Malaysia in for troubled and very divisive times following the woeful lack of Prime Ministerial authority and leadership

The nation-wide furore over the derogatory, insensitive, offensive and racist speech by the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief, Datuk Ahmad Ismail, has highlighted the  waste of the RM100 million spent last year on the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations and the abysmal failure of the Barisan Nasional’s nation-building policy and programme.

The founding fathers of the nation would never have thought that after half-a-century of nationhood, there would still be leaders in the ruling coalition who continue to regard non-Malays as “penumpang” although their overwhelming majority are local born and even have families who have made this country their sole object of loyalty for many generations – making nonsense of the 1957 Merdeka social contract, Malaysia Agreement 1963, Rukunegara 1970 and Vision 2020 objective of Bangsa Malaysia.

Equally shocking is the woeful lack of Prime Ministerial authority and leadership in handling the Ahmad Ismail furore, illustrated by Abdullah adopting four different positions on the issue in a matter of eight days!

On 30th August, Abdullah sought to condone and excuse Ahmad’s offensive and insensitive speech, claiming that Ahmad had not “meant it”.

On 3rd September, to head off the attack from all directions both inside and outside Barisan Nasional, Abdullah agreed that his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak should apologise on behalf of Ahmad, with Najib conceding: “It (Ahmad’s comment) was totally unwarranted and doesn’t reflect the position and attitude of Umno or the leadership of Umno. We regret it very much.”

When Najib’s apology without any personal apology or remorse from Ahmad could not assuage public protest, Abdullah adopted a third position on September 4, declaring that he was trying to contact Ahmad to ask him to tender a personal apology. He said he should be meeting Ahmad in Penang on Saturday.

Abdullah said Najib’s apology was the “right thing to do” although the sentiment on the ground was that the apology should come from Ahmad himself.

However, Ahmad jumped the gun the very next day. After Friday’s revolt by Ahmad refusing to tender any apology on the ground that he was the aggrieved party, which was endorsed  by 13 Penang Umno divisions, Abdullah backed down and adopted a fourth position.

Yesterday, Abdullah virtually did a somersault and endorsed Ahmad’s self-serving claim that his speech at the Permatang Pauh by-election had been misinterpreted by the Sin Chew reporter, that he had dealt with historical facts and that it was not a racist statement.

It is outrageous that the Abdullah could be held to ransom by an Umno division leader with the threat of open revolt not only by other Penang Umno division leaders but also from other UMNO divisions in other states, which could end Abdullah’s premiership even earlier than the June 2010 timetable he had set for himself in the  power-transition plan to hand over power to his deputy Najib.

Malaysia is in for troubled and very divisive times at the woeful lack of Prime Ministerial authority and leadership to the extent  he could be held to ransom by a Umno division leader to set the national agenda as to whether  Bangsa Malaysia should continue to be a national objective and mission.

This is all the more shocking when Ahmad’s claim that he had been distorted and misinterpreted by the Sin Chew reporter is so specious, unconvincing and even groundless.

Two other reporters, one from Nanyang and the other from Guan Ming
, had come forward with eye-witness accounts to confirm what the Sin Chew reporter had written –  that Ahmad had made the derogatory, offensive, insensitive and racist reference to the Malaysian Chinese as “penumpang”  in a Permatang Pauh by-election speech on August 23 and that he was not just talking about “historical facts”.

Is Ahmad able to produce any other journalists present at his speech that night who could corroborate his claim  that he had not made a racist statement in referring to the Malaysian Chinese as “penumpang” who could not be trusted as Malaysians?

How can Abdullah expect to end the deepening multiple crisis of confidence in his leadership and government when he had to knuckle under to the pressure from a Umno division leader in Penang?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 September 2008, 3:55 pm and is filed under
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“The birds have flown” – BN MPs forced to flee from Malaysia because of “916”

The Star front-page headline  today
“Off to Taiwan – 50 Barisan MPs begin eight-day study trip”
  is the latest update of the political farce which could be appropriately entitled “The Birds Have Flown” to tell the story as to how 51 years after Merdeka, two-thirds of the  75 BN parliamentary backbenchers were forced to flee from Malaysia to ensure that they don’t take part any “916” political changes.

Despite maintaining a public stanc of stoic indifference, there is no doubt that with the daily countdown to September 16, there is an increasing panic in Umno and Barisan Nasional leadership ranks over the degree of  cohesion, solidarity  and allegiance of the 75 Barisan Nasional parliamentary backbenchers, resulting in the  farcical “forced flight” overseas by two-thirds of the BN MPs to make it absolutely sure that none of them will participate in any “916” developments.

The Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC) chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (Bintulu) may pride himself for  coming up with a “political masterstroke” to thwart “916”, but he did not realize that he has made the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the entire Umno and BN leadership look even more foolish in the eyes of Malaysians and the world!

Tiong should be sacked as BBC Chairman instead of being praised and rewarded for hatching such a stupid idea, as it will go into the Malaysian political folklores  of Abdullah being  exposed as a latter-day  “Emperor’s New Clothes”.

What makes Tiong and the leaders of Umno and BN think that physically shipping two-thirds of the 75 parliamentary backbenchers overseas and sequestering from any contact with Pakatan Rakyat until after “916” (may be every BN MP will be subject to 24-hr surveilliance  in their Taiwan study trip with all the handphones confiscated or  all forms of communications monitored and censored), the loyalty and allegiance of all the BN MPs are forever secured?

If there are BN MPs who  are minded to leave BN as it is a “sinking Titanic”, nothing can stop them from proceeding with their  fateful decisions any time after their return to Malaysia after September 16.

The panic of BN leaders with the approach of “916” is also evident from the increasingly intemperate  and irrational statements emanating from their ranks.

New Sunday Times yesterday carried one  such statement by the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president and Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili.

The
New Sunday Times
quoted Ongkili  as condemning as “evil” the plan to overthrow the BN government by alleged “undemocratic means”.

He said “enticing elected BN representatives to cross over so that Pakatan Rakyat could seize power was shameful, unethical and dangerous because it would create political chaos and economic strife”.

He said the people should “reject the dirty politics propagated by the opposition, and erase the notion that elected politicians in Malaysia could be bought and sold for a pot of political porridge”.

He also posed the following questions:

“Why is Pakatan so insistent in promoting the formation of a government of unprincipled politicians?

“Do we want this country to be governed by frog legislators who will surely mortgage the rights of the people?”

I have always known Ongkili as a level-headed politician but  it is reflection of the extreme pressures he and other leaders, whether PBS, Umno  or BN, have been subject to by the “916” dateline, to make him to use intemperate language when  Ongkili  should have known that the language of abuse like “evil”, “dirty politics”, “elected politicians…bought and sold for a pot of political porridge”, “unprincipled politicians”, “frog legislators who …mortgage the rights of the people” could be so easily used back against him as he had led PBS from the Opposition into the Barisan Nasional in highly controversial circumstances.

I fully agree that Malaysian politics must be kept clean, ethical and principled and there must be no room for elected representatives to be “frog legislators” to defect for monetary gain or other material inducements – or  to use Ongkili’s words “a pot of political porridge”.

This is why DAP and I had maintained since the 70s that elected representative should resign if they want to defect, return the mandate to the voters to seek their approval in a by-election  on a question of principle – which will banish the disgraceful political spectacle of  money politics where MPs and state legislators could be  bought and sold in the market place and end unprincipled, unethical and  dishonourable politics.

This  honourable option for an MP to resign and  cause a by-election to seek a new mandate from the electorate to endorse his resignation or defection was closed in 1990 when the Constitution was amended to bar any MP who resigns from  his seat from standing for election for five years.

After the two political tsunamis of March 8 general election and the Permatang Pauh by-election on August 26, there is a deepening crisis of confidence in the authority and legitimacy of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional government who seem to be completely lost as to how to resolve the multiple crisis of confidence afflicting the country, whether political, economic, institutional, good governance or even nation-building.

As a result, more and more Malaysians have come around to the view that in the national interest to safeguard  the well-being of the nation and people, particularly to enhance our international competitiveness to assure the future prosperity of all Malaysians, a change of government is not only timely but has become an imperative national agenda.

I believe that this is also the view of more and more BN MPs.

I will have no truck with BN MPs who want to join forces with Pakatan Rakyat because this is an opportunity for them to make money or  get other material gain, i.e. for “a pot of political porridge”, for this is clearly unethical, unprincipled and dishonourable which must be deplored by all right-thinking Malaysians.

However,  if BN MPs are motivated by noble principles of saving the country from further drift and  loss of direction of the Barisan Nasional government and  for the political, economic and national betterment of the people, their honourable and principled action to leave the sinking BN Titanic will surely gain the sympathy, support and respect of all Malaysians.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 September 2008, 10:02 am and is filed under
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Pakatan Rakyat leadership council condemns racism of Ahmad Ismail and Penang Umno leaders

Kenyataan Akhbar

MAJLIS PIMPINAN PAKATAN RAKYAT

8 September 2008

Pakatan Rakyat Menjunjung Prinsip Perlembagaan Persekutuan

Majlis Pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat yang bersidang pada hari ini 8 September 2008 dengan ini menegaskan penolakan kami terhadap usaha-usaha menyemarakkan politik perkauman yang sedang dilakukan oleh UMNO akhir-akhir ini. Kami amat bimbang isu ini sekarang digunakan untuk mengelabui pandangan rakyat yang sebenarnya merupakan usaha terdesak untuk menyelamatkan kepentingan segelintir golongan elit politik dan kroni mereka.

Kami sekali lagi mengulangi pendirian menjunjung prinsip-prinsip dasar yang termaktub di bawah Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Ini termasuk soal-soal dasar seperti kedudukan Islam sebagai Agama Persekutuan dan menjamin kebebasan mengamalkan agama-agama lain, kedaulatan Bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan dan mempertahankan hak bahasa ibunda, kedudukan dan kedaulatan Institusi Raja-Raja Melayu serta kedudukan hak-hak istimewa orang Melayu dan Bumiputera serta hak-hak semua kaum yang telah dijamin oleh Perlembagaan.

Berdasarkan prinsip-prinsip Perlembagaan ini kami menolak sekeras-kerasnya pendekatan politik perkauman sempit yang menjadi dasar UMNO-BN. Pendekatan inilah yang sengaja digunakan untuk memecahbelahkan perpaduan dan keharmonian masyarakat majmuk negara ini.

Sehubungan ini kami membantah ucapan yang dibuat oleh Dato Ahmad Ismail yang disokong oleh semua pemimpin UMNO Pulau Pinang. Isi ucapan itu mencerminkan dasar perkauman UMNO yang sebenarnya bertujuan hanya untuk mempertahankan kepentingan segelintir golongan orang kaya Melayu serta suku sakat mereka yang menggunakan kuasa politik untuk mengambil kesempatan mengaut kekayaan negara dengan berselindung di sebalik membela kepentingan Bumiputera dan orang Melayu.

YB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Ketua Umum

PKR

YB Dato’ Husam Musa

Naib Presiden

PAS

YB Lim Kit Siang

Ketua Ahli Parlimen

DAP

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 September 2008, 2:14 pm and is filed under
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Sycophantic Editors Ruin Trust

by
M. Bakri Musa

The result of the recent Permatang Pauh by-election was a surprise only to those who depended on the mainstream media and the government’s massive propaganda machinery for their source of news and information.

            A measure of how far detached from reality those who sit in the editorial suites of our mainstream papers can be gauged by the pre-election editorial of The New Straits Times where its Editor-in-Chief Syed Nadzri boldly predicted that Anwar would be defeated.  Obviously Syed Nadzri was beginning to believe his own spin.

            In coming to such a wildly off-the-mark conclusion, Syed Nadzri is either a lousy observer of the public mood or he is more concerned with sucking up to his political superiors.  In either case, he does not deserve to be the custodian of such a valuable and essential institution of modern society.

            To me Syed Nadzri is both.  That he is a poor judge of the public mood can be seen by the ever declining circulation and influence of his paper.  Syed Nadzri is only the latest in a long series of those who, through their lack of professional integrity and journalistic skills, have destroyed this once-valued brand name.  As one naughty wag put it, that paper should now be more correctly called, The New S**t Times.

            It pains me to note (what is obvious to all) that since the paper was acquired by UMNO, nearly all its senior editors and journalists are Malays.  I refuse to believe that a Just Allah had not bequeathed upon the Malay race our fair share of talent.  I also refuse to believe that past luminaries like the now-ailing Samad Ismail was an accidental fluke and not the trademark of our culture.  He should be an inspiration for the present generation of journalists, a measure of what we are capable of producing.

            Instead we have the likes of Syed Nadzri, individuals more adept at sucking up to their superiors.  Syed Nadzri has obviously learned little from the fate and experiences of his many predecessors who were similarly afflicted.  While such a trait may have facilitated their ascent to the top, once there it is no guarantee of career longevity.

            Syed Nadzri should have learned, or somebody should have taught him, that while political winds and personalities may change, your professional duties and ideals do not.  Yours is to ensure that the public be well informed, the prerequisite of a healthy, functioning democracy.

            The slow but sure decline of The New Straits Times was interrupted only briefly when Abdullah Ahmad, a former Ambassador to the UN and a Mahathir appointee, took the helm.  He survived but only briefly under Abdullah Badawi.  At least Abdullah Ahmad left in a blaze of glory, having had the courage to speak his mind publicly.

            As I look at its roster of past Editors-in-Chief, I am struck at how quickly they, with few exceptions, have descended into oblivion once deprived of their perch at the editor’s desk.  Kadir Jasin has his widely-read blog where he gives the occasional pungent comments now that he is freed from the tethers of officialdom.  Again remarkable because of the rarity, Abdullah Ahmad is one of the few editors whose writings have been respectable enough to appear in reputable foreign publications.

The New Generation of Pseudo Journalists

My observations apply equally to those who helm Bernama, RTM and TV Tiga, as well as the other mainstream papers like The Star, Berita Harian, and Utusan Melayu.  What we have today is a generation of pseudo or pretend editors and journalists.  Ever wonder why the public ignores them?  They have betrayed the public’s trust in them.

            It is instructive that Ahiruddin Atan, Noraini Samad and Kadir Jasin now reach more readers through their blogs than when they were with the mainstream papers!  It would not be long before they would effectively overcome the blemish in their resume that was the time they spent with the mainstream media.

            I would be irresponsible if I were to stop here, pointing out only the problems and not offering solutions.

            One thing is clear.  The present “leaders” in journalism are very much part of the problem.  Having brought up and flourish under the present system, we cannot expect them to change, or be part of the solution.  Getting rid of them would be a necessary first step to solving the problem.

            Replace them with competent and established editors from abroad if need be, and tie their compensation to the success of their papers.  There are many measures of this (circulation figures, advertising revenues) but an important one would be how often articles and commentaries in their paper are being picked up by other publications.

            Additionally, I would have as a regular event an annual week-long continuing education series for our reporters, journalists and commentators where they would hear from the leading practitioners in their respective fields.  I would invite established journalists from abroad in various fields (political reporting, economic analyses, and investigative journalism) to lecture and share their experiences.

            I would include as part of the program a basic writing course as well as courses on effective interviewing.  Even more basic, I would gather all the editors, and guided by a competent teacher of English grammar and stylist, craft a uniform editorial format on such things how to handle long names and honorifics, as well such simple things as standardized spelling.  Is it Kota Baru or Kota Bharu?

            While we are discussing the basics, I would have someone competent in mathematics to teach our reporters and journalists on the meaning and significance of numbers.  Then we would not have such silly statements as, “The price of food increased 5 percent last month.”  Is that 5 percent over the previous month or over the same month of the previous year.  Percentage is a ratio; you must therefore state the reference point.

            Then as a concrete commitment to ensuring the future quality of the profession, I would groom at least half a dozen young journalists every year for entry into the leading journalism schools in America.  With the promise of future infusions of fresh, bright and well-trained talents, rest assured the quality of local journalism and media would be enhanced considerably.

            Only through such careful preparations and nurturing would our future journalists be able to differentiate between news and propaganda, between ministerial speeches and important policy announcements.  Our society would then be well served.  Journalists owe their readers and the public honest professional reporting, not propaganda to serve the needs of their political masters.  This is what separates a free democratic society from an authoritarian state.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 September 2008, 5:03 am and is filed under
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Ahmad Ismail revolt –  when will Abdullah stop his flip-flops and demonstrate that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suffered two mortal political blows within a short period of  six months – the first  “political tsunami” of March 8 general election  which smashed  UMNO’s political hegemony,  ended  Barisan Nasional (BN)’s unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and drove BN into the Opposition in five states now run by Pakatan Rakyat governments and the second “political tsunami” in the  August 26 Permatang Pauh by-election, where Anwar Ibrahim stormed back to Parliament with a thumping majority of 15,524 votes after an enforced absence for a decade.

Who would have thought that Abdullah’s third mortal political blow could have struck so fast and so devastatingly as to plunge his image, credibility, authority and legitimacy as Prime Minister to their lowest point since he took over from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as the fifth Prime Minister less than five years ago?

And this third mortal political blow to Abdullah was primarily self-inflicted, the direct result of his flip-flops over Bukit Bendera Umno division chief, Datuk  Ahmad Ismail’s racist reference to Malaysian Chinese as “penumpang” in the country.

In this instance, Abdullah out-flip-flopped himself as he took at least five different positions in the past two weeks, viz:

•	On 30th August, Abdullah condoned and excused Ahmad’s offensive,  insensitive and racist speech, claiming that Ahmad had not “meant it”.

•	On 3rd September, to head off protests from all directions both inside and outside Barisan Nasional, Abdullah agreed that his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak should apologise on behalf of Ahmad, with Najib conceding:  “It (Ahmad’s  comment) was totally unwarranted and doesn’t reflect the position and attitude of Umno or the leadership of Umno. We regret it very much.”

•	On 4th September, Abdullah adopted a third position declaring that he was trying to contact Ahmad to ask him to tender a personal apology.

•	On 6th September, Abdullah backed down in the face of revolt by Ahmad endorsed by  13 Penang Umno divisions (including Abdullah’s Kepala Batas Umno division) refusing to tender any apology on the ground that he was the aggrieved party. Abdullah accepted Ahmad’s self-serving and ridiculous explanation that his speech “based on historical facts” had been misinterpreted by Sin Chew Daily.

•	On 8th September, Abdullah declared that he was “very unhappy” with Ahmad’s second press conference yesterday as Ahmad had outdone his racism and insensitivity in the “penumpang” remark.

In his second press conference yesterday which was suggested by  the Prime Minister, Ahmad, backed by 13 Penang Umno  division leaders,  warned the Chinese in Malaysia not to mimic American Jews in  seeking to control the country’s economy but also its political power; told Gerakan to leave the Barisan Nasional; demanded that Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon should be stripped of his post as the state Barisan chairman and the post be given to the MCA and  reiterated that he would not apologise for his “penumpang”  remark made at a Permatang Pauh by-election ceramah on Aug 23.

At the end of the press conference, a picture of Tsu Koon, which was hanging on a wall, was publicly brought down and torn  to pieces.

The whole country and even the world is watching as to whether Abdullah would allow himself to be held to ransom by an Umno division leader with the threat of leading an open revolt in Umno not only in Penang but also in the country.

The Ahmad revolt is the direct result of Abdullah’s weak and indecisive leadership, out-flip-flopping himself and  transforming what should be a very small issue  which could be resolved with a directive to Ahmad to apologise and set a good example as a model Malaysian into a major political and nation-building crisis.

Ahmad’s antics and histrionics are irrelevant and he should be ignored altogether.

The sole issue is whether Abdullah will stop his flip-flops and assert his authority and leadership to demonstrate that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or political beliefs and remain true to his pledges and commitmernts to uphold the 1957 Merdeka social contract, 1963 Malaysia Agreement, 1970 Rukunegara and Vision 2020 objective of a Bangsa Malaysia.

There are extremist and irresponsible politicians who are trying to  fan racial flames to  incite communal tensions and foment unrest as the passport to regain political mastery in the country.

As the Prime Minister for all Malaysians, Abdullah must slap down these extremist and irresponsible politicians and not allow them to rear their ugly heads to hold the future of the people and nation to ransom for their petty and despicable ambitions.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 September 2008, 9:13 am and is filed under
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The 916 obsession – 54 BN MPs have Anwar to thank for the last-minute free junket to Taiwan

The last-minute free junket to Taiwan for 54 MPs is shaping up to be the greatest political farce in the nation’s 51-year history – all because of the “916 obsession” of the Umno/Barisan Nasional leadership.

UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders have put up a bold public front dismissing the possibility of any change of government come Sept. 16, dismissing the “916” speculation as political gimmick and “day-dream”, although in their heart of hearts, it has become a “living nightmare” to the Umno/BN leadership.

This is because Umno/BN leadership are acutely and painfully aware that six months after the March 8 general election, more and more BN MPs are convinced that the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional leadership have completely lost their  way as illustrated by the latest Ahmad Ismail furore and have neither the vision nor political will to relate and  become relevant to the revolution of new hopes and expectations of post-political tsunami Malaysia.

As compared to six months ago, there are even fewer BN MPs who are prepared to defend the  policies and programmes of the Prime Minister and the BN leadership, as they have lost all  hope and confidence in the their ability to manage a major turnaround of political support of the people.

Although they are still BN MPs in name, they have lost allegiance to BN.

This is the real reason why there is a quiet desperation and  panic  about the “916” speculation among the top Umno/BN leadership and the reason for the last-minute decision to organise a junket  dragooning BN MPs to Taiwan to foil Anwar’s “916” plan.

That the credibility gap of BN leaders  has plumbed new depths can be gauged from the fact that nobody believes a single thing which BN leaders, whether the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the  Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC) is saying about the last-minute junket for the 54 BN MPs – when they are  treated like modern-day bond-slaves, losing all personal liberty and freedom until Sept. 16 is “safely” over and past!

For instance, the BBC Deputy Chairman Datuk Bung Mohtar Radin (Kinabatangan) told the Star today that the “overseas study trip” was planned three months ago but Taiwan was chosen two days ago “as Taiwan confirmed it was able to conduct our study tour”.

The BBC Chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing had a different story, as he had said that “Initially, we wanted to go to China but as we did not have enough time to process our visas, we decided on Taiwan instead.”

Clearly, what Tiong, Radin and even Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak have said about the last-minute BN MPs junket to Taiwan are just “lies, lies and lies” not to be believed at all.

The simple truth is that the 54 BN MPs have Anwar to thank for the last-minute free junket to Taiwan – all because of the “916” obsession and fear of the Umno/BN leaders.

I understand that the UMNO and BN leadership only have confidence in the allegiance of some 60 per cent of the 76 BN backbenchers – which leaves the possible action of the rest of the 40 per cent or over 30 BN MPs to anybody’s guess.

Lately, with talk of individual BN MPs leaving BN expanding to entire  component parties like Gerakan and even MCA leaving the coalition because of recrudescence of cronyism, corruption, extremism and racism,  the uncertainty and instability of Barisan Nasional’s hold on federal power will become even more acute after “916” and the return of the BN junketeers from Taiwan.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 September 2008, 1:14 pm and is filed under
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A Racist Start to Ramadhan

By
Farish A. Noor

It is not often that I sermonise in my articles, and it has been a month since the OtherMalaysia.org research project was brought to a close. Yet despite everything the tone and tenor of Malaysia’s convoluted politics and the country’s slide into decline forces us to take stock of how far Malaysia has travelled over the past 50 years of its independence, or hasnt.

With the feeble administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi teetering on the verge of implosion and collapse, Malaysians are preparing themselves for the worst to come. Since 2004 Malaysia has in fact been running on autopilot, a point made clear to me by a European diplomat who once asked me ‘Is anyone running this country and does Badawi even know what is going on?” Coccooned from the realities of a society that has experienced large scale and even traumatic changes, the Badawi government proved itself to be totally dislocated and clueless over what was happening.

In time, historians like myself will have to take up our pens and write the political obituary of Prime Minister Badawi. The portrait will not be a pretty one: While this ‘man of the people’  was surrounded by a closed circle of relatives and family friends who were his confidants, Badawi seemed totally oblivious to the fate of millions of ordinary Malaysians who had to endure five years of his lacklustre non-leadership. Badawi claimed to be the ‘Prime Minister of all Malaysians’, but showed scant concern for the plight of dozens of Hindu temples that were being demolished in the country. And when Malaysia’s Hindu community begged and pleaded for his intervention to save their cherished places of worship, this ‘leader of all Malaysians’ chose to look the other way and was cowed into submission by the more vocal, communitarian and sectarian bigots of his own right-wing ethno-nationalist party.

Time and again Badawi could and should have done the right thing, to control the extremists in the ranks of his own party. But he chose instead to let them play to the gallery to shore up his own flaccid personality and lagging popularity. On two occassions – at his UMNO party’s general assembly – the leader of the Youth Wing of UMNO brandished a weapon in public while professing that the Malays were the community that deserved a special position and privileges in Malaysia. Such hot-headed right-wing rantings are befit for a demagogue of a fascist party, but once again Badawi did nothing to curb the excesses of the extremists of his own party UMNO.

The most recent outrage came when yet another UMNO leader – Ahmad Ismail – caused a ruckus in the state of Penang when he and his followers openly threatened and insulted Malaysians of non-Malay origin at a press conference. In a statement calculated to inflame tempers, the UMNO members called on the Malays to unite and warned the Malaysian Chinese community not to behave like American Jews. A photo of a Malaysian Chinese politician was torn and tempers flared as expected.

Again the Malaysian public is asking: What is Badawi going to do?

For decades Malaysians of all walks of life have had to live by the propaganda of the UMNO party and the coalition it has led. Malaysians have been warned about the dangers of communism, socialism, class-based workers and student movements; and even taught to fear a free and independent media. Yet the vile and poisonous racist outbursts that have emanated and echoed across the corridors of power in the country have by and large come from UMNO and its band of vociferous sabre-rattling leaders, whose only recourse to an intelligent argument has been vile racist remarks, sexist jokes and abuse. How many times must Malaysians have to tolerate this party whose leaders and members remain the most brazen and vocally racist in the country? And how much longer do Malaysians have to wait before the present Prime Minister, whose impotence and inability to act and speak decisively has been one of the root causes of Malaysia’s social fragmentation?

It is doubly ironic that Ahmad Ismail’s racist remarks came just as the fasting month of Ramadhan was beginning. This, being a holy month where patience and forebearance are lauded above all, made the timing of his press conference and abusive remarks all the more pointed and bitter. At the rate things are going in Malaysia – and Malaysia’s Central Bank has reported a capital flight of 1.1 Billion US dollars in August alone – the fall of Badawi and the UMNO-led government may come sooner than later. Historians will no doubt have ample time to write and ruminate about the manifold failings of Badawi, but his fall will serve as a benchmark in the country’s history as it signifies the moment when Malaysians have had enough of the most ineffective governance the country has had for five decades, and were willing to accept anything else instead, whatever the cost.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 5:44 am and is filed under
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Abdullah should direct the 54 BN MPs to cut short their  “blur blur” agriculture study tour of Taiwan

Malaysia’s  image and international standing are  trampled upon and “rubbished” by the 54 Barisan Nasional MPs currently on a “blur blur” agriculture study tour of Taiwan as they are been tracked by the Taiwan print and electronic media as if they are bizarre or exotic creatures from a strange land if not from another planet.

Instead of conducting themselves as proud elected representatives of a nation held in high esteem in international circles, the 54 BN MPs are caught in a hide-and-seek with journalists as if they are fugitives from justice or agents of rogue nations as they are unable to give a honest and honourable  explanation of the real purpose and reason for  their sudden  trip  to Taiwan.

A Guang Ming Daily columnist has rightly coined the phrase “mong cha-cha” or “blur blur” tour to describe BN MPs junket to Taiwan, for the BN MPs were in a “blur” when summoned by SMS to submit their passports for the  “trip to nowhere” as  the country destination was not known and undecided, “blur” when they boarded the flight and continue to be “blur” when they landed in Taiwan.

The 54 BN MPs know that they have become a laughing stock in Taiwan and a standing joke wherever they go in the island republic. As a result, they cannot hold their heads  high when  appearing  in public in Taiwan.

As MPs who should be Malaysian nationalists and patriots first and last, shouldn’t they do what is right – cut short their “blur blur” Taiwan trip so as not to prolong Malaysia’s shame and disgrace in Taiwan every day they are in Taiwan?

They should abandon the “blur, blur” agricultural study tour of Taiwan if they are not to be known as “blur blur” MPs not only for the rest of their elected term but the remainder of their lives.

In fact, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  should  issue an immediate directive to recall  the 54 BN MPs to cut short their  “blur blur” agriculture study tour of Taiwan and return immediately  to demonstrate that the BN has nothing to fear about “916” since BN leaders have repeatedly claimed that the BN MPs’ junket to Taiwan was not meant to derail Anwar Ibrahim’s “916” plan.

Apart from sparing the nation from  continuing infamy in Taiwan and international shame as well as BN’s “fatal obsession”: with 916, there are many other reasons why the BN MPs’ “blur blur” agricultural tour of Taiwan should be truncated, such as the fasting month for Muslims, the Moon-cake festival for Malaysian Chinese and most important of all, September 16 as Malaysia Day not only for Sabahans and Sarawakians but for all Malaysians as well!

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 12:24 pm and is filed under
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Of Pakatan, People, Principles, Patience and Prudence

by
Martin Jalleh

With each passing day, Umno, which had very arrogantly declared that it would bury Anwar Ibrahim politically, continues to dig its own grave.

The results of the by-election in Permatang Pauh sounded the death knell to the supremacist party. It was the last nail that the party drove into its own coffin.

After the General Elections in March it became evident that Umno is not short of leaders like Ahmad Ismail who desperately seek to write Umno’s obituary.

Sharing this privilege is Dr M, whose self-deceiving sarcasm puts him in a state of denial especially over the fact that Umno started to decay and decompose during his days!

Umno’s colleagues in the BN whose parties are also disintegrating have made it clear that they can no longer swallow nor stomach Umno’s political vomit and venom.

The PM increasingly looks like a lame duck, kept afloat by a pool of lame-brained ministers like Najib, Nazri and Syed Hamid – experts at offering lame excuses.

It is against this dark despairing scenario that Anwar and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) offer much-needed hope. There is great urgency to bring about real and radical change.

Anwar has made it very clear (and no one can accuse him of having a hidden agenda) that he wants to lead this country out of these turbulent and trying times, as the PM.

And why should he not be PM – he has the intelligence, the interest of the people at heart and the kind of inspiration to spur the people on to heights of glory as a nation.

But the method with which Anwar employs to change the government and to take his rightful seat in Putrajaya, does not sit well with some of us who are supportive of PR.

People paramount

The nation is at a crossroads and one seriously wonders whether a government set up by crossovers is the answer! Will they be at cross-purposes not long after?

Defection is a defective way of setting up a government. Floor-crossing creates instability – rogue MPs can easily pull the rug from under the new PR government.

The PR is a “people’s party”. It is a party formed by the people, for the people and with the people. Time and again we are told that the people come first. They are the boss.

We even hear of the people’s parliament, people’s court – the people’s wants, wishes and will! The “tsunami” of March 2008 and Permatang Pauh were a “people’s victory”.

The very essence and reason for PR’s existence is – the people. If the people are paramount then PR must respect the will of the people as expressed in the last general election.

The choice and will of the people must not be negated or substituted by the will of an individual or a group of individual — no matter how noble the intention.

Party hopping, crossovers or floor-crossing ignores the decision of the majority of the people. It is synonymous with the BN and it is against the very soul and spirit of PR.

Hopping does not bring hope. It only sets a bad precedent. With money politics so rife, there is no guarantee that the hopper may not one day hop back into his/her original “hole”.

Crossovers may produce a “crossbreed” of politicians who may end up engaging themselves in crossing swords than serving the people.

Principled politics

In their great and genuine desire to bring about change, Anwar and PR must be guided by democratic principles and allow the democratic process of March 2008 to run its course.

A principle is an absolute. It defies compromise. It is not a sliding scale to be altered at whim or will. PR must choose the moral high ground and not resort to Umno’s lowdown tactics. Two wrongs do not make one right.

If a principle is bent, even “just a little bit” out of whatever the justification, it may one day boomerang or backfire on those who have compromised. We are not short of examples.

The BN itself is now haunted by the very tool and “trick” it used when it successfully enticed MPs from the PBS to cross over to the BN in the 1994 Sabah state elections.

Dr M and his son Mukhriz are now complaining very vehemently about the 30 percent quota for nominations in an Umno election.

According to former secretary general of Umno, Mohamed Rahmat: “That quota was put there (by Dr M) to ensure no one challenges Dr Mahathir. It is not democratic.”

Thomas Jefferson offers us much wisdom: “So long as [the principles of our revolution] prevail, we are safe from everything which can assail us from without or within”.

Consider the observation of Charles de Montesquieu, a French political thinker: “The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles.”

Yes, these are revolutionary times. Anwar and PR have created a “revolution” indeed. It is crucial therefore that it be faithful to its starting principles so that this revolution may go from strength to strength.

Patience & Pru
dence

According to well-respected Irene Fernandez it is “good to jump ship so that genuine democracy will be a reality”. She adds: “Let’s stop being myopic.”

Crossovers will only create a “genetically modified” democracy, not a genuine one! Let us not be blind to its long-term implications and possible repercussions.

Perhaps the senior leaders of the DAP who have quite consistently taken an anti-defection stance could share their wisdom with Anwar and their colleagues in PR.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh has said he was dead set against a government shored up by kataks and “kangaroos”. Party advisor Lim Kir Siang had proposed an anti hopping law as far back as 30 years ago!

Some say that Kit Siang has been curiously coy about Anwar’s crossover plan because he harbours hope of being a deputy PM! Frankly, he does not need such a position.

Having lived and suffered for his principles, Kit Siang has reached a stature that commands the kind of public respect that no high office or honorific title can provide and satisfy.

I fully agree with social commentators Ong Kian Ming and Oon Yeoh that it would be “much wiser for the Pakatan to concentrate on governing the five states which it currently controls and to show voters that it can govern at the state level effectively.”

Ong and Oon were right on when they added: “By playing the role of a loyal opposition, at least for now, Pakatan can find its feet and learn what it is like to work as a united team through the formation of a shadow cabinet, for example.

“By showing that they can indeed work together as a coalition, it will only increase the voter’s confidence that Pakatan is a government-in-waiting rather than a temporary opposition alliance of convenience.”

For the sake of the people of Bolehland, may patience and prudence prevail in Pakatan Rakyat as it journeys towards Putrajaya!

Martin Jalleh

(8 Sept. 2008)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 7:48 am and is filed under
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Racist Ahmad Ismail provocation – will 13 Penang Umno division leaders be disciplined too?

What action will the
Umno Supreme Council
take at its emergency meeting today to end the15-day national furore over  Ahmad Ismail’s  provocative, inflammatory and acist “penumpang” reference to Malaysian Chinese – a simple and straightforward issue which should have been nipped in the bud when it surfaced publicly on August 26  instead of being allowed to snowball into a “no-holds-barred” political and nation-building  crisis escalating into the Bukit Bendera Umno divison chairman:

•	Warning the Chinese in Malaysia not to mimic American Jews in seeking to control the country’s economy but also its political power;

•	Wanting  Gerakan to leave the Barisan Nasional;

•	Demanding that Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon should be stripped of his post as the state Barisan chairman and the post be given to the MCA; and

•	Public tearing of a picture of Tsu Koon.

What would have ensued if there had been a public tearing of the picture of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuik Seri Najib Razak by a Gerakan division leader of Chinese or Indian descent?

Armed Forces Chief
  Jeneral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal yesterday made a most uncustomary public  intervention when he proposed  at a Wanita Umno function that the Government take stern action against those who stoke racial sentiments, the country’s main security threat.

Is Abdul Aziz referring directly to Ahmad Ismail and the 13 Penang Umno Division leaders who had given full backing to the Bukit Bendera Umno division chairman in his inflammatory, irresponsible and racist acts and rants, or is the Armed Forces Chief referring to those aggrieved by Ahmad Ismail’s provocative outbursts?

Ahmad Ismail’s grandparents migrated to this country from India.  Why should a Malaysian who is a second-generation locally  born in the country be so irresponsible, provocative  and racist as to question the loyalty of a Malaysian Chinese like seventh locally-born generation  Tan Siok Choo, daughter to Tun Tan Siew Sin, causing her to declare most justly and legitimately in her
Sun
 column,
“Politically blind and tone deaf?”
:

“And for some Malaysian Chinese like myself, to be called a ‘squat’ is an insult. My forefathers came to Malacca in 1771. Even in August 1957, my family had been living in Malacca for 186 years. How many other Malaysians can claim this long period of residence? “

Ahmad Ismail however belong to the “dinosaur” generation when their narrow-minded racist views meant to protect their “pot of gold” as an Umnoputra  rather than to advance the welfare of all Malays is rejected by  young and progressive Malaysians from all races, including young Malays, as reflected in this
posting
 on my blog:

What happen to this country? Please stop and stop this racial issues llaaahh… Im a Malay, 22 years old and Im a University of Malaya student. In my class, Im really happy I can interact with each other as a Malaysian. Sure!!! In my class from 30 students, there are only 5 Malay and the other 25 are Chinese. Even after class, there’s not a big deal we can makan-makan and minum-minum together without realized that we are all “penumpang”, “pendatang” or wuteva the damned thing you call it. If I dont understand anything or facing any difficulties in the subject that I learn, my Chinese friends dont even hesitate to teach me and so when they ask me, I will share my knowledge also. Then again, we makan-makan again at mamak stall eating a roti canai and glass of teh tarik. EERRGGHH!!!

Do you think the current our politician leaders never experienced this warmth moment with their friends different in races during their study period on youth time??? How come? We live in Malaysia laaahh… Its healthy when you getting know each other… Come and visit their house during Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and so on…. Even Im a Malay, I really hate when UITM students “berarak”, “berdemo” or “berpekik-pekik” when Selangor MB suggested at least 10% quota for UITM students opened for non-bumis. AARRGGHH!!! They are stupid, really-really stupid. In UM, in our college activities, we Malay dont even have any problem to hold any occasion collaborating with Chinese or Indian. We engineered an event together until it success- for example, a choir competition, a Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Competition, an Annual Dinner of the college. We work together. But when I read the newspaper, puuuff!!!! Seems every single of my joy losssttt, destroyed!!!! Eeeevvvveryday racial tense issues!!!! AAAARRGGHH!!! Cant we respect each other….??? Im a muslim and my religion teach us, in Holy Quran – “Nor will you worship that I which worship, to you be your religion, and to me my religion (Islamic monotheism)” – Surah Al-Kafirun : sentence 4-5…. Means that even you are from other religion – can applied also other races, there’s nothing to do with that. You are free to apply or live with your own life and religious style if you are different than a Muslim also. So, just respect other races or religions laaahh… Cant our leaders do that?? Its really makes me paaaiinnn heeelll!!!

The  real personalities being tested  in the Ahmad Ismail furore is not the Bukit Bendera Umno division chief but the Prime Minister and the Umno leadership – whether they are capable of and prepared to redeem themselves for their dereliction of duty to the nation and people in the past 15 days  in allowing a comparatively small issue over Ahmad Ismail’s inflammatory, provocative and racist statement to blow up into a full-scale political and nation building crisis!

This is why Malaysians are waiting for the decision of the Umno Supreme Council emergency meeting to see what disciplinary actions would be meted out to firstly, Ahmad Ismail and secondly, the 13 Penang Umno division leaders who had supported and egged  on Ahmad in his inflammatory, provocative and racist acts and rants.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 10:34 am and is filed under
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We are all “pendatangs”

Jac Tan emailed a very interesting and timely blog from  Syed Iman’s
kuda ranggi
.

Syed Imran is an  Arab-Malaysian born in Penang, Malaysia, ex-Bernama journalist (1971-1998) and former press secretary to Minister in PM’s Department.

Syed Imran provides a Bangsa Malaysia voice in the nation-wide furore which had erupted as a result of Ahmad Ismail’s irresponsible, opportunist and racist reference of Malaysian Chinese as “pendatang” and “penumpang”.

Syed Imran  blogged:

“Secara peribadi, saya tidak setuju dengan apa yang didakwa dikata oleh Ahmad Ismail atas beberapa sebab.

“Bagi saya, hampir 90 peratus rakyat Malaysia, khususnya di Semenanjung, adalah pendatang dan kita semua sebenarnya menumpang hidup di bumi Allah. Kita bukan pemilik kekal tetapi hanya menumpang…

“Kita adalah kaum pendatang yang menumpang hidup di negeri ini. Golongan yang boleh diiktiraf sebagai orang asal atau anak bumi tulen adalah mereka yang kita kenali sebagai Negrito, Jakun, Semang, Jahut, Orang Laut, Orang Darat, Senoi dan suku kaum masyarakat Asli lain yang masih menjadi penghuni belantara.

“Kita semua adalah rakyat Malaysia.”

Syed Imran’s blog touching on the lineage of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir, Home Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, Ahmad Ismail himself should be compulsory read for the agent provocateurs out to sabotage the realisation of a Bangsa Malaysia – whether by constant keris-wielding or the canard of “pendatang” and “penumpang”.

Monday, September 08, 2008
Antara pendatang dan penumpang

Pada mulanya saya agak keberatan nak ulas kekecohan yang berpunca ekoran daripada kenyataan ketua UMNO bahagian Bukit Bendera, Pulau Pinang bernama Ahmad bin Ismail. Sama ada benar atau tidak apa yang didakwa dikatakan olehnya mengenai rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina bukan persoalannya kerana isu tersebut sudahpun merebak dan mengapi-apikan keadaan.

Jika tidak ditangani dengan cermat, teliti dan bijak, isu itu boleh ditangguk dalam air yang keruh oleh anasir-anasir yang ingin melihat negara ini hancur serta mengundang campur tangan kuasa asing. Dalam zaman dunia tanpa sempadan dan liputan meluas dan segera oleh media elektronik antarabangsa, apa yang berlaku di sesebuah negara itu tidak dapat disembunyi atau dinafikan.

Isu pokok yang dibangkitkan oleh Ahmad Ismail membabitkan persoalan “menumpang” iaitu rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina adalah penumpang di negara ini. Beliau menjelaskan bahawa ia merujuk kepada zaman pra-Merdeka. Bagaimanapun, sensitiviti rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina telah terguris.

Saya tidak mengenali secara peribadi Ahmad Ismail, tetapi kenal agak rapat dengan Allahyarham abangnya, Abdul Rahim Ismail, pemilik Syarikat Pembinaan Rahim yang pada satu ketika dahulu agak terkenal sebagai sebuah firma pembinaan Bumiputera yang unggul di Pulau Pinang. Saya tidak tahu apa dah jadi dengan syarikat itu selepas Abdul Rahim meninggal dunia.

Secara peribadi, saya tidak setuju dengan apa yang didakwa dikata oleh Ahmad Ismail atas beberapa sebab.

Bagi saya, hampir 90 peratus rakyat Malaysia, khususnya di Semenanjung, adalah pendatang dan kita semua sebenarnya menumpang hidup di bumi Allah. Kita bukan pemilik kekal tetapi hanya menumpang.

Sebagai contoh, saya sendiri adalah keturunan pendatang yang menumpang hidup di bumi bertuah ini. Datuk nenek di sebelah bapa saya berhijrah dari Makkah dan dari Brunei ke sini manakala di sebelah ibu pula dari Hadhramut, Yaman. Kami adalah pendatang dan penumpang sama seperti hampir semua penduduk negara ini khususnya di Pulau Pinang.

Bagi Ahmad Ismail, dia juga datang dari keluarga pendatang dan menumpang hidup di negara ini. Ahmad Ismail tidak boleh menafikan hakikat bahawa datuk neneknya adalah pendatang dari India untuk menerokai penghidupan yang lebih baik dan selesa di bumi bertuah ini.

Perdana Menteri Abdullah bin Ahmad juga tergolong dalam kategori yang sama. Datuknya di sebelah ibu adalah pendatang dari wilayah Guandong, China. Pendek kata, datuk Pak Lah iaitu bapa Allahyarhamah Kailan bernama Hassan Salleh atau Hah Su Chiang adalah seorang pendatang. Beliau berhijrah ke Tanah Melayu dari wilayah Guandong (Kwantung) pada pertengahan abad ke-19 dan menetap di Bayan Lepas sebagai pekebun getah, pesawah padi dan kemudian saudagar intan berlian.

Najib Tun Razak, Timbalan PM juga berasal daripada keluarga pendatang iaitu dari Sulawesi, Indonesia atau lebih senang disebut orang Bugis manakala sepupunya Hishamudin Hussein tidak terlepas daripada darah keturunan Turki.

Datuk nenek mantan PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad juga pendatang dari Kerala, India manakala ibu Almarhum Tunku Abul Rahman berasal dari negeri Siam (Thailand).

Kesultanan Melayu Melaka pun dibuka oleh orang pendatang dari Sumatra bernama Parameswara, seorang anak raja atau bangsawan beragama Hindu.

Dalam sejarah kesultanan Melayu, kita dapati ada yang ditubuh oleh pendatang dari Bugis dan ada pula dari Hadhramut selain dari Minangkabau.

Hampir semua orang Melayu di sini berasal dari luar Tanah Melayu tetapi diiktiraf sebagai “bangsa Melayu” oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kita adalah “Melayu mengikut takrifan Perlembagaan” iaitu beragama Islam, mengamalkan adat resam Melayu dan bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu. Malangnya, bahasa Melayu nampaknya dimatikan oleh orang Melayu (UMNO) sendiri apabila dinamakan sebagai bahasa Malaysia.

Oleh itu, orang Arab seperti Syed Hamid Albar dan saya, orang Aceh seperti Sanusi Junid, orang India seperti Kader Sheikh Fadzir dan Nor Mohamed Yakcop, orang Bugis seperti Najib, orang Minang seperti Rais Yatim, orang Jawa seperti Mohamad Rahmat dan yang lain seperti dari Madura, Pulau Boyan, Siam, Burma, Yunnan (China) dan selatan Filipina dengan mudah boleh diiktirf sebagai “Melayu”.

Mereka diterima sebagai orang Melayu tidak kira sama ada mereka bertutur bahasa Melayu atau tidak di rumah umpamanya si Arab berbahasa Arab, si Jawa berbahasa Jawa dan si Minang berbahasa Minang atupun si Mamak berbahasa Tamil.

Bahasa-bahasa yang disebut itu bukan bahasa Melayu dan jika dilihat dari sudut Perlembagaan Persekutuan, tidak boleh diterima atau diiktiraf sebagai bangsa Melayu. Walau bagaimanapun, atas kepentingan dan faktor politik, semuanya diterima sebagai Melayu dan Bumiputera.

Oleh itu, adalah tidak adil untuk menuding jari kepada orang Cina yang juga kaum pendatang sama seperti orang Arab, India, Aceh, Minang, Batak, Mandailing, Jawa, Madura mahupun Bugis, sebagai menumpang di negeri ini. Kita tidak boleh menafikan bahawa sebilangan besar datuk nenek orang Cina telah berhijrah ke negeri ini semasa Kesultanan Melayu Melaka, bahkan kesultanan-kesultanan terdahulu di Kedah mahupun Terengganu dan Kelantan serta semasa Francis Light berjaya menipu Sultan Kedah untuk menduduki Pulau Pinang pada 1786.

Kita adalah kaum pendatang yang menumpang hidup di negeri ini. Golongan yang boleh diiktiraf sebagai orang asal atau anak bumi tulen adalah mereka yang kita kenali sebagai Negrito, Jakun, Semang, Jahut, Orang Laut, Orang Darat, Senoi dan suku kaum masyarakat Asli lain yang masih menjadi penghuni belantara.

Kita tidak harus lupa akan sumbangan dan pengorbanan semua kaum dan suku kaum untuk membangunkan Malaysia sama ada dari sudut ekonomi, kemasyarakatan, keselamatan dan yang paling penting kesepakatan dan perpaduan. Semua orang yang kena dan seharusnya membayar cukai, berbuat demikian tanpa mengira kaum atau asal keturunan, sama ada pendatang atau penumpang.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 8:19 am and is filed under
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Ahmad Ismail’s 3-year Umno suspension – “water off a duck’s back”

The Umno Supreme Council’s
three-year suspension
of  Umno Bukit Bendera Umno division chairman Datuk Ahmad Ismail of his Umno membership for his provocative, inflammatory and racist reference of the Malaysian Chinese as “penumpang” is too little, too late and too ineffective.

For Ahmad, the Umno Supreme Council decision is just like “water off a duck’s back”.

All these three attributes of the Umno Supreme Council decision being “too little, too late, too ineffective” were  instantly evident from the immediate press conference held by Ahmad after the Umno Supreme Council decision yesterday, viz:

•	Firstly, Ahmad  remained defiant and unremorseful for his provocative, inflammatory and racist statement maintaining that he would not apologise although he accepted the Umno Supreme Council’s decision on him;

•	Secondly, Ahmad declared that his “suspension”  would not stop him from being active in the party, albeit unofficially, as he cannot hold posts defined in the party constitution, adding: “If my division is smart enough and creates a new post, such as division advisor, I can still be advisor.”

•	Thirdly, he announced  immediate plan to tour the country and explain to Umno divisions about the matter, and declared: “I promise one thing – I will make a comeback to Umno.”

•	Fourthly, Ahmad’s defiance and total lack of remorse is not just individual bravado but clearly had powerful UMNO backing as indicated by the fact that he held his immediate press conference at the Umno headquarters at PWTC, Kuala Lumpur which was attended by the Umno Secretary-General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor.

•	Fifthly, Tengku Adnan’s presence at Ahmad’s press conference after being suspended as Umno for three years is most extraordinary and telling, for it could only mean that Ahmad has official Umno  support or blessing for his  interpretation that despite his three-year suspension, he could be appointed as “advisor” for Umno divisions with  full liberty to go on a nation-wide  tour to meet Umno divisions to justify his refusal to apologise for his provocative, inflammatory and racist reference of Malaysian  Chinese as “penumpang”and do not deserve equal rights and to drum up UMNO support for his stand.

•	Sixthly, the conspicuous failure of the Umno Supreme Council to take disciplinary action against the 13 Penang Umno division leaders who had supported and egged on Ahmad in his inflammatory, provocative and racist rants and acts in the past two weeks.

UMNO Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein
said Barisan Nasional component parties should take appropriate action against their respective members if they go against party lines and raise sensitive issues.

He said the  Umno decision  to suspend Ahmad should also mean Barisan component parties show consistency by taking action against their own members when they stoked ill-feelings among the people.

This is the
Star
 report:

Hishammuddin referred to an earlier incident involving Gerakan, where its Youth vice-chief S. Paranjothy created unpleasantness last year when he had reportedly said on the Internet that the Indian community were treated like fourth-class citizens.

“Hishammuddin said he called for Umno to break off ties with Gerakan due to the statement at the time.

“He added that acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon had asked him to not push for action to be taken against Paranjothy because of the impending general election in March.

“Now when the same situation has happened (in Ahmad’s case), the concerned party should see Umno’s decision as a sign that when we criticise someone, what comes around will come around,” he told reporters after an Umno supreme council meeting.

Hishammuddin should state whether he would agree that disciplinary action should first be taken against him for his various keris-wielding episodes at Umno Youth Generla Assemblies, in utter disregard of the sensitivities of Malaysia’s plural society and which UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders have admitted was a major  factor for the thrashing Barisan Nasional suffered in the March 8 “political tsunami”?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 11 September 2008, 12:12 pm and is filed under
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Clarification – Guang Ming report of 49 BN MPs on Taiwan junket are given RM500,000 each and that I knew of the “mysterious sponsor” incorrect and misleading

This is to clarify that the
Guang Ming Daily

front page report today quoting me as saying that the 49 BN MPs on Taiwan junket  are given RM500,000 each and that I knew of the “mysterious sponsor” but it is not the time to reveal his identity is incorrect and misleading.

When answering the Guang Ming reporter who  telephoned me on Tuesday, I had said that the BN MPs’ junket to Taiwan, allegedly for agricultural study tour but clearly to foil Anwar Ibrahim’s “916” plan,  sparked  a lot of talk and rumours in the country.

I mentioned that among the rumours was that the BN MPs would be given RM500,000 each.  In reply to the question by the Guang Ming reporter whether  I knew the person paying the money to the BN MPs, I said that a name was  mentioned in the rumours but it would not be right for me to mention him.

I did not say that the BN MPs in the Taiwan junket had been paid RM500,000 each or that I knew who was the person who paid them.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 11 September 2008, 6:13 pm and is filed under
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Power transfer at national level – matter of time

Kenyataan Akhbar

PAKATAN RAKYAT

11 September 2008

Peralihan Kuasa Tetap Akan Berlaku Kerana BN Telah Gagal

Kepimpinan Pakatan Rakyat yang bertemu hari ini yakin proses pembentukan kerajaan baru yang berlandasan Agenda Reformasi sedang berjalan secara lancar. Kami percaya kerajaan Barisan Nasional akan diganti dalam masa terdekat.

Pakatan Rakyat yakin mendapat bilangan ahli Parlimen yang mencukupi untuk mempunyai majoriti dalam Parlimen yang membolehkan penubuhan kerajaan baru.  Bagaimanapun tarikh sebenar penubuhan kerajaan mungkin terpaksa dilewatkan dari 16 September sebagaimana rancangan awal akibat beberapa ahli Parlimen telah dipaksa ke Taiwan.

Umum mengetahui negara kini masih dicengkam permasalahan politik, ekonomi dan sosial yang getir. Akibat kehilangan keyakinan rakyat terhadap kepimpinan UMNO dan BN, timbul percubaan mengalih pandangan kepada isu perkauman sempit.

Masalah perkauman yang diapi-apikan berterusan sehingga kini menunjukkan formula BN yang dihantui kebejatan rasuah dan korupsi gagal mentadbir negara ini. Api perkauman yang cuba dibakar akan mengancam kestabilan negara dan kebajikan rakyat. Kepimpinan BN yang semakin lemah juga menyaksikan parti tersebut semakin berpecah dan semakin hilang arah.

Melihat kepada perkembangan semasa inilah ramai Ahli Parlimen BN telah hilang kepercayaan terhadap kepimpinan BN dan memutuskan untuk bersama dengan Pakatan Rakyat. Pakatan Rakyat menegaskan bahawa kami tidak pernah dan tidak perlu membeli atau menyogok Ahli Parlimen berkenaan untuk menyertai kami. Mereka didorong oleh kesedaran sendiri serta memberikan komitmen menyokong agenda perubahan.

Kami yakin terdapat segelintir elit pemerintah BN yang diketuai UMNO bercita-cita untuk mencipta huru hara agar dapat membantut perubahan, melumpuhkan demokrasi dan merampas hak-hak rakyat Malaysia yang dilindungi Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kami khuatir seandainya masalah sengaja dibiar merebak dan berlarutan untuk memberikan alasan kepada pemerintah bertindak keras termasuk penangkapan beramai-ramai menggunakan Undang-undang Darurat untuk membendung kemaraan rakyat yang menuntut pembelaan.

Kami menyeru kepada rakyat Malaysia termasuk penyokong UMNO untuk bertenang dan tidak terperangkap dengan retorik perkauman. Marilah kita rakyat Malaysia bersama-sama berusaha keras untuk memperbaiki keadaan ekonomi kita yang semakin teruk dan menyambut perubahan yang akan memberi harapan baru kepada kita semua.

Kami percaya apa pun jua usaha BN hanyalah dapat melambatkan proses pertukaran kerajaan tetapi tidak dapat menggagalkannya kerana formula BN telah gagal.

Dato’ Salehuddin Hashim

Setiausaha Agung

PKR

YB Loke Siew Fook,

Pengarah Pendidikan Politik

DAP

YB Dato’ Kamarudin Jaffar

Setiausaha Agung

PAS

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 11 September 2008, 5:28 pm and is filed under
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ISA for RPK and show-cause letters to three newspapers while 3-year Umno suspension  for Ahmad Ismail – is this the Abdullah justice and rule of law?

The detention of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the show-cause letters to three newspapers, Sin Chew Daily,  the Sun and Suara Keadilan why action should not be taken against them over their news coverage on a number of political issues must be condemned by all Malaysians concerned about human rights and democracy.

These actions make a mockery of the claims of the Abdullah administration to usher in a more open and democratic society under a just rule of law.

It shows the administration’s utter cynicism and Machiavellian politics in unblocking RPK’s news portal Malaysia Today after a two-week censorship only to arrest RPK under the ISA in less than 24 hours.

The unblocking of Malaysia Today was made to demonstrate the country’s commitment and allegiance to the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Bill of Guarantees to the world of no Internet censorship but it is just naive for the government to think that the world can be fooled by such subterfuge – as by detaining RPK and taking him out of public circulation, the Malaysian Government has effectively blocked off Malaysia Today and  violated the “no internet censorship” Bill of Guarantee!

The detention of RPK had only deepened the multiple crisis of confidence besetting the Abdullah premiership.

“ISA for RPK and show-cause letters to three newspapers while 3-year Umno suspension  for Ahmad Ismail, the Umno Bukit Bendera division chief  – is this the Abdullah justice and rule of law?” is the universal response and question of Malaysians today.

RPK has clearly become the victim of a new power play in Umno in post-March 8 general election.

It heralds a larger crackdown against criticism, dissent and diversity of views as RPK’s ISA detention and the action against the three newspapers will open the floodgates for a new repression in Malaysia.

Who are next on the line to be victims of the Abdullah crackdown and will it be reminiscent of the 1987 Operation Lalang?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 5:11 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia in the grip of another ISA madness?

A  second Internal Security Act (ISA) arrest in less than eight hours after RPK – the Sin Chew Daily senior journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, 33,  who reported that Umno Bukit Bendera division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail’s speech at a  Permatang Pauh by-election ceramah on August 23 that the Chinese in Malaysia are “squatters” in the country and which resulted in a nation-wide furore and political crisis.

Ahmad got off lightly with a three-year Umno suspension but why is the Sin Chew Daily reporter detained under the ISA, when her report had been confirmed as true when Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President Datuk Seri Najib had apologised “on behalf” of Ahmad?

Although Ahmad did not “recognise” Najib’s apology on his behalf, the Deputy Prime Minister’s apology is confirmation that Tan’s report was correct, especially as Najib was present when Ahmad  had given the controversial speech at the Umno ceramah during the Permatang Pauh by-election.

Will the two reporters, one from Guang Ming and the other from Nanyang, who had collaborated Tan’s report of Ahmad Ismail’s speech be next on the ISA crackdown? What about all those columnists who  had flayed Ahmad for his provocative, inflammatory and racist speech  – are they all marked for the Kamunting Detention Centre?

Is Malaysia in the grip of another ISA madness, akin to Operation Lalang 21 years ago when  there were mass arrests under the ISA (with Guan Eng and I among the first of the 106 persons to be arrested but were the last two to be released) and closure of three newspapers?

Ministers and leaders of MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and other Barisan Nasional component parties must demand in the Cabinet and requisition an emergency meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council for the  immediate release of Tan and Raja Petra under the ISA as well as the withdrawal of the show cause notice issued by the Home Ministry to three newspapers as to why action should not be taken against them.

Their political parties had pledged after the debacle in the March general election that they would cease to be puppets and  “yes-men” and would speak up for the rights of all Malaysians.

Tan Hoon Cheng and RPK are critical tests whether they meant what they say  – in Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council – or they remain stuck in  their incorrigible roles of being totally subservient to Umno “Big Brother”!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 10:38 pm and is filed under
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RPK just arrested under ISA

The police have just taken Raja Petra Kamarudin from his house in Sg Buloh under the Internal Security Act.

Seems to be the beginning of a crack down.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 2:34 pm and is filed under
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Teresa Kok arrested!

[UPDATE – Teresa was taken to Wangsa Maju Police Station from the condominium and at 2.50 a.m (13th September 2008), she left the Wangsa Maju police station and was taken to the an unknown custody centre where she would be held for her police custodial detention which could be up to 60 days. After that, it is up to the Home Minister to decide whether to issue a formal order of detention without trial, which could be for two years, renewable indefinitely]

I have just been informed that Selangor Senior Exco Member and DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok has been arrested under the Internal Security Act by the police at 11.18 p.m. when returning to her condominium  in Kuala Lumpur from a Mooncake Festival reception in  her constituency office.

Three police cars with over 10 police personnel stopped Teresa at the condominium entrance and took her away.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 11:52 pm and is filed under
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Untimely gift of RM160,000 watch for Khir Toyo

The Sun September 12, 2008

Untimely gift of RM160,000 watch for Khir Toyo

by Terence Fernandez and R. Nadeswaran

PETALING JAYA (Sept 11, 2008) : What can you buy with RM160,000? An X-ray machine for one, or five low-cost homes, breakfast for 1,000 poor schoolchildren for two years and feed a hardcore poor family of 10 for almost 20 years!

However, a company owned by the Selangor government, Permodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad (PNSB), deemed that it was better to spend the sum on a watch for its then chairman and mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo.

On Jan 8, PNSB paid RM159,250 for a Patek Philippe watch as “cenderamata untuk pengerusi PNSB” (souvenir for the chairman of PNSB) – Mohamad Khir at that time.

It is understood that the watch in white gold was presented to the former MB before the March 8 general election.

But Mohamad Khir returned the watch. And it was not until two months later that a buyer was found.

“When we presented the watch to Datuk Seri, he declined, saying he did not need such an expensive gift,” said PNSB chief executive officer Datin Khairiyah Abu Hassan.

She said a buyer was found in March and the watch was sold for about the same price and the money banked into PNSB’s account.

What is perplexing is that PNSB deemed it fit to spend on such extravagance after posting losses of RM7.5 million in its 2006 financial year. (Companies Commission of Malaysia records show that this was its last financial returns).

But Khairiyah clarified that the company had made a profit of RM10 million and that the watch was a sort of emolument for Mohamad Khir’s “contributions”.

The purchase was not tabled for approval by PNSB’s board of directors. However, Khairiyah said that board approval was not necessary for such purchases.

“We have a certain amount for entertainment and other such expenses which can be decided at management level,” she said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The purchase of the timepiece from Sincere Watch Sdn Bhd was listed as “sundry expenses” by PNSB.

According to a Sincere sales agent, the watch was a collectors’ item from the Perpetual Calendar series, retailed at RM235,600.

The agent expressed surprise at the price PNSB paid, saying that the discount was far more than usual.

“We usually don’t give more than a 15% discount,” she said when theSun contacted Sincere’s outlet in Suria KLCC.

Meanwhile, executive councillor for health, plantation workers’ welfare, poverty eradication and caring government Dr Xavier Jayakumar expressed disgust over the “gift”.

“As an official entrusted to take care of the state, where urban poor is on the rise, I find it disgusting that one can even think of such an expensive gift.

“Do you know how many families we can help with that money?” asked the Sri Andalas assemblyman.

Khairiyah said PNSB was always careful with spending its funds.

“We are mindful that we are dealing with public money but we are also a corporation and it is not unusual for chairmen and directors to receive such benefits,” she said, adding that the purchase of the timepiece was considered “frugal” compared with other firms that dished out large cash dividends and luxury cars for its top executives.

Incorporated on Oct 15, 1990, PNSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Selangor state government. With an authorised capital of RM100 million and a paid-up capital of RM24 million, it was specially established to take over the commercial projects of Selangor State Incorporation (SSI), involving a host of diversified activities; namely housing and property, tourism, investment, manufacturing and services.

According to its charter, “PNSB strongly believes in balancing profitability with social responsibility. PNSB is assertively assisting in the evolvement of  mesra rakyat”(people-friendly) and Caring Government Programme (Kerajaan Prihatin) of Selangor.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 12:37 pm and is filed under
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Whether 916, 1016, 1116 or  in an early  13th general election, time has come for new federal government

Will  there be any “916” political transformation  setting in motion the changes to bring about a Pakatan Rakyat federal government, ending Umno political hegemony and Barisan Nasional federal power?

This is the question uppermost in the minds of all Malaysians – and the reason for the farce of some 50 BN MPs forced to suffer daily  media humiliation, Malaysian and Taiwan, in pursuing a “mong-cha-cha” (“blur, blur”) agricultural study trip to Taiwan just to foil the “916” political transformation.

However, whether  the political transformation takes place in four days’ on 916, or 1016, 1116 or in an early 13th general election is a secondary question to the important fact that  the Malaysian political mould has been completely recast and it is  only a matter of time that a transition  of federal power is effected.

What is most significant about “916” is not whether federal power will change hands from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat in four days’ time, but in the sea-change in the political attitude of Malaysians as compared to six months ago before the March 8 general election.

If Malaysians were  asked six months ago whether there was  a possibility of change of federal government, and whether they wanted to see a new federal government in Putrajaya, I think more than 95% would answer in the negative for the former as they did not believe that it was possible for the Barisan Nasional government to be toppled while at most 10 to 15 per cent would say they wanted a change of federal government, largely because they did not think it was within the realm of practical possibility.

The situation is very different today, six months later after the March 8 “political tsunami”.

I believe  that more than 70 to 80 per cent of Malaysians believe that it is possible to see a change of federal government while more than 50 to 60 per cent would want to see the change of federal government to be effected now.

This is because the past six months have seen a deterioration in the multiple crisis of confidence afflicting the country, whether political, economic, nation-building, good governance, maintenance of law-and-order or in almost every sphere of national management.

The Merdeka Centre of Opinion Research found from its poll in July that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s popularity  plunged from a record high of 91 per cent in late 2004 – months after his  landslide victory in the 2004 general election – to 61 per cent before the March 8, 2008 general election, plummeting further to 53 per cent in April and 42 per cent in July.

Abdullah’s popularity rating has been in a free fall in the last six months, accelerated by continuing misgovernance  like the unconscionable oil price hikes triggering an inflationary spiral; worsening of the crime situation illustrated by the  brutal killing on Tuesday of
Raja Noriana Raja Ahmad
, wife of a former police officer Mohd Yusof Abdul who said: “We do not feel safe any more even in our own house. What is this country coming to?”; the scandal of 22-year-old
M. Rajeshvari
, who was detained for 11 months at the Lenggeng Immigration depot where she gave birth to her son, all because she did not have her identity card with her and could not recall its number; the Ahmad Ismail “penumpang” furore; the Permatang Pauh by-election and Abdullah’s failure to honour his new pledges for judicial, police and anti-corruption reforms.

If an opinion poll is conducted now, Abdullah’s popularity rating would be struggling to keep above the 30 per cent level!

It is against this backdrop of an unchecked precipitous drop in public confidence in the Abdullah premiership that Umno Vice President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has publicly called on Abdullah to rethink his transition plan to step down by mid-2010 as the timeframe for Abdullah to hand over the post of Prime Minister and the Umno President to Datuk Seri Najib Razak  was too long.

Abdullah was
incensed
 by Muhyiddin’s call, expressing his surprise that “a member of my cabinet came up with that kind of statement, against what had been agreed by all of us” and declaring: “I am not staying on for the sake of pleasure of staying on”.

Muhyiddin’s call however highlights the new political reality in Malaysia after the two political tsunamis in six months – March 8 general election and August 26 Permatang Pauh by-election – that the Malaysian political mould has been completely recast and it is only a question of time that  a change of transition of federal power is effected, whether on 916, 1016, 1116 or in an early 13th general election.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 12 September 2008, 11:18 am and is filed under
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Abdullah – release Teresa, RPK, Tan and withdraw from precipice of new Malaysian dark age

Part 2 –  LKS

Part 3 – LKS

Part 4 – Q and A

Part 5 – Teresa’s parent

Part 6 – Dr Hatta

DAP leaders, MPs and State Assembly representatives are gathered in this media conference, together with the parents of Teresa Kok, DAP National Organising Secretary, Selangor Senior Exco Member and MP for Seputeh, to condemn in the strongest possible terms the arrest under the Internal Security Act (ISA) of Teresa, Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the senior Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng.

We deplore these ISA arrest and attacks on the media and the blogosphere which also constitute a violation of the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantees of no Internet censorship, as the ISA detention of the RPK, the live wire of  Malaysia Today news portal, is as good as Internet censorship despite formal government  unblocking of the news portal.

Instead of a 916 “sky change” or “political change”, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has orchestrated a 912 “sky-change” of his own, with the ISA arrests and threats to the media and the blogosphere, marking the failure of his premiership to usher in a more open, accountable and democratic administration.

It shows how little things have changed in his five years as Prime Minister  – with hardly any structural and institutional reforms or changes as all the repressive laws and institutions have remained intact, just kept in abeyance awaiting to be reactivated, as has happened!

The former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad took more than six years to abandon his “ABC” (clean, trustworthy and efficient) façade with  the 1987 Ops Lalang, putting 106 people under ISA and closing three newspapers.

However, Abdullah took less than five years since becoming Prime Minister to show his face of repression by initiating the current crackdown, up-to-now a mini-Ops Lalang with three ISA arrests and against three newspapers.

This 2008 mini-Ops Lalang is completely unjustified and unacceptable  for two reasons:

(i) going against Abdullah’s 2004 general election landslide mandate based on his reform pledges and undertaking to  break from the Mahathir past of repressive rule; and

(ii) a totally  synthetic crisis arising from gross  misgovernance, as there is no national crisis, no  racial tension or religious strain unlike the pre-Operation Lalang 1987 which saw  serious racial tension resulting from a sustained and systematic campaign of racial  polarization by irresponsible elements.

It is the height of irresponsibility to create a synthetic national crisis  when the country is faced with a grave economic crisis and  the national focus of the government-of-the-day should be to lead all Malaysians to address the economic crisis.

Abdullah is facing a personal political crisis, as evident from  the open call by the Umno Vice President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin on him to step down as Prime Minister earlier than his timeframe of  mid-2010 and the support given by Umno Deputy President Datuk Seri Najib Razak to Muhyiddin.

However, Abdullah’s personal political crisis as to whether he would have to step down as Prime Minister much earlier than the June-2010 timeline under his “power transition” plan cannot be made an excuse to create a synthetic crisis to justify the use of draconian laws and powers like the ISA and to  engender conditions to  stamp out  attempts by Umno leaders to bring forward his timetable to relinquish  the Prime Minister’s post.

All fair-minded and right-thinking Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation, reject the use of ISA for the arrest of RPK, Tan Hoon Cheng and Teresa Kok.

RPK’s writings are open and public. He should be charged in court if he had contravened any laws of the land, affording him the opportunity to defend himself in an open trial.  The detention-without-trial ISA should not be used against RPK, as it is not only undemocratic and repressive but a clear case of abuse of power.

The detention of Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Cheng has evoked all-round outrage by Malays as well as non-Malays, Muslims and non-Muslims.

Everyone in Malaysia is asking – why Ahmad Ismail, the person who had made the provocative, inflammatory and racist reference to the Chinese in Malaysia is not acted against but the reporter, Tan Hoon Cheng, is detainded under the ISA just for reporting what Ahmad said? What has Malaysia become when the most elementary  notions of justice and fair play have become alien ideas to the leaders in government?

Teresa’s ISA detention is most ludicrous. She had been accused  by the former Selangor Mentri Besar Khir Toyo of wanting to ban the azan in a certain locality in Selangor, which was played up by Utusan Malaysia. Teresa immediately denied the allegation, which was backed up by the mosque committee concerned and the PAS MP for the area also lodged a police report against  Khir for the baseless allegation.

If action should be taken, the person who should be the target should be Khir Toyo.  Why was Teresa detained under the ISA?

Last night, Teresa was informed at about nine something that she could be on the blacklist of ISA arrests, with the suggestion she go into hiding.  Teresa refused as she believed that there is no reason why she should go into hiding as she had not done anything wrong to the country and she was fully prepared to face  any ISA arrest.  I am very proud of her. I am reminded of my first ISA arrest in 1969 when some party leaders advised me not to return to Kuala Lumpur from Kota Kinabalu as I was on the ISA blacklist. I refused to run  away from the country, as I maintained that when the people was going through their darkest hour, the place for me was in the country with them.

The country has been  swirling with speculation as to who else were on the ISA blacklist.  Among the names mentioned were the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng and myself.

Teresa has already become the first woman MP to be detained under the ISA. Is Abdullah to create another history by having the first Chief Minister in Malaysia to be detained under the ISA?

I call on Abdullah or the Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to publicly declare who are on the ISA blacklist to be detained, whether Guan Eng and I are on the list. I will not go into hiding if I am on the list.  There is no need for any cat-and-mouse game. Just make it public.

Cabinet Ministers should explain whether the three ISA arrests and action against the three newspapers had received  Cabinet approval as Ministers like the Information Minister,  Shabery Cik have openly defended  the ISA arrest of RPK.

I call on Malaysians to be calm and go about their usual business peacefully and normally. They should not allow themselves to be provoked although there are irresponsible elements who want to engineer another May 13 or another full-scale Ops Lalang.

Malaysia in 2008 is completely different from 1969 when certain elements succeeded in creating a scenario of racial confrontation between the Malays and the Chinese over the May 13 incident. There is no racial confrontation in Malaysia of 2008, as the Pakatan Rakyat comprises all races – Malays, Chinese and Indians – and all religions!

I also want to  call on Abdullah to pull  back from the precipice of a new Malaysian dark age. Release Teresa, RPK and Tan from ISA immediately and cancel the  show cause notice to the  three newspapers concerned, or his premiership wll be stained forever by the repression and dark age of 912 – September 12, 2008.

(Media Conference Statement on ISA arrests of Teresa Kok, Raja Petra Kamaruddin and  Tan Hoon Cheng held  at DAP PJ Hqrs on Saturday, 13th September 2008 at 11.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 13 September 2008, 3:18 pm and is filed under
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Beware!  Cavemen Working!

by
M. Bakri Musa

The arrest under the ISA of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, editor of the hugely popular Internet commentary portal Malaysia-Today, together with journalist Tan Hoon Cheng and MP Teresa Kok, as well as the “show cause” letter to three newspapers expose the caveman thinking and behavior of those we have entrusted to lead our nation.

To think that this repressive action is being taken during our holy month of Ramadan!  So this is the essence of Abdullah Badawi’s much-hyped Islam Hadhari!

I join millions of other law-abiding Malaysians in condemning this latest Neanderthal action of the Abdullah Administration in its callous disregard for basic human rights and dignity.  Unlike many however, I am not shocked by Abdullah’s latest act.  On the contrary, it is so predictable.  Raja Petra himself commented on his imminent arrest a few days earlier in his column, as well as in an interview with the BBC.

After all, the only tool a caveman has is his club, and the only skill he has learned is to swing it around wildly.  When that does not work, the only choice in the caveman’s thinking is to get a bigger club and to swing it even more recklessly, even at the risk of destroying everything around him, including himself.

The government had earlier blocked Raja Petra’s website, but when that proved ineffective (as mirror sites popped up immediately everywhere) as well as embarrassing (as it showed the government’s impotence and stupidity), the caveman in Putrajaya dropped his club and grabbed an even bigger one and began swinging it clumsily around.

Rest assured that no matter how big the club or how hard the caveman swings it, this “new” strategy will not work either.  We no longer live in caves and Malaysians – our leaders excepted – have long evolved from our Pithecanthropus phase.

Contrary to the official portrayal, Raja Petra is not and never was a threat to the safety and stability of the nation.  That major threat comes instead from those cavemen in Putrajaya.  Through his highly influential website, Raja Petra has done a yeoman’s job bringing the sunshine into that dark cave, using his website as a massive reflector.  Unfortunately its dim-witted dwellers, long used to working under equally dim light, found this sudden brightness blinding; hence they went berserk.

Raja Petra has successfully ran rings around the collar of the petty and inept Malaysian officialdom.  I applaud him for his success; I applaud him even more as he relishes in doing so!

Earlier the government had directed its agencies to block access to Malaysia-Today.  When that proved futile they reversed their decision.  Now they arrested him under the ISA.  What will they do next when they discover that too will fail?  Some folks are slow learners, others like Abdullah and his minions never learn at all.  Another feature of the caveman!

The Phenomenon That Is RPK

Raja Petra Kamaruddin is more than just an individual or a blogger; he is a phenomenon.  His creation, Malaysia-Today.net, now has a robust life of its own.  Through it Raja Petra has successfully ignited the passion for freedom among Malaysians.  This fire is now burning bright not only at Malaysia-Today.net but also everywhere its sparks have landed.

Even if Abdullah could douse down Malaysia-Today, a major supposition given his demonstrated ineptness, he could never suppress this yearning for freedom among Malaysians.

Nor for that matter could anyone else.  Raja Petra had made fools of the many who tried.  There was the pompous lawyer Raja Petra reduced to wild exasperations, frothing in his mouth at being unable to serve legal papers upon Raja Petra.  Deputy Prime Minister Najib and his wife Rosmah wisely chose not to engage Raja Petra in any legal tussle even though he had made some serious allegations linking her to the brutal murder of a Mongolian model.

Far from being cowed by the string of lawsuits, threatened and real, civil and criminal, Raja Petra is emboldened.  The only way they could “put him in” was not through the normal judicial process of using the courts but by resorting to the brutish powers of the ISA.

Malaysian officials justify their use of this abominable statute by pointing out that even countries like America, Singapore and South Korea have some version of this law.  This is a misreading.  Those oppressive statutes in America do not apply to Americans, only to foreigners.  More importantly, the statutes are being regularly and successfully challenged in the courts.

As for Singapore and South Korea, yes those countries are cavalier in their respect for the basic human rights of their citizens, but at least they have an efficient clean government and citizens have a high standard of living.  Not a bad trade off, though not one I would willingly partake if I were to have a choice.

Malaysians on the other hand have to contend with a repressive, corrupt and inefficient government as well as a rapidly eroding standard of living.  The worse possible combination!

Social Entrepreneur Par Excellence

Raja Petra is a social entrepreneur par excellence.  An entrepreneur is one who sees the needs of the consumers and goes about fulfilling that need, using the available tools and resources.  In the process he makes a tidy monetary profit, but also gains other non-pecuniary benefits like satisfaction in serving his customers.  A social entrepreneur profits not in monetary terms but in the changes he brings about in his community.  And Raja Petra has brought about enormous and irreversible changes to Malaysians and the nation.

            To be sure there were many others who preceded Raja Petra.  He was successful because he used the medium of the season, the Internet.  Had he been contented to writing columns in newspapers, delivering sermons, or making political speeches, he would, like many of his predecessors have limited if any success.

            It is this unique combination of the Internet and Raja Petra together with the peculiar situation existing in Malaysia today that has produced this phenomenal success.  The peculiar combination I refer to is first, the atrocious standards and utter lack of credibility of the mainstream media that eased the acceptance of Malaysia-Today by Malaysians.  The second is the foresight of Dr. Mahathir with his Multimedia Super Corridor initiative and its solemn promise of non-censorship that made Raja Petra and Malaysia-Today blossom.

            Today we, Malaysians as well as non-Malaysians are the beneficiaries.  Raja Petra’s being held under the ISA would not in any way diminish that luster.  But then what do cavemen know of about luster or gold and platinum!  To them those are nothing but rocks and pebbles!

            Putting Raja Petra away will not put an end to Malaysia-Today and what it stands for.  It is we the people that have made what Malaysia-Today what it is.  The government would have to put all freedom-loving Malaysians in jail if it ever hopes to put a stop to this phenomenon that is Malaysia-Today.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 13 September 2008, 8:16 am and is filed under
Bakri Musa
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Human Rights
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