Posted on

10 days in May (13)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Najib asks moderates from all faiths to join hands – Shannon Teoh (TMI) http://bit.ly/mHQbwl

What a flop of speech by Najib in Oxford! Rings utterly hollow after govt inaction over Utusan “Christian Msia” bogey http://bit.ly/mHQbwl

Msia world still waiting 4proper action against seditious/treasonous Utusan “Msian Christian” bogey n IA incitement. Enuf of empty words

Let Msian moderates -Islam Christianity Buddhism Hinduism Sikkhism- stand united against extremism eg Utusan IA sedition. BN Cabinet stand?

Unbelievable not only Umno but also MCA Gkan apologists 4Utusan “Christian Msia” bogey like CSL. Y is Hisham n BN Cabinet so soft on Utusan? Continue reading “10 days in May (13)”

Posted on

Najib asks moderates from all faiths to join hands

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
May 17, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — As religious tensions run high on the local front, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called on moderates of all religions to come together.

Speaking at the Islamic Centre of the prestigious Oxford University in Britain, the prime minister also said that it was not enough to go after individuals or organisations to address global violence as a lasting solution could only be achieved by seeking out root causes.

“Our choice is clear. Come together in action for a future of justice, freedom, hope, compassion and goodwill for our children or it will be replaced by a future of injustice, tyranny, hopelessness, cruelty and hate.

“Because the real divide is not between East and West or between the developed and developing worlds or even between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is between moderates and extremists of all religions,” Najib (picture) said in a speech on the “Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding” early this morning. Continue reading “Najib asks moderates from all faiths to join hands”

Posted on

The reasons why Ibrahim Ali is untouchable

Malaysiakini
May 17, 11

The fact that the current government is powerless against Utusan and Perkasa implies that they are actually the one behind it.’

Church leaders: Act now against ‘crusading’ Ibrahim

Cannon: Perkasa is breaking the law with impunity. It is committing sedition and the authorities are overlooking this lawlessness. The BN must take action to stop this dangerous nonsense before the situation gets out of control.

It’s sheer hypocrisy on the part of PM Najib Razak to advocate moderation in Cambridge while his own ruling party is sowing discord and hatred through Perkasa and Utusan Malaysia, inciting violence against Christians.

The sandiwara and non-action by home minister should be roundly condemned by all Malaysians. Failing or delaying to act, the government is to be held responsible for any outbreak of violence against Christians. Continue reading “The reasons why Ibrahim Ali is untouchable”

Posted on

Be ready for Operation Lallang II

May 17, 11
Malaysiakini

‘Ibrahim Ali is dispensable to the powers-that-be. They are using him to provoke conflict between Christians and Muslims.’

Perkasa ready to crusade against ungrateful Christians

Ablastine: If what Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali said are not seditious, then what is. Provoking the people with some unfounded and ridiculous accusations and fanning religious extremism or fervour so that the people may fight each other is just outrageously seditious.

The only reason I can think why the Umno government is not taking action is because they are also, or at least some elements in the ruling party, are in it themselves. It is not difficult to see that the intention is to push the opposition into making a strong response, giving Umno the excuse to conduct Operation Lalang II.

Of course, just like the first time, most opposition leaders who have nothing to do with inciting hatred will be hauled up and banished to Kamunting, effectively shutting their mouth and disrupting their political parties.

However, it would be prudent for the Umno government to think twice before embarking on this because the backlash from the people will be very severe. You cannot go against the will of so many people in a country. Continue reading “Be ready for Operation Lallang II”

Posted on

10 days in May (12)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Can PM in Oxon speech pass Najib test 4Global Movement Moderates 2″censure reject their own extremists” eg IAli/Utusan? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y

Has Najib forgotten his UNGA speech: “real issue is not between Muslims n non-Muslims but between moderates n extremists of all religions”?

Remember Najib? “Across all religions we have inadvertently allwd ugly voices of periphery 2drown out many voices of reason n common sense.”

Purpose of Najib’s “Global Movement of the Moderates”? 2combat n marginalize extremists who have held world hostage w their bigotry n bias!
Continue reading “10 days in May (12)”

Posted on

‘No need for Najib to apologise’

By Tarani Palani | May 16, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Umno president Najib Tun Razak does not need to apologise for the latest “Christian Malaysia” report by the party’s mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, says political analyst Farish Noor.

Rather it is Utusan’s editor-in-chief Aziz Ishak and other editors who should be held responsible for the report.

“If one day, Utusan starts a rumour that ‘aliens are landing in Malaysia’, would Najib have to apologise for that as well”? he told FMT, adding that although Najib was the party president, the onus cannot always fall on him.
Continue reading “‘No need for Najib to apologise’”

Posted on

10 Days in May (11)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Hisham says newspapers should be given leeway (TMI) Hishammuddin to meet chief editors of newspapers （Malaysiakini） http://bit.ly/j09gkh

Issue not Hisham meeting editors but explanation from Hisham 4double stds/negligence/failure 2take action agnst Utusan http://bit.ly/j09gkh

If Hisham dare not discharge ministerial duty re: Utusan, he shld stop “talk big” n go catch acid splashers who have claimed 22 victims

KTK Disunity Affairs Minister. Issue is not so much IAli Utusan but Hishammuddin Najib. Is KTK taking issue 2Cabinet? http://bit.ly/lDMyTw

What credibility when nestle extremists Utusan IAli in bosom? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y PM brings global call 2reject extremism 2Oxford (Star) Continue reading “10 Days in May (11)”

Posted on

Kenapa Najib biarkan Utusan?

Husam Musa
The Malaysian Insider
May 15, 2011

15 MEI — Saya merujuk kenyataan Perdana Menteri bahawa teori menukar kedudukan Islam dalam perlembagaan negara adalah tidak wujud.

Trend Utusan Malaysia mempermainkan api perkauman dan agama — terakhir isu konspirasi Kristian – jelas membahayakan keamanan negara dan kemakmuran hidup masyarakat majmuk Malaysia.

Ia tidak membantu menguatkan Islam bahkan sebaliknya memercikkan api yang boleh melemahkan negara dan kedudukan Islam di negara ini.

Tepat sepertimana disebut Perdana Menteri sendiri,

“…semua pihak mesti membendung perasaan emosi untuk tidak membuat perkara yang boleh mengganggu-gugat keamanan, keharmonian serta kesejahteraan negara.” (Perdana Menteri; Berita Harian 12 Mei 2011)

Persoalannya, jika Perdana Menteri sedar gerakan ini membahayakan negara, kenapa Utusan Malaysia bebas menjadi ‘anak nakal’ yang tidak bertanggungjawab menabur api fitnah sesuka hati? Continue reading “Kenapa Najib biarkan Utusan?”

Posted on

Ibrahim Ali is Umno

Shamsuddin Ghani
The Malaysian Insider
May 15, 2011

MAY 15 — I think it is time we stop this charade. Ibrahim Ali says he is an Independent MP and that Perkasa has nothing to do with Umno.

But we know better than to accept this nonsense from the King of Nonsense.

He is allowed by the Najib administration to plant seditious ideas everywhere, to brandish his thuggish behaviour on the national stage and insult everything decent about being Malaysian.

The police give him a free pass even though everytime he speaks he breaks a slew of laws. How can an intellectually-disadvantaged politician with supposedly no affialiation be so privileged?

Because he has the support of Najib Razak and Umno and the protection of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Perkasa is Umno’s alter ego and was set up to give Umno the luxury of playing the chauvinist and right wing card and yet have the luxury of deniability. So Umno could assure its BN component party members that it was middle of the road while twin Perkasa targetted the vote of the Malays. Continue reading “Ibrahim Ali is Umno”

Posted on

10 Days in May (9)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Hishammuddin shld retract/apologise 4baseless “some basis” assertion re: Utusan Christian Msia bogey. Is he prepared 2resign if no “basis”?

Is Hisham prepared 2rely on 1 2 dubious individuals 2jeopardise wellbeing welfare 29 million Msians n credibility of Najib’s 1Msia concept?

World watching. Utusan’s seditious Christian Msia bogey put on trial Najib Hishammuddin.More entire BN Cabinet/leadership as CSL led by nose

Posted on

Is Najib swaying to ‘psychic’ Daim?

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | May 12, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Umno president Najib Tun Razak’s call for unity within Umno takes off from former finance minister Daim Zainuddin’s interview with Utusan Malaysia.

COMMENT

When former national economic adviser and ex-finance minister Daim Zainuddin said Barisan Nasional (BN) would lose five states in the 2008 general election, everyone laughed at him.

Former Selangor menteri besar Khir Toyo, whom Daim had actually identified to be the MB, were among the many who said the dimunitive Daim was out of touch, a pensioner and a has-been.

Daim was slapped with all kinds of other unpleasant “epitaphs” after his political demise. But when the results of the 12th general election in 2008 came around, people quickly realised how precise Daim had been.

Now when Daim speaks, Malaysia pays attention. Probably if he sneezes, Malaysia catches a cold. Continue reading “Is Najib swaying to ‘psychic’ Daim?”

Posted on

Are we Umno’s prisoners of irrational fear

Mariam Mokhtar | May 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Umno is bereft of conviction and hampered by weak leaders and their only course of action is to remind us of the possibility of another May 13.

COMMENT

Utusan Malaysia’s headline, ‘Malaysia Negara Kristian?’ (Malaysia a Christian state?), was a subtle Umno plot to warn us, that the consequences of voting for the Opposition might trigger another ‘May 13’.

The Utusan article bears all the tell-tale signs– sowing the seeds of discord and exaggerating our fears. Ever since the May 13 riots of 1969, Umno has relied on scaremongering and threats, to make Malaysians prisoners of irrational fear.

It is in Umno’s character to employ cynical tactics because it faces defeat in the 13th General Election. The opposition has captivated the electorate as seen by its successes in Sarawak and to make matters worse, PAS has rejected Umno’s overtures. Umno has run out of ideas and vision. It lacks momentum and motivation. It has reached the end of the road. Continue reading “Are we Umno’s prisoners of irrational fear”

Posted on

Don: Mere warning shows Najib not serious

Tarani Palani | May 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: If Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is really serious about his 1Malaysia brainchild, he should have fired the Utusan Malaysia’s editors from the first day he took office, says Professor Abdul Aziz Bari.

He also took Najib to task for the lack of leadership over the Christian Malaysia issue, saying that Najib should have issued an apology to the Christian community for his lack of action.

“Najib should have apologised to them (the Christian leaders) for failing to take stern action like removing Utusan’s chief editor or editors. This is not the first time Utusan has come up with controversial issues like the 1Melayu, 1Bumi movement. It has been making a mockery of 1Malaysia,” Abdul Aziz, the International Islamic University law professor, told FMT.
Continue reading “Don: Mere warning shows Najib not serious”

Posted on

Husam: Taktik ‘talam dua muka’ Najib makan diri

FMT Staff | May 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Ahli Jawatankuasa Kerja PAS Pusat Datuk Husam Musa menyifatkan pendirian Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dalam menangani isu ‘konspirasi Kristian’ hanya memakan dirinya sendiri.

Husam berkata Najib sebelum ini ‘merestui’ agenda Utusan Malaysia memainkan sentimen ‘bimbang’ (fear psychology) hanya untuk memastikan supaya orang Melayu kekal menyokong Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) dalam pilihan raya akan datang sama seperti isu ‘tengkolok bersalib’ yang dikenakan Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah menjelang pilihan raya umum tahun 1986.

“Namun apabila agenda ini bergerak memakan tuan dan langkah Utusan Malaysia ditolak oleh majoriti rakyat, Najib tiba-tba berubah mengambil watak bersikap lebih sederhana dan pertengahan,” kata exco kanan kerajaan negeri Kelantan itu.
Continue reading “Husam: Taktik ‘talam dua muka’ Najib makan diri”

Posted on

Utusan Malaysia does not enjoy legal immunity

By G Vinod | May 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: The consensus is that Utusan Malaysia does not and should not enjoy immunity for its irresponsible reporting. Political party leaders feel that what the paper ran could have caused religious discord.

A common stand among the party leaders is that a mere warning to the paper is not enough.

DAP’s assistant national publicity secretary, Teo Nie Ching, said this was because its headline could have triggered a religious discord among Malaysians.

“(Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) should prove to the public that Utusan Malaysia does not enjoy legal immunity for its irresponsible reporting,” Teo said in a statement.
Continue reading “Utusan Malaysia does not enjoy legal immunity”

Posted on

Putrajaya directed media to attack ‘Buku Jingga’

By Jimadie Shah Othman | May 13, 11
Malaysiakini

An internal memo leaked from Utusan Malaysia appears to point to the possibility that Putrajaya and Umno have a major say in the daily’s editorial direction.

The internal memo dated March 21, obtained by Malaysiakini, states that the Prime Minister’s Department had issued a special directive to all news organisations to attack two key documents of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.
The first is Pakatan’s joint policy statement, better known as the Buku Jingga (Orang Book), and a list of immediate reforms it has pledged to implement within 100 days of taking over the federal administration.
Continue reading “Putrajaya directed media to attack ‘Buku Jingga’”

Posted on

Christian plot allegation part of larger narrative

By Shahril Hamdan | May 13, 11
MalaysiaKini

The allegation of a plot to make Christianity the official religion in Malaysia is but the latest indication of a burgeoning and malignant Malay ethnic nationalism.

Whilst the anger towards Utusan is, of course, wholly called for, the problem at hand seems to have roots far deeper than the paper’s offensive, communalist and partisan journalism can account for.

I say this because such a preposterous charge could only have been leveled if it finds home in an antagonistic discourse of fear and ontological segregation. That discourse exists in the contemporary Malay discursive networks, and it appears to me to be fairly developed.
Continue reading “Christian plot allegation part of larger narrative”

Posted on

An UMNO-owned Newspaper Inflames Malaysia

Asia Sentinel
Written by Our Correspondent | Thursday, 12 May 2011

Utusan Malaysia stirs the racial pot

A week ago, the Malay-language broadsheet Utusan Malaysia printed a story that is sending reverberations throughout an increasingly racially tense Malaysia, to the effect that Christian pastors were seeking to install a Christian prime minister who would change the country’s official religion.

Although the story was ridiculous on the face of it, it has been given wide circulation and drawn considerable comment as well as a series of police reports filed in local stations. Malaysia’s official religion, enshrined in the country’s constitution, is Islam although other religions are guaranteed freedom of existence. Any attempt to change that would probably result in a racial conflagration that no sane individual in Malaysia would want.
Continue reading “An UMNO-owned Newspaper Inflames Malaysia”

Posted on

What rubbish is this, Najib?

Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
May 12, 2011

MAY 12 — Let me understand this correctly. Some discredited blogger put out something incredible about Christian pastors wanting to take over Malaysia and that fountain of all rubbish, Utusan Malaysia, published it.

There is no evidence that any such plan is in the works, and yet today, at the so-called fruitful meeting between Najib Razak and church leaders, the church leaders had to give the when-it-suits-him leader of all Malaysians an assurance that Christians respected the position of Islam in the country and had no desire to dispute it.

How wonderful. The rascals who stirred up this rubbish have not been taken to task but the “victims” have been asked to give some undertaking not to misbehave.

This is akin to your house being robbed and your family harmed but having the police sympathise with the robbers. Continue reading “What rubbish is this, Najib?”

Posted on

Utusan let off with ministry warning

The Malaysian Insider | May 12, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The Home Ministry has slapped Utusan Malaysia with a warning letter for publishing an unsubstantiated front-page article alleging a Christian plot to usurp Islam as the religion of the federation, which sparked a furore among the country’s majority Muslims and minority Christians.

The ministry today issued a statement that the editor-in-chief of the Umno-owned newspaper, Datuk Aziz Ishak, has been invited to the ministry to explain the daily’s violation of the Printing Presses and Publishing Act 1984.

The Malaysian Insider learnt he went to the ministry in Putrajaya at 4pm with another senior editor.
Continue reading “Utusan let off with ministry warning”