The ghosts of Mahathirism
By Stanley Koh | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
Is Mahathirism back with a vengeance?
Recent events do make it seem like the Najib regime has decided to adopt the former prime minister’s authoritarian style in saving its flagging political fortunes. It has resorted to using draconian laws and shameless propaganda in the face of an awakening electorate and increasing exposures of its misdeeds.
The government seems to have ignored the strong signal given by the 2008 election result that Malaysians want more democratic space. And what was Bersih 2.0’s July 9 rally if not a reaffirmation of that demand?
But instead of using the occasion to promote his much-vaunted liberalist image, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak seemed to have done what Dr Mahathir Mohamad would have done—crush them and damn what the world says.
Continue reading “The ghosts of Mahathirism”
AirAsia Moves Corporate HQ from KL to Jakarta
By Asia Sentinel
23 July 2011
With all the troubles he has had over the last two months, the confirmation Friday that AirAsia, arguably Malaysia’s most vibrant private company, is moving its headquarters out of the country to Indonesia is one more blow.
Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s group chief executive, confirmed the decision in Tokyo Thursday, saying the move is an effort to upgrade his company’s image as a regional Southeast Asian airline rather than just a Malaysian carrier.
“I don’t know whether Najib has been told or not,” said a business associate of Fernandes in Kuala Lumpur. “But why should Tony care? There are solid business reasons for moving to Jakarta.” Continue reading “AirAsia Moves Corporate HQ from KL to Jakarta”
Public sees Najib as guilty in Scorpene deal, says Pakatan
By Clara Chooi
July 23, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders today warned Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the move to deport French lawyer William Bourdon last night has only confirmed his guilt in the eyes of the public.
They told the prime minister that chasing Bourdon out of Malaysia would not absolve him of blame but, instead, would resurrect the ghost of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu.
Altantuya, who was killed in 2006 and blown up with C4 explosives, has been linked to the government’s controversial RM7 billion Scorpene submarines purchase from French defence company DCNS which is now under probe in France. The purchase was made while Najib headed the Defence Ministry.
Bourdon, who is handling the case in France, was held by immigration officers yesterday morning upon landing at the KLIA in Sepang from Penang where he had briefed an audience on the progress of the probe. Continue reading “Public sees Najib as guilty in Scorpene deal, says Pakatan”
Bersih 2.0 rally – a basketful of faux pas by BN Government, before during after and still ongoing!
If someone had been assigned beforehand to a special task to script the worst-possible scenarios for the Najib administration in relation to the July 9 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for fair and free elections, nobody could be so creative as to pre-plan the basketful of faux pas committed by the Barisan Nasional government before, during and after “709” and still ongoing.
Before
The basketful of faux pax before 709 included:
1. Arbitrary declaration of Bersih 2.0 as unlawful.
2. Ban on Bersih T-shirts and paraphernalia, to include even yellow T-shirts, coupled with indiscriminate arrests.
3. Police and government disrespect to the Yang di Pertuan Agong who had met with Bersih 2.0 leaders and suggested a compromise of a stadium rally instead of a march – accepted by Bersih 2.0 but reneged by the authorities. Continue reading “Bersih 2.0 rally – a basketful of faux pas by BN Government, before during after and still ongoing!”
Kit Siang labels Najib, Hisham ‘instant jokes’ over Economist black-out
By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 20, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 – Putrajaya’s decision to black-out portions of international magazine The Economist’s latest issue has backfired on the prime minister and home minister who both are now the target of jokes worldwide, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today.
The veteran opposition lawmaker recommended that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also overhaul the home ministry led by the latter’s cousin Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and appoint as officers in charge those who were more tech-savvy and up-to-date on current affairs.
Lim poked fun at the Najib administration for blotting out large segments of the weekly magazine’s July 16 edition that covered the Bersih 2.0 rally earlier this month, despite the article being also available online . Continue reading “Kit Siang labels Najib, Hisham ‘instant jokes’ over Economist black-out”
The political impact of Bersih 2.0
By Johan Saravanamuttu
Free Malaysia Today
July 20, 2011
The BN is still haemorrhaging from the Sarawak state election of April 16, where it lost the urban vote. Bersih 2.0 shows a continuing slide.
COMMENT
The repercussions of Bersih 2.0 will no doubt be profound. It has already been dubbed as Malaysia’s “Hibiscus Revolution”. The question that is now uppermost in the public imagination is whether the current government will also suffer a severe blow for its inept handling of the event.
Bersih started out in 2006 as a movement of civil society forces and political parties calling for clean and fair elections. Its demands for cleaning up the electoral rolls, reviewing postal votes, including allowing for voting from abroad, fair access to the media, the elimination of corrupt practices are nothing radical or revolutionary and yet the government’s resistance to it has allowed the opposition parties and those not in support of the present government to easily latch on to a ready-made platform for galvanising support.
Bersih’s first political rally on Nov 10, 2007 saw some 40,000 Malaysian streaming into the heart of Kuala Lumpur, setting a benchmark for peaceful political protest in Malaysia. Continue reading “The political impact of Bersih 2.0”
Scorpene subs: The French edge closer to Najib
John Berthelsen
Malaysiakini
Jul 20, 11
The noose could be tightening on one of Malaysia’s greatest military procurement scandals, the US$1 billion purchase of French-built Scorpene submarines, commissioned by then-Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak in 2002.
The latest developments come at a time when Najib, as prime minister, toured Europe, meeting with Queen Elizabeth and Pope Benedict XVI in an effort to repair an image battered by an ugly crackdown on July 9 against tens of thousands of protesters asking for reforms of Malaysia’s electoral system, which is regarded as rigged to keep the ruling national coalition in power.
The scandal allegedly involves French politicians, the giant state-owned defence contractor DCNS and politicians and military procurement units across the world.
The scandal netted a company owned by Najib’s close friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, €114 million in “commissions”, according to testimony in Malaysia’s Parliament. Some of the money is rumoured to have been kicked back to French and Malaysian politicians. Continue reading “Scorpene subs: The French edge closer to Najib”
Najib, the Queen and the Pope
By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat
July 19, 2011
Marrying the demands of international diplomacy with the political realities of home is a tough ask for most countries and their foreign ministries. The two can be a difficult fit, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has found out all too well.
Some back home seem determined to provide an unwanted backdrop for his whistle-stop European tour designed to shore-up his country’s vastly improving relations with the West and bring in some much needed foreign investment.
However, echoes of the Bersih movement and their demands for electoral reform have dogged Najib and his entourage from London to Rome, while the prime minister’s own supporters have provided the nastiest thorn in his political side with wild and unsubstantiated claims of unwanted foreign meddling in domestic affairs. Continue reading “Najib, the Queen and the Pope”
Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-out headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist” treatment from Home Ministry
The UMNO official organ, Utusan Malaysia, will be hitting the newsstands every day with blacked-out headlines in front or inside pages, blotches of black or even full pages in black if it is given the Economist treatment by Home Ministry “censoring incorrect and misleading information”.
And what a sight it would be!
This is because no other mainstream media in Malaysia could compete with Utusan for the tonnage of garbage, lies and falsehoods it purveys everyday!
It would undoubtedly make Utusan Malaysia the only one newspaper of its kind in the world as to justify to get into both the Guinness and Malaysia Books of Records! Continue reading “Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-out headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist” treatment from Home Ministry”
Najib, ministers to distribute flags for Merdeka month
Malaysiakini | Jul 20, 11
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and cabinet ministers will distribute Jalur Gemilang to the public in conjunction with the upcoming independence month celebration.
Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said the flag distribution would be carried out at KL Sentral after the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“The prime minister and cabinet ministers will take a ride on the ERL from here to KL Sentral,” he told reporters in Putrajaya.
Earlier, Rais accompanied Muhyiddin who were shown the batik shirt to be worn by cabinet ministers at the launch of the flag-raising campaign.
Continue reading “Najib, ministers to distribute flags for Merdeka month”
Putrajaya, the days of censorship are over
Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 20, 11
‘Is this where our indelible ink from March 2008 went, to black out a report on clean elections rally? Shameful and pathetic.’
Economist report on Bersih rally ‘censored’
Lynn: Other than the obvious stupidity of blatant censoring, this also shows how bloated the civil service is – to have people on payroll sitting around manually blacking out thousands of copies of The Economist. What a waste of time and typical of the inefficiencies of our government today.
Jaguh: These cowardly acts indicate shallow thinking. Whoever suggested it has no brains. There is the Internet. This really reflects on the whole cabinet (they all should be in a ‘cabinet’) and frankly, compared to other countries, they have no class, no standards and no morals. A change is imminent.
Continue reading “Putrajaya, the days of censorship are over”
Najib/Hisham – have you lost all power over Utusan spin-doctors?
UMNO’s spin doctors in Utusan Malaysia are scraping the bottom of the barrel bringing out of the woodwork discredited personalities to weave lies which positively damage Malaysia’s national interests and international image.
The latest incident is the surfacing of the discredited Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor who gave an interview with Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday alleging the Bersih 2.0 rally could open the door to Jews and Israel to infiltrate Malaysia as there were parties who wanted countries like Malaysia that was against Jews and Israel to be toppled. Continue reading “Najib/Hisham – have you lost all power over Utusan spin-doctors?”
5,000 private doctors call for Jeyakumar’s release
Malaysiakini | Jul 19, 11
The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations, which represents some 5,000 private doctors nationwide, has joined hands with others in the medical profession in calling for the release of Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar.
“We are extremely concerned at the continued detention of our colleague, Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, whom we all recognise and acknowledge as a law-abiding, competent, kind and diligent doctor.
“His public service record is exemplary and, to the very best of our knowledge, he is certainly not a threat to our society,” the federation said in a media statement today.
Continue reading “5,000 private doctors call for Jeyakumar’s release”
‘Economist’ report on Bersih rally ‘censored’
Hazlan Zakaria & Wong Teck Chi | Jul 19, 11
Malaysiakini
Opposition parliamentarians have claimed that the July 16 edition of The Economist has been defaced by the Home Ministry in an apparent attempt to censor a report on the Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform.
“The Economist July16 issue has been censored/black inked on Bersih story by Home Ministry,” reads a tweet by Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran.
In photos distributed via micro-blog site Twitter, the report headlines ‘Political affray in Malaysia: Taken to the cleaners’ shows lines blacked out by what seems to be a permanent marker pen.
Continue reading “‘Economist’ report on Bersih rally ‘censored’”
Doctored 709 photo — who’s responsible?
All top journalists as well as management personnel in New Sunday Times and Berita Minggu responsible for the photographic falsification of a PAS Unit Amal volunteer as a violent 709 protestor armed with knife when he was holding a Malaysian flag and not throwing rocks at police should step out and own up.
It is a violation of all the basic tenets of journalism of truth, fair play and responsibility for New Straits Times through the New Sunday Times and Berita Minggua to commit such a blatant and flagrant breach of journalistic ethics – a base and lowly act of irresponsibility not only to the profession of journalism but also a great disservice to the plural Malaysian nation-building.
The Malay daily Berita Minggu had on July 10 front-paged the picture of a heavily-built man in a white T-shirt with a black cloth wrapped around his face.
The man, shrouded in smoke, was depicted hurling an object with his left hand while in his right was what appeared to be a knife handle.
The caption read: “Seorang perusuh membawa pisau dalam perhimpunan haram” (A rioter brings a knife to illegal rally) and another subheadline read: “Perusuh guna senjata, batu, lawan polis” (Rioters use weapons, rocks to fight police).
Continue reading “Doctored 709 photo — who’s responsible?”
A decent gov’t will not fear Jeyakumar
Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 18, 11
‘If we Malaysians stand up against those cowards in power, we can, once again, call ourselves a decent society.’
How did my friend become a violent subversive?
Ferdtan: We all know the arrests of Dr D Jeyakumar and five other PSM members are collateral damage of the Bersih rally.
It is obvious that they are completely innocent of all the allegations made by the police. We, the rakyat, are not fooled. They were arrested on the onset, before the actual Bersih on July 9, hoping to check mate the Bersih committee and spook them into calling off the march.
For now, we can’t see the PSM 6 being released too easily. The police just cannot lose ‘face’ as their ‘credibility’ would be affected (as if they have one in the first place).
Continue reading “A decent gov’t will not fear Jeyakumar”
Not exactly a chip off the old block
Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 17, 11
‘Whichever way we look at it, we should be happy that there are people like Marina. The PM should take note of her comments.’
Marina ticks off gov’t in its handling of Bersih
David Dass: Marina Mahathir is an extraordinary person. Strongly principled and steadfast. It says something about her father, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Like him or not, agree with him or not, it is clear that freedom of expression is something that is allowed within the Mahathir family.
Whichever way we look at it, we should be happy that there are people like Marina emerging from within the country. The PM should take note of her comments. Many support the sentiments expressed by Marina.
Continue reading “Not exactly a chip off the old block”
Najib suffers from a “mild stroke” in UK
He calls police action “quite mild”
By Martin Jalleh
It appears that the Prime Minister has suffered a mild “brain attack” whilst on an official visit to UK.
He experienced sudden trouble speaking or understanding speech, dizziness, lightheadedness loss of “balance or coordination”, “spinning” sensations, and “brain seizures”.
It happened when Najib was telling CNN in an interview conducted in London that police action on those who took part in the Bersih 2.0 march on July 9, was “quite mild”.
There was no “undue use of force”. It was of course not as mild as his initial response when he even initially claimed there was “no physical contact between police and protesters”!
Continue reading “Najib suffers from a “mild stroke” in UK”
BN’s stupidity is Godsend for Bersih
Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 14, 11
‘It brought about a unity among the races which we had never been seen before. If ever there was such thing as 1Malaysia, we saw it on Saturday.’
Ambiga: Never any intention to topple BN
Quigonbond: The government’s resistance to entertain Bersih 2.0’s demands is an unambiguous sign that they do not believe nor want free and fair elections. If we were to have one, BN would fall.
Consider this – Singapore reformed its electoral process and immediately it lost five percent of the popular vote. BN was already at the brink in 2008 with just 53 percent of the popular vote.
Continue reading “BN’s stupidity is Godsend for Bersih”