Posted on

Fallacy to automatically equate Najib’s Hari Raya Open House crowd with support for his 1Malaysia slogan

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Cabinet Ministers’ Hari Raya Open House at Sri Perdana on the first day of the festivities on Sunday had a good crowd, but it is a fallacy to automatically equate Najib’s Hari Raya Open House crowd with support for his 1Malaysia slogan.

The mainstream media refer to a crowd of 50,000 to 60,000 for the Prime Minister’s Open House at Sri Perdana on Sunday.

If crowd numbers is a measure of public support for the incumbent Prime Minister’s policies and slogans, then how is one to interpret the crowd sizes of Hari Raya Open Houses of previous Prime Ministers, Tun Abdullah and Tun Mahathir?

A check with reports of past years will show the following crowd numbers cited in the mainstream media for Abdullah’s six Hari Raya Open Houses during his tenure as Prime Minister:

2003 70,000 (NST 26.11.03)
2004 200,000 (NST/Malay Mail 16.11.04)
2005 100,000 (Malay Mail 5.11.05)
2006 200,000 (Berita Harian 26.10.06)
2007 200,000 (NST 15.10.07)
2008 200,000 (Harian Metro 3.10.08)

Continue reading “Fallacy to automatically equate Najib’s Hari Raya Open House crowd with support for his 1Malaysia slogan”

Posted on

Why didn’t AG Gani prosecute previous Transport Ministers Ling and Chan for unlawfully issuing 4 Letters of Support causing the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?

Today’s media report top government leaders virtually falling upon one another in their competition to denounce and declare action being taken against fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin and Malaysia-Today website under the Official Secrets Act for leaking on the Internet an 18-page Treasury Memorandum to the Cabinet in June 2007 on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

Led by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, those who had spoken of action under the Official Secrets Act include the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and Director of Commercial Criminal Investigation Department, Datuk Koh Hong Sun.

However, none of them has shown any concern about the right to know of Malaysians about the hows and whys the taxpayers are being burdened with the “mother of all scandals” – the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal running through three Prime Ministers, three Finance Ministers and four Port Klang Authority Chairmen.

Najib said: “We will inform the people what we should concerning the case and we will do so later but that is no excuse to reveal cabinet papers.”
Continue reading “Why didn’t AG Gani prosecute previous Transport Ministers Ling and Chan for unlawfully issuing 4 Letters of Support causing the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?”

Posted on

Best Hari Raya present Najib can give country is to declassify all Cabinet minutes and documents relating to PKFZ scandal

In the past five-and-a-half months of his premiership, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made valiant attempts to project his administration’s commitment to reform, accountability, integrity and good governance as exemplified by his slogan of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”, his website, walkabouts and his emphasis on KPIs with the appointment of two KPI Ministers.

But all these efforts by Najib had failed to convince the Malaysian public that the Prime Minister is committed or capable of fundamental change in government.

One important reason is the long drawn-out farce of the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal – resulting in the public fallout between the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) Chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who is also the CEO of the PKFZ turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd and other political skirmishes in MCA, Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Continue reading “Best Hari Raya present Najib can give country is to declassify all Cabinet minutes and documents relating to PKFZ scandal”

Posted on

Najib will have to explain in Parliament next month why Hishammuddin is not prosecuted for sedition if Malaysiakini is charged for cowhead protest video clips

I am giving notice that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will have to explain in Parliament next month why the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is not charged for incitement and sedition in initially defending and justifying the cow-head protest in Shah Alam section 23 three days before National Day, committing the crime of ultimate religious insensitivity and sacrilege, if Malaysiakini is charged for showing the cowhead protest video clips.

The Malaysiakini video clips of the cowhead protests is highly offensive, not because of the news portal but because of the action of the irresponsible people who showed utter contempt for the sensitivities and sensibilities in a plural society as well as a top Cabinet Minister who could be guilty of such offensive conduct as to defend and justify such protest.

The cowhead protestors should be prosecuted. Even the Home Minister should be prosecuted. But it would not enter into any sensible, rational and reasonable person’s mind that Malaysiakini should be prosecuted – except those who have an axe to grind in wanting to penalize the news portal for the audacity of reporting the truth!
Continue reading “Najib will have to explain in Parliament next month why Hishammuddin is not prosecuted for sedition if Malaysiakini is charged for cowhead protest video clips”

Posted on

RCI to conduct no-holds-barred probe into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to unearth all abuses of power and cbt even at Cabinet level

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the Cabinet will discuss the ramifications of the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on Wednesday and decide on the next course of action on the PKFZ “mother of all scandals”.

Yesterday, Najib was briefed by the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, the PKFZ Task Force headed by its chairman, lawyer Vinayak Pradhan and the police on the PKFZ scandal.

Firstly, why was the police at the briefing. Secondly, why wasn’t the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) involved in the briefing, although various reports of financial improprieties had been lodged as far back three years ago if the Najib administration is serious about wanting to uphold integrity and good governance?

Although there is now finally admission that the PKFZ scandal is not only a “can of worms” but a “swamp of crocodiles”, the whole story of the “mother of all scandals” have yet to be unearthed. Continue reading “RCI to conduct no-holds-barred probe into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to unearth all abuses of power and cbt even at Cabinet level”

Posted on

First five months of Najib’s “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” slogan ends with MACC and Malaysian Police neck-to-neck as to which key national institution has lower public confidence and esteem

Yesterday morning, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Deputy Chief Commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohammad was the special guest of the Star online live chat.

During Abu Kassim online chat, the newspaper carried an online opinion poll which produced the following results at 12.30 noon before it was taken off line:

1. How would rate the MACC’s performance so far in fighting corruption? (image)
Good – 3%
Fair – 0%
Poor – 98%

2. Should MACC only ‘interview’ suspects during office hours? (image)
Yes – 79%
No – 6%
Depends on the situation – 15%

3. How would rate the MACC’s handling of Teoh Beng Hock’s case? (image)
Good – 0%
Fair – 4% Continue reading “First five months of Najib’s “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” slogan ends with MACC and Malaysian Police neck-to-neck as to which key national institution has lower public confidence and esteem”

Posted on

He looks like KPI Minister, sounds like KPI Minister but is he KPI Minister?

In his first National Day message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Malaysians to “repair the bridges and tear down the divisive walls” that exist among the races.

Najib blamed “opportunistic people” who had exploited the friction among the people to cause the bridges, which were painstakingly built by the nation’s founding fathers, to become shaky.

Najib has hit the crisis of nation-building in Malaysia on the head, except that he is still in denial as to the “opportunists” who have been most guilty of undermining nation-building efforts – when the culprits are to be found within the Barisan Nasional and not outside.

For instance, will Umno leaders particularly Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin be prepared to respond to Najib’s National Day call and apologise for erecting divisive walls and damaging bridges resulting in greater national divisions and heightened racial and religious polarization after the March 8 general elections last year and in particular in the five months of Najib premiership with its 1Malaysia slogan?
Continue reading “He looks like KPI Minister, sounds like KPI Minister but is he KPI Minister?”

Posted on

Let all patriotic Malaysians regardless of party come together to save Najib’s 1Malaysia from heading for the rocks 150 days after becoming Prime Minister

52nd National Day message

Recent events, particularly in the past few weeks, cannot but raise the concern and even alarm of Malaysians who want to see the evolution of a Bangsa Malaysia after half a century of nationhood – as Malaysia is only just a decade from the Vision 2020 deadline of achieving a Bangsa Malaysia out of the diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in the country to become a fully developed nation in 2020.

Of late, there is not only a recrudescence of the irresponsible politics of race and religion, the exploitation of the race and religion cards have reached new intensity utterly reckless of their damage to the multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural fabric of Malaysian society.

As a result, there is a further polarization of race and religion with the hardening of intolerant attitudes and stances, creating situations unseen or unheard of in the previous history of the nation – like the cowhead sacrilege in Shah Alam on Friday where a group protesting against the construction of a Hindu temple threatened bloodshed and committed the ultimate act of religious insensitivity, insult and profanity to Hindus by severing the head of a cow and stomping on it.

Let all patriotic Malaysians of goodwill recognize the danger signals to our plural society. Let all patriotic Malaysians regardless of party come together to save Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia motto from heading for the rocks 150 days after becoming Prime Minister to stave off divisive and centripetal forces from further dividing and polarizing Malaysians along race and religious lines. Continue reading “Let all patriotic Malaysians regardless of party come together to save Najib’s 1Malaysia from heading for the rocks 150 days after becoming Prime Minister”

Posted on

Permatang Pasir by-election result – devastating blow for Najib’s 144 days as Prime Minister

The strong and decisive victory and majority of the PAS and Pakatan Rakyat candidate Mohd Salleh Man in the Permatang Pasir by-election in Penang yesterday is a devastating blow to Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his 144 days as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

It is a powerful reaffirmation of the support of the voters of Permatang Pasir for the Pakatan Rakyat partnership by DAP, PKR and PAS and endorsement of the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang despite desperate and dangerous attempts by Umno/Barisan Nasional in unscrupulously playing racial and religious cards in their old game of “divide-and rule”.

Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders had tried their utmost to turn Permatang Pasir by-election into another Manek Urai where they can claim “victory in defeat” but yesterday’s by-election has proven Manek Urai as an aberration from the momentum for national change set off 18 months ago by the political tsunami of the March 8 general elections last year which saw Umno/Barisan Nasional trounced 7-0 in all the by-elections held in Peninsular Malaysia.
Continue reading “Permatang Pasir by-election result – devastating blow for Najib’s 144 days as Prime Minister”

Posted on

Social Contract between the Malays and UMNO

By Hussein Hamid

My friends we are witnessing the slow and messy end of Najib and gang, who for reason best known to themselves, have decided to commit Har-rah-kee-ree in public. Whether this was ordered by a greater authority (ahem…Mahathir?) as a form of punishment or chosen in preference to a dishonourable and certain death at the hands of an enemy (Us and Pakatan Rakyat!!) is anybody’s guess. But this particularly painful act of self- destruction is being acted out now even as I write but it is being done without honor, courage, moral character and etiquette which is an integral part of such an act as practised by the code of Bushido and the discipline of the Samurais of Japan. But then again with those familiar with the ways of UMNO, this lack of finesse is nothing out of the ordinary for UMNO.

Today I want to talk as a Melayu – without the constrains of having to worry about what anybody else in Malaysia will feel. Without having to worry about good manners, politeness and being nice – all the qualities that we Malays are noted for. With that out of the way I will begin.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away as a Melayu I knew this for as a fact. The Chinese were from China. The Indians from India. The others were from where they came from. As a Malay, this is my country. The Continue reading “Social Contract between the Malays and UMNO”

Posted on

First thing Najib should do on his return from his first 8-day leave after become PM is to save the soul of his premiership and do what no Umno leader dare to contemplate – withdraw Rohaizat as Umno candidate in by-election

The first thing Datuk Seri Najib Razak should do on his return from his first eight-day leave after becoming Prime Minister is to save the soul of his premiership and do what no Umno leader had dared to contemplate – withdraw Rohaizat Othman as their candidate in the Permatang Pasir by-election.

There can be no dispute that Rohaizat had not been honest and truthful with the Umno and Barisan Nasional leaderships and the 20,290 voters of Permatang Pasir about his being struck off the lawyers’ rolls.

How can a government which claims to give top priority to integrity and the fight against corruption and all forms of misuse of power put up as candidate a lawyer who had been struck off the lawyers’ rolls by the Bar Council for “breach of trust, dishonesty, shown gross disregard of client’s interests” which was “tantamount to a conduct unbefitting that of an advocate and solicitor which conduct as such brings the legal profession into disrepute”?
Continue reading “First thing Najib should do on his return from his first 8-day leave after become PM is to save the soul of his premiership and do what no Umno leader dare to contemplate – withdraw Rohaizat as Umno candidate in by-election”

Posted on

Najib should convene an all-party conference involving all MPs and State Assembly members to launch a national emergency campaign in view of worsening A (H1N1) pandemic

Death toll from the A (H1N1) continues to mount unchecked and relentlessly, adding three more fatalities to a grand total of 67, the latest victims being a 71-year-old man, a 10-year-old girl and a 33-year old woman.

There has been considerable confusion emanating from the Health Ministry, for instance, whether a national health emergency due to the killer pandemic has been declared, as reported by some media, and what it implies.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said a health curfew would only be considered if the mortality rate goes above 0.4 per cent. He said the country’s mortality rate for A(H1N1) flu is currently between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

It is clear that the Health Minister has no real notion of what is the current mortality rate for A(H1N1) as the statement that the current mortality rate between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent is quite meaningless. Continue reading “Najib should convene an all-party conference involving all MPs and State Assembly members to launch a national emergency campaign in view of worsening A (H1N1) pandemic”

Posted on

Can Malaysians celebrate 52nd National Day with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme in two weeks’ time?

In two weeks’ time, Malaysians will be celebrating our 52nd National Day with a new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak marking his fifth month in office.

The 52nd National Day celebrations should centre on Najib’s signature theme of 1Malaysia but unfortunately, the reverse is taking place with the 1Malaysia concept being rubbished almost daily by Umno leaders who are competing with each other in exploiting the race and religious cards.

Two days ago, UMNO Youth led by its leader Khairy Jamaluddin, launched a vitriolic attack on Pakatan Rakyat, alleging that a vote for PAS is a vote for DAP and a betrayal of Islam. Umno leaders accuse the DAP as anti-Islam while among the Chinese and Indian voters, MCA, Gerakan and MIC allege that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and a vote for an Islamic state. Meanwhile, in the past week, Umno divisions are being mobilized all over the country to support the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin in his accusation that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a “traitor of the Malay race”!
Continue reading “Can Malaysians celebrate 52nd National Day with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme in two weeks’ time?”

Posted on

After being so badly savaged, can Najib’s 1Malaysia be salvaged?

In just four months of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak unveiling his new and gleaming “1Malaysia” motto, the UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia is already assuming the mantle of the “Undertaker” to bury Najib’s “1Malaysia” slogan with its recent series of unabashedly divisive and remorselessly seditious incitement of racial hatred and disharmony in plural Malaysia.

When Najib could fail the first test to stand up by his “1Malaysia” concept in just 130 days as Prime Minister, not from challenges from outside but threats from within, what credibility can the Prime Minister command to continue to advocate the concept of “1Malaysia”?

Is Najib going to order a halt to the millions or even tens of millions of ringgit which had been spent or budgeted for a massive nation-wide promotion of the “1Malaysia” concept when it is so publicly repudiated, almost on a daily basis, by Umno leaders and Umno institutions like Utusan Malaysia?

Yesterday, Najib called on the police to take action against those who incite racial and religious tensions.
Continue reading “After being so badly savaged, can Najib’s 1Malaysia be salvaged?”

Posted on

Why has Najib condoned the Umno-inspired hysteria and gunning for Loke Siew Fook for insulting the Perak royalty and Islam when these allegations are completely groundless?

What has the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak joined in the Umno-inspired hysteria and gunning for DAPSY chief and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook for insulting the Perak royalty and Islam when these allegations are completely groundless?

This morning, Najib directed the relevant authorities to investigate Loke.

In directing the relevant authorities to investigate Loke without any background or preliminary check as to whether the DAPSY chief had make such grave allegations on his blog, and talking about offences under the Sedition Act, Najib is acting most irresponsibly as Prime Minister as he was in fact helping to fan the Umno-inspired hysteria that there is a systematic attack on Islam and the royalty.
Continue reading “Why has Najib condoned the Umno-inspired hysteria and gunning for Loke Siew Fook for insulting the Perak royalty and Islam when these allegations are completely groundless?”

Posted on

Muhyiddin – honour Najib’s pledge that “The era where the government knows best is over” and allow parents the choice to retain the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English for their children

When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced his Cabinet four months ago on April 10, 2009, he built on his motto of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” a week earlier to be “a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first”.

Najib declared: “The era where the government knows best is over. We can only achieve our ambition for Malaysia if the government and the people, in a unified effort, work together for success and progress”.

We are only in the First 128 Days of Najib’s premiership, but his injunctions and exhortations of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” and that “The era where the government knows best is over” had been completely ignored or forgotten by his Cabinet and bureaucracy.

Otherwise, the parents of SMK Seri Hartamas students in Kuala Lumpur would not have been locked out of the school yesterday when the school’s Parent-Teacher Association wanted to hold a properly-convened extraordinary general meeting to retain the PPSMI policy on the teaching of of science and mathematics in English in their school in 2012. Continue reading “Muhyiddin – honour Najib’s pledge that “The era where the government knows best is over” and allow parents the choice to retain the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English for their children”

Posted on

Greatest disappointment of all 18 Najib Cabinet meetings – utter failure to address six urgent national issues from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building

The Cabinet meeting this Wednesday (5th August) is the greatest disappointment of all the 18 Cabinet meetings in the 124 days of Najib premiership because of its utter failure to address at least six urgent national issues ranging from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building.

The Cabinet has irresponsibly skirted grave and urgent national issues including:

  1. Cabinet’s failure to heed nation-wide outrage at its refusal to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 16 instead of breaking up the process into two parts – an inquest into the causes of Teoh’s death and a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into MACC interrogation techniques.

    The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said in Pekan on Tuesday that the Commission of Inquiry into the MACC’s interrogation methods would only begin its work after the inquest into Teoh’s death.

    It is Najib’s ensuing statement that the RCI “will take into consideration the findings of the inquest” which has given Teoh’s family the false hope that if they are not satisfied with the inquest findings, Najib is prepared to consider their request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.

    Continue reading “Greatest disappointment of all 18 Najib Cabinet meetings – utter failure to address six urgent national issues from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building”

Posted on

Demonstrations: A fundamental right of citizens

by Tunku Aziz

It would be an untruth if I said I was ever a fan of Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Be that as it may, I am sorry about his coming into office, unlike all his predecessors, weighed down by the heaviest baggage imaginable, stuffed up to the neck with allegations of impropriety that I’d rather not bore you with.

I will not enumerate them either as they are too many. Also it would be pointless to waste our time dwelling upon unproven allegations that should have been nipped in the bud before they got out of hand, but for some unexplained reason, Najib had allowed them to fester like tropical sores on his credibility and honour.

I, like many other Malaysians, want very much to keep an open mind. We earnestly hope that he will give serious consideration to confronting, in a court of law, those who have defamed and reviled him.

His studied indifference might be considered by some to be an appropriate response, but he is not helping his own cause. He is pandering to the insatiable appetite of the noisy rumour mongering, chattering classes.
Continue reading “Demonstrations: A fundamental right of citizens”

Posted on

Is Najib giving an undertaking that if inquest is unsatisfactory to Teoh family, the RCI will be empowered to probe into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death?

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is reported as saying in Pekan today that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) set up by the government following the mysterious death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock will take into account the findings of the n ongoing magistrate’s inquest.

He explained to reporters that the RCI’s full scope, which includes looking into the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation procedures, is pending the completion of the inquest into the death of Teoh.

“We have to go through the inquest first which will determine the cause of (Teoh’s) death.”

Najib said the RCI, which will look into the procedures of the MACC, would also take into account the findings of the inquest.

“The sequence has to be right,” he said.
Continue reading “Is Najib giving an undertaking that if inquest is unsatisfactory to Teoh family, the RCI will be empowered to probe into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death?”