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Najib is setting the stage for drastic action by UMNO against Tengku Razaleigh

When the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said last night that it was up to UMNO members to decide if action should be taken against Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for continuing his campaign against the federal government over Kelantan’s oil royalties claim, the stage is set for drastic action by Umno against the Kelantan prince and elder Umno statesman.

It is clear as to what Najib meant when he made the ominour statement:” We have to hear what the party members have to say” after the Umno supreme council meeting last night.

Already, the Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had more than once expressed displeasure at Razaleigh’s  unrepentant recalcitrance, openly questioned Razaleigh’s loyalty to Umno and accused him of trying to confuse the public over the oil royalty issue.
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Raising Malaysia’s Hackles

An angry youth protest highlights the Malaysian authorities’ insecurities over international criticism.

Opinion Asia | The Wall Street Journal

The prosecution of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is proceeding apace, but that doesn’t mean international pressure is useless. Witness the government’s reaction to recent international criticism.

A bipartisan group of 56 Australian parliamentarians sent a letter earlier this month to the Malaysian High Commissioner in Canberra, saying the fact that a leading opposition voice has been charged with sodomy a second time “raises serious concerns,” and urging the authorities to drop the charges. The letter cited an op-ed in this newspaper by Munawar A. Anees, who claims he was tortured by the police and forced to confess to sodomy with Mr. Anwar before the first trial in 1998. And it echoes statements by American and Canadian politicians also worried about the impartiality of Malaysia’s rule of law.

The reaction was swift. Some 500 members of the ruling coalition’s youth wing and sympathizers protested in Kuala Lumpur last week, calling the letter a “trampling” on “sovereignty.” Youth leader Khairy Jalamuddin told us in a telephone interview that the trial is a judicial process, not a political one.
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The Malaysia Divide

An institutional overhaul is long overdue in Kuala Lumpur.
By ALICE LLOYD GEORGE
Kuala Lumpur | The Wall Street Journal

“The Leopard,” Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s celebrated novel about the crumbling feudal order in 19th century Sicily, made famous the line, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” That pretty much sums up the predicament of Malaysia’s ruling elite today.

The sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim drags on in Kuala Lumpur, with the opposition leader’s freedom and political career hanging in the balance. But the true significance of this anachronistic case does not depend on the outcome in the courtroom. The political assassination of Mr. Anwar aside, Malaysia is witnessing the death throes of a political machine that has run the country for over five decades. Mr. Anwar is a skilled politician who holds together an unlikely alliance of opposition parties—his conviction would certainly be a blow for the prospect of real political pluralism in Malaysia. But he also serves as a vessel for wider social forces and a disenchantment with the country’s leadership. Another figure would surely take his place at the head of the reform movement.

The ruling coalition was founded on the principle that the three main races—Malays, Chinese and Indians—participate in politics through their own parties. Coupled with an elaborate system of affirmative action, this has allowed the United Malays National Organization to maintain a lock on power by protecting Malays from the winds of competition. After the opposition made unprecedented gains in the March 2008 elections, desperate tactics were called for, hence a rather tired repeat of the homosexuality charge first brought against Mr. Anwar a decade ago, now dubbed “Sodomy II” by a skeptical public. The government has denied that the trial is politically motivated.
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Is Muhyiddin the right-hand man of Najib or Mahathir in the Najib premiership?

Tun Abdullah tried to distance himself and tinker with the Mahathir legacy, without really daring to dismantle it when he was Prime Minister – but that was enough to ensure a swift and ignominious dismantling and end to Abdullah’s hapless premiership.

One great difference between the Najib and Abdullah premierships up to now is over their stance on the Mahathir legacy – in the Abdullah premiership, the Cabinet Ministers stand mute on the subject but in the Najib administration, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has emerged as the custodian of the Mahathir legacy with a powerful following!

This is why Muhyiddin’s utterances and actions are not only important for one who is only half-a-heartbeat away from the premiership but as a surrogate of the Mahathir legacy – undoubtedly of the most powerful former Malaysian Prime Minister in the nation’s history.

Just look at some the media headlines on Muhyiddin in the past few months:
Continue reading “Is Muhyiddin the right-hand man of Najib or Mahathir in the Najib premiership?”

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An Unhappy Chinese New Year?

By Martin Jalleh

A Chinese new year has dawned. The PM declares that Malaysian Chinese should be more daring to help build a more dynamic 1Malaysia. Such a dramatic invitation by Najib is made against the dark and depressing background of jarring discordant voices by Umnoputras which the drums and deafening firecrackers fail to drown out and exorcise.

We hear the disturbing insult of all the Ahmad Ismails labelling the Malaysian Chinese “immigrants” and “squatters” and adding that they have no right to equal treatment with the Umnoputras – who just happened to migrate here a little earlier than the rest of us.

We hear the deranged Nasir Safars spitting on us in 1Malaysia seminars with their vile claim that our mothers and grandmothers came here to sell their bodies, whilst never mentioning how the Umnoputras sell their principles, souls and even the country away.

We hear the devious speeches of Umno “intellectuals” in the Biro Tatanegara such as the ridiculous claim of a Chinese conspiracy with Singapore, when the Malays are disunited, to topple the Malay government, when very obviously the BTN courses are meant “to promote certain government leaders” (Nazri Aziz) and to protect, perpetuate and preserve their political power!
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How can Tsu Koon be a credible Minister in charge of Najib’s 1Malaysia GTP when he dare not speak out against the vicious Umno campaign?

This Chinese New Year is a most unusual Chinese New Year.

As I have pointed out, probably in no other Chinese New Year since Merdeka has there been such a blizzard of conversational topics and talking points, from the two missing jet engines disappearing all the way to Uruguay; a multi-billion ringgit submarine that cannot dive; the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal still awaiting the prosecution of “big fishes”; Friday’s continued inquest into the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock and the question every Malaysian is asking, “who killed the DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock who went willingly to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on July 15, 2009 and came out as a corpse the next day” and the continued trial and tribulations of Anwar Ibrahim – with the Court of Appeal decision this afternoon on DAP National Chairman and Anwar’s defence lead counsel Karpal Singh’s application to review its judgment and to strike off the Sodomy2 charges against Anwar and the decision tomorrow of the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to recuse himself from hearing the Anwar Sodomy 2 trial for bias.

I will not be at the Court of Appeal decision at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya this afternoon but will be in the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow.

But there is another reason why this year’s Chinese New Year is the most unusual in the nation’s history since Merdeka 53 years ago – the manner the Prime Minister’s Chinese New Year Message is openly undermined and torn to pieces by his own Ministers and political machinery.
Continue reading “How can Tsu Koon be a credible Minister in charge of Najib’s 1Malaysia GTP when he dare not speak out against the vicious Umno campaign?”

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Umno’s Chinese whispers — The Malaysian Insider

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 13 — Today is the day Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should learn former US president, Ronald Reagan’s favourite phrase: “Trust, but Verify”.

If he had learnt the phrase before today, the deputy prime minister would not look silly for castigating the Penang government which he alleged had cancelled the annual Maulidur Rasul procession.

He accused the Pakatan Rakyat government led by Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng of not supporting the aspirations of Muslims.

All this based on a report by the Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia.

In other words, Muhyiddin appeared irresponsible for stoking racial and religious tension when talking about the apparent cancellation of the Maulidur Rasul procession in Penang, where Malays have been complaining about being sidelined.

The responsible thing to do would have been to double check with the Penang state government and not rely on what is reported by Utusan Malaysia, which has stretched its credibility in the past when reporting about Umno’s political foes.
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Will Najib now ask Umno executive secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh to resign for doing a Nasir Safar at an Umno Club function in London?

The denial by Umno executive secretary Datuk Abdul Rauf Yusoh that he had made racist remarks at an Umno Club function in London a few days ago is most revealing for its self-incriminatory and confessional nature.

Rauf, who led an Umno delegation to London to meet with party members in a private closed-door meeting earlier this week was alleged to refer to non-Malays as “bangsa asing” who were trampling on the Malays in “Tanah Melayu”.

In a letter sent to The Malaysian Insider, Ahmad Naim Mazlan, a first-year finance and accounting student heard Rauf saying “Jangan biarkan bangsa asing pijak kepala kita.” (Don’t let the foreigners walk all over our heads.)

Ahmad Naim said in his letter:

“There was also a vigorous defence of Datuk Nasir Safar’s recent comments against non Malays which branded non Malays as beggars and prostitutes. According to one Umno Youth exco member present, those comments were not racist but quite contrarily, ‘just facts’….

“Throughout the session, non-Malays were treated as the enemy, and whilst they did praise Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, there was no mention of 1 Malaysia, unity or multiracial nation-building. During some moments in the session, they sounded nothing less than Vikings on the path to war — an Umno Youth exco said something to the effect of Umno willing to fight to the death the threats made by non-Malays. These threats were, strangely enough, never detailed….
Continue reading “Will Najib now ask Umno executive secretary Abdul Rauf Yusoh to resign for doing a Nasir Safar at an Umno Club function in London?”

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Muhyiddin’s Myths & Make-Believe

Bolehland’s economy is Stagnant, Shaky, Startling & Sliding
by Martin Jalleh

Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin tries very hard to make sense of what he says most of the time. When he fails to make sense he makes fun of those whom he criticises. He then constructs (make believe) his preferred reality of the country and ends up making the fool of himself.

In a report on Malaysia released at the end of January, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) warned: “Events of the past month give the impression that pressures are building and the entire situation is becoming much more unstable”. Malaysia was “veering towards instability” (Malaysian Insider, 10 Feb. 2010).

The PERC reported that the impression that Malaysia has given since New Year’s Day was that the situation in the country is becoming increasingly unstable; a group of elite minorities were dominating the national agenda to the extent that it was hurting Malaysia’s attractiveness to investors; and it is “probable” that no other Asian country is suffering from as much bad press as Malaysia.

Among the developments that caught PERC’s attention were the theft of military jet engines; detention of terror suspects from a number of African and Middle East countries; warnings that Islamic militants were planning attacks on foreigners at resorts in Sabah; renewed ethnic and religious “violence” that included arson at some churches and desecration of mosques; and controversy over the integrity of key institutions like the judicial system in the sodomy trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
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UMNO leaders in Federal Government should not play with fire and mortgage credibility and success of 1Malaysia GTP Roadmap and Malaysia 2.0 new economic model

UMNO leaders in the Federal Government, from the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to Cabinet and sub-Cabinet levels should not play with fire and mortgage the credibility and success of the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap and Malaysia 2.0 new economic model yet to be announced by Najib.

They should be mindful that Malaysians and the world are watching whether they could separate their responsibilities as Federal Government officials from those of Umno leaders, which would have a great bearing on the credibility, trustworthiness and success of of Najib’s 1Malaysia GTP Roadmap and Malaysia 2.0 new economic model which is to be the basis for the Tenth Malaysia Plan to be presented to Parliament in June.

For instance, national and international credibility in the system of governance which plays a very important role in a country’s international competitiveness, would suffer grievously if Malaysians and the international community believe that the Najib premiership is unable to rise above narrow political party considerations to give top priority to national interests as to continue to compromise the independence, professionalism and integrity of national law enforcement agencies.
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Malaysia’s Democracy on Trial

By Chris Wright | Australian Financial Review, February 2 2010

When Anwar Ibrahim walks into the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, he will at least know what to expect.

Anwar, Malaysia’s one-time deputy prime minister and now the de facto leader of the first credible opposition in Malaysia’s independent history, is facing the third incarceration of his life. The first was a 22-month detention when a student leader in the 1970s; the second a six-year stint in 1998 for sodomy (overturned in 2004) and corruption, during the administration of his one-time mentor, Mahathir Mohamed. Now, he faces another sodomy charge, and the potential of 20 years in jail. Locally the press are calling it Sodomy II, like a sequel. “They use the same script,” he tells the AFR in an interview in his Kuala Lumpur offices. “I’ll leave it to the lawyers. I don’t have any trust in the system.”

That’s no surprise. Anwar’s trial represents an enormously significant moment for Malaysia, because it could make or break the opposition movement at a time of intense racial tension on a scale the country hasn’t seen since the race riots of the 1960s. Malaysia, though a sometimes uneasy patchwork of a Muslim Malay majority and significant Chinese and Indian minorities, has for decades been amongst the most moderate and peaceful of Muslim nations. Yet in recent months it has become a place where churches are firebombed over the right for Christians to use the word Allah, and where cows’ heads are kicked around outside Hindu temples.
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Call on Najib to immediately abolish the practice of support letters for contracts to demonstrate his commitment to zero tolerance for corruption

When I visited the Lab Open Day of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) in Sunway on 18th December last year, I raised the question about the government’s seriousness and commitment to declare an all-out war against corruption and asked why nobody in government, starting from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had ever talked about “zero tolerance for corruption”, and this question remains as valid today as seven weeks ago.

It is no use the GTP lab on “fighting corruption” referring to “zero tolerance for corruption” when nobody in government, from the Prime Minister downwards is prepared to embrace it.

The GTP Roadmap makes grandiloquent statements and proposals about fighting corruption but the political will to implement them are sorely lacking.

It proposes the gradual reduction of the “practice of support letters, which are used to exert undue influence on civil servants to circumvent standard policies and processes in obtaining contracts”.

It said:
“Often, these interventions do not necessarily originate from politicians themselves, but from vested individuals who use the support letters as leverage to negotiate with the Government.
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Allah row easy to solve if we follow His bidding, not Umno’s

By Wong Choon Mei, Harakah

The ongoing row over whether non-Muslims can use the word Allah to describe God has flushed out many systemic weaknesses, and also highlighted how unprincipled some of our political and religious leaders have become.

Just to stay on the winning side, many seem to think nothing of abandoning basic truth and simple facts. So much so, it is no longer religious principle but vested interest that is now the core tussle behind the row, and that whoever speaks the loudest – regardless of whether the verbiage is backed by the Quran or not – will emerge victorious.

Against such moral deterioration, what are the chances of an inter-faith dialogue finding a way forward that is satisfactory to all quarters? Against such deliberate cultivation of prejudice, can the voices of every participating faith be heard equally, or will they be drowned out selectively?

The answer depends on whose bidding Malaysians – be they Muslims or non-Muslims – follow.

Deliberate lies
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BN-style resolution to “Allah” issue

By Jacqueline Ann Surin | The Nut Graph

WORD is, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is mightily concerned about the “Allah” issue and wants the matter resolved.

Forgive me, but it’s hard to believe this, based on the public statements the government has been making. Honestly, how can we believe that the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Najib’s leadership is sincere about resolving the issue of who can use “Allah”?

Indeed, apart from Najib, at least three other cabinet members have publicly displayed a lack of respect, knowledge, or even intelligence about the issues at stake.

Dialogue BN-style

First off is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, who calls for interfaith dialogue but in the same breath tells church leaders to drop their claim to use “Allah” to refer to God.

To substantiate his argument, reported on 11 Jan 2010, Jamil Khir declared that “church leaders must have deep understanding of the situation and history” about the use of “Allah” in Malaysia.
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Silent majority of Muslims Malaysians must speak up against the ban on use of Allah by Christians to save Malaysia

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

THE SILENT MAJORITY OF MALAYSIAN MUSLIMS MUST SPEAK UP AGAINST THE RULING TO BAN CHRISTIANS FROM INVOKING THE NAME OF ALLAH

The government ban on the use of ALLAH by Christians does not have the support of the majority of Malaysian Muslims. as a matter of fact, my impression is that the Muslim ummah in Malaysia are by and large solid citizens loyal both to the country and to their religion Islam, and do not buy the argument that the use of Allah by Christians would confuse the ummah.

PAS and PKR leaders like Anwar Ibrahim and Hadi Awang have openly stated that the use of Allah by christians is correct and allowed by Islam.

Anwar has said “With regard to the use of the word ALLAH, it cannot be disputed that Arabic speaking Muslims, Christians and Jews have collectively prayed to God as Allah throughout the last fourteen centuries.”
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God as politics in Malaysia

Asia Times
By Fabio Scarpello
Jan 16 2010

DENPASAR, Bali – The escalating Allah controversy that has resulted in the bombing of Christian churches across Malaysia has called into question the country’s moderate Muslim credentials and could have major repercussions for political alliances that underpin the United Malays Nasional Organization (UMNO)-led coalition government.

Both main political blocs – UMNO and the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition – have bid to capitalize on the violence, which has devolved from an obscure freedom of expression issue into a volatile matter of internal security that could potentially determine the government’s political survival.

UMNO has so far come out the worse for wear with its credibility shaken and reputation bruised by perceptions it has tacitly condoned the violence targeting Christians. Political analysts believe those perceptions, fanned by online media and blogs, could alienate UMNO’s moderate Muslim base and perhaps more importantly constituencies in the swing states of Sabah and Sarawak, whose parliamentarians help to maintain UMNO’s parliamentary majority.

Some analysts predict that the violence could coax certain constituencies, particularly Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, away from UMNO and towards the PR opposition, potentially paving the way for the parliamentary defections Anwar has long sought to topple the government. Others believe UMNO’s poor handling of the violence could sway more voters against the party at the next election, which already promised to be hotly contested.

UMNO’s politicization of ethnicity and religion has a long history. Many feel those tactics have paved the way for the recent senseless attacks against at least nine churches in the wake last month’s High Court ruling in favor of Catholic weekly newspaper, the Herald, that allowed the publication to use the word “Allah” in reference to the Christian God.

Lim Teck Ghee, director for the Kuala Lumpur-based Center for Policy Initiatives, said that hot-headed Muslims would not have felt emboldened enough to throw firebombs at churches had former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad not “shifted the political goal posts in 2001 by pronouncing Malaysia as an Islamic state”. Continue reading “God as politics in Malaysia”

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Hishammuddin is too truculent and controversial an Umno leader to be a good and professional Home Minister to inspire confidence of all Malaysians that he will not use his ministerial powers for party political ends

“KDN akan ambil tindakan ke atas Anwar – Jika sengaja guna isu agama perkauman berhubung insiden serangan gereja” is the Utusan Malaysia headline today, whose real casualty is public confidence in Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as a good and effective Home Minister who could resolve the crisis caused by attacks on places of worship and church arson tarnishing Malaysia’s international reputation as an international example of inter-religious harmony, peace and goodwill.

Hishammuddin is too truculent and controversial an Umno leader to be a good and professional Home Minister to inspire confidence of all Malaysians that he will not use his ministerial powers for party political ends.

Why is Hishammuddin talking about action against Anwar when he has not been able to take any action in the past five days against anyone for the spate of attacks on places of worship, whether church, surau or Sikh temple which have placed at risk billions of ringgit which might otherwise benefit Malaysia in the form of foreign investment, tourism and educational opportunities?
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Is Lagu Johor Illegal and Promoting Racial Hatred?

Letter by Karamchan Naidu

I am a Johor boy. Studied there all my life. Every week for the past 12 years of my primary and secondary schooling I used to sing the Lagu Johor at the school assembly.

The song is as follows;

Allah peliharakan Sultan
‘Nugrahkan dia segala kehormatan
Sihat dan ria, kekal dan makmur
Luaskan kuasa, menaungkan kami
Rakyat dipimpini berzaman lagi
Dengan Merdeka bersatu hati
Allah berkati Johor
Allah selamatkan Sultan.

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“Allah” issue: Who started it?

By Jacqueline Ann Surin
12 Jan 10 | The Nut Graph

LEST we forget, the source of the Allah controversy that resulted in churches, and a Catholic school, being torched and threatened did not begin on the streets. It did not begin with narrow-minded and ignorant Muslim pressure groups threatening to spill blood to assert their sole right to use “Allah”.

Lest we forget, it began with the 1986 government ban on the use by non-Muslims of the word “Allah”, and three others — “solat”, “Kaabah” and “Baitullah”. That’s the Barisan Nasional (BN) government we are talking about, the one that Umno leads.

Hence, lest we forget, the issue of non-Muslims using the word “Allah” would not be an issue at all in Malaysia if the Umno-led government had, to begin with, respected the legitimate rights of other faith communities. The “Allah” issue would not have spiraled into, to quote a friend, suburban terrorism — and it is terrorism when violence and intimidation are used towards achieving one’s goals — if the Home Ministry had not acted to deny the rights of non-Muslim citizens in the first place.
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Use of ‘Allah’ could cause confusion among Malay Muslims and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal in Malaysia is a political gimmick by UMNO

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser

THE CLAIM BY THE HOME MINISTRY SECRETARY GENERAL MAHMOOD ADAM TO FOREIGN DIGNITARIES THAT THE USE OF ALLAH BY CHRISTIANS COULD CAUSE CONFUSION AMONG MUSLIMS IN MALAYSIA AND ENCOURAGE RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS, WHICH IS ILLEGAL IN MALAYSIA, HAS DAMAGED THE REPUTATION, INTEGRITY AND SINCERITY OF MALAYSIAN MUSLIMS.

Most Malaysian muslims, including Anwar Ibrahim and Hadi Awang will not share the sentiments of the Home Ministry official. Malaysian muslims and christians have been living together for several centuries, in relative peace and harmony, and have progressed and prospered.

In a plural religious society, minor frictions may exist, but these were kept to a minimum by inter-faith dialogues. However,there exist underlying fears that the muslims might want to islamise the country and suspicion that christians might want to convert muslims to their faith.
Continue reading “Use of ‘Allah’ could cause confusion among Malay Muslims and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal in Malaysia is a political gimmick by UMNO”