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Thousands throng ‘Bersih 3.0’ ceramah in Penang

Susan Loone
Malaysiakini
Jul 12, 11

They have been accused of hijacking the July 9 rally as calls of ‘reformasi’ – PKR’s battle cry – reverberated on the streets of Kuala Lumpur instead of cries of ‘Bersih’ for electoral reforms.

Yet more than 5,000 turned up to throw a hero’s welcome for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS deputy chief Mohamad Sabu at the Seberang Jaya Expo site last night, a ceramah which the latter described as ‘Bersih 3.0’.

Both leaders, who arrived within 20 minutes of each other, made a grand entrance – Anwar entered sporting a neck brace and had to assisted as he headed for the stage, while Mohamad was in a wheelchair and was hauled up onto the platform by several security personnel. Continue reading “Thousands throng ‘Bersih 3.0’ ceramah in Penang”

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Cops: Restriction order against 91 individuals

by Regina Lee
Malaysiakini
Jul 7, 11

The police have placed a restriction order on 91 individuals, including organisers of the Bersih 2.0, Perkasa and Umno Youth’s Patriot rallies.

The order is to stop any of the 91 from being present at several spots in Kuala Lumpur on July 9.

“This means that anyone (on the list) caught present at these areas will be arrested on sight,” said the city deputy police chief Amar Singh.

Top on the list are the Bersih 2.0 steering committee members, including Ambiga Sreenevasan, Wong Chin Huat and Maria Chin Abdullah.

Also on the list are Pakatan Rakyat leaders, such as opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat, his party’s deputy-president Mohamad Sabu, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and social activist Hishamuddin Rais. Continue reading “Cops: Restriction order against 91 individuals”

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PR backs Bersih’s Merdeka Stadium plan, expects 300,000

By Melissa Chi and Lisa J. Ariffin
July 06, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) announced today that they supported Bersih 2.0’s proposal to have the rally in Merdeka Stadium on July 9, although the request to use the stadium has yet to be approved.

“So Pakatan Rakyat supports Bersih to hold their rally in Stadium Merdeka although in the latest report, the prime minister, especially the home minister, took a turn and had purposely given all kinds of excuses not to allow the use of the stadium,” Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told reporters here after a PR Leadership Council meeting. Continue reading “PR backs Bersih’s Merdeka Stadium plan, expects 300,000”

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Pakatan willing to accept Najib’s stadium offer

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 05, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties today declared themselves “open” to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s offer to allow Bersih 2.0 to hold its July 9 rally in a stadium.

In a statement signed by PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar and DAP national organising secretary Teresa Kok, the pact said the agreement had been reached following several discussions among party leaders.

“We would like to record our stand that all three parties are open to the prime minister’s office as long as it respects the people’s right to assemble peacefully as enshrined under the Federal Constitution,” they said.

They added that Bersih 2.0’s demands for electoral reform should stay as the main objective of the rally, pointing out that such reforms were needed urgently before the 13th general election. Continue reading “Pakatan willing to accept Najib’s stadium offer”

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EC Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad showed his true colours of lacking 3Is of independence, impartiality and integrity when he launched attacks on Bersih as Pakatan Rakyat “stooge”

If there is a nation-wide quiz asking Malaysians who could be responsible for the two following headlines on online media today, “Bersih is Pakatan stooge in bid for Putrajaya” and “Bersih Pakatan’s catspaw”, I don’t think anyone who is not in the know could get it right despite everyone being given three guesses each.

The hot favourites for these guesses would be UMNO leaders headed either by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, while others named would include the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other Umno and Barisan Nasional (including MCA, Gerakan, MIC) leaders.

Nobody would have thought of any Election Commission high official as the culprit for these two quotes for they are completely out of character of what is expected of Election Commission officers. Continue reading “EC Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad showed his true colours of lacking 3Is of independence, impartiality and integrity when he launched attacks on Bersih as Pakatan Rakyat “stooge””

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Pakatan aims for 11 states in GE13, says Kit Siang

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 26, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is targeting to control 11 states in the upcoming general elections, says Lim Kit Siang.

The DAP parliamentary leader said the coalition has targeted on retaining Penang, Kedah, Selangor, Kelantan and winning back Perak. He also said that PR is planning on taking over Negri Sembilan, Johor, Malacca, Pahang, Terengganu and Perlis from Barisan Nasional (BN).

“The forthcoming 13th General Election will be the battle of the century as at stake will not only be the state governments of all the 11 states in Peninsular Malaysia but federal power in Putrajaya as well,” said Lim at a dinner in Teluk Intan last night. Continue reading “Pakatan aims for 11 states in GE13, says Kit Siang”

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Pakatan Rakyat’s 3 state targets in next general elections

Pakatan Rakyat has three targets for the states in the next general elections, viz:

  • To retain the four Pakatan Rakyat states of Penang, Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan;
  • To win back Perak state government which was illegally, unconstitutionally and undemocratically robbed from the people and the Pakatan Rakyat; and
  • To form the state government in the six states of Negri Sembilan, Johore, Malacca, Pahang, Terengganu and Perlis.

    • Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat’s 3 state targets in next general elections”

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    Pakatan to march on with Bersih

    By Clara Chooi | June 23, 2011
    The Malaysian Insider

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders expressed determination today to press on with their participation in the upcoming Bersih rally despite the SMS death threat to Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan.

    PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, after chairing the pact’s presidential council meeting at the Parliament building here this afternoon, described the threat as “deplorable”, saying that this should further inspire Malaysians to take a stand.

    “We are clearly disgusted. But what is worse, it is not only about the purveyors but the fact that this system seeks to condone, allow and publicise this.

    “So, all the more reason why members of the public must take a position — enough of this racist rhetoric and nonsense… we have to speak up,” Anwar (picture) told a press conference.
    Continue reading “Pakatan to march on with Bersih”

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    DAP masterminding UMNO for more than four decades?

    UMNO’s Utusan Malaysia has today concocted a new wild allegation – accusing DAP of masterminding PAS’ welfare state agenda as a cover for the DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia concept.

    Based on Utusan’s latest wild accusation, I am wondering whether to confess that DAP had been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades.

    Let me put it straight to Utusan Malaysia – do you want DAP to confess that we have been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades? If so, I am prepared to give Utusan the “scoop of the century” of how the DAP had been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades.

    The allegation was made today by Utusan Assistant Chief Editor Datuk Zaini Hassan in his “Cuit” column: “Negara kebajikan, negara Islam dan ‘Malaysian Malaysia’”.

    If Utusan’s Assistant Chief Editor is serious about his allegation that DAP has masterminded PAS’ welfare state adopted at the recent Muktamar PAS, he should have the political acumen to discern that the DAP had in fact been masterminding the UMNO for more than for decades. Continue reading “DAP masterminding UMNO for more than four decades?”

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    A re-branded PAS?

    By Tan Siok Choo
    Sun
    13 Jun 2011

    TAKEN collectively, three developments at PAS’s recent muktamar or general assembly have the potential to re-define Malaysian politics.

    For the first time since 1983, an ulama (or religious leader) wasn’t retained or elected as deputy president, the second highest-ranked party official. The ulama also lost all three vice-presidential contests and reportedly won only six out of 18 central committee positions, which underscored the extent of the party’s makeover.

    Equally notable, in his keynote speech at the muktamar, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang Hadi announced that the party now aspired to create a welfare state while maintaining it wasn’t abandoning its quest for an Islamic state. Continue reading “A re-branded PAS?”

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    Najib cannot be more wrong as PAS polls outcome is a win for PR and a loss for UMNO

    When history is written in the future, the present period may be described as the most exciting, challenging and momentous period in the nation’s history since Merdeka and formation of Malaysia as for the first time in half a century, Malaysians feel that it is within their power to effect far-reaching changes affecting not only themselves, but their children and children’s children.

    Just look at the news on online portals and they reflect the multi-facted turmoil affecting the country.

    For instance, if we look at the main news headlines on The Malaysia Today, we read the following:

    • “Kit Siang, Soi Lek agree race column outdated”
    • “Ku Li calls for RCI on power deals”
    • “Ex-cop claims AG concealed billion-ringgit scandals”
    • “Najib: People, not slogans, decide who wins Putrajaya”
    • “PAS polls outcome a win for DAP, says Najib” Continue reading “Najib cannot be more wrong as PAS polls outcome is a win for PR and a loss for UMNO”

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    Can we trust you, Najib?

    by Walter Chan
    The Malaysian Insider
    Jun 10, 2011

    JUNE 10 — So it looks like election season is in the offing, judging by politicians making statements here and there.

    I am especially interested in statements attributed to Prime Minister Najib Razak as reported in The Malaysian Insider. Apparently he was speaking to some residents in Datuk Keramat when he said that people and not slogans decide who wins Putrajaya.

    Coming from the man who has relied on “People First, Performance Now” and 1 Malaysia rather than any substantive change, that is a bit odd. But we should not nitpick.

    But what really got my blood boiling was his question on whether voters can trust Pakatan Rakyat. The follies and shortcomings of the opposition are amplified and documented well in the mainstream media but there is only fawning coverage of Barisan Nasional in the same pages. Continue reading “Can we trust you, Najib?”

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    BN on last legs of power, says Kit Siang

    By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
    June 08, 201 | The Malaysian Insider

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Lim Kit Siang claims Barisan Nasional (BN) is on the verge of electoral defeat, and that proof of this was an Umno minister’s acceptance of the possibility that the country’s next prime minister could come from Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

    The DAP parliamentary leader said this in reference to minister in the prime minister’s department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s recent claim that Hadi was aiming to replace Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as PR’s prime minister-designate.

    In his analysis of the just-concluded PAS polls, the Umno supreme council member had said a glaring trend had emerged in the usually conservative Islamist party — a newfound lust for power. Continue reading “BN on last legs of power, says Kit Siang”

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    Mahu wujudkan negara berkebajikan? Langkah mayat ‘politik perkauman’ dulu

    By Amaluddin Zhafir

    Roketkini.com
    8 June 2011

    8 JUN – Entah apa yang dimaksudkan bekas Perdana Menteri Malaysia bila beliau menulis bahawa pertandingan jarang menghasilkan keputusan “menang-menang,” dengan semua yang bertanding berjaya.

    Apa yang jelas, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dalam blognya merujuk kepada muktamar PAS lepas yang mana menurut pandangannya, ada yang menang dan ada yang kalah.

    Kenyataannya itu ada asasnya. Tetapi melihat kepada tuduhannya yang mengatakan Pengerusi DAP Karpal Singh berjaya menggugurkan matlamat PAS untuk menubuhkan negara Islam, nampaknya kenyataan tersebut agak dangkal yang datang daripada seorang tokoh besar. Continue reading “Mahu wujudkan negara berkebajikan? Langkah mayat ‘politik perkauman’ dulu”

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    Nazri’s claim that Hadi is gunning for PM’s job latest example of scent enveloping UMNO and BN leaderships on the last legs of power until 13GE

    The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri’s claim that the PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is gunning for the Prime Minister’s job strikes discerning Malaysians as the latest example of the debilitating loss of confidence enveloping Umno and BN leaderships that they are on the last legs of power until the 13th General Election.

    Until the 308 political tsunami of the 2008 General Election, the very thought that the Prime Minister would not come from Umno would be a completely unthinkable notion.

    Now a senior Minister of the Najib Cabinet is seriously canvassing the scenario of UMNO and BN losing federal power in Putrajaya and, for the first time in the nation’s history since Merdeka in 1955, a Prime Minister not from Umno after the next 13th general election.

    Nazri of course had his ulterior political motive and agenda in making his allegation that Hadi is gunning for the PM’s job, but the overwhelming public impression from Nazri’s claim is not about its veracity (and Hadi has already rebutted him) but the shocking fact that more and more Umno and BN leaders are coming to accept the possibility that the next Prime Minister after the next general elections will not be Najib or come from UMNO.
    Continue reading “Nazri’s claim that Hadi is gunning for PM’s job latest example of scent enveloping UMNO and BN leaderships on the last legs of power until 13GE”

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    PAS’ welfare state goal is debatable

    By Terence Netto
    Jun 8, 11 | MalaysiaKini

    COMMENT The comments that emanated from Umno on the outcome of the PAS elections last weekend yet again demonstrated that when it comes to a discussion of ideas, their commentary is bereft.

    Its crappy tone hit a nadir when Dr Mahathir Mohamad speculated that the person most elated with the results of the PAS elections would be DAP chairperson Karpal Singh.

    Trust Mahathir to squeeze the soft underbelly of DAP-PAS relations by dredging up a remark made by Karpal in the prelude to the 1999 general elections – that Malaysia could only become a Islamic state over his dead body – to remind voters of how far PAS had now come in abandoning its Islamic state goal to appease the secularists in DAP.

    In a long career politicians are allowed a rash comment or two, provided the person apologises as Karpal did. Continue reading “PAS’ welfare state goal is debatable”

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    Anwar stresses ‘twin pillars’ of religious concordat

    By Terence Netto
    Jun 7, 11 | MalaysiaKini

    COMMENT Cynics may scoff but Anwar Ibrahim’s tack with regard to the rights of non-Muslims in Malaysia remains consistent, as the latest meeting between the PKR leadership and representatives of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) indicated.

    Some attendees at last night’s meeting in Kuala Lumpur could not help but recall a similar encounter between PKR and MCCBCHST in Petaling Jaya in December 2007 that dealt with the same issues but was held in a less fraught atmosphere than presently prevailing.

    Then, matters to do with forced conversions, temple demolitions and the incipient rise of the ‘Allah’ issue brought furrows to non-Muslim brows. Continue reading “Anwar stresses ‘twin pillars’ of religious concordat”

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    Kit Siang: Mukhriz’s PAS polls claim shows BN cannot change

    By Yow Hong Chieh
    June 06, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 — DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang slammed Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir today for claiming that the PAS party poll results show that the DAP and PKR have influenced the Islamist party into sidelining its ulama faction.

    Lim said the Umno Youth executive councillor’s “wild, baseless and irrational” claims were proof that no one in Umno or Barisan Nasional (BN) could live up to the aspirations of young Malaysians, who wanted a better Malaysia after “lost decades” under the ruling coalition’s rule.

    Mukhriz (picture) said on Saturday that the rise of the professional, or Erdogan, faction in PAS’s top leadership showed that the party now only championed the multi-racial line of its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners and no longer fought for the Islamic state. Continue reading “Kit Siang: Mukhriz’s PAS polls claim shows BN cannot change”

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    PAS dynamism is restored

    Comment by Zainon Ahmad
    6 June 2011 | Sun2Surf

    KUALA LUMPUR (June 5, 2011): IF the late nationalist Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy — PAS’s third president who did much to turn the Umno breakaway into a strong party with its own identity and ideology — were alive today he would probably be pleased with this year’s muktamar.

    He would be happy to note that the delegates to the muktamar had no qualms at all about criticizing ulamas for their unwillingness to encourage progressive thinking among Muslims in the country. Continue reading “PAS dynamism is restored”

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    To laugh or cry at Utusan Malaysia’s “garbage of all garbage” write-up today accusing me of being a mastermind in PAS party elections?

    Should I gnash my teeth and pull my hair out in anger and frustration at Utusan Malaysia’s “garbage of all garbage” write-up accusing me of being a mastermind in PAS party elections?

    Or should I just dismiss it with all the contempt which all calumny, lies and falsehoods deserve?

    Indeed a classic “do not know whether to laugh or cry” situation!

    Penned by Utusan editors hiding behind the pseudonym Awang Selamat, the “garbage of all garbage” must be read by all Malaysians to forewarn them of the terminal mental disease condition afflicting certain powerful personalities walking the corridors of power in the Najib Razak administration. Hence it is quoted in full as follows: Continue reading “To laugh or cry at Utusan Malaysia’s “garbage of all garbage” write-up today accusing me of being a mastermind in PAS party elections?”