“Mahathir and Anwar are changed men, don’t expect a repeat of 1998, says Kit Siang” – TMI

The Malaysian Insight
 |
Interview 2
|10.6.2018

BOTH men are ambitious and both carry scars of past battles.

Both are surrounded by impatient and suspicious supporters.

The last time one of them was the prime minister and the other the prime minister-in-waiting, it ended in the nastiest scrap in Malaysian political history.

Critics believe it will just be a matter of time before Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim clash again, a development that will send the new government into a tailspin and the country into a period of tumult.

Lim Kit Siang has heard the chatter but he is betting on a different outcome this time.

The  DAP veteran said both men and  other senior leaders within PH are changed individuals and the coalition is more stable than it appears.

Time and the circumstances of the country in the years leading up to the historic 14th general election have changed both Mahathir and Anwar, said Lim.

‘I think we have all changed. Mahathir, Anwar and all the leading players in Pakatan Harapan have learnt the lessons of life to be better persons and to be more sensitive, more sensible and better Malaysian leaders, ” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Twenty years ago Anwar and Dr Mahathir were staunch rivals in Umno and despite the former being the latter’s deputy, it was an open secret that both were attempting to undermine each other within the party itself.

This rivalry reached its peak when Anwar was sacked from government, Umno and his subsequent imprisonment sparked the reformasi movement in 1998.

Less than two decades later, Mahathir and Anwar would reconcile and unite with other PH leaders to take down Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional.

“I believe Mahathir of today is very different from Mahathir who was Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981- 2003,” Lim said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

TMI: What surprised you about GE14?

Lim: I had not really expected Pakatan Harapan to win the federal government and eight state governments – retaining not only Penang and Selangor, but winning Kedah, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor and Sabah together with (Parti) Warisan Sabah.

There was a possibility of political change in GE14 so long as two conditions were met: firstly, retaining or even exceeding the voter turnout and support in the urban and semi-urban areas to ensure the repetition  of the urban and semi-urban political tsunami in the 2008 and 2013 general elections; and secondly, creating a rural tsunami or Malay tsunami.

Although Najib’s denial syndrome persisted until the very end of the election campaign in denying that there was a Malay tsunami, there  was clearly a wave of awakening for political change among the Malay voters the rural areas, but I was not sure how strong was this wave on polling day.

TMI: Name one defining moment of GE14.

Lim: There was no one defining “Eureka” moment, as the question bugging everyone who gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya on Polling Night was whether there was a hung Parliament or whether Pakatan Harapan had won a simple majority of at least 112 parliamentary seats.

Ambiga Sreenivasan, who with many other NGO leaders who had gravitated to Sheraton Hotel, asked why Mahathir could not announce that Pakatan Harapan  had won. But I told her that Pakatan Harapan leaders ourselves must be sure that we have passed the magic figure of more than 112 seats.

“Who expected Pakatan Harapan to win the 14th General Elections?  Everyone, the mainstream pollsters and political analysts, expected UMNO-Barisan Nasional to win hands down.

In fact, Najib Razak had no doubt that he would not only win, but even to regain the two-thirds parliamentary majority which UMNO-BN had lost in two previous general elections.

In retrospect, it is clear that Najib had not made any plans for a getaway because he was living in a bubble of his own, and that of his highly-paid strategists and advisers.

TMI: You have worked with Dr Mahathir for the past three years. Has he changed and is Malaysia in good hands?

Lim: I believe Mahathir of today is very different from Mahathir who was Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981- 2003. He has transformed from a hegemon to a consensus-builder.

I believe that Malaysia is in good hands under Mahathir and Pakatan Harapan. Now we have a second chance to achieve a New Malaysia where we can become a showcase to the world as a successful, united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures instead of hurtling towards becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state. – June 10, 2018.

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“Time to dream big, Kit Siang tells Malaysians” – TMI

The Malaysian Insight
 |
Interview
|10.6.2018

LIM Kit Siang does not want Malaysians to manage their expectations.

He does not want them to think in terms of small changes and piecemeal improvement in governance or to be limited by communal sentiments.

“Malaysians can dare to dream again – and dream big. Many had given up hope, as witnessed by the mass migration of the best and brightest.

“Even worse, for the past few years, Malaysians whether in the country or part of the diaspora were ashamed to admit that they were Malaysians because of the infamy of the kleptocracy.

“Malaysia and Malaysians are coming in from the cold,” Lim told the Malaysian Insight.

For a start, the Pakatan Harapan government wants to build a country where people treat each other as fellow Malaysians.

This nation can then be beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world, he said.

His words will offer comfort to Malaysians who after having witnesses so many false dawns in the country are a cynical lot.

They believe that the euphoria of a new Malaysia following May 9 will die off shortly and it will be a return to the days when race and religious dominate discourse and decision-making.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Lim shared his feelings about the historic GE14 especially for a politician who spent close to five decades on the losing side.

Below are excerpts of the interview.

TMI: What went through your mind when it became clear that victory was won?

Lim:
 Firstly, a sense of relief that the country had been spared the agony and trauma which would accompany a hung Parliament – the PAS leadership declared its intention to be the “king-maker”, by winning 40 Parliamentary seats, to prop up Najib Razak as the prime minister despite the 1MDB scandal. Political Islam in Malaysia will never recover from such an unprincipled association!

Secondly, laying to rest the spectre of May 13.

TMI: You once said DAP wanted nothing more than to be a strong, loyal opposition. Then came the 2008 tsunami and a DAP leader became chief minister. How do you feel now that DAP has achieved what was once thought unattainable?

Lim:
 I never expected to see a change of federal government in my lifetime.  It was a dream come true not only for me but for entire generations of Malaysians – particularly those in the 60s, 70s, and above.

It was an unique experience  – the feeling of hope renewed, a Malaysia reborn, of being given a second chance to reset nation-building policies.

TMI: Should Malaysians dare to dream or should we manage our expectations given racial and religious considerations?

Lim:
 Malaysians can dare to dream again – and dream big.  Many had given up hope in Malaysia, as witnessed the mass migration of the best and brightest of Malaysians overseas over the decades, creating the Malaysian Ddaspora.

Even worse, for the past few years, Malaysians whether inside the country or in the Malaysian Diaspora were ashamed to admit that they were Malaysians because of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

TMI: PH was won on the promise that it could bring down the price of food, housing, healthcare. Can PH realistically achieve these goals?

Lim: Pakatan Harapan must prove that the Malaysian Spring of May 9, 2018 is not an Arab Spring. To give Malaysians more freedom, democracy and a better life. But this cannot be achieved overnight, it will take some time to undo the decades of misrule and undemocratic governance.

TMI: When you look at Najib Razak and his wife, what do you see? Do you feel any empathy?

Lim:
 What a great opportunity for good lost. Najib promised Malaysians “the world’s best democracy”. He delivered instead a global kleptocracy.

What is unforgivable is Najib’s role in the 1MDB scandal and his indifference to Malaysia being regarded by the world as a global kleptocracy.

It will be his lasting ignominy.

TMI: What’s next for Lim Kit Siang? You are not in the cabinet. What will your role be?

Lim:
I have declined to be nominated to the cabinet as I believe that there are enough young and idealistic talents from the DAP to serve as Ministers.

I will continue to play my role to build a New Malaysia, where we treat each other as fellow-Malaysians to build a great Malaysian nation which can be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” and not to become a “disturbed and distracted” nation ourselves. – June 10, 2018.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2018, 9:55 am and is filed under
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DAP MPs will contribute over RM210,000 to Tabung Harapan Malaysia – will UMNO/BN MPs make any contribution to the Tabung Harapan?

The 42 DAP MPs will contribute over RM210,000 to Tabung Harapan Malaysia – with MPs donating RM5,000 each while some DAP MPs donating more to help in the national crisis with a trillion-ringgit national debt.

The Tabung Harapan Malaysia has captured the imagination not only of Malaysians but of the world – a significant manifestation of patriotism and love for Malaysia by all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region and I hope politics.

This is why I ask whether UMNO/BN MPs will make any contribution to Tabung Harapan Malaysia.

It is just one month since the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9 2018, which allowed Malaysians in the country and in the worldwide Malaysian Diaspora to feel proud and stand tall – for Malaysia has put the ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy behind them and has become, in the words of Bapa Malaysia when the country attained Merdeka in 1957, to become “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.

We have shown the world that there is still hope for democracy as a system of governance, that against all predictions, despite being a plural nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures, Malaysia is capable of peaceful and democratic change to correct wrong polices of the past and to reset nation-building policies and directions – giving Malaysians  a new sense of freedom of a counry reborn!

The Tabung Harapan Malaysia is one manifestation of a Malaysian reborn, where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, culture, language and politics, can come together to show their love and  patriotism for Malaysia

Nobody expects the Tabung Harapan Malaysia to collect near the trillion-ringgit figure to meet the national debt, but it is a national catharsis so to say for Malaysians  to demonstrate that whatever the machinations of leaders, the people at large love this country as their only motherland and will not allow their so-called leaders to mortgage the nation’s future and those of future generations.

This is particularly moving, as never before in the previous 13 general elections since 1959 had the country since the intensity and  viciousness of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies as in the 11-day campaign of the 14th General Elections.

The very fact that despite the viciousness and intensity of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the 14th General Elections, the voters of Malaysia from diverse races, religions, cultures, languages, regions and politics can come together to overthrow the seemingly invincible UMNO/BN coalition gives reason to hope that Malaysian voters are more intelligent than UMNO/BN and there is hope not only for democracy in Malaysia, but for Malaysia to fulfill Bapa Malaysia’s Malaysia Dream to be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.

Malaysia must be world-class in democracy, institutions national leadership, economic success and educational excellence, and not and never for all the wrong reasons – like a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

I for one would like to see democracy thrive in Malaysia, not only with a vibrant media and active civil society, but an effective and constructive Opposition.

But there are clearly wrong notions as to how to develop an effective and constructive Opposition.

There are those who think that it is possible for Malaysians to overlook the enormous and even treasonous crimes  committed by the previous UMNO/BN government, by giving a perfunctory apology for the mistakes and weaknesses of the past.

I do not want UMNO/BN to die, but it is very naïve  for anyone to think that the great and treasonous crimes of UMNO/BN government in making Malaysia the laughing stock of the world by becoming a global kleptocracy can be glossed over and be easily forgiven.

This is not being realistic as I do not see how UMNO/BN can regain credibility so long as it is not prepared to admit to two enormous treasonous crimes against the nation – turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy and spearheading the most vicious politics of race religion, hate, fear and lies in the 14GE.

Is UMNO/BN prepared to fully admit to these two enormous treasonous cimes against Malaysia and UMNO/BN  – and even to expel  Najib Razak from UMNO/BN coalition?

(Media Conference Statement in Skudai on Monday June 11, 2018 at 12.30 pm on the million-ringgit donation by AMIM Dental Surgery to Tabung Harapan Malaysia)

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UMNO/BN parties, leaders and individuals must publicly  own up and donate whatever “dirty money”  they had received from Najib from 1MDB  to Tabung Harapan Malaysia to help pay the trillion-ringgit national debt

The Sarawak Report website, whose access was blocked by the Najib government for 34 months from July 2015, alleged in an article in August 2015 that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Back Benchers Club Chairman, Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samd received RM1 million and Deputy Finance Minister, Ahmad Maslan, received RM2 million from 1MDB from  the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s infamous RM2.6 billion private banking account.

The Sarawak Report said evidence was starting to emerge that money handed out personally by Najib to UMNO party heads, not only before the election but after, including numerous payments to MPs and many of the recipients proved themselves to be some of Najib’s strongest defenders in the 1MDB crisis.

In my speech at the DAP forum, “Ke Mana Halatuju Malaysia” at the Tropical Inn in Johor Bahru three days later on 17th August 2015, I specifically asked eight Ministers and two deputy ministers to declare the amounts of funds they received from Najib’s infamous RM2.6 billion personal accounts for the 13th General Election campaigning as Shahrir confirmed the Sarawak Report posting.

I said: “Shahrir’s confirmation of the Sarawak Report posting is an acknowledgement of the credibility and reliability of the reports in the Sarawak Report website although it has been accused of being recklessly irresponsible in making baseless allegations against UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, but up to now, there has not been a single case of any Sarawak Report posting shown to false or untrue.”

There was thunderous silence from the eight Ministers and the tww Deputy Ministers to  declare whether they have received funding from Najib’s RM2.6 billion personal accounts for 13th General Elections campaigning, and if so, how much they had each received.

The Ministers and Deputy Ministers who had served under Najib can no longer keep their silence, and all UMNO/BN parties, leaders and individuals who had received monies from Najib from 1MDB should publicly own up and donate equal amount of the “dirty money” that they had received  to Tabung Harapan Malaysia as a sign of their contrition and redemption for aiding the abetting the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, which plunged Malaysia into the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy and to help pay the trillion-ringgit national debt!

(Media Statement on Monday, 11th June 2018)

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Hadi’s greatest failure – unable to be  kingmaker to prop up Najib as kleptocratic Prime Minister in a hung Parliament and now  unable to deny two-thirds parliamentary majority to establish a New Malaysia

The greatest loser in the political bombshell today – the dissolution of Sarawak Barisan Nasional and the formation of the four Sarawak political parties, PBB, SUPP, PRS and PDP, into a new state-based alliance called “Gabungan Parti Sarawak” (GPS) – is none other than the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

This is the greatest failure of his political life – unable to be a kingmaker to prop up Datuk Seri Najib Razak as as kleptocratic Prime Minister which he had hoped to do if there was a hung Parliament in the 14th General Election with PAS winning some 40 Parliamentary seats – and now, he is unable to deny a two-thirds parliamentary majorituy to establish a New Malaysia.

The four Sarawak Barisan Nasional parties have joined four Sabah Barisan Nasional parties to exit from the 13-party Barisan Nasional, and this has even caused a Gerakan leader to pluck up courage today to propose that  the five remaining Barisan Nasional component parties should meet to expel UMNO from BN – except the matter had not been thought through as  what is the use of a residue that is left of the BN, with Gerakan with no MP, MCA with one MP and MIC with two MPs?

Is Gerakan with zero MP going to lead the  BN residue with a grand total of 3MPs out of a total of 222 MPs in Parliament?

Najib, UMNO leaders and propagandists have been sleep-walking for a month.  For instance, in Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday, Najib’s chief propagandist waxed strong about UMNO commanding 79 MPs although UMNO itself had only 54 parliamentarians.

The UMNO propagandist in Mingguan Malaysia did not seem to know that the four Sabah BN parties of PBS, UPKO, LDP and PBRS with three MPs have already left BN, and with the exit of the four Sarawak BN parties who command a total of 19 parliamentary seats, talk of commanding a posse of 79 MPs was an exercise in sheer hallucination.

What is left is only 57 parliamentary seats  – 54 from UMNO, two from MIC and one from MCA.

When push comes to shove, even the 54 UMNO MPs may disintegrate!

We are in  a historic political era for the rebirth of the nation – for Malaysia to achieve the Malaysian Dream to be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” by being an oasis of peace, harmony, excellence, progress, prosperity, justice and freedom in a plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures.

All Malaysians can re-compute in the new politics of Malaysia 2.0.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 12th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 12 June 2018, 5:17 pm and is filed under
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Utusan Malaysia’s claim that Malays are already regretting voting against Umno not  only wrong, but reflects Najib’s refusal to relinquish power and wants a new role as “the power behind the throne”

Today, the Malaysian Insight  reported that two think-tanks have debunked the Utusan Malaysia claim on Sunday that Malays are already regretting voting against UMNO and that Malay-Muslims have soured towards the new Pakatan Harapan adminsitration of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

Political analyst Hisomuddin Bakar of Ilham Centre said the regret was only among UMNO members who abandoned the party and Barisan Nasional in GE14.

Ordinary Malays, however,  are comfortable with PH since they no longer have to  pay for the goods and services tax (GST).

Ibrahim Suffian of Merdeka Centre, Ibrahim Suffia, echoed this finding, saying that a majority of Malay voters are satisfied with the new government.

He said that the smooth and peaceful of transfer of power between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan was  critical in debunking a popular myth spread by Umno while also strengthening Malay confidence in PH.

Utusan Malaysia’s claim on Sunday that Malays are already regretting voting against Umno is not  only wrong, but reflects Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s refusal to relinquish power in UMNO  and want a new role as “the power behind the throne”.

It is for this reason that Utusan Malaysia is back within a month of the historic and watershed defeat of UMNO/BN in the 14th GE in its old mischief to peddle the  politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies – as for instance in the same article in Mingguan Malaysia peddling the lie that the DAP wants to do away with the system of constitutional monarchy by turning Malaysia into a republic!

I have said that I do not want UMNO/BN to die, but it is very naïve  for anyone to think that the two  great and treasonous crimes of UMNO/BN government firstly in making Malaysia the laughing stock of the world by becoming a global kleptocracy; and secondly, unleashing the irresponsible, vicious and intensive politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies for the 14th General Election,  can be glossed over and be easily forgiven.

Contrary to the hallucinations of Najib and Utusan Malaysia,  I do not see how  UMNO/BN can regain credibility so long as they are  not prepared to admit to the  two enormous treasonous crimes against the nation – turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy and spearheading the most vicious politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the 14GE.

Is UMNO/BN prepared to fully admit to these two enormous treasonous crimes against Malaysia and UMNO/BN and to fully repudiate the Najib legacy and even to expel  Najib Razak from UMNO/BN coalition?

This is why I had suggested that UMNO/BN parties, leaders and individuals must publicly  own up and donate whatever “dirty money”  they had received from Najib from 1MDB  to Tabung Harapan Malaysia to help pay the trillion-ringgit national debt.

The Sarawak Report website, whose access was blocked by the Najib government for 34 months from July 2015, alleged in an article in August 2015 that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Back Benchers Club Chairman, Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samd received RM1 million and Deputy Finance Minister, Ahmad Maslan, received RM2 million from 1MDB from  the Najib’s infamous RM2.6 billion private banking account.

The Sarawak Report said  money was  handed out personally by Najib to UMNO party heads, not only before the election but after, including numerous payments to MPs and many of the recipients proved themselves to be some of Najib’s strongest defenders in the 1MDB crisis.

Any response from UMNO/BN leaders?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 12th June 2018)

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Beware! Those responsible for sending Malaysia into the trajectory of  a kakistocracy and rogue and kleptocratic state are  trying to make a political comeback

It is timely to sound this warning.

Beware! Those responsible for sending Malaysia into the trajectory of  a kakistocracy and a rogue and kleptocratic state are trying to make a political comeback starting with the UMNO party elections this month.

In this political comeback, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be back atop the UMNO pile, though not as UMNO President but as the “power behind throne”.

This could be discerned from three recent developments in the past month since the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9, 2018:

1. Najib emerging as the leading, in fact the only, spokesman for UMNO/BN issuing periodic statements to attack the Pakatan Harapan government, except that his statements could not get any audience for he had lost all credibility and trustworthiness;

2. The surfacing of the faceless and nameless UMNO Strategic Communications Unit on 24th May 2018 laying claim on behalf of UMNO to the assets seized by the police from the Pavilion Residences i.e. 72 bags out of which 35 bags contained RM114 million cash in 26 different currencies and 35 bags of jewellery and watches as well as 284 boxes of designer handbags. It is not known whether the UMNO Strategic Communications Unit is also laying claim on behalf of UMNO to the luxury items which police seized in a raid in a Najib “safe house” in Precinct 10, Putrajaya two days ago although it is clear that his mysterious Unit is a  camouflage and proxy for Najib.

3. The UMNO mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia,  which had practised a more sober and responsible journalism in the early days of the historic and watershed 14GE on May 9, 2018,  reverting to the old Utusan/UMNO  journalism of  fake news and false information re-peddling  the UMNO campaign of race, religion, hate, fear and lies. For example, three days ago, in the Mingguan Malaysia weekend column, Awang Selamat, which is the name for Utusan Malaysia’s editorial voice, returned to the reckless, irresponsible and treasonous politics of race, religion, fear, hatred and lies by accusing the DAP with the dastardly lie that the DAP wants to abolish the system of constitutional monarchy and  by turning Malaysia into a republic.

There is a common unifying factor propelling  these three developments, the involvement of the same personalities who had sent Malaysia into the trajectory of a kakistocracy and a rogue and kleptocratic state, causing Malaysian voters, regardless of race, religion, region or even party politics to unite to Save Malaysia in the 14GE!

Now these very forces responsible for making Malaysia a kakistocracy and rogue and kleptocratic state  are conspiring to  make a political comeback starting with  UMNO party elections later this month.

From the Pakatan Harapan’s own selfish interests, we would welcome the candidacies of Tan Sri   Annuar Musa for the post of UMNO Deputy President and Datuk Seri Jamal Md. Yunos for the post of UMNO Youth Leader, although the answer would be very different from the standpoint of promoting  the best interests of  democracy in Malaysia.

Beware!

（Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, June 13, 2018）

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What an irony! Will Utusan Malaysia agree that it should be charged in court under the Sedition Act for inciting hatred by peddling the lie DAP wants to abolish the system of constitutional monarchy and turn Malaysia into a republic?

Today, the UMNO mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia carried the front-page headline “Akta Hasutan perlu dikekalkan – MASIH RELEVAN” quoting two former Inspector-Generals of Police, Tun Hanif Omar and Tan Sri Musa Hassan who want the Sedition Act to be continued, not to curb freedom of speech but to avoid  tensions and feelings of ill will between races and religions.

Three days ago, in the  Mingguan Malaysia weekend column, Awang Selamat, which is the name for Utusan Malaysia’s editorial voice, violated the Sedition Act and incited racial and religious sentiments with the dastardly lie that the DAP wants to do away with the system of constitutional monarchy by turning Malaysia into a republic!

This is a downright, malicious and seditious lie.

The massive, highly-funded and demonic UMNO campaign to paint the DAP as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers  failed miserably in the 14th General Election, for the DAP had proved for over  five decades that DAP is a patriotic Malaysian party dedicated to the betterment of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region and committed to the fundamental principles of the Constitution.

No one can be loyal and committed to the fundamental principles of the Malaysian Constitution if he is anti-Malay or any racial group in the country; anti-Islam or anti any religion in the country; or anti-Malay Rulers or the institution of constitutional monarchy.

I had been the most demonized political leader in the past 50 years. I was accused of being a communist; responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots, leading the street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur shouting anti-Malay and anti-Islam slogans although I was never in Kuala Lumpur after the May 10, 1969 General Election; painted as quite a devil, a puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; a stooge of foreign powers; that I dominate Pakatan Harapan and made other leaders like Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and  Mohamad Sabu into my stooges and puppets and that I wanted to be Prime Minister if  Pakatan Harapan won the 14GE.

In our plural society today, there are still Chinese who are living completely in the Chinese world, Malays who are living in a completely Malay world, Indians who are living in a completely Indian world, and the same goes with the Ibans and the Kadazans.

Our greatest challenge in a New Malaysia is how to reach out to them, the Chinese living in a completely in the Chinese world, Malays living in a completely Malay world, Indians living in a completely Indian world, to share with them a larger Malaysian picture and perspective – to share our ideals that this beloved Malaysian nation belongs to all of us, that we have a shared destiny.

Can this spirit of oneness as Malaysians transcending race, religion, region or party politics prevail in our country so that we are not distracted from our Malaysian Dream to build a great Malaysia for all Malaysians?

How do we nurture the bond of oneness among Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even party politics and  stop the rise of intolerance, hatred, bigotry and extremism in our plural society through lies, fake news and false information?

This is our greatest challenge as Malaysians in a New Malaysia to reset nation-building policies and directions.

Utusan Malaysia and its ilk stand opposed to this Malaysian Dream, enunciated as far back as 61 years ago by Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, for the plural nation to be “a beacon of light in the disturbed and distracted world”.

I will like to end with a question – as Utusan Malaysia wants the Sedition Act to stay, quoting the two former IGPs, will Utusan Malaysia agree that it should be charged in court under the Sedition Act for violating the Sedition Act and  inciting hatred by peddling the lie DAP wants to abolish the system of constitutional monarchy and turn Malaysia into a republic?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 13th June 2018)

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Hope,  joy and pride that Malaysia has a second chance to fulfill the Malaysian Dream to be a top world-class nation which is “a beacon of light to a disturbed and distracted world”

All Malaysians welcome with hope, joy and pride the first Hari Raya Aidifitri after the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9, 2018.

Malaysians are rightfully proud that they can now stand tall in the world after effecting a peaceful and democratic transition of power, an affirmation of democracy as a system of governance at a time when democracy is in decline all over the world, and to repudiate the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

What gives great hope for the future is the exhilarating spirit, energy and power of Malaysians – not Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans – coming together to save Malaysia from becoming a failed, kakistocratic, rogue and kleptocratic state, and succeeding against  formidable odds and forecasts of all mainstream pollsters and analysts.

It is no exaggeration to say that never before in previous thirteen general elections since 1959 had the country seen such intensity and viciousness in the politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion as in the 14th General Election.

This has made  Malaysia’s second chance to fulfill the Malaysian Dream to be a top world-class nation which is “a beacon of light to a disturbed and distracted world” even more precious and invaluable.

Thirty-one years ago, a top government official told me that the DAP was “too ahead of the times” and although DAP principles and polices were right and good for the country –  it might take another generation for them to become generally acceptable.

The time has come to reset Malaysia’s nation-building polices and directions where Malaysians will stop thinking of themselves merely as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans but to think of  themselves as Malaysians!

Let Malaysians leverage on the strength and assets of our diversities of race, religion, language and culture to transform Malaysia into a top world class nation in every field of human endeavor and be an example to the world of an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

(Hari Raya Aidilfitri message on Thursday, 14th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 June 2018, 4:05 pm and is filed under
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A New Malaysia

Bernama reported last June  that about 75,000 people thronged the Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House of  the Prime Minister and his Cabinet members.

Yesterday, Bernama reported that some 80,000 people thronged the Hari Raya Aidilfitri of the new Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and his Cabinet at Sri Perdana in Putrajaya.

I was there  yesterday, although I had not been to the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri Open House at Sri Perdana for many years.

Yesterday’s Hari Raya Aidifitri Open House of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet was the first of its kind in Malaysian history, for Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, celebrated the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year with unaccustomed joy, pride and hope that Malaysia has a second chance to rebuild a New Malaysia.

This joy, pride and hope is very well expressed in a poem composed by  Malaysian octogenarian patriot Tan Sri Alwi Jantan a week after the watershed and historic 14GE:

REJOICE MY BELOVED COUNTRY

Rejoice o rejoice, victory is ours.

Let’s rebuild our beloved country.

The pride of our founding fathers,

For the benefit of all and sundry.

Let’s cleanse the administration

Of the corrupt and greedy.

Let’s rid of racial discrimination

And religious bigotry.

Let’s reestablish good governance

And remanage the economy.

Let’s reinforce law and order maintenance

And an independent judiciary.

Let there be freedom again

Of expression and assembly.

Only then will we regain

The fruits of our victory.

Alwi Jantan

16th May 2018

Malaysia is at the crossroads – to go forwards or to go backwards.

The 14GE mandate, despite all the undemocratic hurdles and lopsided playing-field, was very clear – to reset nation-building policies and directions for the fulfillment of the Malaysian Dream to be a top world-class nation which is “a beacon of light to a disturbed and distracted world” and not a failed, rogue,  kakistocratic and kleptocratic state!

This was sadly highlighted by last week’s release of Times Higher Education (THE) Young Universities Rankings 2018, where Asian institutions (minus Malaysia) for the first time topped the list, with Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology knocking out Switzerland ’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne for the top No. 1 ranking, while Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University was placed third.

The sixth ranking went to South Korea’s Korean Institute of Science and Technology, the seventh ranking to City University of Hong Kong and the eighth placing to South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology.

In a New Malaysia, Cabinet Ministers and the Malaysian public must dare to ask and expect answers why Malaysia is not represented in the top 10 of the THE Young Universities Rankings 2018, or in the top 20, 50 or 100 rankings?

Seven Malaysian educational institutions are listed in the THE Young Universities Ranking 2018 (compared to 31 from UK; 22 from Australia; 20 from France; 17 from Spain;  11 from Germany, Italy and Taiwan;  9 from Japan and Turkey; and 7 frm Malaysia and South Korea – the highest-ranking being Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), ranked 101 – 150; five universities, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM),  Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas   ranked 151-200; and Universiti Tenaga Malaysia (UNITEN) ranked 200-250.

But there is also a  rising crescendo of the Siren Song that Malaysia should not venture into the future but should return to the past – despite the decisive repudiation of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the 14GE.

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday urged “political rivals to lay down their arms now that the general election was over”.

Does Najib think the 14GE was a picnic, with everything back to normal after the hustle and bustle of the hustings?

Was it a game to transform Malaysia into a global kleptocracy, to make Malaysians whether in the country or in the Malaysian Diaspora worldwide ashamed to admit that they were Malaysians because of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal and a global kleptocracy?

Will Najib plead guilty  to the greed and crime of kleptocratic governance, now that the new Attorney-General Tommy Thomas has okayed requests for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) from several countries on the 1MDB scandal, and countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Singapore have agreed to return the ill-gotten monies laundered in the 1MDB scandal – and most recently, the attempt by international 1MDB fugitive Jho Low seeking criminal immunity in Malaysia over the 1MDB scandal in return for him dropping his claim to more than a billion US dollars in assets?

Will Najib return to the Treasury the tens of billions of ringgit stolen through the 1MDB scandal and ask his associates like Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to stop running from the law but to return to Malaysia to co-operate with the authorities  before he could airily talk about “healing of old wounds and moving on”?

As Prime Minister and UMNO President, Najib unleashed the most irresponsible, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in Malaysian history in the 14GE, utterly reckless of its divisive, provocative and polarizing character to tear asunder a fragile  plural society comprising of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures!

Will Najib admit that  what he said on the eve of the 14GE were just lies, fake news and false information – particularly when he said that there were no Malays at Pakatan Harapan rallies, that the tens of thousands who gathered to hear Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in Langkawi, Gombak, Jerlun, Batu Katil, Putrajaya, Lembah Pantai, Pandan, Kuantan and Wangsa Maju  were DAP supporters  “bussed in” by DAP, when the Special Branch knew that in the 52-year history of DAP, we have never bussed anyone to any DAP or Pakatan function?

This was why I said on 8th May 2019 that on his TV3 interview on the night of 7th May 2018 alone, Najib deserved to be voted out of office in Putrajaya in the 14GE.

Are Malaysians to forget the incendiary, provocative and toxic politics of race, religion, fear, hatred and lies spouted by UMNO leaders at the UMNO General Assembly last December?

At the UMNO General Assembly last December, Najib beat the war-drums for the 14th General Election by resorting to lies, falsehoods, defamatory statements and race-baiting to score political points, for instance, repeating the baseless lies that the DAP is “terang-terang Anti-Melayu dan Islam” because DAP stands for a secular Malaysia.

As I had pointed out at the time, the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn had stood for a secular Malaysia.

Was  Najib suggesting that the three first three Prime Ministers including his father Tun Razak and uncle Tun Hussein had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

Who will forget the toxic lie of the Wanita UMNO leader Tan Sri Shahrizat Jalil who screamed at the Wanita UMNO General Assembly that the 14GE will be a battle to choose between a solid BN  or “Maharaja” Kit Siang?

Will the UMNO General Assembly the end of this month repudiate the  two Najib legacies of (i) a global kleptocracy as a result of the monstrous 1MDB international money-laundering scandal and other corruption scandals being unearthed; and (ii) unleashing the most divisive, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies heedless of the unity and integrity of plural Malaysia?

Who will be the first UMNO leader who dare to speak up what is in the minds of all Malaysians, in fact all patriotic UMNO members, that Najib must be expelled from UMNO/BN as he had betrayed both UMNO/BN as well as the nation  – if UMNO/BN  is to be exorcised of the two toxic Najib legacies?

In the first 100 days of the new Pakatan Harapan Government, we must  re-state the  principles laid down by our forefathers in the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Constitution 1963 to lay the basis  to rebuild a new Malaysia of harmony, excellence and quality, setting  the country with confidence and certainty into a new future to be, in the words of Bapa Malaysia  Tunku Abdul Rahman,  “a beacon of light in a distracted and disturbed world”!

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 16th June  2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 June 2018, 9:09 am and is filed under
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People’s Court in 14GE have found Najib guilty of 1MDB kleptocratic scandal and that is why he is out as PM

Recently, I came across a  statement by the 250-NGO Filipino multi-sectoral, non-sectarian and pluralist economic development coalition, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) describing Ferdinand Marcos (1965 – 1986) as the worst kleptocratic President in Philippines history.

It said that Marcos institutionalised corruption on such a scale that Filipinos continue to feel its effects today.

In his 20 years in power, Philippines’ foreign debt metastasised from about $1 billion to over $25 billion.

FDC estimated that as much as a third of all that debt, about $8 billion, went into his pockets or those of his cronies and the country will continue paying for all that debt until 2025.

This is reminiscent of the unwinding of the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia after the 14GE, the revelation that the country’s national debt have exceeded the trillion ringgit mark, and the surge of national patriotic fervour to rally and donate to the Tabung Harapan Malaysia, collecting over RM75 million since its formation on 30th May.

I fully agree with the Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, who stressed that the maxim the a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by court is only applicable in certain contexts, specifically during the judicial process.

This is because the People’s Court in the 14th General Election had pronounced Najib guilty of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, a major issue in the general election campaign, evicting as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The charade  that Malaysia has not become a global kleptocracy especially for the past three years should now end.

In fact, I wonder what would have been the response of the Indonesian President Jokowi or the Singapore Prime Ministder Lee Hsien Loong if they had been tarred like “MO1” with a 250-page US Department of Justice kleptocratic litigation listing a host of kleptocratic money-laundering transactions worldwide.

(Media Statement in Penang on Sunday, 17th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 June 2018, 3:56 pm and is filed under
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Who in UMNO are  going to  “bell the cat” of Najib’s 1MDB and toxic politics legacies?

My statement yesterday asking who will be the first UMNO leader who dare to speak up what is in the minds of all Malaysians, in fact all patriotic UMNO members, that Datuk Seri Najib Razak must be expelled from UMNO/BN if UMNO/BN is to be exorcised of its two toxic Najib legacies, firstly, turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy as a result or the monstrous 1MDB  money-laundering scandal and secondly, unleashing the most vicious and divisive politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in Malaysian history  was not directed at Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

The statement was in fact issued several hours before Tengku Razaleigh made the announcement in his 2pm media conference at his residence in Kuala Lumpur yesterday confirming his UMNO presidential bid at the end of the month.

It is a question directed at every UMNO leader and member, particularly those  who had served under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whether as his Minister, Mentri Besar, Member of Parliament, State Executive councillor or State Assembly representative, UMNO leader or member – as to their role and responsibility to UMNO/BN and the nation in the years when Malaysia suffered the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy.

Early this month, UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin admitted that ignoring the 1MDB scandal caused UMNO’s downfall in the 14GE.

He said UMNIO was paying for its failure to “bell the cat” and for “drinking our own Kool-Aid” and was in danger of irrelevance if its three million party members resisted structural changes.

More than five weeks have passed since UMNO/BN’s “catastrophic” defeat in the 14GE, but Najib and the entire UMNO leadership and rank-and-file are still in deep denial, as up to now, there is only one other UMNO official who had admitted that the 1MDB scandal was UMNO’s fatal affliction in the 14GE.

UMNO boasts of 3.6 million members and over 21,000 branches, and brags of being the single biggest party with 54 MPs although it lost in 54 other parliamentary constituencies.

But the silence from the 54 UMNO MPs and the 3.6 million UMNO members on the 1MDB scandal is most deafening worldwide, and UMNO’s ability to exorcise itself of the 1MDB scandal and its toxic and anti-national politics of  race, religion, hate, fear and lies will decide whether UMNO can ever regain public trust and  credibility.

Has the UMNO leaders and members forgotten Najib’s toxic, vicious and incendiary speeches at previous UMNO General Assemblies, for instance, his three Big Lies at the December 2016 UMNO General Assembly, viz:

1. That the 14th General Election will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general election.

There are wags who say that DAP is now aiming to dominate UMNO with the proposal over Najib’s expulsion from UMNO.

Najib and the UMNO leaders must understand that right from the beginning of our formation 52 years ago, DAP was committed to the principles and vision of a Malaysian party, led by Malaysians and serving the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

This was why in the very first general election contested by DAP in 1969, two Malay State Assemblymen were elected, and down the decades, there had  bden DAP Malay Members of Parliament, both in Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, State  Executive Councillors and State Assembly representatives as well.

It is not Malays, but UMNO, who will have “nightmares” as UMNO has lost power in the 14GE.

Although Najib had been toppled as Prime Minister and UMNO evicted from Federal Government in  Putrajaya and in seven states, namely Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johore, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.

This is guaranteed by three demographic realities in the country – the racial composition of the population, the racial make-up of the electorate and the composition of the electoral constituencies.

But most important of all, a Pakatan Harapan Federal Government and State Governments will compete with UMNO to have a better record in upholding the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution and look after the rights and interests of all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli because a Pakatan Harapan Federal and State governments do not want to be a one-term government but be able to continue to get the mandate of the electorate in subsequent polls to govern Malaysia.

This means that a Pakatan Harapan government will have to prove to be a better government than UMNO/BN in looking after the rights and interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region!

Meanwhile, Malaysians, in fact, the world, are waiting for answer to the question: Who in UMNO are going to  “bell the cat” of Najib’s 1MDB and toxic politics legacies?

Najib and UMNO leaders’ recent escapades has vindicated the observation of my political secretary, Syahredzan Johan that they are oblivious to the 14GE electoral verdict and have shown no remorse whatsoever for their past wrongs and betrayals to the nation.

(Media Statement in Penang on Sunday, 17th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 June 2018, 9:28 am and is filed under
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Thanks to old-guards like Annuar Musa, UMNO made history with 30% of UMNO members refusing to vote UMNO in 14GE

My attention has been drawn to the headings in the UMNO printed media, namely Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times and Berita Harian, today to news reports of  the statement by UMNO Information Chief, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, viz:

“Kit Siang jangan masuk campur” – (Utusan Malaysia).

“Keep your mouth shut, Annuar tells Kit Siang” (New Straits Times)

“Kit Siang diminta usah campuri urusan UMNOI” (Berita Harian).

Very polite language indeed.  I should tell Annuar that if he thinks he is a protected species, he should pay heed to the saying: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”.

Despite the lies, fake news and false information peddled by UMNO leaders like Annuar, I have never interfered in the internal affairs of another party, let alone UMNO!

Horror of horrors, is Annuar Musa suggesting that I had previously interfered with UMNO’s internal affairs, and that was why UMNO had suffered the unexpected electoral disaster in the 14GE on May 9, 2018, and  evicted from Putrajaya, the seat of Federal government power, for the first time in 61-year national history?

It would appear that I had been so ubiquitous that I was not only dominating and directing Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Mohamad Sabu and other leaders to act on my behest, I was even directing Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other UMNO leaders  to act according to my dictates.

When will Annuar, like other UMNO leaders, wake from their hallucination and bubble of their own making – though at great expense to the Malaysian public?

No, Annuar Musa, I am not dominating or directing any other political leader or political party!

UMNO is doing quite well on its own steam, with Najib’s 1MDB scandal and Annuar’s MARA scandal in the sea of kleptocracy in Malaysia  – and UMNO’s brand of toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies under Najib  to polarise and  further divide plural Malaysia.

Those who believe that UMNO’s future salvation lies in Annuar are welcome to their hallucination.

A vote for Annuar Musa in the UMNO General Assembly will be a vote for the UMNO DNA of kleptoracy and toxic politics of race, religion, hate and lies.

Thanks to old-guards like Annuar Musa, UMNO is doing quite well in destroying itself. In fact, in the 14GE, UMNO made history with 30% of UMNO members refusing to vote UMNO.

For the first time in UMNO history, UMNO secured less votes than its total party membership.

UMNO claims to have a total membership of 3.6 million members, but the total votes polled by UMNO candidates came only to 2.5 million voters.

UMNO has now followed the footsteps of MCA, securing less votes than total party membership strength.

Was Annuar  being cynical when he mocked MCA as having to “buy its own tombstone”?

(Media Statement in Penang on Monday, 17th June 1018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 June 2018, 1:49 pm and is filed under
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Will UMNO General Assembly apologise to DAP for its six-year ordeal when UMNO leaders/operatives misused their powers to  influence the Registrar of Societies to break or ban the DAP?

I am giving a serious warning to UMNO leaders, aspirants and propagandists that they will be exposed if they continue to spread lies, fake news and false information about the DAP as they have done in previous UMNO General Assemblies and during the 14th General Election which saw UMNO’s fall from grace as the invincible ruling party of Malaysia

It is none of my concern as to which one of the seven candidates win the UMNO Presidency in post-14GE, which one of the three candidates wins the UMNO Deputy Presidency and who among the nine candidates become the three  UMNO Vice Presidents in the UMNO General Assembly at the end of this month.

But UMNO post-14GE will stand exposed if it continues with the previous UMNO’s divisive and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies especially peddling  lies, fake news and false information about the DAP as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royalty.

Whether UMNO heads into the sunset or into a new dawn is not my business. But it becomes my business if UMNO leaders continue peddle lies, fake news and false information about the DAP.

This statement is in fact the result of the provocation from the completely unfounded allegation by  the dubious, mysterious, nameless and faceless so-called UMNO strategic communications unit, which asked outsiders not to meddle in UMNO’s internal affairs.

This shadowy UMNO strategic communications unit  said ex-leaders and ex-members now with PKR or Bersatu have no right to interfere in forthcoming UMNO elections, saying that it was a “crazy attempt by outsiders to pick a certain leader or to predict the results”.

The UMNO strategic communications unit went on to make the completely  unsolicited and baseless  allegation that while UMNO elections this year was very different from the “closed” contest in Mahathir’s time, which was “similar to the way Lim Kit Siang leads DAP, which was condemned and hated by its members and leaders at the time”.

DAP members and the Malaysian public will never forget the attempts by UMNO leaders/operatives to break and even ban the DAP, one of the most obnoxious abuses of power in the Najib era  – the  six-year ordeal suffered by DAP from 2012-2018 when UMNO leaders/operatives abused their powers to influence the  Registrar of Societies  (RoS) to break the spirit and undermine the struggle of DAP with the concocted lies that the  DAP Central Executive Committee elections in December 2012  was undemocratic and illegal!

This led to a six-year long ordeal, trial and tribulation devised by UMNO/BN strategists to destroy the DAP, including the holding of a totally unnecessary DAP CEC re-elections  – when the RoS was taking directives not from the Home Minister but directly from the Prime Minister’s Office!

It was a marvel that the DAP survived the six-year ordeal intact, just as marvellous as when the voters of Malaysia, against all odds, expectations and predictions of mainstream analysts and pollsters, shocked the world with the peaceful and democratic transition of power in the 14GE on May 9, 2018!

UMNO leaders and strategists should stop their sham and pretence that they never interfered in the internal affairs of other political parties.

They paid cybertroopers, mercenaries who were former DAP members and “soldiers of fortune” to concoct lies and falsehoods as the basis to direct  the RoS to act against the DAP, but they failed because DAP leaders  were men and women of principle who stood firm and would not sell their soul in  the sea of lies and falsehoods against the DAP and DAP leaders.

Were the huge funds expended in the six-year operation to break or ban the DAP derived  from the 1MDB scandal?  This will be worth investigating.

Is the UMNO General Assembly at the end of this month going to apologise to the DAP  for the six-year ordeal  when UMNO leaders and operatives tried to use its cybertroopers and mercenaries to influence the Registrar of Societies to break or ban the  DAP as an illegal and unlawful political party?

The time has come for the mysterious, nameless, faceless and soulless UMNO strategic media unit, which surfaced only after UMNO 14GE disaster, to be unmasked.

Is it the mouthpiece and proxy of Najib, who though resigned as UMNO President, wants to continue to be the “power behind the throne”?

Has the UMNO strategic media unit anything to do with the UMNO leader who told an international media that only an idiot would not know that the “MO1” in the US Department of Justice kleptocratic litigation on the 1MDB scandal referred to former Prime Minister, Najib Razak?

The UMNO strategic media unit laid claim to the assets seized by the police after the 14GE from Najib’s Pavilion Residences containing over  RM100 million in cash in 26 different foreign currencies and some half a billion ringgit in jewellery, watches and designer handbags.

Was this claim made officially on behalf of the UMNO leadership or only by the UMNO strategic media unit on behalf of faceless and nameless individuals?

(Media Statement in Penang on Monday, 18th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 June 2018, 10:33 am and is filed under
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All MPs regardless of political party should show their commitment when Parliament meets from July 16  to transform Malaysia  from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world

Malaysia is now in the “eye” of the world to demonstrate  how a global kleptocracy can be transformed into a leading nation of integrity.

In the past few years, the opinion leaders and makers of the world must have shaken their heads in sorrow as to how Malaysia – a nation with so much promise, and in the words of Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman, should become “a beacon of light in a distracted and disturbed world” – had failed the Malaysian Dream and taken the wrong turn in nation-building to become a global kleptocracy, where Malaysians in the Malaysian Diaspora worldwide are ashamed to acknowledge that they are Malaysians and the then  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was spoken in the same league as notorious kleptocrats in the world – like Suharto of Indonesia and Marcos of Philippines.

It is to the eternal shame of Malaysia that a Wikipaedia search will find Najib Razak named as the latest new entry of a “kleptocrat”!

Is this why Merdeka was achieved in 1957 and Malaysia was formed in 1963?

In the historic watershed 14th General Election on 9th May, 2018 where Malaysian surprised the world with the first peaceful and democratic transition at a time when democracy throughout the world is suffering a decline, Malaysians have two world  historic roles to perform.

Firstly, give confidence to the struggling peoples of the world not to give up hope in the battle for democracy;  secondly, to show the world how a global kleptocracy can transform itself into a leading nation in integrity in the world.

Members of Parliament elected on 9th May 2018 have received notification from Parliament that the first meeting of Parliament will be for 20 sittings from 16th July to August 16; that  the 30-day  2019 Budget meeting of Parliament will be  from Oct.15 to Dec. 11, 2018 with the Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng, presenting the 2019 Budget in Parliament on Friday, 2nd November 2018.

Before the budget debate, nine days have been set aside for debate on the Mid-Term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan.

All MPs regardless of political party should show their commitment when Parliament meets from July 16  to transform Malaysia  from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world.

Will all the MPs from UMNO/BN and PAS support a motion so that all the 222 MPs in Parliament can act in unity and unanimity giving support to the Pakatan Harapan Government’s agenda  to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world?

Will all those  contesting for posts in the UMNO General Assembly this month, whether for President, Deputy President, Vice President; Youth, Wanita or Puteri leader; or for UMNO  Supreme Council or executive council positions in the various UMNO wings, make a public commitment to support Pakatan Harapan Government’s national programme to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world?

(Media Statement in Penang on Tuesday, 19th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, 9:19 am and is filed under
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Has UMNO become an illegal political party?

How low and quick the mighty have fallen.

It was only six months ago that  the 71st UMNO General Assembly was held in jubilation and hubris that UMNO was the only political party in the world that continued  to  rule and had never been defeated in elections since 1955, and was  set to retain power not only  in the imminent 14th General Election, but virtually to be the perpetual government of Malaysia!

But the nursery rhyme which my generation learnt in primary school in the fifties came to pass, viz:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

The fall had been so decisive  and  categorical that no UMNO leader dare to contradict or countermand the pronouncements of a headless, faceless and soulless creature, the self-proclaimed UMNO strategic media unit.

Are current UMNO leaders  so ashamed of UMNO that they have to depend on a faceless, headless and soulless UMNO Strategic Media Unit to speak for them?

The faceless, headless and soulless UMNO Strategic Media Unit said in a statement yesterday that neither former Prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak nor the former director of the Barisan Nasional Strategic Media Unit  controlled it.

Let me tell the UMNO Strategic Media Unit: Tell it to the marines!

Who would dare to form the UMNO strategic media unit and operate it with immunity and impunity in UMNO if it is not associated with the powers-that-be – and Najib is undoubtedly the “power behind the throne” although he has resigned as UMNO President to take responsibility for UMNO/BN’s electoral disaster in the 14GE.

Who would dare, for instance, to  lay claim in the name of UMNO without any authorization from the UMNO Supreme Council the assets seized by the police after the 14GE from Najib’s Pavilion Residences containing over RM114 million in cash in 26 different foreign currencies and some half a billion ringgit in jewellery, watches and designer handbags?

It is most foolish and puerile for the UMNO strategic media unit to raise the subject of the Red Bean Army, another concoction of UMNO propagandists and cybertroopers.

Immediately after the last general elections five years ago, UMNO/BN propagandists went to town alleging that  the DAP had funded a fictitious “Red Bean Army” (RBA) of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the previous six years to attack the UMNO/BN authorities and to defame UMNO/BN leaders over a whole variety of issues.

They even alleged that the RBA had two operational centres, one in Hotel Concorde in Kuala Lumpur and the other based in Komtar in Penang.

I was intrigued by  the UMNO/BN propagandists’  campaign  of lies, fake news and false information about the DAP-funded RBA and  I led a team of DAP MPs accompanied by journalists to make a surprise visit to Concorde Hotel on the night of July 4, 2014.

We found Concorde Hotel – which was supposed to be one the two operational centres of the billion-ringgit Red Bean Army – crawling with UMNO leaders and operatives but no Red Bean Army. We found something even more shocking – that the exorbitant ice-kachang in Concorde Hotel had no red beans at all!

As a result, the UMNO/BN fairy tale of DAP-funded RBA became a national standing joke and it died a natural death, until its revival by the UMNO strategic media unit yesterday.

However, what is interesting about the UMNO allegations about the RBA is that it revealed the UMNO modus operandi in recruiting cybertroopers, especially the funding involved – as no UMNO cybertrooper or election worker will volunteer for free or work only for “water and sunshine” but had to be paid, and paid very handsomely!

The going rate for the UMNO/BN cybertroopers would be RM500 to RM3,000 monthly, including free telephone gadgets and laptops.

Last November, the UMNO Information Technnology Bureau organized a convention for some 3,500 UMNO cybertroopers.

Taking an average expenditure of RM2,000 a month for each UMNO cybertrooper, this would come to some RM7 million a year, and this would not include the expenditures incurred for cybertroopers engaged by other units or state outfits of UMNO/BN.

Who would finally foot the bill for these astronomical expenditures, if not the Malaysian taxpayers themselves?

Let me tell the UMNO strategic unit that claims that DAP spent from RM100 million to RM1 billion for the Red Bean Army is the figment of imagination of the UMNO propagandists and cybertroopers.

DAP does not pay a single sen for the so-called Red Bean Army if this is meant to be  the army of pro-DAP and pro-Pakatan Harapan users on the social media.

But this is the not the case with the highly-funded UMNO/BN cybertroopers, who are paid not only from 1MDB funds but also from the public coffers, like JASA which had a budget of RM60 million year!

The Malaysian Insight carried a very interesting and relevant report yesterday, headlined: “Election shock leaves UMNO news portals scrambling”, as it is not only UMNO news portals but the army of UMNO cybertroopers who are hard hit by UMNO electoral diaster in the 14GE – as funds for them have dried up!

The Malaysian Insight reported that following UMNO/BN’s defeat in the 14GE, some news portals that were tied to the party have shut down while those still operating have shed staff in order to survive.

The TMI reported that despite pouring millions into portals and paying cyber troopers, Umno and the BN lost the perception battle. Their news portal did not have the traction or eyeballs as more independent news sites. They were not helped by the sycophantic manner they covered the news.

As TMI concluded, Najib and his advisers were proved wrong that the 14GE was a numbers game and the more sycophantic news portals and cyber troopers they had, the better chance of controlling the Internet space.

However, the most significant thing about the UMNO Strategic Media Unit statement is what it omitted instead of what it said.

There was deafening silence  to my allegation that it was the UMNO leaders and operatives, when they were in government, who abused their powers and interfered with DAP’s internal affairs, funding mercenaries and soldiers-of-fortune to influence the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to break or ban DAP, resulting in an six-year DAP ordeal from 2012-2018.

The UMNO Strategic Media Unit may not know that they are giving me the height of flattery in even suggesting that I could interfere and influence the outcome of the UMNO party elections at the end of this month.

Have the confidence of UMNO Strategic Media Unit in UMNO sunk so low after the jubilation and hubris only six months ago?

What the UMNO leaders, including the faceless, headless and soulless UMNO Strategic Media Unit should  worry about is whether the UMNO elections at the end of this month are illegal, with UMNO electing illegal UMNO President, Deputy President, Vice President and UMNO leadership.

Is UMNO  today an illegal political party?

Under the party constitution, Umno is required to hold supreme council elections once every three years, but it has the power to give an 18-month extension under special circumstances, like preparing for the 14th general election.

The last Umno triennial elections were held on Oct 20, 2013, which means that Umno supreme council elections should have been held by Oct 19, 2016, to comply with the three-year requirement, or by April 19, 2018, if an 18-month extension was decided upon by the UMNO supreme council.

On June 26, 2015, Najib announced that the UMNO supreme council had decided to put off the party election due in October 2016 by 18 months.

He said: “According to Clause 10.16 of the Umno constitution, the supreme council has the right to postpone elections for its supreme council, divisions and branches. This postponement cannot exceed 18 months from the date the elections were supposed to be held.”

That is, by April 19, 2018.

There was, however, no Umno elections held by that date, and this fatal violation of the party constitution cannot be cured, overcome or rescued in any manner by the Registrar of Societies.

I have studied Section 3A of the Societies Act 1966, which had been quoted by the Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as vesting powers on the ROS to give a further year-long extension for Umno supreme council election after April 19, 2019.

Section 3A states: “In addition to the powers, duties and functions conferred on the registrar by this Act and any regulations made thereunder, the registrar shall have and may exercise all such powers, discharge all such duties and perform all such functions as may be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to and carrying out the provisions of this Act.”

Anyone who  understand English or Bahasa Malaysia will know that the simple and very plain language in Section 3A of the Societies Act does not give the ROS any powers to extend a further year-long extension for UMNO supreme council to be held after 19th April 2018.

(Media Statement in Penang on Tuesday, 119th June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, 9:43 am and is filed under
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The press  must play creative and important role in building of New Malaysia to  be a “beacon of light to a difficult and disturbed world”

Re-visiting Tamil Malar with the DAP National Vice Chairman and the  Minister for Human Resources, M. Kulasegaran, DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Batu Gajah V. Sivakumar and the Pahang DAP State Assemblywoman for Sabai, Kamache Doray Rajoo is like a home-coming for me.

Last September, I visited Tamil Malar to show support and solidarity to the Tamil Malar Chairman Oms Thiagarajam and legal advisor K. Sarawathy, two of the three victims of gangsterism, thuggism and assault instigated by powerful “political” personalities who were  against Tamil Malar practising independent and professional journalism.

The Tamil Malar executive editor S. M. Periasamy explained to us the assault and the thuggish incident against Tamil Malar.

I also saw the 10-minute long video CCTV footage showing the brawl and assault against Sarawathy, Oms P Thiagarajam and another Tamil Malar staff at Tamil Malar, which tallied with the Sarawathy’s account of the assault.

Since then, Tamil Malar had been at the receving end of powerful “political” personalities as Tamil Malar refused to be cowed from continuing its independent and professional journalism.

In fact, Tamil Malar journalists were warned that immediately after the 14th General Election, the newspaper licence of  Tamil Malar would be withdrawn on May 10, 2018.

Despite these threats, Tamil Malar journalists soldiered on unfazed and they should be an example to  all Malaysian journalists who were often threatened or browbeaten to sacrifice their journalistic ethics and principles by powerful “politicians” in pre-14GE.

May 9, 2018 was a special  day of liberation to the Tamil Malar journalists, for the “bullies” who had threatened to the newspaper licence of Tamil Malar have been removed from power and could not carry out their threats.

But May 9 is not only a day of liberation for the Tamil Malar journalists, it was also most special and significant day of freedom, hope, joy and pride for Malaysians, both inside the country and the worldwide Malaysian Diaspora – for on that day, Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, profession, vocation felt  proud as Malaysians for they have become the “beacon of light to a disturbed and difficult world” showing at least three things:

Firstly, despite all the prognosis that the corrupt and decadent UMNO/BN regime would win the 14GE, Malaysian voters regardless of race, religion or region, were more intelligent and mature than the government or mainstream analysts and pollsters, creating a shocker by effecting a peaceful and democratic transition of power at the federal level.

Secondly, the renewal of democratic hope is particularly pertinent at a time when the world is seeing a decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarian and undemocratic regimes.

Thirdly, the May 9 results show the continued relevance of  People’s Power to reject Malaysia as a global kleptocracy and kakistocracuy and to transform a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world.

We are now embarked on the building of New Malaysia, where the press has an important and creative  role to play in continued democratisation of the Malaysian society.

I fully endorse the undertaking by Tamil Malar Chairman Oms Thiagarajam just now that Tamil Malar will continue to speak up against wrongs and injustices, even if they emanate from the Pakatan Harapan government.

I believe the greatest responsibility of the Pakatan Haranpan government is not to perpetuate itself in power regardless of cost or principles, but to build a democratic culture and environment. In this democratic culture and environment, check-and-balance mechanisms, whether in government, the Opposition, the civil society or the media are important institutions.

Historian Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely”. We are not saints and liable to make mistakes and even commit wrongs.

When  the Pakatan Harapan Government makes mistakes or commit wrongs, there should be a free and responsible press to point them out, and all journalists are  assured of my full support if they do so responsibly and professionally.

(Speech on a visit to Tamil Malar headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 1.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, 5:56 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians must dare to “reach for the sky” to achieve  big dreams to fulfill Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysia Dream for Malaysia to be a “beacon of light in a difficult and distractred world”

It is a special occasion to be here to receive the DAP membership application of award-winning activist Heidy Quah, 24  who  received the prestigious Young Leaders Award from Queen Elizabeth II last year.

Heidy  had been involved in advocacy work from a young age,  having set up an NGO at age 18 to help the  refugees from Myanmar, forming the NGO Refuge for The Refugees (RFTR), which she founded with her friend Andrea Prisha.

Twenty-four was also the age when I  dedicated myself to Malaysian politics to create a better Malaysia for all Malaysians, which have occupied  me for  53 years culminating in the historic and watershed 14th General Election of May 9, 2018.’

Despite all the forecasts that the corrupt and decadent UMNO/BN regime would win the 14GE, Malaysian voters regardless of race, religion or region, showed that they were more intelligent and mature than the government or mainstream analysts and pollsters and  created a political earthquake which sent tremors worldwide by  effecting a peaceful and democratic transition of power at the federal level.

On 9th May, Malaysians fulfilled Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysian Dream to became a “beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”,  renewing the  hopes not only of Malaysians but of  the world, for worldwide we are seeing a decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarian and undemocratic regimes.

Our work to create a New Malaysia has only started, and among our challenges is to demonstrate to the world that we can transform a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity in the world.

May 9, 2018 marks a new day of all Malaysians, and I am reminded of the  challenge by Jack Kennedy in his presidential inaugural address in 1961, which can now be  posed to all Malaysians:  “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.

I believe that many Malaysians, in particular the youths regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic status, are highly idealistic and patriotic  like Heidy and are prepared to serve the country.

We have many  role models for the young generation of Malaysia – like Hannah Yeoh, the DAP MP for Segambut and Yeo Bee Yin, the DAP MP for Bakri, both of whom responded without hesitation to the call of national service to serve the greater Malaysian cause of nation-building,  justice, freedom, dignity and progress.

I have no doubt that there are many Hannah Yeohs, Yeo Bee Yins and Heidi Quahs among the Malaysian populace today, and I call on them to step forward to help make great task of redesigning a New Malaysia a success.

Malaysians must dare to “reach for the sky” to achieve  big dreams to fulfill Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysia Dream for Malaysia to be a “beacon of light in a disturbed and distractred world” in more than one aspect.

Beginning on May 9, 2018, the challenge that must be taken up by Malaysians is to show the world that we can leverage on the strength and assets of our diversities of race, religion, language and culture to transform Malaysia into a top world class nation in every field of human endeavor and be an example to the world of an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

(Media Conference Statement welcoming Heidi Quah’s membership application at the DAP Segambut parliamentary office at TTDI, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 20th June 2018 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 June 2018, 4:41 pm and is filed under
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Najib has not only failed to  clear his name, he has  impaled himself on the 1MDB scandal

Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has not only failed to clear his name but has instead impaled himself on the 1MDB scandal with his Reuters interview.

He said he should’nt be blamed for the 1MDB scandal and declared that he knows nothing about money from 1MDB appearing in his personal account.

He claimed that his advisers and the management and board of 1MDB had wrongly kept the alleged embezzlement of funds a secret from him.

If so, he is the most incompetent head of government in the world!

I do not believe that Najib is so stupid, incompetent or ignorant, which only  means he was lying through his teeth in his interview with Reuters.

Najib’s advisers, the management and board of 1MDB could not have kept the alleged embezzlement of funds a secret from him, for the simple reason that the facts and figures of  such colossal embezzlement were all  laid bare for everyone in Malaysia and the world to read in the 251-page kleptocratic litigation filed by  United States Department of Justice (DoJ) between July 2016 and June 2017 to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets from the US$4.5 billion 1MDB funds stolen and laundered through American banks.

This was why Malaysia suffered the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptoctracy for everyone, whether inside or outside the country, knew about the criminality and moral turpitude of the 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

Far from an ignoramus who was being led to the slaughter house by his evil advisers, management and board of 1MDB, Najib was slaughtering everyone who dared to stand in his way to perpetrate what the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions had described as “kleptocracy at its worst” in global history!

And among the victims of such “slaughter”?

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers like Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull, Datuk Seri Mustafa Ali, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin and Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob, and whistleblowers like  Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang, and the entire institution of Parliament itself, with the former Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia forbidding questions and debate on the 1MDB scandal on the alien doctrine of sub judice of litigation in the United States, with me suspended from Parliament twice for six months each, and  treated as a parliamentary ghost by the Speaker and Deputy Speakers who could not “see” me for the last six days of Parliament, although I attended Parliament diligently every day and was sitting in front of them.

But whether consciously or unconsciously, wittingly or unwittingly (infamous phrases used for previous Internal Security Act  detentions), Najib had crossed the Rubicorn in the Reuters interview – crossing the line from denying that there is a 1MDB scandal to blaming his subordinates for not informing him about the embezzlement in the 1MDB scandal.

But such an act could not be so unconscious or unwitting, as after the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9, Najib had been withdrawing one legal suit after another, most of which are related to the 1MDB scandal.

It is clear that Najib afraid of a court-room expose of the 1MDB scandal – the same reason why Najib dared not follow up on his threat in July 2015 to sue the Wall Street Journal for the report on the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal banking account.

Is Najib paving the way for a strategic change of position – that the 1MDB scandal existed but he is not culpable or responsible for it as the fault lay elsewhere?

Before we examine in greater depth Najib’s astoundking interview with Reuters, Malaysians should give all the contenders for UMNO elections at the end of the month the opportunity as to0 whether they are going to own up to the 1MDB scandal, what positon they would take on the “kleptocracy at its worst” and who must bear responsibility for the 1MDB scandal which caused all Malaysians to suffer the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy for the past few years.

All Malaysians should study and dissect the most astonishing interview given by Najib on the 1MDB scandal with Reuters.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, June 21, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 June 2018, 10:20 pm and is filed under
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The day when a 12-year-old primary school kid showed an ex-Prime Minister the true meaning of patriotism

At 9 a.m yesterday, I officiated the opening of the constituency centre of the new  DAP MP for Segambut Hannah Yeoh at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and received the DAP membership application from 24-year-old activist Heidy Quah, who received the prestigious Young Leaders Award from Queen Elizabeth II in London last year.

Heidy had been involved in advocacy work from a young age, having set up an NGO at age 18 to help refugees from Myanmar, forming the NGO Refuge for The Refugees (RFTR), which she founded with her friend Andrea Prisha.

There was a third item.  Standard Six pupil Ervin Devadasan was at the centre with his father Ernest to donate the money he had been saving for months in his piggy bank to purchase a drum set to Tabung Harapan Malaysia.

I was very touched and moved – a 12-year-old primary school kid demonstrating by deed his deep love for the country!

Later that evening, I received a call from a reporter for my reaction to a very unfriendly attack on the boy’s donation, describing Tabung Harapan as a “politically-charged fund” and deploring  Ervin’s donation as “ridiculous”, “exploitative”, “a gimmick” and “a pretty cheap stunt”.

I was shocked especially as it had come from one of the Pakatan Harapan parties and when Tabung Harapan is not a “politically-charged fund” , but I did not want to create an unnecessary issue and only responded with a terse comment: “Flabbergasted is an understatement”.

Later in the night, I read the Reuters interview of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak where he said: “I would have acted if I knew 1MDB funds were misappropriated”.

Najib’s interview was indeed a shocker. Was Najib not aware of the three filings by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in the California Court from July 2016 – June 2017 in a 251-page kleptocratic litigation  to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets from the US$4.5 billion 1MDB funds stolen and laundered through American banks, which referred to 28 jewellery items  purchased for “MO1’s wife”, including one piece of the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace costing RM117 million?

Najib said he does not know the source of funding for his wife’s Rosmah Mansor’s jewellery.

Who will believe him?  Let them announce themselves – especially Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, Tengku Razaleigh and Khairy Jamaluddin, who are contesting to be UMNO President!

May be all the UMNO contestants for posts at the UMNO General Assembly later this month, whether for the posts of UMNO President, Deputy President, Vice President, Supreme Council or the leadership of the three UMNO wings, Youth, Wanita and Puteri, should individually declare whether they believe Najib’s Reuters interview or not.

Reading Najib’s Reuters interview, it struck me that yesterday was the day when a 12-year-old primary schoolboy, Ervin Devadasan showed an ex-Prime Minister the true meaning of patriotism.

With his excesses and the 1MDB scandal, Najib turned Malaysia into a global kleptocracy and kakistocracy, totting up a national debt for Malaysia exceeding RM1 trillion which 12-year Ervin wants to help in reducing the nation debt by donating all his savings in the past months meant to buy a drum set – totaling RM214.60.

Any time, Ervin is more patriotic than former Prime Minister Najib!

It is just six weeks since the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9 2018, which allowed Malaysians in the country and in the worldwide Malaysian Diaspora to feel proud and stand tall – for Malaysia has put the ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy and kakistocracy behind them and has become, in the words of Bapa Malaysia when the country attained Merdeka in 1957, to become “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.

We have shown the world that there is still hope for democracy as a system of governance, that against all predictions, despite being a plural nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures, Malaysia is capable of peaceful and democratic change to correct wrong polices of the past and to reset nation-building policies and directions – giving Malaysians a new sense of freedom of a country reborn!

The Tabung Harapan Malaysia is one manifestation of a Malaysian reborn, where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, culture, language, politics, age or gender can come together to show their love and patriotism for Malaysia.

Nobody expects the Tabung Harapan Malaysia to collect near the trillion-ringgit figure to meet the national debt, but it is a national catharsis so to say for Malaysians to demonstrate that whatever the machinations of leaders, the people at large love this country as their only motherland and will not allow their so-called leaders to mortgage the nation’s future and those of future generations.

This is particularly moving, as never before in the previous 13 general elections since 1959 had the country seen the intensity and viciousness of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies as in the 11-day campaign of the 14th General Elections.

The very fact that despite the viciousness and intensity of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the 14th General Elections, the voters of Malaysia from diverse races, religions, cultures, languages, regions and politics can come together to overthrow the seemingly invincible UMNO/BN coalition gives reason to hope that Malaysian voters are more intelligent than UMNO/BN and there is hope not only for democracy in Malaysia, but for Malaysia to fulfill Bapa Malaysia’s Malaysia Dream to be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.

I am now even more hopeful about the future of Malaysia when a 12-year-old primary school kid is more patriotic than the former Prime Minister.

Malaysia must be world-class in democracy, institutions, national leadership, economic success and educational excellence, and not and never for all the wrong reasons – like a failed, rogue, kakistocratic  and kleptocratic state.

Twelve-year old Ervin understands this new hope to Save Malaysia and I believe he is not the only one among his age group.

Malaysia’s tragedy is what 12-year-old Ervin and many in his age-group understand, the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia  from 2009 to 2018 does not understand or seem able even to grasp its meaning.

The question is whether all those contesting for the UMNO posts understand Ervin or  are like Najib – continues  in deep denial in  hallucination and  bubble of their own making.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 21st June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 June 2018, 8:25 am and is filed under
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Let the opening of the 14th  Parliament in July make history for democracy by amending the Constitution to lower  the voting age to 18

In my first year in Parliament 47 years ago in 1971, (Parliament was suspended for 18 months after the 1969 General Elections because of the May 13 riots and the declaration of emergency), I made three proposals for electoral reforms, viz:

– Lowering the voting age to 18 years;

– Automatic registration of eligible voters; and

– Compulsory voting.

I therefore welcome almost half a century later the proposal by the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad  that the Pakatan Harapan government lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

In fact, since my suggestion for the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, the majority of the countries in the world have adopted this electoral reform but Malaysia seemed to be frozen in time as far as democratic and electoral reforms are concerned.

Today, Malaysia is one of the handful of countries that have not carried out the electoral reform to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

In ASEAN, Malaysia and Singapore are the two remaining redoubts where voting age is still fixed at 21, although men and women of 18 years are treated for serious civil purposes as mature people, able to own property and enter into contractual obligations and rights.

Youths at 18 ought to have the right to vote and to have a say about the way in which their lives are governed and the country is being run,  as society expects them to assume adult social responsibilities whether conscription when there is war or national emergency, even to die in the defence of the country.

In Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the voting age is  18, while in  Indonesia the voting age is 17.

The countries which have lowered the voting age of 21 to 18 since my speech in Parliament on the issue in 1971 included Netherlands, United States, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Philippines, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Spain, Peru, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

This vindicated what I said in Parliament in 1971, that more and more countries were reducing the age of their electors.

Countries which had already given the right to vote to their 18 year-olds when I spoke in  Parliament in 1971 included the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Canada and Germany.

Malaysia has been left behind in the international trend for democratic and electoral reforms.

Let the opening meeting of the 14th Parliament in July   make history by amending the Constitution to lower  the voting age to 18.

There may be various constitutional proposals to implement institutional reforms, but if it is not possible to secure the necessary two-thirds parliamentary majority to ensure passage, then let the Constitution Amendment Bill 2018 be just one stand-alone provision to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, so that Malaysia will not continue to be the odd-man out in the international society for democratic and electoral reforms.

Otherwise, Malaysia will continue to be in very strange company among nations which have not lowered the voting age to 18, like Singapore, Cameroon, Lebanon, Samoa, Soloman and Tonga, while Kuwait and Oman allow their youths in the military and police who are 18 to cast their vote.

This is another area where Malaysia can show the way for  Singapore on the need for democratic and electoral reforms.

If the parliamentary opposition is constructive and effective, there is no reason why it should not declare in advance its support for any constitutional amendment in the July meeting of Parliament to lower the voting age from 21 18.

I ask all the contenders of UMNO posts at the end of the month to declare whether they support the amendment of the Constitution (even if it is a standalone amendment) to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

UMNO has 54 MPs, which together with the 113 from Pakatan Harapan and 8 from WARISAN, would have provided more than the necessary two-thirds parliamentary majority needed for a constitutional amendment.

Of course, if we take into account political developments affecting MPs’ affiliation after the May 9, 2018 Polling Day result, there is likely to be a higher number of MPs supporting the historic democratic milestone in  lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 22nd June 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 June 2018, 7:42 am and is filed under
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