Support for new legislation to curb hate speech particularly relating to religion

Sokong cadangan undang-undang baru untuk menangani ucapan berunsur kebencian berkaitan agama

Saya menyokong penuh cadangan daripada Timbalan Menteri Perumahan, Senator Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin untuk menggubal suatu undang-undang yang baru untuk menangani masalah percakapan yang berunsurkan kebencian di media sosial, terutamanya yang berkaitan dengan agama.

Contoh yang paling baru adalah kenyataan daripada seorang pemimpin NGO Muslim berkenaan isu Pos Malaysia mengeluarkan setem yang memaparkan Gereja St George di Pulau Pinang.

Pemimpin NGO tersebut telah menyiarkan ketidakpuasan hati beliau di Facebook, mengakatakan yang setem ini adalah salah satu lagi contoh Islam dibuli sejak Pakatan Harapan mengambil-alih pemerintahan Mei tahun lepas dan mengatakan kejadian ini boleh mengelirukan orang asing untuk berfikir yang Malaysia sudah menjadi negara Kristian, walhal setem itu sebenarnya sebahagian daripada siri setem rumah ibadat di Malaysia yang dikeluarkan buat pertama kalinya pada tahun 2016, dua tahun sebelum pentadbiran Pakatan Harapan.

Dalam Malaysia Baharu, agama sepatutnya menjadi satu kuasa penyatuan dan sepatutnya tidak ada ruang untuk ahli politik yang menyalahgunakan agama untuk mempertahankan kleptokrasi atau ektremisme dalam sebarang bentuk sekalipun.

Memandangkan Malaysia adalah sebuah komuniti yang mempunyai pelbagai fahaman agama, sepatutnya menjadi kepentingan utama untuk semua rakyat saling menghormati semua agama, malahan, perkara ini adalah prinsip yang pertama di dalam Rukunegara — Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan, yang berasaskan kepada prinsip asas perlembagaan dimana Islam adalah agama rasmi persekutuan dan semua agama dan kepercayaan lain boleh diamalkan dengan bebas dan harmoni tanpa sebarang diskriminasi.

Perkara ini adalah bersesuaian dengan Islam, yang memberikan hak untuk mengikut agama pilihan masing-masing. Al-Quran telah menyatakan “Tidak ada paksaan dalam agama…” (2:256) dan “Bagimu agamamu, bagiku agamaku” (109:6).

Agama dan kepercayaan adalah suatu penyatu sosial yang kuat jika digunakan untuk kebaikan masyarakat dan negara dan seluruh dunia. Tetapi boleh disalahgunakan oleh individu yang tidak bertanggungjawab sebagai suatu kuasa yang memusnah. Agama boleh dengan mudah menaikkan emosi percintaan sesama manusia atau kebencian, emosi konstruktif atau destruktif, keamanan atau peperangan. Semuanya bergantung kepada penggunaan atau penyalahgunaan.

Rakyat Malaysia haruslah dididik sejak daripada bangku sekolah untuk menghormati agama yang lain dan kita perlu ada satu undang-undang untuk menghukum mereka yang menghina agama lain dalam apa cara sekalipun. Termasuklah di internet, penerbitan, seni, dan wayang. Kita mestilah menghormati kebebasan bersuara untuk semua tetapi kebebasan bersuara bukanlah satu lesen untuk menyebarkan kebencian dan penghinaan kepada orang lain.

Dalam bulan Mac tahun ini, persatuan Islam terbesar di Indonesia, Nadhlatul Ulama telah mengeluarkan kenyataan menggesa pemberhentian penggunaan perkataan kafir untuk merujuk kepada individu yang bukan beragama Islam dalam perkara negara dan kewarganegaraan.

Nadhlatul Ulama, yang mempunyai lebih kurang seratus juta ahli telah bersetuju di Persidangan Kebangsaannya bahawa individu bukan Islam tidak patut digelar kafir memandangkan mereka mempunyai hak yang sama dalam urusan negara.

Persidangan tersebut memutuskan bahawa orang bukan Islam sepatutnya digelar sebagai “muwathin” ataupun rakyat dengan hak dan tanggungjawab yang sama seperti rakyat Indonesia yang beragama Islam.

Persidangan tersebut juga menekankan yang Indonesia, sebagai sebuah negara, bukanlah ditubuhkan oleh orang Islam sahaja.

Adakah organisasi Muslim yang berdiri diatas prinsip yang inklusif dalam pembinaan negara yang bermasyarakat majmuk bersedia untuk mengambil pandangan yang sama seperti Nadhlatul Ulama?

Sebaliknya, kita ada mufti negeri yang tanpa segan-silu menggelarkan orang bukan Islam sebagai kafir harbi, yang telah dikritik oleh kumpulan pro-reformasi G25 kerana terlalu serupa dengan seruan yang dibuat oleh militan DAESH yang menunggang agama untuk tujuan keganasan.

Ini adalah antara sebabnya tiga tahun lepas, 55 NGO yang mewakili persatuan awam Malaysia yang berbilang kaum dan agama, mengeluarkan kenyataan yang menegaskan bahawa semua rakyat Malaysia adalah rakyat dan tidak ada kafir harbi atau kafir dhimmi.

Kenyataan bersama tersebut menyatakan:

“Penggolongan umat manusia kepada “kafir harbi” (orang bukan Muslim yang menentang pemerintah Muslim) dan “kafir dhimmi” (orang bukan Muslim yang menerima ketuanan dan perlindungan pemerintah Muslim) berlaku pada zaman silam. Dalam konteks silam ini, apabila negara yang berlainan agama berperang, perperangan antara-negara mengambil sifat perperangan antara-agama.

“Malah, terdapat perperangan-perperangan yang tercetus atas nama mempertahankan agama, sungguhpun motivasi paling kuat sering ialah menakluk wilayah demi kuasa dan harta benda.

“Membahagikan orang bukan Muslim kepada dua golongan, iaitu sama ada golongan “kafir harbi” yang harus dibunuh atau golongan “kafir dhimmi” yang mesti menurut pemerintah Muslim, adalah dalam konteks khas permusuhan antara agama yang mendalam.

“Pemikir besar Islam seperti Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawy menyarankan supaya istilah seperti “dhimmi” dipadamkan dan rakyat bukan Muslim dikenali sebagai “muwatinun” (warganegara) sama seperti rakyat Muslim.

“Ini sebenarnya bukan perkara baru. Menurut sarjana Mesir Dr Fathi Osman, orang Muslim dan orang bukan Muslim sememangnya mempunyai status kewarganegaraan yang samarata di Madinah di bawah kepimpinan Rasulallah Muhamad s.a.w. kerana Madinah juga sebuah masyarakat aneka-agama.

“Dilahirkan pada 1963 dengan penggabungan Malaya, Singapore (keluar 1965), Sabah dan Sarawak atas status samarata, Malaysia adalah sebuah persekutuan yang bersifat sivil yang didiami masyarakat majmuk. Hubungan di antara orang Muslim dan orang bukan Muslim adalah hubungan antara warganegara atau “muwatinun” yang berat sama dipikul, ringan sama dijinjing. Mereka bukanlah musuh sesama lain. Mereka juga bukan “si pelindung” di satu pihak dan “si dilindungi” di pihak yang lain.

Menjadi petanda yang rakyat Malaysia masih mempunyai perjalanan yang masih jauh, sama ada orang Islam atau bukan Islam, sebagai rakyat bersama Malaysia, apabila klip video seorang penceramah agama yang memberi amaran bahawa negara ini akan ditimpa bala selepas membacakan senarai jawatan utama kerajaan yang dipikul oleh orang kafir boleh ditularkan secara viral di sosial media — satu kes ucapan berunsurkan kebencian yang jelas bertentangan dengan Perlembagaan Malaysia.

(Ucapan Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Majlis Berbuka Puasa DAP di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat 24 Mei 2019)

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I fully support the proposal by the Deputy Housing Minister, Senator Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin for a new legislation to curb hate speech on social media, particularly relating to religion.

The most recent example is the statement by a Muslim NGO leader regarding Pos Malaysia issuing a stamp featuring St. George’s Church in Penang.

The Muslim NGO leader took to Facebook to complain that the stamp was another example of how Islam was being bullied since Pakatan Harapan rose to power in May last year and that it could lead foreigners to think Malaysia is a Christian state when in actual fact, the stamp was part of a series on places of worship in Malaysia, which was first issued in 2016, two years before Harapan came to power.

Religion in New Malaysia must be a unifying force and there must be no room for political desperadoes to abuse it to justify kleptocracy, intolerance or extremism of any form.

As Malaysia is a multi-religious society, it is incumbent upon the State and all citizens to respect all religions and in fact, this is the first of the five Rukunegara principles – Belief in God which is based on the fundamental constitutional principle that Islam is the official religion of the Federation while other religions and faiths can be practised in peace and harmony without any form of discrimination.

This is in full conformity with Islam, which clearly accepts the people’s right to follow the religion of their choice. The Qur’an said, “Let there be no compulsion in religion…” (2:256) and “to you your religion, to me mine” (109:6).

Religion is a great social force if used for the good of society and nation and the world at large. But the same force becomes destructive if misused by bigots and intolerant rabble-rousing individuals and groups. It can easily arouse emotions of love or hate, construction or destruction, peace or war. All depends on its use or misuse at any point of time.

Malaysians from school must be taught to respect and honour other religions and we should have a law to punish citizens who insult other religions in any way. This should include all forms of expression including the Internet, publishing, arts and cinema. We must respect freedom of speech and expression but this should not mean a licence to preach hatred and insult others.

In March this year, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, issued a call to end the usage of the term “kafir”, or infidel, to refer to non-Muslims in state or citizenship matters.

Nahdlatul Ulama, with around a hundred million members, at its National Conference resolved that non-Muslims should not be referred to as “kafir” as they have equal standing in state affairs.

The conference concluded that non-Muslims should be referred to as “muwathin,” or citizens with the same rights and obligations as Muslim Indonesians.

The Nahdlatul Ulama said a Muslim shouldn’t address non-Muslims as “kafir” in any social context.

The conference also emphasised that as a state, Indonesia wasn’t established by Muslims only.

Are there Muslim organisations in Malaysia who are prepared to take an inclusive and all-encompassing stand on nation building in multi-religious societies like Nahdatul Ulama of Indonesia?

Instead we have a state mufti who is publicly quite unrepentant in categorizing non-Muslims as kafir harbi, which had been likened by a pro-reform group G25 as akin to the calls made by militant group Islamic State that uses religion as a tool for terror.

This was why three years ago, 55 NGOs of the Malaysian’s multi-racial and multi-religious civil society, in a joint declaration, stressed that all Malaysians are citizens, and no more “kafir harbi” or “kafir dhimmi”.

The joint declaration said:

“1. The categorisation of humans into ‘kafir harbi’ (non-Muslims who fight against Muslim rulers) and ‘kafir dhimmi’ (non-Muslims who accept the supremacy of and protection from Muslim rulers) happened in the ancient time. In such times, when countries waged wars against each other, wars between countries appeared as wars between religions.

“In fact, some wars were fought in the name of faith when the strongest motivation was often territorial conquest in the pursuit of power and wealth. Due to the lack of religious freedom, whether or not Muslims could profess Islam often depended on the strength of Muslim political power.

“The dichotomic division of non-Muslims into ‘kafir harbi’ who must be killed or ‘kafir dhimmi’ who are subservient to Muslim rulers, must be understood in the context of deep inter-religious enmity.”

The Joint Declaration stated:

“Great Muslim thinkers like Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi have urged that terms like ‘dhimmi’ be abandoned and for non-Muslim members of a nation to be recognised as ‘muwathinun’ (citizens) just like their Muslim counterparts.

“This is in fact nothing new. According to Egyptian scholar Dr Fathi Osman, Muslims and non-Muslims indeed enjoyed equal citizenship in Madinah under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. because Madinah itself was also a multi-religious society. In fact, according legal scholar Al Ghunaimi Mohammad Talaat, the ‘dhimmi’ status for the non-Muslims disappeared when the Ottoman Empire – the last Caliphate – proclaimed in 1839 the principle of equality between Muslims and Christians.

“Born in 1963 with the merger of Malaya, Singapore (left in 1965), Sabah dan Sarawak as equal partners, Malaysia is a civil federation hosting a plural society. The relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims are one of fellow citizens (muwathinun) with equal rights and equal responsibilities. They are neither enemies to each other nor ‘the protector’ on one side and ‘the protected’ on the other side.”

It is a mark that Malaysia has still a long way to go to regard all Malaysians, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, as common citizens of Malaysia when a video clip of a speech by a Islamic preacher warning that the country was facing dire consequences after reading out a list of offices occupied by what he called kafirs went viral on the social media recently – a clear case of hate speech in violation of the Malaysian Constitution.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the DAP buka puasa held in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 24th of May 2019)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 25 May 2019, 11:18 am and is filed under
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Let first year of Pakatan Harapan Government be the year of the kleptocrats and the second year be the year of the sharks in the war against corruption

The objective of the new Inspector-General of Police, Datuk  Seri Abdul Hamid Bador, to eradicate corruption in the police force is a very tall order and he deserves the support of all right-thinking Malaysians, as the police had been  regarded as among the most corrupt of all government departments.

In July 2017, the then Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi said that the Royal Malaysian Police was acknowledged as the best in ASEAN, but this international recognition was not the general Malaysian perception.  He estimated that only 20% of the public were positive about the police.

Zahid’s claim in 2017 that the RMP was acknowledged as the best in ASEAN  was not borne out by the 2017 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) study  released by Transparency International in February 2017, based on a survey of 16 countries in Asia-Pacific.

The 2017 GCB found that the 60% of the respondents from Malaysia felt that the level of corruption in Malaysia had increased, which was higher than the regional average of 40%; 62% felt that the government was handling the fight against corruption in government BADLY, as compared to the regional average of 50%.

Without including Singapore and the Philippines, Malaysia was regarded as the third country where police corruption was highest, even worse than other ASEAN countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia, viz:

Thailand 78%

Pakistan 76%

Malaysia 57%

Vietnam 55%

India 54%

Cambodia 51%

Myanmar 47%

South Korea 41%

Indonesia 40%

Sri Lanka 31%

Mongolia 28%

Taiwan 18%

Hong Kong 16%

China 12%

Japan 8%

Australia 5%

The 2017 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) also made the following eight findings:

· 57% of Malaysians thought Police was involved in corruption;

· 48% of Malaysians thought Local Government Councillors and Tax Officials were involved in corruption;

· 46% of Malaysians thought business executives were involved in corruption;

· 45% of Malaysians thought Government officials were involved in corruption;

· 41% of Malaysians thought Members of Parliament and State Assembly members were involved in corruption;

· 41% of Malaysians thought the Prime Minister and the his officials were involved in corruption;

· 33% of Malaysians thought that Judges and Magistrates were involved in corruption; and

· 31% of Malaysians thought that Religious Leaders were involved in corruption.

Other findings of the 2017 GCB were:

· 53% of Malaysians thought  the government was ineffective in fighting corruption;

· 41% of Malaysians felt that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was doing BADLY.

Although there had not been any corruption study or survey after the May 9, 2018 historic decision,  the anti-corruption war in the past year  must show  greater bite and effectiveness as ensuring that the kleptocrats are not only put on trial, but sent to prison for their kleptocracy and crimes.

Almost a decade ago, before the kleptocrats took over Malaysia, the sharks roamed the land. But while China was catching “tigers” and Indonesia “crocodiles”, the sharks in Malaysia continued to enjoy immunity and impunity until they were replaced by the kleptocrats.

Let the first year of the Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya be the year of the kleptocrats while the second year be the year against sharks in the war against corruption.

The fight against police corruption was one the reasons for the 15-year police opposition against the key Police Royal Commission recommendation for the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

The Police Royal Commission had warned that its recommendations will fail to secure desired results “if the leadership in PDRM does not rise to the challenges and champions change in the service for its own benefit”.

It said: “Effective change management starts from the top. The role of leadership at all levels is absolutely vital in a command organization like PDRM. Leaders are role models. They should be incorruptible and take ownership of programmes to eradicate corruption in PDRM.”

It has taken the Police high command 15 years to assume leadership of effective change management to be role models in the programmes to eradicate corruption in PDRM – as evident by the police change of heart in their support of the IPCMC and the crackdown against corruption in the police force.

Let the Malaysian public  give full support to the task to transform the Malaysian police force into one of  the cleanest, non-corrupt and incorruptible police forces in the world,  which will go a long way to catapult  Malaysia into the top bracket of  thirty countries in the annual Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index as the leading nations of integrity and  end the previous era when the police occupied a top-ranking position  among all government departments and agencies  for corruption.

In 1997, the police topped the list of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA)’s Top Ten government departments and agencies most prone to corruption.

It was the result of a  five-year survey of government agencies and departments investigated for corrupt practices by the ACA, with the police leading the list, followed by local authorities, including district and municipal councils; land offices; education ministry/department; the road transport department; public works department; customs and excise department; forestry department; defense ministry/armed forces and health ministry/department.

The  police was again ranked as the most corrupt of all government  agencies in a corruption survey conducted jointly by the Malaysian Institute of Management and the Kuala Lumpur Society for Transparency and Integrity in Selayang involving 1,000 residents in 2002.

In the survey, the police were deemed “highly corrupt” by 59.5 per cent of the respondents, while the Road Transport Department came a distant second (19.6 per cent), followed by municipal council (7.3 per cent), land office (5.5 per cent), judicial office (1.1 per cent), health department (0.7 per cent), environment department (0.4 per cent) and fire department (0.3 per cent).

The crackdown against corruption in the police force will have a salutary effect on ensuring integrity  in the public service –   a vindication of my  earlier warning that it is a

great mistake to think that the corruption trials of former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and a few kleptocrats  of the former administration signify that Malaysia is firmly on the road to becoming a top nation of integrity.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 26th May 2019)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 26 May 2019, 10:26 am and is filed under
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Malaysia would have been saved from the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being condemned by the world as a global kleptocracy if Zahid and other BN leaders  had demanded full accountability from Najib in the Week of Long Knives in July 2015

I am in Sandakan to attend the dinner organised by Sandakan DAP to celebrate the historic victory of DAP, Pakatan Harapan and Warisan in the Sandakan by-election on May 11, 2019.

While waiting at KLIA  to board the aircraft for Sandakan, I was taken aback to read the Malaysiakini  report about the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri  Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s speech at a breaking fast event at a surau in Bangi, entitled: “18 missed calls – Zahid recounts fateful night ‘Bossku’ made him DPM”.

The report said Zahid lamented that  he could not spend “Lailatulqadar” in Mecca as was his tradition, revealing that when he was in the holy city for the occasion in 2015, it also marked his appointment as deputy prime minister.

Zahid said:

“In 2015, when I was doing my umrah pilgrimage during the last 10 days of Ramadan, on the 25th night, I received 18 missed calls.

“I called

back. I didn’t know whose number it was. I said Assalamualaikum and it turned out to be ‘Bossku’. He said, ‘You have to come back now’.

“I said I can’t because we need to wait until the 27th day of Ramadan. It turned out he had appointed me as deputy prime minister.”

Zahid’s account of the “Week of the Long Knives” at the end of July 2015 was both shocking and revealing.

Shocking because it was apparent that former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had not informed his former No. 2 not to admit that “Bossku” was none other than Najib and that Zahid had stopped paying attention to  Najib’s tall tales including his recent denial that he was  “Bossku”.

Najib had claimed that “Bossku” was the people and not him and that “Malu Apa Bossku”  was “ less of a campaign, but more of an organic youth movement”, saying:

“They (the youth) came up with the catchphrase, they made their own T-shirt designs and graphics. It is something which comes from their hearts.”

Quite a highly-funded “organic youth movement” indeed which could not be separated by the 1MDB mega scandal!

Revealing, as Malaysian kleptocracy would have been stopped in its tracks three years ago if Zahid had refused to be a DPM under a kleptocrat, and Malaysia would have been saved from the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being condemned by the world as a global kleptocracy if Zahid and others had demanded full accountability from Najib in the Week of Long Knives in July 2015.

In the weekend before the “Week of the Long Knives” at the end of July 2015,  the Federal capital was awash with rumours that the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, with the full support of the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner,  Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamad were ready to arrest Najib and prosecute him on corruption charges.

But this did not happen. Instead there was the “Week of the Long Knives” with Najib staging a coup d’tat against the Malaysian Constitution on the rule of law, the doctrine of separation of powers and the independence, impartiality and professionalism of national institutions.

Muhyiddin was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister, Shafie Apbdal sacked as Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Gani Patail sacked as Attorney-General and major national institutions compromised and neutered of their independence, impartiality and professionalism.

This was the period when the present Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Hamid Bador was summarily removed as deputy head of the Special Branch and transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department as part of a major clampdown on the 1MDB scandal.

The country started on a Dark Age from the last week of July  which last nearly three years until the great and historic decisions of the Malaysian voters on May 9, 2018 to end Najib’s shameful global kleptocracy.

If Najib had won the 14th General Election, Malaysia would have undergone an extended period of the Dark Age, and we would have notched another world record of being the country which failed the most in being unable to live up to our potentials for development and mortgaging future generations of Malaysians.

The “Week of Long Knives” is an episode for patriotic Malaysians to express regret and not one to gloat about, as Zahid is doing, associating it with his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister.

The quality of Zahid’s politics could be gleaned from the lies and mischief which he is spouting, as when he alleged that  the “minority controls the majority”, which is his shorthand of inciting racial and religious tensions and hatred implying that the Chinese are controlling the Malays.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Sandakan on Sunday, May 26, 2019)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 26 May 2019, 3:46 pm and is filed under
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Establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to fully reveal the Week of Long Knives Operation in July 2015  which attacked important constitutional principles of democracy and undermined the independence and professionalism of key national institutions

In Penang yesterday, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed “a huge moral victory” that the debate between him and me is off.

According to The Malaysian Insider, Najib said my backing out from the debate had implications for my “political credibility”, that it’s going to leave an indelible impression of me as a political leader on the minds of the people and he reiterated that failing to go through with the debate, I had lost the right to attack him.

Najib only proves his political bankruptcy and immorality when he could claim “moral victory” because of a cancelled  debate while thunderously silent for years about global kleptocracy.

I am sorry to disappoint Najib, but for the past four days that I have moved about in the Malaysian public domain, including a visit to Sandakan, I have not felt or detected any fall-off of my political credibility or any perception that he had scored “a huge moral victory”.

I have only found support in my withdrawal from the debate with Najib, and this is best illustrated by latest “finance twitter” article, among other things, said:

“The simple fact that Najib continues to provoke Lim, despite the cancellation of the debate, goes to show how frustrated the former premier is that the DAP adviser refused to swallow the hook, line and sinker. Calling the senior Lim as a ‘serial liar’, Najib said – ‘This is a debate, not a wrestling match. Why run?’

“In reality, Najib should be the last person on the planet to call anyone a liar or a coward. He would probably claim that he can debate today, and not when he walked the corridors of power, because he is free now. In case he had forgotten, his cowardice was a well known fact and has become a joke in at least 130 countries since September 2015.

“Nope, we’re not talking about the ‘Nothing to Hide 1.0’ forum, dialogue or debate. We’re talking about the self-proclaimed Bugis warrior chickening out from the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya, the same federal administrative centre of Malaysia where the office of the then-PM Najib Razak was located.

“Held from 2-4 Sept, 2015 the conference theme ‘Ending Impunity: People, Integrity, Action’ had successfully attracted over 1,000 delegates from 130 countries. Najib was supposed to deliver his scheduled keynote address, meaning his schedule was pre-booked beforehand and he had the free time to attend the conference held in his backyard.

“Yet, the coward quietly went into hiding (again) and sent two low ranking Ministers – Paul Low and Abdul Wahid – to shield him from potential humiliation by the international delegates. Perhaps Najib should explain why he did not use the opportunity to explain to the delegates from 130 countries that the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) discovered in his account was a donation.

“On the first day of the conference, the Transparency International chief Jose Ugaz wasted no time by grilling PM Najib over the US$700 million scandal, openly asking him to explain who paid the money, why, and what happened to it. Too bad Najib, the biggest coward, wasn’t as courageous back then as he is today. His strategy had been from ‘Cash is King’ to ‘Hide is King’.

“It’s hilarious that Najib Razak celebrates after only one debate rejection from Lim Kit Siang, when the same Najib had rejected dozens of debate challenges from Lim previously. There’s no honour in debating with a prisoner-in-waiting, especially one who is also a serial liar. Kit Siang did the right thing by refusing to argue with a crook. The crook will drag him down to his level.”

In Kangar, Perlis earlier, Najib plugged for the UMNO-PAS axis, claiming that it should be the choice of the young generation today.

This is issue fighting for the soul of Malaysia – whether the young generation of Malaysians are going to blindly support a global kleptocrat, a point Najib is strenuously trying to establish in his “Malu Apa Bossku” escapades.

But what is really obsessing Najib is his claim that I have lost the right to “attack” him and  that he should be spared examination from me for any crime or  misdemeanour by him.

He cannot be more wrong, for no person can earn such immunity.

Apart from having brought Malaysia to the lowest ebb of international reputation because of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being condemned by the world as  a global kleptocracy, he is also a   great catastrophe for democracy in Malaysia – and we must thank his Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, for reminding Malaysians about the “Week of the Long Knives” in the last week of July 2015 when to suppress the 1MDB scandal,  Najib orchestrated a multi-faceted operation to attack important principles of  democracy in Malaysia like the rule of law, doctrine of separation of powers, good governance and public integrity as well as a systematic attack on the independence, impartiality andn professionalism on  key national institutions like Parliament, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General, etc.

Malaysians are entitled to know what happened in the Week of Long Knives in the last week of July 2015 when the country was awash with rumours that the Attorney-General would charge  Prime Minister Najib for corrupt practices in connection with the 1MDB scandal but suddenly on July 28, 2015, Najib went on to the offensive and the Attorney-General Gani Patail was sacked, Mohamad Apandi Ali resigned from the Federal Court and was sworn in as Attorney-General, the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister for Regional and Rural Development Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal were sacked, and national institutions like the AG’s Chambers, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Bank Negara were defanged and tamed with the dissolution of the high-powered Special Task Force on 1MDB.

Let a Royal Commission of Inquiry be established  to reveal the whole sordid tale  of the special operation to undermine parliamentary democracy and collaborate with global kleptocracy starting with the Week of Long Knives of July 2015.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 27th May 2019)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 27 May 2019, 5:14 pm and is filed under
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Investigate and charge Najib for “Week of Long Knives” for Penal Code offence of “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” or repeal the criminal provision altogether

It shows the extent of the delusion of some Opposition leaders that they believe and hope that there will be a snap general election, when there are no signs whatsoever why the Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya should not serve out its full term.

The Pakatan Harapan government is stronger today after having weathered its first year, which unexpectedly, had to be focussed on draining the swamp – and what is most shocking, was to discover  how horrendous was the swamp that was left behind by the UMNO/BN Government.

Although the task of draining the swamp is not fully done, the second year of Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrjaya should be better than the first year in terms of delivery of Pakatan Harapan pledges to create a New Malaysia.

It is not possible to undo the corruption, abuses of power and deviations caused by six decades of  UMNO/BN government, as it cannot be accomplished in a hundred days or a year but a mission which will take years and even over a decade.

The  Pakatan Harapan Government, however,  must move forward in the trajectory to create a New Malaysia in keeping with the five pillar-promises of the PH General Election Manifesto, viz:

·Reduce the people’s burden.

·Institutional and political reforms.

·Spur sustainable and equitable economic growth.

·Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963.

·Create a Malaysia that is inclusive, moderate and respected globally.

On institutional and political reforms, I call on the Police to investigate and charge former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the “Week of Long Knives” at the end of July 2015 under the Penal Code for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” when Najib as Prime Minister orchestrated a multi-faceted operation to undermine parliamentary democracy by  attacking important principles of democracy in Malaysia like the rule of law, doctrine of separation of powers, good governance and public integrity as well as a systematic attack on the independence, impartiality and professionalism on key national institutions like Parliament, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General or the new-fangled criminal provision which could imprison a person convicted under it for 20 years, which introduced by Najib himself  in 2012, should be repealed altogether.

During Najib’s premiership, the new Penal Code criminal offence of “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” was misused against critics and Opposition leaders who sought to protect and advance the cause of parliamentary democracy including those who tried to expose the 1MDB  scandal which had transformed Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.  Ambiga Sreenivasan, Maria Chin, Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli, Tong Kooi Ong and Khairuddin Abu Hassan were among those who persecuted under this provision.

The offences of “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” are new-fangled offences in Sections 124B to 124N introduced by the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2012 which was passed by Parliament in 2012, given the Royal Assent on 18th June 2012 and gazetted on 22nd June 2012.

The main provisions are:

Section 124B:
 “Whoever, by any means, directly or indirectly, commits an activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to twenty years.”

Section 124C:
 “Whoever attempts to commit an activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy or does any act preparatory thereto shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fifteen years.”

Section 124D (1):
“Whoever, by any means, directly or indirectly, prints, publicises, sells, issues, circulates or reproduces any document or publication detrimental to parliamentary democracy shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fifteen years.”

Section 124E (1):
“Any person who, without lawful excuse, has in his possession any document or publication detrimental to parliamentary democracy or any extract therefrom, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years.”

The Malaysian people, through the historic decision of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, had saved Malaysia from a terrible fate that would have befallen the country if Najib had been re-elected as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Malaysians must not easily forget the darkness which they had escaped from by the historic decision of May 9, 2018.

Will the Opposition oppose the repeal of the criminal offences on “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” and will block and sabotage it as in the case of the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for  Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Wednesday, 29th May 2019)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 May 2019, 10:37 am and is filed under
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Najib does not want Malaysians to remember the lessons of  history, as he hopes to return as a global kleptocrat and to repeat the same heinous mistakes for Malaysia to again become a global kleptocracy

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak does not want Malaysians to remember the lessons of history, as he hopes to return as a global kleptocrat and to repeat the same heinous mistakes for Malaysia to again become a global kleptocracy.

As far as Najib is concerned, he does not want Malaysians to heed the famous saying of thinker George Santayana that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Najib does not want Malaysians to know or remember the 1MDB global kleptocracy, Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015  or the “Week of the Long Knives” at the end of July 2015 when Najib orchestrated a multi-faceted operation to undermine parliamentary democracy by attacking important principles of democracy in Malaysia like the rule of law, the doctrine of separation of powers, good governance and public integrity as well as a systematic attack on the independence, impartiality and professionalism of key national institutions like Parliament, the Cabinet, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General, etc.

The Week of Long Knives launched the darkest period in the 61-year democratic history of Malaysia and yet to this day, this episode is couched in great mystery with most Malaysians quite ignorant about it.

This is why I had suggested that a police report should be lodged so that the police could investigate and unravel  the heinous crimes committed by Najib and his ilk on Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015  and the Week of Long Knives, as Malaysians must not ignore Santayana’s warning that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”!

Does Najib agree to a full police investigation of Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015, the “Week of Long Knives” and the darkness they  ushered for Malaysian democracy until the Malaysian voters bravely, courageously and unexpectedly shook off the shroud of darkness in the 14th General Election of May 9, 2018?

Malaysians are entitled to know the circumstances:

(i) Of the sudden and unconstitutional dismissal of  the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail some two months before his retirement in early October 2015 on the ground of health reasons, which had been subsequently denied by Gani himself:

(ii) The improper and unconstitutional appointment of  Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali as Attorney-General, who  suddenly resigned overnight from the Federal Court, and the terms of understanding in such an unconstitutional appointment. Did Apandi start off his tenure as Attorney-General by making a public statement which was far from the truth when he said that the purported corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib was a fake, coupled with the “warning to everybody” that he was “watching”?

(iii) The sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister  and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as Minister for Regional and Rural Development;

(iv) The appointment of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister although he was  in Mecca to perform his umrah pilgrimage during the last ten days of Ramadan;

(v) The removal of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman and three UMNO/BN members of the PAC by their sudden elevation as Minister or Deputy Ministers;

(vi) Suspension of the multi-agency Special Task Force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysian Police and Attorney-General’s Chambers to get to the bottom of  the 1MDB scandal and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) allegations on the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts.

(vii) Whether the Week of Long Knives was to enable Najib to avoid prosecution for corruption and abuse of power.

(viii) The  reign of terror casting a pall in the country that there would be a “hurricane” equivalent to 1987  Ops Lalang crackdown, with 13 conspirators in an alleged international plot to “criminalise” Najib and topple him as elected Prime Minister of Malaysia. The so-called  “Ring of 13 Conspirators” was  identified, and included top personnel from three of the four agencies constituting the Special Task Force on the 1MDB, as well as two from the press and a Member of Parliament. They  were expected arrested in an impending crackdown and to be charged under Section 124 of the Penal Code for offences related to “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” which could send persons convicted to up to 20 years in jail.

(ix) Declaration by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) President Akhbar Satar on 30th July  2015 that the 1MDB probes were “dead” – whether by the multi-agency Special Task Force, the Public Accounts Committee or even by the Auditor-General.

(x) The trio of arrests, namely a MACC deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi who had been handling the 1MDB probe, MACC’s former advisory board member Tan Sri Rashpal Singh and the Attorney-General’s Chambers finance and anti-money laundering secretariat member Jessica Gurmeet Kaur.

(xi) Formation of a new 1MDB Cabinet and a cowed and subjugated Parliament with a  subservient Speaker on  the 1MDB scandal.

(xii) Appointment of a trio of Cabinet “spin doctors” to defend Najib and 1MDB scandal together with the emergence of the post of Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director setting off unprecedented convulsion in the most fractured Government in the nation’s history, with one enforcement agency investigating and pouncing on another.

(xiii) National roadshow by Najib and his UMNO lieutenants with UMNO members bussed in tens of thousands, together with support from  PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang.

(xiv) Protest by the MACC special operations director Bahri Mohamad Zain whether “hidden hands” were behind  ongoing police crackdown on MACC officers, with him being questioned by a police team from Bukit Aman under Section 124 of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

(xv) “Witch-hunt” in high government places to ferret out “ traitors” involved in an international conspiracy to topple Najib as the elected Prime Minister of Malaysia, with six MACC officers arrested or questioned by police, under Section 124 of the Penal Code on “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

(xvi) Great ingenuity and creativity of Malaysian social media, with the following post going viral:

“Polis ambil RM50 panggil CORRUPTION;

Menteri ambil RM500 juta panggil COMMISSION;

PM ambil RM2.6 billion panggil DONATION.”

(xvii) Immediate transfer of  two Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) directors, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin (special operations division) and Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob (strategic communications division) to the Prime Minister’s Department with immediate effect, and the WhatsApp message by the then MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull from the United States urging Putrajaya to rescind the transfer orders for Bahri and Rohaizad, and offering to take their places. The transfer orders were subsequently cancelled.

(xviii) The most extraordinary solat hajat (special prayers) by MACC officers seeking divine intervention to allow MACC officers to carry out their anti-corruption duties.

(xix) The sudden and rocky transfer out of the Special Branch (SB) of the deputy director of the police intelligence agency, Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador to the Prime Minister’s Department reporting directly to Prime Minister Najib and the subsequent Hamid protest that he was removed from the police force where he had served for 37 years for his insistence on looking into the 1MDB  scandal.

(xx) Najib described as “A Deadman Walking” by a Malaysian academician in Australian writing  in an international publication – but the “Dead Man” walked for another three years and had hoped to walk on for another five years.

What was the cause of the “madness in Putrajaya” set off by the Black Tuesday of  July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives with the Police and MACC succumbing to a mad frenzy with “cloak-and-dagger” power play warring against each other?

Najib said yesterday that I had “lost all credibility” after turning down a debate with him.

By Najib’s logic, Najib would not even have the right even to open his mouth to utter a single word as he had more than “lost all credibility” running away from two “Nothing-to-Hide” confrontations with Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on the 1MDB scandal, disgraced himself internationally when he chickened out of delivering a key-note opening address for the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya on Sept. 2 -4, 2015 attended by over  1,000 delegates from 130 countries, and the infamous walkout of Al Jazeera interview in October last year with interviewer Mary Ann Jolley.

But I will not deny  Najib his freedom of expression.

In fact, I would like him  to say more, as there is nothing better to use his own words to condemn and bury him.

The  delusion of some Opposition leaders is evident when they expressed the hope that  there will be a snap general election, when there are no signs whatsoever why the Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya should not serve out its full term.

The Pakatan Harapan government is stronger today after having weathered its first year, which unexpectedly, had to be focussed on draining the swamp – and what is most shocking, was to discover  how horrendous was the swamp that was left behind by Najib and  the UMNO/BN Government.

Although the task of draining the swamp is not fully done, the second year of Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrjaya should be better than the first year in terms of delivery of Pakatan Harapan pledges to create a New Malaysia.

It is not possible to undo the corruption, abuses of power and deviations caused by six decades of  UMNO/BN government, as this task cannot be accomplished in a hundred days or a year but a mission which will take years and even over a decade.

Najib only proves his political bankruptcy and immorality when he could claim “moral victory” because of a cancelled debate while thunderously silent for years about global kleptocracy.

I am sorry to disappoint Najib, but for the past week  that I have moved about in the Malaysian public domain, including a visit to Sandakan, I have not felt or detected any fall-off of my political credibility or any perception that he had scored “a huge moral victory”.

I have only found support in my withdrawal from the debate with Najib.

In reciprocation for Hadi’s support since Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives, Najib is how the foremost publicist for the UMNO-PAS axis, claiming that it should be the choice of the young generation today.

This is issue fighting for the heart and soul of Malaysia – whether the young generation of Malaysians are going to blindly support a global kleptocrat, a point Najib is strenuously trying to establish in his “Malu Apa Bossku” escapade.

The future will tell whether Najib will win in his shameless “Malu Apa Bossku” escapade for Malaysians NOT to heed Santayana’s warning and NOT to  remember the lessons of  history, as he hopes to return as a global kleptocrat and  for Malaysia to again become a global kleptocracy!

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Thursday, May 30, 2019)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 30 May 2019, 10:39 am and is filed under
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Would Najib agree that in orchestrating  Black Tuesday of  28th July 2015 and the  Week of Long Knives, he was guilty of the most detrimental acts to parliamentary democracy in Malaysian history?

Adakah Najib bersetuju, dengan merancang Selasa Hitam 28 Julai 2015 dan Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran, beliau bertanggungjawab dalam melakukan satu perbuatan yang paling merosakkan kepada demokrasi berparlimen dalam sejarah Malaysia?

Mantan Perdana Menteri Najib Razak berasa tidak senang apabila saya menggelarkan beliau sebagai seorang penakut.

Berikut adalah apa yang saya katakan semalam:

“Najib berkata semalam bahawa saya tidak mempunyai sebarang kredibiliti langsung selepas menolak jemputan berdebat dengannya.

“Mengikut logik Najib, dia tidak berhak langsung untuk membuka mulut selepas kehilangan semua kredibilitinya setelah melarikan diri daripada perdebatan “Nothing-to-Hide” dengan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad berkenaan skandal 1MDB, memalukan dirinya di persada dunia dengan menarik diri dari memberikan ucapan pembukaan Persidangan Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa (IACC) pada September 2015 yang dihadiri oleh ribuan delegasi daripada lebih 130 negara, dan bertidak untuk keluar daripada wawancara bersama dengan Mary Ann Jolley yang disiarkan Al-Jazeera pada Oktober tahun lepas, suatu insiden yang amat memalukan. “

Adakah Najib bersetuju, dalam kesemua empat situasi ini, beliau adalah penakut yang sebenarnya? Jika tidak, mengapa?

Sedangkan menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Najib sendiri yang telah mengumumkan kepada delegasi IACC pada 16 September 2015 bahawa Najib telah menarik diri daripada persidangan tersebut atas nasihat menterinya kerana beliau takut ditanya soalan sukar daripada 1000 delegasi yang hadir.

Adakah Paul Low menipu?

Mana-mana individu yang mempunyai kebolehan untuk membezakan baik dan buruk tidak akan membuat kenyataan di Facebook seperti yang dibuat oleh Najib.

Jika Najib mempunyai masalah pemahaman, itu bukanlah masalah saya.

Walau bagaimanapun, saya bersedia untuk mengabaikan kesilapannya, kerana saya tidak pernah berminat pun dengan kepelikan peribadi seseorang itu, biarlah semasa dia masih seorang Perdana Menteri ataupun sebagai mantan Perdana Menteri.

Apa yang lebih  utama yang berkaitan dengan kepentingan negara adalah sama ada Najib bersetuju bahawa berikutan tindakannya dalam merancang Hari Selasa Hitam 28 Julai dan Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran, beliau telah melakukan perbuatan yang paling merosakkan dalam sejarah demokrasi berparlimen negara ini, di mana prinsip demokrasi berperlembagaan, bersama dengan kebebasan dan profesionalisme pelbagai institusi penting negara — termasuklah Parlimen, Kabinet Menteri, Pejabat Peguam Negara, PDRM, Bank Negara, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia, Jabatan Audit Negara, dan media massa — diserang bertubi-tubi?

Jika Najib tidak bersetuju, bolehkah beliau memberikan contoh lain di mana pernah berlaku kerosakan yang jauh lebih teruk daripada yang dilakukan beliau dalam sejarah negara ini?

Saya tertarik dengan satu persoalan iaitu mengapakah Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran ini dilancarkan pada hari selasa 28 Julai 2015 dan bukan hari Isnin sebelumnya.  Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran ini telah merekodkan kudeta Najib yang termasuk pemecatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; Menteri Pembangunan Luar Bandar, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal; Peguam Negara Tan Sri Gani Patail; pelantikan Apandi Ali sebagai peguam negara yang bertentangan dengan perlembagaan, pelantikan pak turut ke dalam Kabinet Najib untuk mencuci bersih peranan Najib dalam skandal 1MDB, serta penundukan institusi negara untuk menyebarkan naratif 1MDB Najib.

Pada minggu yang sebelumnya, antara 24-26 Julai 2015, ibu kota  telah dibanjiri dengan khabar angin bahawa bekas Peguam Negara, Gani Patail, dengan sokongan Pengerusi SPRM, Abu Kassim Mohamad telah bersedia untuk menangkap Najib di atas tuduhan rasuah.

Saya sendiri ada terdengar khabar angin ini, tetapi saya rasa tidak mungkin seseorang seperti Najib, dengan jaringan dan peralatan perintipannya yang begitu meluas, tidak terdengar khabar angin tersebut.

Tidak ada apa-apa yang berlaku pada hari Isnin, 27 haribulan. Tetapi, pada 28 haribulan, “Selasa Hitam”, Najib lancarkan serangannya.

Mengapakah berlakunya kelewatan tersebut?

Apandi  mengaku pada 29 Julai 2015 yang beliau diberitahu mengenai pelantikannya sebagai Peguam Negara pada hari Ahad 26 Julai 2015, lantas membuatkan beliau  meletakkan jawatan Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuannya secara tergesa-gesa.

Inilah sebabnya kenapa Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran ini tidak bermula pada hari Isnin 26 Julai, kerana ianya sangatlah ganjil untuk memecat Gani tanpa pengganti yang bersedia untuk mengambil alih, sungguhpun pemecatan itu secara zahirnya tidak berperlembagaan — Apandi perlu memberikan notis 24 jam untuk peletakan jawatannya sebagai Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan.

Adalah jelas sekarang, bahawa sepanjang hujung minggu sebelum Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran, semasa ibu kota dibanjiri khabar angin yang Gani bersedia untuk mendakwa Najib atas tuduhan rasuah, Najib sedang bersiap sedia membuat rancangan untuk menyelamatkan diri, mengelakkan diri dari ditangkap seorang Peguam Negara yang telah berkhidmat di bawah 3 Perdana Menteri, dan melancarkan kudeta mengukuhkan kuasanya sebagai “pemerintah kleptokratik yang terunggul”.

Jika Apandi telah diberitahu pada malam 26 Julai mengenai rancangan pelantikannya sebagai Peguam Negara untuk menggantikan Gani, tidakkah terdetik untuk beliau bertanya mengapa Gani dipecat tanpa mengikut perlembagaan?

Bilakah Najib mula merancang kudeta ini dan siapakah yang bersubahat dengannya dalam merancang Minggu Pemecatan Besar-besaran ini?

Secara kebetulan, dilaporkan semalam bahawa  Apandi kini bebas untuk pergi ke United Kingdom bagi menghadiri majlis penerimaan masuk anak tirinya sebagai peguam bertauliah.

Beliau telah dimaklumkan melalui sepucuk surat bertarikh 8 Mei daripada Kementerian Dalam Negeri dan Jabatan Imigresen bahawa larangan perjalanan beliau telah ditarik balik.

Negara ini telah mempunyai 10 Peguam Negara sejak Hari Merdeka 1957 (termasuklah Peguam Negara semasa, Tommy Thomas), tetapi Apandi mempunyai suatu tempat yang istimewa di kalangan semua Peguam Negara atas pelbagai sebab, antaranya:

– Dilantik selepas pemecatan tidak berperlembagaan Peguam Negara sebelumnya, yang merupakan satu pencabulan terhadap komitmen Malaysia terhadap semangat berperlembagaan dan keluhuran undang-undang;

– Peranan beliau sebagai orang suruhan Najib bagi membawa era kegelapan, di mana rakyat dan institusi negara yang sepatutnya menjadi pelindung kepada Malaysia yang demokratik diserang secara bertubi-tubi;

– Peranan beliau dalam menutup kisahbenar kleptokrasi Najib dan skandal 1MDB dan menghalang kerjasama dengan 10 negara lain dalam usaha menyiasat  jenayah skandal 1MDB;

– Halangan dan keengganan beliau untuk meletak jawatan secara bermaruah selepas berlakunya peralihan kuasa dalam Kerajaan Persekutuan pada 9 Mei 2018, dan sekatan perjalanan yang dikenakan pada beliau selama hampir setahun selepas beliau meletakkan jawatan.

Apandi haruslah menjawab semua persoalan mengenai peranan buruk beliau sebagai Peguam Negara kesembilan sebelum beliau keluar negara untuk menghadiri majlis pelantikan anak tirinya sebagai peguam bertauliah di United Kingdom.

Bagi rakyat Malaysia, kita tidak harus melupai sejarah gelap ini dan sentiasa beringat kepada amaran Santayana yang berbunyi “Mereka yang melupakan sejarahnya akan mengulanginya”.

Kempen Malu Apa Bossku akan menjadi satu ujian bagi rakyat Malaysia, sama ada kita akan mengulangi kesilapan kita dalam membiarkan kerosakan dan kleptokrasi berleluasa atau belajar daripada kesilapan ini untuk masa hadapan.

(Kenyataan media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Gelang Patah pada hari Jumaat 31 Mei 2019)

=========================================

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak is very upset I have used the word “chicken” on him.

This is what I said yesterday:

“Najib said yesterday that I had ‘lost all credibility’ after turning down a debate with him.

“By Najib’s logic, Najib would not even have the right even to open his mouth to utter a single word as he had more than ‘lost all credibility’ running away from two ‘Nothing-to-Hide’ confrontations with Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on the 1MDB scandal, disgraced himself internationally when he chickened out of delivering a key-note opening address for the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya on Sept. 2 -4, 2015 attended by over 1,000 delegates from 130 countries, and the infamous walkout of Al Jazeera interview in October last year with interviewer Mary Ann Jolley.”

Does Najib agree that in all these four instances, he had “chickened” out – which made him a “chicken” four-fold? If not, why not.

In fact, it was Najib’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Paul Low, who told the 16th IACC in September 2015 that Najib had “chickened” out of the Conference after he had advised Najib to make the last-minute pull-out from officiating the IACC opening for fear of “hostile” reception and “hard questions” from the 1,000 delegates from 130 countries.

Was Paul Low telling a lie?

In any event, any intelligent person with average faculty of understanding would not have made the Facebook posting after reading my statement as Najib had done.

It is not my responsibility that Najib has got comprehension problems.

Be that as it may, I am prepared to overlook his faux pas as I am never interested in the personal idiosyncrasy of anyone, be he the Prime Minister or former Prime Minister.

What is more pertinent and important, relating to national interests and going beyond anyone’s personal  idiosyncrasies, is whether Najib would  agree that in orchestrating Black Tuesday on 28th July 2015 and the  Week of Long Knives he was guilty of the most  detrimental acts to parliamentary democracy in Malaysian history, where democratic constitutional principles were attacked as well as important national institutions with regard to their independence, impartiality and professionalism – including Parliament, the Cabinet, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General, the Press – came under relentless assault?

If Najib does not agree, can he cite another episode in the history of democracy of Malaysia which is more deleterious and detrimental to parliamentary democracy in Malaysia than the Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives?

It had always intrigued me why Najib’s Week of Long Knives –  which marked his coup d’etat resulting in the sacking of the  Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; the  Minister for Regional and Rural Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal; Attorney-General Tan Sri  Gani Patail; unconstitutional appointment of Mohamad Apandi Ali as Attorney-General; appointment of sycophants into the Cabinet as Najib’s “spin doctors” to whitewash his role in the 1MDB scandal; the cowing and subjugation of national institutions  to be subservient to Najib’s 1MDB narrative –  was launched on Tuesday July 28 and not on Monday July 27.

This was because by the previous weekend of the Week of Long Knives from July 24 – 26, 2015, the Federal capital was awash with rumours that the then Attorney-General Gani Patail, with the full support of the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Abu Kassim Mohamad were ready to arrest Najib and prosecute him on corruption charges.

I myself heard of these rumours, and I told myself that it was impossible that Najib, with his numerous  intelligence apparatus, was unaware of these rumours that he would be a “sitting duck” for such corruption prosecution.

Nothing happened on Monday, July 27. But on Black Tuesday, July 28, Najib struck.

Why the delay?

Apandi had admitted on July 29, 2015 that he was only informed of his new appointment as Attorney-General on Sunday (July 26)  night which caused him to hastily submit his resignation as Federal Court judge.

So, that was the reason why the  Week of Long Knives did not commence  on Monday July 27, for it would be most invidious indeed to sack  Gani without a replacement, however unconstitutional this would be – as Apandi needed to give 24 hours’ notice of resignation as Federal Court judge.

It is now evident that in the weekend before the Week of Long Knives, when the Federal Capital  was awash with rumours that Gani was making his final move to charge and prosecute Najib for corruption, Najib was not inactive either and he was himself finalising plans to  marshal his forces to save his premiership, pre-empt his arrest by his Attorney-General who had served three Prime Ministers and  execute his coup d’etat starting with the Week of Long Knives to become the unquestioned  kleptocratic ruler  in Malaysia.

If Apandi was informed on the night of Sunday, July 26, 2015 that he would be the new  Attorney-General to replace Gani, did he inquire of the circumstances for Gani’s unconstitutional sacking?

When did Najib start to plan his coup d’etat and who  were Najib’s  plotters in the undemocratic putsch in the Week of the Long Knives?

By coincidence, it was reported yesterday that Apandi is now free to travel to the United Kingdom to attend the ceremony to mark his stepson being called to the Bar.

He had been informed in a letter dated May 8 by the Home Ministry and Immigration Department that his travel ban had been rescinded.

The country has had ten Attorney-Generals since Merdeka in 1957  (including the present AG Tommy Thomas), but Apandi occupies a special place for many reasons, including:

· Appointed after the unconstitutional sacking of his predecessor, which was a serious  affront to Malaysia’s commitment to uphold constitutionalism and the rule of law;

· His role as Najib’s hatchet man to usher a new dark age subjecting national institutions and Malaysians to a wave of attacks instead of being the nation’s sentinel to ensure an “enlightened and democratic” Malaysia.

· His role in the cover-up of Najib’s kleptocracy and the 1MDB scandal, blocking co-operation with criminal investigations by over 10 countries into the 1MDB scandal.

· His obstruction and refusal to resign honourably and with dignity as Attorney-General when there was a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 14th General Election decision on May 9, 2018, and subject of a travel ban overseas for nearly a year after he stepped down as Attorney-General.

Let Apandi answer all queries about his infamous role as ninth Attorney-General before he leaves Malaysia for the United Kingdom for his stepson’s call to the Bar.

For Malaysians, we must never become a people forgetful about the lessons of history as we must be mindful of Santayana’s warning that ““Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Najib’s “Malu Apa Bossku” campaign will be a test whether Malaysians are condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past or whether we can learn from the lessons of being condemned by the world as a global kleptocracy.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Friday, 31st May 2019)

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Call on President Trump to abandon his “bully tactics”, end the US-China trade war and co-operate with Beijing  to secure a “win-win” solution for  5G development of the world

I call on the US President Trump to abandon his “bully tactics”, end the US-China trade war and co-operate with Beijing to secure a “win-win” solution for the 5G development of the world.

Fifty years ago in 1969, the United States won the 14-year-old space race with the Soviet Union since the first successful launch of the first  Soviet Union Sputnik  artificial satellite in 1955 by landing the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11.

Today, the United States is virtually conceding defeat  in the race for technological supremacy with China when US President Trump exercised the “nuclear option” and added Huawei and 68 of its non-US affiliates to a blacklist, officially called the Entity List, on May 16 restricting the Shenzen-based company’s ability to purchase hardware, software and services from its American hi-tech suppliers without approval from the US government.

This marked a tech cold war and it could slow down or dramatically alter the rollout of the 5G technology  and infrastructure  likely to define the future of the Internet for the next decade and intertwine factories, power plants, airports, hospitals and government agencies.

The Iron Curtain constructed by Stalin after the Second World War in  1945 was torn down after 45 years. Now Trump is trying to construct a second Iron Curtain on the Internet.

It is ironical that while the United States introduced the Internet to the world, marking its technological and telecommunication  supremacy, it is again the United States which is proposing to divide the Internet – a sad mark of its decline  and its journey from a  telecoms leader to 5G also-ran without being a challenger to China’s Huawei.

It is reported that Huawei is around 18 months ahead of rivals in 5G rollout capacity while the United States is without a telecommunications hardware champion that can compete with major 5G players such as China’s Huawei, Finland’s Nokia and  Sweden’s Ericsson.

A new Internet Cold War will be a major setback for the globalised world, and both the United States and China should accept the new global realities and find ways to co-operate with each other on 5G instead of embarking on actions inimical to global economic and technological interests.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on  Saturday, 1st June 2019)

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Call for upward revision of housing allowances for police personnel in Johor Bahru and other major cities to offset higher cost of living

During the visit  of my team to the Johor Baru Utara Police and the briefing by the Johore Baru OCPD Assistant Commissioner Mohd Taib Ahmad and the other police chiefs in JB Utara district, I was shocked to learn of the terrible condition of police housing in the area.

I am reminded of one of the  11 recommendations of the Police Royal  commission 14 years ago which recommended the formation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which was headed by former

Chief Justice Tun Mohamad Dzaiddin and former and longest-serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar to improve the welfare for the police force.

One of these recommendations proposed the

provision of “special allowance for PDRM personnel stationed in major cities, such as the Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, and Georgetown to offset the higher cost of living faced by them”.

In Johore Bahru, the market rate of housing is about three times higher than the police housing allowance. There is not only a serious lack of adequate police housing in the Johore Baru area, existing police quarters are in very dilapidated condition in urgent need of repair running into tens of millions of ringgit.

As an immediate measure I would call for  a three-prong action, viz:

· Upward revision of housing allowances for

police personnel in Johor Bahru and other major cities to offset higher cost of living as recommended by the Police Royal Commission 14 years ago;

· Repair of the dilapidated conditions of the police quarters in Johore Baru; and

· Construction of adequate police quarters not

only in Johor Baru but throughout the country. A safe community, free from crime and the fear of crime, must be one of the basic rights of all Malaysians.

In a New Malaysia, we want Malaysia to be a world top-class nation – which includes having a world top-class police force.

This is an objective which all Malaysians will support and give full-hearted endorsement.

(Media Conference Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang after visit to Johor Baru Utara Police at Skudai Police Hqrs on Sunday, 2nd June 2019)

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Previous Government had forgotten about the five principles of Rukunegara or it would never have  allowed Malaysia to become a global kleptocracy heading in the trajectory of a failed and rogue state

Slightly over a year ago, Malaysians performed a political miracle when against all odds, they peacefully and democratically saved Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

The previous government and its Ministers and leaders had forgotten about the five principles of Rukunegara or they would never have  allowed Malaysia to become a global kleptocracy heading in the trajectory of a failed and rogue state.

This is why all Malaysians must always remember the Rukunegara, the principles and objectives, which state:

“WHEREAS OUR COUNTRY, MALAYSIA nurtures the ambitions of:

· Achieving a more perfect unity amongst the whole of her society;

· Preserving a democratic way of life;

· Creating a just society where the prosperity of the country can be enjoyed together in a fair and equitable manner;

· Guaranteeing a liberal approach towards her rich and varied cultural traditions; and

· Building a progressive society that will make use of science and modern technology.

WE, HER PEOPLE, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends guided by these principles:

· BELIEF IN GOD

· LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY

· THE SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION

· THE RULE OF LAW

· COURTESY AND MORALITY.”

Malaysia took a wrong turn in nation-building and we would have ended up as a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state even worse than Venezuela today if ordinary Malaysians did not make the historic decision on  May 9, 2018 to save Malaysia by re-setting the Malaysian nation-building policies, based on the five pillar-promises of Pakatan Harapan, viz:

· Reduce the people’s burden.

· Institutional and political reforms.

· Spur sustainable and equitable economic growth.

· Return Sabah and Sarawak to the status accorded in Malaysia Agreement 1963.

· Create a Malaysia that is inclusive, moderate and respected globally.

The choice before Malaysians is very clear-cut – revert to be a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state or build a New Malaysia which is united, harmonious, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous respected in the international arena as a top world-class nation in every field of human endeavour.

We have the makings to be a world top-class nation which is model for other plural societies if we can learn from the best values taught by the different great religions and civilisations which meet in confluence in Malaysia and Malaysians are always mindful of the principles and precepts of Rukunegara.

Even now, there are those who are use the name of religion not to unite but to divide Malaysians, spreading lies and falsehoods to make one race to envy another and one religion to distrust and hate another.

Do we want to make the mistakes of the past and allow lies and falsehoods to preach extremism, hate and intolerance of  race and religion to tear Malaysia asunder?

This is the choice before  the present generation of Malaysia, who must  understand that we are at the crossroads of Malaysian nation-building.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the 12th anniversary charity dinner of Sri Prahladha Raghavendra Peedam at Taman Sri Skudai Johore on Saturday, 1st June 2019 at 9 pm)

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Lee Shin Cheng should be a role model for all Malaysians to become a great Malaysian if the country is the fulfill the Malaysian Dream to become a world top-class nation

Together with the Deputy Minister for Defence, Liew Chin Tong and other party leaders, I paid my last respect to Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng in Putrajaya.

Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng’s passing is a great loss to the nation.

He should a role model for all Malaysians to become a great Malaysian if the country is to fulfil the Malaysian Dream to become a world top-class nation.

A self-made man with a humble beginning, Shin Cheng is an example of what could be achieved with  hard work, dedication, perseverance, grit and vision by a person even without university education.

Shin Cheng is a rarity in present-day Malaysia. If Malaysia to fulfill her vision to become a world top-class nation in every field of human endeavour, then we must create conditions in a New Malaysia where a Shin Cheng is not a rarity but commonplace in the country.

Malaysia needs not just one Shin Cheng, but an army of Shin Chengs from among all ethnic groups in the country, so that Malaysia can compete with the rest of the world and not continue to be obsessed by divisive and destructive mindset preoccupied about competition among Malaysians.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Putrajaya on Monday, 3rd June 2019)

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Let all Malaysians redouble efforts to make the country a world top-class nation in every field of human endeavour

Marilah kita semua rakyat Malaysia berganding tenaga untuk menjadikan Malaysia sebuah negara bertaraf dunia dalam semua perkara

Sambutan Hari Raya untuk tahun ini berlangsung berlangsung sebulan selepas ulang tahun pertama Pilihanraya Umum ke-14 yang menyaksikan Malaysia diselamatkan daripada keburukan kleptokrasi global dan perubahan hala tuju negara kearah yang lebih baik.

Jika tidak kerana Pilihanraya Umum yang ke-14 ini, kita sudah tentunya akan mendahului Venezuela dari segi kerosakan — dahulunya salah satu daripada 20 negara terkaya di dunia dan Amerika Latin, yang mewah dengan sistem pendidikan dan perubatan percuma untuk rakyatnya tetapi kini miskin, terkebelakang, dan bankrup.

Kita sekarang berada dalam tahun kedua untuk memperbetulkan hala tuju polisi pembangunan negara bagi memenuhi potensi pembangunan negara kita yang berbilang kaum ini, yang merupakan satu pertemuan harmoni pelbagai tamadun, agama, dan budaya dunia.

Kita haruslah mengambil iktibar dan mempelajari segala nilai murni daripada setiap tamadun, budaya, dan agama yang berbilang ini untuk membina suatu Malaysia Baharu yang boleh menjadi tauladan dunia — sebuah negara yang progresif dan makmur yang dibina dengan adunan pelbagai kaum, bahasa, dan budaya.

Biar apa pun perbezaan kita, sama ada bahasa, kaum, agama, ataupun budaya, marilah kita sentiasa bersatu sebagai rakyat Malaysia dan kekal positif, saling sayang-menyayangi antara satu sama lain, dan jauhkan diri kita daripada kebencian, penipuan, intoleransi, dan ekstremisme.

Marilah kita semua berazam untuk menjadikan Malaysia sebuah negara bertaraf dunia dalam semua bidang yang diceburi manusia.

Dan marilah kita semua berganding tenaga untuk merealisasikan matlamat ini.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin.

(Mesej Hari Raya Aidilfitri Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang pada hari Selasa 4 Jun 2019)

========================================

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslims in Malaysia.

Hari  Raya this year is  held soon  after the first anniversary of the historic decision in the 14th General Election to Save Malaysia  from the infamy,  ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy and to prevent Malaysia from hurtling in  the trajectory towards a  failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

If not for the 14th General Election, we would have put  to shame Venezuela – once one of the 20 richest countries in the world and the richest in   Latin America with free education and free medical services for  her citizens but now a poor, backward, broken and  bankrupt state!

We are now in the second year to re-set nation building policies to realise our great potentials and capabilities of a  plural nation, which is the confluence of great civilisations, religions and cultures in the world.

We must benefit from the best values and positive teachings of  these  great civilisations, cultures and religions to build a New Malaysia which will be the model to the world of a  progressive and  prosperous cosmopolitan nation built out   of  the best  of the diverse races, languages, religions and cultures in the country.

Regardless of our differences of  race, language, religion or culture, let us always unite as Malaysians and stay positive, spread love and goodwill and distance ourselves from lies, hate, envy and the evils of  intolerance and extremism.

Let everyone of us be always inspired by the goal of how to make Malaysia a world top-class nation in every field of human endeavour.

Let us redouble efforts to make Malaysia a world top-class nation in every field of human endeavour.

(Hari Raya Aidilfitri Message by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Tuesday, 4th June 2019)

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Police investigation into “Week of Long Knives” in July/August 2015 should include probes into  roles of Najib’s former Communications Czar Abdul Rahman Dahlan, former Chief Secretary Ali Hamsa and former  Public Service Department Director-General Mohamad Zabidi as to whether they had broken the law

The statement by the new  Inspector-General of Police Hamid Bador that the  police report against the former Attorney-General Mohamad Apandi Ali for his role in the Week of Long Knives in July/August 2015 is most welcome.

So far police reports have been lodged by  two DAP Members of Parliament, viz Lim Lip Eng (Kepong) and S.N. Rayer (Jelutong).

Was there an attempted coup against the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak involving charging him for corruption in the last week of July 2015 which was pre-empted by the sudden and unconstitutional sacking of the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail?

It is time that  all lights are focussed on this mystery which is a blot on six decades of Malaysian democracy.

This was the key question buzzing in everybody’s mind  after an interview in Star Online in August 2015 by the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan who was also at the time Minister for Housing and Local Government.

The events of what happened in the corridors of power in the Week of Long Knives in July/August 2015 had been shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and it is time  that the “cloak-and-dagger” episodes then be fully known and exposed to public light  –  particularly the Black Tuesday of  28th July 2015 on  the sudden and unconstitutional  sacking of the Attorney-General Gani Patail, the dismissal of  Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, followed by “Nine Days of Madness in Putrajaya”, with the wave of attacks on national institutions including Parliament, the Executive, key agencies comprising the “Special Task Force on the 1MDB” such as the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Press; with  Cabinet reshuffled  with “loyal people over smart people; the new-fangled crime of  Section 124 of the Penal Code on  “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” which can send a person convicted for the offence to jail for up to 20 years let loose on Opposition and NGO leaders to create a reign of terror; and the unprecedented convulsions with the most fractured Government in the nation’s history –  the  witch-hunt of “traitors” in government, with one enforcement agency investigating and pouncing on another to the extent that the MACC staff had to hold an most unprecedented special prayers (solat hajat) at its Putrajaya headquarters praying that Allah would  give strength to  the graft-busters to carry out the duties.

The Week of Long Knives  hinged on the purported draft of a corruption charge sheet against Najib, which the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali had declared was false.

I had right from the beginning said Apandi’s denial of the alleged draft corruption charge against Najib had  lacked conviction and credibility, which was particularly the case with regard to the “health” reason given for termination of Gani’s services as Attorney-General.

Malaysians are in a parliamentary democracy and in the information era, and they are entitled to know what actually transpired in the “cloak-and-dagger” operations of the  Week of Long Knives in July/August 2015 in  Putrajaya

There was a new website which went up on the very same day (July 28, 2018) that Gani Patail was summarily sacked as Attorney-General and Muhyiddin  as Deputy Prime Minister, making the most ludicrous and outrageous allegations that top government officials, especially key officers in three of the four “Special Task Force” units investigating  1MDB scandal and Najib’s RM2.6 billion in his  personal bank accounts – Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) – were involved  in an international conspiracy to topple the elected government of Malaysia.

Was this episode investigated by the Police and what was the outcome?

The Malaysian police should also investigate why it had taken so long to complete its investigations into the 1MDB scandal, when it was the subject of investigations by at least 10 other countries.

Former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib had said in August 2015  that the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa and Director-General of Public Service Department Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi at the time could have flouted the law by transferring two MACC officers,  MACC special operations division director Bahri Mohamad Zin and MACC strategic communication director Rohaizad Yaakob out of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Abu Talib said Ali and Mohamad Zabidi could have breached Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing public servants from discharging their duties, and although the transfer of MACC officials  and  Rohaizad to the Prime Minister’s Department was subsequently cancelled, the offence committed  still stood.

This is why Police  investigation into “Week of Long Knives” in July/August 2015 should include probes into the  roles of Najib’s former  Communications Czar Abdul Rahman Dahlan, former Chief Secretary Ali Hamsa and former  Public Service Department Director-General Mohamad Zabidi as to whether they have broken the law.

In the weeks and months after the  Week of Long Knives, top Ministers and government leaders attempted to distract attention from the various corruption scandals in the country, in particular the 1MDB mega scandal, with tall tales of a heinous and treacherous plot to topple the elected government in Malaysia.

Did the police find any criminal plot to topple the elected government by violent or unconstitutional means?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, June 4, 2019)

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Shukri’s stepping down as MACC Chief Commissioner highlights what he said about the genesis of the  Week of Long Knives in his “Tell All” press conference last year which should form the basis of police investigation on the former Attorney-General Mohd Apandi Ali

Mohd Shukri Abdull’s stepping down as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner highlights what he said about the genesis of Black

Tuesday on July 28, 2015 and the “Week of Long Knives” in July/August 2015, which should form the basis of police investigation on the former Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali.

In his “Tell All” press conference in May last year after he returned as MACC Chief Commissioner, Shukri broke down when he recounted his time running away from Malaysian authorities to the United States.

This was after his former boss Tan Sri  Abu Kassim Mohamed decided to indict former premier Datuk Seri  Najib Abdul Razak for his kleptocracy.

Shukri said when Abu Kassim asked him if he was prepared to face the consequences of taking action against a sitting prime minister, he replied that he was willing to take the risk in order to serve the country.

However, he claimed that on the day Abu Kassim wanted to charge Najib, the then attorney general Abdul Gani Patail was removed from his position, and this was followed by a cabinet reshuffle.

Amid this, Shukri left for Washington on July 31, 2015, to raise the 1MDB issue, but had deliberately released misleading information that he was headed to Saudi Arabia.

According to him, there were people waiting to arrest him in Jeddah, and he was tailed in Washington.

He  revealed that the police wanted to arrest him for conspiring against the government back in 2015.

But  the MACC had its own intelligence squad.

When he (former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail) was sacked, he  received information that he would be arrested for a ‘conspiracy to topple the government’ in relation to the investigation into the RM2.6 billion in former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s bank accounts.

Shukri said all he and his former boss Abu Kassim Mohamed wanted to do was retrieve stolen funds.

“We fought for the people to get back money that was stolen, but we were accused of being traitors,”
 he said.

After arriving in Washington DC, he then went to New York where he was placed under police protection.

Shukri said at the press conference last year  that prior to Gani’s dismissal, the MACC had a meeting with the then attorney-general on July 27.

“Tan Sri (Gani) asked me, ‘Are you ready?’. As a senior investigator, I understood what he meant.

“He said on Wednesday we will execute (our plans). I said ‘Yes I am ready’.

“But the next day on Tuesday, I was having a meeting in Kuala Lumpur when I received news that Gani had been terminated.”

Shukri said yesterday in a text message that his mission in returning to the MACC last year had been accomplished and that he had placed MACC on the right track with all officers united in battling corruption, with strong support from the public.

The MACC should not, however,  be a victim of complacency, for the task of transforming  Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into  a leading nation of integrity is just on the beginning stage, and there is no guarantee that this transformation would be a success without continuing and unremitting anti-corruption efforts.

Yes, the MACC has put several kleptocrats in the past year on trial. But before the kleptocrats roamed the land, there were sharks which were also  responsible for Malaysia occupying the lowly place of No. 61 in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2018,.

Is the MACC prepared to make the second year of the historic change of Malaysia in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 the year against “sharks” just like the Chinese were going after the “tigers” and the Indonesians going after the “crocodiles” after the first year of the Pakatan Harapan government focussing on the “kleptocrats”?

Shukri struck a deep chord among patriotic Malaysians when he admitted  at a public forum last November that he felt so embarrassed about Malaysia’s corruption levels when on a trip abroad in 2016 that he pretended to be an Indonesian national.

Malaysia’s  Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was  52  percent in 2014, what he described as “a barely passable score, like a C-grade”.

In 2015,  Malaysia’s score reduced to 50. It went down to 49 percent in 2016 and in 2017, we obtained 47 percent,” he said.

Shukri admitted that when  someone asked him  in English where he was from, he was ashamed to say he was from Malaysia, so he said he was an Indonesian.

Shukri remarked: “That was our state of (corruption) at that time.”

That was the experience of all patriotic Malaysians until the historic decision of May 9, 2018 except for the Hadi leadership of PAS, which gladly embraced  Najib’s  kleptocratic premiership.

Ordinary patriotic Malaysians had a sense of shame, and they were  so ashamed of Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy that they avoided admitting  they were Malaysians, claiming that they came from  somewhere in the region except from Malaysia.

Shukri said it was “shameful” that Malaysia was known to the world as a ‘kleptocracy’ (due to the 1MDB scandal), not a country with integrity.

He  preferred to be honest about the state of corruption in Malaysia, instead of sugarcoating the issue.

He said: “Often when people ask if the corruption in Malaysia was improving or getting worse, the speaker (from MACC) would say it is under control.

“I don’t like to say anything that is not true. I’d rather spell it out frankly.”

The question is whether MACC and the Federal Government  realise that it is a great mistake to think that the corruption trials of the  former Prime Minister and a few kleptocrats of the former administration signify that Malaysia is firmly on the road to becoming a top nation of integrity and that Malaysia is still a long way from a position where Malaysians  can feel  proud as  Malaysians because of our public integrity record.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, June 5, 2019)

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Prime Minister Mahathir should present a White Paper on “Week of Long Knives in July/August 2015” in July Parliament before it adjourns on July 18

he Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad should present a White Paper on
“Week of Long Knives in July./August 2015”
 in July Parliament before it adjourns on July 18.

The events triggered by Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and ensuing
 “Week of Long Knives” r
epresented  the most  serious, deplorable and disgraceful  attack on  the democratic principles of the Malaysian Constitution and the independence, impartiality and professionalism of all the important national institutions in the history of the  country.

These dark events must never be allowed to recur in future and this is why the fullest light must be allowed to  expose all the nooks and corners of the Federal  government that allowed such a dastardly chapter in the history of Malaysian democracy to happen.

I find it astonishing that the website that emerged on the very same day (July 28, 2015) that Tan Sri Gani Patail was summarily and unconstitutionally sacked as Attorney-General,  Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sacked as Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Minister for Education and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal  as Minister for Regional and Rural Development and  which played an important role in the campaign to spread a regime of terror among top political and government leaders  is still available on the Internet – https://therecounter.wordpress.com/2015/07/

This website made its first appearance with an article headlined “Ops Lalang 2015: Special Branch leads investigation into conspirators” made the most ludicrous and outrageous allegations implicating top officers in government, especially key officers in three of the four “Special Task Force” investigating into 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts – Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) – for involvement in an international conspiracy to topple the elected government of Malaysia.

It named  13 persons on a “list of conspirators to be investigated under Section 124 of the penal code which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison”.

It said:
 “The power to carry out the investigation is held by the police and special branch whilst the power to charge an offender under section 124 lies with the Attorney General.

“It is no surprise that the position of the head of the Special branch was changed today. It was announced that Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun was appointed as the new Special Branch director, replacing Datuk Seri Akhil Bulat.

“This comes at a time when on the same day the Attorney General has been replaced as reported.

“Federal Court judge Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has been named the new Attorney-General today, replacing Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

“With Section 124 in place coupled with the new appointments for special branch and the Attorney general, it is possible to imprison anyone for up to 20 years. The new appointments are instrumental in making this possible.”

The 13 names listed in what was described as
 “Top Wanted List of Conspirators Against the Democratically Elected Government”
 were:

Top Wanted List of Conspirators Against The Democratically Elected Government:

1) Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus (BNM)

– Deputy Governor

2) Shamsuddin bin Mohd Mahayidin (BNM)

– Foreign Exchange Administration

3) Abdul Rahman bin Abu Bakar (BNM)

– Financial Intelligence and Enforcement

4) Dato ‘ Sri Mohd Shukri Bin Abdul (MACC)

– Deputy Chief Commissioner (Operation)

5) Datuk Tan Kang Sai

– MACC Special Operation Division Deputy Director

6) YBhg Tan Sri Datuk Rashpal Singh a/l Jeswant Singh

-A Member of the Advisory Board of the Anti-Corruption (ACAB)

7) Jessica Gurmeet Kaur D/O Nashattar Singh

– Heads the Special Task Force Secretariat, Administration and Finance department

8) Dr.Tong Kooi Ong

– Executive Chairman, The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd.

– Executive Chairman, Sunrise Berhad

– Chairman, Taiga Building Products Ltd

– International Advisory Panel, CIMB

9) Ho Kay Tat

– Group Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, The Edge Communications Sdn. Bhd.

10) Clare Rewcastle Brown

– British investigative journalist Editor-in-chief of Sarawak Report

11) Sufi Yusof

– Mahathir Mohamad’s Press Secretary

12) Tony Pua

– Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara – National Publicity Secretary for Democratic Action Party (DAP)

13) Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz

– Governor Bank Negara Malaysia

At the relevant period, No. 5, 6 and 7 i.e. Tan Kang Sai of MACC, Tan Sri Rashpal Singh and Jessica Gurmeet Kaur had been arrested and released on bail, while No. 8 and 9, i.e. Tong Kooi Ong and Ho Kay Tat were under police investigation under Section 124B, while their publications Edge Weekly and Edge Financial Daily had been suspended for three months. A  warrant of arrest had also  been issued for No. 10, i.e. Clare Rewcastle Brown.

Also on the so-called
“Top wanted list of conspirators”
 were the then DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua who became the first MP in the country to be banned from leaving the country; the Bank Negara Governor Zeti and Bank Negara Deputy Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus; the No. 2 of MACC, Deputy Chief Commissioner Dato’ Sri Mohd Shukri bin Abdul and Sufi Yusof, Press Secretary to Tun Dr. Mahathir.

Did this website  violate the Secret Officials Act  in stating that there would be a police crackdown under Section 124B against the persons named  in the List?

Did the Police and the Malaysian Communications and  Multimedia Commission (MCMC) take any action against this website and those responsible behind it, and if not, why not?

This is a good example of
 “To use democracy to destroy democracy”.

Until the “Week of Long Knives”, nobody had heard of Section 124B.  But in the anti-democratic campaign in the period during and after the “Week of Long Knives”, Section 124B of the Penal Code on offences
“detrimental to parliamentary democracy”
 became  new monstrous weapon to undermine democracy itself and usher in  a new Dark Age.

It reached a stage where anyone who wants to have a change of Prime Minister or government is liable to be investigated, arrested and charged under Section 124B for
“activities detrimental to Parliamentary Democracy”
 which was a total betrayal of the precepts and principles of parliamentary democracy  as well as declared  Parliamentary and Ministerial intention in enacting Section 124B of the Penal Code.

The reign of terror against honest, independent, impartial and professional public officers was so oppressive that it  prompted a most unprecedented special prayers (solat hajat) by  Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)  staff at its Putrajaya headquarters at the time,  which signalled that MACC was facing an unprecedented crisis where only divine and not human intervention could allow MACC to continue with its anti-corruption duties.

Datuk Seri Zakaria Jaffar, the retiring MACC deputy chief commissioner who led the prayers,, said there was nothing that can be done about the past, but they could pray that Allah would help them to create a better future for the country.

As Zakaria said at the prayer session: “Keep us away from wrongdoing, give strength to these graft-busters so they could save themselves, and their families, organisations, communities, and especially our beloved country from being violated by actions of those who practise graft.”

There should be a full investigation into Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the “Week of Long Knives in July/August 2015” to learn the lessons from this Dark Age in the six decades of democracy in Malaysia to ensure that these events would not be repeated in the future.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Thursday, June 6, 2019)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 6 June 2019, 12:09 pm and is filed under
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