Memperkasa mahasiswa Melayu: Menjana minda kritis

 – Dr Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

The Malaysian Insider

9 July 2014

Untuk memperkasakan lagi mahasiswa Melayu, mereka harus membangunkan minda yang kritis. Dalam era ledakan maklumat ini, terdapat banyak berita dan informasi yang boleh digunakan dan diinterpretasi namun kesahihan dan kepenggunaannya harus dipertimbangkan terlebih dahulu.

Tidak semua maklumat adalah benar, tidak semua maklumat bersifat neutral. Jika mahasiswa Melayu memperlengkapkan diri dengan kuasa minda yang kritis ia bukan saja dapat mententeramkan kehidupan keluarga, komuniti dan syarikat yang mnggajikannya ia juga akan dapat membangun dengan positif.

Terdapat enam tahap pengasahan minda kritis yang perlu dilalui dan dipraktik serta di praktis oleh mahasiswa Melayu.

Tahap pertama adalah untuk mendapatkan keseluruhan jalan cerita dan konteks seseuatu maklumat atau kejadian atau pernyataan. Tahap kedua mengidentifikasi sumber asal berita atau informasi  tersebut sebelum mengambil apa-apa tindakan atau strategi. Dalam tahap ketiga mahasiswa perlu membuat pengujian kebolehyakinan terhadap sumber informasi dan berita tersebut.

Selepas itu, di tahap keempat perlu pula bertanyakan sama ada sumber informasi berita atau informasi tersebut boleh mendapat apa-apa keuntungan daripada penjelasan dan peyampaian berita dan infrormasi tersebut.

Tahap kelima pula adalah mengasingkan maklumat cerita dari interpretasi maklumat dan cerita yang disampaikan. Akhir sekali di tahap enam, apakah pertimbangan nilai kemanusiaan yang boleh diambil dalam membentuk proses tindakan dan kesimpulan daripada berita, maklumat atau data yang baru diperoleh itu?

Tahap 1: Memastikan keseluruhan cerita maklumat

Mahasiswa perlu memastikan ia faham dan tahu keseluruhan cerita sebenar. Contohnya jika ia diberitahu rakan yang meminjam keretanya itu mengakibatkan ia tercalar atau terguris, mahasiswa tersebut tidak sepatutnya melenting dan memarahi rakan tersebut. Rupa-rupanya ada motorsikal  yang tergesel dengan badan kereta tersebut dan beredar tanpa mengambil tanggungjawab memberitahu keadaan sebenar.

Dalam isu politik dan masyarakat, kita sering mendengar tokoh politik Melayu memarahi kaum bukan Melayu kerana mengkritik Islam dan kedudukan Melayu. Jika mahasiswa itu tidak kritis mindanya maka ia juga akan terasa marah dan memusuhi kaum bukan Melayu. Jika disingkap keadaan keseluruhannya, tokoh bukan Islam itu sedang berbahas dengan tokoh Melayu yang mengguna kata kesat menghina kaum bukan Melayu dan agama mereka terlebih dahulu.

Tokoh bukan Melayu cuma bertindak balas secara manusia yang dihina sambil berkata terlanjur terhadap kaum Melayu dan Islam. Jika kita hendakkan Malaysia menjadi sebuah negara yang aman dan harmoni, pastikan maklumat yang diterima bersama dengan konteks percakapan atau perbuatan yang diketahui. Sebagai manusia yang banyak kelemahan, terdapat tokoh terlanjur kata secara tidak sengaja. Tetapi paling bahaya, terdapat tokoh politik yang sengaja hendak mengapi-apikan isu perkauman dengan berkata kesat dan menghina orang bukan Melayu dan bukan Islam supaya ia boleh melaporkan kritikan balas tanpa memberitahu konteks sebenar.

Tahap 2: Mengidentifikasi sumber sebenar

Acapkali kita menerima maklumat bukan sahaja yang menjadi secebis daripada cerita keseluruhannya, tetapi sumber yang menyampaikannya adalah bukan dari asal. Contohnya, pernah penulis mendapat maklumat daripada ibu mertua yang orang India dan Melayu bergaduh berpukul-pukulan antara mereka. Bila ditanya sumber maklumat tersebut, ia berpunca daripada penghulu kampung ibu mertua yang di Kajang.

Dari manakah penghulu itu mendapat tahu tentang kejadian yang berlaku 20 km dari Kajang? Rupanya ia bercakap dengan saudaranya dari telefon bimbit. Saudaranya pula mendapat berita dari sahabat yang lain. Jika ditinjau, tiada satu pun sumber maklumat tersebut nampak apa yang berlaku secara sendiri tetapi hanya menerima maklumat tersebut. Rupa-rupanya apabila disiasat, ia cuma berlaku pergaduhan antara jiran tetangga orang India dan orang Melayu cuba bantu leraikan. Jika kita tidak prihatin tentang sumber maklumat maka akan terjadi ketegangan antara kaum di Malaysia. Mahasiswa yang minda kritis akan menunggu dan tidak menghukum apa-apa selagi sumber sahih tidak dijunpai.

Tahap 3: Kebolehpercayaan sumber

Persoalan seterusnya adalah terhadap kebolehpercayaan sumber. Jika kita menjumpai sumber asal sesuatu kejadian atau peristiwa, penting untuk menilai sama ada sumber tersebut boleh dipercayai atau tidak. Pertamanya, adakah sumber tersebut suka bergurau dan sering mereka cerita untuk menjadi bahan tertawa? Atau adakah sumber mudah terlupa dan suka menokok tambah cerita untuk menyedapkan pemberitahuan peristiwa tersebut?

Atau sumber cerita adalah orang yang kurang pendidikan dan kurang memahami apa didengar atau dilihat. Semua jenis sumber ini boleh menjadi alasan maklumat yang diterima adalah sesuatu yang disyaki kesahihannya. Ahli hadis amat prihatin tentang perkara ini sehinggakan setiap perawi dijadikan kajian terhadap kekuatan fikirannya, ketajaman ingatannnya dan kebolehpercayaan riwayatnya. Mahasiswa Melayu yang cemerlang harus menteliti siapa sumber maklumat sensitif yang bakal menjadi malapetaka jika penerimaannya dibuat tanpa usul periksa.

Satu lagi aspek penilaian sumber adalah dengan  mendapatkan sumber lain terhadap peristiwa yang didengari. Dalam media massa, terdapat pelbagai sudut berita yang sama disampaikan. Contohnya, pernah dilaporkan ceramah politik itu dihadiri hanya 200 orang. Perkara itu benar kerana pelapor itu hanya berada di situ pada awal ceramah. Tetapi di akhir ceramah terdapat 20,000 orang yang hadir.

 Mahasiswa perlu memastikan yang ia perlu mendapatkan sekurang-kurangnya dua sumber berlainan dalam isu sosial, politik dan agama. Jangan bergantung pada satu maklumat saja. Satu cara yang baik adalah jangan mendengar secara serius berita yang mengkritik seorang pemimpin politik tanpa memberi peluang ahli politik tersebut memberi jawapannya sendiri dalam TV, media perdana dan sebagainya.

Dewasa ini, TV dan media massa perdana seringkali membuat tuduhan liar tanpa memberi peluang yang dituduh menjawab tuduhan dengan adil dan jelas. Selaku ahli akademik saya menolak terus terang budaya menuduh dan melapor sedemikian rupa dri mana-mana sumber media sekalipun.

Tahap 4: Menilai niat dan kesahihan sumber

Tidak cukup dengan sifat kebolehpercayaan sumber, mahasiswa harus juga meneliti persoalan adakah maklumat yang disampaikan sumber itu akan ‘memenangkan’ dirinya. Berita yang sahih perlu datang dari sumber tidak mempunyai kepentingan apa-apa dalam menyampaikan berita tersebut. Apabila terdapat kepentingan sesuatu pada penyampai berita seharusnya mahasiswa perlu berhati-hati tidak terjebak dengan strateginya menewaskan parti lawan. Walaupun secara dasarnya tidak menjadi kesalahan kita menyampaikan berita yang mana ia boleh mendatangkan keuntungan, namun niat seseorang harus dilihat jika terdapat suatu muslihat dalam penyampaian maklumat. Soalan pertama yang perlu ditanya dalam hal ini adalah, apakah sebabnya seseorang itu menyampaikan berita tersebut? Adakah ia bagi kepentingan semua atau untuk orang itu sahaja?

Tahap 5: Menilai di antara fakta dan tafsiran

Perkara yang amat merbahaya sekali yang seringkali terjadi adalah percampuran maklumat berita dengan interpretasi berita. Contohnya, jika sebuah berita media massa menjerit dengan ayat sebesar-besarnya “Bukan Islam menghina Islam!” maka harus disebutkan di sini tajuk berita itu adalah sebenarnya satu tafsiran berita dan bukan berita. Apakah berita sebenar? Mungkin terdapat beberapa orang bukan Islam yang meminta sebuah masjid memperlahankan khutbah Jumaat, Ceramah Masjid dan Azan Subuh dan ini ditafsirkan oleh pembawa berita tadi sebagai ‘menghina Islam’.

Di Amerika Syarikat, bacaan Al-Quran waktu sebelum Subuh tidak dilaungkan sekuat-kuatnya tetapi hanya didengari dalam perkarangan masjid sahaja. Ceramah dan Khutbah tidak harus menjadi bahan gangguan kepada orang bukan Islam dan Rasul sendiri mengingati umat Islam berdakwah dengan berhemah. Bacaan Al-Quran sebelum Subuh tidak berkumandang walau di Mekah atau Madinah. Di tanah suci, Azan dilaungkan dua kali untuk membangunkan umat Islam dan bukannya cara orang Melayu yang memasang pita rakaman selama setengah jam. Perkara ini bukan saja mengganggu orang bukan Islam tetapi mengganggu wanta Islam yang tidak boleh bersembahyang, bayi dan mereka yang uzur. Maka itu interpretasi berita dengan berita asal wajib diasingkan oleh mahasiswa yang berminda kritis dan berhati ikhlas.

Tahap 6: Niat kita terhadap maklumat

Akhir sekali adalah persoalan apakah yang akan mahasiswa guna bagi maklumat atau berita yang disampaikan? Pertama, jika terbukti berita itu tidak sahih walau dari jalan cerita, sumber atau maklumat, maka mahasiswa tidak boleh menyampaikan berita tersebut. Pernah berlaku wanita dalam sebuah parti politik menunjuk-nunjukkan gambar seorang tokoh Islam parti lawan yang dikatakan sedang berdansa walhal dibuktikan itu fitnah daripada teknik photoshop.

Kalau kita tidak pasti tentang maklumat seperti gambar atau berita, kita tidak boleh menyebarkannya kerana ia jatuh dosa fitnah. Kalau berita itu benar kesahihan serta sumbernya harus dilihat adakah berita ini boleh mendatangkan malu besar pada orang yang dalam berita itu? Seharusnya berita sedemikian perlu dilaporkan pada pihak berkuasa dan kita tidak boleh menyampaikan perkara tersebut sebagai suka-suka saja atau untuk memenangkan parti yang disokong. Walaupun terbukti kesalahan seseorang yang dalam berita, Islam tidak membenarkan kita memburuk-burukkan orang tersebut. Bagaiamanapun, jika kita berniat untuk membaiki situasi orang tersebut dengan menceritakan berita sensitif itu pada pihak ketiga maka ia amat dibolehkan.

Minda kritis adalah alat atau senjata yang boleh memastikan keharmonian dalam keluarga, persahabatan, komuniti dan politik negara. Dalam suasana individu dan pihak daripada golongan atau parti tertentu sedang giat membuat tuduhan liar dan mengumpan rakyat untuk menyebelahi mereka, mahasiswa Melayu harus bangun mempertahankan kedaulatan cara hidup kita berpandukan tatasusila rukunegara dan sunnah Rasulullah.

Hanya minda yang tajam dan hati yang ikhlas dapat membedakan maklumat dan berita sebagai fitnah atau informasi yang boleh mendatangkan manfaat ramai. Daripada sudut sosial, minda kritis adalah penghubung antara kaum dan agama dan ia perlu digunakan dengan cara sebaik mungkin.

Daripada sudut spiritual, minda kritis membebaskan pendengar atau pembaca berita atau maklumat dosa fitnah atau mengumpat. Ia juga menjadikan dada mahasiswa lapang menerima kelemahan semua manusia dan sentiasa memohon pertolongan Allah bagi menjernihkan selalu persepsi terhadap berita dan maklumat.

Bagi syarikat yang memiliki pekerja berminda kritis, maka ia akan dipercayai untuk meneraju kumpulan khusus dalam syarikat tersebut atau pun ia mungkin diberikan jawatan pengurus cawangan. Mahasiswa yang mempunyai mindakritis bukan saja dapat membaca strategi pemasaran lawan tetapi juga dapat merangka strategi yang lebih bermakna. – 9 Julai, 2014

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 July 2014, 9:09 am and is filed under
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What leadership is Najib showing when he refuses to make public the report of RCIII in Sabah although it has been presented to Putrajaya for close to two months after  decades of foot-dragging on the issue?

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak cited  Brazil’s ignominous 1-7 defeat to Germany in the World Cup semi-finals as the pitfalls awaiting Malaysia if there is an absence of leadership.

Unfortunately, Najib is one of the heads of government in the world who has a lot to learn from Brazil’s massacre by Germany, for in the past year, Najib has shown a singular lack of leadership as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

For instance, what leadership is Najib showing when he refuses to make public the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants (RCIII) in Sabah although it has been presented to Putrajaya for close to two months after decades of foot-dragging on the issue?

In fact, Najib will lose  all credibility as leader and Prime Minister, particularly in Sabah,  if he continues to lock up the Report of the RCIII in the vaults in Putrajaya, even though he is the first Prime Minister to accede to the demands of the Sabahans for a royal commission of inquiry on the issue.

This is because Najib’s procrastination and refusal to make public the RCI report will confirm the worst fears of Sabahans that the establishment of the RCIII in 2012  was not any genuine or bona fide effort by the Najib Federal Government to finally resolve the decades-long problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah but a classic but unconscionable  electioneering manoeuvre to lull Sabahans into the  belief that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government was finally going to take firm and drastic action to end the Sabah illegal immigrant problem and to get their votes in the 13th General Election in May last year.

But once the 13th general elections are over, and the Najib premiership firmly ensconced in Putrajaya even though on a minority vote, the decades-old problem  of the illegal immigrant problems in Sabah which had reduced the genuine sons and daughters of Sabah into foreigners and strangers in their own land – “the Land Below the Wind” – are also banished from the consciousness of the Federal Government in Putrajaya.

How else to explain the extraordinary episode of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal Immigrants in Sabah presenting its report to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on May 14 but the Federal Government still refusing to make public and its recommendations after close to two months?

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants into Sabah has established two records in the nation’s history – taking the longest time of  close to three months to present its report to the Federal Government after completion of the report, and again taking the longest time of close to two months with the Federal Government still refusing to make public the report.

This is why Najib’s recent announcement of the restructuring of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) does not inspire much public confidence that the government is serious in giving top priority to ensure security in Eastern Sabah as the Federal Government has not shown any will or leadership to stamp out the root problem of the decades-long illegal immigrants in Sabah – which is the root cause of the security and law -and-order crisis in Sabah.

The first thing Najib should do  to demonstrate leadership as well as to regain confidence of Sabahans is to immediately make public the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah together with a full Federal Government statement of its response to the RCIII  report.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 July 2014, 3:35 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin’s clarification  most welcome  although taken  with a big pinch of salt – calls for BN-PR National Reconciliation Roundtable to check racial and religious polarisation and reach national consensus to end  May 13 threats

I welcome the clarification by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claiming that his May 13 remark at a Ramadan event in Pagoh last Friday was “manipulated”, denying that he was making any May 13 threat to non-Malays and non-Muslims as he had merely expressed fear that such clashes could happen if Malaysians do not preserve harmony.

Speaking in Kedah last night, Muhyiddin said it is not wrong to issue such reminders, which  applies to both Malays and non-Malays.

I have said publicly that I would be the first to applaud Muhyiddin if he had spoken as Deputy Prime Minister of all Malaysians to all Malaysians on the imperative need to prevent a recurrence of May 13 racial riots and safeguard national unity in a multi-racial and multi-religious society so as to be a model of harmony and solidarity of a plural nation for the world, but this was not what he did.

If Muhyiddin’s Pagoh speech had been “”manipulated,” then the culprit is none other than  Utusan Malaysia, the mouthpiece of Umno.

This was because it was Utusan Malaysia which reported Muhyiddin’s warning of another May 13 riots in the context of worsening  ethnic relations allegedly because Malays and Islam were under siege (clearly implying that this was  because of the attacks  by non-Malays and non-Muslims), as illustrated by the following quote from Muhyiddin:

“As deputy prime minister, every night before I sleep, I think about how to manage the country. Someone sent me a text message (asking) what will happen to the Malays, why is Islam being insulted and other similar issues.

“These things are definitely happening and it is worrying. We must all return to the right path. Let religion as well as our culture and customs be our strength.”

It is very clear from the Utusan Malaysia report (and nobody doubts Utusan on this matter as it is the mouthpiece of UMNO)  that Muhyiddin was singling out non-Malays and non-Muslims  when he referred to the recurrence of May 13 alleging that the Malays and Islam were under relentless attack,  a threat which had in fact been repeated a few times since the 13th General Elections in May last year by  other irresponsible extremist groups and individuals.

I welcome Muhyiddin’s clarification although it must taken with a big pinch of salt – but in the national interest, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that henceforth nobody will issue May 13 threats to any particular community.

I have many questions to ask Muhyiddin, including why he had not immediately issued such a clarification instead of allowing six days to  elapse before doing so – which would have ended the unfortunate furore over his May 13 remark.

It has been reported that the police wants to call in the Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy over his response to Muhyiddin’s May 13 remark following the lodging of three police reports against Ramasamy.

A police report has also been lodged against Muhyddin for his May 13 remark.

Ramasamy has denied challenging Muhyiddin to re-enact the May 13 riots, saying he was “upset, sick and tired” that the DPM had harped on the May 13 issue and blamed non-Malays for the country’s problems.

Is the police going to call in both Muhyiddin and Ramasamy over the furore last week over Muyhiddin’s May 13 remark?

The country should move on. Let all Malaysians learn from the furore of the last week to be careful and not to be careless with our public statements and avoid insensitive and provocative expressions which undermine  racial and religious understanding, harmony and peace.

In Gelang Patah yesterday, while welcoming the establishment of a new NGO, “Negara Ku”, to battle racism and extremism with the increase in racial and religious rhetoric in the country including threats of another May 13, I called for a National Reconciliation Roundtable of the two political coalitions, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, to check racial and religious polarisation and to reach a national consensus to end all May 13 threats.

Will Muhyiddin support this proposal of a BN-PR National Reconciliation Roundtable to check racial and religious polarisation, reach a national consensus to end all May 13 threats in the country and end the  perilous course of incessant stoking and incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension in the past 14 months?

Isn’t it more useful, productive and patriotic for all Malaysians to unite regardless of race, religion or region to make Malaysia a great and successful country, acknowledged by the world as a model of a plural nation where there is rule of law, good governance, human dignity, freedom and justice for all Malaysians instead of undermining the country’s great potentials in all fields of human endeavour by incessantly stoking the fires of ethnic and religious hatred and conflict?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 July 2014, 9:15 am and is filed under
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Najib should be a voice of moderation  to fulfil the aspiration of our 1957 Merdeka Proclamation to  make Malaysia “a beacon of light in disturbed and distracted world”

The call by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in Shah Alam yesterday for unity between followers of Islam’s two biggest schools, Sunni and Shia, is probably the first good news not only for Muslims but also for Malaysians in this year’s Ramadan as the past 12 days  of the holy month in the Muslim calender have been dominated by negative voices of  unreason –   raucous, divisive and extremist – threatening the very fabric of Malaysia’s multi-racial and multi-religious nationhood.

Najib’s message to the Muslim world to learn to set aside whatever differences among the different denominations and coexist peacefully if it intends to guarantee its own future applies equally true and pertinent to the diverse races, religions and cultures in Malaysia if the Malaysian nation is to fulfil its Merdeka promise in 1957 to be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” and not to become  a basket case instead in the international arena.

Najib ‘s call for the unity of Sunni and Shia is particularly  welcome as Middle  and Moderate Malaysia, both Muslim and non-Muslim, had been most upset by a campaign of persecution and vilification of Shia Muslims, with calls at the UMNO General Assembly last December to spell out the definition of Islam as “Sunna waL Jamaah” in the Federal Constitution as well as recent developments in Syria and Iraq.

Najib said that continued antagonism between the two competing ideologies is the single biggest reason Muslims are fighting each other in the Middle East, despite the fact that they all believe in the same fundamental struggle for Islam.

“The simplest analogy I would use is that both the Shia and Sunni are on the same highway. The only difference is that they are on different lanes. Even the destination is the same.

“So long as we don’t switch lanes and push others, accidents would not happen and if there are no accidents, everyone will arrive safely at our destination.”

This highway analogy applies not only to Sunni and Shia Muslims, but also to the different religions as the Federal Constitution has guaranteed freedom of religion in Malaysia.

If this highway analogy had been strictly adhered to, there would not have been a crackdown on Shia Muslims in the country or the incessant stoking and incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions in the past year.

The question is whether Najib is prepared to provide leadership as Prime Minister, both in the country and internationally, be  a voice of moderation advocating not only peaceful and harmonious co-existence among Sunni and Shia but also among all religions to fulfil the aspiration of our 1957 Merdeka Proclamation to  make Malaysia “a beacon of light for a  disturbed and distracted world”?

Does Najib have a Cabinet who is prepared to give him full backing to be such a voice of moderation?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 July 2014, 2:10 pm and is filed under
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Why the migration business is booming

 – Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

11 July 2014

One of the better media outlets in this country is the Business Radio Station or popularly known as BFM radio. According to its mission statement, BFM is

*Malaysia’s only independent radio station, focused on business news and current affairs.

    *BFM’s purpose is to build a better Malaysia by championing rational, evidence-based discourse as a key element of good policy decisions.

    *BFM applies its discourse-based approach to other programming areas such as entrepreneurship, health, fashion, the arts, sports and music, as well as to its executive education initiative.

A short while ago, I was alerted about a BFM programme in which the director of a migration service which has been in business for over ten years appeared to talk about the business of migration.

Since I have written quite a bit about the wastage in talent and human resources in this country and how this constraint can prevent Malaysia from attaining Vision 2020 and reaching our goal of an advanced country, I was naturally interested.

Fortunately, although BFM can be heard only on frequency 89.9 MHz in Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor, and parts of Negeri Sembilan and Melaka so that listeners in the north where I am cannot receive it, the station has a website where podcasts of its daily programmes are posted and can be heard.

Hence I was able to access the programme through the internet. Readers interested can hear the interview for themselves at http://www.bfm.my/breakfast-grille-rayford-migration.html.

I should also point out that I have been the subject of a BFM interview on two separate occasions. One was when I spoke about the importance of an open tender system and why it is unproductive to pursue affirmative action because the results show that such a system does not create competitive individuals (http://www.bfm.my/breakfast-grille-050410-koon-yew-yin.html). The second was when I was interviewed by Melissa Idris on political change and corruption in the country. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdnz6C989Ag)

Why Malaysians Are Migrating

There are several points raised during the programme which it is important for the Prime Minister and other BN leaders to note. One is that the migration business has been growing steadily during the past ten years that the business has been in existence. This means that rather than declining after the uncertainty of the 2013 elections, Malaysians are continuing to lose confidence in the government. The interviewee confidently predicted that his business will grow even more in the coming years as more Malaysians look for a brighter future elsewhere.

The second is that we are losing highly talented human resources to countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These are people in engineering, IT, management and other key sectors whose skills are sought after worldwide and which we can ill afford to lose.

The third is the expectation that the highly publicised programme to attract talented Malaysians living abroad to return to Malaysia will not be able to produce much positive results.

Though the radio respondent and interviewer were politically correct throughout the interview and avoided any direct mention of politics, it is clear that Malaysians are leaving the country not simply because they are in search of a “better lifestyle” and “work opportunities” but also in response to the low standard of our politics and politicians, and the misgovernance found in the country.

It is significant that the migration service director noted that there was a big spike in the calls his company receives from interested clients every time one of the government leaders makes stupid or careless comments.  Although no names were mentioned in the interview, it is clear that both interviewer and interviewee had in mind the tweet of Bung Moktar Radin, the Kinabatangan MP, who tweeted:

“Well done…Bravo…Long live Hitler,” all in capital letters, via his Twitter handle @mykinabatangan, following Germany’s shocking 7-1 defeat of Brazil.

As the interview noted, people in the migration business need to send leaders such as Bung Moktar “thank you” cards everytime they open their mouths or their twitter accounts without thinking.

Many Malaysians have written to express their shame and anger over this faux pas. However, instead of apologizing to Malaysians, the people of Germany and all nations and people, especially the Jews who experienced war, suffering and atrocities as a result of a demented and power crazy fascist politician, Bung Moktar is unrepentent.

Bung Moktar and His Power Base

Bung Moktar, the Deputy Prime Minister of “another May 13” and “I am a Malay first” fame, and  leaders like them who make stupid or inflammatory speeches and comments, are one of the main reasons why Malaysians are giving up on our country and migrating.

But why are Bung Moktar and his type so arrogant and unapologetic? This is because the MP thinks he is no ordinary politician. His ego and powers have been considerably enlarged by the rewards provided by Umno for his ‘leadership’ qualities. One of these rewards is the Chairmanship of Felcra, one of the largest government-linked companies (GLCs).

And how has Felcra been performing under the leadership of this eminent Umno leader? Recently the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) urged the government to review the relevance of underperforming GLCs. According to Chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed there are GLC’s which are no longer relevant to the changing times, not properly managed and no longer fullfilling the objectives of their formation. These GLC’s which receive federal funding should be providing better returns and meeting the objective of their formation”.

Among the prominent GLC’s which has come under scrutiny for management issues which have been in conflict with financial procedures and procurement is Felcra. In more forthright language GLC’s such as Felcra have weaknesses arising from leakages, corruption and abuse of power. These leakages, corruption and abuse of power throughout our national system – not mentioned in the BFM programme – are also at the heart of why Malaysians are migrating.

My advice

Finally, I should emphasize that when young people ask me for advice on whether they should pursue opportunities abroad, I make it a point to tell them about the great potential that is found in our country and urge them to make their future here rather than in some other country.  I am beginning to see that there are more people like me who are criticizing the BN Government openly for all their wrong doings and at the same time putting their faith in the country.

The result of the last general election shows that the opposition, Pakatan Rakyat won more votes than Barisan National although they did not win the control of the government. Since then more people including BN supporters are beginning to appreciate Pakatan Rakyat’s good management of Selangor and Penang.

We must not migrate because, in my view, Pakatan Rakyat will likely win in the next general election and we need everyone to improve the country. Even if BN wins, that is no reason to leave the country since they will have to change for the better or be thrown out of power eventually. – July 11, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 July 2014, 1:29 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin should present to October Parliament a Higher Education Masterplan to produce at least two world-class universities by 2020 instead of allowing Malaysian universities to  become  recruiting grounds for terrorists for Islamic State (IS) war in Syria and Iraq

The admission by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi that local tertiary institutions have become recruiting grounds for militants and  that Dr. Mahmud Ahmad, senior lecturer with University of Malaya (UM)’s Department of Akidah and Islamic Thought, the Academy of Islamic Studies, was among five individuals wanted by the police for militant activities have catapulted Malaysian universities to unwanted national and international attention and publicity.

Instead of producing world-class universities in keeping with the Vision 2020 objective to achieve developed nation status, Malaysian universities have for the past decade been a  national embarrassment, annually confirming the absence of world-class universities in Malaysia.

Malaysia was completely absent from the Times Higher Education World Rankings 2013-2014 for the world’s top 400 University.

For the second year running, Malaysia failed to get on the list of the 2014 Times Higher Education (THE) Top 100 Universities under 50 years old – although four Asian universities are ranked among the top 10 of the world’s young universities, two from South Korea, one from Hong Kong and one from Singapore. In Malaysia, all the public universities except for University of Malaya, are under 50 years old.

Malaysia was also excluded from the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2014 for the Top 100 Universities, although 14 universities from Asia were included – five from Japan, two from Singapore, three from South Korea, one from China, two from Hong Kong and one from Taiwan.

Last month,  in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2014, Malaysia was again conspicuously omitted among the top 100 Asian universities.

Five countries were represented in the top 10 of the Asian university rankings – Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and China.

University Of Tokyo emerged top among Asian universities followed by the National University of Singapore.

University of Hong Kong, Seoul National University and China’s Peking University clinched the third, fourth and fifth spots respectively.

Singapore has two highly placed universities in the ranking, NUS at second spot and Nanyang Technological University at 11th position.

Hong Kong was named the star performer by THE, given its size, and the fact that it had six universities the top 50 of the ranking.

Even India made outstanding progress with 10 institutions in the top 100, compared with only three last year.

Thailand was in the top 100 list with two universities, King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi, which rose five places to joint 50th and Mahidol University (No.82).

The Middle East was also well represented, with universities from Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Turkey making the list.

But there was not a single university from Malaysia in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2014, which is most shameful and mortifying for Malaysians as in the fifties and sixties, University of Malaya was one of the world-class universities comparable in academic excellence with universities like Universities of Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney.

Now, after 57 years of Merdeka and 51 years of Malaysia, University of Malaya has  not only been left behind by its previous peers, including Universities of Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, all our  universities are regarded as far inferior to foreign tertiary institutions which had not been highly regarded by Malaysians in the past.

Instead of producing world-class universities, Malaysian universities are hitting the international headline for the wrong reasons such as becoming recruiting grounds of terrorists for IS (Islamic State) in their current “war” in Syria and Iraq.

Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, whose Education Ministry has swallowed up the separate Higher Education Ministry after the general election last year, should present a Higher Education Masterplan for October Parliament to produce at least two world-class Malaysians universities by 2020 instead of allowing Malaysian universities to become  recruiting ground for terrorists for Islamic State (IS) war in Syria and Iraq.

If Najib and Muhyiddin are serious in wanting to achieve the objective of Malaysia becoming a developed nation by 2020, then it is all the more urgent and imperative that they ensure that Malaysia can produce two world-class universities by 2020, for there is no country in the world that has achieved developed status without first producing world-class universities.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 July 2014, 3:17 pm and is filed under
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Najib’s response to Mabul attack resulting in death of one policeman and abduction of another,  too little, too late and smacks of a cover-up

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s response yesterday to the Mabul attack by Sulu terrorists when he visited Sabah on Saturday night, resulting in the killing of a policeman and abduction of another, is not only too little, too late but also smacks of a cover-up.

Najib’s  order to the  Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) to review the security system along the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) to be more detailed so that it cannot be penetrated by enemies should have been his first directive when Esscom was established after the Lahad Datuk incursions in April last year and not after 15 months of its establishment chalking up a disastrous catalogue of murders, abductions and violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia by Filipino terrorists.

Sabahans can still remember Najib’s boast at Esscom’s launch that Esscom was “the fastest decision made in the history of Malaysia in terms of creating posts in any government agency” but it has proved to be the most costly and unproductive of all government decisions, in terms of human lives, bad international image for the country, economic costs and public expenditures, resulting in a rare show of unity by Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament denouncing the ineptitude of Esscom and even demanding its abolition and replacement by a more effective security high command structure in Sabah.

Sabahans in particular must be shocked that   Najib’s response to the Mabul attack by armed Sulu gunmen completely omitted any reference to the Report of the Royal Commission if Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants (RCIII) in Sabah, when the Mabul attack and the poor security situation particularly in Eastern Sabah are all the result of “chickens coming home to roost” from decades of government inaction, indifference and even abetment (e.g. Mahathir’s Project M) on illegal immigrants turning the “Land Before the Wind” into a haven for kidnappers and terrorists and reducing Sabahans into strangers and even foreigners in their own land.

If the decades-long problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, whose number now range from 1 million to 1.9 million out of Sabah’s population of 3.3 million, had been brought under strict control right from the beginning, we will not today be faced with the security and law-and-order crisis afflicting Sabah.

The RCIII Report, if it is to resolve the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, would have made recommendations impinging on the security of Sabah, particularly pertaining to Essone.

Why is there no mention or commitment by Najib for the immediate publication of the Report of the RCIII, especially as it is now exactly two months since the report was submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and Putrajaya on May 14.

Is Najib prepared to get the Cabinet on Wednesday to make public the RCIII in Sabah report and implement its recommendations?

What has Najib to  hide in the Report of the RCIII in Sabah that he seems to be spearheading a conspiracy of silence on it, as if wanting Sabahans and Malaysians to forget that there is such a RCIII in Sabah?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 14 July 2014, 2:47 pm and is filed under
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Election dispute emerges as serious test for Indonesia

By Ben Bland in Jakarta

Financial Times

July 14, 2014

After 16 years of peaceful democracy, the dispute over who won Indonesia’s presidential election is turning into a serious test for both the country and outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose legacy will depend on how he handles the clash.

Both Joko Widodo, the reformist Jakarta governor, and Prabowo Subianto, a self-styled military strongman, have claimed victory in the July 9 election, although most polling agencies and independent political analysts suggest Mr Widodo has won.

The official vote count will not be completed until July 22, but both sides have already accused each other of trying to rig the process. If neither side accepts the outcome of the official count, it will be left to the national election commission (KPU), the Constitutional Court and President Yudhoyono to find a solution.

“Without question, the vote-count will be the major test for Indonesia’s democracy and, in particular, President Yudhoyono’s presidency,” says Tom Lembong, managing partner of Quvat, an Indonesia-focused private equity fund manager. “People only remember the beginning and the end.”

However, the president, the KPU and Constitutional Court all have their weaknesses in mediating the outcome of an election that has divided the nation, with media outlets, religious groups and senior politicians all backing one of the two candidates.

Trust in the Constitutional Court, which must rule on any disputes related to the official count within one month, is low after its last chief justice was convicted of corruption for selling verdicts in local election disputes.

The KPU has a reputation for competency at a national level but has minimal control over its 4m local staff and its commissioners are little-known bureaucrats rather than political heavyweights. So it faces a battle to resist attempts at manipulating the count.

The president has powers over the KPU, police and military and many analysts believe he has the moral authority to prevent the election dispute spiralling into violence.

Mr Yudhoyono, who is stepping down after reaching the two-term limit, has been widely praised for helping to consolidate Indonesia’s democratic transition. But his independence has been called into question because of the open support for Mr Subianto from his Democrat party, his son and many senior members of his cabinet.

He has tried to dispel this concern, telling Husni Kamil Manik, the chairman of the KPU, on Friday that he was “personally not on any side in this presidential election”. Mr Yudhoyono asked Mr Manik to ensure the complex counting process proceeds in an “accountable and transparent” manner, and added that if either side refuses to accept the official results, the political situation would reach “boiling point”.

This election re-engaged many Indonesians who were disillusioned with the country’s corrupt and elite-dominated politics, with Mr Widodo and Mr Subianto offering competing visions of change and tough leadership.

But this election has also revealed weaknesses in Indonesia’s nascent democratic system, 16 years after the fall of long-ruling autocrat Suharto, whose daughter was married to Mr Subianto.

Quick counts, which are based on a sample of votes cast, were introduced in previous elections as a reliable check on the outcome of the official count, amid low trust in the system and th KPU.

But this time, while most quick counts by established polling agencies showed Mr Widodo winning by a margin of 4-7 percentage points, a handful of counts promoted by organisations linked to Mr Subianto showed him in the lead. That has cast doubt on the outcome of the counting process.

With most international organisations happy with the progress of democracy in Indonesia, and the government keen to show it can stand on its own feet, there was no funding for independent election monitors.

Paul Rowland, an election expert in Jakarta, said that international donors to Indonesia had not expected such a dispute over the poll and had underestimated the cost of a potential failure in a country that had become a “beacon of democracy” in the region.

“If Mr Widodo is not declared the ultimate winner, as the trusted quick counts show, my fear is that there could be mass demonstrations and there’s the potential for an Egypt scenario,” he said, referring to the unrest in that country.

Yohanes Sulaiman, a politics lecturer at the Indonesian defence university, says he does not know any “non-partisan analysts” who believe that Mr Subianto won but warns that both camps will find it hard to accept defeat.

With Indonesia on edge, Mr Sulaiman hopes that President Yudhoyono will be a “balancing influence”.

“It would be a major stain on his legacy if something bad happens in the election,” he says.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 July 2014, 8:14 am and is filed under
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Najib should place  the subject “Malaysia – Another Germany or Brazil”  on the Cabinet agenda tomorrow and issue a Cabinet paper  on areas where Malaysia is another Germany and the fields Malaysia is becoming another Brazil

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that Germany’s 1-0 win over Argentina to become the 2014 World Cup champions was based on “individual brilliance and commitment to teamwork”  – a lesson which he commended  civil servants  to learn from the German footballers.

In his speech at the Treasury’s staff excellence awards ceremony, Najib said that if the concept of  “individual brilliance and commitment to teamwork” is extended to the government level – “if we do not work in own silos but function across boundaries” – then “our performance will also reach a higher level”.

Najib should place the subject “Malaysia – Another Germany or Brazil” on the  Cabinet agenda tomorrow and issue a Cabinet paper after the meeting on areas where Malaysia is another Germany and the fields Malaysia is becoming another Brazil.

Najib’s two most well-known initiatives on becoming the sixth Prime Minister in April 2009 were his 1Malaysia policy to create a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion or region second; and his Global Movement of Moderates to galvanise moderates to take a stand against extremists all over the world.

But in both his initiatives in the past five years, nobody could see any “individual brilliance” even by Najib himself, although he had made several well-crafted and sweet-sounding speeches on both subjects, let alone “extraordinary teamwork” in pursuit of both objectives.

In fact, Malaysians have cause to wonder whether Najib has not himself given up the ghost on both his two signature initiatives, as he could not show that both  the 1Malaysia Policy and the Global Movement of Moderates have the support of his teams, whether the Cabinet or the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council.

This is because his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had right from the very beginning rejected Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy when he proclaimed that he was “Malay first, Malaysian second”.

Did Najib ever present his 1Malaysia Policy for official endorsement by the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council?

Nobody believes that Najib could do this with Muhyiddin’s open declaration of being “Malay first, Malaysian second”, and this is why Najib has never been able to  state when the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council had respectively given their official endorsement to the 1Malaysia Policy.

The same applies to Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates, which had never been able to shake off its “lame duck” tag from the very first day – which is now even more poignant and pertinent as the country had  never  seen so much racial and religious polarisastion as a result incessant  and unchecked stoking and incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension by a small group of extremist NGOs and individuals.

On both these signature initiatives by Najib, there had never been ““individual brilliance” nor “commitment to teamwork”  by the Cabinet or the BN leadership.

What are the areas whether in economic, educational, human rights or good governance where  Malaysia is “shooting for the stars” showing that Malaysia could be like Germany to reach the pinnacle of human endeavour and the fields where Malaysia, like Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, is sliding down the abyss of disaster and infamy?

Is Najib and his Cabinet capable of producing such a report card of the state of the nation 57 years after Merdeka and 51 years after Malaysia for Malaysians to take stock as to where Malaysia is heading?

If not, can anybody say that Najib and Malaysians are capable of learning from the lessons of Germany’s victory on Sunday to become the 2014 World Cup champions?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 July 2014, 3:41 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians committed to justice will not rest until the cover up of Teoh Beng Hock’s criminal and senseless killing five years ago  are exposed and the killers brought to justice

Today is the fifth anniversary of the killing of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam.

The gloom over the unresolved murder of Teoh Beng Hock five years ago has been aggravated by the MACC statement yesterday that the three MACC officers implicated in the death of Teoh Beng Hock by the TBH  Royal Commission of Inquiry had been cleared of indiscipline by the MACC special investigation team comprising its disciplinary board and the complaints committee (one of the MACC independent oversight committees).

The MACC statement  sparked a new national round of shockwaves of disbelief and disgust at the continued  degradation of credibility,  independence, professionalism and integrity of important national institutions whether the judiciary, the Elections Commission, the police, the MACC or even a Royal Commission of Inquiry – testimony that the grave injustice of the unresolved killing of Teoh Beng Hock continues to be one of the greatest injustices in the 57-year history of the nation.

The Teoh Beng Hock RCI committed a great flaw when it failed to affix responsibility for Beng Hock’s death on the MACC although there were evidence galore before the RCI proceedings.

It was not just persons, namely various MACC officers led by Hishammuddin Hashim the then Selangor MACC Deputy Director and the “mastermind” of the illegal and massive 33-officer MACC “operation”, who must bear responsibility for Beng Hock’s death but also the institution of MACC as well.

The RCI report only made oblique references to the MACC’s role and responsibility for Beng Hock’s death without going for the jugular to pinpoint directly to MACC’s liability and responsibility.

This is most unsatisfactory and an abdication of responsibility of the TBH RCI on its specific term of reference “to enquire into the death of Teoh Beng Hock and the circumstances surrounding and contributing to his death”.

For instance, Para 336 of the TBH RCI said: “336: We are of the view that the death of TBH should not be in vain and all attempts should be made to improve the functioning of the MACC and the administration of criminal justice in the country as a result of our inquiry into the workings of the MACC. The evidence adduced showed that the MACC officers were prepared to go to great lengths to lie.”

The scandal of Beng Hock’s tragic death at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009 is not just MACC officers “were prepared to go to great lengths to lie” but the MACC as an institution which went to great lengths to participate in a conspiracy of silence and lies to pervert the course of justice to “cover up” the actual causes and circumstances of Beng Hock’s death.

Beng Hock’s death  would be “in vain” if firstly, his killers remain free and unpunished; and secondly, the MACC is not held responsible and liable for his death and instead allowed to “go to great lengths” to participate in a “cover-up” of the actual causes and circumstances of Beng Hock’s death at the TBH RCI, with MACC officers telling “lies after lies” at the RCI.

Malaysians who love justice will not rest until the “cover-up” of Teoh Beng Hock’s criminal and senseless murder is exposed and the killers, including MACC, are brought to justice.

DAP and Pakatan Rakyat will continue to highlight the injustice of Teoh Beng Hock’s unresolved murder at MACC premises as well as the  growing list of custodial deaths especially  in police lock-ups in the next meeting of Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 July 2014, 3:54 pm and is filed under
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Umno’s caveman mentality

Dyana Sofya

The Malay Mail Online

July 15, 2014

July 15 — Apparently, some people feel that Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail may not be a suitable candidate for the Selangor menteri besar post because she suffers from “uzur syarie” (menses).

This statement from UMNO legal adviser Dato’ Hafarizam is another testament to show how UMNO has failed to promote women in politics. This is unsurprising when even the UMNO Wanita Chief belittled my candidacy during the Teluk Intan By-election.

It is precisely this sort of negative attitude by those in power that has constantly robbed women of opportunities to lead in this nation. Only a person with a caveman mentality can deny women the opportunity and right to hold a leadership position in government simply because she may not be able to perform certain ceremonial acts during “that time of the month,” even though she is perfectly capable of performing her governing and administrative obligations.

Obviously Dato’ Hafarizam has never heard of three-term Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, who is one of the most powerful leaders in Europe. Perhaps if he had watched the World Cup Final yesterday, he may have noticed Merkel in the audience, sitting next to the President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez de Kirshner. In case it is not obvious enough for Dato’ Hafarizam, they are both successful women leaders.

In the Muslim world, we had Benazir Bhutto who was the first Muslim woman to head a democratic government as Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988. Her achievement was followed by Begum Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991-1996 and again from 2001-2006.

If the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh had leaders with the same mental capacity of Dato’ Hafarizam, these remarkable women would never have been allowed to rise to their eminent positions.

Sadly in Malaysia, and in the year 2014, we still have leaders who think having menses is a handicap that disqualifies women from being a head of government.

The reality is that the state constitution of Selangor simply specifies that the Menteri Besar must be a Malay Muslim. Nothing is mentioned about the gender of the said Menteri Besar. As a lawyer, Dato’ Hafarizam should respect the letter of the law and not try to blame societal sensitivities and taboos.

I wish to ask whether Dato’ Hafarizam whether it is truly sensitive or taboo to have a woman as leader of a society, or is this simply the case in UMNO?

All over the world, females are given more and more leadership opportunities, and it is our job to educate our own people and prove that we too have remarkable women in our country. Hence, those in power should maximise the potential of women in this country and not belittle others and revealing their shallow sexism in the process.

Power to my sisters.

* Dyana Sofya is political secretary to YB Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 July 2014, 12:48 am and is filed under
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Pakatan Rakyat will become a  Brazil in 2014 World Cup in 14GE if it fails to stay true to the PR Common Policy Programme and falls into the Umno/BN trap to destroy it with the hudud ploy

The independent pollster Merdeka Centre has found that nearly three in five Malaysians think the country is not prepared to implement the controversial hudud Islamic penal law.

Its survey on hudud in April found that a total of 59 per cent of the Malaysians polled shared this sentiment, with 58 per cent of Malays believing so while 59 per cent of Chinese and 61 per cent of Indians gave the same response.

Just 25 per cent of respondents — and 30 per cent of Malays — believed that Malaysia is ready to introduce hudud now.

Just over half of Malaysians also said they believed that hudud will not be implemented fairly with the judiciary and law enforcement currently in place. Only 32 per cent felt it would be implemented fairly.

Only 56 per cent of Malaysians polled said they understand the law, with only 14 per cent understanding it “a great deal”.

Those who did not understand it included 62 per cent of Chinese and 49 per cent of Indians polled.

I think a more rigorous poll is needed for the result to be more credible, but whatever the flaws of the survey, what is indisputable is that for the first time in the nation’s history,  Malaysia will be divided down the middle if  hudud laws are implemented – as reflected by the rather conservative findings of Merdeka Centre that 59 per cent of Malaysians polled think the country is not prepared to implement the hudud law,  with just 25 per cent believed that Malaysia is ready to introduce hudud now; over half of Malaysians who believed that hudud will not be implemented fairly with the judiciary and law enforcement currently in  place as compared to 32 per cent who felt it would be implemented fairly; and  56 cent of Malaysians who said they don’t understand hudud, with only 14 per cent understanding it “a great deal”.

It will the greatest disaster for  nearly six decades of  nation-building and the biggest  mockery of Vision 2020 of a united developed nation status for Malaysia  in 2020 if hudud is implemented, creating irreconcilable and  multiple divisions and conflicts, like Muslims vs non-Muslims, liberal Malays/Muslims vs conservative Malays/Muslims, Sabah/Sarawak vs Putrajaya/ Peninsular Malaysia, etc.

The immediate outcome of the implementation of hudud will be the break-up of Malaysia, for it is inconceivable that Sarawak and Sabah, which formed Malaysia in 1963 on the specific  understanding that Malaysia shall be a secular state with Islam as the official religion of the Federation, can agree to any such fundamental violation of the constitutional   compact in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

But well before the end-game of a break-up of Malaysia because of flagrant violation of basic constitutional guarantees in the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1963, there will be a string of other casualties.

For instance, I dare predict that Pakatan Rakyat will become a  Brazil in 2014 World Cup in 14GE if it fails to stay true to the PR Common Policy Programme and falls into the Umno/BN trap to destroy it with the hudud ploy

In the past three-and-a-half months, UMNO/BN had mounted a conspiracy to break up Pakatan Rakyat with the hudud ploy, with the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom making the first move in Parliament on March 27, declaring that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government was prepared to help the Kelantan State Government to implement hudud law, even suggesting that PAS move a private member’s bill in Parliament on the matter.

That started off the revival of the hudud controversy, plunging the three Pakatan Rakyat component parties of DAP, PAS and PKR to the second crisis of survival to engulf Pakatan Rakyat in the six-year history of the alternative coalition.

The first crisis faced by Pakatan Rakyat was in September 2011 which nearly led to its break-up and demise was also over the hudud controversy.

It was only when Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PAS, PKR and DAP finally reaffirmed the common policy programme proclaimed earlier by PKR, PAS and DAP leaders in the formation of PR as PR’s common priority agenda that PR was saved from an early demise.

If PR had broken up over the hudud controversy in September 2011, then the historic result of the 13th General Elections last May which saw PR winning 52 per cent of electoral vote and reducing the Najib federal administration into a minority government, with PR winning 89 Parliamentary seats and 229 state assembly seats (excluding Sarawak) would not have been achieved.

If hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13th General Elections, the Barisan Nasional would have regained its two-thirds parliamentary majority to redelineate electoral constituencies at will while Pakatan Rakyat might have lost Selangor apart from Kedah, and Johor would have reverted to become an invincible Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit” state instead of becoming a ‘front-line state for UBAH’ after May last year.

It was with these political insights that the deep UMNO plot to use the hudud issue to foment dissension and cause a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat must be understood – and thus the extraordinary proposal by Jamil Khir in Parliament on March 27 that the Federal Government was prepared to help the Kelantan State Government to implement hudud, even suggesting that PAS MPs present a private member’s bill on the issue, must be understood in this perspective.

Jamil’s statement in Parliament was completely at odds with the Barisan Nasional official position on hudud, as only on Sept. 25, 2011, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak publicly stated that the Federal Government will not enforce hudud law in Malaysia.

The Star in a report headlined
“Najib: No hudud in Malaysia”
 quoted Najib as saying at the launch of the Tanjong Tualang 1Malaysia Carnival in Perak that although hudud was accepted in Islam, its implementation must be based on reality.

He said: “The aim of an administration according to Islam is based on the maqasid syariah principle, which among others, entails protecting religion, life, morals and property.”

The Prime Minister said under current laws, the principle and objective of maqasid syariah could be championed.

He said there were already elements of hudud in the system “minus the extreme part”.

But in a matter of 30 months, less than 12 months after the 13GE, Najib’s statement of “No hudud in Malaysia” had been replaced with Jamil Khir’s pronouncement in Parliament that the Barisan Nasional federal government was prepared to help the PAS Kelantan State Government to implement hudud laws, even suggesting a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament for the purpose.

Was this drastic change in Barisan Nasional federal government policy on hudud made with the consultation and agreement of leaders and ministers from the other Barisan Nasional component parties, or is this solely the “personal view” of Jamil?

Unfortunately, instead of taking a stand on principle that any change of Barisan Nasional federal government policy whether on hudud or any other important national matter should only be made with the consultation and agreement of all BN parties, MCA and Gerakan decided to play politics by orchestrating a prolonged campaign of vilification against the DAP on the hudud question – though serving the same purpose of the mischievous  UMNO plot to foment dissension and break-up of PR.

The MCA/Gerakan contention that Jamil’s March 27 statement in Parliament was only his “personal view” loses  total credibility when Najib announced in Alor Setar on April 24 that the Barisan Nasional federal government had never rejected hudud.

The third ploy in the UMNO/BN conspiracy to entrap and divide  Pakatan Rakyat on the hudud issue  was the motion by the Umno Selangor Assemblyman for Sungai Air Tawar Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik in the Selangor State Assembly in June to push for the implementation of hudud.

But this UMNO motion in Selangor Asembly had to be hastily withdrawn when it  was accepted by the Selangor Assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh and UMNO learnt that the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat State Assembly members from DAP, PKR and PAS were united on the issue and had decided in a pre-council meeting to vote against the UMNO Selangor motion on hudud in keeping with the PR Common Policy Framework that justice, freedom and good governance and not hudud were the common PR agenda priorities.

In these circumstances, leaders of Pakatan Rakyat parties, whether DAP, PAS or PKR should be vigilant so as not to fall victim to the UMNO plot to foment dissension and cause break-up of PR, as we must always be mindful of what should the common policy priorities of PR as agreed by the PR leaders when the PR was formed after the 2008 general elections.

UMNO/BN parties, especially UMNO, MCA and Gerakan, should stop “playing with fire” to try to destabilize and divide the Pakatan Rakyat with the hudud ploy  and instead should focus on national issues as the common top priorities whether of Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat – how to ensure that Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or political beliefs can live in peace and harmony to fully develop our human, economic, educational, environmental and national resources and potentials, in a framework of justice, freedom and good governance where there is no corruption, cronyism and all forms of abuses of power.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 17 July 2014, 12:29 am and is filed under
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Investigation Into Malaysia Airlines Crash in Ukraine Faces Daunting Challenges

Andy Pasztor And Jon Ostrower

Wall Street Journal

July 17, 2014

Investigators looking into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 face a series of unusually daunting challenges—from accessing the crash scene in the first place to taking possession of the plane’s “black boxes”—that raise questions about whether any probe will be widely considered credible.

The crash site is in territory held by rebels, not controlled by the central government in Kiev. It is unclear the extent of cooperation between the two over access for international investigators who typically flock to the scene, sometimes within hours of a plane going down on land.

Ukraine officials have also said the rebels have taken possession of the plane’s data and cockpit recorders, or black boxes, complicating any attempt by international investigators to take possession of this equipment—one of the most important elements of any aircraft crash probe.

Examiners need first to physically examine the remnants of the plane—scattered across miles of rugged terrain in the middle of a war zone—before they would be able to determine definitively whether they investigate the disaster as an accident or a hostile action, or both. U.S. intelligence agencies have determined the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile but are split on where it came from, Russia or Ukraine, according to American officials.

Still, depending on what the physical evidence reveals and how much information can be gleaned from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, investigators can only then decide basic first steps, such as which agency will be in charge of the probe. At that point, they also will have to decide about whether dramatically different rules and procedures governing criminal investigations or civilian air crashes will apply.

Another complicating factor is what appears to be widespread contamination of the crash site. Some video and photos of the site show it being combed over by rescue workers, and what appear to be rebel fighters, media and civilians. Ukrainian officials said late Thursday they believe the plane’s black boxes were in the hands of rebels, and they feared could be transferred to Russia where they might be tampered with.

Earlier Thursday, Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko called for an immediate investigation into the downing of the aircraft. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak later said a full and independent investigation would be undertaken, and that Ukrainian authorities would negotiate with rebels to create a “humanitarian corridor” free of fighting to the crash site.

Konstantin Knyrik, a separatist spokesman for a group called the South East Front, told the Interfax news agency that the rebels had located the black boxes for the Boeing 777 on the site of the accident. He said law-enforcement officials from the Donetsk region who had sided with the rebels were working on the matter. “They will engage in documentation and investigation of the incident,” he told Interfax.

At this point, everyone needs to be concerned about “who is going to properly protect the evidence and do the job of handling the bodies,” said James Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Late Thursday, Malaysia Airlines started to lay out its preliminary plan for its side of the probe. Huib Gorter, vice president for Europe for the carrier said it would dispatch a 747 from Kuala Lumpur early Friday morning, with a team of investigators aboard, headed for Kiev. From Kiev, the team intends to travel by road to the crash site, he said.

Under almost any circumstances, according to investigators, the probe likely will have to delve into what was occurring in Russian airspace. The prospect of sharing sensitive information such as radar data and aircraft tracking capabilities could present major issues from the perspective of both Russian and Ukrainian authorities.

Even determining something as relatively simple as whether the Boeing 777 was correctly following its assigned air route 5 miles in the sky could take a long time, according to Alan Diehl, a former Pentagon and NTSB safety investigator.

Aircraft accident investigations are lengthy, painstaking and often bureaucratic under the best of circumstances. But the details of this event combined with the geopolitical dynamics of the volatile region present unique obstacles to those trying to understand what happened to Flight 17.

Under international treaties and aviation conventions, Ukraine is initially in charge of the investigation because the wreckage landed inside its borders. Ukrainian officials have the right to request assistance from other interested parties, including the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and engine-maker Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC. In extreme cases, a government can effectively turn over a probe to another participating team.

However, if the probe proceeds down a criminal or terrorist line of inquiry, Ukrainian authorities would have more leeway to tap others for help, safety experts say.

If the probe hits serious obstacles, it will join a lengthy list of prominent investigations—stretching back to the 1961 crash that killed then-U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld —in which experts failed to conclusively show whether hostile fire or something else brought down aircraft.

The United Nations has recently announced that it will reopen the investigation into Mr. Hammarskjöld’s crash after new evidence emerged suggesting it may have been an assassination plot.

The complexity of the latest probe may be rivaled only by that of the so-far inconclusive investigation of how Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared. In that case, the airplane disappeared and no trace has been found—hindering a complete probe.

While MH17 crashed on land, in a populated, seemingly easy-to-reach area, the crash site is the middle of war. The territory is effectively out of the control of a globally recognized government, and the rebel factions and two regional powers contesting it—Russia and Ukraine—have vested interests in influencing the outcome of any probe.

Fired On

Some past flights that were targeted

September 1961 U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold is killed in a crash in what is now Zambia.

September 1983 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet fighter jet in the Sea of Japan.

July 1988 Surface-to-air missiles fired from USS Vincennes bring down Iran Air Flight 655 in the Persian Gulf.

April 1994 Jet carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi is shot down in Kigali.

November 2003 Iraqi insurgent missile strikes a DHL Express flight from Baghdad to Bahrain.

—WSJ research

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 July 2014, 8:35 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Airlines flight crashes in Ukraine

By Ashley Fantz, CNN

July 17, 2014

(CNN) — A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has crashed in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with Flight 17 and that the plane’s last known position was over Ukrainian airspace, the airline said on Twitter.

The aircraft was “shot down” over Ukraine by “terrorists” operating a Buk surface-to-air missile system, according to the Facebook page of Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. There were 280 passengers killed as well as 15 crew members, Gerashchenko’s post reads.

“We do not exclude that the plane was shot down and confirm that the Ukraine Armed Forces did not fire at any targets in the sky,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said, according to his website.

The jet is a Boeing 777, according to Interfax. The plane reportedly went down near the border between Russia and Ukraine.

“We are aware of reports on MH17. We’re gathering more information,” Boeing said on Twitter.

“I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in another tweet.

News of the Malaysian plane comes in the same week that Ukrainian officials said a Russian fighter shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane while the aircraft was in in Ukrainian airspace.

The route the Malaysian plane was on, between Kuala Lumpur and the Netherlands, is a common one, CNN aviation safety consultant Mary Schiavo said Thursday. She said that the plane was flying over a troubled area and that close communication with air traffic controllers would be a key necessity.

In hostile or disputed areas, “any alteration from your course, and you can have a problem,” she said.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 July 2014, 12:53 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Airlines passenger jet shot down over Ukraine, 298 dead

FoxNews.com

July 17, 2014

A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane with 298 aboard was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Ukraine near the Russian border a day after a Ukrainian military jet was downed, Fox News has confirmed.

The Boeing 777 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down at cruising altitude about 35 miles from the border, according to Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister. He said all  passengers and crew members were killed. A Reuters correspondent near the scene reported seeing burning wreckage and bodies strewn across a nine-mile debris field. A Ukrainian Emergency official told the news agency body parts and at least 100 bodies were seen in the area.

Although Malaysia Airlines originally said there were 280 passengers and a crew of 15 aboard the flight, it later upped the number of passengers to 283 to account for three infants.

The flight manifest reportedly included the names of 23 Americans, though State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a briefing Thursday, “we don’t have any additional details at this point on American citizens” aboard the plane.

“Obviously, we’re seeking that information as we speak,” Psaki said.

Other passengers reportedly were from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada.

An AFP journalist at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport – where the plane had taken off – said distraught family members were in tears, according to The Telegraph.

The incident touched off immediate finger-pointing between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. Eastern Ukraine separatist leader Alexander Borodai told Reuters that Ukrainian military forces shot the jet down, but Kiev denied involvement and labeled the incident a “terrorist act.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, but he did not address the question of who might have shot it down and didn’t accuse Ukraine of doing so.

“This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement issued early Friday. “And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.”

The White House said President Obama spoke with Ukrainian President Poroshenko Thursday afternoon to discuss the crash and “emphasized that all evidence from the crash site must remain in place on the territory of Ukraine until international investigators are able to examine all aspects of the tragedy.”

Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence source told Fox News that the intelligence community was ruling out the possibility the missile was fired by the Ukraine military but could not rule out that it was fired from Russian territory.

The missile was believed to have been fired from a Russian Buk launcher, and the Malaysia Airlines plane appeared to be at least the third aircraft downed in the area since Monday, when a Ukrainian An-26 cargo plane was shot down. Late Wednesday, a  Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet crashed, though it could not be confirmed if it was shot down.

Separatist leader Igor Girkin boasted on Facebook at about the same time the plane went down claiming to have downed a transport plane, but the post was quickly deleted after it became clear the plane was a passenger aircraft.

“In Torez An-26 was shot down, its crashes are lying somewhere near the coal mine “Progress,” read the tweet, obtained by FoxNews.com and translated into English. “We have warned everyone: do not fly in our skies.”

The self-titled “Self-defence forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic” boasted in a June 29 press release of having taken control of Buk missile defense systems. The Buk, or SA-11 missile launchers, have a range of up to 72,000 feet.

Separatist groups reportedly blocked Ukrainian officials from the scene, and later said the “black box,” or flight data recorder, had been sent to Moscow. But The Associated Press reported that the rebels intend to call a three-day cease-fire to allow a probe of the incident.

KT McFarland, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan and a Fox News national security analyst, said the attack was most likely the work of Russian separatists, not the Russian or Ukrainian armies.

“I think it’s far more likely it was rebel forces in eastern Ukraine trying to get the Russian back involved,” McFarland said.

But retired Army Lt. Col Ralph Peters, also a Fox News contributor, said it is unlikely the Russian military would have put missile batteries capable of knocking a plane out of the sky at such an altitude in the hands of rebels.

“It wasn’t the separatists, although Russia will try to blame them, or blame the Ukrainians,” Peters said. “The Russians have not given the separatists complex, high-altitude air-defense systems. If this airliner was flying at 34,000 feet or any altitude close to that, it was shot down by Russian military air-defense systems perched on the Ukrainian border.”

Peters said the Russian military has been shooting down Ukrainian military aircraft in recent weeks, and most likely mistook the airliner for a Ukrainian military aircraft.

“Russia has a small number of elite forces, but most of the Russian military is ill-trained, sloppy and marginally disciplined.,” he said. “With no Western response to them shooting down Ukrainian aircraft, they just got trigger happy.”

The airline, which saw one of its fleet disappear over the Indian Ocean in March, confirmed only that “an incident” had occurred involving the Boeing 777.

“Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam,” read a tweet from the airline. “The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow,” read a tweet from Malaysia Airlines’ account.

Malaysia Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Razak wrote in a post on his Twitter page that, “I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed.”

“We are launching an immediate investigation,” he said.

The Donetsk region government said Thursday’s plane crashed near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of armed pro-Russian separatists. The area has been a flashpoint to the larger dispute between Ukraine and ethnic Russian separatists. Fighting has intensified in recent months in the region.

President Obama said the incident appeared to “be a terrible tragedy” and that the administration is working to determine whether American citizens were on board. He noted the national security team is in close contact with the Ukrainian government.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said whether it was intentional or accidental it is an “international incident” when a passenger jet is shot down. McCaul said he believed only a military grade weapon could have downed the plane.

The Boeing jets are equipped with twin Rolls-Royce Trent engines, typically cruising at 35,000 feet and at speeds up to 639 miles per hour.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those on board the Malaysia Airlines airplane lost over Ukrainian airspace, as well as their families and loved ones,” Boeing said in a statement. “Boeing stands ready to provide whatever assistance is requested by authorities.”

On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, also a Boeing 777 and carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew on a route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared somewhere over the ocean. It has not been found despite expansive searches over land and water.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 July 2014, 8:44 am and is filed under
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MH 17 disaster – fully supports Najib’s call for “swift justice” against perpetrators of crime against humanity who blew the Malaysian Airlines plane out of the sky and murdered 298 passengers/crew on board

All Malaysians are united as one people behind the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and fully back his call for “swift justice” against the perpetrators of the crime against humanity who blew MH 17 civilian aircraft out of the sky in Ukranian airspace last night and murdered 298 passengers and crew on board in cold blood.

Before the country has recovered from the disaster of the 132-day disappearance of MH 370 Boeing 777 jet with 239 passengers/crew on board on March 8, despite the largest and longest multi-national air, land, sea and sub-sea search, Malaysians reel with incredulity, shock and grief at another major air disaster to hit the country involving another Boeing 777 jet in less than five months.

Malaysia is in mourning today with Malaysians totally distraught at the senseless and criminal snuffing out of innocent lives, including three infants, as a result of the unspeakable crime against humanity against MH 17 in Ukraine.

All Malaysians extend the  deepest condolences to the bereaved families, relatives and friends of the 298 passengers/crew of MH 17.

Like the still unresolved MH 370 disappearance, the MH 17 disaster is not just a national catastrophe but an international calamity, as the victims are nationalities from at least  nine nations, viz. Netherlands 154, Malaysia 43 (including 15 crew), Australia 27, Indonesia 12, United Kingdom 9, Germany 4, Belgium 4, Philippines 3, Canada 1 and unverified 41.

The international community must condemn and demand an international inquiry into the criminal downing of MH 17 and murder of 298 people on board and bring the criminals to justice, whether the culprits are  Russians, the pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists or the Ukranians.

The Malaysian authorities should launch an immediate international diplomatic initiative into the MH 17 catastrophe  to ensure that no stone is left unturned to ensure a credible and comprehensive international inquiry into the downing of MH 17  civilian aircraft and the murder of 298 people on board.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 July 2014, 10:19 am and is filed under
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Pakatan leaders express shock, pray for those on board flight MH17

BY MD IZWAN and ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH

The Malaysian Insider

18 July 2014

Pakatan Rakyat leaders expressed their shock over reports that a Malaysia Airlines flight had crashed late last night near the Ukraine-Russia border, with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim offering prayers for all on board.

The opposition leader said on Twitter that he was still awaiting confirmation about the tragedy and was praying for the passengers and crew of flight MH17.

“MH17, Ya Allah. Another tragedy. Awaiting details, pray for safety,” he tweeted.

Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was believed to have been shot down over eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian militants on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard.

MAS has confirmed that Ukraine air traffic control lost contact with flight MH17 at 10.15pm local time.

Penang chief minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng writing on his twitter handle @cmlimguaneng said:“Sad shocking news about MH17.We r anguished wid pain at the loss of 15 MAS crew n 280 passengers.All Msians in mourning.Our prayers wid them”

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wrote: “Nation mourns as MH17 tragedy cannot be denied – deepest condolences to all bereaved families, relatives, friends of those who perished.”

Lim said the world must condemn and demand an international inquiry into the criminal downing of MH17 civilian plane with the 295 aboard – whethr Russian rebels or Ukraine.

PAS deputy president Mohammad Sabu said the parties who are involved in the Ukraine-Russia crisis had to be held responsible if the reports were found to be true.

“We have to be prepared to face this tragedy.

“If it is true that MH17 was shot down, Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the US have to take responsibility,” Mohammad said.

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali also urged the people to stay strong if reports that the plane was shot down were true.

“Pray for MH17, May Allah help us all,” said Azmin through his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, other Pakatan leaders also used their Facebook and Twitter accounts to share updates and post messages about the tragic news. – July 18, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 July 2014, 8:19 am and is filed under
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