Posted on

Malaysians can now hope again for political change in next general election after the roller-coaster ride of high hopes and virtual despair in the two years since the 13th GE

Endau made history tonight, firstly, with Endau joining the national mainstream of Malaysians demanding that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must answer the question uppermost in everyone’s mind, regardless of race, religion, region (whether urban or rural areas, whether in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah or Sarawak) or even party politics.

Secondly, the establishment of the protem committee of the new DAP branch in Endau and the strong presence of Parti Amanah Negara which is in the process of forming a branch in Endau – and I welcome in particular the four AMANAH and Pakatan Harapan stalwarts who are here tonight: Professor Madya Dr. Sulaiman Mohd Nor, representing the Johor AMANAH Chairman; IR Hj Khairudin Abdul Rahim, Johor AMANAH Secretary; Prof. Madya Hj Hamidon Musa representing Pakatan Harapan Mersing and Sdr. Fadli Ramli of Rompin Pakatan Harapan.

Mersing (with the two State Assembly seats of Endau and Tenggaroh) is the 30th Parliamentary constituency I am visiting since my outrageous suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22 to spread the word that Najib can suspend one Lim Kit Siang from Parliament for six months, but this will only seed tens and hundreds of thousands, even millions of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, to stand up to declare that they are also Lim Kit Siang in demanding full accounting of “Mana RM2.6 billion?” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.
Continue reading “Malaysians can now hope again for political change in next general election after the roller-coaster ride of high hopes and virtual despair in the two years since the 13th GE”

Posted on

Congrats to Parti Amanah Negara for having 35,000 members in two-and-a-half months when DAP in our first 15 years have not reached this figure of membership

Firstly, let me congratulate Parti Amanah Negara for its launch in Johor, as part of the determined collective bid by Pakatan Harapan to make Johor the front-line state for political change in Malaysia in the run-up to the 14th General Election.

Parti Amanah Negara has made impressive political headway in less than three months of its launch, gaining some 35,000 members and Parti Amanah Negara Secretary-General Sdr. Anuar Tahir told me just now that he expects the party membership to reach 60,000 by the end of the year in about six weeks time.

This is a most impressive political progress for Parti Amanah Negara in such a short period of four months as DAP did not reach the membership of 35,000 in our first 15 years of political struggle, although we had contested in three general elections in 1969, 1974 and 1978 – winning 13 Parliamentary and 31 State Assembly seats in our first general election outing in 1969, when we secured 11.9 per cent of the popular vote. Continue reading “Congrats to Parti Amanah Negara for having 35,000 members in two-and-a-half months when DAP in our first 15 years have not reached this figure of membership”

Posted on

One way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14 GE is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while AMANAH focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two parties

The various combinations and permutations in the Malaysian political arena, not only in the ruling coalition of UMNO/BN parties but in the Opposition, seem to be the hot topic of the day.

Yesterday, there was the grand announcement of new political alignment and co-operation between PAS and Perkasa, but such a development would not forestall the holding of three-cornered fights in the 14th General Election which must be held in 2018.

May be one way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14th General Election is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while Parti AMANAH Negara focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two political parties.

This may or may not be a workable proposition as I have not discussed it with any other political party or personality. Continue reading “One way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14 GE is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while AMANAH focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two parties”

Posted on

The evolution of political Islam in Malaysia

– Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
26 September 2015

I would divide the evolution of political Islam in Malaysia into three stages: Islamic revival/resurgent which culminated in changes in Umno and PAS in 1982, the emergence of PAS’s progressive faction in 1998, and the “post-Islamism” of 2015.

I have always been reluctant to draw direct comparisons between international trends in the discourse of political Islam and Islamic politics at home, because to a large extent, politics is local.

However, international trends and labels are instructive as a window to observe domestic changes. Continue reading “The evolution of political Islam in Malaysia”

Posted on

The Big Read: On Malaysia Day, a reminder of racial politics at play

MOHAMED NAWAB MOHAMED OSMAN FOR TODAY
26 SEPTEMBER 2015

Race politics are very much alive in Malaysia, say analysts and observers. Going forward how will this affect Malaysia and even Singapore?

SINGAPORE — On Sept 16, Malaysia celebrated its 52nd Malaysia Day, which marks the birth of the Malaysian federation consisting of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and, briefly Singapore.

Malaysia Day is often a low-key affair, coming just two weeks after the splashier Merdeka Day celebrations. Yet this year, the day was marked by two important events.

The first was the Red Shirts rally by a Malay rights groups to show solidarity with Malay leaders whom these groups claimed are under attack by the Chinese community. The second event was the launch of the Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) or Amanah, a breakaway party of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). PAN is a moderate Islamic party which calls for the strengthening of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious social fabric. But for PAS leaders, PAN is just a front for the Democratic Action Party (DAP) — the opposition’s ethnic Chinese party.

There is concern within both PAS and the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) that PAN could further split the Malay vote and help propel DAP to an electoral victory over UMNO at the next general election. Continue reading “The Big Read: On Malaysia Day, a reminder of racial politics at play”

Posted on

‘Amanah’ mendukung gagasan politik Islam

A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
15 September 2015

Pelancaran rasmi parti politik baharu bernuansa Islam – Parti Amanah Negara atau singkatnya Amanah – esok, 16 September, mempunyai makna penting dan tersendiri bukan saja dalam sejarah politik tanah air, tetapi juga apa yang dinamakan politik Islam.

Parti Amanah ini sedang dalam proses untuk didaftarkan.

Selepas menekuni dari dekat kemunculan parti baharu ini, saya menyimpulkan beberapa hal. Continue reading “‘Amanah’ mendukung gagasan politik Islam”