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Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 26, 2012

26 JAN — Khairy Jamaluddin, Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia, telah meminta DAP mengeluarkan senarai ahli-ahlinya dari kaum Melayu jika benar DAP sekarang sedang mendapat sokongan dari kaum Melayu. Khairy berkata setakat tiga orang Melayu yang menyertai DAP itu tidak melambangkan yang parti itu sudah diterima oleh orang Melayu. Saya tidak yakin kenapa penyertaan orang Melayu di akhir-akhir ini menjadi isu dari Sabah hingga ke Perlis.

Saya hanya hendak memberikan komen yang pendek terhadap cabaran Khairy ini dan saya rasa boleh memberikan jawapan kepada kenyataan Khairy itu kerana saya adalah salah seorang dari orang Melayu yang telah menyertai DAP baru-baru ini.

Untuk pengetahuan Khairy DAP tidak membuat pengasingan ahli-ahlinya mengikut bangsa dan agama. Di dalam borang permohonan menjadi ahli, tidak ada petak yang bertanyakan dari kaum apa pemohon-pemohon tersebut kerana sebagai sebuah parti yang memperjuangkan untuk semua tanpa mengira kaum dan budaya bangsa dan ethnik ahli-ahli tidak menjadi perkara penting. Continue reading “Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP”

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One Saturday with The Oracle of Syed Putera

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 25, 2012

JAN 25 — We are going to ignore the doomsday statements from Perkasa about Islam being threatened with Khalid in charge of Islam. How is Islam threatened? Khalid is a closet Christian evangelist? He is not Islamic enough? He can’t manage properly? It is more reasonable to assume Khalid can do a better job since he has managed Selangor financially better than previous BN MBs.

Islam is threatened simply because the majority of Umno members shy away from mosques and suraus. They don’t ‘prosper’ the masjids and suraus. They want positions as chairmen of suraus and masjid for the prestige but are sorely deficient and wanting when it comes to evangelical programmes.

But then that is the basic leadership philosophy of the majority of Umno people — positions without accountability and responsibility. Kedudukan mau, kerja tak mau.

They want to become boss of suraus or mosques, they want to become chairman of PTA even though they themselves are elementary educated. So on so forth. So when things go afoul, the answers are not difficult to identify and can immediately be found. They somehow originate from Umno.

The DAP people whom the majority are not Christians want to proselytise on Islam? This is the biggest gobbledygook thus far pedalled by Perkasa. Islam is under threat precisely because Umno has carried out ruinous business policies and economic predation that so impoverished the Malays leaving them vulnerable and seeking help from the inefficient Islamic bodies. If Malays convert then the fault lies firstly with the institutions charged with keeping the faith. Continue reading “One Saturday with The Oracle of Syed Putera”

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‘Elite Malay leadership cheating community’

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 22, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

The majority of grassroots successful Malays have succeed on their own account, with no Umno help.

COMMENT

Many have realised that the struggle to preserve the 30% quota of privileges has never expanded into the universal struggle for the economic emancipation of Malays.

I want to repeat this observation. The penury of the majority Malays is not the result of greedy others (read non-Malays) taking a larger share of the economic pie.

We have been taken for a ride believing in this.

The causes for the continued misdevelopment of Malays are likely to be found in the actions and behaviour of the Malay leadership.

The Malay leadership at all levels have not acted in the interest of Malays actually. Continue reading “‘Elite Malay leadership cheating community’”

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UMNO fears DAP beachhead

KTemoc Konsiders ……..
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lim Guan Eng and his Penang government, and not Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor government, represent the greatest threat to Najib and UMNO, and therefore every attempt must be launched to destroy it, impossible as this task may seem.

In the immortal words of Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman, “Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed).

Thus, to UMNO, in similar thinking, DAP in Penang must be destroyed …….. well, as much as is practically possible, given that an overwhelming majority of Penangites has rejected Gerakan and MCA parties as their political representatives.

Hence we have witnessed the relentless waves of terrible fabrications against Lim’s government in general, and Lim GE in particular, even down to the shameful sleazy salacious lies about his teenage son. Those fabricators surely threw their religious God-fearing beliefs and values out of the windows.

It has been anti-DAP carpet bombing all the way by both UMNO apparatus and affiliated bloggers (either sympathizing with UMNO or just being anti-DAP).

They have used not C4 but ‘C3’, namely, the alleged evils of Lim GE’s Christianity, Chinese ethnicity and Charborkooi (devil women) DAP colleagues, where the lies cover: Continue reading “UMNO fears DAP beachhead”

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DAP, please pay no mind to flip-flop KJ

by Haris Ibrahim
The People’s Parliament
January 24, 2012

From the time I was in secondary school until about 2 years ago, if ever I was to join a political party, it would have been the Democratic Action Party.

Yes, the DAP.

Guan Eng well knows this.

Since 2010, though, I am pleased to say that my options have increased.

Today, besides DAP, if ever I was inclined to join a political party, I would have no reservations in filling a membership application form and submitting the same to the Parti Sosialis Malaysia or the Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

These parties are not multiracial. In my view, the term ‘multiracial’ still places emphasis on ‘race’.

They are non-race based.

They champion issues, are advocates of meritocracy and champion the lot of the downtrodden. Continue reading “DAP, please pay no mind to flip-flop KJ”

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Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 23, 2012

23 JAN — Ada sesuatu perkara yang saya mesti kongsi dengan rakan-rakan yang mengikuti blog saya. Sejak saya menyertai parti berbagai kaum DAP baru-baru ini, saya telah mendapat kutukan dari beberapa orang termasuk seorang dua rakan blog saya yang saya kenali, dan itu memang telah saya jangkakan dari awal lagi.

Tetapi sebagai empunyai blog kecil ini saya telah mendapat lebih galakan dari yang mengkritik saya. Yang mengkritik saya itu pun adalah kebanyakannya dari mereka yang masih baru dalam Umno itu atau hanya sebagai penyokong pemimpin dan “warlords” dalam parti itu. Yang mengatakan saya seorang yang bangkerap politik itu merupakan budak hingusan belum merasakan pengalaman bergiat di dalam Umno itu.

Tetapi yang paling saya seronok ialah sokongan dari orang-orang biasa dan menzahirkan sokongan mereka melalu ribuan teks pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang datang bertalu-talu serta sokongan melalui e-mail dan sebagainya. Sembilan puluh peratus yang memberikan sokongan itu adalah dari kaum Melayu yang saya kenali dan yang saya tidak pernah mengenali mereka.

Apa yang saya seronokkan bukannya kerana saya mendapat sokongan secara peribadi, tetapi kerana mereka sudah faham sebenarnya yang DAP itu bukanlah seperti yang dimomokan oleh Umno dan media masa perdana sejak berdekad-dekad dahulu. Saya merasa sedikit bangga kerana mampu membuatkan mereka menilai secara ilmiah yang mendalam serta sudah mengetahui yang parti DAP ini telah secara deras mendapat sokongan orang Melayu akhir-akhir ini. Continue reading “Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang”

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Chapter 12: A Prescription For Malaysia

by Bakri Musa
Malaysia in the Era of Globalizat​ion #97

In 1969, shortly after the traumatic race riot that nearly ripped Malaysia apart, an angry and impatient young politician wrote a most unusual letter to the prime minister at the time, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Written in Malay, the letter used the most polite and deferential language, tone, and form that characterized communications between a peasant and his ruler. It was classic of a feudal Malay society, as Malaysia was at that time. Despite that, the petition could not hide its blunt and trenchant message: The Tunku must go.

Such a frontal challenge to a leader was unprecedented in polite and highly structured traditional Malay society. Malay society prides itself in an orderly and predictable succession. That gauntlet could only have been thrown by someone either unbelievably stupid and reckless or very sure of himself and his assessment of the citizens’ mood.

What galled the Tunku was that the challenger was a low-level politician who had lost his parliamentary seat in the elections that took place just before the riot. Most losers in combat would quietly withdraw to lick their wounds, not come out swinging looking for new adversaries, at least not so soon afterwards! Yet there it was, the impudence and impertinence of a hitherto obscure political backbencher challenging the nation’s revered leader amidst a national crisis! Incensed, the Tunku saw to it that the politician was expelled from the party. Thus was how Mahathir bin Mohamad was stripped of his UMNO’s membership. Continue reading “Chapter 12: A Prescription For Malaysia”

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On changing horses midstream and the man who can walk on water

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 21, 2012

JAN 21 — The prime minister told the people not to change horses midstream. So we asked, don’t we change even if the horse is limping and is running on three legs? In endurance races, riders change horses in order to arrive at the destination. Malaysians should be pragmatic when it comes to deciding their future.

Midstream for Barisan Nasional and Umno is already over 50 years. Since 1955, when the first elections took place until now, from Perikatan to BN, we have had more than 50 years of BN rule. What do we have?

We have development, for sure, but are also damaged by rampant corruption, utter disregard for the rule of law, abuses of all kinds, political manipulations, deception and lies and gross mismanagement of the economy. To all that, the PM says, we don’t change? If we don’t, we shall have another 50 years of unchecked corruption, emasculation of the judiciary, thugs running the legal institutions, abuses and gross mismanagement.

At another point in his speech, the PM says we don’t know whether the opposition knows what to do if they come into power. We don’t know whether, under Pakatan Rakyatwe, we can achieve developed status by 2020 with the fabled per capita income of US$15,000.

Of course Pakatan knows what to do. In the short years since they came into power, direct investments have been highest in Pakatan led states of Penang, Selangor and Kedah. These states have achieved balanced budgets without doing arithmetic tricks.

In Penang, which is led by a non-Muslim, grants to Islamic religious institutions have reached RM30 million a year. Compare that to Negri Sembilan, which is led by a good Muslim, where the grant is only RM 12 million a year. How is that possible? Because the state coffers have been managed better in one state than in the other managed by BN and Umno. Continue reading “On changing horses midstream and the man who can walk on water”

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Dalam diam DAP melakukan transformasi

by Amin Iskander
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 20, 2012

20 JAN — Pada ketika Umno masih belum selesai dengan isu Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, memperbesarkan isu pemecatan Datuk Dr Hasan Ali dan memanipulasi isu pengambilan portfolio agama Islam oleh MB Selangor, dalam diam DAP memperkukuhkan partinya.

Hari ini Umno dikejutkan lagi dengan berita penyertaan Hata Wahari, bekas wartawan Utusan Malaysia dan mantan Presiden NUJ kedalam parti tersebut.

Sebelum ini dua orang blogger, Aspan Alias dan Datuk Mohd Arif Sabri — juga veteran Umno —menyertai parti yang digambarkan oleh Utusan Malaysia sebagai “chauvinis Cina”.

Ironinya, Hata Wahari memilih untuk menyertai DAP walaupun majikan lamanya, Utusan Malaysia paling kuat menghentam parti yang menguasai Pulau Pinang itu.

Apakah yang bakal dikatakan oleh lidah pengarang Utusan Malaysia untuk menjawab penyertaan Hata Wahari ke dalam DAP?

Apatah lagi pada ketika Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng yang baru sahaja memenangi saman fitnah terhadap Utusan Malaysia. Utusan Malaysia di-ibarat “sudahlah jatuh ditimpa tangga pula”.

Dikala ramai yang menyangka Hata Wahari akan menyertai PKR, mantan Presiden NUJ itu mengejutkan ramai pihak. Hata mungkin nampak perubahan besar yang telah berlaku dalam “mindset” DAP. Continue reading “Dalam diam DAP melakukan transformasi”

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Can Umno Change or Cows Fly?

By Kee Thuan Chye

UMNO is beyond redemption. At its general assembly in December, the message it sent out was suspicion of others and hatred for them, and a desperate desire to win the next general election.

Its president, Najib Razak, once again proved what many of us have long suspected – that he is a dissembler. He exposed the ultimate lie behind his 1Malaysia slogan by saying things that would divide the races rather than bring them together. He set the trend for delegates at the assembly to harp on the threats to Umno from other races. It was disgraceful coming from the prime minister of the country. It was supremely irresponsible.

Worse, two days after the assembly ended, he appealed to the right-wing NGO Pertubuhan Kebajikan dan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Pekida) for support. This has to be the final nail in the 1Malaysia coffin.

To cap it all, Umno showed its partiality to cronyism by defending Wanita leader Shahrizat Abdul Jalil over the scandal surrounding her family’s business, the National Feedlot Corporation. One or two colleagues called for her to step down, but the overwhelming majority stood by her and castigated the Opposition for exposing the scandal.

This begs the question: Can Umno change? As the major party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, can it truly stand up for other races as well, and work for their well-being? Can it stay clear of corrupt practices? Can it stop dishing out favours and projects to party leaders and their cronies? Can it save Malaysia from financial meltdown or will it rather bleed our coffers dry? Continue reading “Can Umno Change or Cows Fly?”

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‘Anxieties engulfing BN camp’

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 19, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

Gemas, now infamous for the National Feedlot Centre and the double tracking railway project scandals, is poised to be the epicentre of another political tsunami.

COMMENT

Usually those who are pressing for an early election are those from within Umno itself and who think they will contest as candidates replacing the incumbents.

In Umno replacing incumbents is not difficult – just mobilize a few dissenting and envious voices to create the necessary ‘public’ opinion.

Elevate personal anecdotes and personal sob and frustrated stories and exploit those as generalizations.

Then package all the lies and present it to a nervous and insecure Umno division head.

Never mind if he was the Deputy Prime Minister then and now Prime Minister.

I was in Gemas for the Rapat Rakyat programme on Jan 15. Anwar Ibrahim was there.

I would estimate the crowd to have been around 10,000 people. The local guy standing next to me in the crowd confided that he had never seen such a big crowd before attending a political gathering. And he’s been staying in Gemas since the 60s.

Umno will of course trivialize this observation by saying the opposition has always attracted large crowds to their rallies. But in the end, the Barisan Nasional will win. Continue reading “‘Anxieties engulfing BN camp’”

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Najib should heed his own call “to make voice of moderation of louder” by declaring transformation of Utusan Malaysia into the Voice of Moderation

“Najib: Make voice of moderation louder” – this is yesterday’s front-page headline of UMNO-owned New Straits Times reporting on the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak opening speech of the inaugural International Conference on Global Movement of Moderates on Tuesday.

Najib should heed his own call “to make voice of moderation louder” by declaring the transformation of the UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia into the Voice of Reason and Moderation, ceasing henceforth to be the Voice of Enmity, Malice, Unreason and Extremism which had caused the degeneration of Najib’s 33 months as Prime Minister into the country’s most divisive, divided and polarized times both in racial and religious terms as compared to the first 33 months of the country’s first five Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

If Najib is not prepared to make his “voice of moderation louder” and make a commitment to transform Utusan Malaysia from being the Voice of Extremism to become the Voice of Moderation, then Malaysians are entitled to ask what is the real purpose of the International Conference on Global Movement of Moderates which would have cost the government a fortune to host.

Najib would be guilty of not complying with his own prescription to the International Conference, i.e. that it is time for the masses to stand up and say to the extremists “with a single breath a firm and resounding no” – reducing the whole conference into an international joke and a farce! Continue reading “Najib should heed his own call “to make voice of moderation of louder” by declaring transformation of Utusan Malaysia into the Voice of Moderation”

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NFC RCI should also inquire into Najib’s role as Chairman of High-Impact Committee which approved project in 2006, why MACC and PAC so tardy in their investigations and unravel other NFC-like scandals littered in government

UMNO insiders are worried that the RM300 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) “cattle condo” scandal may cost UMNO very dearly, causing it to lose more than 30 parliamentary seats in the general elections if this scandal is not handled and resolved in a quick and satisfactory manner.

This is why I do not expect the UMNO Wanita Chairman and Minister for Women, Family and Welfare Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to return to Cabinet at the end of her three-week leave (one week gone with two weeks left) on Feb. 3, 2012.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said that he had discussed with Shahrizat her decision to take three-weeks leave from her ministerial duties and that she was willing to be “investigated fully”.

Among the teeming questions in Malaysian minds about the RM300 million NFC “cattle condo” scandal is why it had taken Shahrizat six months to go on ministerial leave to enable full investigations into the NFC scandal to be conducted, as the Auditor-General’s 2010 report which highlighted the NFC “mess” was completed and made available to the Cabinet and all Ministries in early June last year. The Auditor-General’s 2010 Accounts Report was deliberately held back in Parliament until the last week of October. Continue reading “NFC RCI should also inquire into Najib’s role as Chairman of High-Impact Committee which approved project in 2006, why MACC and PAC so tardy in their investigations and unravel other NFC-like scandals littered in government”

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Make Gemas the epicentre of a political tsunami

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 16, 2012

JAN 16 — If the crowd at the Rapat Rakyat yesterday night in sleepy Gemas is an indication, Negri Sembilan will fall to the opposition at the next GE. It does not matter whether the elections are held in the next few months or later nearer a full five-year term. It will not make any difference on the outcome of the elections — Barisan Nasional will suffer massive losses and lose its mandate.

Those politically untutored, of course, will chide others who are wishing for an earlier election date. Usually those who are pressing for a quicker date are those from within Umno itself. Especially those who think they will contest as candidates replacing the incumbents.

In Umno, replacing incumbents is not difficult — just mobilise a few dissenting and envious voices to create the necessary “public” opinion. Elevate personal anecdotes and personal sob and frustrated stories and exploit those as generalizations. Then package all the lies and present it to a nervous and insecure division head. Never mind if he is the DPM then and now PM.

I would estimate the crowd yesterday to be around 10,000 people. The local guy next to me confided in me since staying in Gemas since the late 60s, this is the first time he sees this big a crowd attend a political gathering. Continue reading “Make Gemas the epicentre of a political tsunami”

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Sokongan mengusik jiwa

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 17, 2012

17 JAN — Kali ini saya hanya menulis “article” yang pendek sahaja. Saya telah mendapat reaksi yang banyak kerana tindakan saya menukar wadah dalam arena politik. Perlu difahami bahawa saya tidak bergiat dalam politik melebihi satu dekad dan saya pada awalnya tidak mahu lagi terlibat dalam hal ini. Saya merasakan banyak yang tidak kena dengan perjalanan dan arah tuju politik Melayu, khususnya Umno, dan mengambil tindakan mendiamkan diri adalah satu tindakan yang “natural” bagi sesiapa yang menghadapi perasaan dan masalah seperti saya ini.

Saya hanya mengambil tahu hal keadaan politik dari rumah sahaja sambil-sambil menengok-nengokkan cucu saya yang kian waktu makin membesar dan bertambah bilangannya itu. Saya mengambil langkah untuk menulis sedikit sebanyak dalam blog kecil saya ini untuk mengasah otak saya supaya tidak menjadi tumpul. Tetapi dalam waktu pencarian ini saya nampak keadaan sudah terlalu menekan untuk saya kembali dan bergiat, setidak-tidaknya untuk memberikan sumbangan sedikit sebanyak kepada pandangan masyarakat yang dahagakan perubahan.

Tindakan saya menyertai DAP ini dilakukan setelah berfikir dengan mendalam dan mencari penyesuaian dan keserasian dengan perjuangan parti ini. Setelah saya menyertainya, saya telah mendapat puluhan atau ratusan sokongan melalui e-mail saya setiap hari, kecuali beberapa orang yang menentang kemasukan saya dalam DAP. Yang lain yang ramai-ramai itu telah memberikan saya galakan dan ramai (Melayu) yang telah menunjukkan sokongan yang begitu kuat terhadap tindakan saya itu. Continue reading “Sokongan mengusik jiwa”

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Dengar cerita ‘anjing sukum’

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 17, 2012

17 JAN — Dalam tahun-tahun awalan lapan puluhan ada seorang yang semasa itu merupakan seorang veteran yang duduk bersama kami sebagai AJK Umno Bahagian di tempat saya, bernama Yassin Mahmud. Beliau sudah tiada lagi bersama kita kerana beliau telah pergi menghadap Allah yang Maha Esa. Beliau seorang guru dan beliau juga adalah seorang yang serius tetapi nampak periang sifatnya. Beliau pernah menelah yang Umno akan menjadi apa yang kita lihat pada hari ini, iaitu sebuah parti untuk ‘warlords’ dan beliau selalu membuka cerita Umno ini dengan memberikan anologi yang melucukan terhadap apa yang akan terjadi kepada parti ini.

Beliaulah yang membuka cerita yang bertajuk ‘anjing sukum’ dan cerita ini pernah saya tulis tiga tahun dahulu. Anjing sukum ini pada beliau ialah anjing buruan yang taat kepada bossnya dan akan melakukan apa sahaja untuk menghambat segala binatang buruan bossnya untuk bossnya melapah dan memakan haiwan buruan, lebihan dari yang telah di jual oleh pemburu itu.

Anjing sukum ini dibela oleh pemburu itu guna untuk membantunya menghambat binatang buruan seperti rusa dan apabila rusa itu telah dihambat dan tidak berdaya untuk melarikan diri pemburu itu akan menembaknya. Setelah rusa itu jatuh maka pemburu itu akan menyembelih rusa yang di hambat oleh anjing sukum itu tadi.

Sedang pemburu itu melapah daging-daging rusa tersebut, anjing-anjing sukum ini menyalak-nyalak untuk mendapatkan habuan dan upah menghambat rusa itu tadi. Pemburu pantas memotong tulang-tulang rusa itu dan membalingkan tulang-tulang tersebut kepada tujuh lapan ekor anjing sukum itu. Maka anjing sukum itu pun terus diam sahaja dan berpuas hati dengan upah tulang-tulang yang dilemparkan oleh bossnya itu. Continue reading “Dengar cerita ‘anjing sukum’”

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Call for independent public inquiry into RM300 million NFC scandal – the role of implicated Ministers including Muhyiddin, Noh Omar and Shahrizat

The freeze of the assets of the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) pending investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Police is not adequate and does not inspire confidence that this is a prelude to a no-holds-barred full inquiry into the RM300 million NFC scandal.

Announcing the freeze on NFC assets yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he had discussed with the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil the decision to take three weeks leave from her ministerial duties, adding:

“I’ve discussed with her the decision to take leave. It is an appropriate decision as it allows the authority to carry out a thorough investigation.

“Datuk Seri Shahrizat said she was willing to be investigated fully. What happens after this will depend on the outcome of the investigation.”

Nobody expects Shahrizat to return to the Cabinet or Parliament after the expiry of her three-week leave expiring on Feb. 3, 2012.

But what is significant and ominous in Najib’s statement is the implication that before she was finally pressured to “voluntarily” go on three-weeks leave on January 12, she had successfully resisted any “full investigation” into her role in the RM300 million NFC scandal. Continue reading “Call for independent public inquiry into RM300 million NFC scandal – the role of implicated Ministers including Muhyiddin, Noh Omar and Shahrizat”

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Malaysia Election Around the Corner?

Asia Sentinel
by Our Correspondent
Thursday, 12 January 2012

With Sodomy II out of the way, looks forward to March polls — maybe

With the Sodomy II trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim now out of the way, it is probably time to start thinking seriously about Malaysia’s 13th general election, which most observers — but not all — believe will be called in March, during school holidays when the classrooms are empty.

Despite euphoria on the part of the three-party opposition coalition, the end of the trial doesn’t mean that Anwar’s troubles are over. One political observer in Kuala Lumpur told Asia Sentinel that the United Malays National Organization, the lead party in the ruling national coalition, will probably do its best to discredit him in other ways. Continue reading “Malaysia Election Around the Corner?”

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Reform or inertia? It’s gone past that by now

By Farish A. Noor | January 09, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

JAN 9 — It has been a rather long time since I have had any reason to be thankful or optimistic about where Malaysia is heading, but today I allowed myself a small helping of optimism (and I hasten to add it was a small helping) as a result of the judgement that was passed (or rather not passed) on Anwar Ibrahim.

Others have already sagely noted that it is too early to jump the gun and proclaim that Malaysia is on the path of genuine institutional reform, though I was pleased to see that the charges against Anwar were thrown out for the best of reasons, namely that there was little that could be used against the man.

Decades from now a movie might be made about the life of Anwar Ibrahim, and though he — and Malaysia — cannot be said to be an individual or country that merits such global attention it has to be conceded that very few individuals have had to go through what he has been through, along with his long-suffering family.
Continue reading “Reform or inertia? It’s gone past that by now”

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After Acquittal, Malaysian Political Icon Looks to Poll

By JAMES HOOKWAY | JANUARY 10, 2012
WSJ

KUALA LUMPUR—His unexpected acquittal on sodomy charges Monday frees Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim finally to look past his trial and on toward the country’s coming national election.

The verdict by Judge Zabidin Diah at the High Court could also warm this key Muslim nation’s relations with the U.S. as the Obama administration tries to build stronger ties across Asia. Malaysia’s government described the verdict as proof it doesn’t try to sway court decisions, a frequent accusation of Mr. Anwar and other opposition activists. Mr. Anwar himself, speaking to a swarm of television crews outside the packed courtroom, described it as a surprise and a vindication.

Now the 64-year-old opposition leader is shifting focus to the election, which must be called by March of next year. Analysts predict it will be a closely contested battle between him and Prime Minister Najib Razak for the center ground of a country that has shown a growing desire for political and economic change over the past few months.
Continue reading “After Acquittal, Malaysian Political Icon Looks to Poll”