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No Chinese representationn in govt – then Pak Lah must step down as PM as he had promised to be PM for all races

(Media Conference Statement by DAP Parliamentary Candidate for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre, Ipoh on Friday, 7th March 2008 at 12 noon)

I am utterly shocked and stunned – that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has done what even Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his most undemocratic excesses had never done in 22 years as Prime Minister, trying to force the Chinese voters to vote for MCA and Gerakan with the irresponsible threat that they could end up without any Chinese Ministers or representation in Government.

It is a grave sign of political desperation and bankruptcy – that Abdullah himself should go down into the gutter to indulge in the politics of scare, intimidation and blackmail to force the Chinese voters to vote for MCA and Gerakan candidates.

The MCA leadership has been adopting a “Jekyll-and-Hyde” attitude – playing both the role of human being and the devil at the same time – with the MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy boldly declaring only yesterday that MCA is confident it will be able to capture the majority of the 40 parliamentary and 60 state assembly seats it is contesting, while on the other hand, egging Abdullah to warn that the Chinese will end up not having any representation in the Government if the Chinese give the DAP their votes. Continue reading “No Chinese representationn in govt – then Pak Lah must step down as PM as he had promised to be PM for all races”

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BN leaders – grow up and accept ups and downs of democratic process

(Media Conference Statement by DAP Parliamentary Candidate for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang at DAP Ipoh Timor Ops Centre on Thursday, 6th March 2008 at 12 noon)

Tomorrow is the last day for campaigning before the country goes to polls for the 12th general election on Saturday, March 8, 2008.
Will March 8, 2008 usher a paradigm shift in the Malaysian political landscape by stripping the Barisan Nasional of its unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and deal a fatal blow to Umno political hegemony?

It is a tall order just to deny the Barisan Nasional two-thirds parliamentary majority on Saturday, for the DAP, PKN and PAS will each have to win at least 25 seats to ensure that the BN is defeated in at least 75 parliamentary seats, the “magic figure” to make BN’s two-third parliamentary majority and Umno political hegemony history in Malaysia. Continue reading “BN leaders – grow up and accept ups and downs of democratic process”

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Election debates – just do it!

BY Azly Rahman

During presidential elections in the United States, it has become customary for the main candidates (almost always the candidates of the two main parties, currently the Democratic Party and the Republican Party) to engage in a debate. The topics discussed in the debate are often the most controversial issues of the time, and some have said that elections can be won or lost based on these debates…. Presidential debates are held late in the election cycle, after the political parties have nominated their candidates. The candidates meet in a large hall, often at a university, before an audience of citizens. The formats of the debates have varied, with questions sometimes posed from one or more journalist moderators and in other cases members of the audience – from Wikipedia Continue reading “Election debates – just do it!”

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IGP should suspend Segamat OCPD for using force on seven-month pregnant woman DAP candidate in Labis to demonstrate police respect for women dignity and rights

(Media Conference Statement (2) by DAP Ipoh Timor parliamentary candidate Lim Kit Siang at Ipoh Timor Ops Centre on Wednesday, 5th March 2008)

IGP should suspend Segamat OCPD for using force on seven-month pregnant woman DAP candidate in Labis to demonstrate police respect for women dignity and rights.

The Johore police called an unprecedented 1.30 am press conference in Johore Baru yesterday morning to give their version of the scuffle over a mike between the Segamat OCPD Supt Abd Majid Mohd Ali and the seven-month pregnant woman DAP candidate for Labis Teo Eng Ching in Labis on Monday at about 2.30 pm during my 24-hour four-state 11-stop election whistlestop tour.

This is a reflection of the power of the internet for immediately after the scuffle in Labis at about 3 pm, the Internet was abuzz with reports of a police officer in a scuffle with a seven-month pregnant DAP parliamentary candidate which resulting in her being hospitalized, creating concerns about the health and welfare of both the mother and the unborn child.

Continue reading “IGP should suspend Segamat OCPD for using force on seven-month pregnant woman DAP candidate in Labis to demonstrate police respect for women dignity and rights”

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More seats won by MCA will only result in worsening Umno political hegemony

(Media Conference Statement by DAP Parliamentary candidate for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 1.30 pm)

When MCA should be most influential and powerful after the 1999 general election when Chinese voters saved Umno and Barisan Nasional to ensure their getting two-thirds parliamentary majority, MCA was weakest in allowing the rise of Umno political hegemony

New Straits Times has turned into a MCA and Barisan Nasional (BN) propaganda broadsheet today with the front-page headline: “Chinese voters have a simple c hoice: a bigger say in parliament and government, or a louder voice in parliament without real influence…”

Quoting the MCA strategist, Datuk Wong Mook Leong,said “the reality was that whenever the DAP did better than MCA, it was a major setback for the community”.

Wong said: “In 1986, DAP won 24 seats while MCA got 18. In 1990, DAP continued to lead MCA by two parliamentary seats.

“DAP claims that in those two terms, it was a major step for democracy. But the truth is, it was two terms of major setbacks for the Chinese community.”

This is a very dishonest distortion of Malaysian political history. Continue reading “More seats won by MCA will only result in worsening Umno political hegemony”

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Smack the MCPs in Parliament and outside

(Media Conference Statement by DAP Ipoh Timur Parliamentary Candidate Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre in Jalan Kampar, Ipoh on Tuesday 4th March 2008 at 2 pm)

I have just returned from a 24-hour four-state 11-stop
whistlestop tour which I find most encouraging as the wind of change is blowing strong and hard in Malaysia – and the question is whether it could reach the velocity to change the political landscape by denying the Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority.

I left Ipoh for Johore by car at 3.30 am on Monday morning, starting with a 10-hour swing of Johore to campaign for DAP candidates in eight state assembly and three parliamentary constituencies in Johore, namely Senai, Skudai, Stulang, Yong Peng, Bekok, Jementah, Tangkak, Bentayan (state) and Kulai, Segamat and Bakri (parliament) from 8.30 am. to 6.30 pm, followed by huge ceramahs in Malacca, Rasah (Negri Sembilan) and Subang Jaya. I returned to Ipoh at about 3.30 am – a real 24-hour affair! Continue reading “Smack the MCPs in Parliament and outside”

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Successful breakfast ceramah in Tawau

First of its kind not only in Tawau but in Sabah and Malaysia as well – a breakfast ceramah at 7.30 am.

Turnout at Sin Onn Market, Tawau by Tawau voters and their families for the breakfast ceramah was over-capacity and overwhelmingly supportive and most encouraging – highlighting the reality that the battle in the Sri Tanjong state Assembly contest is between the DAP candidate Jimmy Wong Sze Phin and the Barisan Nasional candidate while the Tawau parliamentary contest is between the DAP candidate Chan Foong Hin and the BN candidate, although there is a third candidate in both constituencies.

If not for the third candidate in Sri Tanjong, Datuk Kong Hong Ming (Keadilan), many Tawau voters would say that “Tiger” Jimmy Wong would have an edge over the BN candidate, a DAP “renegade”, especially as Jimmy Wong had done more than the incumbent BN candidate to fight for the rights and welfare of the people of Tawau – especially in his successful espousal of the cause of the people of Tawau to defend their “open spaces” from despoilation by an irresponsible axis of the local government and developer, an issue which affects not only Tawau and Sabah but the whole of Malaysia!

In the circumstances, Datuk Kong cannot win on his own but can only draw votes away from Jimmy to ensure that the BN candidate is the sole beneficiary by slipping into victory with a minority vote, which goes against the larger state and national objectives to ensure the defeat of every BN candidate, whether at state or parliamentary level on March 8, 2008.

In the interests of the larger state and national objectives to ensure that March 8 general election delivers a major blow to Umno political hegemony, whether at national or state level, Datuk Liew should seriously consider withdrawing from the Sri Tanjong contest – or the voters should ensure that every vote is husbanded to defeat the BN candidate by voting singlemindedly for Jimmy Wong and not wast away their votes and fundamental constitutional rights through split votes which is the greatest hope and wish of the BN candidate!

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The Tale of the Rattlesnake

by M. Bakri Musa

Spring comes early in my part of California. Already there are exuberant splashes of dancing daffodils on the hillsides. Soon the colorful California poppies will pop up. With the weather becoming warmer, the rattlesnakes too will soon emerge from their winter slumber.

Talking of rattlesnakes, I am reminded of the story of the kindly lady who saw one such weakling that was dying from the long cold winter. Taking pity on the poor critter, she took it home and nursed it back to health. One day while she was feeding the now robust creature, it took a swipe at her hand and bit her.

As she lay dying she asked the snake why it had done that. “You should have known better, lady! You knew I was a rattlesnake, you should have killed me back then!”

On March 8, 2008, Malaysia will have a general election, with Prime Minister Abdullah seeking a second term, having secured an overwhelming mandate back in 2004. This will be the votersÂ’ collective judgment of what Abdullah did with that mandate.

If Barisan Nasional retains its supra-majority and Abdullah remains as Prime Minister, rest assured that he will continue the pattern he set in his first term. He will once again reward his cronies and family members with sweetheart mega billion contracts san competition, just as he has done during his first term. His excuse then was that he did not know that he was doing it! He will continue dozing off during meetings in the mistaken belief that Malaysians approve of such mediocre performances. Also, expect the bureaucracy to become even more bloated. This self-styled “number one civil servant’s” answer to every problem is to spend more money and employ more staff. Continue reading “The Tale of the Rattlesnake”

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Shanty Chong will be ideal Chairperson of Parliamentary Select Committee for Independence and Integrity of Judiciary

Over a thouand people at the DAP Sandakan ceramah last night for our parliamentary candidate and two State Assembly candidates in the Sandakan area.

DAP parliamentary candidate for Sandakan, Shanty Chong delivered her maiden political speech – humorous but hard-hitting which will strike fear and terror among erring Barisan Nasional leaders.

She had served 17 years in the judical service and very few can compare with her in integrity as nobody could or would doubt her incorruptibility.

No time to write more, except to record that I announced that she would make an ideal choice as Chairperson of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Independence and Integrity of the Judiciary in the new Parliament.

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‘Islam Hadari’ Cannot Correct Itself

BY Farish A. Noor

It would seem rather odd, not least for Malaysia-watchers overseas, that despite the talk of the ‘moderate and progressive’ brand of normative Islam that has been bandied about in Malaysia under the general theme of ‘Islam Hadari’ (Civilisational Islam) that the practice of normative Islam in Malaysia seems anything but moderate and progressive. Among the latest instances normalised abnormality include the seizure of Bibles from a Malaysian Christian returning from the Philippines, on the grounds that the Bibles had to be checked by the Ministry of Home Affairs for security reasons; the demolition of Hindu temples that were said to have been built illegally; the furore over the conversion of Malaysians from one religion to another, etc. Continue reading “‘Islam Hadari’ Cannot Correct Itself”

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History made in Sabah

News Flash

Left Ipoh at 3.30 am for Low-Cost Budget Terminal in KLIA to catch 7.50 am Air Asia flight to Kota Kinabalu. Arrived 20 mins earlier at 10 am.

History was made today when at the lunchtime ceramah for two DAP parliamentary and five State Assemby candidates in the Kota Kinabalu area, some 50 key leaders and activists of three UMNO branches in Sepanggar parliamentary constituency quit en mass to join DAP.

The historic cross-over were led by:

Sharifudin B.S. Alidin, Pengerusi Tetap, Cawangan UMNO Labau, Teboban;

Tiar b Lait, Pemangku Ketua Cawangan UMNO Pekan Menggatal, and

Haji Dollah Dusi, Pengerusi Tetap, UMNO Cawangan Unggun.

At KK International Airport to catch 4.05 pm MAS flight to Sandakan.

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Building of Ong MCA political empire at the expense of MCA leaders, Ministers and MPs

(Media Conference Statement (3) at DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre on Thursday 29th February 2008 at 1 pm)

I take great offence at the highly defamatory allegation by MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting hurled at DAP leaders that they are greedy and selfish in contesting in two seats, parliamentary and state assembly, as wanting to collect two allowances of Member of Parliament and State Assemblyman.

DAP leaders are very different from MCA leaders including Ka Ting. DAP leaders are in politics not for self gain, wealth, position or government position but for our ideals and principles, and love for our country. Continue reading “Building of Ong MCA political empire at the expense of MCA leaders, Ministers and MPs”

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BN 2008 Manifesto unlawful – PM, DPM, Ministers, MBs/CMs can be disqualified

(Media Conference Statement (2) at DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre on Thursday 29th February 2008 at 1 pm)

The millions of copies of the unlawful Barisan Nasional 2008 General Election Manifesto on “Security, Peace, Prosperity” in various languages should be withdrawn immediately as having run afoul of the election law, and the election of all Barisan Nasional parliamentary and state assembly candidates, including the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentri-Mentri Besar in the 12th general election on 8th March 2008 could be declared null and void.

This is because the Barisan Nasional 2008 General Election Manifesto has not complied with the law requiring all printed material to carry the names of the printer and publisher. Continue reading “BN 2008 Manifesto unlawful – PM, DPM, Ministers, MBs/CMs can be disqualified”

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Barisan Nasional 2008 Manifesto of Lies and Falsehoods?

(Media Conference Statement at DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre on Thursday 28th February 2008 at 1 pm)

I greatly regret that the caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has resorted to intemperate language in accusing the DAP of spreading lies in the 2008 general election campaign, as illustrated by today’s Sun front-page headline: “BN leaders on offensive – PM: Opposition Spreading lies to Undermine Barisan Unity” and Utusan Malaysia’s front-page headline “Pembangkang iri hati – Tabur tohmahan, fitnah kerana kejayaan BN tadbir Negara – PM”.

I do not want to respond in kind to reciprocate Abdullah’s intemperate language, or I will describe the 2008 Barisan Nasional (BN) Election Manifesto as a Manifesto of Lies and Falsehoods – with a very great difference, I will be able to prove my charge that the 2008 Barisan Nasional Election Manifesto is a Manifesto of Lies and Falsehoods while Abdullah will not be able to substantiate his ridiculous charge that the DAP is guilty of spreading lies to undermine BN unity. Continue reading “Barisan Nasional 2008 Manifesto of Lies and Falsehoods?”

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Vote for Change to ensure that Malaysia is United, Prosperous and Progressive

BY Dr Chen Man Hin (DAP Life Advisor)

IDENTITY CRISIS

It was clear that during the 50th Merdeka celebrations there was uncertainty and frustration among the people because they were unsure of their identity. Some were bumiputras, while others were non-bumiputras, Some were called ketuanan Melayu but others were not. They thought they were Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian), but now they were told by UMNO that they do not accept Bangsa Malaysia.

The Federal Constitution clearly states that there is only one category of citizens. There is no mention of bumiputras or ketuanan melayu, which are actually inventions of UMNO.

Prime Minister in 2004 promised that all citizens in Malaysia are treated equally. He has not reinstated the Bangsa Malaysia status for all citizens.

VOTE FOR CHANGE. Vote for your birthright. Vote for political freedom, political equality and for BANGSA MALAYSIA. Continue reading “Vote for Change to ensure that Malaysia is United, Prosperous and Progressive”

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Revisiting the Keris: How We Betrayed Our Ancestors

Announcement

www.othermalaysia.org Lecture Series

Kicking off what we hope will be a semi-regular (well, sort of) series of public lectures, the team at www.othermalaysia.org invites you to a free public lecture by Dr. Farish A. Noor on the theme:

Revisiting the Keris: How We Betrayed Our Ancestors

To be held at 3.00 pm on 1st March (Saturday) at the Annexe, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur.

Deconstructing the Keris in the Context of Malaysia’s Essentialist Racialised Politics:

The keris today has been redefined as an exclusive (and sometimes violent) marker of ethnic – and specifically Malay – identity. Yet this simplification of the keris as a political symbol overlooks the fact that the keris emerged at a time when Asia was already globalised, and that the keris was in fact a product of cross-cultural borrowing and overlap. This lecture will attempt to relocate the keris in its proper cultural-historical context, calling for the de-racialisation of the keris and the reminder of our shared cultural heritage.

The talk is free and open to all.