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Shock of my life when I woke up this morning and told that I am target of attacks on facebook for betraying the people, DAP and PR in wanting to form coalition government with BN

I got into Petaling Jaya at about 3 am this morning after the phenomenon of “ocean of black” both from the capacity and roaring crowd at the thank-voters DAP Ipoh ceramah at Chin Woo Hall and the equally-matched crowd, both in numbers and commitment to vision for a new Malaysia, outside Chin Woo last night.

But I woke up after a few hours of sleep to the shock of my life, as I was told that I have been the target of attacks on the social media, particularly facebook, for betraying the people, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat in wanting to form a coalition government with Barisan Nasional.

Because of prolonged lack of sleep, both during the 15-day 13GE election campaign as well as the four hectic days after Sunday’s Polling Day, it took me awhile to fully grasp what was happening – as I had done nothing in the past four days since outcome of the 13GE results to justify any notion that I had betrayed the people, DAP and PR in wanting to form a coalition government with Barisan Nasional.

This morning, hard-core DAP loyalists were first the target of attacks because of newspaper headlines quoting me as saying as if I had agreed with the idea of forming a coalition government with BN – of wanting to replace MCA in BN! As one DAP loyalists described his experience on fb, viz:

早上到巴剎,

一片罵聲,而且句句對準行動黨,

林吉祥更是慘被”PKHKC”,
Continue reading “Shock of my life when I woke up this morning and told that I am target of attacks on facebook for betraying the people, DAP and PR in wanting to form coalition government with BN”

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Putting the record straight

R. Nadeswaran
The Sun Daily
8 May 2013

The outburst in cyberspace reflects the anger of ordinary Malaysians who view such audacious campaigns as insulting their intelligence.

On a similar note, will the same newspapers publish an advertisement paid for by well-minded citizens which reads: “Can you trust a party which is led by a crook?”

This question can only be answered by none other than owners of publishing houses who have accepted and consented to publish those questionable and code-breaking advertisements.

– R. Nadeswaran, The Sun, April 25

I am disappointed with him because when I was president of the 4As, I sided with him when he took on the issue of corruption in the outdoor advertising industry. At that time, I received death threats after speaking up against illegal billboards in the Klang Valley.

After a year, the situation has remained unchanged. However, he has moved on from his anti-corruption stand to talking about advertising, but his own newspaper has accepted and carried the same advertisement.

– Datuk Vincent Lee, The Star, May 3

IN most newspapers, editors tell reporters to “write for the readers in simple language that they understand”. Readers of this newspaper will attest that we make a conscious effort to get rid of bombastic and pompous language. Continue reading “Putting the record straight”

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Kit Siang denies ‘Utusan’ article, says it proves paper’s seditious act

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — DAP today denied the allegations in an Utusan Malaysia article today, with the party’s advisor Lim Kit Siang saying that it was a self-admission by the Umno-linked paper that it had committed sedition.

“It is an admission that Utusan has committed seditious, incendiary and inflammatory articles and they justify by saying that ‘siapa dulu memulakan provokasi’ (who started the provocation).”

“We deny completely that we had anything to do with the various allegations made in this defence…we did not provoke them. We had nothing to do with all the things reported in this article,” Lim said at a press conference at the party’s headquarters here, referring to a piece titled “Siapa mula provokasi dahulu?” (Who started the provocation first?) by the Malay-language paper’s columnist Zulkifli Bakar. Continue reading “Kit Siang denies ‘Utusan’ article, says it proves paper’s seditious act”

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‘Stop blaming one community for BN’s bad performance’

BY CLARA CHOOI
The Malaysian Insider
May 08, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today demanded a stop to all attempts at racialising last Sunday’s polls by blaming a particular community for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) poor showing at the ballot boxes.

“This is unfair and unhelpful,” he said in a statement here.

The former prime minister, who stepped down in favour of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2009 after he led BN to lose its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, agreed that following Sunday’s polls results, there was a pressing need for the country to undergo the process of national reconciliation and unity.

He also called on the opposition to accept and respect the election results, despite the fact that they had lost by slim majorities amid claims of fraud and widespread irregularities in the polling process.

“Malaysians deserve stability and certainty that can only come with finality and closure from this election,” he said in his message to the opposition.

“Let us move on in the interest of all Malaysians.” Continue reading “‘Stop blaming one community for BN’s bad performance’”

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Don’t repeat the 1987 ‘fire’, Kit Siang tells Najib

Ram Anand
Malaysiakini
May 8, 2013

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has warned Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak not to “play with fire” by making “race-baiting” statements targeted at the Chinese after the Sunday polls.

Kit Siang said that Najib is risking a repeat of the racial tension that emanated prior to the 1987 Operasi Lalang.

Although Kit Siang did not elaborate on the matter, in 1987 there had been an allegation, which Najib had denied, about waving a keris and a pledge to “bathe it with Chinese blood” plus a combination of other factors that caused racial tension with the Chinese community.

“Najib must ask himself, does he want to be a prime minister for all Malaysians?” Kit Siang asked.

Kit Siang said that whilst Najib might be making those statements to appease the Umno grassroots, the latter mustn’t lose sight of the 1Malaysia concept that he had espoused four years ago. Continue reading “Don’t repeat the 1987 ‘fire’, Kit Siang tells Najib”

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7-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – DAP membantah Berita Harian, akhbar kawalan UMNO-BN, yang menghasut orang Melayu supaya membenci DAP dan kaum-kaum lain di Malaysia

DAP membantah Berita Harian, akhbar kawalan UMNO-BN, yang menghasut orang Melayu supaya membenci DAP dan kaum-kaum lain di Malaysia. Fitnah yang mereka lemparkan semakin tidak masuk akal, malah menghina daya pemikiran orang Melayu.

Fitnah terbaru datang daripada Berita Harian edisi Ahad hari ini 28 April 2013 dalam satu komentar yang ditulis oleh seorang yang bernama Mahfar Ali. Tajuk rencana itu sahaja sudah menunjukkan sikap hipokrit dan pembohongan media kawalan UMNO-BN tersebut. Tajuk “Pertahan prinsip kesederhanaan, tolak ekstremisme” cuba berselindung di sebalik kebencian penulis kepada perpaduan antara kaum yang dianjurkan oleh DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat.

Dia menulis: “Apakah nanti demonstrasi jalanan dan gerakan LBGT (Lesbian, Gay, Biseksual dan Transgender) yang menjadi budaya Barat, akan turut diterima di negara ini? Inilah kemelut dua parti diketuai pemimpin Melayu yang diperkudakan DAP – parti cauvinis Cina yang dasar pentadbirannya di Pulau Pinang dilihat lebih banyak menekan orang Melayu. Barangkali juga DAP menyertai pakatan pembangkang sebagai mainan politiknya untuk memecahbelahkan orang Melayu dan Islam.”

Berita Harian sebagai lidah UMNO cuba menggambarkan bahawa PKR dan PAS sebagai parti orang Melayu – kerana UMNO hanya faham politik yang berasaskan kaum semata-mata, ia tidak faham demokrasi, hak asasi, keadilan sosial. Dan kedua-dua parti itu dianggap oleh UMNO sebagai mudah diperalatkan oleh DAP.

Jelas Berita Harian buta sejarah dan enggan menerima hakikat kebenaran. DAP adalah parti politik yang sah yang menjunjung dan mempertahankan Perlembagaan Persekutuan 1957. Ini bererti DAP menerima Perlembagaan yang mendaulatkan agama Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan dan pada masa yang sama melindungi hak agama-agama lain untuk diamalkan secara bebas.
Continue reading “7-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – DAP membantah Berita Harian, akhbar kawalan UMNO-BN, yang menghasut orang Melayu supaya membenci DAP dan kaum-kaum lain di Malaysia”

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Fear-mongering ads against Pakatan likely to backfire, says industry

BY EMILY DING | APRIL 24, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — Barisan Nasional’s (BN) advertisement campaign in newspapers is peddling racial fear against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) but could backfire in the May 5 general election, say industry insiders and opposition politicians.

A few of the print advertisements play on Chinese fears of PAS’ Islamist influence on the one hand, and Malay fears of DAP influence on the other, with the slogan: “A vote for DAP is a vote for PAS,” and vice versa.

An advertisement in the MCA-owned The Star depicts a rocket shooting into the sky only to reveal the PAS moon logo in its wake, with the message: “The power behind DAP is PAS. First their flag. Tomorrow their fundamentalist principles?”

“The ads look like they are designed to cause anxiety and fear that the Chinese would lose their culture and education if they vote for DAP,” Masjaliza Hamzah, from the Centre of Independent Journalism (CIJ), told The Malaysian Insider.

“There’s zero concept. Just accusations with no tact or respect. The ads are very patronising, an insult to the people’s intelligence,” said 32-year-old copywriter Kevin, who declined to give his last name.
Continue reading “Fear-mongering ads against Pakatan likely to backfire, says industry”

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Satu lagi fitnah UMNO tentang 13 Mei untuk menaman rasa benci orang Melayu terhadap DAP; tetapi orang Melayu sudah bersedia untuk perubahan bersama Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13.

DAP menjadi mangsa fitnah Berita Harian, akhbar harian kawalan UMNO, hari ini Rabu 24 April 2013 apabila ruangan Rencana di muka surat 25 yang ditulis oleh “Lanang” telah mendakwa, tanpa sebarang bukti, bahawa DAP adalah “parti perkauman yang memperalatkan hak sama rata”. Malah rencana itu menuduh “Masa kempen pilihan raya 10 Mei 1969, DAP ghairah mainkan isu perkauman. Hasilnya sengketa 13 Mei 1969”.

Satu lagi fitnah UMNO tentang 13 Mei untuk menaman rasa benci orang Melayu terhadap DAP; tetapi orang Melayu sudah bersedia untuk UBAH bersama Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13. Semakin ramai orang Melayu sedar bahawa DAP bukan pencetus tragedi 13 Mei 1969.

Saya ingin jelaskan bahawa ini adalah pembohongan dan penipuan. Saya telah banyak kali jelaskan bahawa tuduhan itu tidak benar sama sekali kerana DAP tidak mencetuskan peristiwa 13 Mei 1969. Malah saya telah menuntut kepada kerajaan Malaysia supaya membuat siasatan terbuka dan pendedahan awam sepenuhnya tentang rusuhan kaum 13 Mei 1969 kerana masih banyak rahsia yang tidak didedahkan oleh pihak berkuasa. Tetapi sehingga sekarang tidak ada mana-mana pemimpin kerajaan BN yang berani berbuat demikian.

Kemudian, tulisan Lanang itu dalam Berita Harian mendakwa pula “DAP hanya benarkan PAS dan PKR bergasak sesama sendiri di tujuh kawasan. Yang untungnya DAP kerana berjaya melihat Melayu pecah” dan “Akhirnya yang rugi adalah Melayu. Yang berkuasa dan memencilkan kuasa Melayu adalah pihak lain. Kita dapat tulang, depa dapat isi.”
Continue reading “Satu lagi fitnah UMNO tentang 13 Mei untuk menaman rasa benci orang Melayu terhadap DAP; tetapi orang Melayu sudah bersedia untuk perubahan bersama Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13.”

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TV3 and other TV station should cancel live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless similar facililities are also extended to Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will unveil the Barisan Nasional (BN) election manifesto in a speech at 8.30 pm tonight, which is to be broadcast live by TV3 and other TV stations.

This is a gross abuse of power and the latest in the long list of violations of the Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M)’s Election Integrity Pledge to conduct free, fair and clean elections which Najib signed with such fanfare some 45 days ago.

If the Barisan Nasional election manifesto is to be given live coverage over TV3 and other TV stations, similar facilities should also be extended to the Pakatan Rakyat’s election manifesto.

TV3 and other TV stations should cancel the live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless they are prepared to offer similar facilities to the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto. Continue reading “TV3 and other TV station should cancel live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless similar facililities are also extended to Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto”

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Tsu Koon can redeem himself if he is prepared to take a honest and honourable stand on Wednesday’s Cabinet to demand the total suspension of the May 13 film Tanda Putra or to submit his resignation as Cabinet Minister

I feel very sorry for the Gerakan President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr.Koh Tsu Koon but he has only himself to blame for the avalanche of public odium heaped on him in the last 48 hours when he did the indefensible – defending the private screenings of the May 13 riots film, Tanda Putera.

Tsu Koon claimed that the private screening of the controversial Tanda Putera are allowed because the Cabinet decision to postpone its screening is restricted to public screenings only.

What sycophancy, hypocrisy and sophistry!

No wonder Cabinet Ministers are not the most highly regarded and respected people in Malaysia – and the Najib Cabinet makes history as the Cabinet which beats all previous Cabinets in having the most useless “deadwood”.

Even the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin in their recent interviews took turns to scalp the Ministerial “deadwood” in the Najib Cabinet.

Mahathir fully endorsed Daim’s condemnation of the Najib Cabinet as “carrying too much deadwood” with “most are already past their use-by date”, saying caustically: “I agree entirely. Lots of deadwood should be chopped down and thrown away and new trees grown.”
Continue reading “Tsu Koon can redeem himself if he is prepared to take a honest and honourable stand on Wednesday’s Cabinet to demand the total suspension of the May 13 film Tanda Putra or to submit his resignation as Cabinet Minister”

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Are we really independent?

P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Mar 29, 2013

QUESTION TIME On the eve of the general election, it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on how independent are we really.

What a moment it must have been when Malaysia (then Malaya) achieved independence from the British on Aug 31, 1957 and the flag of the newly independent country was raised.

At five years old, I was too young to remember what it was like then but have vague memories of my brother getting lost on a family visit to Kuala Lumpur town during the celebrations and being taken care of by policemen, before he was reunited with our parents.

It must have held so much hope for Malayans of all races and religions who put aside their differences to work for the formation of a new nation.

Tunku Abdul Rahman declared himself the happiest prime minister in the world and was proud of the fact that independence was achieved via negotiation without a single drop of blood being shed.

To be sure there were differences and in the years before independence there was much debate and agonising over how a disparate country of Chinese and Indian immigrants, many of whom had nowhere else but Malaya to call home, were to be integrated with the majority Malay community.

But there was a plan and everyone stuck to it and the country became independent. The communist threat had been beaten back although it would take until the sixties before they were more or less completely vanquished.

We were independent but how free were we? And did not independence mean freedom as well? Continue reading “Are we really independent?”

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Koh defends private screenings of Tanda Putera

by Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
Mar 28, 2013

Private screenings of the controversial film on the May 13, 1969 racial riots, Tanda Putera are allowed because the cabinet decision to postpone its screening is restricted to public screenings only.

“There have been some private screenings for people to make some judgments and decisions.

“As long as there is no public screening, for that is the decision that was made by the cabinet,” Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Koh Tsu Koon said today.

Asked why was this allowed despite charges that the film was racially divisive, the de facto unity minister questioned such a charge.

“I don’t know how many screenings there have been, but has it led to racial strife? I don’t know. You better check the facts before reporting on that,” Koh told reporters.

Information Minister Rais Yatim had previously said that Tanda Putera’s premier has been deferred because of ‘inappropriate’ scenes in the film. Continue reading “Koh defends private screenings of Tanda Putera”

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The most probable date for long-awaited Parliament dissolution is Monday, March 25 although it could be later or even earlier

The most probable date for the long-awaited dissolution of the 12th Parliament is Monday, March 25 although it could be earlier in the next ten days or even later.

The automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Assembly on midnight on 26th March 2013 should under ordinary circumstances be the last cut-off date for the dissolution of Parliament, but these are not ordinary times, and Parliament can be dissolved earlier in the next 10 days or even later, exhausting another 32 days to lead up to the unprecedented automatic dissolution of Parliament on midnight April 27, 2013.

It is precisely because these are not ordinary times that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has put the country for nearly four long years on an election mode ever since he became the sixth Prime Minister on April 3, 2009, spending more time campaigning to get an elected mandate of his own instead of uniting and inspiring Malaysians with an overarching vision and governing the country efficiently and professionally, with integrity and full commitment to democracy, human rights and the environment.

If we are in ordinary times, the 13th general elections would have been held already and Malaysians would have known whether Najib has finally his own mandate to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia or whether Malaysia has got a new Pakatan Rakyat federal government in Putrajaya with a new Prime Minister in the person of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Continue reading “The most probable date for long-awaited Parliament dissolution is Monday, March 25 although it could be later or even earlier”

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A beast out of time

By Stan CH Lee | 13 March 2013
The Drawing Is On The Wall

If there is any doubt that the time is up for BN, it will be swiftly removed by watching the actions of its minions trying to show their strength and power at the most primitive, gutteral level possible. In scenes that belongs more to a WWE ring than on the streets of Malaysia, the BN hoodlums and hired thugs try to intimidate sensible Malaysians by acting in the most violent, disgusting ways. They have been raining stones and bottles on PR Ceramahs. They have gatecrashed talks and thrown chairs around. They have attacked PR buses. They have tried to kick down the glass doors at LGE’s office. They have even thrown fists at Nurul.
They have also set up their very loud ceramahs in the immediate vicinity of planned PR talks with the intent of drowning out the opposition with their superior sound systems. Everything about them is big, loud, brash. All these were done with the Police simply watching. Tacitly approved by the silence of the BN leadership.
Continue reading “A beast out of time”

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BN government has again made history by funding a racist film on May 13 riots, “Tanda Putera”, but screening it like an anti-national underground movie only to selected audience

The UMNO/Barisan Nasional government of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has chalked up another dubious record – spending RM4.8 million of taxpayers’ money to fund a racist film on May 13 riots, Tanda Putera, but screening it like an anti-national underground movie only to selected audience.

On Feb 18, on Najib’s directive, some 3,000 Felda settlers were treated to a closed-door screening of “Tanda Putera” at the Putra World Trade Centre at a function officiated by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The press was excluded.

Last night, the film was privately shown to a group of 600 students in an “invite-only” screening at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIA).

The media was banned from the screening. A The Malaysian Insider reporter was turned away from attending the 9pm screening last night, “which appeared to be tightly guarded by security personnel”. Continue reading “BN government has again made history by funding a racist film on May 13 riots, “Tanda Putera”, but screening it like an anti-national underground movie only to selected audience”

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Spending your money to lie to you

— Abdul Samad Sulaiman
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 09, 2013

MARCH 9 — How would you react if someone used your money to put together a plan to deceive you? I repeat used your money.

Well, that is what the Najib administration did when it paid millions of ringgit in taxpayers’ money to right-wing bloggers in the United States to write articles damaging to Anwar Ibrahim on sites such as Huffington Post, etc. Essentially, the government used OUR money to plant fictitious reports about the opposition leader.

There is something very disturbing when leaders who swear to respect law and order and whom we hope would have the moral spine to navigate this country on the path of what is right would agree to promoting falsehood and slander. And use government funds at that!

But for me even more upsetting is the fact that this tactic of funding the factory of lies and deceit is happening on our shores and now targetted at the Malaysian audience — you and me. Continue reading “Spending your money to lie to you”

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Revoking citizenship status for who?

— The Malaysian Insider
Mar 07, 2013

MARCH 7 — While the country’s attention has been focused on the military offensive to get rid of Sulu gunmen in Sabah’s east coast, Umno-controlled media TV3 and its sister stations are highlighting demands calling for politician Chua Tian Chang’s citizenship to be reviewed and revoked.

Demanding citizenship to be revoked is now new in Malaysia. Other groups have asked the same for Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan for her call for electoral reforms.

Now the PKR vice-president, popularly known as Tian Chua, is the latest to get that treatment for allegedly questioning who is behind the Lahad Datu standoff and violence.

This comes at a time when both sides say the issue should not be politicised as security forces need to focus on getting rid of the Filipino militants who want to claim Sabah in the name of the Sulu sultanate.

Now what if the shoe is on the other foot? Will TV3 report it and devote 15 minutes of airtime to cover such events?

Have they covered testimony of Umno officials involved in Project IC — the citizenship-for-votes caper now being investigated by a royal commission of inquiry (RCI)? Continue reading “Revoking citizenship status for who?”