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Putrajaya being ‘deliberately divisive’ to hold on to power, says report

The Malaysian Insider
20 June 2014

Malaysians are wondering whether Putrajaya’s unspoken political strategy is to divide the predominantly Muslim-Malay country along racial lines in a bid to hold on to power following sharpening racial and religious tensions, the Edge Review reported today.

This follows incidents that have rocked Malaysia’s delicate racial and religious relations – acts by Muslim authorities, who snatched a body at a funeral and disrupted a Hindu wedding ceremony on suspicion that the deceased and the bride respectively might be Muslims.

The weekly said there were also signs of a campaign by the country’s civil service to push a religious-inspired agenda.

The report cited other similar incidents, such as the threat by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to destroy the 301 Bibles it seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia and the refusal of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to follow a court ruling in a highly publicised custody battle that ordered a Muslim convert father to return the children to the mother, who was a Hindu.

The weekly took Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to task for “not helping the deepening discord”. Continue reading “Putrajaya being ‘deliberately divisive’ to hold on to power, says report”

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A happy PM, but a sad nation

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
18 June 2014

Although the country is imploding, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his advisers believe that all is well. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 18, 2014.Although the country is imploding, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his advisers believe that all is well. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 18, 2014.In Seri Perdana, sits an increasingly happy and contented man.

Never mind that the country is witnessing early signs of anarchy. Never mind that Islamic religious authorities seem to be setting the agenda for this multiracial and secular country, threatening to do what Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria: destroying Bibles. Never mind that Malaysia is veering so far off course that even its most ardent defenders have lost faith… in everything.

In the serene enclave in Seri Perdana, all is well, according to those who have spoken to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently and some of his advisers. He does not wear the post-GE13 dead man walking look, the look of someone destined for the political scrap heap through a combination of his own ineptitude and the prodding of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, instigator-in-chief. Continue reading “A happy PM, but a sad nation”

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Liow and Mah should seriously reconsider whether they want to go down in history as politicians who are prepared to be Ministers regardless of political principles

The Free Malaysia Today report by Anjulie Ngan “MCA anticipates cabinet reshuffle soon” today is double confirmation – of imminent Cabinet reshuffle but no imminent principled stand by MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President Datuk Mah Siew Keong whose only concern is to get back into Cabinet at whatever cost.

Liow told the reporter that he anticipated Najib to have a cabinet reshuffle soon but he did not know exactly when – as this is up to Najib to decide.

But isn’t Liow, together with Mah, going to ask Najib to put on hold any Cabinet reshuffle as MCA and Gerakan will not be part of Barisan Nasional Cabinet until UMNO can give a solemn undertaking that it would not push for implementation of hudud law whether at federal or state level?

This is not just because of the Umno Selangor Assemblyman for Sungai Air Tawar Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik’s motion in the Selangor State Assembly next week to push for the implementation of hudud.

Kamarol’s motion is just one of triple UMNO actions in the past three months which showed that MCA, Gerakan and the other 10 Barisan Nasional component parties have no say whatsoever in Barisan Nasional policy decision-making and what UMNO says, does and decides are the law in Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Liow and Mah should seriously reconsider whether they want to go down in history as politicians who are prepared to be Ministers regardless of political principles”

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If Tunku was still alive, he’d curse everyone for the state of the nation, says Ku Li

by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
May 30, 2014

If the country’s first prime minister was still alive today, he would curse everybody because of the lack of leadership that has led to the present state of the nation, a former finance minister said today.

Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, also known as Ku Li, said the late Tunku Abdul Rahman would have been very upset with what people are saying and doing as this was counter to everything he believed in.

“He would curse everybody. (What is happening) completely counters what he advocated. He wanted peace.

“He was a man of peace and he nurtured harmony and he liked people to help one another no matter what racial, religious or cultural backgrounds they have. That was Tunku,” Ku Li told reporters in Penang today. Continue reading “If Tunku was still alive, he’d curse everyone for the state of the nation, says Ku Li”

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Social media driving Teluk Intan polls

— Bob Teoh
The Malay Mail Online
MAY 29, 2014

MAY 29 — In many ways the Teluk Intan by-election is a dry run for the next general elections due as early as three years from now or even sooner. The tipping point probably depends on how well social media is used to engage the electorate. This will re-define politics where the electoral demographics is shifting to a more youthful and social media savvy profile.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of the non-fiction best seller “Tipping point – How little things can make a big difference (2000),” points out that one dramatic moment when everything can change all at once is called the Tipping Point. His says there are three characteristics for this to happen, one, contagiousness; two, the fact that little causes can have big effects; and three, that change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment.

Social media featured prominently in the 2008 general elections (GE12). There was no tipping point to bring about a regime change. But the ruling coalition lost its crucial two-third majority in parliament that has allowed it to amend the constitution at will since independence. Barisan Nasional (BN) also lost five states out of 13 -Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan. It eventually recovered Perak under questionable circumstances. Nonetheless, BN’s loss was unprecedented and the cutting edge was undoubtedly the social media campaign engaged by both the opposition coalition and civil society groups that were seeking a regime change.

Its popular vote was reduced to such a level that the then incumbent Prime Minister Pak Lah was forced put of office rather ungracefully by factional infighting within Umno, the dominant party in the coalition. In came the new Prime Minister Najib Razak only with a party mandate.

Najib had declared that GE13 would be the country’s first “social media elections.” Barisan Nasional lost the popular vote but managed to win 133 or 60 percent of the parliamentary seats under a highly skewed electoral system. Continue reading “Social media driving Teluk Intan polls”

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Some observations about the Terengganu drama

The Malaysian Insider
May 14, 2014

What was supposed to be a quick change of leadership in Terengganu has now blown into a full crisis for Barisan Nasional (BN), which could still lose the oil-rich state to their political foes unless all Umno assemblymen pledge loyalty to the state government.

Here are some observations of the last two days when Datuk Seri Ahmad Said’s (pic) resignation letter as menteri besar snowballed into him and two other Umno state lawmakers quitting the party. One is said to have returned to the fold.

1) Najib is weak

Let’s be honest. If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was strong and if he was feared in his own party, Ahmad Said and the other state assemblymen would think many times before holding Umno/BN to ransom.

But as it stands today, he is viewed as weak by everyone, from the motormouths at Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) to royal households throughout the country.

They know that Najib is indecisive, unable to use the powers of incumbency to exert control and seemingly incapable of sparking a feel-good feeling about his administration across Malaysia.

The end result: even a small-time local politician named Ahmad Said can thumb his nose at Najib. Continue reading “Some observations about the Terengganu drama”

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10 Questions for MCA President Liow Tiong Lai on whether MCA will compromise on the consensus principle of Barisan Nasional where UMNO cannot unilaterally decide in the name of the other 12 component parties

MCA and Barisan Nasional’s decision not to contest in the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary by-election must rank as the worst political cowardice in the 57-year electoral history of Malaysia.

This worst political cowardice of MCA and Barisan Nasional because of their fear of suffering another ignominious defeat one year after the 13GE results last May, however, camouflages a hidden and unworthy agenda for the by-election – hoping to lull the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat leaders, members, supporters and the voters of Bukit Gelugor into complacency so as to cause the lowest voter turnout in the constituency, and consequently to reduce the humongous majority of 41,778 votes won by Karpal Singh last May. Last year, the voter turnout for Bukit Gelugor was the historic high of 85.35 per cent!

Although MCA and Barisan Naisonal have “chickened” out of contesting in the Bukit Gelugor by-election, the nearly 82,000 voters of Bukit Gelugor should not succumb to the opiate of MCA and BN that the Bukit Gelugor by-election is unexciting and irrelevant when in fact, it and the Teluk Intan by-election are two important milestones in the post-13GE political struggle to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in Malaysia.

I will be developing the case about the great importance of the two by-elections, Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan, in the coming weeks.

For today, I want to ask the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai ten questions: Continue reading “10 Questions for MCA President Liow Tiong Lai on whether MCA will compromise on the consensus principle of Barisan Nasional where UMNO cannot unilaterally decide in the name of the other 12 component parties”

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Malaysia blighted by two “missing” disasters threatening to plunge the country into a failed state – the missing MH 370, after 64 days with no clues or end in sight and the “missing Prime Minister” tragedy

We gather for the announcement of the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary by-election with mixed feelings – great sadness that this occurred because of the untimely death of Karpal Singh, an irreplaceable people’s champion; and enormous sense of responsibility and challenge, as the by-election is taking place at a very critical stage of the nation’s development.

At the DAP Gelang Patah 13GE Anniversary Dinner last night, I called for a people’s awakening to launch a national movement of moderates against racial and religious extremists to save Malaysia from descending to become a failed state.

Let the Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan parliamentary by-elections, to be held respectively on May 25 and May 31, be the first two test cases of a Malaysian people’s awakening for a national movement against racial and religious extremists in the country.

In the past 12 months since the 13GE last May, Malaysia had been blighted by two “missing” disasters threatening to plunge the country into a failed state – firstly, the missing MH 370, after 64 days with no clues or end in sight and secondly, the “missing Prime Minister” tragedy.

Both these two “missing” disasters had seriously highlighted the grave weaknesses and faultlines of the Malaysian nation and governance. Continue reading “Malaysia blighted by two “missing” disasters threatening to plunge the country into a failed state – the missing MH 370, after 64 days with no clues or end in sight and the “missing Prime Minister” tragedy”

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Hate groups getting louder as long as Putrajaya stays mute

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
May 09, 2014

In the past week, groups like Isma and others in academia have amplified their hatred for a section of the Malaysian population, going as far as to distort the country’s history to make it clear that Malaysia belongs to the Malays.

It does not help that Putrajaya has remained mute, except for some parties in the ruling coalition making some noises and calling for action to curb such talk. But the dominant Umno and its president, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, remain silent.

Also, these parties are not members of the administration and their voices have been ignored and in fact, Isma has even asked them to shut up.

If the prime minister cannot find it in himself to silence these groups that appear to ignore history and harmonious interfaith ties, then he and his government should just apologise to the Chinese and Christians for their inability to do anything about the matter. Continue reading “Hate groups getting louder as long as Putrajaya stays mute”

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One year after GE13, lost in sea of politicking

Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
May 5, 2014

COMMENT Today marks the one year anniversary of the historic 13th general election. This election was pivotal in the country’s history as the incumbent BN coalition held onto power, with the opposition calls for ‘change’ unfulfilled.

Scholars have highlighted the fundamental shifts in the power of Umno, the imbalance of the opposition parties, the rise in influence and political awakenings of East Malaysia and the electoral irregularities, among many profound structural changes.

In other ordinary ways, Malaysian politics has also changed, with greater cynicism, insecurities and anger more prominent in public life. This is across the political divide. News reports feature troubling reports of increased racial tensions, political polarisation and continued shortcomings in governance.

This article highlights some of the ongoing dynamics in contemporary Malaysian political life, which are both worrying and offer promise ahead. Continue reading “One year after GE13, lost in sea of politicking”

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Liow should act on Chua’s advice, requisition a BN Supreme Council meeting where UMNO will be outvoted by 1 – 12 on implementation of hudud

Two days ago, I gave the MCA Deputy President Datuk Dr. Wee Kee Siong a free double advice: Don’t tell a bare-faced lie and don’t be caught immediately with such downright dishonesty.

This was when Ka Siong tried to rebut my statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday that the MCA President, Liow Tiong Lai had missed a “golden opportunity” to say “No” in front of the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday that MCA cannot accept Najib’s earlier unilateral and arbitrary announcement in Alor Star that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud.

This was because what Najib said was not the original Barisan Nasional stand, and furthermore, violates an important BN principle that any change of Barisan Nasional policy must be the result of the consensus of all component parties and not unilaterally and arbitrarily by any one party, even if it is UMNO.

As I told Ka Siong, what Najib said was never the Barisan Nasional Federal Government’s stand, even going back to the UMNO, MCA and MIC founders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan as they were very clear that hudud was inconsistent with the secular 1957 constitution and would never say like Najib that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud.

Now I am offering the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai two additional free advice – don’t distort other people’s statement and to be “caught” immediately. Continue reading “Liow should act on Chua’s advice, requisition a BN Supreme Council meeting where UMNO will be outvoted by 1 – 12 on implementation of hudud”

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Najib must take a clear stand – whether he is with the moderates or the extremists, whether he is for 1Malaysia or the very antithesis of 1Malaysia

On 5th May 2014, the first anniversary of the 13th General Elections, Malaysians were torn by grave disillusionment with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law.

The next day, the beginning of the second year of Najib’s second administration as Prime Minister could not have started on a more ominous note, heralding that Malaysia is heading for a new dark age where all the grandiloquent pledges and slogans of 1Malaysia, World’s Best Democracy and Government Transformation Programme would be consigned to the dustbins of history and replaced by undemocratic, repressive, unjust and draconian rule.

In the morning, the PR/DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok was charged in Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with sedition over her Chinese New Year “Onederful Malaysia” video, a 11-minute clip lampooning and criticising various failures of government policies.

It is supreme irony that one of the five criticisms in her video alleged to be seditious was about the security situation in East Sabah especially after the abduction of the Taiwan tourist in an island resort off Semporna in November last year – as on the morning that Teresa was charged, news were received of another abduction of a Chinese national in a nearby island off Lahad Datu at about 2.45 a.m. the same day!

Teresa was telling the truth, but telling the truth has become sedition in Najib’s Malaysia as the Prime Minister has forgotten his promises to repeal the draconian and colonial Sedition Act. Continue reading “Najib must take a clear stand – whether he is with the moderates or the extremists, whether he is for 1Malaysia or the very antithesis of 1Malaysia”

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Winning GE13 convincingly, by jailing political foes a year later?

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
MAY 05, 2014

One year after the Barisan Nasional (BN) won the 13th general election (GE13) with fewer votes and fewer seats, more lawmakers from the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) find themselves at the wrong end of the law and risking jail time.

Tomorrow, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok will be charged with sedition, weeks after the late Karpal Singh was convicted of the same charge.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim faces the possibility of jail for a second sodomy conviction while his PKR party colleague Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is expected to charged again under the Peaceful Assembly Act.

Just two weeks ago, the Court of Appeal had declared Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act – which criminalises the failure to give 10-day notice before a gathering – to be unconstitutional.

And in July 2012, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the Sedition Act will be repealed and replaced by a National Harmony Act. That has yet to take place and instead, more people have been charged with sedition. Continue reading “Winning GE13 convincingly, by jailing political foes a year later?”

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On first anniversary of 13GE, Malaysians torn by grave disillusionment with Najib for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the 13th General Elections where Malaysians had hoped to see a change of federal government in Putrajaya for the first time in the 56-year history of the nation.

Unfortunately, although Pakatan Rakyat secured the support of the majority of the national electorate, with 52% of the national voters voting for PR, Barisan Nasional continued to occupy the citadels of power in Putrajaya because of unfair electoral practices, gerrymandering and unfair redelineation of electoral constituencies.

The past one year has brought greater disillusionment to the people who wanted to see political change to bring Malaysia back to the pursuit of the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians by bringing the country back to the tracks of justice, the rule of law, democracy, good governance, excellence and prosperity which Malaysia had strayed from for more than 40 years.

The latest global survey on the average broadband speed is another index to highlight the continued regression and retrogression of Malaysia instead of progress way ahead in the forefront in th world in various aspects of national achievements. Continue reading “On first anniversary of 13GE, Malaysians torn by grave disillusionment with Najib for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law”

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A year after GE13, Malaysia remains in a political rut

by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
May 03, 2014

As the country marks one year after arguably the most fiercely fought general election, The Malaysian Insider takes a step back to look at how the country has come since then. In this first part, we look at what has changed since then and if we are better off under the second Barisan Nasional administration of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

One year after winning an even smaller majority and his first personal mandate, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Barisan Nasional (BN) find themselves in the same position as before GE13 – running a country divided by race and religion, and a majority dissatisfied with the ruling government.

Islamic fundamentalists want the Shariah criminal law, hudud, which prescribes amputation for theft; racial friction remains as right-wing groups stoke issues; inflation spiked to 3.5% in March; while three out of five people surveyed are against a 6% consumption tax due April 2015.

Loss-making flag carrier Malaysia Airlines has mysteriously lost a Boeing 777-200ER with 239 on board without any trace after a hunt that now enters its 57th day after days of confusion over its location. It has yet to be found.

Political scientist Dr Wong Chin Huat has described the atmosphere of the past year after the May 5 general elections as being the same as the first four years when Najib took over in 2009 from predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi who quit over BN’s historic loss of the two-thirds parliamentary super-majority in Election 2008.

“The Najib government in the year after May 5 is characterised by both active suppression of dissents and minorities and passive failure in governance.

“(This is) represented by the persecution of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders and marginalisation of non-Muslims, and its failure in managing the MH370 crisis,” Wong told The Malaysian Insider. Continue reading “A year after GE13, Malaysia remains in a political rut”

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Putrajaya still seen as corrupt, as people sceptical of government’s anti-graft efforts

by Elizabeth Zachariah
The Malaysian Insider
April 29, 2014

Most Malaysians are sceptical of Putrajaya’s efforts to eradicate corruption and practise integrity despite its efforts to pursue such an agenda, an analyst told a forum today.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan (pic) said most people were convinced that corruption and abuse of power were still a critical issue in Malaysia despite the government’s initiatives to work on them.

“Corruption is still an issue. So, despite the government’s initiatives, people still feel the country is corrupt.

“There is great scepticism of how serious the government is in pursuing this,” he said at a forum on integrity at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the high level of scepticism of the government’s efforts indicated that it was because there were no real efforts to actually eradicate corruption within the government and its departments and agencies.

“It is just like when the government talked about moderation and set up the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), which is a very good initiative to take the moderation agenda to an international level,” Wan Saiful said, referring to the think tank mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2010. Continue reading “Putrajaya still seen as corrupt, as people sceptical of government’s anti-graft efforts”

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Obama should rap Putrajaya’s human rights record, says lawyer in Wall Street Journal

by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
April 26, 2014

With Kuala Lumpur keen to present its best image as a moderate country during Barack Obama’s visit this weekend, a prominent lawyer has called on the US president not to be hoodwinked and instead, to rap Putrajaya’s human rights record and be aware of rising extremism.

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chair Andrew Khoo said Obama should not buy into the fiction that Putrajaya is trying to showcase; that Malaysia is a moderate Muslim-majority democracy, a model of interracial and interreligious diversity heading for developed nation status by 2020.

The Barisan Nasional-led federal government will also try to present itself as an ally in combating arms proliferation and transnational crime, and friend of the United States in Asia, Khoo wrote.

“President Obama should not accept this fiction or defer to the Malaysian government because of regional security concerns. Instead, he would do well to note the sorry state of its human rights and call for greater respect for civil liberties.

“President Obama needs to deftly use his public appearances and statements to demonstrate concern about what is happening in Malaysia – and to say what many Malaysians fearfully cannot.

“The usual mantra of moderation can no longer conceal the escalation of extremism and repression,” Khoo wrote in the international news and business daily. Continue reading “Obama should rap Putrajaya’s human rights record, says lawyer in Wall Street Journal”

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Obama’s Malaysia Test

Bridget Welsh
Project Syndicate

APR 25, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR – When Barack Obama lands in Malaysia this weekend, his two-day stopover will be the first visit by a US president since 1966. Unfortunately, human rights will probably not be on the agenda. Even as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s government pursues yet another politically motivated case against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the United States, by refusing to schedule a meeting with Anwar, has signaled that it will not stand up for justice in Malaysia.

In fact, the Obama administration has refused to treat Malaysia like a normal country and engage leaders from all sides – a stance that has emboldened Najib to move against Anwar, whose coalition received a higher proportion of the popular vote in the May 2013 election than Obama did in the 2012 US election. And the many serious challenges to human rights and governance in Malaysia do not end with politicized convictions of opposition leaders. Just days after Obama declared last October that Malaysia was a model of “diversity and tolerance,” Malaysian authorities denied non-Muslims the right to use the word “Allah” in the practice of their own faiths – a decision condemned throughout the Muslim world for its negative portrayal of Islam.

Moreover, members of Najib’s government endorse hudud, a class of penalties within sharia law that could imply strict limitations on Muslims’ right to choose how they practice their faith. According to the US State Department’s own human-rights reports, curbs on religious freedoms have included demolition of Hindu temples, bombings of Christian churches, and a ban on the practice of Shia Islam, to which some 15% of the world’s Muslims adhere. Likewise, according to the Pew Research Center, Najib’s government has “very high” restrictions on religious freedom. Continue reading “Obama’s Malaysia Test”

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Standing invitation to Najib and Muhyiddin to the Karpal Singh Memorial service in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night as it is not a political event but a national occasion to honour a great Malaysian patriot

I should not be surprised but I still feel sad that pettiness in mind and spirit still rule the roost in important establishments in the Malaysian government, resulting in the Education Ministry countermanding an earlier approval by SJK© Chung Kwo near Jalan Loke Yew in Kuala Lumpur for the use of the school hall for a memorial service for eight-term Member of Parliament and former Chairman of Democratic Action Party Sdr. Karpal Singh tomorrow night.

The reason for the Education Department countermanding the earlier approval by SJK© Chung Kwo for the use of the RM10 million school hall, built by donations by the parents of the students and the public without a single sen of contribution by the government, was that the memorial service for Karpal is a political event.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The nation-wide memorial service for Karpal is neither a DAP nor political event, but a national occasion to honour a great Malaysian patriot who had dedicated his life to the betterment of his countrymen and women, regardless of race, religion, region, gender or age, as testified by the tens of thousands of Malaysians from all races, religions, regions and classes who paid their last respects to Karpal in Penang during his four-day wake and the funeral on Sunday and the millions who grieved at his passing as a personal loss although the overwhelming majority have not known or met him.

The Education Department’s action is all the more deplorable as the Education Minister who is the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had “on behalf of the Government and UMNO” not only personally conveyed his condolences to Karpal’s family, but acknowledged Karpal’s parliamentary contributions in having “lived up to his role as a member of parliament” and who would always be remembered as “his views are respected and feared by many”. Continue reading “Standing invitation to Najib and Muhyiddin to the Karpal Singh Memorial service in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night as it is not a political event but a national occasion to honour a great Malaysian patriot”

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Missing Plane Will Haunt Malaysia’s Future

William Pesek
Bloomberg
8th April 2014

The Flight 370 crisis has fully exposed the dangers of allowing one party to rule a nation for six decades.

President Barack Obama always knew his Asia tour later this month would be fraught with political landmines. The two nations that lead off his itinerary — U.S. allies Japan and South Korea — have been squabbling for more than a year over World War II history. Another, the Philippines, is one of Asia’s economic bright spots even as President Benigno Aquino’s government is locked into a dangerous maritime territorial spat with China — a country Obama would rather not antagonize.

But most problematic of all may be Obama’s time in Malaysia. Obama’s visit — the first by a U.S. leader to Kuala Lumpur in 50 years — was meant to celebrate a nation viewed as a high-tech hub of moderate Islam and a democratic contrast to China. Six months ago, Obama hailed Malaysia as “an example of a dynamic economy” and touted its multiethnic society as a model to others. Today, amid the global outcry over the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, such praise sounds naive. The past month has highlighted Malaysia’s deepest flaws, and all-too-few of its strengths.

The international press has pilloried Prime Minister Najib Razak‘s government for its initial response to the crisis, which was marred by conflicting information, poor coordination with neighboring countries, defensiveness, and an apparent lack of transparency. Fairly or not, since March 8 when Flight 370 disappeared on its way to Beijing, Malaysia has lost a great deal of its standing both in the region and around the world. Continue reading “Missing Plane Will Haunt Malaysia’s Future”