Call on Speaker Pandikar to ensure that Parliament does not become a rubber-stamp to approve the the Prime Minister’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals without ample time for MPs to study them and to get public feedback

Desptite considerable media speculation, neither the  highly anticipated Election Commission Report on  new constituency redcelineation proposals which the Election Commission submitted to the Prime Minister on March 9 nor is the Prime Minister’s motion to give effect to the Election Commission’s new constituency proposals are on the table of MPs today.

I  call on the Speaker of Parliament, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to ensure that Parliament does not become a rubber-stamp to approve the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals without ample time for Members of Parliament to study them and to get public feedback.

As correctly pointed out by the Bersih acting chairperson Sharul Aman Mohd Saari, Najib can under Section 9 of the Thirteenth Schedule of the Constitution further alter the Election Commission’s final report on the redrawing of electoral boundaries before tabling it to Parliament.

The Prime Minister  can for instance reinstate the Election Commission’s first constituency redelineation proposals for Selangor, which had been substituted by the EC’s second constituency redelikneation proposals.

In the EC’s second constituency redelineation proposal for Selangor, only five parliamentary constituencies will be affected as compared to 18 in the first proposal.

The five parliamentary constituencies affected in the EC’s second redelineation proposals are Tanjong Karang, Kuala Selangor, Gombak, Ampang, and Pandan.

EC’s first proposal had suggested boundary changes for Selayang, Hulu Langat, Bangi, Puchong, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya Selatan, Petaling Jaya Utara, Subang, Shah Alam, Kapar, Klang, Kota Raja, and Kuala Langat, in addition to the five constituencies.

Under EC’s first  redelineation proposal, the parliamentary constiency of  Petaling Jaya Utara (P106), presently held by Tony Pua, would be turned into Damansara by merging PJU with parts of Selayang, Bukit Lanjan, Sungai Buloh and Kepong.

It will turn P106 into a massively populated seat, increasing from 85,000 voters to almost 150,000 voters, thus making it one of the largest seats in the country.

Furthermore,  the proposed Damansara parliamentary will have four times more voters than Sabak Bernam and about 10 times that of Putrajaya.

Is there a guaratee that the Prime Minister will not reinstate such a proposal, which is most ridiculous, outrageous and most undemocratic gerrymandering at its worst.

Once the Election Commission’s new Constituency Redelineation Report are tabled in the House, Parliament should set up a Parliamentary Select  Committee  to study the Report and the Prime Minister’s Proposals, and I urge the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman to have discussions with the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Dr.Wan  Azizah Wan Ismail on the membership of such a Parliamentary Select Committee.

Parliament should not be held to ranson because of the impending 14th General Election to become a rubber-stamp to approve the Exectuive’s proposal on new constituency redelineation, for this would be a grave abdication of responsibiity by Parliament  and the latest great blow to the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Wednesday, 21st March 2018 at 12.30 pm)

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Is Malaysia reaching a stage where anyone who questions Najib about RM2.6 billion donation in his accounts or “wife of MO1” about the RM144 million pink diamond necklace gifted by Jho Low would  be committed “crimes” liable to police arrest and lock-ups?

Malaysia has plunged to a new low in law enforcement with the arrest of Anak Pdeneroka Felda Kebangsaan (Anak) chairman and AMANAH Supreme Council member, Mazlan Aliman.

Earlier today, Mazlan said in a brief posting on Facebook he was arrested by police this morning at his home in Kulaijaya around 1.35am this morning.

Was it necesssary to effect midnight arrest of Pakatan Harapan leaders as if they were potential fugitives from justice who would abscond from the law and  country if arrest warrants are issued against them during normal hours.

Let me assure the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Fuzi Harun that Pakatan Harapan leaders are not like the 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Low, who had become an internatiional fugitive from justice and is even afraid to appear in Malaysia, which is supposed to be his homeland!

I believe I can speak on behalf of all Pakatan Harapan leaders that the police just have to contact and inform us that an arrest warrant had been issued for our arrest, and we would freely and peacefully surrender ourselves to the law, without any tantrum or obstruction.

There is no need for any midnight arrest, inconveniencing both the arrested and the arrestors  – as the police will find that there is no problem even if arrests against Pakatan Harapan leaders and activists are done at noon time or in broad-light!

What is really worrisome about the rule of law and the future of Malaysis is the recent surfacing of a pattern of double-standards in law enforcement, where police reports against Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders or with regard to harassment of Pakatan Harapan leaders and their next of kin were just ignored while police reports by UMNO/Barisan Nasional personalities were treated as  directives requiring instant and draconian police action.

Mazlan Aliman’s midnight arrest is a case in point.

It is understood that Mazlan is being investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which criminalises the use of the internet to transmit any communication that is deemed to be offensive and annoying, believed to be over a video that linked the prime minister’s wife to a failed sturgeon project.

On Monday a lawyer representing Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minsiter Datuk Seri Najib Razak, lodged a police report claiming defamation over a YouTube video of Mazlan allegedly linking the wife of the Prime Minister with a sturgeon project.

The proper redress for Mansor would be to institute defamation proceedings against Mazlan.

It is most shocking that the Malaysian enforcement agencies have stooped so low  to such a level, 61 years after Merdeka in 1957 – a scenario the founders  of the nation would never imagined as possible when Malaya was founded in 1957 and Malaysia established in 1963.

Is Malaysia reaching a stage where anyone who questions Najib about RM2.6 billion donation in his accounts or “wife of MO1” about the RM144 million pink diamond necklace gifted by Jho Low would  be committed “crimes” liable to police arrest and lock-ups?

Is this the whole objective of the anti-fake news law now in the govenrment pipeline and is ready for first reading in Parliament next week?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Thursday, 22nd March 2018)

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Notice of parliamentary motion to reject PAC Report on 1MDB scandal tabled in April 2016 and instruction to PAC to conduct fuller and more comprehensive investigation into 1MDB scandal to cleanse Malaysia of ill-repute as global kleptocracy

I have today submitted a motion to the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia which reads:

“That this House rejects the Report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  on 1MDB tabled in April 2016 as unsatisfactory and not comprehensive enough and resolves that the PAC should  conduct a fuller and more comprehensive investigation in the 1MDB scandal which had brought Malaysia the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of a global kleptocracy.”

In compliance with Standing Order requirement for motions which require 14 days’ notice, I call on  the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, to ensure that this motion can be debated on the last sitting of Parliament on April 5, 2018 and that a full day is set aside for the debate on this motion.

In fact, the importance and urgency of the matter should require this motion to be brought forward to be debated earlier, and I call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to resolve that this motion should take priority  and be debated in the Dewan Rakyat either on Thursday 29th March or Monday 2nd April 2018.

It is now more urgent to debate this motion, which calls for the rejection of the PAC report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament in April 2016 as satisfactory or comprehensive enough, because of the outrageous parliamentary answer given by the Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister,  Datuk Jailani Johari, that 1MDB-related information which is unverified –  as those stated in the PAC report and outcome of investigations of the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers – will be considered fake news.

This is a most laughable and outrageous answer, and the latest example where Ministers and Deputy Ministers are competing to make Malaysia the laughing stock of the world at a time when the whole world has been awash with IMDB news and developments which the Malaysian Government is desperately trying to suppress  – presenting the image of a boy trying the plug the hole in the dike, except that this is not a hole but a yawning canyon with tidal floods.

Jailani is also shockingly uninformed on parliamentary matters. He seemed not to have known that the PAC report has not been accepted by the Dewan Rakyat, and remains a report of the Public Accounts Committee.

Will Parliament accept the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal although it is most unsatisfactory and not comprehensive enough, and does nothing to restore Malaysia’s reputation and integrity in the world as to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of a global kleptocracy.

It will be to the eternal shame of Parliament if it accepts such an unsatisfactory report and hence the submission of my motion today.

Jailani’s answer is in fact the worst possible advertisement for the so-called anti-fake news bill which Azalina announced yesterday as ready for Parliament next week.

It would appear that unless verified by the government, everything whether happening or reported locally or internationally about the 1MDB scandal is fake news.

Even US President Donald Trump, who must be credited with the evil genius of discovering the possibility of using anti-fake news campaign to protect himself from scrutiny and accountability for abuses of power and corrupt practices, dare not go so far as to introduce legislation virtually branding all information unverified by the government and relevant authorities as “fake news”.

The Malaysian Prime Minister is doing what even the US President dare not do!

This is another world history achieved by Najib, not only in making Malaysia into a global kleptocracy, but in out-Trumping Trump in making Malaysia the world “Fake News” capital by declaring all 1MDB information unverified by the Najib government as “Fake News”!

Have Malaysian Ministers and MPs so lost their moral compass, which Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok has stressed in his Memoirs as one of the two most important factors determining the rise or fall of nations, that we can complacently regard the forthcoming anti-fake news legislation as mean to “protect the public from fake news, and from becoming victims of fake news” when it is actually meant to protect and insulate the Najib administration from full scrutiny and accountability for the 1MDB scandal, which has made Malaysia even more infamous than African nations which until the Najib premiership held a virtual monopoly for the epithet of global kleptocracies!

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Thursday, 22nd March 2018 at 11 am)

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Will there be an Umno implosion?

Three latest news have reinforced  the question: Will there be an UMNO implosion?

First was the call by the National Patriots Association President Brig-Gen (R) Mohamed Arshad Raji asking the Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan to apologise over his speech in Rembau inciting youths to “take physical action” against those who allegedly slander the government.

Arshad said that if politicians continue to make inflammatory speeches, then the next election will not be free of violence.

He said that regardless of whether there is a police report made against Hassan, the association urges the police to investigate the speech  and to take whatever action permissible within the law.

Hassan in the video which had gone viral had said: “If there is a coffee shop disseminating slanderous statements against the government, you storm the coffeeshop, overturn their tables. If you’re picked up by the police, I will bail you out.”

Arshad said the video showed how uncultured and uncivilised Hassan could be, of wanting to remain in power, not by peaceful, democratically acceptable means but by inciting and propagating violence against those who criticised the government.

He said:” “His conduct is unbecoming of a politician and a state leader.

“Such gangster-like conduct is totally wrong and unacceptable in our Malaysian culture.”

I believe that Arshad spoke not only for the retired police and military servicemen who are members of the National Patriots Association but even for the silent 2.6 million UMNO members who want peace, law and order, progress and prosperity  for all Malaysians.

This brings me to the second development, the lamentation by UMNO Veterans of “kurang ajar” politics on the rise in UMNO.

Former UMNO/BN Minister, and  currently special adviser to the government on cultural matters Tan Sri Rais Yatim warned that such “kurang ajar” politics would hurt UMNO, and regretted that such leaders were not reprimanded by the party.

As example, he cited the carrying a coffin to the Selangor state secretariat building, which was not based on Islam and Malay culture.

The Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar provides the latest example of such “kurang ajar” politics, testament that UMNO leaders and members have forgotten Malaysia’s founding principles, especially Rukunegara principles enunciated during Tun Razak’s premiership.

The third  event is an article in The Malaysian Insight  quoting UMNO veterans warning Kedah UMNO politicians to stop belittling Tun Mahathir Mohamad or UMNO might lose Kedah.

This is because Mahathir is still highly respected in the northern state and many within Umno are secretly supporting him.

Is UMNO heading towards an implosion, when the UMNO President and leadership are not prepared to heed the cries from the heart of UMNO members and veterans like Rais and former UMNO Minister and Wanita UMNO chief Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz?

There is great rumbling in the deep bowels of UMNO and Malay society that things are not right with Malaysia, especially with regard to the great shame that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal has brought to Malaysia by giving the nation a virtual instant epithet of  a global kleptocracy.

These rumblings  first surfaced publicly early this month after the seizure of 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s  billion-ringgit luxury superyacht Equanimity by the Indonesian authorities and FBI in Bali at the end last month.

Rafidah broke the ice when she publicly lamented in her FaceBook about the Malaysian government  becoming the modern-day Malaysian “Emperor with New Clothes”, asking why the Malaysian authorities had not been able to find 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s billion-ringgit luxury superyacht when she herself could spot it while on a diving trip in Thailand.

This was followed by the tweet by Rais asking why the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak was so hasty in defending Jho Low instead of defending justice with regard to the  seizure of the luxury superyacht Equanimity.

UMNO Veterans Club secretary Mustaha Yaakub joined in the public rumbling, declaring that the supporters of  Jho Low as those who betrayed the country and UMNO, as Jho Low was responsible for the 1MDB scandal and that action should be taken against him.

The public rumbling and cries from the heart from the deep bowels of UMNO and Malay society elicited not sympathy and concern from those in power in UMNO and Barisan Nasional, but led to a spate of savage and malicious attacks (reminiscent of the recent attacks on Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok) by UMNO/BN propagandists and quinoa cybetroopers.

But this has not cowed either Rais or Rafidah who stuck to their guns in their criticism  of UMNO Ministers and leaders for becoming apologists and defenders of 1MDB scandal and the 1MDB  mastermind Jho Low.

Rafidah must be commended for keeping up her fierce but truthful and heartfelt views, cautioning  Malaysians not to vote for corrupt politicians, as that would be tantamount to an endorsement of their wrongdoings.

She  warned Malaysians would be “accomplices” to acts of corruption and treachery if they wilfully voted for corrupt politicians.

Is UMNO heading for an implosion?

Media Conference Statement 2 in Parliament on Thursday, 22nd March 2018 at 12 noon

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Is the Election Commission’s Final Report on the 2018 Constituency Redelineation the most dishonest, dishonorable and disgraceful as compared to previous four Election Commission Constituency Redelineattion Proposals Report that the Speaker has to impose a ridiculous embargo!

The question uppermost in minds of many today is whether the Election Commission’s Final Report on the 2018 Constituency Redelineation the most dishonest, dishonorable and disgraceful as compared to previous four Election Commission Constituency Redelineattion Proposals Report in the past four decades that the Speaker has to impose a ridiculous embargo!

In fact, will Election Commission’s final report on constituency redelineation be proof to justify the British international weekly magazine, the Economist’s 8th March, 2018 article titled “Stop, thief! Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election”?

The Economist report alleged that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak feared that most voters would not vote BN to power again if given a choice, and is “taking their choice away” by means of gerrymandering and malapportionment, among other tactics.

It also  cited the 1MDB scandal, in which US authorities say billions of ringgit have been misused, and said:

“Faced with the risk of losing power, the government is rigging the system even more brazenly. Parliament will soon vote on new constituency boundaries. The proposed map almost guarantees Najib another term, despite his appalling record.”

It noted that “the practice (malapportionment) is so unfair that it is illegal in most countries, including Malaysia, where the constitution says that electoral districts must be ‘approximately equal’ in size”.

Will the Election Commission’s final report of constituency redelineation proposals in fact be the final proof of thievery of the next general election?

More than two weeks have elapsed since the Economist article  “Stop, thief! Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election”, but despite the matter being raised both inside and outside Parliament, the Prime Minister has shown no signs that he would sue Economist to clear his own name and reputation, as well as the of Malaysia and 30 million Malaysians.

The question Malaysians must ask is whether Malaysia has become a double global kleptocracy, firstly because of the 1MDB scandal and secondly, as charged by The Economist, because of the theft of the impending 14th General Election.

(Speech at the Hi-Tea Pemuda Amanah Permatang Pauh at Kampong Paya, Pematang Pasir, Penang on Friday, 23rd March 2018 at 6 pm)

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NS Mentri Besar’s half-apology  most  disappointing  – hope Mohamad Hasan  will still make amends with outright unconditional apology without any “Ifs” or  “buts” or other wishy-washy justification

I had great admiration for the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar, Datuk Mohamad Hasan as one of the few UMNO leaders who dared to face up to reality and  truth and not to live in the world of fantasy like many UMNO leaders.

This was proven when he broke away from the mainstream UMNO mythology holding the Malays to ransom by warning that that Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14th General Election.

Mohamad Hasan provided the best rebuttal to UMNO leaders’ warnings that the Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated in the forthcoming general election in his speech at the opening of the Sembrong Division UMNO delegates’ conference in Kluang on 26th August last year.

Mohamad said Umno must woo the Malay voters to get the support of the majority of the people so that BN wins the 14th general election.

He said Umno could no longer think that the Malays needed it but instead it was Umno that needed the Malays in order to survive.

He said: “The Malays now have many choices such as PAS, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). We (Umno) cannot be complacent saying that the Malays need us.”

Mohamad failed to mention DAP, as the DAP is party which will defend the uphold the interests of all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli.

In Penang and Selangor, which have been ruled by Pakatan governments after the routing of the UMNO/BN in the 2008 and 2013 General Elections, the Malays have been better cared for than in previous UMNO/BN administrations.

But what is most significant is that the myth of the equation that UMNO is Malay and Malay is UMNO, and that UMNO has to remain in power as the party is the only one that Malays can count on to uphold and fight for their rights, has been debunked by none other than their own Mentri Besar of Negri Sembilan.

And Mohamad Hassan is very right.

UMNO leaders have been holding onto power by generating the fear that if UMNO is defeated in a general election, Malays will lose political power and become strangers in their own land as they will never recover from such loss of political power.

This is a great lie, for the Malays will not lose political power if UMNO is evicted from Putrajaya, so the question of the Malays recovering political power never arises.

This is why no UMNO leader had been able to answer the two questions which had been posed by the National Laureate Pak Samad to expose such a political lie, viz:

One: How are Malays under threat? How can religion (Islam) and Malays be threatened when those in power have been Malay for over five decades?

Two: What have they (Malay leaders) been doing for five decades (if Malays can be under threat)?

The demographic reality is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power whatever happens to Najib or to UMNO in the next general election, as the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in Malaysia as there is no way they will lose political power.

In 1970 Malaysia’s population comprised 44.32% Malays, 34.34% Chinese, 8.99% Indians, 11.89% non-Malay Bumiputeras, 0.67% others.

In 2010, the percentage of Malays in the Malaysian population increased to 55.07%, Chinese reduced to 24.34%, Indians dropped to 7.35%, non-Malay Bumiputeras maintained at 11.94% and 1.3% others.

The Malaysian Chief Statistician has predicted that the Chinese percentage of the population would below 20 per cent after 2030,  shrink to 19.6% in 2030 and 18.9% in 2035.

Why then are the UMNO leaders continue to beat the drum of the “Chinese peril” in Malaysia?

During the 13th general election, 52.63% of the voters were Malays, 29.68% Chinese, 7.31% Indians, 8.96% non-Malay Bumiputeras and 1.43% others.

Out of the 165 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, 114 are Malay majority seats representing some 70%, 22 Chinese majority seats (13%) and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat.

These triple factors, which will be a continuing trend in the coming years, establish the overwhelming Malay predominance in the Malaysian political scene – the demographic make-up of the general population, the electorate and the parliamentary constituencies – and why there is no way the Malays can lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election!

But Mohamad disappointed Malaysians twice in the past few days – first, with his irresponsible speech in Rembau inciting youths to take “physical action”  against those who allegedly slander the UMNO/BN government; and second, his half-apology  yesterday trying to turn his Rembau speech into a joke, blaming others for misinterpreting his speech.

I fully agree with Malaysians, and in particular the President of National Patriots Association, Brig-Gen (R) Mohamed Arshad Raji  who asked Mohamad Hassan to apologise over his Rembau speech, warning that if politicians continue to make inflammatory speeches, then the next election will not be free of violence.

Hassan said in his Rembau speech,  the video of  which had gone viral: “If there is a coffee shop disseminating slanderous statements against the government, you storm the coffeeshop, overturn their tables. If you’re picked up by the police, I will bail you out.”

Arshad said the video showed how uncultured and uncivilised Hassan could be, of wanting to remain in power, not by peaceful, democratically acceptable means but by inciting and propagating violence against those who criticised the government.

Arshad used quite strong language when condemning Mohamad Hassan’s conduct as ”unbecoming of a politician and a state leader”, “gangster-like conduct …totally wrong and unacceptable in our Malaysian culture”, but I fully agree with him.

I believe that Arshad spoke not only for the retired police and military servicemen who are members of the National Patriots Association but even for the silent 3.5 million UMNO members and 30 million Malaysians who want peace, law and order, progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.

In the face of almost total public condemnation, Mohamad Hassan has come out with a half-apology to those who misinterpreted his “flip table” speech in Rembau, calling on youths to engage in thug-like tactics.

He said he was “joking around” and only wanted to “inspire confidence among the youth…it’s not like I want them to carry out the actions for real”.

Such half-apologies are no good at all, and I urge Mohamad Hassan to make an unconditional outright public apology, without any “ifs” or  “buts” or any other wishy-washy justification.

Finally, UMNO leaders, whether Ministers or Mentri-Mentri Besar, should stop being jokers!

(Media Statement in Parliament on Friday, March 234, 2018)

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Speaker Pandikar should correct his grave error and misjudgment  in embargoing the final Election Commission Report on constituency redelineation  from the public as it is a public document when tabled in Parliament for MPs to get public feedback

I went to Parliament yesterday before noon  and left the Dewan Rakyat Chambers for the Dewan Rakyat media centre for a noon media conference.

Half way from the Chambers to the media centre on the ground floor, a parliamentary attendant ran after me saying that I was not allowed to remove the Election Comission’s Final Report on  Constituency Redelineation  from the Chambers.

I ignored the parliamentary attendant because it was unprecedented and never happened in the history of parliamentary democracy since Merdeka in 1957 that a Member of Parliament is not allowed to take away a report or document officially tabled in Parliament.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders to allow for such a ludicrous ruling to be made.

It was after the media conference in Parliament that l learnt of the episode in the Dewan, reducing Parliament almost to a circus, on whether MPs could touch, open and read the Election Commission’s final report on constituency redelineation proposals.

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should immediately correct his grave error and misjudgement in embargoing the final Election Commission Report on constituency redelineation from the public as the Election Commission Final Report becomes a public document once it is  tabled in Parliament for MPs to get public feedback.

This was what happened with past reports of the Election Commission on its constituency redelineation proposals tabled in Parlaiment and there is no reason or authority  for any change of  parliamentary practices and procedures which set the clock back on accountability, transparency and parliamentary good governance.

In 1994, the Election Commission’s final redelineation report and the Prime Minister’s motion appeared on the Order Paper on the same day, on 14th April 1994.  The motion was debated on 25th and 26th April in Dewan Rakyat and adopted.  It is noteworthy that redelineation reports of both Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah were tabled and passed together.

In 2003, the Election Commission’s final redelineation report was tabled on 3rd April 2003. The Prime Minister’s motion appeared on the Order Paper of 7th April 2003. On 8th April, the Prime Minister’s motion adopting the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation Report  was debated and passed. Similar to the previous exercise in 1994, it consisted of two reports and two motions, one for Peninsula and  the other for Sabah.

The Election Commission’s Final Report for the latest constituency redelineation was tabled yesterday, but not the Prime Minister’s motion to adopt the Election Commission’s proposals.

I had suggested the formation of an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee to study the Election Commission’s final redelineation proposals, which would be impossible under the Speaker’s ruling embargoing the Election Commision’s final Report from public knowledge and discussion until the debate on the Prime Minister’s motion to adotp the proposals.

The Speaker has made a most unprecedented ruling going against the principles of transparent and parliamentary good governance.

The legal suit on behalf of over 10,000 voters in Selangor from 17 State Assembly constituencies and 11 parliamentary constituencies in a class action by 107 individuals for a judicial review challenging the Election Commission’s redelineation recommendations is no excuse nor justification for the Speaker’s unprecedented ruling embargoing the Election Commision’s final redelineation proposals from public knowledge and discussion by MPs.

In fact, the Speaker should take notice of the legal action by the over 10,000 voters in Selangor as well as the Federal Court challenge by the Penang Government against the Election Commission’s final proposals and await the outcome of these legal proceedings before a date is fixed for the debate and passage of the Prime Minister’s motion to adopt the Election Commission’s Final Report on constituency redelineation proposals.

Instead, the Speaker has prematurely  announced that the Prime Minister’s motion to adopt the Election Commission’s Final Report, which has not yet appeared on the Order Paper, would be debated and passed on Wednesday, March 28.

Why such indecent haste before the judiciary had made a final decision on the various legal suits on the Election Commisison’s redelineation exercise, which would fully in conformity with the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary?

Is next Wednesday’s motion by the Prime Minister designed to enable the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament for the holding of the 14th General Election, after the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals have been adopted by Parliament?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Friday, March 23, 2018)

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DAP will hold nation-wide forum in each State  on whether Najib had been cleared of wrongdoing in PAC report over 1MDB and Najib is welcome to attend every such forum or to send a representative

I was totally flabbergasted by the baseless claim of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, yesterday that he had been cleared of wrongdoing in the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) Report over 1MDB.

I believe that I one of the few MPs who had read the full PAC report on 1MDB, but I did not find any part which exonerated Najib from the 1MDB scandal.

Had I read the wrong PAC report?

I challenge the PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Ariffin or any PAC member to collaborate Najib’s claim, and  if  neither the PAC Chairman nor any Barisan Nasional MP on the PAC is prepared to do so, we can see the falsity of Najib’s claim, making it as the No. 1 Fake News in the country.

DAP will hold a nation-wide forum in each state on whether Najib had been cleared of wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MDB, and Najib is welcome to attend every such forum or to send a representative to the forum.

When the programme for the series of nation-wide forum on whether the PAC Report on 1MDB had exonerated Najib has been finalized, Najib would be informed of the details of forums in various parts of the country so that he could either attend personally or send a representative.

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan dialogue at Bukit Mor, Muar on Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 3 pm)

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Najib’s claim that he was cleared of wrongdoing in PAC report over 1MDB is the most blatant,  greatest and worst fake news concocted by Malaysian Government

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak concocted the most blatant, greatest and worst fake news in Malaysia when he claimed that he was cleared of wrongdoing in the Public Accounts Committee Report (PAC) over the 1MDB scandal.

I challenge the Prime Minister to quote chapter and verse in the PAC Report on 1MDB which was tabled in Parliament in April 2016 which cleared him of any  wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, and which had  continued to make world headlines about kleptocracy in 1MDB  in the past three years.

I am prepared to attend any news conference or event presided by Najib for him to quote chapter and verse from the PAC report which cleared him of wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

One newspaper headline of Najib’s speech at the launch of the National Transformation Programme  (NTP) report yesterday said: “PAC didn’t say I stole from 1MDB, says PM”.

This is another irresponsible fake-news, as the PAC  Report also did not say that Najib did not steal from 1MDB.

This Najib’s worst fake news in Malaysian history throws an unflattering light on the so-called anti-fake news legislation which the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman said would be taken to Parliament next week.

Malaysians are entitled to ask whether the government’s anti-fake news legislation is to protect UMNO/BN’s fake news and to give immunity and impunity to UMNO/BN leaders, propandists and “quinoa cybertroopers” who concoct and peddle such fake news other immunity and impunity for their criminal actions.

If not, will the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Council (MCMC) and the Police initiate actions against the Prime Minister beginning with investigations?

(Speech at the DAP Bakri Service Centre in Muar to announce DAP/Pakaran Harapan parliamentary candidate for Bakri parliamentary and  Bentayam Johore State Assembly candidate on Saturday, 24th March 2018 at 1 pm)

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Will Parliament be dissolved after the Election Commission’s 2018 redelineation proposals are passed by the Dewan Rakyat  next Wednesday?

There are speculation galore about when is the  much anticipated  14th General Election  – expected to be held within the next 50 days.

Will it be held after the Election Commission’s most controversial 2018 Constituency Redelineation Proposals, which is still officially “embargoed” from public discourse because of the shocking “embargo”  ruling of the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, is passed by the Barisan Nasional simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat next Wednesday?

If Parliament is dissolved on Thursday, March 29, then Polling Day may fall on Saturday, 28th April 2018.

Or will Parliament be dissolved on April 6 after the completion of the present parliamentary meeting on April 5, with Polling Day falling on April 28 or May 5, the latter the same date for Polling Day as the 13th General Election in 2013?

I was quite intrigued by a government-linked survey, a Bernama radio poll,  which revealed  that Malaysians are split on who will win the forthcoming general election – with 37 per cent of the  1,050 respondents believing that Barisan Nasional can retain power, 32 per cent of the opinion that Pakatan Harapan would win while 31% were uncertain.

Considering that this is a government-linked poll, I find the finding most significant.

Malaysia has travelled quite a long way since the last two general elections.

Just 10 years ago, those who questioned before the 2008 General Election whether it was possible to change the Federal Government would be regarded as either naive or crazy.

Now, even a government-linked survey shows that a change of Federal government is within reach.

This will not be an easy job to accomplish, but such an  objective is within the realm of possible achievement in the 14th General Election.

If there is a swing of 10% of the Malay voters and 5% of the non-Malay voters from UMNO/BN to Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE as compared to 13GE, then the chances are good that Pakatan Harapan will be able to form the Federal  Government.

Penang must play its part  to bring about this historic electoral change in 14GE by ensuring that Pakatan Harapan can win the three remaining parliamentary seats in Penang  still in UMNO/BN hands – Tasek Glugor, Kepala Batas  and Balik Pulau.

One question uppermost in many minds is about the mystery of the Election Commission’s Final Report on the 2018 Constituency Redelineation, tabled in Parliament yesterday but embargoed from public knowledge and discourse by the Speaker’s most unparliamentary and undemocratic “embargo”.

Is the Election Commission’s 2018 Constituency Redelineation Proposals the most  dishonest, dishonorable and disgraceful Report  when compared to the previous four Election Commission Constituency Redelineattion Proposals in the past four decades that the Speaker had to impose such a ridiculous embargo?

In fact, will Election Commission’s final report on constituency redelineation be proof to justify the British international weekly magazine, the Economist’s 8th March, 2018 article titled “Stop, thief! Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election”?

The Economist report alleged that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak feared that most voters would not vote BN to power again if given a choice, and is “taking their choice away” by means of gerrymandering and malapportionment, among other tactics.

It also  cited the 1MDB scandal, in which US authorities say billions of ringgit have been misused, and said:

“Faced with the risk of losing power, the government is rigging the system even more brazenly. Parliament will soon vote on new constituency boundaries. The proposed map almost guarantees Najib another term, despite his appalling record.”

It noted that “the practice (malapportionment) is so unfair that it is illegal in most countries, including Malaysia, where the constitution says that electoral districts must be ‘approximately equal’ in size”.

Will the Election Commission’s final report of constituency redelineation proposals in fact be the final proof of thievery of the next general election?

More than two weeks have elapsed since the Economist article  “Stop, thief! Malaysia’s PM is about to steal an election”, but despite the matter being raised both inside and outside Parliament, the Prime Minister has shown no signs that he would sue Economist to clear his own name and reputation, as well as the of Malaysia and 30 million Malaysians.

The question Malaysians must ask is whether Malaysia has become a double global kleptocracy, firstly because of the 1MDB scandal and secondly, as charged by The Economist, because of the theft of the impending 14th General Election.

(Speech (2) at the Hi-Tea Pemuda Amanah Permatang Pauh at Kampong Paya, Pematang Pasir, Penang on Friday, 23rd March 2018 at 6 pm)

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I have emailed  to Najib to ask the Prime Minister to fix appointment next week for him to show me and Tony Pua where in the PAC Report on 1MDB he is absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal which had transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy

I have emailed to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ask him to fix an appointment next week for him to show me and DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua, where in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB he is absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal which had transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.

Najib’s claim that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MBD is false and baseless, and the latest example of the “fake news” concocted and peddled by those-in-power in Putrajaya.

Or did Najib make an honest mistake, and it was the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB (which has been barred from the public because of another one of the extraordinary directives of the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia) which cleared him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal and not the PAC Report  – and if so, I am prepared to accept such an “honest mistake” provided he shows me chapter and verse of such exoneration in the Auditor-General’s Report.

If Najib is not prepared to retract his false and baseless claim that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MDB, are the Malaysian Communications and  Multimedia Commission (MACC) and Police prepared to open investigations, including interrogating the Prime Minister, for concocting and peddling false news?

After all, only this morning at the 211st Police Day at the police training centre  here, Najib denied that the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is the government’s lackey, saying that such allegations are “absolutely unfounded”.

Will we see police action against Najib for perpetrating the fake news that the PAC Report had absolved him any wrongdoing  in the 1MDB scandal, or will the Police and the Inspector-General of Police remain inelegantly silent?

If there is no reply from Najib to my email and no meeting for him to show me the chapter and verse in the PAC Report on 1MDB absolving him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, I will proceed with the plan to hold a nation-wide forum in each state on whether Najib had been cleared of wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MDB.

Najib is welcome to attend every such forum or to send a representative to the forum.

Najib will be informed when such a programme for nation-wide forum on whether the PAC Report on 1MDB had exonerated Najib has been finalized, so that Najib  could either attend personally or send a representative.

The launching of the national series of 1MDB forums could be held as early as in a week’s time in view of the importance and urgency of the issue, especially as Malaysians are being  humiliated worldwide by the three Is of infamy, ingnominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 25th March 2018)

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Three questions on 1MDB scandal to MCA’s self-proclaimed  anti-corruption champion, MCA Deputy President and Minister Wee Ka Siong

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi hinted at Bagan Datuk today that the 14th General Elections may be held by May 2, which makes two speculation about the dissolution of Parliament very likely, viz:

1. Next Thursday, March 29, after the Dewan Rakyat  has passed the most controversial and most undemocratic  Election Commission’s 2018  Constituency Redelineation Proposals Final Report on Wednesday on March 28;’

2. On Friday the week after on April 6 after the completion of the present parliamentary meeting on April 5.

A likely Polling Day is April 28 if Saturday continues to chosen, as is traditionally done for previous General Elections.

The issue for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, in the 14th General Elections is a very simple and straightforward one – whether Malaysia can be saved to reset its nation-building policies and directions so that Malaysians can fulfill our Malaysian Dream to be a top world-class nation in all fields of human endeavour, whether political, economic, educational, socio-cultural or nation-building, or whether we are to continue in the present trajectory hurtling towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

Only Malaysians can save Malaysia from continuing to lose out to other nations on the world stage.

Recently, we even fell to the lowest ranking in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 in 23 years – ranked No. 62 out of 180 nations when we should be in the foremost 20 top-ranking nations!

Why have Malaysia lost our moral moorings to be regarded by the world as a global kleptocratic, a country led by thieves and robbers, when this should never have happened, as Malaysia should have  inherited the best from the  great religions and civilizations in the world?

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that he had been resolved of any wrongdoing in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report over the 1MDB  scandal.

The MCA newspaper, The Star, had this headline for this story: “Najib: I was cleared of any wrongdoing in PAC report over 1MDB”

Did the MCA newspaper perform its basic journalistic duty to do a “fact check” on the veracity of this claim by the Prime Minister?

Unfortunately, this has not been done by Star and other media, as Najib’s claim that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in PAC report over 1MDB is the greatest “fake news” in Malaysia!

Recently, a self-proclaimed anti-corruption champion emerged in MCA, namely the MCA Deputy President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, whose daily duty in the past month had been to keep up a sustained  attack on the  image, reputation and integrity of the DAP/Pakatan Harapan Penang State Government and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, to distract attention from Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and  Malaysia becoming a  global kleptocracy!

Wee played the role of UMNO’s “ninja assassin” with considerable skill and dedication, as he even concocted a RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel scandal out of nothing – to convey subliminally the message to all Malaysians that they need not  worry about Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB scandal when Guan Eng has got a fictitious RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel scandal!

Let me ask Wee three questions on 1MDB scandal:

1. Does he agree with Najib that the PAC report has cleared the Prime Minister of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal – and if so, can he quote chapter and verse to prove that the PAC report had cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB  scandal?

2. If Wee is unable to agree with Najib that that PAC report had cleared the Prime Minister of any wrong doing in the 1MDB scandal – will he and other MCA Ministers raise this issue in next week’s Cabinet and ask the Prime Minister not to create the biggest  “fake news” in Malaysia and to issue a statement of correction?

3. Have Wee and the other two MCA Ministers read and understood the PAC Report on 1MDB, and will Wee stop playing the role of UMNO’s “ninja assassin” to character-assassinate the image, reputation and integrity of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and DAP/PH  Penang State Government to distract attention from Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and the ignominy of  Malaysia being regarded worldwide as  a  global kleptocracy!

All Malaysians await Wee’s answer to these three questions.

(Speech at the DAP Lukut Elections Preparation Dinner held in Lukut, Negri Sembilan on Saturday, 24th March 2018 at 9 pm)

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Challenge extended to all Cabinet Ministers and BN leaders  to show where in the PAC Report on 1MDB is  Najib  absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, described by US Attorney-General as “kleptocracy at its worst”?

Yesterday, I emailed  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ask him to fix an appointment this week for him to show me and DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua, where in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB he is absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal which had transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.

Najib’s claim that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MBD is false and baseless and is the most recent and worst  example of the “fake news” concocted and peddled by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers in the country.

I hereby extend my challenge to all Cabinet Ministers and Barisan Nasional leaders to show where in the PAC Report on 1MDB is Najib absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, specifically described by the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at its worst”?

Jeff Sessions had told a global conference on asset recovery as recent as December last year that 1MDB-linked assets accounted for nearly half of some US$3.5 billion in total proceeds seized or restrained by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), tied to money-laundering offences.

Sessions said “allegedly corrupt officials” in 1MDB had reportedly spent US$200 million on real estate in Southern California and New York, US$130 million on artwork, invested US$100 million in an American music label and US$265 million on a yacht.

“In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than US$4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States,” Sessions said.

But the Malaysian authorities, including the Inspector-General of Police and the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, claim complete ignorance and show apathy about the US$1.7 billion in assets stolen from 1MDB, and which are subjects of several forfeiture lawsuits by the US DoJ,  with the US Attorney-General giving  the commitment to provide “justice to the victims”.

It is a sad and shameful day for Malaysia that we have to depend on foreign countries to provide “justice” to the 30 million Malaysians, who are the real victims of the 1MDB scandal – when the Malaysian government should be in the forefront to provide justice for the victims of the 1MDB scandal.

The Prime Minister and the various law enforcement agencies are keeping up the world  pretence that the 1MDB scandal does not exist, although it is the subject of money-laundering investigations in some ten countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States, with former bankers jailed and finance companies heavily fined or closed down because of international money-laundering activities.

When will such a  charade of a national government hiding its head in the sand end?

If Najib is convinced that the PAC Report on 1MDB had absolved him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, I challenge him to  ask Parliament to adopt the PAC Report on 1MDB which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat  in April 2016.

I have moved  a motion in the current meeting of Parliament to reject the PAC Report on 1MDB as unsatisfactory and not comprehensive enough in view of the mountain of new evidence about the 1MDB corruption and kleptocracy which have surfaced in the last two years.

Will Najib agree to suspend Standing Orders so as to give priority to  my motion on the PAC report on the 1MDB  so MPs could redeem themselves and debate the 1MDB scandal   this week, and where the Prime Minister can fully prove and justify his statement that the PAC report had cleared him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal?

(Media Conference Statement at the Dewan Sri Penang in Penang at 11.30am on Monday, 26th March 2018)

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If Chong Eu is still alive today, he would have left the dark side and crossed over to Pakatan Harapan to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state

It is quite some time that we have heard from former Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, but it is a pity that he could not come out of the box of a petty politician  to become a statesman.

Koh mentioned that I am 77 years old.

I recently went up to level 65 of Komtar to experience the new Komtar attraction of The Gravityz, and had a scenic view of George Town from a height of 239 metres above ground with only a rope attached to the body.

Koh is very much younger. Perhaps he would like to experience  Komtar Gravityz also.

This is not the first time that comments had been made about my age and political relevance.

Before the 2004 General Election, another political leader said that Karpal Singh and I were “outdated medicine whose shelf life has expired”.

I mourn the ‘Tiger of Jelutong” unfortunate premature passing –  in three weeks’ time on 17th April, we mark Karpal’s fourth anniversary in leaving us – but far from being “outdated medicine whose shelf life has expired”, we miss Karpal as he would be a tower of strength in the critical times we are going through in creating history to bring about the first peaceful and democratic change of Federal Government in the nation’s 61-year history.

I have no doubt that Karpal would have very early seen the larger picture and fully supported the direction taken by DAP and Pakatan Harapan, including the designation of Tun Mahathir as the Prime Minister-designate, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Deputy Prime Minister-designate, and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Koh claims that my support for Tun Mahahtir Mohamad, who turns 93 in July, to become Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister-designate contradicted my earlier statement regarding the late Dr. Lim Chong Eu.

I believe that if Dr. Lim Chong Eu is still alive today, he would have left the dark side and crossed over to support the Pakatan Harapan campaign to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

When will Dr. Koh Tsu Koon leave the dark side and join the forces for light, justice and  moderation in the country?

The country is going through trying times with new pretenders on the political scene.  We see political leaders denouncing fake news and want new legislation and mechanism to fight fake news but who are in fact the greatest manufacturer and peddlar of fake news like the stance that the 1MDB scandal does not exist at all and all adverse reports about 1MDB  scandal are just fake news.

These are political opportunists who use the language of fighting fake news to get immunity and impunity to concoct and peddle fake news.

Similarly, a new tribe of anti-corruption champions have emerged,  who could concoct a RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel out of nothing but dare not say a word about the 1MDB scandal which had made Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.

These are UMNO’s new “ninja assassins” –whose role is to distract attention from Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and  Malaysia becoming a  global kleptocracy!

Koh seemed to have joined this new tribe of anti-corruption champions who do not dare to breathe a word about the 1MDB scandal, when he said  that none of the Gerakan’s public office holders in past four decades had been accused or charged with corruption, unlike the present administration – obviously referring to today’s corruption trial of the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Koh seems to have developed considerable empathy with the  political leader who said some 14 years ago that Karpal and I were “outdated medicine whose shelf life has expired” as this political  recently said that “staying neutral on 1MDB  doesn’t mean its defending evil”.

They cannot be more wrong – for when the 1MDB scandal is evil personified, causing Malaysia to be regarded as a global kleptocracy, staying neutral on 1MDB is undoubtedly defending evil!

It is quite a marvel to see a political party which claims itself to be the “conscience” in Barisan Nasional embracing the the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.

As for old men in politics – unusual times call for unusual tactics. Deng Xiaoping was paramount leader in China and led his country through far-reaching market-economy reforms in the years when he was 74 to 85 years; and in the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill was summoned at the age of 66 to be Prime Minister to lead the country in the Second World War to defeat Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and again re-elected as Prime Minister of United Kingdom when he was 77 years.

If Tun Mahathir can lead Pakatan Harapan to effect the first peaceful and democratic transition  of power in Putrajaya, the first step for Malaysia to become a normal democracy where voters can peacefully and democratically choose the new government of the day, this will be Mahathir’s greatest legacy to Malaysia.

(Media Conference  Statement (2) at Dewan Sri Pinang, Penang at 11.30am on Monday, 26th March 2018)

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DAP appoints a panel of four MP-lawyers headed by Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Glugor) and  comprising Teo Nie Ching (Kulai), Lim Lip Eng (Segambut) and Thomas Su (Ipoh Timor) to defend Wong Chin Huat for breaking embargo on the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report

DAP has appointed a panel of four MP-lawyers headed by Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Glugor) and comprising Teo Nie Ching (Kulai), Lim Lip Eng (Segambut) and Thomas Su (Ipoh Timor) to defend political analyst Wong Chin Huat for breaking the embargo on the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report.

Chin Huat broke the embargo at a public forum on “How Malaysia’s Elections Are Being Stolen” in Kuala Lumpur today and released the Election Commission’s report in full on NGO ENGAGE’s website.

Chin Huat said he was compelled to break the embargo as the contents of the report would have “disastrous” implication and he was breaking the law for the sake of the country.

I commend Chin Huat for his patriotic action, which reminded me of Gandhi’s Salt Protest and Salt march in March 1930, which started with Gandhi’s act of non-violent civil disobedience against British colonial rule to produce salt from the seawater in the coastal village of Dandi (now Gujarat).

I agree with Chin Huat that there is no acceptable reason for the imposition of an embargo once the Election Commission’s Report had been tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

In fact, there was no parliamentary embargo as Parliament did not adopt a motion to impose such an embargo. The embargo was announced unilaterally and arbitrarily by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, which was clearly improper, invalid and therefore illegal as outside the powers of the Speaker and against the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders.

Chin Huat is right that the relevant law is the House of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952, with regard to Section 9 which states that the Dewan Rakyat may “summarily punish for contempt by fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit”.

This means that the Dewan Rakyat must sit as court to adjudicate whether Chin Huat had committed a parliamentary contempt falling under anyone of the 14 definitions of “parliamentary contempt” under Section 9 of the Ordinance and how to “summarily punish” him for it.

However, notice has not been given for the Dewan Rakyat to convene under the Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 to “summarily punish” Chin Huat, especially as Chin Huat has not committed any parliamentary contempt falling within anyone of the 14 “parliamentary contempt” set out in Section 9 of the Act.

How can there be any contempt of Parliament when Parliament had not passed a motion imposing an embargo on the Election Commision’s Constituency Redelineation Report?

In any event, the DAP panel of lawyers/MPs headed by Ramkarpal and comprising Nie Ching, Lip Eng and Thomas Su, assisted by senior DAP lawyer/MPs Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong) and M. Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat) have been assigned the task of defending Chin Huat if he is ordered to “stand trial” in the Dewan Rakyat for committing parliamentary contempt in making full disclosures of the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Reports.

The Speaker’s imposition of a most ridiculous and undemocratic embargo on the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals Report, which had never happened with previous Election Commission Constituency Redelienation Proposals Reports in the past half a century, has raised the question whether the present report is the most dishonest, dishonorable, disgraceful and undemocratic one as compared to previous Reports.

Based on the so-called embargoed Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals Report, which would be debated in Parliament tomorrow, Chin Huat predicts that BN stands to increase its number of parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia from 86 seats in the 2013 General Elections to  94 through further malapportionment and gerrymandering.

(Media Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, March 27, 2018)

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Will Najib be the first to be charged under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 for the fake news that he has been cleared by Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when it is passed by Parliament?

We have before Parliament  a most monstrous and pernicious Anti-Fake News Bill, which undermines the Federal Constitutional guarantees on fundamental liberties in particular Article 10 on freedom of speech and expression, which will destroy the Malaysian Dream of all Malaysians down the generations that Malaysia will mature into a normal democracy.

On top of the epithet of a kleptocracy, Malaysia will be known worldwide as a democracy which had regressed into an autocracy, although retaining the external trappings of a parliamentary democracy.

It is no wonder that the Anti-Fake News Bill 2108 is unanimously regarded by all journalists worth their salt as the biggest ever threat to press freedom once it becomes law.

In fact, even former  information minister Tan  Sri Rais Yatim is shocked by the wide-ranging implications of the Anti-Fake News Bill, calling on the public to scrutinize it, which is clearly impossible if the Bill is to be rushed to become law before the 14th General Elections as one of the ultra-weapons against the Pakatan Harapan and civil society and to save the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s political life.

Rais has presciently warned of the wide implications of the Anti-Fake News Bill on the government, groups, NGOs and individuals, pointedly asking what would happen if “fake news” came from the government.

The political cartoonist Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, hit the bull’s eye when he  said the new legislation was aimed at hiding corruption. as Putrajaya found it difficult to control the free flow of information on the Internet like how it controlled the mainstream media.

Should the last act of the 13th Parliament be to enact a law which will be a new weapon to cover-up corruption, to entrench Malaysia’s 3Is – ignominy, infamy and iniquity – as a global kleptocracy?

I find no assurance in the statement yesterday by the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri  Salleh Said Keruak when he met foreign correspondents that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filings on 1MDB won’t be considered fake news.

Would the local media be liable for prosecution under the Anti-Fake News Act for publishing the 1MDB reports of foreign publications?

Clearly, the Anti-Fake News Bill is in fact a  Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill, as the Deputy Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Jailani Johari had let the cat out of the bag when he told Parliament last week that any information related to 1MDB not verified by government authorities is considered “fake news”.

Jailani had said that the general definition of fake news is ”news confirmed as false by authorities with expertise in the matter”.

Wouldn’t this mean that all media which carried such “unverified” news about the 1MDB scandal which appeared in foreign publications  would be open to prosecution under the Anti-Fake News Act?

In any event, the assurance of the Minister of Communications and Multimedia that the US DOJ  fillings on 1MDB won’t be considered fake news is not worth a single sen for it will not prevent any Attorney-General from proceeding to prosecute anyone under the Anti-Fake News Act, which carries the ridiculous penalties of RM500,000 fine or ten years’ jail or to both, for publishing the US DoJ filings on the 1MDB scandal, as it is “unverified” information and therefore fake news  – unless such an assurance is written into the Anti-Fake News Bill!

The Anti-Fake Ness Bill defines “fake news” as including any news, information, data and reports which, in part or wholly, are false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas.

There is no doubt that the recent statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, that he has been cleared by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal is completely baseless and unfounded and fits 100 per cent into the definition of “fake news” in the Anti-Fake News Bill.

Let me ask the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman whether  Najib  will  be the first to be charged under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 for the fake news that he has been cleared by Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when the Bill  is passed by Parliament, assented by the Yang di Pertuan Agong and gazetted?

Let Azalina give this answer with the full endorsement by the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, which would mean that the police would be arresting Najib for the crime of false news so that the first test case of this new law in  the courts would be the Prime Minister himself being charged under the Anti-False News Act 2018!

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, 27th March 2018 at 11.45 am)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, 12:53 pm and is filed under
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Will Wee announce that he is totally convinced of his discovery of a RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal in Penang and will contest in one of the three MCA parliamentary seats to highlight it?

MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong is indeed creating history in his almost daily attacks on the DAP.

So far, he is sole MCA or Barisan Nasional Minister/MP who knows anything about the RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel corruption scandal.

It is reported that Wee is poised to take his RM20 billion tunnel war to Penang on Friday 30th March in a MCA forum in Bagan.

Will Wee announce that he is totally convinced of his discovery of a RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal in Penang and will contest in one of the three MCA parliamentary seats in Penang to highlight and  convince Penang voters about the RM20 billion tunnel scandal and the need to  save Penang from such scandal from the DAP and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng?

I do not want to ask Wee to contest in Bagan against Guan Eng. It is up to him to choose one of the three MCA Parliamentary seats to contest, as apart from Bagan, MCA also has Bukit Mertajam and Bukit Glugor to choose from.

I must warn him however that if he contests in Penang, he is giving the Penang voters a chance to teach him a lesson for peddling trash and fake news agaisnt DAP and the Penang Chief Minister  about the RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal.

Wee Ka Siong will then be fighting to keep his deposit and not to win a parliamentary seat for MCA in Penang.

More imporant to the Penang voters will be why the MCA Ministers and leaders have been thunderously silent on the international muti-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and Malaysia’s ill-repute as a global kleptocracy under the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak and during the years when Wee was a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Even more urgent and important, why are the three MCA Ministers keeping their silence when Parliament was presented with an Anti-Fake News Bill, which is none other than a Bill to Protect and Save Najib from the 1MDB scandal?

Lets see what Wee is up to in Penang this Friday.

(Media Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, March 27, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, 3:55 pm and is filed under
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Chang Yeow, do not show sully or tarnish the good name and  memory of Chong Eu

At first I had wanted to ignore the statement issued by the Penang Gerakan Chairman, Teng Chang Yeow.

If Teng believes he is such a great or popular politician, how could he lose Padang Kota State Assembly seat which he had held for three terms from 1995-2008, and in the 2018 General Election, campaigning  as a Penang Chief Minister-designate? It is most unthinkable.

In 2013, where did Chang Yeow contest?

He ran away from DAP’s Chow Kon Yeow to stand in Bukit Tengah, where he was again trounced by PKR’s Ong Chin Wen who won with a huge majority of 5,190 votes, while Chang Yeow secured only 33.1% of the votes cast.

Where would Chang Yeow contest in the 14GE?

Dare he go back to Padang Kota where he had been State Assemblyman for three terms?

Furthermore, why is Chang Yeow, who  was designated as the Barisan Nasional Penang Chief Minister   by none other than the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, acting as a fugitive looking for a seat to contest in the coming general election?

But what changed my mind about responding to Chang Yeow is to advise him not to sully or tarnish the good name and memory of Chong Eu.

Teng had taken strong objection to my statement that I believed that if Chong Eu is alive today, he would have left the dark side represented by the Barisan Nasional and crossed over to support the  Pakatan Harapan’s campaign to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

Teng said Chong Eu was more principled than me and would not likely have swayed from his political leanings, questioning my “moral standing”.

I forgive  Chang Yeow  for he knows not what he said.

I had worked with three former Prime Ministers, Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn and now Tun Mahathir Mohamad for principled and honourable objectives for the good of the country, and it is most unbecoming of Chang Yeow to malign the honour and objectives of these three former Prime Ministers, suggesting that they are unpatriotic or dishonourable.

It is sad to see a political party which had once claimed to be the “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional degenerating to the present status of sycophants  to aid and abet kleptocracy.

I do not believe that Chong Eu would support kleptocracy or any global kleptocrat like Chang Yeow today.

I believe Chong Eu will turn in his grave if this is the result of all his decades of patriotic dedication and sacrifice for the betterment of the nation.

(Media Statement in Penang on Wednesday, March 28, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 12:30 pm and is filed under
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I strike paydirt and Abdul Rahman Dahlan has shown his hand as the UMNO leader who gave Wee Ka Siong the script to play as UMNO’ “ninja assassin” with the fictitious RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel scandal

I strike paydirt with my short 10-paragraph statement on Wee Ka Siong as UMNO “ninja assassin” yesterday.

I had suggested that Wee should announce that he would contest in one of the three MCA parliamentary seats in Penang if he is totally convinced of his discovery of a RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal in Penang, which until yesterday he was the sole MCA/Barisan Nasional Minister/MP to know about.

Wee had been making almost daily attacks on the Penang DAP/PH State Government and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng  on the fictitious RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel, but I always suspected that Wee was not so “original” as to able himself to concoct the RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal but was only reading out the script by his UMNO handlers who have designated the role of “ninja assassin” for him to play – to character-assassinate the image, reputation and integrity of Penang DAP/PH State Government and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, so as  to divert attention from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s international RM52 billion 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

The statement this morning by the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Sri Abdul Rahman Dahlan responding to my statement yesterday on Wee Ka Siong as UMNO “ninja assassin” is most revealing – virtually a confession by Abdul Rahman Dahlan that he is the “handler” feeding and giving Wee the script to launch a ceaseless attack on Penang Chief Minister and Penang DAP/PH State Government to divert attention from the 1MDB scandal.

This is why Wee had run crying to Abdul Rahman complaining about the attacks he is getting for his “ninja assassin” role, and this is why it is Abdul Rahman and not Wee who had replied to my statement yesterday.

I had raised several questions about Wee’s role as UMNO’s “ninja assassin”, which he had not been able to answer.

For instance, I had pointed out the extraordinary scenario where Wee tried to surface as an anti-corruption warrior in Malaysia, when he had not dared make a single squeak in the past three years when Malaysia  was rocked by the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which had stained and tarnished Malaysia’s international reputation as it is regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

Instead, since June 2014, although the MCA had been reduced into a 7/11 political party in the 2013 General Election, Wee together with two other MCA leaders had enjoyed the perks and privileges of  Cabinet Ministers of a kleptocracy under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Where is Wee’s credibility?

Is Abdul Rahman prepared to answer on behalf of Wee  to explain why he has become UMNO’s “ninja assassin” to character-assassinate the image, reputation and integrity of Penang Chief Minister and Penang DAP/PH State Government to distract attention from the world’s worst kleptocracy – the 1MDB scandal.

It is most unthinkable that  a MCA Deputy President, the No. 2 leader in MCA, taking directives from the BN Strategic Communications Director who is only an UMNO  Supreme Council member and Sabah UMNO Secretary – and of equal rank as Wee as  a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Is it any wonder that MCA has been reduced to a 7/11 political party, and why the three top MCA leaders  hide in constituencies with Malay voter majorities and depend on UMNO’s Malay voters to get into Parliament and the Cabinet?

If Wee is not prepared to announce that he is totally convinced of his discovery of a RM20 billion undersea tunnel scandal in Penang and will contest in one of the three MCA parliamentary seats in Penang to highlight and  convince Penang voters about the RM20 billion tunnel scandal and the need to  save Penang from such scandal from the DAP and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, then he should ask his handler, Abdul Rahman Dahlan replace him at the so-called forum on the undersea tunnel scandal in Bagan in Penang on Friday.

(Media Statement in Parliament on Wednesday, March 28, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 4:59 pm and is filed under
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The Anti-Fake News Bill is in fact a Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill which will criminalise all news about 1MDB scandal in Malaysia available worldwide  and punishable as  “fake news”

The 13th Parliament is treated with utter contempt in this last parliamentary meeting and the world is watching how a Parliament in a global kleptocracy is reduced into a farce and charade.

Yesterday, the constituency redelineation report of the Election Commission was rammed through Parliament, without giving MPs any time or opportunity whatsoever to get public feedback or seek public consultation on  the Election Commission’s new constituency redelineation proposals, which made a mockery of the constitutional principles of one man, one vote, one value and an independent Election Commission which commands the confidence of Malaysians – just to maintain Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

Today, Parliament is asked to pass the Anti-Fake News Bill which is nothing but a Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill, which will criminalise all news about the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia which is available worldwide and punishable as fake news with excessive penalties of RM500,000 fine, 10 years jail or both.

I have been a victim of fake news and false information for decades, demonizing me as anti-Malay, anti-Islam; cause of May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 when I was never in Kuala Lumpur during the relevant period;  agent of foreign powers one and the same time, agent of  CIA, M16, KGB and Australian Intelligence; having received RM1 billion from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to allow the entry of PPBM into Pakatan Harapan, received RM100 million from Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, financed a news portal with RM40 million, received more than a billion ringgit from Israeli sources, and other monstrous and evil lies.

Are the Income Tax department and the Special Branch in Malaysia so inefficient, incompetent and unprofessional to allow such dastardly activities to take place in the past few decades without knowing about them?

It is of course impossible. In fact, Malaysia has one of the most competent, efficient and top-class Special Branch in the world, and the Special Branch professionals know these fake news and false  information about me are just downright lies – the handiwork of the UMNO/BN propagandists and well-funded quinoa cybertroopers.

Will all these people who concoct and peddle these fake news and false information about me be arrested, prosecuted and punished with half-a-million ringgit fine or 10 years’ jail or both?

Of course not. These criminals will continue to enjoy good pay, perks and privileges from the powers-that-be.

False news must be exposed and combated but not by the Anti-Fake News Bill, which even the Suhakam Chairman, Tan Sri Razali Ismail has warned would have enormous implications and could inspire an authoritarian form of government.

As the Suhakam Chairman has rightly pointed out, the government’s track record in utilising laws for reasons other than its intended purpose is arguably questionable and the proposed law could  be used to exert control on the media and worsen Malaysia’s standing on the Reporters Without Border’s World Press Freedom Index. Malaysia ranked 144th out of 180 countries in the 2017 index.

Should one of the last acts of the 13th Parliament be to enact a law which will be a new weapon to cover-up corruption, to entrench Malaysia’s 3Is – ignominy, infamy and iniquity – as a global kleptocracy?

I find no assurance in the statement  by the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri  Salleh Said Keruak when he met foreign correspondents that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filings on 1MDB won’t be considered fake news.

Would the local media be liable for prosecution under the Anti-Fake News Act for publishing the 1MDB reports of foreign publications?

Clearly, the Anti-Fake News Bill is in fact a  Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill, as the Deputy Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Jailani Johari had let the cat out of the bag when he told Parliament last week that any information related to 1MDB not verified by government authorities is considered “fake news”.

Jailani had said that the general definition of fake news is ”news confirmed as false by authorities with expertise in the matter”.

Wouldn’t this mean that all media which carried such “unverified” news about the 1MDB scandal which appeared in foreign publications  would be open to prosecution under the Anti-Fake News Act?

In any event, the assurance of the Minister of Communications and Multimedia that the US DOJ  fillings on 1MDB won’t be considered fake news is not worth a single sen for it will not prevent any Attorney-General from proceeding to prosecute anyone under the Anti-Fake News Act, for publishing the US DoJ filings on the 1MDB scandal, as it is “unverified” information and therefore fake news  – unless such an assurance is written into the Anti-Fake News Bill!

The Anti-Fake Ness Bill defines “fake news” as including any news, information, data and reports which, in part or wholly, are false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas.

There is no doubt that the statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, last week that he has been cleared by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal is completely baseless and unfounded and fits 100 per cent into the definition of “fake news” in the Anti-Fake News Bill.

I had challenge the Prime Minister in the past week and even sent an email to him   to quote chapter and verse in the PAC Report on 1MDB which was tabled in Parliament in April 2016 which cleared him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

I am prepared to attend any news conference or event presided by Najib for him to quote chapter and verse from the PAC report which cleared him of wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

One newspaper headline of Najib’s speech at the launch of the National Transformation Programme  (NTP) report yesterday said: “PAC didn’t say I stole from 1MDB, says PM”.

This is another irresponsible fake-news, as the PAC  Report also did not say that Najib did not steal from 1MDB.

Let me extend my challenge to all Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs to show where in the PAC Report on 1MDB is Najib absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, specifically described by the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at its worst”?

Jeff Sessions had told a global conference on asset recovery as recently as December last year that 1MDB-linked assets accounted for nearly half of some US$3.5 billion in total proceeds seized or restrained by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), tied to money-laundering offences.

Sessions said alleged that “corrupt officials” in 1MDB had  spent US$200 million on real estate in Southern California and New York, US$130 million on artwork, invested US$100 million in an American music label and US$265 million on a yacht.

“In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than US$4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States,” Sessions said.

But the Malaysian authorities, including the Inspector-General of Police and the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, claim complete ignorance and show apathy about the US$1.7 billion in assets stolen from 1MDB, and which are subjects of several forfeiture lawsuits by the US DoJ,  with the US Attorney-General giving  the commitment to provide “justice to the victims”.

It is a sad and shameful day for Malaysia that we have to depend on foreign countries to provide “justice” to the 30 million Malaysians, who are the real victims of the 1MDB scandal – when the Malaysian government should be in the forefront to provide justice for the victims of the 1MDB scandal.

Let me ask the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman whether  the Prime Minister  will  be the first to be charged under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 for the fake news that he has been cleared by Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when the Bill  is passed by Parliament?

Let Azalina give this answer with the full endorsement by the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, which would mean that the police would be arresting Najib for the crime of false news so that the first test case of this new law in  the courts would be the Prime Minister himself being charged under the Anti-False News Act 2018!

I call on UMNO/Barisan Nasional MPs to heed the great rumblings in the deep bowels of Malaysian society, including UMNO and Malay community, that  things are not right with Malaysia, especially with regard to the great shame that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal has brought to Malaysia by giving the nation a virtual instant epithet of a global kleptocracy.

These rumblings first surfaced publicly early this month after the seizure of 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s billion-ringgit luxury superyacht Equanimity by the Indonesian authorities and FBI in Bali at the end last month.

Former International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz broke the ice when publicly lamented in her FaceBook about the Malaysian government becoming the modern-day Malaysian “Emperor with New Clothes”, asking why the Malaysian authorities had not been able to find 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s billion-ringgit luxury superyacht when she herself could spot it while on a diving trip in Thailand.

This was followed by the tweet of the former Information Minister, Tan Sri Rais Yatim asking why the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak was so hasty in defending Jho Low instead of defending justice with regard to the seizure of the luxury superyacht Equanimity.

UMNO Veterans Club secretary Mustaha Yaakub joined in the public rumbling, declaring that the supporters of Jho Low as those who betrayed the country and UMNO, as Jho Low was responsible for the 1MDB scandal and that action should be taken against him.

The public rumbling and cries from the heart from the deep bowels of UMNO and Malay society elicited not sympathy and concern from those in power in UMNO and Barisan Nasional, but led to a spate of savage and malicious attacks (reminiscent of the recent attacks on Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok) by UMNO/BN propagandists and quinoa cybetroopers.

But this has not cowed either Rais or Rafidah who stuck to their guns in their criticism of UMNO Ministers and leaders for becoming apologists and defenders of 1MDB scandal and the 1MDB mastermind Jho Low.

Heed the warning of Rafidah who cautioned Malaysians not to vote for corrupt politicians, as that would be tantamount to an endorsement of their wrongdoings.

She warned Malaysians would be “accomplices” to acts of corruption and treachery if they wilfully voted for corrupt politicians.

Will Malaysian MPs heed these warnings from deep bowels of Malaysian society and from UMNO veterans?

In September 2016, I had  called for a special session of Parliament to empower an all-party parliamentary delegation to the UN General Assembly to purge and cleanse Malaysia of international indictment as an overnight global kleptocracy

The Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had  told the world in his interview with BBC that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” in the US DoJ kleptocratic litigation on 1MDB-linked assets was  none other than Prime Minister Najib, after saying earlier that “only an idiot doesn’t know who that person was”.

There seem to be many “idiots” in high levels of government in Malaysia, including the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the MACC Chief Commissioner, Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament.

This is reason enough for a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 14GE as Malaysia does not want to have idiots in high positions in the country but hard-working and competent patriots!

I said yesterday that having been in Parliament for four decades since 1969, except for a break during the 10th Parliament, I have never felt more ashamed as a MP, as the 13th Parliament had done nothing to protect the nation’s international reputation and good name tarnished by the 1MDB scandal and epithet of a global kleptocracy.

How can Parliament be indifferent or nonchalant to the international indictment of Malaysia as a overnight global kleptocracy?

How can the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) act so cowardly and irresponsibly in not re-opening investigations into the 1MDB scandal when the US Department of Justice (DoJ) instituted kleptocratic proceedings in July 2016 to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, which showed that the PAC had committed grave omissions  or been grossly misled in its earlier investigation into the 1MDB, submitting its report in April 2016.

Are MPs prepared to do their patriotic duty, to stop being “idiots”, and to subordinate their personal interests of national interests to purge and cleanse Malaysia’s international reputation and good name from the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of a global kleptocracy.

If so, then  withdraw this bill today and refer it to a Parliamentary Select Committee as suggested by the Suhakam Chairman, and let us purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

[(Proposed) Speech in Parliament on the Anti-Fake News bill 2018 on Thursday, March 289, 2018, which was not delivered due to a dubious suspension order]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 29 March 2018, 4:10 pm and is filed under
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“A Ghost in Parliament”

By Steven Sim

A ghost came to Parliament today,

His voice haunted the Lower House,

The honourable members heard him say,

“Recall thy vows, recall thy vows.”

The Speaker said he cannot see,

The ghost whose voice we hear,

A minister taunted haughtily,

“The voice is all too familiar!”

‘Twas a voice which reverberated,

In many a noble assemblage,

Through centuries past it whispered,

In courts, and senates, and our little hearts.

And yet from his high chair, the Ref,

Cast a spell to turn a blind eye,

He made Parliament blind and deaf,

To our conscience ghostly cry.

Thus Parliament chose to sneer,

Conscience’s piercing call,

It may ignore the small voice here,

But lo, the Voice beyond the Hall.

—————-#

The Incident

On 28 March 2018, the Member of Parliament for Gelang Patah, Lim Kit Siang stood up to question why the Election Commission’s redelineation report was embargoed for six days after it was distributed to MPs, an unprecedented practice in the Malaysian parliament.

The Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Pandikar Amin Mulia not only refused to entertain Lim’s question, but when Lim pressed on, Pandikar ruled to evict him from the House. Lim refused to back down and Pandikar called on the government to move a motion naming Lim to suspend him from Parliament for six months.

Minister Azalina Othman moved the motion. No debate nor vote was called on the motion. Pandikar then adjourned the House but before that he threatened to call in the police if Lim is still in the House after the adjournment.

When Lim appeared in his seat after the short adjournment, Pandikar did not take any further action. However, when a division was taken later on the redelineation motion, Lim’s vote was not counted even though he was present and voted against the motion.

The next day, Pandikar ruled that Lim was now invisible stranger, who could not be seen nor heard by the Speaker.

When Lim tried to speak, Minister Noh Omar sneered at Lim for being a ghost who could not be seen but whose familiar voice was trying to say something nevertheless.

Lim Kit Siang is the fourth Member of Parliament to be evicted from the House this week, following the suspension of Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Beruas), Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) and V Sivakumar (DAP-Batu Gajah) on 26 March 2018 for questioning the Speaker’s decision to reject a motion on issue relating to 1MDB.

* Steven Sim is the Member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam. He was in the Dewan Rakyat when the incident took place
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                This entry was posted on Friday, 30 March 2018, 8:04 pm and is filed under
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