Posted on

Why is it so difficult to declare State of Emergency in flood-hit areas?

– Lokman Mustafa
The Malaysian Insider
25 December 2014

What are the prerequisites for the proclamation of a State of Emergency to be made in an area severely hit by natural disaster?

To my knowledge, such a proclamation is a formal step for local officials to receive assistance from the federal administration.

In the US, a state of emergency is issued when a disaster occurs that requires State aid to help alleviate damages.

The declaration also enables the governor of a state to make resources immediately available to rescue, evacuate and provide basic needs in affected areas.

Although the state of emergency declaration does not restrict citizen movements or activities, access to affected areas may be limited due to concerns for public safety.

The declaration is revoked when support is no longer needed for the affected areas. Continue reading “Why is it so difficult to declare State of Emergency in flood-hit areas?”

Posted on

December 29 Kelantan State Assembly special sitting to implement hudud will be a point of no return for both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat

The December 29 Kelantan State Assembly special sitting to implement hudud will be a point of no return for both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

The stand of the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn were crystal clear, that hudud laws are at variance with Malaysia’s Constitution that Malaysia is a secular state.

This was also the position of the other MCA and MIC founding fathers of the nation, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan – as well as Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu who was the second MCA President in 1958 and subsequently left MCA and became the second President of Gerakan from 1969 – 1980.

Indisputably, this was also the position of all the founding fathers of Malaysia from Sabah and Sarawak.

If the Kelantan UMNO Assemblymen are allowed to vote in support of the proposal to implement hudud at the Kelantan State Assembly special sitting on Dec. 29, the whole character and basis of Barisan Nasional would have undergone its most radical transformation in the history of the ruling government coalition in the country.
Continue reading “December 29 Kelantan State Assembly special sitting to implement hudud will be a point of no return for both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat”

Posted on

Kit Siang warns BN may retake Kelantan

By Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
1:00PM Sep 28, 2014

Amid a backlash against PAS over its teetering in the Selangor crisis, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has warned that PAS-led Kelantan government may fall into the hands of BN.

Lim said this would be the case if the 4.5 percent vote swing against PAS and by extension Pakatan Rakyat, is replicated in other constituencies in the state.

“If Pengkalan Kubor happens (in all of Kelantan), Pakatan will only get 20 seats and BN will capture 25 seats.

“That means the power to rule in Kelantan would be lost,” he told a DAP fundraising dinner in Petaling Jaya last night.

Lim’s warning comes a week after PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat warned that the Islamic party’s support among local Kelantanese had fallen below 50 percent, according to a post-mortem by the party’s central committee. Continue reading “Kit Siang warns BN may retake Kelantan”

Posted on

Najib’s voodoo economics

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 11, 2012

AUG 11 — Why is the government fudging over the issue of giving back what it owes the Kelantan government? That’s RM7.4 billion. The deal and agreement was signed between the Kelantan government and the federal government represented by the first chairman of Petronas, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Why the double talk? Why the need to form a special committee overseeing the payment of oil money owed? Is it because Umno is so accustomed to playing the role of the rent seeker?

I have asked earlier, wouldn’t it save public funds if the government asks Tengku Razaleigh what the agreement entails? He is still Umno, right? So why is he treated with mistrust? Najib was carrying his bag when he was working for Tengku Razaleigh.

And why is it the federal government implicitly mistrusts the Terengganu government by controlling the oil royalties that should be given to Terengganu? During Abdullah Badawi’s time, the appointment of the oil money was effectively controlled by Patrick Lim and his cohorts. Terengganu’s money was being managed by people at the Federal level because the Terengganu folks won’t know how to handle the money.

So you have the floating mosques, the crystal mosque, the Monsoon Cup complexes, a village consisting of a constellation of RM1 million holiday homes in Pulau Duyung and all that. Every kilometre, you have grandiose mosques built where polyclinics are more needed. You have ample number of mosques in Terengganu. Continue reading “Najib’s voodoo economics”

Posted on

The tyranny of the Umno media

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2012

AUG 6 — I haven’t watched TV3 for a very long time. During the weekend I found myself without my laptop and I don’t own any iPad either. So with nothing to do, I found myself having to watch the propaganda mouthpiece of the Umno/BN government.

What I saw confirmed what I have been saying for a long time. It’s a one-sided communication means whereby the government of the day, because it can, by virtue of controlling the federal government, spread lies and deliberate disinformation and cuckold the minds of the public.

Immediately you are bombarded with what Umno and BN is doing. It is clear Umno/BN does not want an enlightened and informed public. What it wants is to glorify what little achievements the PM accomplished —distributing zakat from the bank the government owns (meaning if PR wins, it can do the same), frying murtabak here and distributing the delicacy to seemingly starving people. Are we not ashamed to see so many people are poor in the PM’s backyard and then we are subjected to his hypocritical speech about what Allah likes and doesn’t like. It is just an elaborate PR exercise extolling the form rather than substance. Continue reading “The tyranny of the Umno media”

Posted on

Ku Li delivers, what has Umno to offer?

Free Malaysia Today
05 Nov 2010

GUA MUSANG: Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah believes that loyalty has no expiry date so long as the candidate does not go back on his promises.

This was reflected in Galas when Barisan Nasional (BN) wrested the state seat from PAS by a bigger majority of 1,190 votes, nearly double the majority PAS won in the 2008 general election.

Leading the charge was Razaleigh, fondly known as Ku Li, who is no alien to the voters in Galas, which comes under his Gua Musang parliamentary seat.

He has proven to the BN, particularly Umno, that the party need not spent money to win votes, need not promise the stars and the moon to convince the people, and need not show its power by implementing projects.

Razaleigh showed that the only way to win over the hearts and minds of the voters is by being loyal and sincere to the people. Continue reading “Ku Li delivers, what has Umno to offer?”

Posted on

Eight reasons why Pakatan lost

Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Nov 5, 10

The BN deservedly should claim and savour yesterday’s victories. The combined gains in Galas and Batu Sapi show significant swings across ethnic minorities, which proved to be decisive in determining the final outcome.

This is the first major turning point in the political stalemate between the BN and Pakatan Rakyat among all of the 13 by-elections since March 2008.

From the ground, it was clear that the BN had the advantage in both seats, and I expected both wins. The results, however, are even larger than expected. Continue reading “Eight reasons why Pakatan lost”

Posted on

When the people are high on peyote…

Kee Thuan Chye
Nov 5, 10
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

The results of the two by-elections yesterday are portentous. No matter what analysts may say of their being isolated cases, or their being local stories with no bearing on the national saga, the implications could be deeper than some would care to admit.

Despite the decayed and fallen bridges in their villages, Sabahans stood squarely behind BN and returned its candidate to the parliamentary seat of Batu Sapi with an even bigger majority than in 2008.

They rejected the opposition candidates, one of whom was a former Sabah chief minister. He came off with the least number of votes and ended up a poor third to the PKR man. His Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) hoped to be a viable challenger to BN at the next general election, but after this defeat, it looks pretty unlikely.

It didn’t seem to matter to the Sabah electorate that the rotten bridges might reflect a rotten system. They were happy with the status quo.

And from the way it looks, they’ll be happy with it too at the next general election. By then, you can bet that those bridges would have been repaired.

In Kelantan, PAS lost its state seat of Galas to Umno, and that result was a definite letdown. Losing by a margin of 1,190 brought it close to a disaster. It looked like the Malays were flocking back to Umno, thanks perhaps to the rhetoric of the recent Umno general assembly. And the Chinese too, which was rather unexpected. Continue reading “When the people are high on peyote…”

Posted on

Nazri insists Kelantan not entitled to oil royalty

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 – The Parliament was in uproar this afternoon when Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz poured oil on the fire raging over the Kelantan oil royalty issue by insisting that the PAS-governed state has no legal right to demand the payment.

While winding up the Supply Bill debate, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department explained that former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had not specifically used the term “royalty” when debating the Petroleum Development Bill in 1974 that established Petronas and agreements with the various oil-producing states to receive 5 per cent of the oil revenues.

“The agreement was made as a promise so that future administrations will respect it. It is a promise but not a right and his son, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is respecting this promise by giving goodwill payment to Kelantan,” Nazri told the Dewan Rakyat.
Continue reading “Nazri insists Kelantan not entitled to oil royalty”

Posted on

Who is lying – father (2nd PM Tun Razak) or son (6th PM Najib Razak)?

I asked in Parliament today – “Who is lying – father (second Prime Minister Tun Razak) or son (sixth Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak”?

This was during the committee stage debate on the Prime Minister’s Department on the 2010 budget in Parliament.

On 3rd November, while replying during question time, Najib told Parliament that from a legal aspect, states such as Kelantan and Trengganu are not entitled to oil royalties for petroleum produced “off-shore” – as they are only entitled to oil royalties if the petroleum is drilled from its water.

Najib said:

“The offshore oil operations in their waters are defined as an area not more than three nautical miles, which is measured starting from the low watermark or the shoreline of the state.
Continue reading “Who is lying – father (2nd PM Tun Razak) or son (6th PM Najib Razak)?”

Posted on

Najib – act on Nik Aziz’s initiative and restore proper Federal-Kelantan State government relations starting with RM1 billion oil royalties payment to Kelantan

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should act on the initiative of the Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s initiative and restore proper and just Federal-Kelantan state government relations based on justice and fair play to the people of Kelantan uninfluenced by party differences between the Federal and state governments – and in line with Najib’s 1Malaysia motto.

Two days ago, the Kelantan Mentri Besar and the Minister for International Trade and Industry and Kelantan Umno liaison chief, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad jointly kicked off a programme to promote tourism in Kelantan. Continue reading “Najib – act on Nik Aziz’s initiative and restore proper Federal-Kelantan State government relations starting with RM1 billion oil royalties payment to Kelantan”