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Up and around, here and there

Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 11, 2011

MAY 11 — Umno and its mathematics.

I was “bad” at math when I said out of 10, 11 do not believe. I almost believe that I was terrible at math until I scanned the mainstreams papers screaming that DAP wants a Christian PM and Christianity to be made an official religion.

I know, the trappings of power have made some people soft. What I didn’t realise as quickly as I should have is they have made some people soft in the head.

We have 222 parliamentary seats for grabs. DAP contests, at most, 40. Assuming they win all the 40 parliamentary seats, perhaps Umno mathematicians can tell me how, with 40 seats, DAP or anyone else can form a national government? You have 82 seats and even you can’t form a national government.

Malays number 17-18 million. They form 60 over per cent of the population. Even if DAP marshals the entirety of the Chinese support, can 20 per cent of the population outnumber the 60 over per cent? Perhaps the Umno mathematicians can enlighten me.

Next we have the screamer who says “hidup Melayu”. There is no way we will allow DAP to take over the country. If that makes you happy, please scream some more. We can’t argue much against such emotions and illogic.

But PAS is also Malay. So “hidup Melayu” can also mean “hidup PAS” in as much as it can also mean Umno. Umno people have this self-conceited idea, borne from uncontested arrogance perhaps, that Umno is Malay and Malay is Umno. Continue reading “Up and around, here and there”

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S’pore’s political awakening likely to impact Johor

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng | May 6, 11 5:32pm
Malaysiakini

With more than half a million Malaysians working in Singapore, the apparent political shift in the Singapore election campaign is set to shake Malaysia’s political landscape, especially in the southern state of Johor – deemed to be Umno last bastion in the peninsula.

In this polls, described by many as the toughest battle faced by ruling party People’s Action Party (PAP) since 1960s, the opposition campaign had gained impressive momentum, reflected by the attendance of animated crowds numbering in the tens of thousands at their mega-rallies over the past few days.

It has not only rung the PAP’s alarm bell but also received wide coverage from both the international and Malaysian media.

“No question, Singapore’s political opening will shape all those who are here to see politics differently, whether they are from Malaysia or Indonesia,” said Bridget Welsh, an associate professor in political science at the Singapore Management University. Continue reading “S’pore’s political awakening likely to impact Johor”

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Most important ingredient for national unity

By: K.K. Tan
The Sun
Wed, 27 Apr 2011

DESPITE the debate on racial unity and attempts by the government to achieve it, there seems to be more disunity than ever. It appears that the silent voices of reason and moderation of the majority, who are in support of 1Malaysia, are drowned by the increasingly aggressive voices from a small minority of extremists.

Once again, the destructive and inflammatory proposal to punish a certain ethnic community in the post-Sarawak election blame game is being promoted to “force” a warped kind of national unity. I am not siding with any political party, but touching on a fundamental principle of democracy. Presumably, the punishment suggested would involve the denial of legitimate aid, funding and development to the areas concerned.

According to Newton’s third law, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Hence, the attempted punishment of voters by the Sabah state government in the Tambunan by-election of December 1984 backfired in April 1985 when the ruling party was routed and lost in the state election.

If such “punishment” didn’t work in 1984, it certainly will not work in 2011. These punishment promoters are effectively undermining 1Malaysia. Continue reading “Most important ingredient for national unity”

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Of political desperados, dingoes and demons

By Martin Jalleh

The PM and Umno are desperate, very desperate indeed. It has dawned very hard on them that they could soon be driven out of Putrajaya and into political oblivion.

Anwar Ibrahim, the man who has been the drawing and driving force behind the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (PR), must be destroyed at all cost. Never before has anyone posed such a danger to Umno.

They had tried very hard to do his political career in with a sham sodomy trial but he bounced back even more determined, and with his coalition, dealt them a severe blow in the last general elections.
Continue reading “Of political desperados, dingoes and demons”

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Sordid politics in Malaysia – Hitting below the belt

The Economist
Mar 24th 2011

EVER since he ascended the greasy pole, the political career of Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has been mortgaged to his private life. He is currently on trial for sodomising a male aide, which he denies, in what has become a virtual rerun of a similar case in 1998, after he was sacked as deputy prime minister. Then he was sent to jail for six years, until an appeal court ruled that his conviction had been unsound.

Now a new scandal has broken out over a video clip that purports to show Mr Anwar having sex—this time with a woman. Mr Anwar has furiously denied that he is the man in the video. (The footage was screened on March 21st to a group of Malaysian reporters, all of whom were required to surrender phones, laptops and recording devices.) A man who refused to identify himself said that the video was a secret recording made at a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur. He explained that he had discovered the recording device after a “prominent politician” asked him to search the hotel room for a missing watch. He said he wanted to show that the “prominent politician”—guess who?—was immoral and “not fit to be a leader”. The man of mystery has since revealed his identity, and that of an accomplice: surprise, surprise, they’re longtime political enemies of Mr Anwar’s.
Continue reading “Sordid politics in Malaysia – Hitting below the belt”

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Freeing Education From Politics

by Zairil Khir Johari

There is one particular issue in this country that never fails to incite fierce debate, with passionate arguments – and the occasional flying brick – from all sides of the divide. This has been the case for a very long time, and its history is one that runs parallel to our nation’s own. To chronicle its story would be to journey through the annals of our own ethno-political experience, from early immigrant settlements to colonial dominance and finally to the many compromises that have been effected since political independence was achieved. Today, the story is by no means over; it is one that is constantly evolving (and tormenting) our socio-political structure.

And what is this matter that is as naturally fundamental as it is exasperatingly sensitive? Why, it is this little matter called education.

Few would dispute the contention that there is something fundamentally wrong with the education system in our country, but polemics abound when solutions are proffered or undertaken. Take, for example, the recent remonstrations surrounding the reversal of the PPSMI (teaching of mathematics and science in English) or the sudden announcement that history will be made a mandatory SPM pass subject from 2013. Or better yet, consider also the replacement of the PMR by a school-based assessment programme. Initially reported to take place in 2016 in order to provide sufficient time for a transition that would not burden the affected students, it has now been abruptly brought forward to 2014. And then there are the really thorny issues, such as the question of vernacular education and its place in our national polity, or the standard of our national school model and curriculum, viewed by many as tools of political indoctrination and partisan propaganda. Continue reading “Freeing Education From Politics”

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Returning to democratic foundations should be the top priority

Breaking Views
by Ahmad Mustapha Hassan
The Malaysian Insider
January 17, 2011

January 17, 2011JAN 17 — Malaysia is considered by the present leaders as being a democratic country. It goes to the polls every five years or whenever the ruling coalition feels the time is right. It allows its citizens to practise whatever religion they choose, with some major exceptions. It allows the media, electronic and print to exist, with again very major restrictions. But, of course, the rationale behind all these restrictions is to maintain peace and order. This is the common cliché used to justify the existence of all the preventive and restrictive laws. Of course, the real reasons are to maintain power.

Looking back on how Malaya then was formed, there was every reason to believe that our model of democracy would be a shining example to all the newly independent countries that were once colonies of Britain. Malaya followed the Westminster model. Malaya had all the trappings that would make all other countries envious of it.

It had a bicameral legislature just like Britain. Instead of the House of Lords, it created a nominated House known as the Senate. Members of Parliament were to be elected through a general election. It separated the functions of the Executive and that of Parliament. Each had a definite power of its own. The Judiciary was independent of the Executive. The separation of power was put in place to allow democracy to flourish. The media was to act as the fourth estate.

To top it all, Malaya created a unique constitutional monarchy to be rotated every five years by the nine Sultans in the country.

And the civil service was to remain neutral.

It was beautifully conceived by the founding fathers. The country was to be secular in nature although Islam was made the official religion with all other religions allowed to be practised. There was, in other words, religious freedom. Continue reading “Returning to democratic foundations should be the top priority”

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When did Najib get the veto power as BN Chairman to veto parliamentary and state assembly candidates proposed by the other BN component parties?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced in Kuching yesterday that he will exercise his rights as Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman to veto potential candidates to ensure only winnable ones become BN candidates in the next election.

It is public knowledge that all along, the final decision on the list of candidates rests with the presidents of the respective Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP or the Sarawak/Sabah component parties.

When did Najib get the veto power as BN Chairman to veto parliamentary and state assembly candidates proposed by BN component parties?

There is nothing in the Barisan Nasional constitution which confers on the BN Chairman the veto powers to reject the parliamentary or state assembly candidates proposed BN component parties.

If Najib can veto potential candidates proposed by Barisan Nasional component parties to ensure only winnable ones become BN candidates, can leaders of the other BN component parties veto proposed Umno candidates on similar ground of winnability in the next general election?
Continue reading “When did Najib get the veto power as BN Chairman to veto parliamentary and state assembly candidates proposed by the other BN component parties?”

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Malaysia ranked ‘partly free’

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Malaysia was ranked ‘partly free’ in terms of political rights and civil liberties with Indonesia the only country in Southeast Asia to be ranked ‘free’ for 2010 in a report released by US-based freedom watchdog Freedom House yesterday.

On a scale of one to seven, with one being the best score, Malaysia obtained a four for both political rights and civil liberties while Indonesia managed a two and three respectively.

Malaysia edged out Singapore (5, 4) in the Freedom of the World 2011 assessment while Burma obtained the worst possible rating of seven for both categories which resulted in the tag of “Worst of the Worst.”

Other countries that scored two fours were Honduras and Nepal while Australia, Belgium, Germany, the US and UK were among those that obtained the best possible score of two ones. Continue reading “Malaysia ranked ‘partly free’”

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Kenapa Saya Memilih Roket

by Zairil Khir Johari

Sejak berita keahlian saya dalam DAP telah diumumkan oleh media massa selepas ucapan perbahasan saya semasa Konvensyen Pakatan Rakyat di Kepala Batas tempoh hari, soalan yang paling kerap diajukan kepada saya adalah: kenapa DAP?

Pada saya jawapannya amat mudah. Secara ikhtisar, saya telah memilih untuk menjulang perjuangan rakyat dalam kancah politik negara kita melalui Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP) sebagai satu kesinambungan pewarisan dan jasa arwah ayahanda saya kepada negara tercinta. Ada yang mungkin mengatakan bahawa tindakan sedemikian adalah satu percanggahan, sedangkan ayah saya dahulu bukan sekadar ahli biasa UMNO, malah seorang pengasas parti itu sejak tahun 1946 dan merupakan seorang pemimpin kanan yang pernah memegang jawatan Naib Presiden dan Setiausaha Agung. Malah, ada yang sudahpun mengecam perwatakan saya sebagai seorang pengkhianat bangsa atau ‘Melayu lupa diri’, kononnya saya ini ibarat kacang yang telah melupakan kulit dengan tindakan membelakangi sebuah parti yang sudah kian lama dianggap sebagai pembela bangsa.

Saya memang akur bahawa UMNO merupakan sebuah parti yang masyhur dan bersejarah, dan atas usaha dan pengorbanan pemimpin-pemimpin terdahulunya telahpun berjaya meraih kemerdekaan tanah air kita daripada penjajah British. Namun sejak kebelakangan ini, niat asal penubuhannya, atau raison d’être, untuk membebaskan negara dan memartabatkan bangsa sudahpun ternoda. Continue reading “Kenapa Saya Memilih Roket”

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Chong Eu a great Penangite, a great Malaysian, and a great patriot

By Thomas Lee
Mysinchew.com
2010-11-25

Wednesday 24 November 2010 was a sad day for Malaysians, especially Penangites. It was on that day that the beloved Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu passed away.

Chong Eu was born in Penang on Wednesday 28 May 1919 to a young medical doctor Dr Lim Chwee Leong and his wife Cheah Swee Hoon. He was given the name Chong Eu, which roughly translated from Chinese means “heaven’s blessing”.

Dr Lim Chwee Leong was just 22 years old when he graduated as medical doctor and left his hometown of Singapore to work and settle in Penang. The young doctor’s decision to make Penang his permanent abode was certainly a heavenly blessing for the island state as his first child Chong Eu was destined to be the person who would bring abundant blessings to the people of Penang.

Chong Eu was born and grew up during a very exciting epoch-making period of world history, involving two great World Wars, several national revolutions, especially those of Russia and China, many regional wars, including the Korean War and Vietnam War, and the emergence of the anti-colonialism liberation movement in the Third World countries. Continue reading “Chong Eu a great Penangite, a great Malaysian, and a great patriot”

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‘Malaysia, don’t go our way’ call rings out

by M Krishnamoorthy
Malaysiakini
Nov 25, 10

Malaysians were urged not to take the path of religious fanaticism and not allow politicians to exploit religious or racial issues when campaigning for votes.

“If politicians use religion or race to sway the people’s minds then the country may head for disaster,” said Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa in a public talk to an audience of over 200 last night at the Hussein Onn Eye Hospital.

Organised by MRA/ Initiatives of Change Malaysia, they concurred that religious leaders should be sincere, fair and mediate conflicts without any agenda for political advantage.

“Neither should politicians use religious leaders to influence the people, and in countries which have used such propaganda have torn their social fabric and were doomed,” Pastor Wuye said.

The net result of any wrong actions by politicians will be a political tsunami and governments can be brought down if religion or race is preached the wrong way to win the people’s support, Ashafa stressed. Continue reading “‘Malaysia, don’t go our way’ call rings out”

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Kangaroos in full view

by Goh Keat Peng

Once thought to only exist in Australia, we now know better. In fact, even in Australia, these unique animals are more easily spoken about than viewed. In the sixties when on my first visit to that country, I was on the farm outside Perth and my hosts felt it their bounden duty to show this young Malaysian the real thing. So I was put on the front seat of the Land Rover and literally taken for a ride. The powerful vehicle went all over the bush land, in and out of large holes in the ground but eighty minutes of focused search found not a single one of those fascinating animals. The only real kangaroo I could speak of was the one on the lunch table which I partook of only after much coaxing by the gracious hostess!

How was I to know that in this day and time, to view kangaroos, any Malaysian or for that matter any visitor to our land, need not take the Air Asia flight to Australia nor get into a powerful Land Rover. Here in Kuala Lumpur, they need not even have to make their way to the zoo. They need to just go to Jalan Duta. Continue reading “Kangaroos in full view”

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The thing about viewpoints

Letters
by Goh Keat Peng

As I read a sports commentary on England vs NZ All-Blacks, it becomes quite clear how the view from an onlooker looking down from his seat in the terraces of Twickenham Stadium and that of a player on the field is really very different.

“…a fast flat pass left from Youngs then put Mike Tindall in space on the Kiwi 22, the old battering-ram hesitated, dawdled inside and then threw a change-of-heart pass behind Lewis Moody on the outside. Chances made, chances lost,” writes Tom Fordyce, the famous sports commentator featured on the BBC website.

This to me sums up quite well the difference in viewpoints within the same arena. Both commentator and player were in the same stadium at the same time engrossed in the same game. But one was up there on the terrace able to see at once the entire field and all the 30 men plus three match officials; the other was on the field where the match is in ongoing progress. The two men literally have two very different points of view, not just in terms of sight but also insight. Understandably so.

Almost at once as I read Tom Fordyce’s insightful commentary on a rugby test match between two giant teams, I am brought back from faraway Twickenham to the present-day realities of Malaysian politics.

It becomes for me like a parable as to how we view the going-ons of the national political scene. Depending on which side we are rooting for, we are filled with a mixture of emotions- hope? foreboding? glee? despair? humour? disgust? Just like the team you support in the Premiership, or Super Bowl, or Tri-Nations. Real matches and games are being played out before us (on television) the outcomes of which may send us into ecstasy or embarassment or, as in politics, sedition charges! Continue reading “The thing about viewpoints”

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The prerogative of choice

by Goh Keat Peng

This we have to admire about the more established democracies: that there is no monopoly about which party will form the government of any level. The two or more main parties or coalitions of parties have reasonable chance. The people are not saddled effectively with just one choice. In recent times, the world has witnessed a change of government in Britain and just days ago, the House of Representatives in the US has changed hands. Just two years after a very popular president was swept into office, Congress is now in the hands of the opposition.

This should be the case in most things in life. An exception being family. We can of course choose who to marry or whether to marry at all. But we cannot choose which family we wish to be born in. This is of course because you can’t make choices before you have come into existence in the first place!

You go to a neighbourhood grocer’s and there is not just one brand of toothpaste or, for that matter, toothbrush. With multiple choices for any product or service, an alternative is available. So a decision becomes necessary on your part. It could be that you walk into a megastore of today with ten choices of anything and still only stick to one brand of anything. That’s your prerogative.

Choice is on the whole healthy for human beings. To have the prerogative of choice is what you and I must have. Continue reading “The prerogative of choice”

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What’s next for Malaysia?

By Karim Raslan
The Star
Tuesday August 24, 2010

All societies need change and countries that don’t change or can’t change remain ossified and stagnant.

A few weeks ago, I hosted a lunch for a Malaysian politician and an Indonesian businessman.

The politician and I were struck by the tycoon’s steadfast support of his nation’s democratic traditions.

He stressed that he would not be where he was now had it not been for Reformasi and the turbulence of 1998.

Indeed he made a powerful argument that his country wouldn’t be powering ahead were it not for the transformation that took place after Soeharto’s ouster.

Interestingly, I think most Malaysian businessmen, including those dependent on government contracts, would agree with my Indonesian friend.

All societies need change and countries that don’t change or can’t change remain ossified and stagnant. Continue reading “What’s next for Malaysia?”

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Najib should give his personal attention to stamp out the unhealthy and disturbing trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking illustrated by M16 bullet threat to Tony Pua

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give his personal attention to stamp out the unhealthy and disturbing trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking illustrated by the M16 bullet threat to DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua yesterday.

Pua received a live 5.56mm bullet used in M-16s with a threatening note posted from Tangkak, Johor mailed to his service centre in Damansara Utama yesterday.

The note threatened: “Tony Pua Kiam Wee. You are so brave? What do you want now? You better watch out.

“We know about your family, your house, your office, your car.”

Pua believes that the threat was probably related to his recent proposal to the Selangor government to slash Bumiputera discounts for luxury homes and commercial property in the state to improve competitiveness and restore investor confidence while retaining the seven per cent discounts enjoyed by Malays and other Bumiputeras for homes below RM500,000.
Continue reading “Najib should give his personal attention to stamp out the unhealthy and disturbing trend towards very ugly, intolerant and vicious politicking illustrated by M16 bullet threat to Tony Pua”

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Let Hulu Selangor set the benchmark for good conduct

by P Ramakrishnan
24 April 2010

By-elections have a habit of bringing out the worst in individuals. It is a time when certain party members suddenly become wise and enlightened. It is a time when hypocrisy takes centre stage.

It is rather strange that people who have been members of a political party and who have been running down their opponents – meaning BN and Umno – for quite a while now suddenly discover that their party is no longer the same and that their leaders had betrayed the rakyat.

The timing of their confession when a by-election is on only betrays their hypocrisy and confirms the claim that PRK members are paid between RM1,000 and RM1,500 for making damaging statements and condemning their former party. Continue reading “Let Hulu Selangor set the benchmark for good conduct”

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MIC/BN politicians acting like cattle which could be bought and sold at market place

When I read the Malaysian Insider report “Palanivel offered senatorship, likely deputy minister’s post” in return for not being fielded as Barisan Nasional candidate in Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election, I immediately stood up in Parliament to protest at the political abuse and corruption signified by such a deal.

Parliament had just completed the division on the vote on the Foreign Ministry estimates during the committee stage of the debate on the 2010 supplementary estimates, and was starting debate on the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.

I said that if there could be such blatant and cynical abuse of public trust and offices like Senatorship and Deputy Ministerships, what public confidence is there that there won’t be gross abuse of budget allocations approved by Parliament whether for the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries or other ministries.

I called on the Hulu Selangor voters to teach the Barisan Nasional and MIC leaderships a severe lesson by voting against the Barisan Nasional candidate in the by-election to protest against such breach of trust and flagrant disregard of the most rudimentary notions of ethical and honest political standards.
Continue reading “MIC/BN politicians acting like cattle which could be bought and sold at market place”

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MCA Ministers and leaders are the “politically walking-dead” in Malaysia

Surprise of surprises that there is a MCA Minister and leader who could bestir from their political comatose stage to notice current developments around them.

The MCA paper The Star today reported the MCA vice president Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha as commenting that “the ‘internal bleeding’ of Pakatan Rakyat is just the beginning of a more serious problem for the pact” and that “Normally, in medical terms, if there’s haemorrhaging in the brain, it will lead to a stroke”.

Thanks Kong for the concern, which must have been quite an exertion from a denizen of the “politically walking-dead” in Malaysia – the MCA Ministers and leaders.

Malaysians have ceased to ask why MCA Ministers have failed to pull their weight in Cabinet, as it is generally recognized that the “politically walking-dead” can have zero weight or input in serious matters of state – which is why MCA Ministers have nothing to say in Cabinet about national issues whether 1Malaysia, NEP, braindrain, corruption, galloping crime or recent issues as in getting the Cabinet to direct the Home Ministry to withdraw its appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment of Datuk Lau Bee Lan allowing the Catholic weekly Herald to use the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia edition and to convene an inter-religious conference to resolve the “Allah” controversy; the exclusion of Chinese and Tamil primary schools in the selection of the first list of 20 high-performance schools or the Jakim insubordination and insurrection in organsing a forum for 800 civil servants last Thursday which openly defied the 1Malaysia concept.
Continue reading “MCA Ministers and leaders are the “politically walking-dead” in Malaysia”