Perubahan tetap akan berlaku, yang penting bersabar

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 25, 2012

25 MEI — Bergiat dalam politik hari ini merupakan satu aktiviti yang bukan sedikit seriknya. Politik tanahair hari ini merupakan politik yang paling getir sekali yang belum pernah kita alami selama ini. Bahangnya panas terik dan ianya hanya boleh digiatkan oleh mereka yang benar-benar yakin dan menjadikan keyakinan mereka itu sebagai penambahan kepada tenaga yang dikeluarkan oleh penggiat politik.

Saya sendiri telah berehat daripada bergiat selama lebih dari satu dekad dengan menghabiskan masa di rumah dan kadang-kadang pergi melihat di tempat-tempat yang belum saya lawati. Selama saya berehat itu saya tidak dihubungi oleh mana-mana pemimpin Umno walaupun saya pernah bersahabat dengan mereka.

Tetapi saya tidak pernah putus hubungan dengan kawan-kawan yang berada di strata bawah parti Umno dan jumlah kenalan saya yang saya kenali dengan rapat adalah ribuan jumlahnya di seluruh negara. Setelah saya mengambil keputusan untuk memutuskan hubungan saya dengan Umno, saya telah mengambil keputusan untuk berfikir di luar kotak dan menyertai DAP pada 8hb Januari yang lalu.

Saya menyertai DAP setelah berfikir dan melakukan introspeksi yang mendalam selama bertahun lamanya. Saya berfikir kerana jika saya menyertai parti itu tentulah kerana saya bersetuju dengan perjuangannya dan akan bersamanya buat selama-lamanya. Saya katakan kepada ahli keluarga saya serta sahabat-sahabat akrab saya, ‘that I am going to grow old together with DAP’. Saya impikan untuk bersama sebuah parti politik yang mempunyai intergriti yang tinggi dan mengutamakan ‘rule of law’ serta memperjuangkan sebuah kerajaan yang mempunyai ‘governance’ yang tinggi.

Saya telah nampak dengan jelas bahawa DAP adalah parti yang penuh dengan disiplin, berintergriti, menghormati undang-undang dan mendukung semua yang tertulis di dalam perlembagaan persekutuan kita. Saya tidak boleh dipengaruhi oleh momokan Umno dan media arus perdana kerana saya menumpukan kepada mengasah pemikiran yang tidak boleh dipengaruhi oleh unsur-unsur jahat dan negatif apatah lagi jika momokan itu datangnya dari Umno sendiri. Continue reading “Perubahan tetap akan berlaku, yang penting bersabar”

Best democracy in the world – mobocracy

By Mariam Mokhtar | May 25, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

The Malaysians who oppose clean, free and fair elections, otherwise known as Umno and their cronies, have claimed two casualties; democracy and the rule of law.

In place of democracy, we now have mobocracy. S Ambiga and her neighbours have been targeted. Now anything to do with Bersih and the opposition are subject to mob attacks. How soon before the same happens to ordinary citizens like you, should you disagree with Umno policy?

The harassment of Ambiga is a calculated distraction. For the past 54 years, Umno has broken every rule in the book to continue its stranglehold on the country.

Then, along comes Ambiga and Bersih to reproach the government for its shoddy election practices. Bersih stands in the way of the continued Umno domination of Malaysia and the face which one normally associates with Bersih, is Ambiga’s.
Continue reading “Best democracy in the world – mobocracy”

‘Then there was Hang Tuah, now Hang Samseng’

By Nigel Aw | 3:19PM May 23, 2012
Malaysiakini

During the glorious days of the Malacca sultanate, the legendary warrior Hang Tuah, leading his four other ‘Hang’ companions, stood out as a symbol of pride for the Malay kingdom.

But in modern Malacca, ‘Hang Samseng’ (gangster) have emerged, lamented Bersih co-chairperson A Samad Said, in reference to the violence targeting his colleague Ambiga Sreenevasan in Merlimau, Malacca, last Saturday.

“When Ambiga was going to Merlimau… There were around 200 gangsters waiting there. Ambiga was invited by PAS to explain Bersih’s struggle. This is democracy.

“But before she could arrive, our friends there called and asked her not to come because there already were gangsters in the land of Hang Tuah.

“Think about it, in the land of Hang Tuah, there is ‘Hang Samseng’,” added the national laureate, fondly known as Pak Samad.
Continue reading “‘Then there was Hang Tuah, now Hang Samseng’”

Don’t trust a party which doesn’t trust us

By Sakmongkol AK47 | May 24, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MAY 24 — Why can’t Umno carry the Malays to greater progress? Because it’s a low trust organisation. It doesn’t trust the majority of Malays and it doesn’t trust the rakyat in general. It has ceased to become a political party. It has morphed into an organisation of black hands composed of three million members. It puts its trust on the three million members NOT on the rakyat. This is the principal reason why we must reject Umno.

It fears the rakyat and their judgment. The leader of Umno who calls others accursed bastards is willing to unleash the instruments of suppression on the rakyat, firing water cannons and spraying tear gas that immobilise people instantly. Where did the Umno government buy the new variety of tear gas? From Israel?

Umno is not trusted nor does it trust those outside itself. This is a hallmark of a backward organisation composed, like Dr Mahathir says, of a half-past six leadership belonging to an organisation which is rotten to the core, corrupt from top to bottom and made up of dullards. Mahathir said all that.
Continue reading “Don’t trust a party which doesn’t trust us”

Kalau tidak berbohong, bukan Umno namanya

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2012

24 MEI — Kenyataan Rais Yatim yang jumlah kehadiran dalam perhimpunan Bersih 3.0 baru-baru ini hanyalah lebih sedikit dari 22,000 sahaja dan perkiraan beliau itu disanggah oleh penulis-penulis dan individu pro Umno dan BN. Sesungguhnya 22,000 itu hanyalah jumlah peserta yang duduk dari persimpangan Jalan Tun Razak dengan Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman sahaja.

Tetapi saya menyeru kepada sesiapa yang tahu jumlah sebenarnya (lebih dari 300,000 orang), supaya tidak melayan kata-kata Rais itu kerana beliau adalah hulubalang kepada Umno dan apabila bersama Umno itu banyak perkiraan sudah semestinya salah dan terlalu jauh dari kebenaran. Jika Rais mengakui jumlah peserta itu pada hakikatnya lebih dari 300,000 orang, maka beliau tidak akan dianggap sebagai ahli-ahli Umno. Umno memang begitu sikapnya… berbohong dan berbohong terus-terusan. Kalau tidak berbohong mereka tidak selari dengan “attribute” asas Umno itu.

Umno memang tidak merasa apa-apa jika berbohong. Berbohong itu ada satu kewajipan bagi Umno. Jika kita hendak menunjukkan bagaimana Umno nya kita itu, kita mesti berbohong kerana itulah Umno. Continue reading “Kalau tidak berbohong, bukan Umno namanya”

‘BN’s clear and present danger’

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | May 23, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Barisan Nasional leaders say they may lose out in the election if internal sabotage is not contained.

KUALA LUMPUR: A divided Barisan Nasional may spell the end of Prime Minister’s Najib Tun Razak reign in Putrajaya.

And this warning to the Barisan Nasional comes from non-other than Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

The paper quoting party leaders says sabotage is a very clear and present danger and could lead to the BN losing more seats than in 2008. Continue reading “‘BN’s clear and present danger’”

When Umno types prevaricate

— Othman Wahab
The Malaysian Insider
May 23, 2012

MAY 23 — This is what Umno politicians do when they get caught out: they huff and puff, spin some yarn and blow smoke all over the place.

Several months ago when websites reported that the government had instructed the Umno lawyer Hafarizam Harun (the same chap with the RM2.2 billion highway project with former Umno lawyer Tun Zaki Azmi) to seek an out-of-court settlement on Tajudin Ramli’s massive RM589 million debt to Danaharta, Nazri Aziz denied any such endeavour.

The de facto Law Minister dismissed all such reports. And then it happened, there was a secretive out-of-court settlement where the man associated with the fall of the national icon got a sweet deal.

Till today, no one knows whether he paid anything or if he received a free pass but the fact that the government has not been willing to disclose the terms of the settlement suggests he got a great deal.

After all, Tajuddin had enough ammunition to sink Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno. Continue reading “When Umno types prevaricate”

When pseudo-Malays seek control

By Mariam Mokhtar | 4:49PM May 21, 2012
Malaysiakini

Umno believes that it represents all the Malays. It doesn’t. Millions of Malays have rejected Umno and without Malay support, Umno will become extinct. Bersih has awoken the Malays and therefore Bersih is Umno’s biggest threat.

The Bersih 3.0 rally forced the worst out of the Umno Malays last week: there were supposedly Malay traders who offered free burgers despite bitterly complaining about loss of income; ex-soldiers flashing their flabby posteriors, making us glad they had left the service; a senior police officer who mocked the law by condoning protests opposite private homes; a defence minister who believes he is above the law and has probably planned his escape in a submarine which cannot submerge, and a formerly ‘respected’ senator who resigned from his party and now tells us to accept corrupt politicians.
Continue reading “When pseudo-Malays seek control”

Dr Mahathir and the selling of oxymoronicracy

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 22, 2012

MAY 22 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated his advice for Umno leaders to discard self-interest and acts of sabotage to ensure a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the next general election.

There are two things that stuck out as very sore thumbs in the above statement. Both are never the hallmarks of Umno. Indeed if they are practised, Umno ceases to be Umno. They are the elimination of self-interest and absence of acts of sabotage. Asking Umno people not to sabotage and to disown personal interest is like asking a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Dr Mahathir does not only walk on water, he is also the chief spokesman for oxymoronicracy.

Since the creation of Umno Baru in 1988, every Umno leader who has assumed the mantle of leadership has been motivated by self-interests. What’s more, they are motivated by the desire to perpetuate the self-interests, where self-preservation is top of the list. It will be interesting to investigate these fellers’ bank account when they are no longer in power.

Sabotaging is second nature to Umno people, by incumbents who are no longer chosen to stand or by aspiring candidates scheming and plotting to overthrow incumbents. What is absent from Umno? A sense of purpose and a cause to fight for. So if we want an example of oxymoronicracy, Dr Mahathir is its foremost spokesman. Continue reading “Dr Mahathir and the selling of oxymoronicracy”

Najib jangan takut keluar dari Putrajaya

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2012

21 MEI — Apa yang dikatakan oleh Dr Mahathir Mohamad di Jitra semalam mendapat perhatian saya. Beliau meminta supaya pemimpin Umno serta ahli-ahli partinya tidak sabotaj Umno dalam pilihanraya nanti. Beliau berkata yang beliau yakin Barisan Nasional akan menang jika semua pihak dalam Umno membuang sikap suka mensabotaj parti.

Kenyataan Dr Mahathir ini membuktikan yang apa yang saya katakan selalu yang pada PRU yang lalu lebih dari 1.5 juta ahli Umno telah mengundi parti-parti pembangkang dan telah menunjukkan kepada semua yang Umno sudah tidak lagi boleh mengaku yang parti itu adalah parti yang mewakili orang Melayu dalam politik negara.

Beliau pastinya memahami keadaan sabotaj menyabotaj dalam Umno itu adalah satu kenyataan yang hakiki. Ini ialah kerana beliau sendiri merupakan penyabo kepada Umno dalam pilihanraya dahulu ketika Umno sedang membuat persiapan untuk menghadapi pilihanraya ke-12 pada tahun 2008 dahulu.

Sabotaj yang dilakukan oleh Dr Mahathir sendiri merupakan salah satu dari banyak sebab kenapa ramai calon-calon Umno jatuh tersembam dalam pilihanraya umum itu. Dr Mahathir telah keluar dari Umno di saat Umno memerlukan penyatuan di antara semua ahli-ahli dan pemimpinnya. Continue reading “Najib jangan takut keluar dari Putrajaya”

Umno and the captive Malay mind

By Sakmongkol AK47 | May 21, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MAY 21 — When you travel along the Seremban highway you will see so many large posters of Najib exhorting the people with his usual sloganeering — Sejuta Impian, Seribu Keriangan. For slogans he got an A++ from Tun Daim. Translated loosely it says, “A Million Dreams, A Thousand Happiness”.

Where do these dreams and happiness come from? Look at the posters closer. The posters tell of the basic building block on how Umno sees itself. Umno sees itself as the omnipotent being from where all providence spring from. Hence Umno wants to be deified to whom the people, rakyat, owe complete loyalty and allegiance to. It therefore doesn’t understand why people, most notably Malays find Umno revolting.

This is what Najib doesn’t understand. People no longer accept ascriptive stature without demanding more than just your name and position. Beyond your name and position, people want to know what can be achieved. People look out for achieving qualities. What have you achieved and what policies can you offer to achieve the greater good. Otherwise, you can put all the behemoth-sized posters along highways, people will just regard them as another way the government spends money like it’s theirs.
Continue reading “Umno and the captive Malay mind”

Kalau sudah uzur, jangan buat kerja berat lagi… berehatlah

– Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2012

19 MEI – Pilihanraya dijangka sampai bila-bila masa sekarang. Ada yang membuat spekulasi yang ia akan diadakan pada bulan Jun dan ada yang merasakan ia akan diadakan pada bulan Julai. Tidak kurang pula yang merasakan PRU tidak perlu diadakan sekarang kerana tempoh tamatnya penggal ini adalah pada bulan April tahun hadapan. Orang yang boleh menentukan tarikh pilihanraya ini adalah PM Najib sahaja… bukan sesiapa yang lain.

Hanya Najib dirasakan belum lagi mendapat ilham untuk menentukan tarikh itu kerana kali ini bukannya senang untuk membubarkan Parlimen sebelum Najib merasakan sokongan orang ramai terhadap kerajaan belum pulih. Najib sehingga hari ini belum menampakkan keyakinan beliau yang BN sudah kembali pulih dari kegeringannya.

Seperti juga manusia yang dalam kegeringan, ia tidak boleh menentukan bila kah kesihatannya akan kembali pulih kerana orang yang dalam kegeringan hanya mempunyai dua kebarangkaliannya. Pertamanya ia akan pulih atau pun ia mati sahaja. Kenazakkan UMNO sudah begitu lama dan tidak siapa yang bolih menentukan nasib masa depannya. Continue reading “Kalau sudah uzur, jangan buat kerja berat lagi… berehatlah”

Time is on Pakatan Rakyat’s side – any delay in 13GE will provide more opportunity to debunk UMNO/BN lies and expose the “greatest lie” in 3-year Najib premiership that “Bersih 3.0 itu Kotor”

Until the Bersih 3.0 rally of April 28, 2012, it was fairly certain that the 13th General Election will take place in June this year.

This certainty has now disappeared because the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has suffered another attack of hesitation and indecisiveness, as a result of the unprecedented support by Malaysians for fair, free and clean elections not only in various parts of the country and by the Malaysian Diaspora throughout the world but also by the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class, region, gender and age who gathered peacefully in Kuala Lumpur for the Bersih 3.0 “sit-in” at Dataran Merdeka on Aprl 28.

All the “tough talk” by Najib at the UMNO anniversary at Bukit Jalil Stadium on May 11 and the specious claim that the sea of red that night was bigger than the Bersih 3.0 sea of yellow on April 28 could not hide the fact that Najib’s confidence that June would be the best timing for him to call general elections had been greatly shaken.

With Najib again agonising on when to dissolve Parliament to go for national polls, the country is now back to the guessing game, whether the 13th general election is still in June, or pushed back to July, September or even later.

This reflects Najib’s realisation that although he may have secured high personal polls, his personal popularity could not be translated into high voting support for UMNO and Barisan Nasional and the next general elections is a veritable “do or die” battle for him, UMNO and Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Time is on Pakatan Rakyat’s side – any delay in 13GE will provide more opportunity to debunk UMNO/BN lies and expose the “greatest lie” in 3-year Najib premiership that “Bersih 3.0 itu Kotor””

Tunku Aziz’s exit from DAP

By Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2012

MAY 19 — It offends UMNO that Malays choose to join DAP. Why does the action of Malays joining another legitimate political party which is not UMNO, induce that feeling? It springs from arrogance and political xenophobia. UMNO is the chauvinist party that sees people who reject it ( for whatever reasons they choose) as a betrayal to UMNO. That is what offends UMNO actually. They can’t understand why people can be `disloyal’ to UMNO. UMNO expects Malays to be loyal to it- but what principles and values does it offer that can sustain the much desired loyalty?

UMNO arrogantly believes that an UMNO Malay is the only Malay. So it offends UMNO to see Malays abandon UMNO as though, the Malay has converted into another race. UMNO is fast adopting the Hassan Aqidah Ali mentality.

Next it offends UMNO not being able to see an exodus of other Malays from DAP. Suddenly UMNO has credited Tunku Aziz with some extraordinary attributes that must without fail, encourage other Malays to leave DAP. Alas, Tunku Abdul Aziz is alone. UMNO’s hope that Tunku Aziz’s action can serve as the catalyst prompting other Malays in DAP to do likewise crumbles. Indeed, Tunku Aziz’s action reinforces the determination of Malays who joined DAP to stay put despite his U-turn. Continue reading “Tunku Aziz’s exit from DAP”

Umno berslogan, Pakatan Rakyat melaksanakannya

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 18, 2012

18 MEI — Slogan-slogan politik bercambah-cambah dan slogan-slogan itu bertukar apabila bertukar kepimpinan sehinggakan kita sudah kenyang dengan slogan-slogan itu. Slogan selalunya diperkenalkan oleh seseorang pemimpin itu untuk membezakan “brand” kepimpinan masing-masing. Selalunya ia akan diwar-warkan yang dibawah pimpinannya keadaan itu berbeza dari keadaan yang lazim dialami rakyat dizaman kepimpinan sebelumnya.

Berslogan mula bercambah sejak kepimpinan Dr Mahathir Mohamad sahaja. Apabila Mahathir mengambil alih rakyat telah cuba di dakyahkan sebagai zaman yang amat berbeza dengan pimpinan sebelum beliau. Gandingan beliau dengan Musa Hitam digambarkan sebagai pimpinan yang sangat berbeza dengan kepimpinan sebelumnya kerana bermula dari beliau zaman itu bermulalah zaman kepimpinan negara diterajui oleh orang biasa. Maka pimpinan itu telah dipanggil sebagai kepimpinan 2M (Mahathir-Musa)

Pimpinan 2M terbengkalai dengan perletakkan jawatan Musa sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri pada Februari 1986. Perletakkan jawatan Musa telah akhirnya membawa kepada pertandingan besar dalam Umno pada tahun berikutnya 1987 diantara TR/Musa dan Mahathir /Ghaffar.

Apabila Mahathir mula-mula mengambil alih, maka terciptalah slogan “Bersih, cekap dan amanah”. Tetapi slogan ini hanya tinggal slogan kerana semasa itu tidak ada yang bersihnya, tidak ada kecekapan dan jauh sekali untuk melihat amanahnya. Zaman ini lah bermulanya rasuah yang begitu hebat dan budaya itu terus diwarisi oleh kepimpinan Pak Lah dan pimpinan DS Najib sekarang ini. Continue reading “Umno berslogan, Pakatan Rakyat melaksanakannya”

Rise against feudal Umno

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | May 17, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Malays today unite for causes and for ideals that are beyond what our prime minister and Umno can muster.

COMMENT

Umno thinks Malays are a herd of cows which they can herd into submission. How do my criticisms on what Umno has done to Malays constitute a reason for Malay disunity?

In addition, there are the usual invectives about my joining the DAP, which has caused Malay disunity. Please don’t try to impose your condescending views on me.

I am not less Malay than you.

Let me tell you now that Malay unity is not the monopoly of Umno nor does Umno own the rights to Malay unity.

Malays unite for causes and for ideals beyond what Umno can muster. The main cause of Malay disunity is Umno’s culture of enslaving the minds of Malays.

It’s a feudal party infusing the feudal mentality into the Malays. A Malay is a Malay only when he is an Umno Malay.

Very sorry, most of us don’t subscribe to this moronic redundancy. Umno candidates got two million out of the 5.7 million Malay votes in 2008. Continue reading “Rise against feudal Umno”

Tak payah guna kepala, sekarang guna punggung pula

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 16, 2012

16 MEI — Saya berasa geli hati dengan gelagat Umno yang kian hari kian memalukan. Pagi semalam sekumpulan penyokong parti itu telah berbaris dihadapan kediaman Ambiga Sreenevasan, Pengerusi Bersih, dengan menonggeng dan menunjukkan bontot kepada rumah Ambiga.

Umno sudah menjadi parti lawak dan telah benar-benar jatuh martabatnya dengan sikap yang ditunjukkan oleh penyokong tegarnya itu.

Kemasukkan saya kedalam DAP dahulu disambut oleh seorang dua sebagai tindakan politik bangkrap. Tetapi sebenarnya apa yang berlaku semalam itu merupakan betul-betul politik bangkrap yang tidak ada tolok bandingnya.

Nampaknya politik Umno ini tidak lagi boleh lari dari bontot dan punggung, sejak 14 tahun yang lalu. Sudah tidak terlarat untuk membesarkan isu bontot dan punggung Saiful Bukhari, sekarang mereka memanjangkan lagi perjuangan berlandaskan kepada bontot dan punggung.

Dalam kesemua 213 negara yang berkerajaan di dunia ini, Malaysialah yang parti pemerintahnya mempertahankan kuasa dengan menggunakan bontot dan punggung dan ini amat memalukan. Saya tidak tahu bagaimana kah perasaan mereka-mereka ini semasa melakukan kerja keji ini. Continue reading “Tak payah guna kepala, sekarang guna punggung pula”

Umno, how much did you spend to bring your crowd?

— P. Ramakrishnan
The Malaysian Insider
May 14, 2012

MAY 14 — Much has been made of the so-called 100,000 turnout of Umno members at the Bukit Jalil Stadium to observe Umno’s 66th anniversary celebrations. Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak was obviously elated in seeing the sea of Umno members dressed in red that greeted him on his arrival at the stadium.

He remarked that they, too, can bring in the crowds. And he was jubilant thinking that support for Umno had returned. You can’t fault him for being carried away by the euphoria of the occasion.

But little does he realise that his optimism was misplaced. Continue reading “Umno, how much did you spend to bring your crowd?”

Umno patut berhimpun sekali lagi

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 14, 2012

14 MEI — Saya mencadangkan supaya Umno mengadakan perhimpunan seperti yang diadakan di Stadium Bukit Jalil pada 11 Mei yang lepas sekali lagi. Pada perhimpunan Umno di Bukit Jalil baru-baru ini seramai 100,000 orang telah dapat dihimpunkan oleh Najib Razak untuk menunjukkan sokongan ramai terhadap Umno dan Barisan Nasional.

Saya kira Umno perlu melakukannya sekali lagi dan himpunkan seramai dua juta manusia untuk menyamai “equation” himpunan Bersih 3.0 yang dihadiri oleh 300,000 orang pada 28 April yang lalu.

Lain-lain perkataan hanya himpunan dua juta rakyat sahaja boleh menyamai kekuatan 300,000 kehadiran dalam himpunan Bersih itu untuk mendapat “legitimacy” sokongan rakyat. DAN dalam perhimpunan itu nanti bawa bersama rakyat dari kaum-kaum lain untuk menyatakan yang Umno serta BN iu mendapat sokongan rakyat berbilang kaum.

Setakat 100,000 orang yang mampu dihimpunkan oleh Umno itu sangat tidak seimbang dengan belanja dan kemudahan yang diberikan oleh Umno kepada siapa yang datang untuk berhimpun di Stadium Bukit Jalil itu. Seperti biasa Umno akan memberikan “5-T” untuk menghimpunkan orang ramai. Continue reading “Umno patut berhimpun sekali lagi”