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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to Christians and Malaysians.

These are difficult and challenging times with growing religious polarisation from greater religious intolerance and constitutional encroachments of our fundamental rights.

Are we prepared individually and collectively to stand up for the fundamental rights entrenched in our Constitution or are we going to be a party, though a silent and passsive one, to their progressive erosion and our own disenfranchisement.

Let us give serious thought to this grave subject when celebrating Christmas 2007!

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Gerakan to expel Paranjothy – George Orwell’s Animal Farm dictum reigns supreme in BN

What a weak and panicky start for Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon as Gerakan’s No. 1 – immediately buckling under pressure by Umno Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to take disciplinary action against the Gerakan Youth vice chief S. Paranjothy who dared to speak publicly what others only muttered privately. – that the 30,000 Indians who took part in the Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 did so to express their frustration and anger because the community had been “marginalized, oppressed and ignored”.

Paranjothy had also blamed, and rightly, Umno leaders, particularly the Umno Youth Leader Hishammuddin and Deputy Umno Youth Leader Khairy Jamaluddin for racial posturing and inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage – citing as examples the keris-wielding episodes against the former and the public castigation of the Indian news vendors by the latter when the Umno presidential address of Prime Minister and Umno President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not carried in the press the next day as Umno general assembly fell on Deepavali, with the next day an annual press holiday.

There can be no doubt that if a private vote had been taken among the Gerakan leaders, in fact, even MCA and MIC leaders, all would have agreed with the sentiments expressed by Paranjothy!

Hishammuddin had immediately issued an ultimatum to Tsu Koon with the threat of severance of ties with Gerakan not only by Umno Youth but also by Barisan Nasional unless Tsu Koon could give a satisfactory response and explanation.

What was Tsu Koon reaction? Although he protested that “it is not right” for Hishammuddin to issue the threat and ultimatum of severance of all relationships with Gerakan, Tsu Koon clearly panicked, which was why he complied instantly by referring Paranjothy to the Disciplinary Committee and even anticipated the disciplinary process by saying that the Gerakan Youth vice chief would be suspended or expelled! Nanyang Siang Pau’s headline today is “Gerakan to sack Paranjothy”!

Is Barisan Nasional a coalition of equals of 14 political parties? Continue reading “Gerakan to expel Paranjothy – George Orwell’s Animal Farm dictum reigns supreme in BN”

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PM should overrule Johari and rescind Internal Security Ministry order to HERALD

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should overrule Internal Security Deputy Minister, Datuk Johari Baharum and rescind the Internal Security Ministry order to Herald, the Catholic weekly to discontinue the Bahasa Malaysia section, so that Christmas Day this year will not be celebrated under a cloud of burgeoning religious intolerance and constitutional encroachments.

Johari has admitted that he had made the decision that the word ‘Allah’ can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion, and to impose the new condition on this restriction on the Herald when the annual publishing permit of the Catholic weekly is next renewed.

Although Johari said that his decision was based on a report submitted by the publications department of his ministry, it is an indictment of the arbitrary nature of the decision-making process and even misgovernance that there had been no consultation whatsoever with the religious organizations which will be affected by the decision.

Even more arbitrary and deplorable was the ministry’s decision to abolish the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section, which is not only unconstitutional but shows that the government itself does not give pride of place to Bahasa Malaysia.

As the word “Allah” has been used to refer to God among Christians for generations in many countries and is never meant to offend or confuse the Muslims, Abdullah should intervene to rescind such retrogressive measure by the Internal Security Ministry or it will be another signal that Malaysia is down the slippery slope of more religious restrictions for non-Muslim faiths, whose constitutionally-entrenched guarantees of freedom of religion are not being honoured by the government. Continue reading “PM should overrule Johari and rescind Internal Security Ministry order to HERALD”

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Malaysian Indian political awakening – must not fall into trap of being tarred “anti-Malay”

MIC President and sole Indian Minister for more than 28 years, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu should have realized by now that it was a fatal mistake for him to believe that the “frustration and anger” of the Malaysian Indians who had taken part in the 30,000-strong Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 25 was not directed against him.

In his second TV appearance on RTM in four days, this time over the hour-long Tamil programme Karuthu Kalam or Opinion Forum on Saturday, Samy Vellu said the Indians had taken part in the Nov. 25 Hindraf demonstration “to register their anger over the inadequacy in the implementation of projects by the Government” and that their anger was not directed at him because he had not raised questions about or fought for the plight of the community.

Samy Vellu is wrong. The Hindraf demonstration had clearly two targets: Firstly, as the Gerakan Youth vice chief S. Paranjothy said, the 30,000 Indians took part in the demonstration to express their “frustration and anger” because the community had been “marginalized, oppressed and ignored”.

But there is a second target – none other than Samy Vellu himself for his failure after more than 28 years as MIC President and sole Cabinet Minister to prevent the long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization of the Malaysian Indians as to become a new underclass in Malaysia.

If Samy Vellu was in denial for almost a month after the Nov. 25 Hindraf demonstration, Samy Vellu should have begun to sense the truth when he was publicly booed and humiliated by a crowd of 2,000 – 3,000 at the Aattam 100 Vagai 3 (100 types of dance) cultural performance at the Penang International Sports Area (Pisa) on Saturday night.

There is palpable anger on the ground among the Indians in Malaysia at their long-standing marginalization, raising the question whether this political awakening could become a political tsunami by the Malaysian Indian voters in the next general election, creating upsets and surprises. Continue reading “Malaysian Indian political awakening – must not fall into trap of being tarred “anti-Malay””

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Indian marginalisation – Hishammudin’s ultimatum to Tsu Koon threatening severance of ties (Breaking News)

UMNO Youth leader has issued an ultimatum with the threat of severance of ties to the Acting Gerakan President, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to explain the statement by the Gerakan Youth vice chief S. Paranjothy on Friday that the 30,000 Indians had taken part in the November 25 Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur “to express their frustrations and anger” because the community has been “marginalized, oppressed and ignored”.

Paranjothy blamed Umno leaders, particularly the Umno Youth Leader Hishammuddin and Deputy Umno Youth Leader Khairy Jamaluddin for racial posturing and inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage – citing against the former the keris-wielding episodes and against the latter his berating of the Indian news vendors when the Umno presidential address of Prime Minister and Umno President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not carried in the press the next day as Umno general assembly fell on Deepavali, with the next day an annual press holiday.

Paranjothy had described the Indians as “fourth-class citizens” who form the most neglected group in economic terms, as shown by key performance indicators such as tertiary education.

He said: “Where the Indians predominate over their fellow Malaysians is mostly in prison, violent crimes, gangsterism, suicide and social ills. Government policies have failed to improve (their situation).”

Paranjothy also criticized the government’s hardline stance against public demonstrations, hitting out at the government for practising double-standards in the issuance of police permits.

He said: “I have participated in street demonstrations and rallies organised by Barisan Nasional Youth, spearheaded by Umno Youth, to handover a memorandum… over certain issues that had taken place (abroad) which I believe would not have benefitted Malaysia.

“Did BN Youth obtained a permit to hold the rallies or demonstrations?… Looks like the government is one-sided when it came to the issuance of permits for public gatherings. BN started this culture of street demonstrations and now others have emulated it.”

In his ultimatum which appeared in today front-page of Mingguan Malaysia, “Kata dua Hishammuddin kepada Gerakan”, Hishammuddin threatened a break of ties by Umno Youth and Barisan Nasional with Gerakan if Tsu Koon fails to give a reply or or his explanation is unsatisfactory. Continue reading “Indian marginalisation – Hishammudin’s ultimatum to Tsu Koon threatening severance of ties (Breaking News)”

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PM/IGP – heed Nazrin/Musa, respect Constitution and allow peaceful demonstrations

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, all Cabinet Ministers and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan should give serious heed to the advice by the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah that “the desire to maintain public order should not be an excuse for never allowing peaceful assemblies” as the holding of peaceful demonstrations to voice their grievances is a constitutionally-enshrined right of Malaysian citizens.

In an interview with New Sunday Times series “VOICES 08”, Raja Nazrin said:

“Freedom of expression through peaceful demonstrations is a right people can reasonably expect to enjoy in a democratic society. This right is enshrined in our Constitution.

“So people are acting within their constitutional rights in wanting to voice their grievances by holding peaceful demonstrations.

“The right to live in peace and harmony in a safe environment is also a right people can reasonably expect to enjoy in any well-run society. The government is responsible for public order.

“The right to demonstrate must always be balanced by the need to maintain public order.”

All Malaysians can accept Raja Nazrin’s formulation of the relationship between public order and the people’s constitutional right to peaceful demonstration as part of the fundamental liberties of Malaysians to freedom of expression. They also agree with Raja Nazrin that striking the balance between public freedom and public order is never an easy thing to do and that it is a judgment the authorities have to make on the available information.

The current controversy over peaceful demonstrations lies in the failure of the authorities concerned to observe the important qualification highlighted by Raja Nazrin when he stressed that “the desire to maintain public order should not be used as an excuse for never allowing peaceful assemblies” – as there is now a blanket ban by the police on all peaceful demonstrations in the country for people to express their grievances! Continue reading “PM/IGP – heed Nazrin/Musa, respect Constitution and allow peaceful demonstrations”

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Samy Vellu booed and jeered?

This SMS was sent to me at 10.56 pm last night:

“d crowd jeered loudly at semi value (samy vellu) at ‘d atta 100 vagai’ at PISA in penang just now (22/12). d crowd booed loudly when DJ announced samy vellu’s presence. d ‘BOO’ was so loud dat no one heard anything. Within 2-3 mins he moved back 2 d stage. A very gd lesson 4 d spineless… I’m here in PISA. samy has left d arena.”

May be those who were present at PISA in Penang last night could give us eye-witness accounts of this episode.

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Remove the “national security” straightjacket!

by Azly Rahman

“Work with me …. not for me”

— Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled for 22 years, once spoke about the nine challenges called ‘The Way Forward-Vision’, said to be a culmination of his work throughout his tenure.

The document charted the challenges the nation must confront in order for it to develop on par with the advanced nations.

These challenges are summarised as follows:

1. Establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny

2. Creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity

3. Fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries

4. Establishing a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and with the highest ethical standards

5. Establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creed are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious beliefs and yet feeling that they belong to one nation

6. Establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilisation of the future

7. Establishing a fully caring society and caring culture, a social system in which society will come before the self, in which welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family system

8. Ensuring an economically just society… in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress

9. Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient

With the Internal Security Act (ISA), how do we then meet these challenges? How is it an antithesis to what a civil society means? Do we still deserve the ISA? Continue reading “Remove the “national security” straightjacket!”

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Fake thesis and pseud-PhDs – why no action by Mustapha and higher education ministry?

New Straits Times carried a scoop today with its front-page expose: “PSST, WANT YOUR THESIS WRITTEN” and its page 4 lead story “Phantom writers an ‘open secret’” on “Hundreds of master’s and PhD students are getting ‘professional thesis writers’ to pen their theses”.

The Higher Education Ministry is aware of such intellectual fraud and university scam but is not doing anything about it.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Ong Tee Kiat admitted:

“I have heard that some students are even placing notices at campuses requesting for the services of thesis writers.

“There are also those who offer their services by placing notices at the campuses.

“The institutions should immediately find out who these people are.”

Ong advised students not to resort to such unethical means to obtain their degrees as they were not only cheating themselves but also society.

He said his ministry was unable to take action as neither the students, the professional thesis writers nor the institutions of higher learning had come forward with complaints or information.

The NST reported a case of RM8,000 paid by a mature student to get a Masters thesis written. Continue reading “Fake thesis and pseud-PhDs – why no action by Mustapha and higher education ministry?”

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No IPCMC “lion” with teeth and claws but a toothless/clawless SCC mouse

The Parliamentary Roundtable on the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill – the fake Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) – will be held in Parliament House next Friday, 28th December5 2007 at 9.30 am. Instead of the originally announced Thursday, 27th December.

This is because on Thursday, 27th December 2007, I will be in Shah Alam Sessions Court for the sentencing of the Batu Caves 26 for unlawful assembly and causing mischief charges.

Although the ludicrous “attempted murder” charges against the 31 – and the manhunt for at least another 30 on a similar charge of attempted murder of a cop – had been dropped, the ordeal of the total of 403 days which the 31 had to spend under incarceration in prison (i.e. 13 days each) as they were not allowed bail, is an unforgettable experience for the 31 who were innocent of the attempted murder charge and a blot on the system of administration of justice in Malaysia!

I will be at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Thursday as a sign of solidarity with the Batu Caves 26 (as charges against five students had been withdrawn) and well as a gesture of protest against the system of justice which could deprive a total of 403 days of freedom from 31 innocent persons!

Is the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail prepared at minimum to publicly tender a public apology for the 403 days of incarceration he had caused the Batu Caves 31 when was a clear abuse of his discretionary prosecutorial powers – not to mention the sufferings he caused the families concerned as well as hardships for those who lost their jobs as a result of the unjust incarceration ?

Invitations to NGOs and NGIs, as well as the 16 Commissioners of the Royal Police Commission, to the Parliamentary Roundtable on the SCC Bill next Friday are in the process of being sent out.

Instead of an IPCMC “lion” with teeth and claws, a toothless and clawless SCC mouse has been produced wasting four years of the Abdullah premiership, making a total mockery of Abdullah’s pledge to reform the police and the Royal Police Commission Report with its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, accountable, incorruptible and professional world-class police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights.
Continue reading “No IPCMC “lion” with teeth and claws but a toothless/clawless SCC mouse”

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Political tsunami by Malaysian Indian voters in next general election?

There is a political awakening akin to a political “uprising” among the Malaysian Indian community, seeking to shake off their long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization by asserting their political rights as Malaysian citizens.

Can Malaysian Indian voters create a political and electoral tsunami in the next general election expected next March in 50 parliamentary and 133 state assembly seats where they comprise more than 10 per cent of the electorate, or in 21 parliamentary and 73 state assembly seats where they constitute more than 15% of the electorate?

I had said in Ipoh yesterday that there are 62 parliamentary seats and 138 state assembly seats where Indian voters comprise more than 10% of the electorate and that there are 28 parliamentary and 78 state assembly seats where the Indian voters constitute more than 15% of the voters where they can play the role of “kingmaker” in the electoral outcome.

These figures are wrong as they were based on the 2004 general election electoral roll. The latest electoral data gives a different picture as there is a reduction of these constituencies – i.e. 50 parliamentary and 133 state assembly constituencies where Indian voters comprise more than 10% of the electorate and 21 parliamentary and 133 state assembly seats in Peninsular Malaysia where the Indian voters constitute more than 15% of the electorate.

On Thursday night, the MIC President and sole Indian Cabinet Minister for over 28 years, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu did the greatest disservice to the Indian community and Malaysian nation when he appeared on RTM1 programme 60 Minit Bersama Menteri as he continued to mislead the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the country in denying deep-seated, widespread and most legitimate grievances of the Malaysian Indians at their long-standing marginalization as to become the new underclass in the country. Continue reading “Political tsunami by Malaysian Indian voters in next general election?”

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Unfree Penang Free School

by Allen Chee

I am your blog’s regular reader and an active follower of the Malaysian Politics.

Today I read your assertions on the various dysfunctional measures which the Government have undertaken that promotes racial polarisation and intolerance amongst the different races in Malaysia. I would like to point to Saudara Lim to a particular matter which I have taken a personal interest.

I believe Saudara Lim would know that the oldest school in Malaysia is Penang Free School. I am from this school and I am very proud to be associated with this school as an ex-student.

However the impression of Penang Free School being a premier school started to change over the past decade where efforts are covertly undertaken to islamize the school. The changes, have effectively change the landscape of education in the school with more islamic activities being conducted and so on and so forth.

I heard from anxious parents and ex-frees about all these and to be honest, I felt rather helpless on how to stop this from happening as technically speaking it is not legally wrong but perhaps only morally wrong. Continue reading “Unfree Penang Free School”

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Somnambulant Governance at work (2) – “Ban” of International Building Bridges Conference 2007 in KL

On Wednesday, I asked in Parliament whether the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was crafting a new form of governance – somnambulant governance. Oxford Dictionary defines “somnambulism” as “sleepwalking”.

I posed this question when Abdullah’s public response to the proposal by the Malaysian Indian Youth Council (MIYC) for the establishment of a department for Non-Muslim Affairs to handle sensitive issues pertaining to religion resulted in two extraordinary developments:

Firstly, producing three different newspaper headlines the next day – that the government was setting up such a department, to the government studying the proposal and an outright dismissal of the proposal as “not necessary”.

Secondly, his “on-the-run” Cabinet appointments of MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting as Minister for Buddhist Affairs, MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as Minister for Hindu Affairs and President of United Pasokmomogun Murut Organisation (UPKO) as Minister for Christian Affairs – which rate as the most highly-kept secret of the Abdullah administration as it is not only the 26 million Malaysians and the various religious organizations directly involved who are not aware of such Cabinet appointments.

I had congratulated one of the Ministerial trio on Wednesday for his additional Cabinet responsibilities but he was so embarrassed as he did not know how to react to the Prime Minister’s announcement when he knew nothing about it!

I will give another example of Abdullah’s somnambulant governance which is also pertinent to the problem of increasing religious polarization in Malaysia, worst under any Prime Minister in the 50-year history of the nation. Continue reading “Somnambulant Governance at work (2) – “Ban” of International Building Bridges Conference 2007 in KL”

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Quo Vadis Malaysia

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

After 50 years of independence, Malaysia is in identity crisis.

Two main factors:

*Islamic state which casts a pall on inter-communal relationships. The divide became more and more apparent, and there is less mixing of the races.

*Umno rejection of Bangsa Malaysia and the Malay agenda. Bumiputraism became strident, and ketuanan Melayu was flaunted at Umno assembly of 2005.

Umno has subverted the constitution for their own agenda. PM Abdullah and DPM Najib declared Malaysia is not secular but is an Islamic state.

Quo vadis Malaysia?

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EPF needs to explain why it discontinue the RM1.4 billion claim against it six former executives

by Richard Teo

EPF has an obligation to explain to its contributors why it has discontinued the suit filed in 2005 against Rashid Hussain and five former top executives.

A writ of summons to the value of RM1.4 billion was filed against the six by RHB Capital, RHB Securities Sdn Bhd and RHB Equities Sdn Bhd at the Kuala Lumpur High Court sometime in 2005.

The six former top executives were sued” for breach of fiduciary duties, breach of trust,breach of
contracts of employment/or negligence in relation to certain margin financial facilities granted by RHB Equities during their tenure as Directors and/or Officers of RHB capital, RHB Securities and RHB Equities.”

The suit was filed by major shareholder Utama Banking Group in 2005 and during the course of the trial evidence adduced seems to indicate a clear breach of fiduciary duties. Dubious huge loans for margin financing was given without any collateral and proper approval.

Surely such obvious dereliction of duty should eventually bring to book those responsible for the loan fiasco.The loan claimed in the suit was not a paltry sum but for a mind boggling sum of RM1.4 billion. Continue reading “EPF needs to explain why it discontinue the RM1.4 billion claim against it six former executives”

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Something that has no comparison anywhere else in the world

by Loh Meng Kow

“Are the Malays that evil as to be accused of the horrific crime of ethnic cleansing? Are the Malays that ‘bad’ as to allow Chinese and Tamil Schools to continue to receive government funding – something that has no comparison anywhere else in the world?”—A statement by a Malay leader.

I shall deal only with the second question which concerns non-Malays since independence.

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 reads:

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The colonial government in Malaya respected the rights of the parents to choose the kind of education they wanted for their children, and we had Chinese, Indian and Malay schools, in addition to the English schools in Malaya before Independence. Continue reading “Something that has no comparison anywhere else in the world”

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General election expected in March – Indian voters “kingmakers” in 28 parliament/78 state assembly seats

I expect the 12th general election to be held in another two months’ in March 2008.

For the whole of this year, there had been periodic speculations about general election this year as early as before the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations on August 31, then almost monthly – September, November and December.

But such speculation of early polls had only made their rounds outside the precincts of Parliament as there had never been any buzz or fizz among Members of Parliament, including Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, that general election was imminent or around the corner.

If I had been asked a week ago, I would rate the chances of the next general election being held either before or after April next year (when Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil entitlement to contest in the general election) as 50-50.

There was however a quantum development in the political scenario in the past few days, when for the first time in the current term of MPs, the corridors of Parliament were infected by an air of expectation that MPs were seeing the end of Parliament and that they would not be gathering again as MPs of the 11th Parliament.

I would now rate the chances of the 12th national polls being held in March as 70-30.

The next general election will see a new factor in the political power equation – the role of the Malaysian Indian voters, who had always been regarded as a solid captive vote-bank by the Barisan Nasional in previous general elections.

This is no more the case as there is an awakening of political consciousness among the Malaysian Indians, particularly at the high-handed treatment of the Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur which saw the support of 30,000 Indians from all over the country, the unjust and unconscionable handling of the “Batu Caves 31” who were denied bail and incarcerated for 13 days for the ridiculous charge of “attempted murder” of one policeman and the dismissal of the legitimate grievances of the Indian community over their long-standing marginalization as equal and rightful citizens of Malaysia. Continue reading “General election expected in March – Indian voters “kingmakers” in 28 parliament/78 state assembly seats”

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Religious polarisation most serious in 4 yrs under Abdullah as compared to four previous Prime Ministers

“PM: Religious festivals unite all Malaysians” is the New Straits Times headline today for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s statement yesterday at an Aidiladha ceremony, where he said:

“Malaysia can pride itself in knowing that regardless of what religious celebration it may be, its ethnic groups will come together as one to honour the event.”

This was very true in the early decades of our nationhood, but it has become less and less true as increasing religious polarization in the country is undermining and even threatening national unity.

In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that religious polarization is most serious in the past four years under Abdullah as Prime Minister as compared to the four former Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

It is most unfortunate that in recent years, there have been mounting instances of disrespect and insensitivity of those in power and authority for the rights and sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians.

The most serious example were the recent triple insensitivities during this year’s Deepavali – the Festival of Light celebrated by Hindus.
Continue reading “Religious polarisation most serious in 4 yrs under Abdullah as compared to four previous Prime Ministers”

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Parliamentary Roundtable of MPs/NGO/NGI to salvage IPCMC next Thursday

I will convene a Parliamentary Roundtable in Parliament next Thursday, 27th December 2007 inviting concerned NGOs and NGIs, including the 16 members of the Royal Police Commission, to discuss how to salvage the original proposal of the Royal Police Commission to have an independent external oversight mechanism to check police abuses, misconduct and corruption.

As former Royal Police Commissioner Tunku Abdul Aziz, who was formerly President of Transparency International Malaysia, told the Emergency Public Consultation on the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill – what I had described as the fake IPCMC bill – in Kuala Lumpur on Monday night, there is no police in the world which had been capable of or successful in policing itself, which was why the Royal Police Commission was unanimous in its key proposal for the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

Although the Cabinet has agreed to defer the second reading of the SCC Bill to the next meeting of Parliament starting on March 17, 2008 (provided there is no earlier dissolution of Parliament for the holding of the 12th general election), there are two matters which are most regrettable, viz: Continue reading “Parliamentary Roundtable of MPs/NGO/NGI to salvage IPCMC next Thursday”

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Abdullah plunging to new depth of shambolic government with “somnambulant governance”?

I wondered this morning whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is crafting a new form of governance – somnambulant governance – making Cabinet appointments on-the-run, with the public and the Ministers themselves completely unaware of the existence of such Cabinet portfolios and responsibilities.

This is from Abdullah’s reaction to the proposal from a coalition of Indian NGOs asking the government to set up a Non-Muslim Affairs Department to handle sensitive issues pertaining to religion.

Malaysian Indian Youth Council (MIYC) president A. Rajaretnam suggested that such a department should come under the Prime Minister’s Department and should look into issues such as conversions and temple demolitions so that these problems are handled department-to-department and not between NGOs and departments.

The Prime Minster’s response is utterly befuddling and confusing, as no one can make proper sense out of it, as illustrated by the contradictory media headlines, viz:

• Kerajaan tubuh Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Bukan Islam – Berita Harian

• “Government considers setting up panel for non-Muslims” – New Straits Times

• “Non-Muslim affairs dept, if necessary’ – The Sun

• Non-Muslims looked after –We already have panels to handle their affairs, Abdullah – The Star

• Not Necessary For Non-Muslim Affairs Dept Now, Says PM – Bernama

How can Abdullah’s one response produce three different perceptions as to what he meant – from the government setting up such a department for non-Muslim affairs, to studying the proposal and an outright dismissal as “not necessary”.
I do not blame the journalists, whether reporters or sub-editors for getting three completely different versions from one response, as nobody really knows what Abdullah was talking about. Continue reading “Abdullah plunging to new depth of shambolic government with “somnambulant governance”?”