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A fictitious Pakatan Harapan + PPBM Cabinet line-up to intensify the UMNO Nazi-style “Big Lie” Propaganda offensive against DAP in the run-up to the 14GE

At the recent UMNO General Assembly, the Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak 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.

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.

So far, nobody 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 would lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election.

Pak Samad had found it odd that the Malay community are obsessed over the loss of power to the country’s other minority groups if UMNO loses control of Putrajaya, and how the Malays and Islam could be under threat, and he had asked:

“How are Malays under threat? How can religion (Islam) and Malays be threatened when those in power have been Malays for over five decades?

“What have they (Malay leaders) been doing for five decades (if Malays can be under threat)?”

The demographics in the country is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power whatever happens to UMNO in the next general election. Continue reading “A fictitious Pakatan Harapan + PPBM Cabinet line-up to intensify the UMNO Nazi-style “Big Lie” Propaganda offensive against DAP in the run-up to the 14GE”

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Reminder to UMNO leaders and strategists that they have yet to accuse the DAP as being funded and directed by the Jews in their baseless onslaught on DAP during the three phases before, during and after UMNO General Assembly

UMNO leaders and strategists have launched a major publicity onslaught on the DAP in the three phases before, during and after the UMNO General Assembly last weekend, an offensive ala-Nazi “Big Lie” propaganda which is not only baseless, but downright vicious, vindictive and vengeful, lies such as:

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.

But the UMNO “Big Lie” propaganda offensive against DAP is grounded on lies, as evident from the fact that the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could not find a single instance in my 51 years in politics to show that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Imagine! 51 years in politics is equivalent to 612 months, 2,652 week, 18,615 days and the very “productive” UMNO leaders and strategists could not unearth a single instance to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam and yet they continue with their lies and canard that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam!

As a perfectionist, I hate to see the UMNO propaganda offensive against DAP being run in so sloppy and sub-standard a manner, failing to use all the ammunition that they could muster against the DAP – although they are lies and falsehoods.

For instance, since the launch of the UMNO propaganda offensive against DAP starting with the ferocious but groundless attack by the Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin against the DAP in the Johor State Assembly for more than a week, UMNO leaders and propagandists have yet to use one Big Lie against the DAP – that the DAP is funded and directed by Jews!

When will the UMNO leaders and strategists unleash this Jewish missile against the DAP in their vicious but baseless attacks on the DAP? Continue reading “Reminder to UMNO leaders and strategists that they have yet to accuse the DAP as being funded and directed by the Jews in their baseless onslaught on DAP during the three phases before, during and after UMNO General Assembly”

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Najib’s inability to uncover from my 51 years of political life a single instance to demonstrate that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam is the strongest proof of DAP’s commitment for more than half a century to the Malaysian Dream of a nation for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion

Two days ago, I exposed the three “Big Lies” ala-Nazi propaganda which the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made in his UMNO presidential speech last Thursday, and I challenged him to list out three Big Lies as DAP had been accused of practicing Nazi-style propaganda of the politics of falsehood, lies, hatred and “Big Lie”.

Najib did not rebut my expose of his two Big Lies, viz: that the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP and that the Malays would suffer “nightmares” if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

But he tried to rebut my expose of his third Big Lie, that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam, but it was a most pathetic effort.

I have been in politics for 51 years. With all the resources at its command, with the Special Branch in Malaysia one of the world’s most competent and professional intelligence forces which had succeeded in defeating an armed communist insurrection, is it possible that Najib could not uncover a single instance or example in my more than half a century of political life if the allegations against me for being anti-Malay and anti-Islam have some basis?

What evidence did Najib produce in his winding-up of the UMNO General Assembly debate yesterday? Continue reading “Najib’s inability to uncover from my 51 years of political life a single instance to demonstrate that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam is the strongest proof of DAP’s commitment for more than half a century to the Malaysian Dream of a nation for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion”

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Why is 1MDB scandal which made Malaysia a “global kleptocracy” allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five-day UMNO Assemblies, causing Najib and UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority as Malaysian Prime Minister and leading political party respectively?

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech has been shocker. But the five-day UMNO General Assemblies are a greater shocker.

I fully agree with the head of the Pakatan Harapan Secretariat and former Deputy Higher Education Minister, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah that Najib has made a grave error in using racial connotations at the UMNO General Assembly as it has disastrous racial implications.

Saifuddin is spot-on when he said firstly, that Najib had made baseless accusations against DAP as though DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam party; and secondly, Najib has compounded his error as DAP does not dictate matters in Pakatan Harapan, which is led collectively by the three component parties, DAP, PKR and Amanah.

The Pahang State Assembly Opposition Leader and DAP Pahang Assemblyman for Mentakab, Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji, has responded to Najib’s speech at the UMNO General Assembly declaring that he would have left DAP long ago if DAP had been anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

In actual fact, Tengku Zulpuri said Najib’s accusation was completely baseless as the DAP-led Penang State Government had brought many benefits to the Malays and promoted Islam in Penang State.

Tengku Zulpuri’s view has been endorsed by the former Penang Deputy Chief Minister and former Agriculture Deputy Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Sharif Omar who said that the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng “lebih banyak menjaga kebajikan rakyat Pulau Pinang, termasuk kaum Melayu di negeri itu berbanding pemimpin sebelum ini” and “tidak ada satu pun tindakan DAP yang menunjukkan parti tersebut anti-Melayu sepanjang Pakatan Harapan memimpin Pulau Pinang sejak tahun 2008”. Continue reading “Why is 1MDB scandal which made Malaysia a “global kleptocracy” allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five-day UMNO Assemblies, causing Najib and UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority as Malaysian Prime Minister and leading political party respectively?”

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UMNO General Assembly: Worst Display of Political Extremism and Bodek-ism

Koon Yew Yin
December 3, 2016

Every year when the UMNO General Assembly takes place, we can be sure that there will be speakers looking for cheap publicity who will use the occasion to make stupid and ridiculous charges against the so-called enemies of the race – meaning enemies of UMNO.

We have seen again and again this same spectacle of the leading political party in the country show to Malaysians and the rest of the world how deep the cancer of racial and religious hatred is within the party.

This year’s GA was no exception or as a Malay friend said to me in describing the proceedings:
“SOS” – “Same Old S__t”.

But in fact there were two important differences from earlier years.

The first is that the prize for extremism and making baseless political allegations and instigating racial and religious fear must go to UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself. It did not from any ordinary ambitious wannabe jaguh kampung.

There is a saying both in China and medieval Europe that “the fish rots from the head down”. How true this is from this year’s UMNO GA.

Personally I never thought I would live to see the day when a top political leader in Barisan would stoop so low to warn his members that “If UMNO falls, we have all sinned”, as one newspaper headlined his speech to the assembly. Continue reading “UMNO General Assembly: Worst Display of Political Extremism and Bodek-ism”

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Challenge to Najib to list out DAP’s Three Big Lies after I have exposed Najib’s three “Big Lies” in his UMNO presidential speech yesterday

At the joint opening of the annual assemblies of UMNO’s Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings on Tuesday night, the Acting UMNO Deputy President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi sought to draw parallels between the Opposition’s propaganda efforts with the leaders of Nazi Germany.

He recounted how Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels had a grip on German citizens through carefully crafted propaganda strategies.

Zahid said: “It was based on lies… Hitler once wrote: ‘If you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one and if you tell it often enough, people will begin to believe it’.

“Through creative radio and film propaganda, they succeeded in controlling the minds of more than 80 million people.”

Anyone doing a Wikipedia search will find the following explanation:

“A big lie is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so ‘colossal’ that no one would believe that someone ‘could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.’ Hitler asserted the technique was used by Jews to unfairly blame Germany’s loss in World War I on German Army officer Erich Ludendorff.”

Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels perfected Hitler’s “Big Lie” theory: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” to the extent that he created the Fuhrer myth and the image of Hitler as the Messiah-redeemer.

Are we seeing a repetition of the “Big Lie” theory in modern-day Malaysia, with the UMNO leadership warning about the “Big Lie” theory but with the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak becoming the biggest exponent of the “Big Lie” propaganda? Continue reading “Challenge to Najib to list out DAP’s Three Big Lies after I have exposed Najib’s three “Big Lies” in his UMNO presidential speech yesterday”

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Mah and Liow should explain whether they have given an undertaking that MCA and Gerakan Ministers and MPs would support Hadi’s private member’s bill if it is taken over by UMNO as a government bill

Last Thursday, the MCA mouthpiece, The Star, devoted the whole of its front-page to PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s motion with the headline “Solid ‘NO’ to Hadi’s Bill”, featuring the quotes and pics from leaders of five Barisan Nasional leaders, namely from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PBB and PBS, including:

*“The bottom line is that MCA will oppose it. We will not support a Bill from the Opposition, especially from PAS. There can never be two systems of law in this country. We cannot accept it nor close an eye to this.” – MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

*“We remain opposed to Hadi’s Bill. Having two separate legal systems…will not only create confusion and an open-ended environment for opportunists but also tear the country apart.” – Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mak Siew Keong.

*“MIC vehemently opposes Hadi’s Bill. We need a proper dialogue to hear the views of Muslim and non-Muslim MPs. We do not want two contradictory legal systems. The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the land.” – MIC deputy president S.K. Devamany.

But something happened before Parliament reconvened on Thursday morning, setting in motion a series of events in the next few months for all the Gerakan, MCA and MIC Ministers and leaders to start “eating their words”. Continue reading “Mah and Liow should explain whether they have given an undertaking that MCA and Gerakan Ministers and MPs would support Hadi’s private member’s bill if it is taken over by UMNO as a government bill”

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MCA stand it cannot support PAS private member’s motion but would support it if the bill was moved by the government most shocking and unbelievable as it is downright unprincipled and irresponsible

The MCA stand, as declared by MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai in Parliament lobby yesterday, that MCA cannot support PAS private member’s motion but would support it if the bill was moved by the government (reported by New Straits Times) is most shocking and unbelievable as it is downright unprincipled and irresponsible.

Such a declaration should reinforce general concerns whether MCA and the other Barisan Nasional parties could be trusted to firmly and uncompromisingly defend and uphold the constitutional principles of a secular democratic Malaysia with Islam as the official religion of the nation.

This is a matter of grave concern as it is speculated that the next move of the private member’s motion of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, is for the UMNO/BN government to take over Hadi’s bill and present it to the March meeting of Parliament as a government bill.

Has MCA and the other Barisan Nasional parties agreed and authorised UMNO to take over Hadi’s private member’s motion and present Hadi’s private member’s bill as a government bill of the Barisan Nasional government? Continue reading “MCA stand it cannot support PAS private member’s motion but would support it if the bill was moved by the government most shocking and unbelievable as it is downright unprincipled and irresponsible”

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Former Finance Minister Husni Hanadzlah is the only BN MP who had put in a parliamentary question out of the 1,800 oral and written questions in the 25-day budget meeting on the 1MDB scandal

I had several shocks when going through the Parliamentary Order Paper for the 25-day budget meeting of Parliament from Oct. 17 to 24th November.

One is that PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill motion is item No. 4, which means that after the Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin’s motion to congratulate the Malaysian Olympians and Para-Olympians for their sterling performances in the two recent world sporting events; the Advocates (Sabah) (Amendment) Bill 2016 and a Treasury motion to convert a RM500 million loan to Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Berhad (SME Bank) to equity, Hadi’s private member’s motion may come up for debate and voting on Tuesday, or even on Monday!

This will lead to be tectonic shift of the fundamental basis and principles of the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and the Malaysia Agreement 1963, with far-reaching consequences not only the nation-building process but to the very survival and integrity of the Malaysian federation since 1963.

Another surprise and shock is the lowly and irrelevant position given to the one issue which had made Malaysia infamous internationally – the 1MDB global financial scandal which had catapulted the nation into world rank of a “global kleptocracy”.

The 1MDB global scandal should the first item of parliamentary business when Members of Parliament reconvened on Monday 17th October, after a break of five long months, when the country’s reputation was battered all over the world in a tide of negative and adverse international developments about the 1MDB scandal, the worst being the July 20 lawsuit initiated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to forfeit over US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion international embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds as well as the crackdowns by the Singapore and Swiss financial regulatory authorities.

But from the Order Paper for the forthcoming 25-day meeting of Parliament, it would appear that the 1MDB global scandal is not a major concern or worry for Malaysia at all – and totally absent from the radar of the Malaysian Government.

No Malaysian can claim to be a patriot or love Malaysia if he or she is not ashamed and outraged by the disgraceful appellation of Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy” – as if Malaysians are happy to be ruled by thieves and robbers.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that no Malaysian is fit to be a Member of Parliament or Minister in the country if he or she is not ashamed and outraged by appellation of Malaysia as as a “global kleptocracy”. Continue reading “Former Finance Minister Husni Hanadzlah is the only BN MP who had put in a parliamentary question out of the 1,800 oral and written questions in the 25-day budget meeting on the 1MDB scandal”

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Question on everyone’s lips after the Ops Water in Sabah is why there is no Ops 1MDB by the MACC when it is the 1MDB scandal which had catapulted Malaysia to the infamous ranks of a “global kleptocracy”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was quite mischievous when he sent a message to the Gerakan annual general assembly asking Gerakan to have the courage of its convictions, knowing that Gerakan has neither.

This was illustrated in yesterday’s Gerakan annual general assembly, which caught headlines for a very Trumpish speech by one of the delegates, making headlines for its sexist and misogynist imagery.

But what transfixed Malaysians and on everyone’s lips in the past few days were never raised at the neither-courage-nor-conviction Gerakan general assembly – why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had no Ops 1MDB when it had an Ops Water in Sabah, which seized among other things, more than RM114 million in cash and accounts, 19.3 kg of gold jewellery worth about RM3.64 million, some 97 designer ladies handbags worth RM500,000, nine luxury vehicles and some 127 land titles from the Director and Deputy Director of Sabah Water Department for alleged abuse of power and corruption involving infrastructure projects worth RM3.3 billion.

The RM3.3 billion Ops Water scandal pale into insignificance when compared to the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal, and it is the latter which catapulted Malaysia into the infamous ranks of “global kleptocracy”, especially after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits on July 20 on the forfeiture of over US$1billion of assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds, and after several countries like Singapore and Switzerland had taken action against banks, financial institutions and their staff in their countries for being implicated in the international conspiracy on embezzlement and money-laundering of 1MDB funds.

More and more Malaysians have voiced their concern that the country is taking a wrong trajectory which is headed towards a failed state – a worry which was shared even by a leading Johoreian, former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam recently. Continue reading “Question on everyone’s lips after the Ops Water in Sabah is why there is no Ops 1MDB by the MACC when it is the 1MDB scandal which had catapulted Malaysia to the infamous ranks of a “global kleptocracy””

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Has Barisan Nasional consensus degenerated from the original meaning of agreement by all 13 BN component parties into a perverted and corrupt version of what is unilaterally and arbitrarily decided by UMNO even in the face of objection by the other 12 BN component parties?

What is most significant about the “policy” statements the MCA and Gerakan Presidents at their respective MCA Johor State Convention and the Gerakan national delegates’ conference today is not what they said but what they did not say.

MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai brushed off the possibility of a “one to one” fight between the Opposition and the Barisan Nasional in the next national general elections as “empty talk” although this is a prospect MCA leaders fear most – not that they are comfortable with other political scenarios in the 14GE to make MCA more than a “7/11” political party.

Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong struck a “holier than thou” stance and railed against former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for “dabbling in unhealthy politics” with the statement that the Barisan Nasional government in three states of Perak, Terengganu and Johor could fall before the general election as a small change in state assemblymen could topple the BN state governments.

Mah suffered from an early case of amnesia when he said that a change in the top leadership and administration of a state could only be determined by a process of democracy via an election, and not by getting elected representatives to switch camp or entice them to defect – forgetting how Barisan Nasional toppled the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Perak under Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as Mentri Besar in February 2009 by engineering a defection PR State Assembly members.

But what is more important is not their verbal gymnastics but their silence on the claim by the UMNO and Barisan Nasional secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor that BN has arrived at a consensus regarding PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang’s private members bill.

What is this Barisan Nasional “consensus” on Hadi’s private member’s bill? Continue reading “Has Barisan Nasional consensus degenerated from the original meaning of agreement by all 13 BN component parties into a perverted and corrupt version of what is unilaterally and arbitrarily decided by UMNO even in the face of objection by the other 12 BN component parties?”

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48-hour silence of top MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders on Tengku Adnan’s claim that BN has arrived at a consensus on Hadi’s private member’s bill is more eloquent than any statement by them

The 48-hour silence of the top MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders who are also Cabinet Ministers to the claim by the UMNO and Barisan Nasional secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor that the Barisan Nasional has arrived at a consensus regarding PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill is more eloquent than any statement anyone of them could make.

As usual, the top MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders allow their low-level underlings to cast doubt on Adnan’s claim, but they dare not personally contradict Adnan’s statement and their silence are louder than the protestations by the MCA, Gerakan and MIC underlings.
Before the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting two Fridays ago, I had said that the BN Supreme Council had degenerated from the Barisan Nasional Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even superannuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever.

What UMNO leadership decides is the order of the day, and this is what happened to Hadi’s private member’s bill in the May meeting of Parliament. Continue reading “48-hour silence of top MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders on Tengku Adnan’s claim that BN has arrived at a consensus on Hadi’s private member’s bill is more eloquent than any statement by them”

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The Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework can be the basis of the Grand Opposition Coalition to bring about fundamental political changes in Malaysia in 14GE

AMANAH Deputy President, Sallehudin Ayub reported that AMANAH has 85,000 members on its first anniversary.

I congratulate Parti AMANAH on its success, for DAP can only boast of having 85,000 members after a decade of political struggle.

Today is a special day for BERSIH 5 launched off its Nov. 19 campaign with publicity convoys from six places in Malaysia – Johor Baru, Lumut, Kangar, Kota Baru, Sandakan and Miri.

The BERSIH 5 campaign for clean, free and fair elections is even more pertinent than in the four previous four BERSIH campaigns, as the proposed redelineation of electoral constituencies have demonstrated that we have an electoral system which is utterly rotten and corrupt to the core.

The Election Commission had violated the constitutional mandate as laid down in the Thirteenth Schedule of the Constitution which stipulates that in any constituency redelineation, “the number of electors within each constituency in a State ought to be approximately equal except that, having regard to the greater difficulty of reaching electors in the country districts and the other disadvantages facing rural constituencies, a measure of weightage for area ought to be given to such constituencies”, but have instead done the exact opposite – widening the disparity between the largest and smallest electorates in both parliamentary and state assembly constituencies.

The Election Commission was not only acting against the Thirteenth Schedule of the Constitution, but was working with a political agenda to gerrymander the constit uency redelineation so that in Parliament, it an achieve the twin objectives of returning UMNO-BN to power in Putrajaya and with a two-thirds parliamentary majority; while at the State Assembly level, ensure that UMNO-BN can win back Selangor state power and ensure that UMNO-BN maintain the state government in both Perak and Kedah, and even secure a two-thirds state assembly majority in Perak. Continue reading “The Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework can be the basis of the Grand Opposition Coalition to bring about fundamental political changes in Malaysia in 14GE”

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Ku Li’s DAP Bashing: A Cynical Play for UMNO Leadership

Koon Yew Yin
1.10.2016

All sorts of developments have taken place in our political arena this past fortnight which have tempted me to write about.  The most prominent is the attempt by the Election Commission to steal the next election for the BN. However many other analysts have commented and written about it so there is no need for me to say anything much except to urge our Malaysian electorate to vote in the next election – wherever their constituency and the outcome of the re-delineation exercise  – so as to finish off once and for all, UMNO’s and BN’s monopoly of power.

Assuming the next election is in 2018, I propose that one of the key electoral slogans for the opposition parties is

“Malaysians Have Had More Than Enough of 59 Years of BN Misrule and Power Abuse”.  

Continue reading “Ku Li’s DAP Bashing: A Cynical Play for UMNO Leadership”

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Najib, Mahathir and the timing of Malaysia’s polls

Ooi Kee Beng
The Straits Times
16.9.2016

According to its Constitution, Malaysia has to hold its next general election by Aug 24, 2018. That is still almost two years away. And yet, rumours of early elections persist, both at the state and federal levels.

This needs some explaining, given how Prime Minister Najib Razak waited until almost the last minute to go to the polls back in 2013.

The exercise to delineate constituency boundaries now being concluded heightens speculation that early polls are coming. Having lost its two-third majority since 2008, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) has not been able to increase the number of parliamentary constituencies; it is now able only to realign the existing ones – or rename them. And that, it is doing.

That in itself is a substantive exercise of power, especially with the independence of the Election Commission that is in charge of the delineation being in serious doubt. Continue reading “Najib, Mahathir and the timing of Malaysia’s polls”

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Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even super-annuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever

Nobody is impressed with the Barisan Nasional Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s announcement that the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council will meet on Friday to discuss the Election Commission’s (EC) proposed redelineation exercise.

This is because the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from the Barisan Nasional Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even superannuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever.

It has followed the footsteps of the Cabinet to become an utterly toothless, purposeless and irrelevant body.

Despite protestations and denials by the EC Chairman, Datuk Mohd Hashim Abdullah that the constituency redelineation exercise was being carried out for the benefit of certain parties, nobody believes that the Election Commission would dare to propose the most unconstitutional, blatant and flagrant constituency redelineation proposals – the most undemocratic of all five redelineation exercises in the nation’s history – without “greenlight” from the highest “political strategists” in the corridors of power in Putrajaya (which do not include anyone from outside UMNO)!

Mohd Hashim’s protestation and denials lack credibility or conviction, for the EC Chairman is unable to explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof’s previous redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 votes. Continue reading “Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even super-annuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever”

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Election Commission Chairman Mohd Hashim should explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 voters?

The DAP MP for Serdang, Dr. Ong Kian Ming’s repartee to the denial by the Election Commission Chairman, Datuk Mohd Hashim Abdullah that the constituency redelineation exercise is being carried out for the benefit of certain parties is a gem: “Yeah right, and I’m sure that Jho Low had nothing to do with 1MDB either…”

Can Mohd Hashim explain why he had jettisoned his precedessor, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 votes?

Abdul Aziz had gone on public record to say that in the new constituency redelineation to be proposed by the Election Commission, “a constituency with a large number of votes, more than 100,000, has to be divided into two, so that the constituents could obtain good service from the elected representatives”.

Why did Mohd Hashim abandon this important Constitutional and democratic principle in the final proposal of the Election Commission for the redelineation of electoral constituencies?

Is this at the behest of the powers-that-be in UMNO? Continue reading “Election Commission Chairman Mohd Hashim should explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 voters?”

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Onus is on Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power

The onus is on the Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power.

There are two reasons why the Election Commission shoulders such an onus.

Firstly, the public admission or confession at the end of 2013 by the former longest-serving Secretary and later Chairman of the Election Commission, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who managed six of the 13 general elections and responsible for three of the four electoral constituency redelineations in Malaysia that he had gerrymandered the redelineations to ensure that the Malays remain in power.

Secondly, preliminary study of the current redelineation exercise indicate that it is driven by the overall agenda to keep UMNO in power and to eliminate Opposition leaders in vulnerable seats from Parliament, like Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Pagoh and Nurul Izzah Anwar in Lembah Pantai than to comply with the democratic and constitutional principle of “one man, one vote, one value” and to establish that the Election Commission is transparent, independent and professional not beholden to the dictates of the government of the day. Continue reading “Onus is on Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power”

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UMNO leaders are jittery and some panic-stricken about political developments in UMNO and Malaysia – particularly with the formation of a new political party by Mahathir and Muhyiddin

Although UMNO leaders put up a bold external front and feigned indifference and even contempt for the new political party being formed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, there is no doubt that they are quaking internally.

This is not without basis as illustrated by today’s developments in Johor UMNO, where two Johor UMNO veterans quit the party – the Gelang Patah UMNO permanent chairperson and former State Assemblyman Baharom Abdul Ghani and the Kulai UMNO deputy chief, Tosrin Jarvanti – at their respective UMNO division annual meetings on the ground that UMNO has deviated from its political struggle and could not be salvaged any more as it had become the property of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Equally eloquent are the speeches early today by two UMNO Ministers at the various UMNO divisional meetings in the country which show that UMNO leaders are jittery and some panic-stricken about political developments in Malaysia, particularly in UMNO – the quite hysterical speech by UMNO Supreme Council member and Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who said that UMNO members should torpedo Mahathir’s boat before he sinks UMNO and the speech by the UMNO Youth Leader, Khairy Jamaluddin beseeching UMNO member to remain loyal to the party and cannot be fence-sitters.

The historic meeting between Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the first in 18 years, has added to the sense of gloom and doom among UMNO membership, despite the brave front put up by some UMNO leaders – like the UMNO Secretary-General Tengku Adnan who said that “Mahathir can have Anwar, UMNO has the rakyat” and the outburst of the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Syed Keruak who likened “Mahathir’s kiss is a kiss of death”. Continue reading “UMNO leaders are jittery and some panic-stricken about political developments in UMNO and Malaysia – particularly with the formation of a new political party by Mahathir and Muhyiddin”

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Luqman Al-Hikmah Versus Najib Al-Kebas

M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
5.9.2016

Luqman Al-Hikmah (Luqman The Wise) is revered in Islam. There is a Surah (31) in the Koran named after him, chronicling his sage advice to his son. Those are wise words for anyone, anytime, and anywhere.

Legend has it that once as a slave, his master ordered him to slaughter a sheep and bring its best and worst parts to him. Luqman did, and brought the animal’s heart and tongue. Intrigued, the next day the master asked him to do the same thing but this time to bring the worst parts. Luqman brought him again the heart and tongue.

When asked, Luqman explained that when a sheep is halal, the heart and tongue are the sweetest parts. When it is haram, the two are the worst. Likewise with leaders; halal leaders’ words (the consequence of their tongue) and deeds (heart) inspire and bring out the best in their followers. They in turn make the world better. In contrast, the words and deeds of a Hitler agitate his followers and bring out the worst in them. They in turn wreck the world, theirs and ours. Brandishing a ketchup-soaked keris and stretching out a stiff-arm salute are but different deeds from the same heart.

With individuals, the same attribute may be venerated in a pious person but detested in the corrupt. Prime Minister Najib values loyalty above everything else in his staff and ministers. Loyalty is the finest attribute you can heap upon a leader, but only when he is halal, meaning honest, competent, and does not betray the faith and trust you have in him. When he is not, then that loyalty is not only misplaced but also your most hideous attribute. You betray not only yourself and your values but also your fellow citizens’ and theirs.

Hang Jebat put it best, “Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah.” Continue reading “Luqman Al-Hikmah Versus Najib Al-Kebas”