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Why the electoral arithmetic in Malaysia does not allow the Chinese voters to be “kingmakers” in 13GE

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad seems to have reverted to his early years in politics when, to use his own words, he was fighting for the Malay cause per se when he was young and his thoughts were that of an inexperienced politician.

Mahathir made this open admission in a dialogue with the Malaysian Student Executive Council of the United Kingdom in September 1995, when making the case for a Malaysian rather than a Malay approach, arguing that to realize the goal of Bangsa Malaysia, Malaysians should start accepting each other as they are regardless of race or religion.

This was the fourth year of his promulgation of Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia in February 1991.

Now Mahathir seemed to have gone full circle, repudiating not only Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020, but fighting only for Malay rather than Malaysian cause.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Barisan Nasional members not to make statements that will hurt the feelings of other races or BN component parties.

But how many in UMNO will listen to Najib? Continue reading “Why the electoral arithmetic in Malaysia does not allow the Chinese voters to be “kingmakers” in 13GE”

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Najib out-flip flops Abdullah with window for July GE closed after scuttling of polls date by Bersih 3.0 rally despite the bravado confidence of “14-0” BN thrashing for PR

Confirmed!

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has out-flip flopped his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi.

The window for July for the 13th General Election has closed as Najib’s earlier plans for June or July to get his own mandate as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia has been completely scuttled by the disastrous government misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28.

In fact, public alienation over the government’s misjudgment and mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 had intensified and aggravated over time with the series of irresponsible and insensitive developments post-Bersih 3.0, including:

• Najib’s wild and baseless allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an opposition coup attempt to topple the government;

• the ridiculous and unacceptable establishment of a purported “independent advisory panel” headed by former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar who had publicly expressed his prejudicial views to find out what went wrong on April 28 when a peaceful gathering of hundreds of thousands of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender for a common national cause for a clean election could be marred by incidents of violence and brutality after 3 p.m that day;

• the shocking statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in Parliament that “salt and plastic mineral water bottles” – which were all that some of the Bersih 3.0 protestors were “armed” with to defend themselves from reckless police firing of teargas and chemically-laced water cannon – could topple the Najib government; and

• the continued targeting, victimization and demonization of Bersih 3.0 organisers and Pakatan Rakyat leaders, in particular the Bersih co-chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan – even to the extent of the demand in Parliament that Ambiga be “hanged” as a traitor when what had motivated her, the Bersih 3.0 organisers, the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who responded to the Bersih 3.0 rally were the highest and noblest sense of love and patriotism for Malaysia. Continue reading “Najib out-flip flops Abdullah with window for July GE closed after scuttling of polls date by Bersih 3.0 rally despite the bravado confidence of “14-0” BN thrashing for PR”

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Kingmakers in GE13 are not the Chinese voters but all Malaysian voters, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans to unite and bring about peaceful transition of federal power to end corruption, cronyism and abuses of power

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is up to his past mischief yesterday when he played the race card to create racial suspicion, mistrust and fear in his effort to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional from being voted out of Federal power in the 13th general election and replaced by Pakatan Rakyat.

Saying that the Chinese voters are the kingmakers for the 13th general election, Mahathir said the Chinese voters will decide who forms the government after the general election as the Malays are divided among three parties.

He claimed that “the Malay majority has split itself into three and become the minority” and the opposition PKR, PAS as well as UMNO have “to cede to Chinese demands”.

As a result, “these three small Malay parties need the support of the Chinese in order to win the elections”.

He said: “Whichever party gets the support of the Chinese will win the elections.

“The fact is today all three Malay parties are trying to butter the Chinese electorate. So they become racial and cater to racial demands.”

What Mahathir said yesterday must rank as among his most irresponsible and mischievous statements, making nonsense of his Vision 2020 and concept of Bangsa Malaysia which envisioned Malaysians “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” by 2020. Continue reading “Kingmakers in GE13 are not the Chinese voters but all Malaysian voters, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans to unite and bring about peaceful transition of federal power to end corruption, cronyism and abuses of power”

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Ambiga ‘ayam tambatan’ kepada transformasi pilihanraya negara

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 28, 2012

28 JUN — Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Pengerusi bersama Bersih 3.0, sudah menjadi seorang yang paling popular dan beliau sudah pasti menjadi seorang yang “of consequence” dalam politik negara kini. Ambiga bukan seorang ahli politik dan beliau tidak bercadang dan terfikir untuk berkecimpung dalam arena yang beliau tidak pandai untuk turut serta.

Beliau merupakan ketua kepada sebuah NGO yang inginkan pilihanraya diadakan dan dilaksanakan secara bersih. Sebagai warganegara yang bertanggungjawab, beliau bersama rakan-rakan beliau dan disokong oleh majoriti rakyat yang inginkan satu pilihanraya bersih, secara tidak langsung beliau merupakan seorang yang paling berpengaruh dalam negara kita.

Perjuangan beliau di dalam NGO Bersih itu mendapat pengiktirafan antarabangsa dan beliau telah mendapat beberapa anugerah di atas peranan beliau dalam membina sebuah masyarakat yang “civil”. Beliau mendapat penghormatan untuk bertemu dengan Presiden Obama dari Amerika Syarikat yang tidak mudah di perolehi oleh ramai pemimpin negara kita. Dr Mahathir sendiri terpaksa menggunakan “lobbyist” ternama dan terpaksa membayar ber”million” ringgit untuk bertemu dengan Presiden Amerika Syarikat suatu ketika dahulu.

Tetapi oleh kerana Ambiga adalah rakyat Malaysia dan ditadbir oleh Umno Baru pula, Ambiga menjadi sasaran dan kecaman dari pihak pemerintah negara kerana di Malaysia ini, sesiapa yang tidak sehaluan dengan tindakan kerajaan, berpotensi untuk dihina dan dinesta. Yang terakhir sekali, seorang ahli Legislatif Umno Baru, Mohamad Aziz, telah meminta Ambiga digantung kerana bertindak mengadakan perhimpunan Bersih 3.0 pada 28 hb April yang lalu. Continue reading “Ambiga ‘ayam tambatan’ kepada transformasi pilihanraya negara”

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No more damning admission of double failures – Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia in Vision 2020 and Najib’s 1Malaysia policy

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad today chalked up a new record of sorts when his speech at a forum on business and politics could not be a more damning admission of double failures – firstly of his concept of Bangsa Malaysia in his Vision 2020 announced 21 years ago in 1991 and the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy proclaimed just more than three years ago.

In Vision 2020, Mahathir envisioned having only one “Bangsa Malaysia” in 2020 with the people “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” while Najib’s 1Malaysia envisaged a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.
Both visions and objectives have been smashed into smithereens when Mahathir said that the next general elections, the second last to be held before the expiry of the 30-year Vision 2020, will centre on race as “Malaysia has become more racial than ever”.

Mahathir said:

“In this country, we are very racist, even more than before. The next election is going to be about race. Who gives what, who gets what based on race.”

Ever since the political tsunami of the 2008 general election, UMNO leaders and strategists have increasingly become more and more blatant and unscrupulous in playing the race and religious cards to try to wrest back political power, making a total mockery of the Vision 2020 concept of “Bangsa Malaysia” and Najib’s 1Malaysia objective. Continue reading “No more damning admission of double failures – Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia in Vision 2020 and Najib’s 1Malaysia policy”

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The Malay middle ground: Pakatan has most to gain

— Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 27, 2012

JUNE 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is writing Barisan Nasional’s political obituary by focusing on micro electoral targets while refusing to confront macro policy matters.

The window to call election before the month of Ramadan has come and gone. The next possible window, which starts from September, is small and very much constrained by the Hari Raya Haji celebration on October 26, Deepavali festival on November 14, and the subsequent annual year-end floods.

Having sounded the war drums for at least two years since 2010 and making it very loud since late last year, Najib was visibly scared to pull the trigger at last, to the chagrin of many Umno leaders who want to get over it and done with.

As Najib calibrates his perfect moments, which I believe have long gone and will never return again, the nation was left in a lurch with numerous policy paralyses, flip-flops, and stalemates. Continue reading “The Malay middle ground: Pakatan has most to gain”

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Egypt: The 12 million losers!

By Ali Ibrahim
Al Arabiya News
27 June 2012

Simply following the comments of activists and observers on social networking websites during the press conference held by the head of Egypt’s electoral commission, Farouk Sultan, who was forced by law to issue a lengthy legal preamble before the election result was announced, was fun in itself. These activists, in their nervous state, posted various comments claiming that Sultan’s narrative or use of certain words meant that Shafiq would be declared the winner, only to return later to post other comments claiming that the indications now suggested that Mursi would be declared victorious! Some comments accused the head of the electoral commission of being sadistic, because he did not immediately announce the election result but instead left everyone on the edge of their seats as he reviewed the work of the electoral commission and the difficult conditions it operated under.

Despite a flood of conspiracy theories, claims of voter fraud, and talk about secret understandings being reached behind closed doors, no one was sure of the name of the winning candidate until Farouk Sultan announced that Mohammed Mursi had won ahead of Ahmed Shafiq. Hence a new chapter in post-25 January Egypt has begun, and the challenges of this stage are no less difficult than the previous transitional period, which lasted for around 16 months and was full of turmoil.

There was a winner and a loser, each with a large support base who voted for them, and neither can cancel the other out. The end result was decided by a difference of less than 3 percent, or about 900 thousand votes out of a total of roughly 26 million according to the commission’s figures, including more than 800 thousand invalid votes. In the end, everyone must accept the outcome of the ballot box even if the difference is so small. Continue reading “Egypt: The 12 million losers!”

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Hanya ‘mutu mengenal manikam’, bukannya ‘Muthu mengenal Maniam’

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 26, 2012

26 JUN — Saya bersetuju dengan Dr Mahathir bahawa kita tidak perlu mengikut jejak cara Arab Spring untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan, kerana diantara Malaysia dan negara-negara arab itu berbeza. Di negara-negara Arab itu tidak ada demokrasi dan saya bersetuju dengan Dr Mahathir itu.

Kita tidak mahu terjadinya Arab Spring disini untuk mendapatkan kuasa. Kita memilih untuk mendapatkan kuasa melalui pengiraan undi didalam pilihanraya yang diadakan secara demokratik. Tidak ada siapa yang mahukan kekecohan dalam politik ini, lebih-lebih lagi pihak pembangkang.

Kerana tidak mahu berlakunya Arab Spring itulah, rakyat mendesak kerajaan untuk membetulkan sistem pilihanraya di negara kita ini. Negara kita telah melalui pilihanraya demi pilihanraya sejak merdeka tetapi rakyat sekarang sedar bahawa sistem pilihanraya dan demokrasinya yang telah terlaksana selama ini tidak sampai ketahap yang munasabah. Ianya berat sebelah dan sentiasa memberikan kelebihan kepada BN sahaja. Continue reading “Hanya ‘mutu mengenal manikam’, bukannya ‘Muthu mengenal Maniam’”

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What Malaysians want in 13GE is not a revolution but a normal democracy where peaceful transition of power at national level is accepted by Najib, UMNO and all stakeholders

Yesterday, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad questioned the “clamour by some quarters to push for a revolution to topple the government when the latter was already giving a lot of priority to the people’s interests”.

In a forum entitled “Discussions with a statesman – The commitment of graduates will be a catalyst for national progress” at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Mahathir said there was no necessity for Malaysians to act outside of the law to topple the government as Malaysia had a democratic system that was much better than many countries affected by the “Arab Spring”.

Mahathir is in his classic and irresponsible self spouting perverse illogic, deliberately and mischievously couching the present phase of the democratic battle in Malaysia in misleading and tendentious context by invoking the images of bloodshed, chaos, violence and riots by referring to “a push for a revolution to topple the government”.

Only very recently, there was the monstrous lies about the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28 as a “coup attempt by the Opposition to topple the government” when hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender gathered peacefully in a common national cause for a clean election for a clean Malaysia, armed at most with salt and water mineral bottles to defend themselves against irresponsible police firing of tear gas and chemically-laced water cannons.

But whether on April 28 or in the run-up to the next general election, there is no “push for a revolution” in Malaysia. Continue reading “What Malaysians want in 13GE is not a revolution but a normal democracy where peaceful transition of power at national level is accepted by Najib, UMNO and all stakeholders”

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Monkey see, monkey do

Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Jun 21, 2012

As the 13th general election looms on the not-too-distant horizon, the incumbents seem to flinch at giving us all a date when it will be held.

Indeed, the coast seemed clear for them to set a date some months back. But three letters, N, F and C, some related cows, cars and condos – and the predictable disappearance of few million ringgit of our tax money – started to screw things up.

Of course, no sooner had the minister involved been chastised and then, of course, cleared and forgiven, then the mainstream media got all that off our radar.

But, as the saying goes, it doesn’t rain, it pours. Continue reading “Monkey see, monkey do”

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Fixed term not ‘fairer’ without clean polls, says Pakatan

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 22, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — A fixed five-year parliamentary term would not be a “fairer” system for any party without the guarantee of a clean and fair election process, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers said today.

Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang said minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had “missed the point” when the latter made the suggestion for a fixed term yesterday, pointing out that many other countries that still allow the early dissolution of Parliament do not misuse that power.

“The problem in our case is when the decision for early dissolution is camouflaged in such secrecy,” he said, referring to the current uncertainty over the date for the 13th general election.

Lim said that in other nations, adequate notice is given to all parties on the date of the polls, as well as a lengthier campaign period, to allow all election candidates enough time to woo voters. Continue reading “Fixed term not ‘fairer’ without clean polls, says Pakatan”

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Mahathir’s remarks cause for concern

— Lim Sue Goan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 22, 2012

JUNE 22 — Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has made many shocking statements after leaving office. In January 2010, he claimed that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were staged by the US government.

In a recent speech, he openly criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s liberalisation policy. He said that the government was too soft in handling the Bersih rally and warned that too much freedom risked stirring an ethnic hornet’s nest. He later implied that he was not impressed by the government’s gesture to revive a Chinese independent school in Kuantan, believing that the vernacular school system has divided the country.

We should not overly discuss Mahathir’s remarks since he is no longer in office. However, it is worrying that his remarks might trigger the nerves of the party’s hawks and conservatives, resulting in more obstacles to the work of reviving the Chinese independent school in Kuantan. Continue reading “Mahathir’s remarks cause for concern”

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‘Cock and bull’ spins: Voters must decide

Stanley Koh | June 21, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Barisan Nasional scaremongers will continue to flog Pakatan Rakyat’s ‘inexperience’, but Malaysians must use reason and logic when the time comes to choose.

COMMENT

One of the most common and irritating claims continuously harped on by the Barisan Nasional leaders during their campaign rounds is that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition had no experience in governing a multi-racial nation.

BN scaremongers in their battle cry for political survival would say the most naive and air-headed remarks such as “the nation would ultimately be bankrupt”, “ethnic tensions could flare” leading to pandemonium in the national state of affairs.

Four years have passed since the “308-electoral tsunami” when the Pakatan coalition bagged five states and formed new state governments in Perak, Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor.

Unfortunately, Perak returned to BN after a coup d’état not long after.

Indeed, “experience” is a hard teacher and even the most hard-headed pupil would not dispute this wisdom.

Those who have gone through extreme hardships, trials and tribulations can testify that experiences often gives the test before the lessons.

In this political odyssey filled with the voices of Malaysians demanding for “change,” the question is, should voters support an inexperienced coalition against an experienced 55-year-old or more ruling regime? Continue reading “‘Cock and bull’ spins: Voters must decide”

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Is Najib saying he is not prepared to accept the verdict of the electorate or ensure a peaceful transition of government if PR wins the next general election?

Threats! Threats! More Threats!

Is this all that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could think of to ensure that UMNO/Barisan Nasional wins the next general election with him firmly in the saddle as the Prime Minister?

Najib’s speech when opening the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCIM) 66th annual general meeting this morning reminds Malaysians of his infamous “fire and brimstone” presidential address at the UMNO General Assembly in October 2010.

When Najib warned the Chinese business community this morning that their assets and wealth may “evaporate” unless there is “political certainty and stability”, Malaysians are immediately reminded of his “crushed bodies, lives lost” speech at the UMNO General Assembly in October 2010 vowing that Umno would defend power at any cost in Putrajaya.

Let Najib fully explain himself – is he threatening that if UMNO/Barisan Nasional loses Putrajaya in the next general election, the “assets and wealth” of the Chinese business community could “decline and even evaporate” and is this because of his “crushed bodies, lives lost” vow that UMNO would defend power at any cost in Putrajaya? Continue reading “Is Najib saying he is not prepared to accept the verdict of the electorate or ensure a peaceful transition of government if PR wins the next general election?”

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Do you trust them?

— Ali Kadir
The Malaysian Insider
June 19, 2012

JUNE 19 — Everything begins and ends with this question: Do you trust them?

Do you trust Khaled Nordin to look after the interest of Malaysians or do you believe that the Parliamentary Select Committee was set up to regurgitate information provided by Lynas and merely rubber stamp an investment already banked in by the Barisan Nasional government?

Please bear in mind that Khaled is also the minister who believed he was doing the right thing when he froze federal loans to students at Unisel in a show a political gamesmanship that he lost.

Do you trust Rais Yatim when he tells all and sundry that only 22,000 Malaysians attended Bersih 3.0?

Do you trust M. Kayveas when he says that urban Malaysians are navel-gazers and an ungrateful bunch who only know how to whine? Continue reading “Do you trust them?”

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Malaysia’s next general election shaping up to be a battle of the coalitions

— Greg Lopez
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 19, 2012

JUNE 19 — Malaysia’s 13th general election, which must be held by April 2013, has been the most anticipated in Malaysian history, given the megatrends that are occurring in the country and the ability of the two main contenders to manage them.

Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) are the main contestants. BN — currently the longest-ruling coalition in the world — is a 13-party coalition based mainly around ethnic and regional interests. Umno is the single most important political party in the ruling coalition, dominating not only the coalition, but all major institutions in Malaysia except in the state of Sarawak. Najib Razak, son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, has led the coalition since becoming Umno president through an interparty compromise.

PR, in turn, is a new and informal coalition, set up in the euphoria of the opposition’s historical performance at the March 2008 12th general election. None of its three component parties has a clear majority, and all understand that their success is predicated on their ability to work together. PKR’s unelected leader Anwar Ibrahim leads the coalition by virtue of his ability to hold together three disparate groups — the Chinese-dominated DAP, the Islamists party PAS and his own band of largely ex-BN/Umno members. Continue reading “Malaysia’s next general election shaping up to be a battle of the coalitions”

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An open letter to Datuk Kayveas

— Tan Zhong Yan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 18, 2012

JUNE 18 — Dear Datuk Kayveas,

I, as part of a younger generation of Malaysians and a participant of Bersih 3.0, am totally disappointed with your statement which states that 99 per cent of those who went for the sit-in demonstration did not know why they were there and that they were paid. Your statement is not only absurd and irresponsible but also insulting.

If the people do not know the purpose of the sit-in demonstration, why would they want to waste their time? Were they there to get a taste of the tear gas, water cannons and how it feels to be beaten up by the police?

I would like to tell you that I was there; neither because my parents asked me to (in fact, I am the one who asked my dad to tag along) nor because I was paid. I was there because I was aware of the fact that elections in Malaysia are not clean, free or fair. I was there because I fully understand that we need clean, free and fair elections. Only clean, free and fair elections will guarantee a better future. Only clean, free and fair elections will make Malaysia a true democracy. Continue reading “An open letter to Datuk Kayveas”

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Is Mahathir trying to make the revival of Mahathirism the secret Barisan Nasional agenda in next general election?

“Dr M: Najib must be firm”

“Reforms could lead to extremism, Dr M warns Najib”

“Dr M: Reforms could spark unrest”

These are three headlines on online news portals on the latest interview by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad with foreign news agency, AFP.

Mahathir’s message is very clear.

He is fully opposed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s whole spectrum of transformation programmes although these transformation programmes have been mostly talk and no action with even severe cases of backtracking in the past three years of Najib premiership – from 1Malaysia, New Economic Model, Economic Transformation Programme to Political Transformation Programme! Continue reading “Is Mahathir trying to make the revival of Mahathirism the secret Barisan Nasional agenda in next general election?”

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Malaysia in the event of regime change

Ong Kian Ming
Malaysiakini
Jun 17, 2012

COMMENT

What happens in the unlikely event that Pakatan Rakyat wins control of the federal government after the 13th general election?

This is a question which few people have tried to address systematically. In this article, I want to highlight what I think will be the five main challenges facing a Pakatan federal government as a way to contextualise the policy options which such a government will have to address.

I have summarised these five main challenges into five ‘P’s:

*Dealing with the ‘Past’.

*Distributing ‘Power’ between the federal and state governments.

*Coming up with a new set of ‘Plans’ in the economic, political and social arenas.

*Focusing on a smaller number of ‘Priorities’ which can be delivered within 100 days and one year.

*Finding a set of ‘Procedures’ to deal with disagreements within the Pakatan coalition.

Continue reading “Malaysia in the event of regime change”

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Dr M: Najib must be firm

By Dan Martin
Free Malaysia Today
INTERVIEW
June 17, 2012

He was skeptical of Najib’s liberalising moves and suggested authorities are too soft on a rising movement demanding free and fair elections

KUALA LUMPUR: Influential former strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad has thrown his weight behind a Malaysian conservative pushback against growing calls for change, saying reform could lift the lid on ethnic tensions.

In an interview, the 86-year-old authoritarian icon expressed wariness over liberalising moves by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and suggested authorities were too soft on a rising movement demanding free and fair elections.

“We need a government that is firm. It should be fair. It should be firm,” Mahathir said in his futuristic 86th-floor office in the crown of the sky-scraping Petronas Towers high above the capital Kuala Lumpur.

His comments come after police used tear gas and water cannon in April 28 clashes with protesters demanding changes to an electoral system they view as biased.

Tens of thousands took part in the march through the capital, rattling the ruling party and triggering a wave of sharp conservative rhetoric against reform proponents.

Najib, who must call elections by early next year, has moved to soften some of the decades-old draconian security controls frequently employed by Mahathir during his 22 years in power.

But Mahathir, who retired in 2003, warned too much freedom risked stirring an ethnic hornet’s nest.

“Now that we want to be liberal, what has happened is that now we are more race-conscious than before. Today people are accusing each other of being racist,” said Mahathir, looking somewhat frail but his mind still sharp. Continue reading “Dr M: Najib must be firm”