and the friend said it was true. He said the Umno-controlled media had been influencing the Malays by spinning that the DAP, “which is painted as a Chinese party, would be the principal benefactor if Pakatan Rakyat came to power”.

As I see it, this is ironic. The media says that the DAP is riding high in Pakatan and Umno leaders drum it in that PAS has become a puppet of the DAP, but look at what the MCA, Umno’s partner, is saying.

Repeating his theme for the umpteenth time, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has just called the DAP, in relation to PAS, a “political eunuch”. He insists, as he has insisted many times before, that the DAP will have no guts and ability to stop PAS from bossing Pakatan and getting its way, including implementing hudud and establishing an Islamic state.

What a contradiction between what Umno says and what the MCA says! Umno says the DAP will be the principal benefactor, the MCA says PAS will be the one and the DAP will be the loser. So whom do we believe? Continue reading “The trouble with our race relations”

Joseph Tawie | March 6, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

An assistant minister’s order to revoke aid to a disabled man in Sarawak because he supports the opposition contravenes the federal constitution.

KUCHING: A minister in Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s cabinet may have landed himself in hot soup after it was revealed that he had instructed two departments to revoke government extended subsidiaries and welfare aid to a disabled man who had supported an opposition candidate.

Sarawak DAP, which lodged a police report against Assistant Minister of Agriculture (Research and Marketing) Mong Dagang last Friday, said the minister has contravened the law.

Mong had allegedly directed, through a letter, the Assistant Director of Agriculture in Sri Aman to cease all forms of subsidies to Frusis Lebi.

Party secretary Chong Chieng Jen said DAP want the police to investigate Mong for his ‘heinous crime’. Continue reading “Revoking aid to disabled is ‘illegal’”

by Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
Feb 26, 2012

DAP has called on the federal government to form a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the safety of the RM700 million Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Party vice-chief Tan Seng Giaw (right) said the federal government should do so as it had called for a PSC on electoral reforms immediately after the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 last year.

“Like the Bersih 2.0 rally, the government set up a parliamentary select committee so this should be the case (for Himpunan Hijau 2.0), a parliamentary select committee should look into Lynas,” he said.

Tan said the government must take heed of the people’s concerns and review decision to allow Lynas to operate in Malaysia, by taking into consideration of the effects caused by the now defunct Bukit Merah rare-earth refinery in Perak. Continue reading “DAP calls for PSC on Lynas plant”

— Lim Guan Eng
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

FEB 23 — First of all, I would like to thank the organisers for this live televised debate. Televised debates mark a new chapter in Malaysian political democracy because it is an important element in the democratisation process. I hope that from today onwards, televised debates will be a common phenomenon in the Malaysian democratic system just like in Europe and the United States.

Thus, I believe what Malaysians really want to see is a debate between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to see who really deserves to be prime minister. Whoever isn’t brave enough to debate, don’t hope to think of becoming prime minister.

Chua Soi Lek suggested that DAP is being used by PAS. If we observe Umno amongst the Malays, Umno claims that PAS is being used by DAP. Therefore, I believe this self-contradictory statement is a dirty tactic employed by BN. I wish to stress here that Pakatan Rakyat component parties, be it PAS, PKR or DAP, we never use each other. We are only prepared to be “used” by the people! At the same time, we are also not anti-Malay or even anti-non-Malay; we are merely against a government that is riddled with corruption! Continue reading “My debate transcript”

YOURSAY Malaysiakini
Feb 23, 2012

YOURSAY ‘By right, it’s Umno which should be upset over Guan Eng’s remark. But then again, MCA as always is doing Umno’s dirty job.’

Police report on Penang CM’s alleged racist remark

Boiling Mud: Selangor MCA’s public and services complaints bureau deputy chief Alan Liew said the Chinese community did not understand the true meaning of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s remark and was worried that the latter was playing on racial issue.

Liew, please do not play up racial discord when there was none to begin with regarding the said remark. And most importantly, kindly refrain from citing the Chinese community for whatever political agenda you may have.

Given the shift in the political landscape, I certainly doubt the Chinese community considers MCA as their representative. Can’t the MCA leaders get this simple fact right? Continue reading “Lim should have said PAS never killed a Mongolian”

– Oleh Fairuz Azhan
Roketkini
22 February 2012

Apabila orang Melayu dilihat mendekati atau pun menyertai DAP, antara komen-komen yang biasa didengar adalah, “Apalah sertai DAP, kalau ya pun mahu sertai pembangkang, masuklah PAS atau PKR.”

Secara peribadi komen seperti ini sudah beberapa kali saya dengar secara peribadi daripada kalangan rakan-rakan, saudara-mara dan juga bekas-bekas pensyarah saya. Seolah-olah tanggapan orang ramai adalah DAP sebuah parti untuk orang bukan Melayu sahaja dan jika orang Melayu ingin turut serta dalam perjuangan DAP ia bagaikan sesuatu yang amat pelik seperti makhluk asing mendarat di bumi.

Memang tidak dinafikan bahawa orang Melayu sememangnya minoriti dalam DAP, sebagaimana kaum bukan Melayu minoriti PKR dan hampir tiada bukan Melayu dalam PAS.

Tetapi yang lebih teruk lagi, UMNO hanya membenarkan orang Melayu menyertainya, walau pun ada ramai keturunan India semakin menguasai parti itu. Begitu juga MCA dan MIC yang masing-masing hanya membolehkan kaum Cina dan India sahaja bersama mereka.

Kita harus bertanya dan mengkaji mengapa andaian yang bersifat kaum (tidak semestinya perkauman) ini terjadi apabila Melayu bersama dengan DAP. Continue reading “DAP milik siapa?”

I am still intrigued what were the considerations behind the decision of the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Sunday to be a Chua Soi Lek clone, adopting the MCA President’s sophistry to warn Malays that “A vote for PAS is a vote for DAP” implying most falsely, irresponsibly and mischievously that DAP has an anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers agenda.

Is it beyond the political comprehension of Najib and his political strategists that the first consequence of Najib adopting the Chua Soi Lek sophistry is to completely demolish the MCA’s No. 1 political weapon against the DAP – falsely warning the Chinese voters that “A vote for DAP is a vote for PAS” resulting in an Islamic state and hudud Islamic laws? Continue reading “Najib has completely demolished MCA lie that “A vote for DAP is a vote for PAS” when he decided to be a Chua Soi Lek clone with his own warning to Malay voters that “A vote for PAS is a vote for DAP””

Comment by THOMAS LEE SENG HOCK

One of the most contentious issues that MCA president Chua Soi Lek raised at last weekend’s great debate is the so-called call PAS Islamic agenda, and the alleged failure of his opponent DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to make a public stand on the matter.

Soi Lek and his MCA have been harping on this PAS issue consistently, persistently, and tediously since early 2011, trying to score political points rhetorically to undermine the credibility of Guan Eng and the DAP, using in particular the party-owned newspaper The Star in his unrelenting determined campaign against the DAP.

But does Soi Lek truly understand what the whole matter of the Islamic agenda is all about?

PAS, like any other political party all over the world is founded on a political idealogy, in its case the Islamic theocratic idealogy. The raison d’être for the founding of PAS is the promotion, advancement and establishment of an Islamic theocratic society. Without this mandate, PAS has no legitimate purpose to continue its existence.
Continue reading “DAP and the PAS Islamic agenda”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 19, 2012

19 FEB — Perdebatan diantara Lim Guan Eng (LGE) dan Chua Soi Lek (CSL) semalam menampakkan sikap dan pandangan MCA dan Presidennya yang ‘flip-flop’. Pandangan Soi Lek jelas menunjukkan lidah bercabang-cabang diantara parti terbesar dalam BN, Umno dan MCA. Saya tidak tahu mengapa CSL memberanikan diri untuk berdebat dengan topik sistem dua parti atau sistem dua bangsa dengan Setiausaha Agong DAP itu. Dari awal lagi saya telah menelah yang MCA akan gagal untuk meyakinkan orang ramai yang parti itu adalah sebuah parti yang hampir hilang seluruh kerdibilitinya dimata rakyat ramai.

Kita boleh mempelajari beberapa perkara dalam perbahasan ini. Pertamanya ia menunjukkan yang MCA lah yang anti Islam dengan menjadikan perhubungan baik di antara PAS dan DAP sebagai isu besar dalam perdebatan itu. Bagi MCA, PAS itu adalah parti Islam dan kerjasama DAP dengan PAS itu hanya akan menjadikan DAP sebagai keldai politik PAS untuk kepentingan PAS dan Islamnya.

Dengan kenyataan CSL itu maka hilanglah isu DAP anti Melayu dan Islam itu kerana MCA menganggapnya sebagai satu perkara yang tidak sepatutnya berlaku. Bagi MCA ia mahukan DAP menolak PAS kerana PAS adalah parti Islam yang didominasi oleh orang Melayu Islam. MCA tidak selesa melihat kerjasama DAP dengan parti Islam ini dan ia menunjukkan yang anti Melayu dan anti Islam itu adalah MCA. MCA masih tidak menyedari yang isu rasis dan agama ini adalah isu yang tidak lagi laku kepada generasi sekarang ini.

Umno pula selalu menyatakan tentang isu ini bertentangan dengan pandangan MCA. Oleh kerana permainan politik yang dianggap tidak bijak Umno sebaliknya menuduh PAS diperguna oleh DAP pula. Ini menunjukkan yang parti-parti komponen dalam BN masih mahukan cara mengekalkan kuasa dengan memecah belahkan kerjasama yang terjalin diantara parti-parti dalam pakatan itu. Continue reading “Debat CSL vs LGE: MCA tunjukkan lagi sikap chauvinisnya”

Terence Netto | Feb 19, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

The topic for the debate did not matter; in any case, it was too vague for the speakers to make much sense of it.

The moderator was not up to the task; in any case, allowing questions from antagonistic members of rival parties was an invitation to dishevelment.

Nevertheless, the speakers got off the hits they must have been honing all week; in any event, this was whole point of the exercise.

In sum, the principle of debate and of its utility between leaders of contending political parties came off well from the Dr Chua Soi Lek versus Lim Guan Eng televised clash yesterday.

Score one for the fledgling idea which may well come to be called the ‘Great Malaysian Electoral Debates’. Continue reading “Debate idea set to bloom”

Malaysiakini
Feb 17, 2012

DAP has blamed the country’s rising debt level to the ruling BN having raised the statutory borrowing ceiling “multiple times” to legitimise the debt.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua slammed the government for modifying the ceiling “at its whims and fancies over the past decade, rendering meaningless the legal debt ceiling”.

Therefore, he said, the government’s debt at 53.8 percent of GDP as reported in the Economic Report 2011/2 is below the statutory borrowing ceiling of 55 percent, is purely the result of the government’s “creative manipulation”.

“What is worrying is the fact that the ‘statutory borrowing ceiling’ has actually been raised multiple times by the BN government over the past decade to ‘legalise’ the federal government debt level which has been increasing at a much faster pace than our GDP.

The 55 percent statutory borrowing ceiling only came into effect in July 2009 by order of current second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

“Prior to the revised limit, the limit was set at 45 percent in June 2008, barely 13 months before by the then second finance minister Nor Md Yakcop,” said Pua in a statement today.

He added that the limit was raised to 40 percent five years before that, by then second minister finance minister Jamaluddin Jarjis.

“Hence our statutory borrowing ceiling has been raised by 15 percent of our GDP in just six years. Continue reading “DAP: Gov’t manipulated laws to legitimise debt”

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 16, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 — The DAP today accused the government of not reporting RM96.9 billion in loans it has guaranteed as public debt, which would push the amount of federal loans above the 55 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) allowed by law.

Party publicity chief Tony Pua said the combined public debt of RM455.7 billion reported last year and the “off-balance sheet” financing would amount to RM552.6 billion, or 65.2 per cent of the economy.

“For all intents and purposes, even though these loans are not taken by the government, they are essentially government debt or otherwise known as contingent liabilities.

“This expanded figure would then constitute 65.2 per cent of our GDP, well above the 55 per cent federal government loan limit as defined in the Loan (Local) Act 1959 and Government Funding Act 1983,” Pua (picture) said in a statement today.

Malaysia’s national debt has been a hotly debated issue after the Auditor-General said in October it grew by 12.3 per cent to over RM407 billion in 2010, or 53.1 per cent of GDP. Continue reading “DAP: RM97b in hidden loans pushes public debt over legal limit”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 11, 2012

11 FEB — Dr Hasan Ali, bekas Exco kerajaan (PAS) negeri Selangor, yang dipecat dari PAS baru-baru ini nampaknya mendapat tempat di media perdana terutamanya di TV3. Setiap malam kita melihat Hasan Ali diliputi oleh TV3 dan beliau ditonjolkan sebagai seorang pelakon Bollywood seperti Shah Rukh Khan.

Kita melihat lakunannya setiap hari dengan berdoa sambil menangis serta kembali bercakap dengan nada yang tinggi beserta dengan gerak tangannya yang menunjukkan beliau memang hebat berlakon dan berdrama. Hasan akhir-akhir ini selalu menggunakan air mata beliau dalam membahaskan isu politik untuk menagih sokongan ramai. Beliau boleh menangis serta merta jika perlu dan air matanya jelas meleleh keluar.

Beliau mendapat liputan TV3 setiap hari dan kenapa beliau diberi tempat didalam media letronik ini tanpa henti itu memang sudah menjadi perkara yang maklum kepada orang ramai. Berbagai-bagai cara beliau menonjolkan diri seperti bintang filem Bollywood. Yang belum beliau lakukan hanyalah menari dari gunung hingga ketepi laut sambil menyanyi dan naik kembali kegunung dengan pakaian yang bertukar-tukar silih berganti.

Sesungguhnya Hasan tidak selayaknya menjadi ahli politik. Oleh itu selepas beliau dipecat dari PAS ini, saya mencadangkan supaya Hasan pergi ke India dan menguji bakat lakonan bersama ramai yang minat berlakon dalam Industri filem di Bollywood. Beliau sememangnya mempunyai bakat berlakon dan saya merasakan beliau tidak akan melalui jalan sukar untuk berjaya dalam uji bakat berlakon di situ. Beliau memang seorang yang sangat berbakat dalam lakonan. Continue reading “Hasan Ali: Dari Umno dia datang, kepada Umno jugalah dia akan kembali”