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‘Sabahans can select next PM’

By Azman Habu | August 22, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

TAWAU: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has encouraged Sabahans to embrace the chance to chart a new direction for Malaysia by taking the opportunity in the coming general election to dictate who would be the prime minister of the country.

Speaking at the Pakatan Rakyat Hari Raya open house in Tawau, Lim said the chance for Sabahans to determine their future was at hand and they should not waste it.

“With the current federal government shaken and unsure, Sabahans can determine their path and determine who will head Putrajaya,” he told the huge crowd that turned up at the open house held at a hotel here yesterday.

Lim said that in the past, Sabahans had only voted for their assemblymen or Members of Parliament without having the chance to choose the nation’s prime minister
Continue reading “‘Sabahans can select next PM’”

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When was Malaysia’s destiny hijacked?

Stanley Koh | August 14, 2012
FMT

Why does a debate on patriotism, deriving from the Greek word, ‘patriarch’ meaning ‘fatherland’ can easily shake, rattle and roll human reactions?

COMMENT

The uncertainty about this nation’s future is not just leadership styles and differences in governance that may be changed but allegiances and loyalties on both sides of the political divide.

Naturally, August brings about the seasonal topic of “patriotism” like the seasonal Malaysian fruit king, durian, making its odour and thorny presence felt at the right time. Nobody is immune.

But time has also given “patriotism” many meanings to different people even as unscrupulous politicians use the definition in their rhetoric to gain favourable political mileage.

The concept of “loyalty and patriotism” to the nation has always been a touchy issue particularly in the formative years of the nation, before and after independence.

It reared its ugly head occasionally when rank and file Umno leaders at the party’s annual general assemblies belittled and questioned the loyalty and patriotism of non-Bumiputera communities, labelling them as “pendatang” or migrants despite generations being born here.

Why does a debate on patriotism, deriving from the Greek word, “patriarch” meaning “fatherland” can easily shake, rattle and roll human reactions?

Is it just a feeling of being Malaysian in a manner that either you love it or leave it type of sentiment? Does it apply to those Malaysians who are often critical of their government but yet love this country not necessarily in a blind or unquestionable way?

Or does it mean that if you see something wrong with your country or your government but not do anything about it – makes you qualified as a patriot? Continue reading “When was Malaysia’s destiny hijacked?”

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CONFIRMED! Umno NOT able to unite the Malays: Latest hudud card backfires

by Moaz Nair
Malaysia Chronicle
11 August 2012

A self-professed Islamic pondok (a village madrasah) “religious scholar” declared it “haram (forbidden)” for Muslims to support DAP, according to a front page story in Umno’s Utusan Malaysia, but added that MCA and MIC were acceptable because the two BN (Barisan Nasional) parties recognised Islam’s supremacy.

He said that Muslims must not vote for DAP and its two allies PAS and PKR in the federal Opposition pact of PR (Pakatan Rakyat) in the 13th general election that must be called before April next year.

To the majority this statement sounds more politics than Islamic. It only infers how “retarded” a person can be when it comes to understanding Islam. Utusan being UMNO’s mouthpiece, this statement has gravely backfired on the party.

UMNO is shuffling the race-cum-religious cards for political mileage much to the chagrin of right-minded Malaysians. The next general election will only see more non-Muslim and Muslim votes going to the Opposition. Is UMNO aware that DAP, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and other non-Muslim parties and in fact all the non-Muslims in the country recognise that Islam is the official religion of this country?

Has DAP-led Pakatan government in Penang become anti-Islam in Penang since the takeover of the state in 2008? In fact the state government of Penang has done more than BN for the Muslims in Penang just within 4 years to build up a better image of Islam in the state.

“We have no problems with DAP-led government,” commented a mosque Imam in Penang. “They support us and we don’t see them against Islam,” he added. Continue reading “CONFIRMED! Umno NOT able to unite the Malays: Latest hudud card backfires”

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Dr M mempunyai ‘migrant mentality’

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 10, 2012

10 OGOS — Dr Mahathir Mohamad telah membuatkan rakyat sebenar Sabah merasa tersinggung kerana kenyataan beliau (Dr Mahathir) bahawa pendatang yang telah lama datang ke Sabah diberikan kerakyatan kerana mereka sudah pandai berbahasa Melayu. Alasan untuk memberikan kerakyatan kepada pendatang ini amat memilukan kita sebagai rakyat negara yang merdeka dan kononnya sedang menuju kemajuan setanding dengan negara-negara maju.

Ketua Penerangan Parti UPKO, Datuk Donald Peter Mojuntin, telah membidas Dr Mahathir kerana tidak sensitif terhadap perasaan rakyat khususnya rakyat Sabah. Bekas Perdana Menteri itu tidak memahami bahawa isu pendatang yang terlalu ramai ini akan menjejaskan keselamatan negara kita akhirnya. Kini seramai 27 peratus daripada keseluruhan rakyat Sabah terdiri daripada pendatang asing khususnya dari Filipina. Ratusan ribu yang lain yang menetap di Sabah secara haram dan tidak ada apa-apa tindakan dari pihak kementerian keselamatan dalam negeri. Ianya amat mengerikan.

Buat kita dari semenanjung yang datang ke Sabah terpaksa menggunakan passport antarabangsa atau kad pengenalan. Tetapi itu tidak mengapa kerana itu merupakan salah satu syarat sebelum Sabah menyertai persekutuan ini. Kita ikut sahajalah undang-undang itu. Tetapi ratusan ribu rakyat asing yang datang tanpa izin dengan senang lenang duduk di Sabah tanpa apa-apa tindakan terhadap mereka.

Mereka (pendatang) ini telah diberikan kad pengenalan melalui projek IC yang telah membiarkan pendatang asing masuk ke Sabah tanpa dokumen perjalanan sah dengan bebas tanpa sekatan. Sebab mereka diberikan kad pengenalan ini tidak lain dan tidak bukan adalah kerana politik BN untuk mengekalkan kuasa dan perkara ini berlaku dari zaman pemerintahan Dr Mahathir. Continue reading “Dr M mempunyai ‘migrant mentality’”

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DAP says shares stand on Islam with first three PMs

The Malaysian Insider
Aug 09, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — DAP said today its position is that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam the official religion and that this is consistent with the views of the country’s first three leaders, as it came under a series of attacks from Umno-aligned religious scholars who have said it is haram for Muslims to back the opposition party because it is against an Islamic state.

The party’s parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also pointed out what he called the hypocrisy of the attacks as Umno’s fellow Barisan Nasional (BN) partner MCA had been attacking the DAP for being a pawn of PAS and opening the door to the eventual implementation of Islamic law.

Earlier today the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadership also jointly slammed Utusan Malaysia for stoking “religious conflict” after the Umno-owned paper ran a controversial report on its front page yesterday titled “Haram sokong DAP” (Forbidden to support DAP).

“The DAP stand that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as official religion is no different from that of first three Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein,” Lim (picture) said in a statement today.

Utusan Malaysia has been spearheading reports to suggest DAP was anti-Malay and anti-Islam while the MCA has been slamming its main rival for Chinese votes as a party bent on selling out the interests of non-Muslims to benefit PAS and its aspirations to eventually set up an Islamic state. Continue reading “DAP says shares stand on Islam with first three PMs”

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Umno’s final solution

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 09, 2012

AUG 9 — Umno’s solution is something like the Nazi final solution. It thinks it can achieve national unity by pitting one race against one another. Today the Chinese, tomorrow the Indians and later all other non-Malay Malaysians. Eventually, it will apply the same gas-chambering treatment to the Malays who dared challenge and reject Umno.

Indeed Umno has already shown its inclination to political cannibalisation. The Malays who oppose and reject Umno are classed as either not having sufficient Malayness or apostates. The world of Malaysia is as how Umno defines it.

The majority of us reject this fascism.

And so we have a former PM of this country defining as citizens of this country those who came over to Sabah only on the basis of being able to speak Bahasa Malaysia and had stayed in Malaysia for a number of years. They stayed because the enforcement authorities allowed them to. They stayed because the enforcement authorities were corrupt.

This is a devious argument, simplistic and yet flippant of the matter at hand. It would have traction if the hordes of immigrants had legally come over to Malaysia, registered properly and abided by the laws of the country relating to naturalised citizenship. Then we would have exercised our SOVEREIGNTY as an independent nation having complete legal powers to determine the quantity and quality of those who want to become Malaysian citizens. Continue reading “Umno’s final solution”

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Religion, the new last refuge of the desperate

— The Malaysian Insider
Aug 09, 2012

AUG 9 — Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, the essayist Samuel Johnson once said, referring to false patriots. In Malaysia, we can add religion to that list of refuge for those desperate to be relevant.

PAS has done it, saying a vote for the party is the ticket to paradise.

And now for the past two days, Umno-run Utusan Malaysia has been quoting Islamic scholars and a mufti to reinforce the point that it is “haram” (forbidden) for Muslim Malaysians to vote for the DAP and its allies because the party is against an Islamic state or hudud law.

It would seem that the ruling coalition, which has expressed confidence in getting back the states and parliamentary majority that it lost, is now resorting to religion to regain support from the Muslim majority in the country.

It would also appear that everything the establishment does these days smacks of desperation, from the arrests of whistleblowers to trotting out so-called religious leaders to attack political opponents. Continue reading “Religion, the new last refuge of the desperate”

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Apa masalahnya kalau DAP menang bersama PAS, PKR?

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 08, 2012

8 OGOS — Kali ini saya kembali menyebut satu isu yang pada saya sepatutnya menjadi satu isu basi dan tidak lagi diperbesarkan. Isunya ialah isu penyertaan saya dan beberapa orang Melayu dalam Parti Tindakan Demokratik, DAP.

Saya tahu ini merupakan isu yang tidak berapa laku lagi sekarang kerana orang ramai tahu yang momokan Umno dan penyokongnya dalam isu ini semakin hari semakin pudar dan sudah tidak diterima oleh rakyat yang ramai.

Saya tidak berminat untuk melayan momokan ini, tetapi terlalu ramai sahabat dan rakan-rakan yang menyokong saya menyertai DAP ini meminta saya menyebutnya sekali lagi, setidak-tidaknya buat kali terakhir. Mereka yang menyokong saya meliputi penyokong-penyokong saya dari seluruh negara dan ramai di antara mereka meminta saya menulisnya lagi.

“Penyokong Umno ini malas berfikir. You mesti beritahu mereka selalu, kalau tidak mereka lupa. Orang yang malas berfikir mesti diperingati selalu sebab mereka payah untuk memahami isu-isu penting ini. Mereka ini tidak pernah dilatih untuk berfikir sebaliknya dilatih untuk mengangguk sahaja,” kata beberapa orang yang menyokong saya menyertai DAP walaupun mereka ini hanya sekadar penyokong yang akan memberikan undi kepada DAP. Continue reading “Apa masalahnya kalau DAP menang bersama PAS, PKR?”

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May 13 film: ‘Govt’s fear-mongering tool’

Anisah Shukry | August 8, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Analysts say that that the upcoming film’s depiction of the May 13 riots will spark unhappiness among the public and can be seen as a move to cow Malay voters.

PETALING JAYA: The government-backed film Tanda Putera is Barisan Nasional’s way of instilling fear into the hearts of the rakyat during the run-up to the country’s 13th general election, according to a political analyst.

The film was originally slated for release on Sept 13 but was now expected to reach cinemas in November following controversy over its depiction of the May 13, 1969 riots – an incident largely seen as a stain on Malaysia’s multiracial history.

“There are definitely political motives behind the movie, in terms of it being released near the general election,” political analyst Ong Kian Ming told FMT.

“One of the primary reasons for the release of the movie is that it is part of a larger picture involving fear-mongering – to create a sense of fear among the Malay community that if BN was to lose the next general election, it would lead to a repeat of the May 13 incident,” he said.

The race riots four decades ago had been sparked off by an election setback for the Malay-dominated ruling alliance. The riots lasted several weeks, with the death toll said to be 196.

But the USCI University lecturer stressed that Malaysians had largely moved on from the incident and it would have little impact on urban voters in particular. Continue reading “May 13 film: ‘Govt’s fear-mongering tool’”

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AG: BN liability or asset?

By Teoh El Sen | August 3, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

While the Attorney-General has been described as being the ‘biggest liability’ to BN, he can also be seen as an ‘asset’, depending on who you talk to.

PETALING JAYA: Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail may be a “major liability” for the Barisan Nasional’s 13th general election goals, but he is also a key BN weapon, according to analyst Lim Teck Ghee.

Lim, the Centre for Policy Initiatives director, said that this was because the top civil servant is also “widely perceived to bend the law and manipulate the legal system in favour of the government’s interests”.
“He is a major liability but he is also seen as a key BN asset… remember that he both controls the prosecution and advises the government; hence he is in a strategic position to engage in selective prosecution and in practising political partisanship,” Lim said in an e-mail.
Continue reading “AG: BN liability or asset?”

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Malaysians should do a Sherlock Holmes to find out the “who, when and what“ about the origin of the canard of “urination” at the flagpole of the Selangor Mentri Besar’s house provoking May 13 riots in 1969

Yesterday, I categorically denied the preposterous claim which had appeared previously on the official Facebook page of the May 13 movie, Tanda Putra, that I had urinated on the flagpole in front of the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence during the May 13 riots in 1969.

The facebook had carried a photo portraying me being manhandled, with the caption:

“Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris, (Lim Kit Siang had urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house)”

The photo was posted in the album in the Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).

Although the photo and caption have since been removed from the movie’s official page, Malaysiakini had captured a screenshot of the earlier posting.

I noted two very pertinent postings from the 69 comments since Malaysiakini reported my denial, viz:

RealSoldier witness513 its simply absurd to accuse LKS performing such despicable act because the flagpole is not freely accessable to the public as it is located within the compound of the MB’s house which is fenced and manned by a jaga. BY accident I was at the MB’s on that fateful day from 3.00am to 5.30am on 514 following rescue operations by the security forces.

FREE The picture of LKS being grabbed and manhandled by officers was taken at the Kota Kinabalu old airport terminal. Those officers in white-shirt uniforms were immigration officers when Harris Salleh ordered the deportation of LKS from Sabah. This writer was inside a plane and saw from the window LKS being put put in a wheelchair and wheeled to the plane for deportation back to KL.

Continue reading “Malaysians should do a Sherlock Holmes to find out the “who, when and what“ about the origin of the canard of “urination” at the flagpole of the Selangor Mentri Besar’s house provoking May 13 riots in 1969”

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BN’s promise: Tribespeople, idiots or citizens?

— Rama Ramanathan
The Malaysian Insider
August 05, 2012

AUG 5 — Why am I so disgusted with the Barisan Nasional (BN) government?

I take my citizenship seriously. I was born in Malaysia. My siblings were born in Malaysia. My mother spoke only two languages: her mother tongue, Tamil and Malay. My father was a civil servant for decades. I’m a Malaysian.

My school friends are in Malaysia. My parents were cremated here, their ashes loosed in the waters off Port Dickson. My siblings, my wife’s siblings and most of our friends live in Malaysia. I desire to live nowhere else. I am entrenched.

My upbringing and my beliefs cause me to think of everyone as my neighbour. I take seriously God’s command to love Him with my every breath, thought and action, and that I should love my neighbour as myself. I’m a citizen.

I remember daily the story the Messiah told in answer to the question: Who is my neighbour? In the story of the Good Samaritan, the neighbour is the one in need, the downtrodden everyman, to whom I am to show mercy.

I recognise that government and leadership are necessary. Without “people in charge,” such as police, lawmakers and government officials, we’ll have anarchy: bandits will reign; our cities will be like Baghdad, Beirut, or Bogota.

Those cities exemplify what happens in the absence of good government: the strong, the well-funded, and the bigots will suppress the unarmed. Mubarak did it in Tahrir Square. Najib did it in Merdeka Square.

The purpose of a government is to create, maintain and promote conditions of equity, harmony and equality through the right use of authority. A government is judged by how it treats the weak. How shall we judge the BN government? Continue reading “BN’s promise: Tribespeople, idiots or citizens?”

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Tanda Putera’s “urination” episode – downright lie and dangerous falsehood

Despite his 1Malaysia signature slogan, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is continuing to allow his UMNO/Barisan Nasional election campaign machineries to disseminate downright lies and dangerous falsehoods calculated to incite racial hatred and undermine national unity with the approach of the 55th National Day and 49th Malaysia Day celebrations.

One of these “downright lies and dangerous falsehoods” flooding the UMNO/BN social media and exploited by the 10,000 UMNO/BN cybertroopers is that I had caused the May 13 riots in 1969 through shouting the most racist slogans in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969.

Despite my firm denial of these wild and reckless allegations in my speech in Parliament on March 22, 2012, declaring that I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969, these “downright lies and dangerous falsehoods” have continued to make their rounds in leaps and bounds in the cyberspace.

On 20th July 2012, Malaysiakini carried the following report “New May 13 movie courts controversy”: Continue reading “Tanda Putera’s “urination” episode – downright lie and dangerous falsehood”

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Umno terdesak sehingga hilang segala pertimbangan

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 03, 2012

3 OGOS — Pertuduhan terhadap Rafizi Ramli, pengarah strategi PKR, bersama bekas kakitangan Public Bank dua hari lepas masih menjadi bualan di mana-mana.

Tetapi itu sudah menjadi biasa apabila pilihanraya sudah mendatang, kerana itu adalah salah satu cara pihak yang memerintah untuk menakut-nakutkan sesiapa dari membuat pembongkaran lebih banyak lagi terhadap kepincangan sistem dan moral politik pihak Barisan Nasional pada hari ini.

Pihak BN tidak akan berhenti setakat itu sahaja. Ada berita dan tanda-tanda isu perkauman akan dimainkan oleh BN dengan lebih hebat lagi dalam masa yang terdekat ini. Saya diberitahu yang pihak tertentu yang menyokong BN, khususnya Umno, sedang bekerjasama dengan sebuah badan dan jabatan kerajaan untuk menerbitkan makalah dan buku-buku untuk memberikan tumpuan untuk mengaitkan Lim Kit Siang dalam trajedi 13 Mei 1969 dahulu.

Kita faham yang pihak BN sedang terdesak seperti orang yang sudah tersandar ke dinding dalam usaha mempertahankan kuasa. Menakut-nakutkan orang Melayu merupakan satu-satunya jalan yang tinggal bagi BN untuk memberikan perlindungan terhadap kuasa yang ada di tangan mereka.

Akhir-akhir ini ada kecenderungan pihak BN akan menumpukan politik perkauman dengan menjadikan Lim Kit Siang sebagai “punching bag” bagi mengelakkan rakyat khususnya orang melayu dari menyokong parti-parti pembangkang khususnya DAP. Continue reading “Umno terdesak sehingga hilang segala pertimbangan”

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Negri Sembilan: Feudings in the federation

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 03, 2012

AUG 3 — A little bit of history.

In the 14th century, Sumatran people from the land of the Minangkabau began to settle down in the state today known as Negri Sembilan. They came through Malacca and reached places like Rembau. The Minangkabaus brought their superior civilisation to bear on the local asli tribes. Intermarriages between them resulted in the creation of the Biduanda clan. The Biduanda clan eventually emerged as the successors of the ruling tribes and established the rule that territorial chiefs of Negri Sembilan are only selected from within the Biduanda clan.

The chieftains were originally called penghulus and later as undang. Before the arrival of the paramount chief, Negri Sembilan formed part of the Johor Sultanate which gave the title Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan to the paramount chief.

The name Negri Sembilan was first used in the 16th century to refer to the federation of states founded and opened by these Minangkabau people in the Malay peninsula. In ancient times, the Malay kingdom encompassed states and territories in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and even Kampuchea. People moved from one location to another with much ease and fluidity, recognising no artificial boundaries. The Malay kingdom was one united by kinship, common religion, customs and language.

Internecine feuds seemed to beset Negri Sembilan right from its beginning when powerful chiefs from the Biduanda clan jostled for paramount leadership. To avoid the debilitating feuds, the chiefs sent for a uniting figure from Pagar Ruyung. From that day until now, the paramount chief is known as Yam Tuan Besar or Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan.

While the feuds of old are settled, its modern-day version of a house perpetually divided resurfaced in the form of intense political rivalries. The old chiefs of old are now replaced by Umno warlords. Continue reading “Negri Sembilan: Feudings in the federation”

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Race to the bottom in Malaysia

By William Barnes | Aug 2, 2012
Asia Times Online

BANGKOK – As Malaysia approaches a general election season, opposition politicians claim Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling party and government are stoking racial politics to gain a popular edge with the ethnic Malay majority.

A year after the World Bank warned Malaysia over its acutely debilitating race-based brain drain, veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has said the government is compounding the damage by blatantly playing the “race card” in the run up to the next election, which must be called by next April.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s ambitions to lift the economy out of its disappointing holding pattern can go hang when it fears losing for the first time since independence in 1957, he has argued. “They talk all the time about being world beating and wanting to get all Malaysians behind the economy … but it all goes overboard when the focus is on the Malay identity.”
Continue reading “Race to the bottom in Malaysia”

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Are We Celebrating Barisan Nasional Day?

By Kee Thuan Chye | Tuesday, 31 July 2012 09:53
Malaysian Digest

BARISAN Nasional (BN) has already started campaigning for the general election – even though it has not yet been called – and the Election Commission (EC) is doing nothing about it.

What’s more, BN is campaigning on a large scale and everyone can see it. It has done this by unabashedly hijacking the National Day celebrations and using it to promote its own propaganda.

The theme for the celebrations is Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) which does not sound at all like a National Day theme. It instead speaks for BN, which desperately wants to tell the rakyat that it is a government that delivers.

The National Day theme song is glaringly partisan – but for BN, not for the country. Also entitled ‘Janji Ditepati’, it highlights BN’s latest initiatives and hints that it’s time for the rakyat to show its gratitude to BN.
Continue reading “Are We Celebrating Barisan Nasional Day?”

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Perilous in Perak

By Sakmongkol AK47 | July 31, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 31 — Perak has 24 parliamentary seats. In 2008, BN won 13 of those seats. Most of them were won on the slimmest of margins. So the argument goes, the opposition also won on slim margins. The counter argument is, the victory by the opposition was won on the courage of convictions while the victory of BN was won as a result of the erosion of confidence. These are two different things. One won as a result of convictions is hard to slip back while the one won as a result of erosion of convictions is extremely difficult to sustain.

Will the people of Perak forget that during the reign of Zamri, he has given out more land than Nizar did when the latter was MB? Many landless people who were without land titles and who have worked the land got it during Nizar’s stint as MB. What wasn’t told was that more Malays got their titles too during Nizar’s time.

During Umno’s time the grant of land was the hijacked prerogative of Umno divisional heads, Umno reps and merciless pengerusi JKKK. During Zamri’s time, more land was given to companies and cronies rather than people.
Continue reading “Perilous in Perak”

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What do the polls really tell us?

— Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 30, 2012

JULY 30 — You will perhaps allow me to provide a brief commentary on your story “Actual voter sentiment not shown in opinion poll, say analysts”, The Malaysian Insider, July 28.

As any knowledgeable person will tell you, it is pointless to argue about small variations, such as rises or falls of two or three per cent, in a leader’s popularity as indicated by polls such as that of the Merdeka Center.

National trends are assessed on the basis of carefully chosen samples of less than 2,000 respondents. The margin of error in such cases is usually around three per cent.

So it is pointless to argue about small variations.

What is significant about the Merdeka Center’s figures, what has been shown to be a consistent pattern for some time now, and what cannot be denied is this: that those polls show a dramatic gap “across the board” between popular support for (or positive perceptions of) the prime minister and support for his party.

If the PM consistently rates at around 60 per cent (three out of five) and the party at around 40 per cent (or two out of five expressing themselves as “satisfied”), something interesting may be happening. Some interesting forces and perceptions are likely to be “in play.” Continue reading “What do the polls really tell us?”

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Malaysia water “crisis” signals fierce fight for richest state

By Siva Sithraputhran
KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 | Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:03am IST

(Reuters) – The surprise statement came during a rainy spell and when the seven dams in Malaysia’s richest, most populous state were full.

Reserves of treated water in the opposition-controlled state of Selangor were perilously low, said the water company supplying a population of 7 million in the country’s main industrial base. It was seeking approval to start immediate rationing.

For many it looked like politics, not water, was behind the problem – a measure of how high tensions are running ahead of national elections that must be called by early next year and which may be the closest in Malaysia’s history.

“Of course, it’s a political conspiracy,” said Teresa Kok, a member of the Selangor state executive council and opposition member of parliament.
Continue reading “Malaysia water “crisis” signals fierce fight for richest state”