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Bersih to cops: Name route, we will follow

Joseph Sipalan | Jun 30, 11
Malaysiakini

Despite the string of arrests and dire warnings from the police, the Bersih 2.0 committee today sought to make peace with the men in blue and asked for their help to make their July 9 rally a peaceful event.

Bersih 2.0 chief S Ambiga said they had a “very friendly” half-hour meeting with inspector-general of police Ismail Omar, where the latter expressed his concerns over public safety if the rally were to go on as planned.

“We told him that we will do everything we can to make sure it is peaceful…

“That is why we suggested that the police decide on the route we should take and we will follow their directions,” she told journalists at the Bukit Aman police headquarters after the meeting Ismail.

Ambiga, who was accompanied by Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah during the meeting, said the IGP was silent on their suggestion, but remains cautiously optimistic. Continue reading “Bersih to cops: Name route, we will follow”

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Najib GTP in past two years a depressing failure

I posed a supplementary query in Parliament to Question No. 5 to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Senator Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon who had boasted about the great success and achievements of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Government Transformation Programme to date.

Puncturing his balloon, I pointed out that the purpose of Najib’s GTP is to restore national and international confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions but the reality in the past two years had been the very opposite – with even greater plunge of public and international confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions like the police, judiciary, elections commission and the anti-corruption commission, the MACC.
Continue reading “Najib GTP in past two years a depressing failure”

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Police in grip of Bersih hysteria

By Terence Netto
Jun 27, 11 | MalaysiaKini

COMMENT It’s now quite clear that the Bersih 2.0 march planned for July 9 is not such a threat to public order and security as the fret and fever the government has generated over the whole affair.
It has driven elements of our security establishment nuts.

How else to explain the arrests of 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists in Penang late Saturday, apparently under section 122 of the Penal Code which arraigns rebellion against the king?

That the likes of the professorial Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, the PSM chair, the affably rotund S Arutchelvam, party secretary-general, and the mild-mannered Dr D Jeyakumar, their sole MP in Sungai Siput, are capable of plotting something as bizarre as rebellion against the king – as well believe that Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali has all along been an agent of PAS. Continue reading “Police in grip of Bersih hysteria”

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Academic consensus on unfair elections: Reinforcing the Case for BERSIH’s March

By Dr Lim Teck Ghee | 27 June 2011
CPIASIA

Many Malaysians may be unaware of the considerable research work by social scientists – both local and foreign – that have unequivocally concluded that the country’s record on free and fair elections has been abysmal. Analysis of this remarkable record of trickery, manipulation and gerrymandering by first the Alliance, followed by Barisan Nasional (BN), goes back for more than 50 years – in fact soon after the country received its independence.

Dishonest election conduct takes the following main forms:

  1. the manipulation of electoral boundaries or gerrymandering

  2. the vast disparity of voter numbers among the constituencies

  3. the contamination of electoral rolls with phantom voters and other fraud

  4. the grossly unfair use of the governmental machinery and resources in support of ruling party candidates

  5. impersonation, multiple voting, ballot stuffing and other frauds in polling, counting and tabulation

  6. the rigid and opaque postal voting system

  7. the short campaigning period and selective restriction on campaign freedom

  8. the biased and distorted official media coverage

  9. the inadequate and outdated regulations on election expenses and funding

  10. the ineffectiveness of or limitation in judicial remedy

Continue reading “Academic consensus on unfair elections: Reinforcing the Case for BERSIH’s March”

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Pua slams ‘ridiculous’ Bersih arrests in Penang

By Melissa Chi
June 26, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — DAP’s Tony Pua hit out today against the arrests of 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members, saying the police were out to “create an atmosphere of intimidation” ahead of the Bersih rally planned for July 9.

DAP and their allies in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) support the rally calling for free and fair elections.

“I think it is completely ridiculous. Anyone out there conducting any political act is immediately arrested despite the fact that they are not inciting violence, not holding arms, not doing anything of that sort that will threaten the security of the people around them. Continue reading “Pua slams ‘ridiculous’ Bersih arrests in Penang”

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How far is BN willing to go?

By Othman Wahab
June 26, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 26 — The strong-arm tactics have started and the trumped-up charges have started to flow.

I can imagine the headlines in tomorrow’s papers: “30 detained for waging war against King” and “Group trying to revive communism.”

And of course, the name of Chin Peng will be all over. I must say the Najib administration and the police are quite “imaginative.” They have gone one step further than the dictators and autocrats in Algeria or Syria, reviving the bogey of communism. Continue reading “How far is BN willing to go?”

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Hisham defends Bersih arrests, says activists had ulterior motives

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 26, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

HULU SELANGOR, June 26 — Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has defended the arrest of 30 Bersih activists in Penang under Section 122 of the Penal Code, saying today there were reasons to justify the police action.

The police said they are probing an alleged attempt by some Bersih activists to revive communism and are investigating 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members, including Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jayakumar for “waging war against the Yang DiPertuan Agong.”

Hishamuddin, who is the Home Minister, said that he had yet to be briefed in detail on the arrests, but stated that preliminary reports showed that the activists had “other agendas” in mind. Continue reading “Hisham defends Bersih arrests, says activists had ulterior motives”

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Najib: Bersih ploy to stop BN ‘momentum’

By Hazlan Zakaria
Jun 26, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak explained away the planned mammoth Bersih 2.0 rally as nothing more than an attempt to “wrest back political momentum from the BN”.

“It has nothing to do with a memorandum to the Agong. It has nothing to do with allegedly crooked elections,” alleged the PM.

“They resolved that if they want to stop us, this is how they can wrest back the political momentum,” he told over 2,500 delegates attending the PPP annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur today. Continue reading “Najib: Bersih ploy to stop BN ‘momentum’”

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Have cops work with Bersih, Lim tells Hisham

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 25, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should direct the police to end its “hostile” stance towards the Bersih rally and work with its organisers instead, Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP parliamentary leader said mutual co-operation between the two would ensure a peaceful assembly on June 9. Continue reading “Have cops work with Bersih, Lim tells Hisham”

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Don: Cop’s Bersih ban is against constitution

By Hazlan Zakaria
25 June 2011 | MalaysiaKini

Renowned constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari, hit out at the cops for their unilateral banning of the Bersih 2.0 rally planned for July 9, pointing out that the police crackdown on the gathering is not only illegal but unconstitutional.

“They have acted illegally because they have publicly stated that they are not going to issue a permit. As a public authority they can only make a decision after an application has been made,” the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) lecturer told Malaysiakini. Continue reading “Don: Cop’s Bersih ban is against constitution”

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Bersih 2.0, Perkasa and the ‘middle-ground’ fallacy

By Pak Sako
June 24, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 24 — Based on my analysis, I believe the government faked the plane crash and demolished the World Trade Center North Tower with explosives. The South Tower, in a simultaneous but unrelated plot, was brought down by actual terrorists. — Randall Munroe, on taking the middle ground, in xkcd.com

An article entitled “Bersih 2.0 — is there a third alternative?” appeared in The Malaysian Insider. The author, Anas Zubedy, attempted a clever-clogs proposal.

He argued that since Perkasa has vowed to take to the streets with the Bersih 2.0 gathering, to prevent disruptions, why not go for the “centrist’s” solution to everything: take the magical “middle-ground approach” and call off both demonstrations in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading “Bersih 2.0, Perkasa and the ‘middle-ground’ fallacy”

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Another day, another bogeyman raised

by Farah Fahmy
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 24, 2011

JUNE 24 — In all the furore surrounding the Bersih 2.0 rally, I couldn’t help noticing that all the things and events used to scare us are being dragged out yet again, presumably so that we would all be scared of history repeating itself and therefore stick to the status quo.

First up is of course the spectre of May 13. Time and again self-serving politicians bring this up to remind us to toe the line. You know what? I was born after 1969. I didn’t live through those events, and all I know about May 13 I learnt through my own endeavours.

If May 13 is so important to us, and if we’re always exhorted to remember it, then why, if we so much as try to discuss what happened then, are we told NOT to do so because it may be detrimental to our racial sensibilities? Continue reading “Another day, another bogeyman raised”

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Seeing crackdown, Pakatan battens down hatches

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 23, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders are bracing themselves for a possible repeat of the infamous 1987 Ops Lalang crackdown when election watchdog Bersih 2.0 stages its mass protest in the capital this July 9.

The leaders, many of whom were among those arrested during the crackdown, told a press conference today that they feared the government would again flex its muscles and embark on a spree to detain all leaders participating in the rally.

“As former Ops Lalang detainees, we must ask if they are preparing for an Ops Lalang 2,” said DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang, one of the 1987 detainees. Continue reading “Seeing crackdown, Pakatan battens down hatches”

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‘Would Hisham have arrested Onn Jaafar?’

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 23, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Lim Kit Siang has reminded Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that his grandfather, Datuk Onn Jaafar, pioneered peaceful protests in Malaysia, and called on the home minister to ensure the smooth running of Bersih 2.0.

The DAP parliamentary leader pointed out that Umno was born in 1946 out of non-violent anti-Malayan Union protests helmed by Onn, and asked if Hishammuddin thought his grandfather’s actions constituted illegal assembly.

“Would Hishammuddin have arrested his grandfather Datuk Onn Jaafar for organising peaceful mass rallies and meetings resulting in formation of Umno if the latter had been alive today?” he asked in a statement today.

Lim also slammed Hishammuddin for putting electoral watchdog Bersih on the same footing as Malay rights group Perkasa by announcing yesterday that the police would summon Bersih, Perkasa and Umno Youth for planning separate rallies on July 9.

He said while Bersih has declared its commitment to peace, the Perkasa counter-protest was “a different kettle of fish” that was “born to create strife and unrest”. Continue reading “‘Would Hisham have arrested Onn Jaafar?’”

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‘Hisham would have jailed his grandpa’

By Patrick Lee and Tarani Palani
June 23, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: Taking Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to task over his handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally issue, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang ropes in the Umno leader’s late grandfather.

“I would like to ask Hishammuddin would his grandfather be allowed to hold gatherings in Malaya (during the pre-independence period)?” he asked.

In 1946, Hishamuddin’s grandfather Onn Jaafar, along with many Malay leaders at the time, had rallied against the colonial government’s Malayan Union concept.
Continue reading “‘Hisham would have jailed his grandpa’”

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Bersih 2.0 — is there a third alternative?

By Anas Zubedy
June 23, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 23 — Bersih 2.0 is scheduled for July 9 in the KL city centre. Even now supporters are rallying people to take part. The news has gone viral; many are excited.

At the other end, Perkasa wants to retaliate by having a counter-rally with its own supporters. It is talking about a face-off to see who has the bigger group, perhaps who can shout the loudest. Both parties want to prove a point. Both parties have their right, although I see more sense if Perkasa were to organise its rally on another day, another time.

Meanwhile, a number of police reports have been made by business owners and NGOs opposing the demonstration.

Let me present a centrist’s point of view. I think both Bersih 2.0 and Perkasa should be provided an avenue to have peaceful demonstrations in a space where is non-disruptive to others. Let me explain. Continue reading “Bersih 2.0 — is there a third alternative?”

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Kit Siang offers to prove Ibrahim Ali’s Chinese threat

By Clara Chooi
June 22, 201 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang offered today to deliver a copy of Datuk Ibrahim Ali’s speech on Sunday to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Home Minister to prove that the Perkasa president had threatened the Chinese community.

Describing him as “guilty as hell”, Lim said he had watched a recording of Ibrahim’s speech and confirmed that the fiery Malay rights leader had indeed warned the Chinese to stay home and stock up on food during the planned Bersih rally this July 9. Continue reading “Kit Siang offers to prove Ibrahim Ali’s Chinese threat”

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Malaysia’s Comical Ali

By Dean Johns
Jun 22, 11 | MalaysiaKini

For a criminal regime to survive and thrive, it has to look deadly serious. So you know it’s in dire distress when it has to resort to sending in the clowns.

The most classic instance of this, as we all vividly recall, was Saddam Hussein’s employment of the man dubbed ‘Comical Ali’ for the ludicrous lies he told about the ‘victories’ of the Butcher of Baghdad, even as defeat was plainly evident for the whole world to see on TV. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Comical Ali”

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Kit Siang spells out case for July 9 rally

MalaysiaKini
Jun 22, 11

If certain quarters claim not to know why the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 needs to be held, the reasons have been provided by the BN leaders themselves within and outside Parlaiament, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today.

The first reason is contained in the Prime Minister’s Department’s written reply yesterday to DAP’s Seputeh M Teresa Kok, in which it was revealed RM1.18 billion worth of programmes and projects had been announced for Sarawak during the state’s recently concluded polls, said Lim. Continue reading “Kit Siang spells out case for July 9 rally”

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Hisham: Police to haul up rallies’ organisers

By Clara Chooi
June 22, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The Home Ministry will flex its muscles ahead of the Bersih rally next month, announcing today that organisers of all three assemblies will be hauled up by Bukit Aman today.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein also confirmed today that the three — Bersih 2.0, Umno Youth and Perkasa — would not be granted permits for their planned gatherings on July 9.

“My statement today is that all three parties will not be granted permits to gather on that date. I am saying that categorically, all three of them will not get it. Continue reading “Hisham: Police to haul up rallies’ organisers”