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Save Malaysia Roundtable of political and civil society leaders on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state

Wednesday, February 8, 2017 is the 114th birthday anniversary of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister of the country.
I believe Tunku would be horrified that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy and heading towards a failed and rogue state.

In fact, the second and third Prime Ministers, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, would have been horrified by the trajectory of the nation under the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, one of the two surviving former Prime Ministers, has already made his horror about Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy and hurtling towards a failed and rogue state clear and obvious to all Malaysians.

I think there can be no better way to commemorate Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary than to convene a roundtable of political and civil society leaders to save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.

All political and civil society leaders will be invited to attend this Roundtable to Save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state. Continue reading “Save Malaysia Roundtable of political and civil society leaders on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state”

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Let 2017 be the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia

Chinese New Year Message
27th January 2017

The Chinese New Year of the Rooster in 2017, like all the national festivities in the country, will be celebrated under the cloud of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

The appellation of “global kleptocracy” is a stain and slur on the reputation and integrity of Malaysia and 30 million Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender or age, and it must be the common resolve of all self-respecting and patriotic Malaysians in the coming year to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

I wish all Malaysians, and just not confined to Malaysian Chinese, a Happy Chinese New Year with the resolution that 2017 is the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia. Continue reading “Let 2017 be the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia”

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YEAR OF THE ROOSTER: GOOD FORTUNE FOR MALAYSIA’S DWINDLING CHINESE COMMUNITY?

BY KARIM RASLAN
South China Morning Post
25 JAN 2017

Despite disquieting migration statistics, a young Chinese Malaysian couple say they are happy where they are and see prosperity ahead in the Lunar New Year

Seri Kembangan, Selangor, is 22km to the south of Kuala Lumpur and just 20 minutes away from Putrajaya, Malaysia’s gaudy administrative centre.

Sixty years ago, this would have been scrubland dotted by tin mines, rubber plantations and small market gardens. The area is home to a patchwork of predominantly Chinese Malaysian communities with a large Hakka contingent, hardened wayfarers from Southern China – a people accustomed to living on marginal land.

In the early 1950s, most of the inhabitants were corralled into euphemistically named “New Villages” such as Sekinchan and Jinjang as the British colonial authorities sought to quell a nagging communist insurgency.

But what was formerly a no-man’s-land has long since been transformed into choice real estate. There is the iconic Commonwealth sports complex, a Turf Club, that bizarre Mahathir-era hostelry the Palace of the Golden Horses and countless small factories, townships, shopping centres and housing estates. Continue reading “YEAR OF THE ROOSTER: GOOD FORTUNE FOR MALAYSIA’S DWINDLING CHINESE COMMUNITY?”

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It flaunts the power but also advertises the failure of UMNO’s Goebbels in using Nazi Big Lies to demonise me as power-hungry, anti-Malay and anti-Islam

Was it a sheer coincidence that the Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times and Berita Harian today all reported an article entitled “Apa salahnya DAP jadi TPM” which appeared on online portal Malaysiakini yesterday, and all omitted that it was an article written by Zulhazmi Shariff, Ahli Jawatankuasa Biro Guaman DAP Kedah.

This was power play at the most blatant, someone – who is actually UMNO’s Goebbels – who had the power to direct the three UMNO-owned “mainstream newspapers” what to print, how to print, and what to omit!

For most of the past five decades of my political life, I was virtually a non-person to the UMNO-owned and controlled “mainstream media”, never reported about or mentioned except on occasions to demonise me or to put me in the worst possible light.

But for the past four weeks, I had become quite a “regular” in these three UMNO-owned “mainstream media” which had treated me as a “persona non grata” – not because these three “mainstream media” have suddenly realized that the journalists’ craft is to tell the truth, but for the UMNO propaganda masterminds to set me up so that UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers could discredit, destroy and demolish me.

They were modern-day Malaysian practitioners of the Nazi craft immortalized by Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels who said the infamous words – “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Continue reading “It flaunts the power but also advertises the failure of UMNO’s Goebbels in using Nazi Big Lies to demonise me as power-hungry, anti-Malay and anti-Islam”

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Should Rukunegara be Preamble to Malaysian Constitution or be the Centrepiece of TN50?

The civil society initiative to make Rukunegara relevant again and be the guide for public policies and law-making is most commendable and timely.

The civil society initiative, known as “Rukunegara sebagai Muqadimmah Perlembagaan” (RMP) or “Rukunegara as the Preamble to the Federal Constitution”, is aimed at including the national document as the opening statement of Malaysia’s supreme law, the Malaysian Constitution.

I cannot agree more with RMP chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar when he said the Rukunegara has been sidelined, giving way to other trends that threatened national unity and integrity.

He said at the launch of the RMP campaign: “If such trends gain more influence in the future, the characteristics of our country will change.

“This is why we Malaysians have to remind ourselves of the Rukunegara and how important this ideology is in a whole and inclusive society.”

I made a five-day visit to Jakarta and Jogjarkata in September last year together with three DAP MPs, Teresa Kok (Seputeh), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) to meet with leaders of political parties and Islamic organisations as well as public intellectuals, and one thing that struck us was the central place of Pancasila among the major Indonesian political and intellectual leaders in the nation-building process in the country. Continue reading “Should Rukunegara be Preamble to Malaysian Constitution or be the Centrepiece of TN50?”

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I am prepared in the next 72 hours to meet Liow and Mah any place any time in the national interests to discuss how to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy

During my “Jelajah Desa Bersama Kit Siang” visit to Sungai Gelugor on Sunday, I told a media conference that if the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang is prepared to conclude a solemn agreement that the top priority in the 14th General Election is to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, which would be the national agenda for the next five to ten years, I am prepared to co-operate with him. Was Hadi prepared to make such a commitment?

This had created a lot of political waves, both in MCA and Gerakann quarters, with the MCA Youth leader and Deputy Education Minister launching into a tirade against the DAP.

Why? Is it just because of my preparedness, despite our great political differences, to work with Hadi Awang on a common agenda in the larger national interests to free the country from the curse of a global kleptocracy?

Only the small-minded and political opportunists will call this an “U-turn” or hypocrisy, when it is the highest form of expression of patriotism and love for Malaysia.
I do not know what is Hadi’s response, but I stand by my position that despite our great political differences, I am prepared to work with Hadi to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy – not mere kleptocracy.

No country can claim to be God-fearing, guided by the religious, moral and ethical precepts and principles, whether Islamic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu or Sikhist, and nobody can claim to be patriotic and want to save the country if he is she is content for Malaysia to remain a global kleptocracy! Continue reading “I am prepared in the next 72 hours to meet Liow and Mah any place any time in the national interests to discuss how to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy”

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Cabinet on Wednesday should set up national consultative council on TN50 under chairmanship of Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population

The Cabinet on Wednesday should set up a national consultative council on 2050 National Transformation Policy under the chairmanship of CIMB Group Chariman, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population.

How can the first minority government in the country, which won only 47% support of the popular electorate in the last general election in 2013, undertake a national undertaking like the TN 50 concerning the vision of Malaysia for the next 33 years when it has the lost the locus standi even to claim to represent the majority of Malaysians?

The 53% of the popular electorate, who rejected the Barisan Nasional as the Federal government in Putrajaya, must be able to fully participate in the evolution and shaping of TN 50 if the objective is to create a shared national vision for 100% of Malaysians and not just 47% of the people.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is right when he said yesterday that Malaysians need to focus on efforts on instilling unity instead of giving attention to matters pertaining to disagreements and differences in opinion. Continue reading “Cabinet on Wednesday should set up national consultative council on TN50 under chairmanship of Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population”

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UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit


I want to remind the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of the Chinese saying “If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it”. (若要人不知 除非己莫为)

This is because the pieces are falling into place about Najib’s Goebbellian Syndrome to use me as a guinea pig to test out Goebbels’ Nazi propaganda doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” as the strategy to control the rural Malay mind.

The whole sorry story started with Najib’s UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30, where he notched up another octave in the politics of race, hatred and falsehood when he declared DAP as UMNO’s Enemy No. 1 in the forthcoming 14th General Election, declaring that the Malays will have to decide whether to maintain a government led by UMNO or DAP.

This is of course a political fallacy, as whatever happens in the 14GE, whether Najib is toppled as Prime Minister or UMNO loses the Federal Government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.

For the past two months, neither Najib nor anybody in UMNO and its propaganda apparatus has been able to give a decent reply to the question recently asked by National Laureate Pak Samad as to how Malays could lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election. Continue reading “UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit”

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Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind

This is Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Goebbelian Syndrome – to use me as a guinea pig to test out the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind.

In his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov. 30, Najib set in motion this Goebbelian power play, telling three Nazi-style “Big Lies” about the DAP, viz:

1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

These three “Big Lies” fit the Goebbels/Nazi definition that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Najib and the UMNO propagandists have not been able to reply to my rebuttal of Najib’s “Three Nazi Big Lies” against the DAP or the challenge to Najib to list out DAP’s Three Big Lies against him or the UMNO leadership – but the Goebbelian attack of “Nazi Big Lies” on the DAP and me have continued. Continue reading “Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind”

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The role and place of Rukunegara, the first Caliph’s inaugural address and global kleptocralcy in TN50’s “shared vision for the future”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has touted 2050 National Transformation (TN50) policy as a shared vision that will give everyone, especially young Malaysians, an opportunity to shape the nation in the years to come.

He said at the launch of the TN 50 at the first of Town Hall dialogues with 500 selected youths at the Universiti Malaya’s Dewan Tunku Canselor on Thursday night that TN 50 shared vision for the future, which is Malaysia’s roadmap for the next 33 years, must come from the people so that there is a sense of public ownership and belonging.

Very correct. How can a minority government, which has only 47% support of the popular electorate in last general election in 2013, have the locus standi to talk about creating a national vision for 2050 without the full participation of the 53% of the national electorate who rejected UMNO/Barisan Nasional government?

When former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad introduced “Vision 2020” when tabling the Sixth Malaysia Plan in Parliament in 1991, he had the support of the majority electorate in the 1990 general election, where Barisan Nasional secured 53.4% of the popular vote, which increased to 65.2% in the 1995 general election.

This is very different from Najib, who secured only 47% of the popular vote but 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats because of gerrymandering and a most undemocratic redelineration of electoral constituencies. Continue reading “The role and place of Rukunegara, the first Caliph’s inaugural address and global kleptocralcy in TN50’s “shared vision for the future””

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Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!

It should be a great start for the launching of the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) journey with the first town hall dialogue of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with 500 youths at the Tunku Chancellor in University of Malaya and telecast live to the nation.

But anybody following the TN50 launch-off live from their homes and offices would have realized that there is something missing in the air of the Prime Minister’s dialogue – detracting from the event’s authenticity, bona fides and relevance.

What was wrong and missing about the TN dialogue was brought to the fore when the Prime Minister in his ending remarks called on the youths to ensure that Malaysia get into the world’s top 20 nations.

But Najib had achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah – have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations. Joining the club of global kleptocracy in a short span of five to six years! Continue reading “Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!”

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Cabinet on Wednesday should congratulate Cardinal Fernandez as the first Malaysian to be appointed as a Roman Catholic cardinal

The Cabinet on Wednesday should congratulate Cardinal Fernandez as the first Malaysian to be appointed as a Roman Catholic cardinal.

As a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation which is the site for the confluence of the great civilizations in the world, Malaysians should celebrate whenever a Malaysian regardless of race, religion or culture scaled new heights or achieved new accomplishments.

At the “Red Hat” ceremony in the Basilica of St. Peter’s at the Vatican on November 19 last year where Cardinal Fernandez was one the 17 new Cardinals who received the red hat (biretta), Pope Francis underlined the different cultural traditions of the new Cardinals.

He said: “We come from distant lands; we have different traditions, skin colour, languages and social backgrounds; we think differently and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites. None of this makes us enemies; instead it is one of our greatest riches…”

The Pope lamented the modern world in which “polarization” and “exclusion” are burgeoning and considered the only way to resolve conflicts.

Malaysians share similar concerns at the rise of polarization and exclusion not only on the global stage but also in Malaysian politics and life. Continue reading “Cabinet on Wednesday should congratulate Cardinal Fernandez as the first Malaysian to be appointed as a Roman Catholic cardinal”

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Tan Sri Alwi Jantan’s mournful poem “Cry my Beloved Country” is the plaintive cry of all patriotic Malaysians who love Malaysia and grievously hurt at the harm we have done to ourselves

When I received on the WhatApps a poem “Cry my Beloved Country” by “Alwi Jantan, Perth, 1st January 2017”, I wanted to be sure that it was penned by Tan Sri Alwi Jantan himself, and not a “fake”.

I took pains to check its veracity and I was vindicated when I spoke to the 81-year-old former top civil servant himself, and he confirmed that he had himself written the poem.

Born in Dungun, Terengganu on 16th April 1935, Alwi had a long civil service career belonging to the first Merdeka generation of public servants, starting in the civil service in August 1958, and who went on to serve as Director-General of National Archives and Library Malaysia in 1971; Selangor State Secretary (1972-76); Secretary-General of three Ministries, namely Local Government and Federal Territory, Health and Agriculture; Deputy Secretary-General of Prime Minister’s Department (1981-1984), ending his public service career as Director-General of Public Services Department (PSD) (1987-1990).

Alwi’s mournful poem “Cry my Beloved Country” to ring in the New Year of 2017 for a very troubled Malaysia is the plaintive cry of all patriotic Malaysians who love Malaysia and grievously hurt at the harm we have done to ourselves.

This is Alwi’s “Cry my Beloved Country” on behalf of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region – a cry deep from the heart of grieving Malaysians in the run-up to the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Proclamation of Merdeka on August 31, 1957:
Continue reading “Tan Sri Alwi Jantan’s mournful poem “Cry my Beloved Country” is the plaintive cry of all patriotic Malaysians who love Malaysia and grievously hurt at the harm we have done to ourselves”

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Have Liow Tiong Lai, Mah Siew Keong and S. Subramaniam secretly agreed with UMNO to support BN government take-over of Hadi’s private member’s bill that MCA, Gerakan and MIC cannot respond positively to the Pensiangan Formula to deal with Hadi’s private member’s bill?

I have been puzzled as to why the MCA President, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, the Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the MIC President, Datuk S. Subramian is so lukewarm to my proposal of a Pensiangan Formula to address the political and constitutional stalemate created by UMNO’s support for PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Awang Hadi’s private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355).

The Pensiangan Formula came to me when I was visiting Pensiangan on Thursday, 29th December after Tenom and Keningau in the interior in Sabah, where the overwhelming majority are Christians and non-Muslims – and after the inspiring and eloquent Christmas Message of the President of the Sabah Council of Churches, Rev Jerry Dusing, calling for the truth to be told on national issues concerning the people, whether 1MDB or Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Pensiangan is the parliamentary constituency of the Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of national unity.

But Kurup had failed in his Ministerial duty, as the country had never been faced with greater threat to national unity arising from the triple woes of racial and religious polarisation and the failure of Putrajaya to honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to give equitable and fair treatment to Sabah and Sarawak in the Malaysian Federation.

As a result, Kurup was not in much of a “national unity” mindset when he warned in May this year that Sabahans and Sarawakians may demand to split from peninsular Malaysia if Hadi’s private member’s bill is passed in Parliament.

If this should come to pass, it would be the greatest tragedy for the Malaysian Federation. Continue reading “Have Liow Tiong Lai, Mah Siew Keong and S. Subramaniam secretly agreed with UMNO to support BN government take-over of Hadi’s private member’s bill that MCA, Gerakan and MIC cannot respond positively to the Pensiangan Formula to deal with Hadi’s private member’s bill?”

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Cabinet should devote its last meeting of the year on 28th Dec to review how Malaysian nation-building took a wrong turn when Ministers strayed away from Rukunegara principles and objectives, resulting in the 1MDB scandal, Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy and Najib’s very “ethnic nationalistic” speech as UMNO President

We are now in the last week of the year 2016.

Its time for reflection and introspection – not so much as to what went right but what went wrong in our nation as 2016 is an even worse annus horribilis for Malaysia than 2015.

A year ago, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his 2016 New Year message, told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.

Najib could not be more wrong as Malaysia’s international repute and standing suffered an even worse battering this year with the ferocious pounding of the twin mega scandals in the international marketplace of opinion, to the extent that Malaysians felt embarrassed in admitting that they were Malaysians when abroad.

Malaysia was cited for the third “worst corruption scandal of 2015” by international website foreignpolicy.com in the last week of last year, but we went on to accumulate more dishonours this year – like TIME magazine’s ranking in March as second worst example of global corruption, Economist’s ranking in May as second in its index of crony capitalism and in July, the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US3.5 billion international 1MDB kleptocratic embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.

These were not the only woes for the country for this year – as the country is going through th worst crisis of confidence as evidenced by the worst plummeting in the value of the Malaysian ringgit and the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history.

What went wrong and how can we put the country right again, so that Malaysians can hold their heads high, whether at home or abroad? Continue reading “Cabinet should devote its last meeting of the year on 28th Dec to review how Malaysian nation-building took a wrong turn when Ministers strayed away from Rukunegara principles and objectives, resulting in the 1MDB scandal, Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy and Najib’s very “ethnic nationalistic” speech as UMNO President”

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Call on Malaysians to return to the Rukunegara principles to unite as a people, regardless of race and religion, to fulfill Malaysia’s dream of greatness

I wish all Christians in Malaysia Merry Christmas.

Although I am not a Christian, I have been wishing Christians “Merry Christmas” for over six decades from my student days in Batu Pahat High School, just as I have wished “Selamat Hari Raya” to Muslims and “Happy Deepavali” to Hindus in Malaysia.

Was I wrong and had I any intention to subvert the faith of the Christians, Muslims or Hindus to their religions in making such felicitations to them on their festive days?

Of course not. Such an idea was unthinkable and even anathema, as it never entered into my remotest thoughts to subvert the faith of Christians, Muslims or Hindus by wishing them felicitations on the occasion of their religion’s holy days.

This is why I read with joy and appreciation the latest writing of the Johore Sultanah who said that “Going to church did not make me less of a Muslim when I was a young girl, and neither does saying ‘Merry Christmas’ make me less of a Muslim now”. Continue reading “Call on Malaysians to return to the Rukunegara principles to unite as a people, regardless of race and religion, to fulfill Malaysia’s dream of greatness”

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Call for immediate release of Bersih leaders Maria Chin, Hishamuddin Rais, four Pakatan Harapan MPs/SA Anthony Loke, Zuraida, Tian Chua and Howard Lee and others arrested in government’s Bersih 5 crackdown

Deepavali is the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and hope over despair.

Because of man’s imperfections and weaknesses, this will be an eternal struggle.

The successful Bersih 5 rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, where Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics came out as one people for democracy symbolized the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and hope over despair – which was all the more remarkable as it was achieved against the backdrop of great odds and obstacles caused by a six-week high-powered UMNO-sponsored Red Shirt campaign of racial provocations, threats, hatred and unashamed cyber-bullying to frustrate and thwart the Bersih 5 rally.

The Bersih 5 rally was a clarion declaration by Malaysians for Malaysia to become a democracy and not a kleptocrary.

It was history-making as it was the first gathering of Malaysians since the US Department of Justice (DOJ) kleptocratic action in July against multi-billion dollar 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering to defend the honour and good name of Malaysia in national and international society from the infamy and ignominy of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”!

But the darkness has not been completed dispelled in Malaysia, even gaining ascendance in some new areas – as witnessed by the government’s undemocratic Bersih 5 crackdown with the indiscriminate arrest of Bersih 5 activists, Pakatan Harapan elected representatives and NGO activists. Continue reading “Call for immediate release of Bersih leaders Maria Chin, Hishamuddin Rais, four Pakatan Harapan MPs/SA Anthony Loke, Zuraida, Tian Chua and Howard Lee and others arrested in government’s Bersih 5 crackdown”

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2017 Budget Speech will go down in history as one where Prime Minister Najib admits failure and repudiates Vision 2020 by announcing his Vision 2050

Today’s budget presentation in Parliament by the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, makes dubious history.

I have personally seen some 42 Budget presentations in Parliament since my first election as MP, and this is the first time that a budget has attracted such derision because of its double absence of credibility – over the budget itself and the presenter of the budget.

This is why for the first time in Malaysia’s parliamentary history since Merdeka in 1957, there is a mass protest walk-out of Opposition MPs in Parliament during the presentation of the Budget!

Why had such protest walk-outs of MPs not happened in past budget presentations by past Finance Ministers?

Najib’s 2017 Budget makes double history – the first budget since Malaysia had acquired the infamy of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” as well as going down in history as one where Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak admits failure and repudiates Vision 2020 by announcing his own Vision 2050! Continue reading “2017 Budget Speech will go down in history as one where Prime Minister Najib admits failure and repudiates Vision 2020 by announcing his Vision 2050”

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A Political Divide Over Islamic Law Could Undo Malaysia’s Social Fabric

David Hutt
World Politics Review
Aug. 30, 2016

During my last visit to Malaysia in February, I met the famed film director Chiu Keng Guan to discuss his fourth and latest movie, “Ola Bola.” It had just come out in local cinemas and was already proving to be such a sensation that one newspaper asked if there was an “Ola Bola overload.” A little misty-eyed perhaps, the film is a fictionalized account of the Malaysian national football team’s qualification for the 1980 Olympic Games, arguably one of the country’s finest sporting milestones, made all the more memorable by the fact that it was achieved by a multiracial, multireligious team.

“Ola Bola is a story about Malaysia,” Chiu told me as we sat on the steps of the decaying Stadium Merdeka, where independence from Britain was announced in 1957. “I wanted to talk about team spirit, how a team of young players went through difficulties, trained together, sweated together, and how they worked as a team.”

Being in Malaysia at the time of the film’s release, it wasn’t difficult to notice that, aside from the nostalgia, people were speaking of it as a piece of social commentary in a country where racial and religious tensions are never far from the surface. One critic surmised, “Ola Bola [has] been able to do for Malaysia what many politicians cannot do—to remind us as a nation and as Malaysians, ‘kita menang sama-sama, kita kalah sama-sama’”: We win together; we lose together. One cannot help but feel the critic’s words were even more pertinent months later when politicians forced the country into yet another existential debate.

In May, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, PAS), an opposition party, successfully tabled a bill to introduce strict Islamic criminal codes, known as “hudud,” in the northern state of Kelantan, which has been a PAS stronghold since 1990. Hudud are criminal punishments established by the Quran and Sunnah, the oral teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, which typically cover what are deemed criminal offenses, such as theft, fornication, intoxication, apostasy and slander. Punishments can include the amputation of limbs for theft, flogging for “improper” sexual acts and stoning to death for adultery, although the latter is not always imposed. Continue reading “A Political Divide Over Islamic Law Could Undo Malaysia’s Social Fabric”