Pengiraan Detik 99 Hari ke PRU13 – Jadikan rasuah salah satu isu penting pilihan raya buat pertama kalinya di dalam pilihan raya umum 13

Semalam, saya mencadangkan bahawa Pengiraan Detik100 Hari ke Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 bermula daripada hari pertama Tahun baru dan semua rakyat Malaysia mengambil bahagian dalam kiraan detik ke PRU13 kerana peristiwa itu mempunyai kepentingan dan kemungkinan bersejarah.

Pada Pengiraan Detik hari ke-99 ke Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13, saya menyeru kepada semua 13.1 juta pengundi untuk menjadikan rasuah salah satu isu penting pilihan raya 13 buat pertama kalinya dalam tempoh 53 tahun.

Sabtu lepas, Bernama melaporkan hal berikut:

Semua calon Barisan Nasional (BN) yang bakal bertanding dalam Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13 (PRU Ke-13) bebas rasuah dan jenayah, kata Setiausaha Agung BN Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Beliau berkata bakal calon BN bagi kesemua 222 kerusi Parlimen dan 505 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) telah melalui proses saringan teliti termasuk Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) dan Jabatan Insolvensi untuk memastikan calon tersebut ‘bersih’ dan bebas masalah.

“Semua calon BN yang bakal bertanding telah melalui proses saringan yang teliti,” katanya.

Selain itu, Tengku Adnan yang juga Setiausaha Agung Umno berkata latar belakang bakal-bakal calon BN juga dikaji secara mendalam untuk memastikan mereka adalah pilihan rakyat.

“Kita mahu calon yang bakal bertanding itu adalah mereka yang dikehendaki rakyat, bukannya kehendak parti atau individu-individu dalam parti. Kita mahu calon yang rakyat fikirkan dia boleh mewakili rakyat,” katanya.

Laporan Bernama yang telah mengundang cemuhan dan kebencian awam  membuktikan, sekiranya bukti masih diperlukan, bahawa UMNO/Barisan Nasional tidak mampu menjadi serius atau dipercayai dalam sebarang kempen memerangi rasuah.

Rakyat Malaysia tidak sepatutnya lupa pada pilihan raya umum 2004 ketika Barisan Nasional menerbitkan iklan muka penuh yang mengatakan kerajaan telah “korup dan rosak hingga ke akar…tiada satu pun aspek kehidupan yang tidak dicemari rasuah” dan menuntut pengundi Malaysia untuk memberikan mandat kepada Pak Lah supaya menjadi “Hakim Bao zaman moden” di dalam “membanteras rasuah habis-habisan”.

Abdullah tidak menjadi “Hakim Bao moden”. Tetapi, Malaysia menjunam lebih teruk setiap tahun di dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) Transparency International (TI), jatuh dari No.37 pada 2003 ketika Tun Mahathir meletakkan jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri ke No. 47 ketika Abdullah dikeluarkan daripada Seri Perdana, sehingga empat kedudukan terburuk CPI TI yang pernah dicatatkan buat Malaysia semuanya di bawah pemerintah Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s dari tahun 2009 – 2012 (iaitu No. 56 untuk 2009 dan 2010, No. 60 untuk 2011 dan No. 54 untuk 2012).

Adakah Najib berwibawa untuk mendakwa beliau dapat melakukan apa yang Abdullah telah gagal lakukan ketika dua pilihan raya umum lalu pada 2004 – iaitu untuk menjadi “Hakim Bao moden” bagi membanteras habis-habisan rasuah dan memulihkan sistem yang “korup dan rosak sehingga ke akar…tanpa satu pun aspek kehidupan tidak tercemar dengan rasuah”?

Kenyataan Tengku Adnan seperti yang dilaporkan Bernama Sabtu lepas adalah bukti UMNO/Barisan Nasional telah menjadikan isu rasuah yang serius di Malaysia sebagai sandiwara.

Mana mungkin kesemua 222 calon parlimen dan 505 calon dewan undangan negeri BN untuk PRU13 telah diperiksa dan disahkan bersih daripada rasuah atau apa-apa jenayah oleh SPRM, polis dan Jabatan Insolvensi apabila semua orang tahu bahawa BN dan parti komponennya masih belum menyenaraikan kesemua 222 calon parlimen dan 505 calon dewan undangan negeri?

Barangkali apa yang Tengku Adnan maksudkan adalah kesemua 222 calon kerusi parlimen dan 505 calon kerusi dewan undangan negeri untuk PRU13 akan didapati bebas daripada rasuah dan jenayah lain kerana SPRM dan pihak polis dikehendaki mengeluarkan “cek kosong” untuk membersihkan nama mereka semua.

Ini adalah bukti akhir mengapa isu rasuah perlu menjadi isu penting pilihan raya ketika PRU13 memandangkan tidak mungkin akan ada usaha serius memerangi rasuah selagi mana Putrajaya diperintah oleh UMNO/BN – hanya perubahan sistem dengan kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat di Putrajaya dapat memulakan pembersihan kerajaan dan negara yang panjang dan sukar tetapi amat diperlukan.

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/01/02/99-day-countdown-to-13ge-make-corruption-one-of-the-top-election-issues-for-first-time-in-13ge/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2013, 11:50 am and is filed under
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Talking about heights of arrogance

 – Aman Ally

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 06, 2013

JAN 6 – These past few days, Malaysians have been entertained by the spectacle of the Barisan Nasional-owned media attacking Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for his “Amanat Hadi” and the DAP for its inability to count votes in ints internal polls.

It reached a point today when Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim opened another attack on Pakatan Rakyat for revealing its “height of arrogance” in deciding to hold a rally in Stadium Merdeka next weekend without even discussing the venue with the stadium board or the police.

Now, I wonder if Rais knows what is “height of arrogance” actually is?

Isn’t it the height of arrogance for the Information, Communication and Culture Minister to decide that Hadi cannot appear on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) because of this so-called “Amanat Hadi” and that there is a fatwa on it?

Who owns RTM? Umno? Barisan Nasional?

RTM is a state broadcaster paid by public funds and not his personal fiefdom. Who is he to arrogantly decide who can appear on the station?
 Does he think he can follow in Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat’s footsteps, deciding that long-haired rockers have no place in local television.

Maybe back in the day but not anymore.

This government and Rais have this 1960s mindset that the it owns and runs everything that belongs to the state, not knowing there is a fine line that separates both. The government of the day is different from the state, just like civil servants serve the people, not the government.

That means everyone has a right to appear on state television without some government minister deciding on the merits of it. We are not a feudal country but a modern constitutional monarchy.

And if that is not enough, using Amanat Hadi and the DAP polls snafu to distract attention from Senator Datuk Raja Ropiaah Abdullah’s failure to complete a project but still pocket the money reflects another “height of arrogance” from this government.

Her deal is scandalous but the Selangor Wanita Umno leader seems to able to walk away with the money without even a rap on the knuckles.

How can this government just close its eyes that its land is being sold without even a building coming up? How incredibly stupid is this government and us Malaysians for allowing this to happen?

It is your height of arrogance to think that Malaysians don’t see this and will still vote you in over your political enemies. Your arrogance and pride will be your fall, mark my words, Barisan Nasional.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2013, 10:17 am and is filed under
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Zero success rate

R. Nadeswaran

The Sun Daily

6 January 2013

A SEARCH of the archives shows that in the past year, more than 100 columns and commentaries were penned covering about a couple of dozen topics.

Away from the office for a fortnight, there was plenty of time to reflect on what had happened in the preceding year, in between reading opinions and commentaries of fellow scribes regaling what a great year 2012 had been.

On reflection, what was there even to put down as a thought after having written on issues ranging from wrongdoing, inefficiency, insubordination, misuse to abuse of public funds and many more? These were issues of public interest – affecting every citizen of this country.

There is no way or equipment to measure the success of this column. The success rate in informing the public of such nuances and allowing them to draw their own opinions may have been excellent.

However, when it comes to getting responses, let alone results in bringing about such issues to the fore, the rate has been dismal – absolutely ZERO!

Thoughts have crossed the mind whether it is worth the time and effort put into producing this twice-weekly column.

Yes, readers like you who are holding this newspaper appreciate these efforts (judging by the scores of letters and electronic mail).

On a personal note, it has been a failure because it has not succeeded in bringing about desired results – not just the prosecution of wrongdoers, but an acknowledgement of the problem and remedial measures taken to prevent a recurrence.

One would think that a government which has been repeatedly described as “listens to the people” would have at least made some attempt to provide some information to some of the many issues that have made the headlines.

But instead, we have had nothing but stock silence which has been the order of the day for the entire year. In an era when our leaders thump their chests and proclaim “transformation”, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any truth in such pronouncements.

It would be certainly wrong to state that people entrusted to enforce the law are not carrying out their responsibilities. They are, but selectively. While they are quick to catch petty criminals and send them to jail, the same cannot be said of their zeal for white collar crimes.

When RM3.8 million of the people’s money meant for our disabled athletes disappears and is written off, not a finger is lifted to bring the culprits to book.

Even the police, the custodians of law and order seem to have washed their hands, passing the buck to another agency which investigates corruption.

It’s not the quantum but the principle. Similarly, after all the promise of “openness” and “transparency”, even the expenditure on the “Road to London” project has become a state secret.

While the sports minister alluded to the fact that there is nothing wrong in being accountable for taxpayers’ money, a minion in the civil service overrules him.

Even at local council level, the little emperors have decided to play God in deciding what can be made available for the ratepayers.

While the Local Government Act provides for minutes of meetings to be made public, some council chiefs have taken upon themselves to breach this law and yet no one can do anything against such people.

These three are just examples of what is wrong with our system. On a larger scale, the National Feedlot Corporation, the Paya Indah Wetlands, the leaking roof at the Expo Pavilion, the collapse of roofs of stadiums and hospitals are standing monuments of the greater ills that afflict this great country.

This columnist and other journos will continue to inform and educate the public, but there will be no results to show. We are banging our heads against a concrete wall.

Will 2013 be any better? Let’s hope so for the future of this nation and its people.

R. Nadeswaran is editor (special and investigative reporting) at theSun.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2013, 11:20 am and is filed under
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93-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib should dissolve Parliament by 8th March on expiry of  5-year tenure of Parliament instead of resorting to Article 55(3)of Constitution to secure  another 50 days as unelected PM

Article 55(3) of the Malaysian Constitution states:

“55(3) Parliament unless sooner dissolved shall  continue for five years from the date of its first meeting  and shall then stand dissolved”.

The 12th Parliament was elected on March 8, 2008 – the polling day for the 12th general elections.

The first meeting of the present Parliament was on April 28, 2008. Under Article 55(3), unless Parliament is sooner dissolved, the 12th Parliament shall stand automatically dissolved on April 27, 2013.

The sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the nation’s longest unelected Prime Minister without a mandate of his own – longer than his four predecessors Tun Abdullah, Tun Mahathir, Tun Hussein and his father Tun Razak.

He should dissolve Parliament by 8th March 2013 on expiry of the  five-year tenure of Parliament instead of resorting to the Constitutional device in Article 55(3) to secure  another 50 days in office as unelected Prime Minister.

It is constitutional for Najib to secure another 50 days in office as unelected Prime Minister under Article 55(3) of the Constitution, but no other Prime Minister in Malaysia had ever to resort to such a constitutional device to extend his tenure as Prime Minister – and in this case, as unelected Prime Minister.

If Najib has to dissolve Parliament by March 8, 2013, he has 58 days left to call for the 13th general elections.

Is Najib prepared to announce in the next few days when he would dissolve Parliament before March 8, 2013 for the 13th general elections to be held?

UMNO leaders have been touring the country declaring that Najib has halted the “political tsunami” of 2008.

Prove it then in the 13GE.

Or are these boasts  just empty bombast and hifalutin rhetoric, just like UMNO/Barisan Nasional claims that UMNO/BN could wrest back 20 parliamentary seats held by Pakatan Rakyat to secure two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 13GE – as well recapturing the PR state governments of Kelantan, Penang, Selangor and Kedah?

Is Najib confident of facing the 13GE by 8th March 2013 or does he need another 50 days to work up the courage to face the Malaysian electorate?

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/01/08/pengiraan-detik-93-hari-ke-pru13-najib-sepatutnya-membubarkan-parlimen-pada-8-mac-sempena-berakhirnya-penggal-5-tahun-parlimen-bukannya-menggunakan-perkara-553-perlembagaan-malaysia-untuk/

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 4:01 pm and is filed under
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Five contradictions in restricting the use of ‘Allah’

— Pak Sako

CPI/The Malaysian Insid
er

Jan 08, 2013

JAN 8 — There are major contradictions in the claim that the word “Allah” belongs only to Muslims and Islam, and does not apply to non-Muslims and other religions (JAKIM), and in the insistence that non-Muslims must convert to Islam to use the word “Allah” (Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria).

The contradictions are as follows:

1. If we disallow non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”, are we implying that Allah has no relation to the non-Muslims, that Allah did not create the non-Muslims, but to whom Allah must belong if He is the Creator of all things?

2. If we say Allah is not the god of the non-Muslims, does this not imply that besides Allah there must exist a second god, specifically for the non-Muslims, the former god of Muslim converts? Does this not clash with the Islamic concept of tauhid, which proposes that there cannot possibly be another god apart from Allah, and that no being can perform the work of a god other than Allah?

3. If we maintain that “Allah” has no relevance to other religions, who then ultimately created these religions if not Allah, the Creator of all things? Are we suggesting that Allah got it wrong before unveiling Islam? But if tauhid is to stand and Allah is the sole Creator, and if Allah is infallible, perfect and all-knowing, does it not mean that Allah happily created, with no games intended, all the variety of religions and religious philosophies including Christianity and Hinduism?

4. Therefore how can it be wrong for a Hindu, a Christian or a freethinker to refer to “Allah” as our one common god? Must Sikhs, who are not Muslims, stop using the word “Allah”, though “Allah” appears numerous times in their holy book, which is not the al-Quran?

5. If non-Muslims must convert to Islam before referring to “Allah”, is that to say Allah was not their Creator prior to them converting? But how can that be if Allah created everything and there is no god other than Allah? If we say non-Muslims are non-believers who do not recognise Allah, then why deny them the use of the word “Allah” to recognise this Supreme Being and Ultimate Cause?

The restrictions on the use of “Allah” conflict with the core tenets of Islam. They conflict also with those of other religions.

Therefore we need an open and respectful discourse involving all the affected groups in this matter.

This is to attain a better understanding of Islam, of other religions, of the nature of religion and god in general, and of the reality of living in a multi-religious society.

It is not enough for Islamic religious officials alone to convene and make decisions. Blindly accepting this or that authority’s unilateral interpretations or decrees cannot be the way to go. A resolution can only be found collectively.

It is thus necessary for each of us and all of us to question, discuss and learn widely to get closer to the truth. This is an essential counsel in Islam and in other religions.

It is clear that the exclusivist mentality of “this is for us, not for them, we are not the same so we cannot share” is not sustainable. It must be discarded.

We cannot escape from pursuing a broad-minded vision of religion that celebrates diversity and emphasises the shared values and other similarities across faiths. — cpiasia.net

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 7:03 pm and is filed under
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My aspiration for Malaysia

 — Amirah Ali

(loyarburok.com)

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 07, 2013

JAN 7 — When a friend informed me about the desecration of churches and mosques in Malaysia on January 7, 2010, I felt extremely angry, disappointed and worst of all, helpless. I had been reading about the “Allah” issue for a few days while juggling my university assignments at graduate school overseas. The shock and anger from the news made me forget about the horrible freezing winter. As I started to think about my beloved Tanahair, I asked to myself, “God, why?”

To me, Malaysia is like a beautiful hidden treasure in the deep sea. It has so much potential. It has so much richness and opportunity, but is also filled with many “eggshells” that one must carefully tread around, especially on religion and race. Growing up in Malaysia, I wondered why I did not feel at home despite living my entire life there.

As a child, I was convinced that something was wrong with me. I could not talk to anyone about my thoughts. When I sought guidance from my teachers, I was scolded for asking certain questions and expressing certain opinions. However, as an adult at graduate school overseas, I discovered there are many people who shared my thoughts and ideas. The same questions I was discouraged from asking in Tanahair are commonly discussed as part of university courses where students were expected to answer by thinking critically. For the first time in my life, I felt I was normal. It was then I realised the answer; it was because I could not be myself in Malaysia.

As I learned more on the desecration of houses of worship in Tanahair, I felt a big urge to do something about it. I did not want to feel helpless anymore. I wanted to express my emotions and thoughts about the issue, although it was a difficult thing for me to do as a quiet and private person. I thought of writing something but nothing sounded right. I felt like giving up many times.

Yet I asked myself: why is this happening, what does this mean, do words define God, do words define who I am … are words how people define themselves? As I thought about the Creator’s beautiful creations, I felt a sudden feeling of calmness. I started composing a song in Malay. In the song I asked the questions that I felt were on the minds of the Malaysian people.

After finishing it a few minutes later, I recorded it and wondered how I could share this song with other Malaysians. I did not have a YouTube account at that time and realising that YouTube only accepted videos, I felt nervous at the thought that everybody would be able to see my face. I asked myself: “If expressing my thoughts and opinions on this issue would ruin my songwriting career, a career that I am trying so hard to do, a career that has barely started, would I still do this?” The answer was a resounding “Yes”. I went ahead and uploaded the video to share the song with my friends and family.

A few days later Bernama TV News called at 2am to interview me about the song. To my surprise many people supported the message of my song. I also found out from a friend that Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, the daughter of ex-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, mentioned the song in her article written for The Star newspaper. For the first time, I did not feel alone anymore, knowing that many other Malaysians shared similar thoughts with me.

My aspiration for Malaysia is for all Malaysians to have freedom — freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the freedom as an adult to marry whomever they love. Most of all, I aspire for each Malaysian to have equal rights regardless of one’s race whether it is Indian, Kadazan, Chinese, Malay, Dayak or mixed-parentage like me. — loyarburok.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 1:51 am and is filed under
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Pengiraan Detik 93 Hari ke PRU13 – Najib sepatutnya membubarkan Parlimen pada 8 Mac sempena berakhirnya penggal 5 tahun Parlimen bukannya menggunakan Perkara 55(3) Perlembagaan Malaysia untuk menjamin 50 hari lagi sebagai PM yang tidak dipilih

Perkara 55(3) Perlembagaan Malaysia menyebut:

“55(3) Melainkan jika dibubarkan terlebih dahulu, Parlimen hendaklah terus berjalan selama lima tahun dari tarikh mesyuarat pertamanya dan selepas itu adalah terbubar.”

Parlimen ke-12 dipilih pada 8 Mac, 2008 – hari membuang undi untuk pilihan raya umum ke-12.

Mesyuarat pertama Parlimen yang terkini adalah pada 28 April, 2008. Di bawah perkara 55(3), melainkan Parlimen dibubarkan terlebih dahulu, Parlimen ke-12 akan terbubar dengan sendirinya pada 27 April, 2013.

Perdana Menteri ke-6 Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak adalah Perdana Menteri tanpa mandatnya sendiri yang paling lama  memerintah – jauh lebih lama berbanding empat Perdana Menteri sebelumnya iaitu Tun Abdullah, Tun Mahathir, Tun Hussein and his father Tun Razak.

Beliau sepatutnya membubarkan Parlimen pada 8 Mac 2013 apabila berakhirnya penggal 5 tahun Parlimen dan bukannya menggunakan Perkara 55(3) Perlembagaan Malaysia untuk menjamin 50 hari lagi sebagai Perdana Menteri yang tidak dipilih.

Di bawah Perkara 55(3) Perlembagaan, Najib bertindak mengikut Perlembagaan dengan memegang jawatan selama 50 hari lagi sebagai Perdana Menteri yang tidak dipilih, akan tetapi tiada Perdana Menteri di Malaysia pernah menggunakan perlembagaan untuk memanjangkan penggalnya sebagai Perdana Menteri – dan dalam kes ini, sebagai Perdana Menteri yang tidak dipilih.

Sekiranya Najib perlu membubarkan Parlimen pada 8 Mac 2013, beliau mempunyao 58 hari lagi untuk mengadakan pilihan raya umum ke-13.

Adakah Najib bersedia untuk mengumumkannya dalam masa beberapa hari lagi bilakah beliau akan membubarkan Parlimen sebelum 8 Mac 2013 bagi membolehkan pilihan raya umum ke-13 dijalankan?

Pemimpin UMNO telah mencanangkan ke seluruh negara bahawa Najib telah menghentikan “tsunami politik” 2008.

Buktikannya dalam PRU13.

Atau cakap besar itu cuma omong kosong dan retorik palsu, sepertimana dakwaan UMNO/Barisan Nasional bahawa UMNO/BN mampu merampas kembali 20 kerusi parlimen yang dipegang Pakatan Rakyat untuk mendapatkan kemenangan majoriti dua pertiga parlimen dalam PRU13 – juga menawan kembali kerajaan negeri PR di Kelantan, Pulau Pinang, Selangor dan Kedah?

Adakah Najib yakin berdepan dengan PRU13 pada 8 Mac 2013 atau adakah beliau perlu 50 hari lagi untuk mengumpul keberanian bagi berdepan dengan pengundi Malaysia?

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/01/08/93-day-countdown-to-13ge-najib-should-dissolve-parliament-by-8th-march-on-expiry-of-5-year-tenure-of-parliament-instead-of-resorting-to-article-553of-constitution-to-secure-another-50-da/

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 5:30 pm and is filed under
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RM160m to solve Najib’s problem?

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 8, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

The object of the whole LTAT exercise seems to be to save Raja Ropiah, people from Mindef and even LTAT – players who may all have a hand in the exercise.

COMMENT

You know how government-linked companies (GLCs) screws us? In order to deceive people, they build themselves a byzantine maze with sister companies, brother companies, son-companies, grandson-companies and great-great grandson companies.

It will take a financial sleuth some time to trace the trail of deception and corruption.

Take the maze of companies involved in the Deepak Jaikishan-Raja Ropiaah Abdullah scam.

LTAT (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) is the parent company. Boustead Holdings Bhd is the son-company. Baktiwira is the grandson company. And Jendela Hikmat is the great-great grandson company. Then there is Guppyunit

Umno has a system already in place. At every level, an Umno GLC infuses the culture of deception and corruption. Every level it skims off the milk.

The question is, why is LTAT so friendly with Raja Ropiaah? Why is Raja Ropiaah so special to Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and its minister then?

One thing is known. The object of the whole LTAT exercise seems to be to save Raja Ropiaah, the people from Mindef and even LTAT – players who may all have a hand in the exercise.

Since we do not have a RM100 million research centre, the sale of the 223 acres of land belonging to Mindef must be a massive fraud.

Why the need to save Raja Ropiaah unless she is fencing for Umno leaders?

LTAT buys off Deepak for RM30 million and he has no standing any longer to sue Raja Ropiaah.

One fact is now clear: Raja Ropiaah is more important to Najib. And Najib must save his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Raja Ropiaah, the owner of Awan Megah which has legal title over the 223.33 acres of land belonging to Mindef, is supposed to build the RM100 million defence research centre called Pusat Pengajian Pertahanan Nasional (Puspahanas). She got the following amount:

*RM13 million cash from Deepak;

    *RM8 million cash for political contributions passed on to her;

    *RM2 million cash from Guppyunit Sdn Bhd; and

    *RM16 million overdraft facility from Guppyunit.

Now, she gets RM130 million for 220 acres of land originally belonging to Mindef. Mindef buys its own land back for RM130 million.

Why would LTAT be stupid enough to buy a messed-up company for RM30 million, unless it was meant to silence Deepak?

Why would LTAT pay RM130 million for the land which it originally owned?

And did LTAT just spend RM160 million in one day to get rid of a problem for Najib?

The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman but has now joined DAP. He is a FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 9:40 am and is filed under
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92-Day Countdown to 13GE – Malaysia as “safest country in Southeast Asia” meaningless when Malaysians live in fear everyday of worsening crime

This is what a top Barisan Nasional mainstream media (BN MSM) editorial officer
blogged
 yesterday:

“Why are these criminals still going about their merry way robbing and hurting people at traffic lights, at their homes and everywhere?

“Why are they still so bold?

“Let me tell you why — because THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT and NOBODY IS STOPPING THEM OR CAN STOP THEM ..or WANT TO STOP THEM.

“I’ll be honest — I am living in fear. My family is living in fear. And we are not the only ones.

“Not only residents of housing estates fear of being attacked anytime, anyday.

“People…people driving in their cars..people walking…

“You fear when you arrive at the gate of your home — if anyone has been following you or lying in wait.

“You are just so fearful.

“In Section 16, PJ where my sister and her family live, occupants of nearly every household along the surrounding roads, have been attacked in one form or another.

“Police reports have been made..and yet…the attacks went on unabated.

“I’d like to ask the police this — what are our men in blue doing to prevent/deter these criminals from their vicious spree?

“I mean, really really seriously deterring them…..

“Yes yes yes…they’ve bought more motorcycles for policemen to patrol the streets…Visibility does help to reduce crime.

“But…then, these vicious attacks have continued and they happen when the policemen are not around.

“Let me ask — how many of these criminals have been nabbed?

“You feel the threat of attack near or at your home, you feel unsafe outside your home. You feel unsafe anywhere. No place is safe …

“Just going out in your car is no longer safe. You worry when you arrive at traffic lights. You worry when you cross the road..”

The top BN MSM editorial officer was blogging in response to a heinous crime reported in yesterday’s New Straits Times
(p 13)

 “Attacked and robbed on busy street – Traumatic: Woman in car punched and left unconscious but no one came to couple’s aid”
 about Air Asia X pilot, Capt Gurcharan Singh Sidhu and his wife Datin Arunee Dee who were attacked in their car at a traffic-light junction in Jalan P. Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday evening and robbed by two men on a motor-cycle.

But there is no surcease or pause in these heinous crimes as  today’s New Straits Times carried another report
“Foreigner loses RM35,000 to snatch thieves – IN SHOCK: Mother of two was at a traffic light junction when 6 men on motorcycles attacked”

(p. 27)
, about a pregnant Australian citizen who was left in shock after her car window was smashed and her handbag grabbed when she stopped at a traffic light junction near Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday morning.

As the top BN MSM editorial officer blogged yesterday:

“This is all so sad that it is the same old story over and over again… and this kind of crime has happened in many locations around the Klang Valley, notably near or at junctions with traffic lights…

“I despair looking at out neighbourhoods all guarded.

“This is not normal at all.

“This sense of fear is not normal.

“These are critical times. Dangerous times.”

It is meaningless for Barisan Nasional leaders, whether the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or the Home Minister to boast about the achievements of the various transformation programmes and Malaysia becoming the “darling of investors” because Malaysia is recognised as the safest country in Southeast Asia under the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011 and 2012 when ordinary Malaysians live in fear of crime.

This deplorable state of affairs where Malaysians live in fear of worsening crime everyday cannot and must not continue – one powerful reason why there must be a change of federal government in Putrajaya in 13GE.

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
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                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 4:07 pm and is filed under
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Desperation in December

by Rom Nain

Malaysiakini

Jan 6, 2013

Desperation evidently does strange things to God’s creatures, including some already-anxious Malaysian politicians and their minions. And nowhere has this been more obvious than during the recent month of December; a period often hyped as the season of cheer and plenty, but this time around coming across as the season of fear and stupidity.

At least for some.

If pushed for a time frame, I’d say it all began barely a week before Christmas. Perhaps inspired by a previously silent (though certainly not holy) night and the medically recommended seven hours of sleep, not one, but two prominent individuals came up in the mainstream media on Dec 20 with what they must have thought were brilliant suggestions.

The fact that they are both Malaysians linked to BN, however, made many doubt their brilliance. After all, the days of cemerlang, gemilang, terbilang went out the window with the ‘retirement’ of poor Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) and has largely been replaced, since late 2008 at least, by years of  temberang.

In any case, on Dec 20, the media widely reported that Johan Jaafar, chairperson  of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) had “proposed that all parties send their list of candidates contesting in the 13th general election for vetting by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)”.

Many of us must have choked on our tosai or roti canai upon reading this report on the morning of the 20th. After all, the MACC has been mired in quite a number of controversial incidents over the short few years it had been developed from the original Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

And the memories are not really pleasant ones that, as it were, mengharumkan nama (enhances the reputation of the) MACC. Au contraire.

Concerned Malaysians – and there are now many – remember the death of DAP political aide, Teoh Beng Hock, in 2009 and also that of Royal Malaysian Customs deputy director, Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed, in 2011, both at the MACC headquarters.

Many of us remain unhappy with the coroner’s finding in both cases.

Beng Hock was deemed to have committed suicide, a finding many still find unbelievable, given that he was not being charged with anything then and that he was due to get married and was soon to be a father.

Ahmad Sarbaini’s death – his dead body was found lying on the MACC’s badminton court, having ‘fallen’ from the window of the third floor of the MACC building on to the court – was ruled an accident by the coroner’s court.

Remaining anybody’s guess

Why anyone would ‘accidentally’ fall out of a third floor window to his or her death at 10.20 in the morning remains anybody’s guess. Just as it remains the nagging question on the minds of many Malaysians, right-thinking and left.

So, when the chairperson of one of the MACC’s panels who, since April 2009, let us not forget, has been executive chairperson of Media Prima Bhd, an organisation very closely linked to Umno, tells us that MACC should vet candidates for the 13th general election, there was much disbelief and, of course, objections.

Indeed, we also need to remember that from November 1992 to July 1998, Johan was the group chief editor and executive director of Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd. And while Utusan Malaysia perhaps wasn’t as despicable then as it is now, it was nonetheless widely seen as an Umno-controlled paper.

In any other country, aside from, perhaps, Zimbabwe, the dear datuk’s suggestion would have been seen as illustrating a probable conflict of interest.

But, of course, this is 1Malaysia Boleh… where, it would seem, anybody can make these mind-blowing suggestions with a straight face.

And, less mind-blowing perhaps, for a party like BN to then apparently take on this suggestion and just nine days later, on Dec 29, declare, through it’s secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, that all BN “candidates for the 222 parliamentary and 505 state seats had undergone screening by the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Department of Insolvency to ensure that they were ‘clean’ and did not have any problems.”

As far we all know, he, too, said that with a straight face.

So, I guess we are being asked to believe that, despite PFKZ, NFC, Scorpene, the RM40 million that went to Sabah via Hong Kong and, more recently, Puspahanas – and this is just to skim the surface – the BN is now, somehow ‘transformed’.

Hallelujah. Indeed.

But it hasn’t stopped there, of course. No, the world may not have ended in 2012, but neither has the inanity. Certainly not in Malaysia.

On the same day that Johan Jaafar’s suggestion was reported, another, more prominent Malaysian, the prime minister no less, was even more widely reported by the media.

His revelation/suggestion was equally disingenuous.

Speaking from New Delhi, having had a 30 minute tete-a-tete with Indian premier, Manmohan Singh, Jibby announced to us all the latest, surely expensive, scam to improve Malaysians’ Inggeris – “to bring in teachers from India who are skilled in the English Language to teach our students in Malaysia”.

Many of us, I’m sure, have absolutely no objection to bringing in experts from Timbuktu to teach our kids English, let alone experts from India.

Why do we need to go outside?

But there are two perennial questions that are raised which these jerks in high office never seem to want to respond to.

First, why do we need to go outside – to the USA, now to India – to look for these teachers when many of us keep suggesting that they try to recruit really good local experts – our ex-schoolteachers from the days before the ministry screwed up the teaching of English?

Granted, some may have gone on to that big classroom in the sky. But I know of others who are still more alert than many of our politicians and would love to at least be asked if they would like to perform this national service.

Why indeed is the BN government quite carelessly using our money to pay for the services of these expatriates when their agencies evidently haven’t worked hard enough to source out local experts?

The second question constantly raised is why keep paying lip service to improving the use of the language through questionable means, yet not address the main reasons for the decline? Why indeed are expensive expatriates recruited, evidently as a key strategy, when the efficacy of the strategy has not been revealed?

At the same time, the wider environment at the root of the deteriorating standards is hardly addressed or seriously evaluated.

For instance, barely 10 years after the teaching of mathematics and science in English programme (PPSMI) was implemented in 2003,  it was all but discontinued.

Also, no attention has seriously been paid to the suggestion that making English a compulsory subject to pass at SPM level may, indeed, make students – and parents – take it seriously. Or the idea of reintroducing the previously popular – and rather successful – English-medium national schools.

In all these cases, we really should ask ‘Why’?

Is it because the language nationalists continue to object to any attempt at raising fast-declining standards not only in English but also in Malaysian education overall? Because such strategies are deemed disadvantageous to the Malays? Or at least disadvantageous to one segment of the Malay community that for too long has been left by the wayside but remains a vital vote bank?

Subsequently, for all the PM’s – and his underlings’ – talk about recruiting foreigners to help improve language proficiency, we all know what all that amounts to – talk.

And cheap election talk at that.

Christmas Day election move

But, surely, the most desperate election tai chi move over the period must have come on Christmas day.

Reportedly addressing our Christian brothers and sisters, Ah Jib Goh @ Bijan gave this spiel in the media about being a ‘PM for all Malaysians’.

And, yes, he evidently said that too with a straight face.

What he reportedly said at the annual Christian Federation Malaysia Christmas High Tea was: “I do not want to be a prime minister for only a section of the community but for all Malaysians and I have said this repeatedly.”

Maybe he should tell that to Malaysia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. They would have been heartened to hear that, given the attacks on Seksualiti Merdeka, and, of course the ongoing assaults on the rights of this community and the plainly stupid attempts by officials in the Education Ministry to foster hatred against these fellow Malaysians. Attacks which this ‘PM for all’ thus far has not spoken against.

Perhaps he should pass that message of his on to the Penan and other marginalised Malaysian ethnic and tribal communities living in Sabah and Sarawak and also here on the peninsula. The many allegedly raped and shattered Penan women will, I’m sure, now believe that the PM, who also happens to head the Women’s Ministry, will look into their plight.

Perhaps, indeed, he should also pass his Christmas message to Ibrahim Ali and his Perkasa goons and tell them off, if not condemn them, for the being as racist as the white supremacists in the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Strike Force.

As Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing  put it in response: “…if you shake down the PM’s rhetoric, what have you left – syrupy sentiment and clichés that have little or no connection with realities on the ground.”

And the good bishop surely must have spoken for many of us – even non-Christian – Malaysians when he asked: “If he had a broad view of his office, how come when Christians were accused over the last two years of not just being ‘pendatang’ but sinister fifth-columnists, there was not a word from official quarters to stem that patently false accusation which was aimed at creating suspicion and hatred for Christians on the part of the Muslim majority of this country?”

Desperation and daftness

Such then was the desperation and daftness shown at year-end. It didn’t stop there, of course.

To name just three, there was the Automated Enforcement System (AES) debacle, with questions raised about apparent cronyism; the flip-flop silliness surrounding the RM200 rebate for young smartphone buyers; and the RM100 million Puspahanas land controversy that threatens to become another NFC.

Then, of course, many of us received inane, insincere, and downright annoying text greetings on our mobile phones from unknown politicians. And they will remain unknown at the rate they are going.

Really, from the top politician to the inconsequential, their actions indicate not only that the 13th general election is (finally!) drawing near, but also that, for the first time perhaps, their fate is pretty much uncertain.

But if they continue to annoy us with their inanity and bare-faced lies, it is quite likely that they’ll seal their fate in the most adverse way possible.

——————————————————————————–

ROM NAIN is a media analyst and academic who is weary of incompetent, unethical leaders and their apologists and spin doctors in the media who try to get away with murder while professing to rub shoulders with God’s angels.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 11:33 am and is filed under
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MCA’s irrelevance

 — Jimmy Chua

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 08, 2013

JAN 8 — Really? On a day in which a good number of Malaysians were upset at the decree by the Selangor Sultan prohibiting non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”, the time warp Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) was engaging in nonsense.

Granted, the party is in a fight for its political life against DAP and can’t resist a point-scoring opportunity but surely, speaking up for non-Muslims is an important part of its remit. Surely, you show your relevance to Malaysians by speaking up on important issues.

No. It appears that the MCA of Chua Soi Lek and Liow Tiong Lai is incapable of anything substantial.

So, instead of making its position clear on the Sultan’s decree or at least adding some clarity to the issue, they chose to focus only on the DAP election fiasco.

And even then, they came out sounding incoherent. After chairing a party meeting, Chua said that DAP’s election snafu was a slap in the face of a party which talked about transparency, etc.

It is a fact that DAP didn’t cover itself with glory by fouling up a simple counting process which saw Zairil Khir Johari denied a place on the DAP leadership team.

DAP told the world about its mistake, reversed the mistake and one of the main figures in the fiasco resigned. The party can be accused of amateurish behaviour but surely coming clean, instead of hiding a mistake, is transparency.

In any case, DAP’s election mistake is not the most important news of the day. What has more impact on the lives of Christians and Sikhs is a ruling by the Selangor Sultan that the word “Allah” cannot be used by non-Muslims in the state.

Surely, the MCA has a view on this ruling. Or has it become a party which needs to sing the same tune of Umno or wait for the go-ahead from its Big Brother?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 11:06 am and is filed under
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91-Day Countdown to 13GE –BN leaders are suddenly describing Malaysia virtually  as  “heaven on earth” because UMNO/BN leaders conscious they can lose Putrajaya in 13GE, likely to be held by end of March

Suddenly, UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders are describing Malaysia virtually as “heaven on earth” despite the glaring failures of 1Malaysia Policy and various Transformation Programmes, because UMNO/BN leaders are very conscious that they can lose Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections  which is very likely to be held by end of March.

Conveniently ignored are:

•	the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history;

•	the most irresponsible politics of hatred, conflict, lies and falsehoods perpetrated by the ruling coalition and its mainstream media (MSM) since Merdeka in 1957;

•	the Transparency International Corruption Perception Indices which showed that corruption under the four-year Najib premiership was worse than under all the previous Prime Ministers;

•	the latest Global Finance Integrity report which showed that  on a per capita basis Malaysia is No. 1 in the world on illicit and corruption money outflow (whether in terms of black money siphoned out of the country for 2010 which is RM196.8 billion or for the past decade 2000 – 2010 which is RM871 billion);  or

•	the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2011 on the two critical subjects of mathematics and science which showed that Malaysia is providing an inferior education system whether compared to other countries or with our own past.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who distanced himself from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy declaring that he is “Malay first, Malaysian second”, is in the forefront singing praises for Malaysia – claiming that  Malaysia has now become the “darling of investors” because of the various Transformation Programmes.

All these sudden hymns of superlative praises by UMNO/BN leaders about the successes of the various Najib transformation programmes, claims that  Najib had halted the “political tsunami” of 2008 and that UMNO/BN are poised to wrest back 20 parliamentary seats from Pakatan Rakyat and regain two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 13GE, cannot hide the fact that UMNO/BN leaders are worried that they could be evicted out of Putrajaya in the next general elections.

This best testimony of this was provided by the Johore Mentri Besar, Datuk Abdul Ghani Osman who spoke to Kulai Chinese organisations on Tuesday and  conceded that Pakatan Rakyat could win Putrajaya in the 13GE, although he warned that the most the Pakatan Rakyat could win would be a slim majority of 5% to 10% of the parliamentary seats, which he said would lead to economic instability.

Pakatan Rakyat winning a slim 5% to 10% parliamentary majority would range from PR winning 117 seats to BN’s 105 seats with a 12-seat majority (i.e. 5.5% majority) to PR winning 122 seats to BN’s 100 seats with a majority of 22 seats (i.e. 10% majority).

Malaysians who want to see fundamental changes to emanate from the 13GE must work hard to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat can win more than 5% to 10% of the parliamentary majority, i.e. winning more than  more than 122 parliamentary seats.

This is why last month, I had issued a call to arms to all Malaysians to fully support the “Hundred Days to Putrajaya” campaign for a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya with 125 parliamentary seats in Parliament, with a distribution of 45:40:40 seats respectively for PKR, PAS and DAP.

I had also said that the secret to the PR success in the 13GE will hinge on our ability to win over the four million middle ground voters by focussing on the national issues of overriding importance, including PR’s ability

•	to manage and reduce corruption in the country;

•	to show a new path towards genuine national unity and inter-racial harmony;

•	to govern more equitably with social justice and economic efficiency;

•	to reduce poverty among the native population in Sabah and Sarawak and bring more sustainable development to both of these states; and

•	to usher in a new era of governance where democracy is developed and deepened.

Today, on the 91-Day Countdown to 13GE, let me say that I expect Parliament to be dissolved in February and the 13GE held by the end of March – considering that the Negri Sembilan State Assembly will stand automatically dissolved on 26th March 2013 as it was the first state assembly to meet after the 308 general elections in 2008, i.e. on 27th March 2008.

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
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                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2013, 2:24 pm and is filed under
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Deep despair in BN corridors

Toffee Rozario | January 10, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

For the Barisan Nasional government to fall, the majority of the Malays must vote the opposition and that is the definitive trend today.

COMMENT

The signs are there, it is just too many. The next general election is going to deal a huge blow to the Barisan Nasional government and it will be a blow that will take BN at least 20 years to recover.

The recent revelations, coming in spurts, are a typical Umno strategy, which Dr Mahathir Mohamad used so often and that explains the succession he has passed on.

Although I am convinced that former Inspector-General of Police Musa Hasan and carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan are telling us the truth, I doubt their sincerity.

I believe they are doing this because they were short-changed. They are revealing the truth in instalments in the hope that the big pay day will come.

That’s when they will decide whether to keep quiet or spill more. But when and if that big “pay day” comes, then I believe they will wait for yet another bigger pay day; after all, isn’t the current “strategy” just pay, pay and pay?

I doubt Deepak’s claims that he will tell all. He is waiting for the big payouts and he wants it as soon as possible.

He knows as much as Najib Tun Razak, Rosmah Mansor and Mahathir that the end is near and that the BN government is going to be dumped.

In fact, they all know that and are trying their level best to intimidate the people. But this time it will not work.

Slow revelation of truth

Before this government falls, all these players must collect their ill-gotten gains promised to them by the big boys. And they must leave the country quickly less they get caught for all the bad things they have done in concert with the BN.

Thus the slow revelation of the truth.

Notable is the fact that for the government to fall, the majority of the Malays must vote the opposition and that is the definitive trend today.

All polls have have indicated that, so there is this feeling of deep despair among the top brass in Umno.

Thus they can’t give in to every private investigator, carpet man or cop.

There simply won’t be enough left to pay the Umno division chiefs if they win the election, and if they do not deliver, then all hell will break loose in Umno itself.

And if this government were to fall, it had best do the right thing and hand over power without any abuse (read Perak).

‘We don’t believe you’

It won’t be a tsunami in the next general election, it is going to be a major earthquake.

Why am I certain? Because the warning was sounded off by the Sabah delegates during the recent Umno general assembly.

In the most cordial of terms, they wanted to know what happened to the RM44 million that went to Sabah Umno. Sabah Umno, it appeared, did not have a clue about it.

What these delegates were actually telling to the whole Umno general assembly (Najib and Mahathir included) was this: “We do not believe you!”

And that statement will be reflected in the Sabah election results in time to come.

Toffee Rodrigo is a businessman who spends his free time writing to create awareness. He blogs at Toffee’sTurn.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2013, 8:46 am and is filed under
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Don’t politicise God

by P. Ramakrishnan

Aliran

9 January 2013

When God is politicised we are in big trouble. That is what is happening in Malaysia. And that’s why we are in such a big mess.

Religious zealots have come out with edicts that defy logic and override the supreme law of the land, the Federal Constitution.

They have paid scant attention to the High Court ruling way back in 2009 that the word “Allah” can be used by the Christians.

The government has appealed against this decision. But nothing has happened for more than three years. Seemingly it is meant to be so! There is no urgency to solve this matter as soon as possible. Most people think that the delay is deliberate and politically motivated.

The claim by some members of certain organisations who had aggressively demonstrated on the premise that Muslims and Christians will be confused if “Allah” is used by non-Muslims is ridiculous and laughable. There is no merit in their claim. There is no justification for this view. What is the basis for this ridiculous claim?

Why is the word “Allah” confusing? And confusing to whom? What is so confusing about the word? It had been in use for thousands of years; yet we have not come across anyone in any part of the world who was ever confused because the word “Allah” was commonly used by Muslims and non-Muslims.

Have the ordinary, average Muslims, who are the majority in this country, ever complained that they are confused when Christians use the word “Allah”? Until this controversy, which has been recently created deliberately by the religious zealots, the word “Allah” has been used widely and commonly in Malaysia by the various communities without anyone getting confused or upset!

It would appear that the only ones who are confused must be the minority of narrow-minded religious zealots! Are they really confused – or are they, for political reasons, desperately trying to confuse the majority of people who are sane and sensible and comfortable with the use of the word “Allah”?

The word “Allah” has been used all along in Malaysia without causing any problem or creating any unrest – until some religious zealots came along and suddenly claimed exclusive right to the use of the word. For heaven’s sake, this is an Arabic word used freely and universally without any problem or confusion in the rest of the world!

Muslims throughout the world have understood this word and what it refers to. Locally Muslims, Hindus, Chinese, Sikhs, the Peranakan community in Malacca and the Orang Asli have used the word comfortably and freely and they have understood what it stands for and represents.

We have never ever had confused zombies walking around like lost souls and going astray. Yet, it is argued that the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims can cause confusion. Why is it that this so-called affliction only affects Muslims in West Malaysia? What is the rational explanation?

Are the Muslims in East Malaysia made of sterner stuff that they are not afflicted by this confusion? Could it be a case of Muslims in East Malaysia being better educated and instructed in Islam that nothing will shake them from their faith?

What has gone wrong in West Malaysia for the religious zealots to claim that the Muslims here will be confused? Are the Muslims in West Malaysia that weak and gullible to the extent that they are not capable of thinking rationally and discerning what is right and wrong? Are they really confused? Or is it a case of causing confusion where there is no confusion? What is the political agenda for creating this controversy?

The word “Allah” has been used for centuries. It has been around even before Islam came into being. Where Islam originated, there has been tolerance and accommodation. Both Christians and Muslims have used the same word freely in their daily conversation and prayers without upsetting any religious sensitivity. No prohibition was imposed because they understood the core value of their respective faiths.

Islam was not founded on denial. It is a compassionate religion whose tenets exhort Muslim to be tolerant and caring, to stand up for justice, to protect the rights of others, and to be accommodating and to never deny what is rightfully others. These religious zealots seem incapable of living up to the demands of their faith. Their doctrine is one of denial.

Is the faith of the Muslims in West Malaysia that shallow and precarious that they can be so easily led astray? Isn’t it an indictment that after all that has been done to protect and preserve Islam and to educate the Muslims into becoming better human beings with so much effort, it has been a total failure?

Shouldn’t these religious zealots be directing their attention and anger to the more serious malaise plaguing the Muslim community and deserving their wholehearted attention?

It is a fact that teenage pregnancy, incest, baby dumping, drug abuse, HIV infection and many more ailments are rampant among the Malay community. Seriously, these are the areas that the zealots should be involved in.

There is wide-spread corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations, injustice, deaths in custody, racism, co-habitation, rape, murder, discrimination, wastage and many more wrongs which should be the concern of these religious zealots. But there are no earnest attempts to resolve these issues. But strangely, the uttering of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims consumes their entire attention.

The Penang Mufti, Hassan Ahmad, has reminded all parties not to challenge the National Fatwa Council’s decision that “Allah” can only be used by the Muslims in the country.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court had ruled in a landmark decision in December 2009 that the Home Ministry’s blanket ban on the use of the word “Allah” is illegal. Would he care to rage and rail against the Malaysian judiciary for that ruling? Would he now state that the judiciary has no right to adjudicate on this issue?

The Perak Mufti, Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria has declared that if non-Muslims want to use the word “Allah” they must convert to Islam. There is no logic in this baffling statement. Would he dare to declare that the entire world is subject to his ‘ruling’? The rest of the world wouldn’t care two hoots for his views. He would become the laughing stock of the Muslim world.

Going by their logic, Islam must be insulted throughout the wide world on a daily basis because many adherents of different faiths utter this word in their prayers and conversations. What are these religious zealots going to do about this?

Now, what happens to the Holy Book of the Sikhs which has the word “Allah” in it? Are the religious zealots suggesting that it should be rewritten, dropping the word “Allah” to reflect their views?

Mizrahi Jews (descendants of the Jewish communities of the Babylonian era in the Middle East and the Caucasus) also use the term “Allah”. Are the religious zealots declaring that from henceforth the Mizrahi Jews have no right to use this word? How ridiculous can one get.

In the view of many thinking Malaysians, it is these religious zealots who are confused – not the rest of the Muslim community. It is time we settle this issue once and for all.

Now is the real test for these religious zealots. We hope that they will be brave enough and honest enough to be consistent in their narrow-minded views.

There are some state anthems that have the word “Allah” in the lyrics. Will they now declare that the non-Muslims in West Malaysia should not sing these state anthems? That should be the case, going by their warped reasoning!

Will they be consistent in their stand by declaring that the Rukun Negara, the national code of conduct for all Malaysians, should not be observed by Muslims because of the word “Tuhan”? Will they have the guts to say that we sideline the Rukun Negara because, in their lopsided view, it can confuse the Muslims in West Malaysia?

And likewise, will they also forbid the Muslims of West Malaysia from singing the national anthem, Negaraku, which has been sung spiritedly since our independence, because in the lyrics there is the word “Tuhan”? Will they say that we must abolish the national anthem in West Malaysia?

Now, it is really confusing to all of us. The religious zealots must be genuinely and thoroughly confused as well!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2013, 8:39 am and is filed under
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90-Day Countdown to 13GE – Let Najib prove sincerity in wanting Malaysia to begin journey to be  “world’s best democracy” by ensuring peaceful and historic holding of 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka tomorrow

Yesterday evening, while on the way to Pontian to launch the DAP Tanjong Piai 13GE operations centre, I tweeted the following:

“PR  to give full co-operation. Call on all Malaysians to make 112 historic day http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/218605  Police aim for ‘zero casualties’ at weekend rally Mkini”

This was after I read the report that the Police corporate communication chief, Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf had declared at a media briefing at Bukit Aman that despite  casualties which happened during previous rallies and protests, the police aimed to have “zero casualties” at tomorrow’s rally.

Ramli stressed that security is the police’s utmost priority, that the police are serious about the security and safety of everyone and that this matter was also discussed at the meeting between the inspector-general of police and organisers few days ago.

At the meeting concerned last Tuesday,  the IGP, Tan Sri Ismail Omar told Pakatan Rakyat leaders that he wants the Jan 12 rally to be “a historic moment where the police can learn from their past weaknesses” and gave a guarantee that the police will merely take on a facilitatory role during the planned rally at Stadium Merdeka.

It therefore came as a shock and surprise that later in the evening, there were reports that the police did an “about-turn” when the Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Mohamed Salleh issued a press release, wanting the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat to be held in Stadium National Bukit Jalil instead of in Stadium Merdeka.

This was clearly the result of unacceptable political interference with the  police by the political leadership, in view of the demands  by the  Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, who is also UMNO Information Chief that  the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat should  be held in Stadium National Bukit Jalil and not Stadium Merdeka.

I am glad that good sense has finally prevailed and that the rally tomorrow will be held at Stadium Merdeka as had been agreed with the police authorities.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should ensure that there is no political interference whether by the Home Minister, the UMNO Information chief or other political operatives to prevent the IGP from ensuring that the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally tomorrow is a peaceful and successful one from the standpoint of human rights and democracy and “a historic moment” where the police begin to regain public confidence in its efficiency, independence and professionalism to uphold the law and promote democracy and not an agent of the ruling politicians to defend the existing regime.

The latest public opinion poll on the Prime Minister’s approval rating conducted by Merdeka Center in the last two weeks of last year and made public yesterday revealed that Najib’s popularity rating dropped two points to 63 per cent from last October.

This is Najib’s lowest popularity rating for the whole of last year, which fluctuated from 69% in February and April to 65% in May, 64% in June and 65% in October.

Najib’s popularity rating last year dropped to the lowest level of 65% in May and 64% in June after the public relations disaster in the police rampage and government  mishandling of the Bersih 3.0 rally at Dataran Merdeka on April 28, when salt, water bottles and even handphones were regarded as “weapons of mass destruction” to topple the Barisan Nasional government.

Similarly, in 2011, Najib’s popularity rating plunged to the lowest level for that year, i.e. 59%, after the police excessive use of force, violence and brutality during the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011.

If the peaceful and democratic  “Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat” rally at Stadium Merdeka tomorrow joins Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0 rallies as the third major “black mark” of the Najib administration, Najib should expect his popularity rating to plunge to the lowest depth in his four-year premiership  – even lower than the lowly 45% popularity rating with which he started as Prime Minister in April 2009.

In such circumstances, no one believes that  Najib could recover from such a fatal political blow to save him and Barisan Nasional in the impending 13th general elections which should be held in March.

Let Najib prove his  sincerity in wanting Malaysia to begin the journey to be the  “world’s best democracy” by ensuring peaceful and historic holding of 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka tomorrow.

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                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 January 2013, 4:12 pm and is filed under
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In tea leaves, economist sees slender Pakatan win

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 11, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will notch a slim victory over the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in Election 2013, according to calculations by Bank Islam Malaysia’s chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin.

In a report by The Straits Times of Singapore, Azrul’s computations found that BN was likely to win only between 97 and 107 of the 222 parliamentary seats — insufficient to reform the next administration.

But the result would also mean that PR will only gain a shaky hold over Parliament and far from the supermajority once enjoyed by its rival.

The outcome was considered the most probable during the banker’s presentation at the Regional Outlook Forum in Singapore yesterday, and took into account factors such as race and demographics.

Later, Azrul forecast that fallout would result from the PR win, with the stock market set to respond in “knee-jerk” fashion as well as an extended period of perceived instability.

He also did not rule out the possibility of “economic sabotage” by businesses and the civil service that are aligned with BN.

The ruling BN government has ramped up efforts to secure a victory against its most organised opposition in the general election that must be called by April 27.

In Budget 2013, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a smorgasbord of handouts and benefits in an effort to court electoral support ahead of polls.

These include a second round of RM500 cash handouts to lower income families, dubbed “BR1M 2.0”, as well as an expansion of the programme to include payments of RM250 to single youths earning below RM3,000 monthly.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin suggested that the payments may be made permanent and even doubled to RM1,000 with a BN victory.

Other aid measures include RM500 book vouchers and a new RM250 smartphone rebate for students.

Najib’s approval rating slid to 63 per cent in November, according to a Merdeka Center poll released yesterday, with nods for his administration and BN trailing further behind at 47 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.

The previous round of BR1M handouts was shown to have boosted support for Najib, especially in the lower income group that was the main recipients.

But an opposition-backed mega-rally called “Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat” planned for tomorrow risks throwing a wrench into BN’s works, just as the April 28, 2012 Bersih rally was said to have derailed Najib’s plans for a snap election then.

Najib has the option to call Election 2013 anytime before April 27, after which Parliament will be dissolved and polls automatically put into action.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 January 2013, 11:51 am and is filed under
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With polls this year, whither PPSMI?

– Hussaini Abdul Karim

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 11, 2013

JAN 11 – What has happened to the circular MOE sent to all schools last year recommending a ‘soft landing approach’ allowing all national schools to continue conducting the teaching of mathematics and science in English until 2015?

That decision made by the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Education, I understand, was made to allow all national schools students who started learning those subjects in English to continue until they complete Form Five.

The people welcomed that decision and we thought, BN is more people-friendly than Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) that wanted PPSMI to be abolished immediately. Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) also do not support the re-instatement of PPSMI but Democratic Action Party (DAP) does and they both support the increase in the content in using English language at national schools to make our students bilingual.

In fact, they also support the learning of foreign languages, including vernacular languages, in national schools.

However, it seems that many, if not most or all, headmasters of national schools in the country, including Sabah and Sarawak, have made their own decisions to stop using PPSMI and have instructed their teachers to only teach those subjects in Bahasa Malaysia beginning from the new school term this year.

I understand that many other schools have also switched upon the directive of their respective schools’ headmasters and they are now teaching mathematics and science in Bahasa Malaysia.

Has the circular been cancelled or replaced by a new one or are headmasters now allowed to make their own decisions?

To recap, ‘Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris’ (PPSMI) (the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) is a government policy aimed at improving the command of the English language among pupils at primary and secondary schools in Malaysia.

In accordance to this policy, the Science and Mathematics subjects are taught in the English medium as opposed to the Malay medium used before.

This policy was introduced in 2003 by the then-Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad.

PPSMI has been the subject of debate among academics, politicians and the public alike, which culminated to the announcement of the policy’s reversal in 2012 by you as the Minister of Education.

The rationale for the decision to change the medium of instruction from the Malay Language to English for the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics subjects was made based on the government’s concern on the nation’s human capital development towards achieving the standard of a developed country, as well as an early preparation to compete in the era of globalisation.

It is widely known that the field of science and mathematics form the basis and have a crucial role in the progress and development of a country. Various innovations and discoveries in these two fields happen rapidly and information access is mostly in the English language.

English language is also the language spoken internationally and mastery in this language would allow easy access to information in these fields.

The policy decision to implement PPSMI was made to ensure students’ mastery in science and mathematics in view of the fact that most of the sources are available in the English language.

Indirectly, it is also hoped that the implementation of PPSMI would contribute to the enhancing of students’ command of the language.

When proposing the policy, Tun Dr. Mahathir was in the opinion that Malaysia’s progress is declining in the age of globalisation, and he had hoped that this policy gives a competitive edge to the nation, following the footsteps of Singapore and India which are moving forward because of their utilisation of the English language.

Two days ago, I asked a Form Two student of SMKSAAS in Sek 2 Shah Alam, near where I live, about the number of subjects taught in English this morning and she told me that the only subject they teach in English in her school now is English language. The school has switched from teaching mathematics and science in English to BM since the new term started.  I then asked her how she feels about it and she said, “Too bad, we do not learn enough English in school anymore”.

At the same time, I also asked some friends to check with schools that their children are attending on the situation and I get similar answers from them.

Parents of a school in Port Dickson were rudely shaken when its principal decided to switch the teaching of science and math from English to BM in Form 2 after having completed Form 1 in English.

Some of the schools that have switched teaching mathematics and science from English to BM are SMK Section 3 Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, SMK Tinggi Kluang; SK Pekan 1, Labuan; SMK Ketari, Bentong; SMK Setapak Indah; Seri Puteri Cyberjaya., SMK Dato’ Ahmad Razali, Ampang, SK Ampang, SMK TTDI Jaya, SMK Sek 9 Shah Alam, SRK Raja Muda Shah Alam, SRK Seksyen 7 Shah Alam, SMK Seksyen 7 Shah Alam. I am sure there are many more if MOE cares to find out.

Many appeals were made by members of the public, professionals and stakeholders to get government to continue and re-instate PPSMI giving very valid reasons which the government has stubbornly refused to accede and has instead, introduce the new MBMMBI policy. So, parents thought, with the ‘soft landing approach’ on PPSMI, there will still be some ‘breathing space’ for them and most importantly, the students themselves but, this is also now denied.

In 2003 when PPSMI was introduced, the Barisan Nasional won big at the 11the General Election as the policy did not affect voters’ choice of government and, if BN leaders now are worried that PPSMI will be their bogey this coming GE 13, I think they have read the situation wrongly.

GE 13 is just around the corner, isn’t the government interested to listen to the people at all?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 January 2013, 10:35 pm and is filed under
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89-Day Countdown to 13GE – Will Johore MB Ghani Othman be asked to retract his prediction that PR can win the 13GE with 5% to 10% majority or majority of 12-22 seats?

Last evening, Bank Islam Malaysia distanced itself from its chief economist’s prediction in a Singapore forum that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can notch a slim win in the 13th General Election.

Bank Islam managing director Datuk Seri Zukri Samat said in statement that the bank was not a party to the Singapore Regional Outlook Forum on Thursday , and “not related or involved in anyway in the event” and that  the views expressed by its chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin were “entirely his personal view and should not be linked or attributed to Bank Islam whatsoever”.

At the Singapore regional forum, Azrul  had computed that Barisan Nasional was likely to win only between 97 and 107 of the 222 parliamentary seats – yielding for a Pakatan Rakyat federal government a parliamentary majority ranging from eight to 28 seats.

Never mind whether Azrul’s projection is an official or unofficial estimate of Bank Islam, the fact is that this is a projection which UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders have also arrived at based on their own feedbacks, calculations and computations – indication that the 13GE is going to be a very close affair as to whether it is Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional which is going  to win the race to Putrajaya.

The Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Osman gave almost the same scenario as Azrul when he spoke to Kulai Chinese organisations on Tuesday, conceding that Pakatan Rakyat could win Putrajaya in the 13GE, although he warned that the most the Pakatan Rakyat could win would be a slim majority of 5% to 10% of the parliamentary seats.

Pakatan Rakyat winning a slim 5% to 10% parliamentary majority would range from PR winning 117 seats to BN’s 105 seats with a 12-seat majority (i.e. 5.5% majority) to PR winning 122 seats to BN’s 100 seats with a majority of 22 seats (i.e. 10% majority).

Ghani’s estimate that PR can win in the 13GE with a majority ranging from 12 – 22 parliamentary seats is very close to Azrul’s estimate that PR can win with a majority from 8 to 28 seats.

Will the Johore MB Ghani Othman be asked to retract his prediction that PR can win the 13GE with 5% to 10% majority or majority of 12-22 seats?

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                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 January 2013, 9:37 am and is filed under
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Tweets after #KL112 #HKR — historic moment

Tweets on 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka

HKR Stadium Merdeka historic success – 100k ppl all races religions gathered in peace goodwill hope 4change #KL112 Msian democracy matured

5:22pm

100,000 throng Stadium Merdeka for ‘Uprising’ rally – Mkini
m.malaysiakini.com/news/218741

5:35pm

Msians can hold their heads high that democracy is maturing #112KL held peacefully successfully. Further maturity is alternation of power

5:51pm

IGP/police deserve credit 4making #112KL “historic moment” n delivering “no casualties” pledge – major 1st step 2restore public confidence

5:56pm

Najib also deserves credit allowing #112KL 2b peacefully held despite opposition by hardliners in Umno/govt/police, who must be sidelined

6:07pm

Many historic firsts @ #112KL – no race/religious baiting/incitement/hatred in any of speeches in 3hr rally – let this be the model in 13GE

6:18pm

Can UMNO/BN emulate example set by PR in #112KL n henceforth end all politics of race/religious hatred/ conflict incitement

6:28pm

2nd historic first @ #112KL – speakers in 3hr rally did not tell lies or falsehoods. Can Umno/BN emulate PR in politics of truth/honesty?

6:32pm

3rd historic first #112KL – 10-pt pledge 4justice/freedom by PR representing all races religions regions, showing PR is more 1Msia than BN

6:56pm

After #112kL, PR supporters encouraged/elated while BN ppl discouraged/crestfallen.

7:01pm

Chances PR winning 13GE enhanced by #112KL – incentive 2all UBAH ppl 2ensure PR not only wins but with strong majority w at least 125 sears

7:08pm

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 January 2013, 7:39 pm and is filed under
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Tweets on #KL112 #HKR

Tweets on 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium
Merdeka

1. Najib, ensure peaceful rally to prove ‘best democracy’ – Lim Kit Siang (Mkini) http://goo.gl/ySV1X 20m

2. Let all Msians be proud of today. We can differ but we respect each other’s right 2peacefully assemble n express our concerns #KL112 #HKR 11m

3. Day 4all Msians 2stand up 4democracy/justice. Everyone’s responsibility 2ensure #KL112 #HKR peaceful – PR, BN, police, civil society n all 6m

4. World watching. Ensure no provocations. Let #KL112 #HKR be harbinger Msia can aim 2b “world’s best democracy” w successful peaceful assembly 1m

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 January 2013, 11:33 am and is filed under
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7,605 steps to freedom

— May Chee

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 13, 2013

JAN 13 — My husband wears a pedometer whenever he walks.  It read 5500 when we left KLCC and 13105 when we stepped on the grass at the Stadium Merdeka. That meant he executed 7605 steps following the route taken by the Himpunan Kebankgitan Rakyat leaders leaving from KLCC.

As usual, we enjoyed the camaraderie prevalent in such rallies. People we met in the washroom in KLCC remembered us during the march to the stadium. They were from Terengganu, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, etc, from every nook and cranny of Malaysia. Just fantastic! Though the crowd was made up mostly of our Malay brothers and sisters, I believe there was more than adequate representation from the whole of Malaysia.

Clearly, from the banter we had all along the way, was this clarion call for Change. Ubahlah, Kali inilah, Undur BN, Undur Isa Samad and all accompanying chants pointedly showed Malaysians need and yearn for Change. As Ambiga rightfully reiterated, “This is it”, Change must come now.

BN has been given the mandate for more than 55 years to govern the peninsula and almost 50 years, Sabah and Sarawak. The land flowing with milk and honey they promised has since been inhabited solely by themselves and their ilk, leaving many others living in subhuman conditions. This is unacceptable. We were a blessed nation with vast resources. There’s no reason why some of us are expected to be resigned to a fate so cruel and not one of our own making but that of our corrupted and greedy leaders.

The exploitation, oppression and political repression by our modern-day overseers, mouthing reforms just smack of plain hypocrisy on their part. They behave as if they are an alien authority, flogging the common rakyat for more and more. Their greed knows no bounds. Stupidity, too, if they think they can continue in their avaricious ways.

Our education system is in disarray. The schools are nurseries for racism and our local graduates, unemployable. Institutions meant to uphold justice and to protect the masses have been rendered impotent. Mind-boggling, massive illicit outflows. Poison unwanted elsewhere was brought in to pollute our air and water which soon, will make zombies of our people and lit up like Christmas trees. Biting the hand that feeds you as in the case of Felda. Funds like LTAT, EPF and others being whimsically used or abused by those in power without a thought for their contributors. Daylight robbery, more like it. I would call all these bad calls a betrayal of our trust.

Should we still put up with all the above and a whole lot more? I concur with Wong Tack when he said, “Enough is enough!” A new change of government may not instantly bring back a land flowing with milk and honey but at least we can avoid one with radioactivity in the air, cyanide in the water, forests wiped out, oil wells dried out, a bankrupted nation destined for oblivion! Am I saying that the government in waiting can and will do no wrong? No, but like Dr D Jeyakumar of PSM said, we must continue to “pantau” our elected leaders as power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We must learn to be actively involved in the making of our own history and not allow others especially the ones we have seen so far, to impose their will on us. We will direct our own destiny.

We know what the present government has done to us. We know for sure they are incapable of change, after all, didn’t some of them say, we don’t need change. We need and must have change. Vote in the same government and we’ll go down the same road. We have to cross to the other shore. We can’t do this alone but we can accomplish it if we are together; if we are one.

As PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has pointed out, the 4 states ruled by the Opposition so far have done a lot better than their predecessors. If that’s anything to go by, shouldn’t we give them the mandate to rule the nation for the next term? Do we look like we have any other alternative? The PR de facto leader has admitted there’s room for improvement and has pledged that a PR federal government will have zero tolerance for corruption or any attempt to plunder the people’s wealth. We will hold him to his pledge. If he doesn’t, Mama Bersih will deep-fry him for sure!

The series of Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rallies culminated with one in the Stadium Merdeka, an iconic reminder of our independence and our first liberation. DAP Secretary-General, Lim Guan Eng was smart enough to remind the crowd of the freedoms we should have and need as a free people. To be rightfully accorded the dignity of a free person, I couldn’t agree with him more when he said we should be free of BN. That’s the first step; to be free of the devil we know.

It’s time to leaven our bread. We must rise to a new life. We were given a new lease of life by our founding fathers. Somehow along the way, our destiny was hijacked by the devil we know. Our Malaysian identity was supposed to be that impenetrable rock, that somehow allowed itself to be wounded for so long but now from its wounds, a new life pours forth. A life without the devil we know; one with hope.

I, for one, will place my hopes on those who have experienced the desert of their lives while being incarcerated than the devil we know who roamed free to plunder. I believe during such times, apparently so empty, they would have delved into the depths of their souls. If they are at all the people they want us to believe that they are, and if their hearts and generosity had remained intact then, I believe, they will set us forth on the way to freedom. I believe the Almighty would not abandon those who seek freedom for their brothers and sisters for salvation is not the washing of souls but the restoration of the human person in all dimensions – a total liberation of the human person.

Ito was spot-on in delivering his songs on Change and Unity. We can’t lose if we have both of that. We will triumph. There’s hope as National Laureate, A. Samad Said, now in his 80’s, opined for he  finally saw in that sea of humanity in Stadium Merdeka”s KL 112, a sea of souls. How can we not beat the devil we know?

Last but not least, kudos to those who enabled the rally to be peaceful. PDRM — I’ve not lost faith in you. Thank you for sticking to your guns (no pun intended) and not execute any measures that your conscience would have condemned.

Thank you and God Bless.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 January 2013, 6:39 pm and is filed under
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88-Day Countdown to 13GE – KL112 the major turning point for maturing democracy in Malaysia

The peaceful and successful holding of the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka (KL112) yesterday is a major turning point for maturing democracy in Malaysia.

It achieved many historic firsts in Malaysia, including:

•	The peaceful gathering of 100,000 patriotic and visionary Malaysians of all races, religions and region, regardless of age or gender, coming together in hope, goodwill and unity for a better Malaysia where there is freedom and justice for all Malaysians and future generations;

•	No playing of the race or religious card, no  race or religious baiting or  incitement to provoke hatred and conflict in any of the speeches whether by Pakatan Rakyat leaders or civil society representatives;

•	No dissemination of lies or falsehoods, as has  become the wont and modus operandi of Barisan Nasional leaders and their propaganda organs in their attacks on the Pakatan Rakyat;

•	10-point call by Pakatan Rakyat and civil society for freedom, justice and sustainable development representing all races, religions and regions to build a united, harmonious, progressive and prosperous Malaysia;

•	Pakatan Rakyat pledge with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim leading 100,000 Malaysians chanting “Merdeka” to continue the  Merdeka legacy of Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman who shouted “Merdeka” seven times in Merdeka Stadium on August 31, 1957 – symbolising the new phase of the Merdeka struggle to free the country from local oppressive rule;

•	At the end of KL112, never before in Malaysian history has the national anthem Negaraku been sung with such passion, hope and deep feelings by Malaysians of all races, religions and regions for democratic change to bring about a better Malaysia.

The politics of lies and falsehoods, as well as the irresponsible playing of the race and religious cards, to create fear, sow conflict and divide Malaysians which had contaminated Malaysian politics in the past few years  have failed to stop the momentum for peaceful and democratic change as symbolised by the peaceful and successful holding of KL 112.

The next step for maturing democracy in Malaysia is to institutionalise a two-coalition system by ushering in peaceful alternation of power and government through the ballot box.

The 13th  general elections remain a great challenge to Pakatan Rakyat but KL112 is an important barometer that however arduous and difficult, a change of government in Putrajaya in the next polls is within reach.

In fact, KL112 should be a turning point for the UBAH agenda, with the upgrading of the  call to Malaysians not only to unite to vote for a change of Federal government in Putrajaya, but to ensure that it is not enough for Pakatan Rakyat to win but equally important to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat has a strong and firm parliamentary majority of at least 28 seats, i.e. ensuring that PR wins at least 125 parliamentary seats or PKR with 45 seats and DAP and PAS each with 40 parliamentary seats.

Thus from KL112 to 13GE!

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                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 January 2013, 3:20 pm and is filed under
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Letter to Hisham

— Gobind Singh Deo

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 12, 2013

JAN 12 — Tens of thousands of Malaysians gathered today at Stadium Merdeka. Contrary to what the Minister of Home Affairs would like to believe, there was no unrest, no chaos and no violence which would go down in history to yet again mark this day with the likes of earlier demonstrations in the city.

The police were not required to assemble in thousands in the city. They did not have to stand in line in the sun up against their own fellow Malaysians. The water cannons didn’t have to be used. Not only that, there were no arrests. There was no makeshift police station specifically set up to house the thousands of people arrested. There was no need for the police to send out teams of investigating officers who would need to work tirelessly taking down statements from all those arrested.

There was also no need for lawyers to be lined up outside these stations all night waiting for access to those detained. There was no need for the families of those detained to worry about their safety not knowing their whereabouts or what was to happen to them next.

There were no incidents in which anyone was injured. There was no overturning of cars, no scenes of persons being shot at by water canons or running in fear or being chased or beaten by the police.

There were no scenes of people, old or young, drenched with chemically laced water, with their eyes swollen, having difficulties breathing. There were no reported incidents of people dying on the streets.

All in all there are no news reports published to the rest of the world wherein we the people of Malaysia are depicted as criminals who run riot in our own country in need of attack from our own police.

There were no scenes of drenched streets, closed businesses and destruction of public property.

It wouldn’t be out of place to say that today, we the Malaysian people proved the Home Minister and his government wrong. We proved to him and the rest of the world, that we are peace-loving and that we are mature enough to hold demonstrations peacefully in our own country.

This is a serious embarrassment both nationally and internationally for Home Minister, Dato Seri Hishamuddin Hussein. And it is evidence of the fact that the government has all along underestimated the capabilities of us Malaysians and has failed to change with the times. It has failed to recognise that Malaysia has indeed changed and is in further need of change in particular with regard to government mindset.

The government was convinced that we Malaysians were a rowdy lot, that we wanted unrest and that the sole purpose of gatherings of this nature was to overthrow it with the use of force. It failed to listen to us and to accept our demands to gather peacefully as guaranteed under the constitution.

Despite the threats, violence, persecutions and even loss of life, Malaysians nevertheless pushed on with the reform agenda and today proved Hishamuddin and Barisan Nasional wrong.

Hishamuddin must be a man. He must accept that he has been sorely wrong, that what he put Malaysians through in the previous gatherings were totally unnecessary, a total waste of public funds and an unnecessary use of force and violence upon us.

Hishamuddin’s handling of the previous gathering also put Malaysia in extremely bad light in terms of international publicity.

He must now apologise to all Malaysians and step down honorably as Minister of Home Affairs. He has not only failed us. He has, to my mind, also failed Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 January 2013, 9:59 am and is filed under
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Mainstream media’s epic fail

— The Malaysian Insider

Jan 13, 2013

JAN 13 — Going by Malaysia’s mainstream media coverage of the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally yesterday, a television viewer or newspaper reader can assume the organisers failed to get its targeted crowd, overfilled a stadium and participants broke the law by bringing their children.

And, oh, for some media, it was actually the Himpunan Shamsidar.

In both the Malay and English-language Sunday papers, there was no coverage of the issues of the day that drew thousands to Stadium Merdeka for three hours, or for the speakers who wanted to highlight burning issues that will be part of the election campaign this year.

None.

How can the media be mainstream if it stops covering a major event in the capital city or even cover it honestly? Is it a wonder that the circulation and readership of some newspapers have dropped?

Have the editors of these newspapers ever wondered if they are doing a good job for their owners and the government of the day by focussing on side issues rather than the reasons why nearly 100,000 gathered at Stadium Merdeka?

Malaysia doesn’t even see such numbers for a football game. Isn’t it counter-productive to bury one’s head in the sand like an ostrich and focus on other reports rather than the one big event thus far in 2013?

Such reportage hurts the government more than it helps. The dropping numbers of newspaper readers will mean such propaganda is hitting a smaller market, while internet news portals that carry news instantly with pictures of the crowd will get more popular.

How does one influence people if you ignore the news of the day? Is it by spamming email inboxes with emails warning against going for the rally or spewing some contrived government spokesman message about the rally?

Would an email from suara.rakyat2013 purporting to carry news from an unnamed government spokesman even work?

News must come from credible sources but Malaysia’s mainstream media, both newspapers and television stations, failed to do so today with their scant and misleading reports about the rally in the capital city yesterday.

These organisations are sidelining themselves from the marketplace of information and ideas, becoming the fringe news sources that internet news portals started out years ago.

What a pity. To roll over and become the purveyor of news that doesn’t matter rather than remaining the top news sources of the day. In internet parlance, that’s called an epic fail.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 January 2013, 7:48 pm and is filed under
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