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KL112 and a new Malaysian identity?

— Greg Lopez
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 21, 2013

JAN 21 — The symbolism of the Malaysian people’s uprising on January 12 or KL112 cannot be underestimated for its importance in myth-making. In facilitating this “people’s uprising”, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has not only created new myths that would solidify its presence in the memories or “imagery” of Malaysians in a positive manner, but more importantly, PR has also moved decisively in dismissing myths created by Umno and its subordinates in the Barisan Nasional (BN) that have been the grand narrative/s in Malaysia for the past 55 years.

Myths — stories, memories and symbols — provide the basis for the narratives that create, forge or reaffirm identities. These are especially crucial in periods of critical transformation and/or when societies are undergoing a crisis of identity. Jose Luis Borges noted that the past and the future inhibit the present. In the context of the KL112, PR is representing the present by connecting to a more glorious Malaysian past and the promise of a more glorious future.

But why is PR now the purveyor of hope, a realm that was firmly in the hands of Umno with visions of grandeur and Malaysians, Malays and Muslims being world beaters. The reasons are multifaceted and many are known with incompetence, mismanagement and corruption by the ruling regime being often touted as the main reasons. It could also be that Malaysia and Malaysians are undergoing an identity crisis. Continue reading “KL112 and a new Malaysian identity?”

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Pengiraan Detik 81 Hari ke PRU13: Jangan benarkan Mahathir mengalihkan perhatian daripada masalah utama dalam RCI Sabah, iaitu secara haramnya menghalalkan pendatang haram di Sabah ketika 22 tahun era Mahathir yang boleh mencecah antara 1.5 juta hingga 1.9 juta, dengan permintaan mengarutnya supaya diadakan RCI terhadap satu juta kewarganegaraan sebelum Merdeka

Perdana Menteri keempat Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad; yang merupakan Perdana Menteri Malaysia paling lama memerintah selama 22 tahun dari 1981-2003, terus memburukkan politik dan masa depan Malaysia – lama selepas beliau bersara sepuluh tahun lalu.

Semalam, Mahathir telah membuat satu cadangan mengarut supaya suruhanjaya siasatan diraja diwujudkan bagi menyiasat tentang pemberian kewarganegaraan kepada satu juta pendatang asing di dalam Persekutuan Malaya sebelum Merdeka, dua hari selepas Mahathir menegaskan bahawa apa yang beliau lakukan di dalam Projek IC atau Projek M di Sabah adalah “mengikut undang-undang”, dan Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman “telah melakukan lebih teruk dengan memberikan kewarganegaraan kepada satu juta warga semenanjung Malaysia yang tidak layak” sebelum Merdeka.

Malah Mahathir secara retoriknya turut bertanya: “Kenapa apa yang dia buat tak salah dan apa yang saya buat ini salah?”.

Dengan sekali pukul, Mahathir bukan sahaja telah mencemar kenangan dan nama baik Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, tetapi semua pemimpin UMNO/Perikatan yang terlibat di dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan, termasuklah Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock dan Tun Sambanthan.

Amat mengejutkan bahawa tiga hari telah berlalu tanpa sebarang suara daripada pemimpin UMNO/MCA/MIC untuk mempertahankan Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock dan Tun Sambanthan. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 81 Hari ke PRU13: Jangan benarkan Mahathir mengalihkan perhatian daripada masalah utama dalam RCI Sabah, iaitu secara haramnya menghalalkan pendatang haram di Sabah ketika 22 tahun era Mahathir yang boleh mencecah antara 1.5 juta hingga 1.9 juta, dengan permintaan mengarutnya supaya diadakan RCI terhadap satu juta kewarganegaraan sebelum Merdeka”

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Pengiraan Detik 83 Hari ke PRU13: Gesaan “Listen, Listen, Listen!” Mahathir dan persoalan – Apa yang perlu dilakukan apabila mantan PM telah melakukan pengkhianatan ketika berkuasa?

Mahathirisme yang asli, tulen dan sejati – putar belit yang tidak logik, gesaan yang diselubungi pembohongan dan ketidakjujuran tanpa malu.

Terbaru, klip video Sharifah-Bawani menjadikan ungkapan “Listen, listen, listen!” terkenal di serata dunia, akan tetapi mahaguru sebenar “Listen, listen, listen!” tidak lain tidak bukan ialah Mahathir, yang semalamnya memberikan rakyat Malaysia penjelasan klasik “Listen, listen, listen!”, satu dekad selepas 22 tahun beliau meletakkan jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri namun menunjukkan bahawa beliau masih tiada tandingan di dalam seni “Listen, listen, listen!” yang beliau dukung itu.

Mahathir menjawab pendedahan di Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) tentang Projek IC (juga dikenali sebagai Projek M) pendatang tanpa izin dan penipuan “resit KP-untuk-undi” serta “kewarganegaraan-untuk-undi” di Sabah pada tahun sembilan puluhan, tetapi beliau telah melampaui batas memandangkan buat pertama kalinya dalam tempoh 14 tahun beliau mengakui kewujudan Projek IC atau Projek M yang jahat dan khianat bukan sahaja untuk menumbangkan proses pengundian tetapi juga kedaulatan Sabah dan Malaysia.

Mahathir hanya ada sehingga semalam untuk menafikan kewujudan Projek IC atau Projek M sejak dakwaan berkenaannya mula muncul di dalam petisyen pilihan raya Likas pada tahun 1999, tetapi semalam, ketika ditekan oleh media sekiranya beliau mengatakan Projek IC mengikut undang-undang, Mahathir mengatakan: “Ya, ia mengikut undang-undang.”

Sekiranya Projek IC atau Projek M mengikut undang-undang, memberikan KP dan kewarganegaraan kepada orang asing adalah “dijamin undang-undang”, mengapa Mahathir perlu menafikannya dan menyembunyikannya dari rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia untuk berdekad lamanya? Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 83 Hari ke PRU13: Gesaan “Listen, Listen, Listen!” Mahathir dan persoalan – Apa yang perlu dilakukan apabila mantan PM telah melakukan pengkhianatan ketika berkuasa?”

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81-Day Countdown to 13GE: Don’t allow Mahathir to divert attention from central problem before Sabah RCI, illegally legalising illegal immigrants in Sabah during 22-year Mahathir era which could range from 1.5 million to 1.9 million, with his ridiculous call for RCI on one million pre-Merdeka citizenship

The fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981-2003, continues to cast a dark shadow on the politics and future of Malaysia – long after his retirement ten years ago.

Yesterday, Mahathir made the ridiculous proposal for a royal commission of inquiry into the granting of citizenship of one million foreign immigrants in the Federation of Malaya before Merdeka, two days after Mahathir asserted that what he did in Project IC or Project M in Sabah was “lawful”, and that Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman “had done worse by giving citizenship to one million unqualified people in peninsula Malaysia” before Merdeka.

Mahathir even rhetorically asked: “Why is it when he does it, it is not wrong, and when I do it, it’s wrong”.

In one fell swoop, Mahathir had smeared the memory and good name not only of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, but all the Umno/Alliance leaders involved in the Merdeka struggle, including Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan.

It is utterly shocking that three days have passed without a single voice from the UMNO/MCA/MIC leadership to defend Tunku, Tun Razak, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthan.

I myself find it most unbelievable that after the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting on Thursday night, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could mention with seeming agreement and approval Mahathir’s claim about Tunku giving citizenship to one million Chinese – which was why I called on Najib yesterday to clear the name not only of Tunku, but also Tun Razak and the one million citizens of Merdeka generation from Mahathir’s defamation. Continue reading “81-Day Countdown to 13GE: Don’t allow Mahathir to divert attention from central problem before Sabah RCI, illegally legalising illegal immigrants in Sabah during 22-year Mahathir era which could range from 1.5 million to 1.9 million, with his ridiculous call for RCI on one million pre-Merdeka citizenship”

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No one to speak up for the Tunku

– The Malaysian Insider
Jan 19, 2013

JAN 19 – It is a measure of how far Umno/MCA/MIC have fallen that not one of its members has leapt to the defence of Tunku Abdul Rahman in the wake of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s self-serving statement on the award of a million citizenships in the early days of Malaya.

Even a primary student can see that there is an ocean of difference between the award of citizenship by the Tunku Abdul Rahman and the insidious manner in which senior members of the Mahathir administration in the 1990s gave ICs to illegals in Sabah so that they could vote in the state elections and pervert the electoral system.

Tunku Abdul Rahman did not give citizenships to Chinese and Indians under the counter. It was an open exercise and it was not done to circumvent any election.

But just listen to the treason at play in Sabah since the 1990s to keep Barisan Nasional (BN) in power and dilute the position of the Kadazandusuns. Continue reading “No one to speak up for the Tunku”

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The Ugly 1Malaysian Muslim Woman

By Mariam Mokhtar | January 18, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

Umno seems to have a lot of people who open their mouths and put their feet straight into them. That is why few will sympathise with Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, the president of Suara Wanita 1Malaysia (SW1M) who has gone into hiding and is attempting to restore her reputation after she delivered a knockout blow to Umno.

Perhaps, she deserves a tinge of sympathy for having an out-of-body experience; the moment she opened her mouth, all credibility left her body.

Incidentally, from where does SW1M get its funding? Is it the taxpayer or does the money come from abroad?

Incredibly, the other members of her little known organisation are just as blind, and do not think Sharifah’s behavior was appalling. Can anything be clearer?

It is Sharifah’s snobbery and aggression which the rakyat identifies with Umno. Her lack of humility prevented her from apologising for her poor conduct. She is too arrogant to admit that she was wrong and her decision to go into hiding because she says she is being “blackmailed”, shows her cowardice and guilt. Her decision to prolong the issue and not deal decisively and immediately with it, has made her look even more conceited.
Continue reading “The Ugly 1Malaysian Muslim Woman”

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Orang Melayu perlu merdekakan jiwa dan minda

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 18, 2013

18 JAN — Kita sudah sampai ke penghujung penggal pilihanraya dan pemilihan itu akan diadakan dalam beberapa minggu sahaja lagi. Kali ini merupakan pilihanraya yang berkeadaan yang paling rumit dan mencabar bagi BN dan masa yang paling baik bagi Pakatan Rakyat untuk menunjukkan mereka (PR) sebagai “coalition” alternatif yang akan menjadi pengganti kepada pemerintahan BN. Umno sudah dianggap terlalu usang oleh sebahagian besar rakyat negara ini.

Tanda yang paling jelas Umno itu usang ialah ketidak-mampuan untuk mengubah keadaan dan persepsi buruk rakyat terhadap parti itu dengan keseluruhan kepimpinannya. Banyak pihak telah mengkritik dan memberikan pandangan yang berbagai-bagai untuk memperbaiki parti itu tetapi Umno tetap dengan sikap dan perangai yang sama tanpa ada tanda-tanda untuk berubah kepada kebaikan.

Segala kesalahan moral dan jenayah yang dilakukan oleh Umno dan BN selama ini tetap terus berlaku dan rakyat sudah tiada pilihan selain dari melakukan yang drastik terhadap parti pemerintah itu. Betul lah kata setengah pendapat orang, keadaan ini adalah kehendak yang “natural” dan ianya berlaku kepada semua parti-parti dan pertubuhan siasah yang sudah lama dan usang dimana-mana.

Ahli-ahli serta penyokong-penyokong tegar Umno masih dalam sindrom penafian dan masih bertegas mengatakan Umno akan menang dan ada yang mengatakan yang parti itu akan mendapat sokongan 2/3 dalam Dewan Parlimen kali ini. Tetapi hakikatnya tindakan mereka hanyalah untuk menyedapkan hati mereka sahaja kerana keadaan sebenarnya adalah di sebaliknya. Continue reading “Orang Melayu perlu merdekakan jiwa dan minda”

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83-Day Countdown to 13GE: Mahathir’s “Listen, Listen, Listen!” exhortation and the question – What is to be done when a former PM had committed treason when in power?

It was pure, pristine, undiluted Mahathirism – the perverted illogic, falsehood-coated assertions and brazen dishonesty.

Recently, the Sharifah-Bawani video clips made the “Listen, listen, listen!” diatribe infamous nationwide, but the real “Listen, listen, listen!” maestro is none other than Mahathir, who yesterday treated Malaysians to a classic “Listen, listen, listen” exposition, a decade after he stepped down as Prime Minister for 22 years but demonstrating he is still unequalled as an exponent of this black art.

Mahathir was responding to the revelations at the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants on Project IC (also known of Project M) and the “IC receipts-for-votes” and “citizenship-for-votes” scams in Sabah in the nineties, but he had overreached himself as for the first time in 14 years he had to admit to the existence of the nefarious and treasonous Project IC or Project M not only to subvert the electoral process but also the sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia.

Mahathir had until yesterday strenuously denied the existence of Project IC or Project M since the public surfacing of the allegations about it in the Likas election petition in 1999, but yesterday, when pressed by the media if he was saying the Project IC was lawful, Mahathir said: “Yes, it is lawful.”

If the Project IC or Project M was lawful, giving ICs and citizenships to foreigners “within the law”, why was it necessary for Mahathir to deny it and to hide it from the people of Sabah and Malaysia for over a decade?

Furthermore, why was it necessary for Mahathir to try to defame Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, by claiming that the first Prime Minister had done worse by giving citizenship to one million unqualified people in peninsular Malaysia, asking: “Why is it when he does it, it is not wrong, and when I do it, it’s wrong?” Continue reading “83-Day Countdown to 13GE: Mahathir’s “Listen, Listen, Listen!” exhortation and the question – What is to be done when a former PM had committed treason when in power?”

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Pengiraan Detik 84 Hari ke PRU13: Mahathir patut selamanya tutup mulut sekiranya beliau tidak bersedia untuk secara sukarela tampil di hadapan RCIII Sabah untuk membersihkan tuduhan bahawa beliau adalah pengkhianat dengan memberikan Kad Pengenalan dan hak mengundi kepada pendatang asing semata-mata untuk mempertahankan kuasa politik UMNO

Timbalan Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Azmin Ali telah memanggil mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad pengkhianat negara berikutan pendedahan di Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja Pendatang Tanpa Izin (RCIII) berkenaan perancangan “kewarganegaraan untuk undian” di Sabah sekitar tahun sembilan puluhan.

Semalam, beberapa bekas pegawai Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) memberitahu RCI di Kota Kinabalu bahawa mereka diarahkan bagi memudahcara pendatang tanpa izin untuk mengundi ketika 1990-an dan membantu menaikkan kerajaan negeri yang mesra BN.

Operasi ini termasuklah antaranya mengeluarkan resit kad pengenalan (KP) pengundi yang sememangnya wujud kepada pendatang tanpa izin untuk mengeluarkan kad pengenalan biru kepada pendatang tanpa izin yang tidak layak – juga dikenali sebagai Projek IC atau Projek M yang mana “M” bermaksud Mahathir.

Dua orang paling rapat dan orang kanan Mahathir ketika itu telah dilibatkan oleh saksi di hadapan RCI dalam penipuan kewarganegaraan-untuk-undian di Sabah – Megat Junid Megat Ayub, Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri Mahathir, yang juga Menteri Dalam Negeri serta Aziz Shamsuddin, setiausaha politik Mahathir. Megat Junid kemudiannya menjadi Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Kepenggunaan sementara Aziz Shamsuddin kemudiannya menyertai Kabinet sebagai Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar Dan Wilayah. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 84 Hari ke PRU13: Mahathir patut selamanya tutup mulut sekiranya beliau tidak bersedia untuk secara sukarela tampil di hadapan RCIII Sabah untuk membersihkan tuduhan bahawa beliau adalah pengkhianat dengan memberikan Kad Pengenalan dan hak mengundi kepada pendatang asing semata-mata untuk mempertahankan kuasa politik UMNO”

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84-Day Countdown to 13GE: Mahathir should forever shut up if he is not prepared to volunteer to appear before the Sabah RCIII to clear allegations that he is traitor for giving ICs and voting rights to foreigners just to shore up UMNO’s political power

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Deputy President, Azmin Ali has called former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad a traitor to the country following revelations at the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants (RCIII) of “citizenship-for-votes” schemes in Sabah in the nineties.

Yesterday, several former National Registration Department (NRD) officers told the RCI in Kota Kinabalu that they were instructed to facilitate immigrants to vote during the 1990s and help install a BN-friendly state government.

These operations ranged from issuing identity card (IC) receipts of existing voters to immigrants to issuing blue identity cards to unqualified immigrants – also known as Project IC or Project M where “M” stood for Mahathir.

Two of Mahathir’s closest confidantes and right-hand men at the time have been implicated by witnesses before the RCI in the citizenship-for-votes scam in Sabah – the late Megat Junid Megat Ayub, Deputy Home Minister to Mahathir, who was also Home Minister and Aziz Shamsuddin, Mahathir political secretary. Megat Junid went on to become Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs while Aziz Shamsuddin later joined the Cabinet as Minister of Rural and Regional Development. Continue reading “84-Day Countdown to 13GE: Mahathir should forever shut up if he is not prepared to volunteer to appear before the Sabah RCIII to clear allegations that he is traitor for giving ICs and voting rights to foreigners just to shore up UMNO’s political power”

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Pengiraan Detik 85 Hari ke PRU13: Najib – Listen, Listen, Listen!

Fenomena terbaru di internet apabila klip video teguran “Listen, listen, listen!” seorang aktivis 1Malaysia, Sharifah Zohra Jabeen kepada pelajar tahun dua undang-undang Bawani KS tersebar luas mencerminkan dua kegagalan dasar paling penting Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak sepanjang empat tahun menjadi perdana menteri:

  • Pertama, program “transformasinya”, sama ada kerajaan, ekonomi, politik, pendidikan atau sosial yang semuanya bersandarkan prinsip ”Era kerajaan tahu semua telah berlalu”.
  • Kedua, dasar 1Malaysia beliau untuk mewujudkan Malaysia yang mana rakyatnya melihat diri mereka rakyat Malaysia dahulu kemudian barulah kaum, agama, tempat atau latar belakang ekonomi.

Sekiranya pelbagai program transformasi Najib berharap untuk berjaya, ia haruslah bersandarkan komunikasi dan dialog dua hala antara pemerintah dengan yang diperintah dan bukannya “Listen, listen, listen!” secara satu hala dipaksakan ke atas yang diperintah oleh pemerintah.

Najib dan kerajaan UMNO/BN bersedia untuk “Listen, listen, listen”?

Jelas sekali tidak. Jika benar bersedia untuk mendengar pastinya Ketua Ekonomi Bank Islam, Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin pasti tidak akan digantung berikutan laporan media berkenaan pembentangannya di Regional Outlook Forum Singapura Khamis lepas yang meramalkan kemenangan tipis Pakatan Rakyat dalam pilihan raya ke-13. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 85 Hari ke PRU13: Najib – Listen, Listen, Listen!”

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RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (4)

‘We gave Muslim foreigners IDs to vote’
Free Malaysia Today
FMT Staff | January 16, 2013

Sabah NRD director tells the RCI that he was personally instructed by Megat Junid Megat Ayub to recruit new voters.

KOTA KINABALU: A former National Registration Department (NRD) officer told an inquiry here that he took part in a project to give foreigners here identity cards so that they could vote in an election in the 1990s.

Mohd Nasir Sugip, who was detained under the now repealed Internal Security Act (ISA), told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) he was part of a top secret operation dubbed ‘Ops Durian Buruk’ (Operation Rotten Durian) on the instruction of his bosses in the department.

He claimed the operation ran from 1992 to 1995 and said the instruction to furnish the foreigners with identity cards so that they could vote came from the state Election Commission (EC).

“At that time, Sabah SPR director Wan Ahmad handed over a list of 16,000 names to be made into ‘bumiputera Islam’ voters.

“My boss, Sabah NRD director Ramli Kamarudin, then verbally told me to execute this project,” he said.

Mohd Nasir said three other individuals were present when the instruction was issued but their names could not be immediately ascertained.

He said he followed the instructions given to him and recruited other officers at the district level for the operation.

Based on a list of names provided by the EC, foreigners were issued with new identity card numbers that contained their date of birth, photographs and names and all were mostly from Sandakan, Tawau, Sempoerna and other parts of the state, he said.

“The list consisted of Filipinos and Indonesians who were Muslim and aged above 21 years,” Mohd Nasir told the inquiry. Continue reading “RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (4)”

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RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (3)

‘NRD’s G17 processed over 100k blue ICs for foreigners’
Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
7:22PM Jan 16, 2013

A special unit dubbed G17 operated out of the Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) headquarters in Kota Kinabalu beginning 1990 and was responsible for processing the application forms for some 100,000 blue identity cards for immigrants, the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah was told today.

Kee Dzulkifly Kee Abdul Jalil, who was part of the unit, said he was tasked to write down the names and numbers on the blue identity cards that was then done manually before they were shipped to Kuala Lumpur.

“I wrote down the names according to what is in the application forms that were given to us,” he said, adding that the unit processed an estimated 100,000 such identity cards.

Furthermore, he said his unit was also responsible for issuing letters of approval for birth certificates, which he estimated the unit had produced some 200,000 for the children of immigrants.

“This approval letter would allow them to get hospitals or district office to issue them with a birth certificate,” he said. He admitted to being paid RM80,000 for his work. Continue reading “RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (3)”

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RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (2)

Dr M’s right-hand men implicated in Sabah IC scam
Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini

Two of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s closest confidantes were today implicated by witnesses testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the alleged citizenship-for-votes scam in Sabah.

A former Sabah National Registration Department (NRD) officer testified that he and the others stayed at the house of Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin (right), who was then Mahathir’s political secretary, when they were roped in to issue blue identity cards to the immigrants.

Yakup Damsah, who was then Tamparuli NRD chief, told the RCI that he and the other NRD officers were flown from Sabah to Kuala Lumpur, from where they worked out of Aziz’s house in Kampung Pandan.

“After receiving instructions from then-Sabah NRD chief Abdul Rauf Sani, we were ordered to go to KL and were placed at Pak Aziz Shamsuddin’s residence in Kampung Pandan,” Yakup said.

He said they were tasked to sign the identity cards that were to be issued to the immigrants, which were subsequently laminated at the NRD headquarters in Petaling Jaya and shipped to the Kota Kinabalu NRD for distribution. Continue reading “RCIII in Sabah – Integrity of Election Commission and National Registration Dept? (2)”

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85-Day Countdown to 13GE: Najib – Listen, Listen, Listen!

The latest Malaysian Internet phenomenon when the video clips of “Listen, listen, listen!” diatribe of a 1Malaysia activist, Sharifah Zohra Jabeen rebuking second-year law student Bawani KS went viral is in fact a reflection of the double failure of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s two most important policies in his four-year premiership:

• Firstly, his “transformation” programmes, whether government, economic, political, educational or social which are all predicated on the principle that “The era where the government knows best is over”.

• Secondly, his signature 1Malaysia policy to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second.

If Najib’s various transformation programmes are to have any hope of success, they must be based on a two-way communication and dialogue between the government and the governed and not on a “Listen, listen, listen!” one-way traffic imposed by the government on the governed.

Is Najib and the UMNO/BN government prepared to “Listen, listen, listen”?

Clearly not so. Or the chief economist of Bank Islam, Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin would not have been suspended following media reports on a presentation he made at the Regional Outlook Forum in Singapore last Thursday predicting a narrow victory for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th general elections. Continue reading “85-Day Countdown to 13GE: Najib – Listen, Listen, Listen!”

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Voting for the future

— Tommy Thomas
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2013

JAN 15 — Imagine Britain being governed by the same political party, say, Labour, for 55 successive years from 1957. Or the United States by the Republican party for the same continuous, unbroken period.

That has been Malaysia’s fate since Merdeka. The 13th general election, which must be held before June 28, gives Malaysians an opportunity to break free from the monopoly of political power exercised by Umno, first, in the guise of Alliance and subsequently as Barisan Nasional.

Umno dominance

The five years between the 12th general election in March 2008 and the 13th have been a watershed period in post-independent Malaysia because of the establishment of a truly functioning two-party system, with a strong opposition capable of forming the next government.

But it took half a century for our nation to accomplish this stage of democratic development. Like many peoples of nations emerging from colonial rule in the Third World, Malaysians were very grateful to the Alliance party, led by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, for gaining independence from the British.

The reservoir of goodwill for nationalist independence fighters greatly assisted Umno in the early decades. Race, which the colonial power had exploited in its divide-and-rule policy, became the singular fundamental feature of Malaysian politics since Merdeka, reflected at the centre by the Alliance coalition comprising Umno, the MCA and MIC, each representing a specific race, and expected to pursue the interests of its ethnic constituency.

In the early days, Umno acted as the elder brother, with a semblance of contribution from its junior siblings, the MCA and MIC. But there was never a question of parity. After the National Operations Council (NOC) through its director, Tun Abdul Razak, assumed actual power in the wake of the May 13, 1969 riots, Umno’s ascendency and dominance were never questioned.

Hence, the practical reality since the early 1970s is that Barisan is actually Umno, and major decisions affecting the nation are more often than not taken in the inner recesses of Umno rather than the Cabinet. Continue reading “Voting for the future”

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Myth of “UMNO is Malay; Malay, UMNO” Forever Shattered!

M. Bakri Musa

While UMNO apologists and sycophants in academia, blogosphere, and mainstream media quibbled over such minutia as the number of participants at last Saturday’s massive KL112 (January 12, 2013) rally, two facts are indisputable. First, that peaceful and largely Malay demonstration, the largest the nation had ever witnessed, forever shattered the myth that UMNO is Melayu, and Melayu, UMNO. Second, given a modicum of respect by and without provocation from the authorities, Malaysians are quite capable of partaking in peaceful rallies.

On this second point the authorities, specifically the police under its new leadership, are finally learning that water tankers, personnel with anti-riot gears or tear gas canisters, and other crude displays of power often precipitate rather than prevent violence. BERSIH 3.0 demonstrated that very clearly.

The size and orderliness of the rally, together with the bravery and determination of the participants, was reminiscent of the transformative event of over 66 years earlier, the opposition to the Malayan Union Treaty. That altered the course of our history. Insha’ Allah (God willing), last Saturday’s rally too, will.

The power imbalance between those demanding change and those in power back in 1946 was enormous. Then it was mostly illiterate and unsophisticated Malay peasants facing the much superior and more formidable colonial authorities. Yet in the end, right won over might, and justice prevailed!

Today, while the UMNO Government is detested to the same degree as the old colonials, it is nowhere as sophisticated wielder of power as the British. Meanwhile, those clamoring for change are far more worldly, more committed, and in far greater numbers than their adversary, UMNO and its supporters. More importantly, unlike the colonials, today’s UMNO government is crippled with corruption and incompetence while also being crude wielders of power. All the more we should expect that right and the truth, as well as justice, will again prevail. Continue reading “Myth of “UMNO is Malay; Malay, UMNO” Forever Shattered!”

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Winning by popularity: Can Umno rely on the prime minister’s personal standing?

— Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 13, 2013

JAN 13 — “BN needs to milk Najib’s popularity harder, say analysts” reads a recent headline (The Malaysian Insider, 12 January 2013).

Sorry, but this is just delusional.

A strategy that seeks to use Najib’s supposed popularity to save Umno/BN, to pull its chestnuts from the fire at the last moment, will fail miserably.

Umno has been around, and in charge (though in recent times unconvincingly), for over half a century.

Najib has been PM for less than five years.

So, with reason, he is less unpopular than his now increasingly unpopular party. Continue reading “Winning by popularity: Can Umno rely on the prime minister’s personal standing?”

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Talking about heights of arrogance

– Aman Ally
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 06, 2013

JAN 6 – These past few days, Malaysians have been entertained by the spectacle of the Barisan Nasional-owned media attacking Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for his “Amanat Hadi” and the DAP for its inability to count votes in ints internal polls.

It reached a point today when Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim opened another attack on Pakatan Rakyat for revealing its “height of arrogance” in deciding to hold a rally in Stadium Merdeka next weekend without even discussing the venue with the stadium board or the police.

Now, I wonder if Rais knows what is “height of arrogance” actually is?

Isn’t it the height of arrogance for the Information, Communication and Culture Minister to decide that Hadi cannot appear on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) because of this so-called “Amanat Hadi” and that there is a fatwa on it?

Who owns RTM? Umno? Barisan Nasional?

RTM is a state broadcaster paid by public funds and not his personal fiefdom. Who is he to arrogantly decide who can appear on the station? Continue reading “Talking about heights of arrogance”