Wee: Don’t think, just act – but also answer the three questions which I asked him  last Saturday and why MCA Ministers and MPs voted in support of the constituency  redelineation proposals which are  a betrayal of Najib’s 1Malaysia and Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia policies?

MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said he is considering legal action against me for saying that he was acting according to a script from Barisan Nasional strategic  communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan on the Penang undersea tunnel  scandal,

Why is Wee so sensitive, when he said he does not mind being called “catspaw” and “ninja assassin”?

Let me tell Wee, don’t think, just act but also answer at the MCA forum in Bagan tonight the three questions which I asked him  last Saturday as well as why the MCA Ministers and MPs voted in support of the constituency redelineation proposals which was  a betrayal of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy and Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s Bangsa Malaysia objective under Vision 2020?

The three questions I asked Wee  at the DAP Elections Preparations Dinner in Lukut last Saturday were quite simple and straightforward, viz:

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

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

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

For the past one week, Wee has maintained an inelegant silence on these three questions.

Just look at the publicity material for the MCA forum in Bagan tonight  and we can see the prominent role of the so-called BN Strategic Communication   Bureau.

I was in Parliament yesterday when the  Director of the BN Strategic Communications  and Minister  in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk  Abdul Rahman Dahlan was in Chambers, and during the speech of the PPBM President and the MP for Pagoh, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhiddin Yassin on the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018, I interjected and referred to Abdul Rahman’s statement that “only an idiot doesn’t know who is Malaysian Official 1” in the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation to forfeit  US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets.

In Abdul Rahman’s presence, I asked whether the Barsian Nasional Ministers and MPs were all “idiots” according to Abdul Rahman’s definition, but all I got were embarrassing stares from the BN Ministers and MPs in the House, including from Abdul Rahman Dahlan.  After that episode, Abdul Rahman quickly left the House!

But there is another question which Wee have to answer in Bagan tonight – why the MCA Ministers and MPs had voted in support of the new constituency  redelineation proposals in Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, as it is a gross  betrayal of Najib’s 1Malaysia and Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia objective under Vision 2020?

In Vision 2020, Mahathir envisioned having only one “Bangsa Malaysia” in 2020 with the people “ethnically and territorially integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership” while Najib’s 1Malaysia envisaged a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.

Both visions and objectives have been smashed into smithereens by the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals, which will ensure that the last general election before the expiry of the 30-year Vision 2020  – the present Parliament is expected to be dissolved in a mater of days – will centre on race as Malaysia today is more racial and polarized than ever.

It is not that MCA Ministers are blind, deaf and mute and cannot see the shape of things as envisaged by the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals.

In fact, MCA  opposed the Election Commission’s redelineation proposals but when the matter was put to a vote  in Parliament on Wednesday, MCA Ministers and MPs  voted in full support of the new redelineation proposals.

It is on record that the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said that the redelineation proposals by the Election Commission would give a bad impact as voters are divided based on race.

Of the 26 out of 40 parliamentary seats affected by the Election Commission’s move, Petaling Jaya Utara for example, will see an increase of voters from 80,000 to 150,000 while the present 50 percent of Malay voters in Lumut will increase to 71 percent.

All this will lead to racial polarisation, which is against the Barisan Nasional  government’s policy of projecting Malaysia as a moderate country to promote inter-racial understanding through education and community activities.

The MCA even viewed the redelineation exercise as a  “national crisis” as it will further divide the people by races and promote racial extremism.

The exercise will see the minority losing their political rights while the majority continues to dominate the voting process and determine the direction of the country.

Some Malay-majority areas will have more Malays and Chinese-majority constituencies more Chinese.

Another MCA leader warned that the redelineation proposals which demarcate constituencies according to racial lines do not augur well for the nation, and will lead to unhealthy politics and tear the nation apart in entrenching UMNO’s Malay supremacy policies..

But when it came to voting in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, MCA Ministers and MPs meekly and servilely voted in full support of the Election Commission’s redelineation proposals? Why?

The same applies to the Gerakan Minister and MPs.  May be Wee should invite the Gerakan President Datuk Mah Siew Keong to the MCA forum in Bagan tonight to explain why Gerakan voted in support of the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals although they are a betrayal of Najib’s 1Malaysia and Mahathir’s Bangsa Malaysia objectives?

(Media Statement Gelang Patah on Friday, 30th March 2018)

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Will Najib heed the patriotic voice of reason from his brother Nazir to defer the Anti-Fake News Bill?

Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, heed the patriotic voice of reason of his brother, Nazir Razak, for the Anti-Fake News Bill to be deferred?

All right-thinking Malaysians are one with Nazir in abhorring fake news, especially those based of lies and falsehoods maliciously aimed at inciting hatred or ill-will, but the Anti-Fake News Bill is not the  answer to the problem of combating such fake news.

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

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

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

Will all these people who concoct and peddle these fake news and false information about me be arrested, prosecuted and punished with half-a-million ringgit fine or 10 years’ jail or both when the Anti-Fake News Bill becomes law?  In fact, one UMNO MP repeated such a fake news in Parliament on Wednesday, and accused me for being a communist!

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

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

I have been suspended from Parliament for six months, the second time in the 13th Parliament! Is it because I was concocting or peddling fake news?

Of course not! I am suspended because  I stood up to ask the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, where he had the powers whether under the Federal Constitution or the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders to impose an embargo on the Election Commission’s Report on Constituency Redelineation after it had been tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

The Speaker not only have no powers under the Federal Constitution or the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose an embargo  on a report after it was tabled in the House, he had denied Members of Parliament the opportunity to have public consultation and feedbacks on the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals, which is against all  basic principles of good governance, public accountability and parliamentary democracy.

In the last two days, we saw how a Parliament of a global kleptocracy will degenerate into an echo chamber of an kleptocratic Executive.

On Wednesday, the constituency redelineation report of the Election Commission was rammed through Parliament, without giving MPs any time or opportunity whatsoever to get public feedback or seek public consultation on  the Election Commission’s new constituency redelineation proposals, or to have meaningful debate – just to maintain Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

On Thursday, Parliament started the debate on  the Anti-Fake News Bill which is nothing but a Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill, which will criminalise all news about the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia which is available worldwide and punishable as fake news with excessive penalties of RM500,000 fine, six years’ jail or both.

I agree with Nazir’s call for the deferment of Anti-Fake News Bill, as the 13th Parliament should not further tarnish and stain Malaysia’s reputation by enacting a law which will be a new weapon to cover-up corruption, to entrench Malaysia’s 3Is – ignominy, infamy and iniquity – as a global kleptocracy!

I have been denied the opportunity to debate both on the Election Commission’s Report on Constituency Redelineation Proposals and the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 as I have been arbitrarily suspended for six months from Parliament, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers do not see me when I enter the Chamber, and I am  not allowed to debate and my vote is not counted.

I had wanted to ask the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman in the debate on the Anti-Fake News Bill whether Prime Minister Najib would be the first to be  charged under the Anti-Fake News Act for the fake news last week that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had cleared him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, when the PAC Report had not done so.

Azalina can still answer this question.

(Media Statement 2 in Gelang Patah on Friday, 30th March 289, 2018)

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DAP will field Liow Cai Tung again for the Johor Jaya state assembly seat

DAP will be fielding DAP State Assemblywoman for Johor Jaya, Liow Cai Tung, to defend the Johor Jaya state assembly seat in the 14th General Election.

The Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report is the worst case of gerrymandering in the six-decades of Malaysian electoral history.

The UMNO/BN coalition hope to steal 10 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia and some half a dozen state assembly seats in Johor through the latest constituency gerrymandering, so that they could continue in power in the state and nation.

But if there is a swing of 10% of the Malay voters and 5% of the non-Malay voters from UMNO/BN to Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE as compared to 13GE, then the chances are good that Pakatan Harapan will be able to defeat the undemocratic designs of UMNO/Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan will not only be able to form the Federal Government but also the Johor State Government as well.

On 21st March, I had asked the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to ensure that Parliament does not become a rubber-stamp to approve the  Prime Minister’s Motion and the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Proposals without ample time for MPs to study them and to get public feedback.

Instead, on Thursday on 22nd March, the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report was tabled in Parliament but the Speaker imposed an embargo to prevent MPs from any public consultation or getting public feedback until the parliamentary debate on the motion last Wednesday – which is against all parliamentary practices and procedures not only  in Malaysia but the world as well.

On Friday on 23rd March, I issued a statement asking Pandikar to correct his grave error of misjudgement in imposing such an undemocratic and unparliamentary embargo.

I was suspended from Parliament for six months when I stood up last Wednesday to ask under which provision of the Malaysian Constitution or the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders the Speaker claims to have such a power to impose an embargo on a report which had been tabled in Parliament.

I not only created history in being suspended for six months twice in the same Parliament, as happened to me in October 2015 when I tried to question the government handling of the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal, but I also became a “ghost” in Parliament, who could go in and out of Parliamentary chambers without being seen by the Speaker or Deputy Speaker, but unable to participate in parliamentary debates or to vote.

This is supreme insult to the voters not only in Gelang Patah but in Malaysia.

We must reform Parliament so that we have a world-class Parliament all Malaysians feel proud, and not a  Parliament of a global kleptocracy, where MPs are regarded as “ghosts” by the Speaker of Parliament.

(Speech at the DAP Johor Jaya Election Preparations Dinner held at Johor Jaya on Friday, 30th March 2018 at 9.30 pm)

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DAP would defend the existence of Malay Regiment in the way DAP will defend Chinese and Tamil schools in Malaysia and the country as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-religious and  multi-cultural “Instant Asia’

I regret that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is continuing his politics of fear and fake news to incite the Malays to fear change, particularly in the imminent 14th General Election, warning that if UMNO loses, the Malays will perish and that DAP will rise in dominance directing and manipulating not only Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad,  Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah and Mohamad Sabu.

This is double fake news – firstly that Malays will perish if UMNO loses in the next general election; and secondly, that all the Malay leaders are stooges and puppets of DAP, including Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Anwar Ibrahim, Azizah and Mat Sabu.

Let me ask Najib – was DAP directing and manipulating the UMNO Government during the 22 years when Mahathir was the Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003, during which period was Najib was Pahang Mentri Besar from 1982 to 1986 and served in variouis portfolios as Minister of Youth, Education and Defence under Mahathir?

It is the height of irresponsibility and immorality to make such an accusation,  imputation or implication and I would caution the Prime Minister of Malaysia not to go down this path of fake news and fabricated lies.

To be known as a global kleptocracy is bad enough – the Najib administration should not add other derogatory and humiliating epithets for Malaysia in the interntional arena!

Najib had even tread on “sensitive issues” in trying to incite fear among the Malays, for instance, suggesting that Malaysia’s police and troops may be out of jobs, and the Royal Malay Regiment may be disbanded as the Royal Malay Regiment “is not in line with the Malaysian Malaysia concept”.

He warned that the armed forces and the police may be trimmed in size as “the other side believes the civil service is too bloated”.

I advise Najib to set an example of a clean, just and fair elections and to stop resorting to the politics of fears, lies and fake news.

DAP would defend the existence of Malay Regiment in the way DAP will defend Chinese and Tamil schools in Malaysia and the country as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-religious and  multi-cultural “Instant Asia”.

Never before in Malaysian history has there been greater restiveness among the civil service, including the police and army.

DAP will prove the  UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa  cybertroopsers one hundred per cent wrong in their baseless allegations that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam, or that Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah and Mat Sabu are only my stooges and puppets.

DAP and Pakatan Harapan will compete with UMNO/BN and prove in  one term as Federal Government and Johore State Government that we  can better look after the welfare of all Malaysians, regardless of whether Malays,  Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli than UMNO/BN coalition for we went to continue to enjoy voter support so that we can get re-elected as the Federal Government and Johore State Government in the 15th,  16th and subsequent general elections.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah in Ayer Hitam on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 12 noon)

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Malaysians must elect a Parliament in 14GE where the views and concerns of ordinary Malaysians must be heard and not where their views and even their MPs are regarded as non-existent and “transparent” like me in Parliament

I have the honour to announce that the DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Johore State Assembly seat of Tangkak will be our incumbent DAP Tangkak State Assemblyman, Ee Chin Li.

The 14th General Election is a matter of days away, and everybody is expecting Parliament to be dissolved next week, either before  or after the last parliamentary sitting on Thursday on April 5.

Malaysians must elect a Parliament in the 14GE where the views and concerns of ordinary Malaysians must be heard and not where their views and even their MPs are regarded as non-existent and “transparent” like me in the Dewan Rakyat since Wednesday.The same thing applies to the State Assemblies.

Even more important, Malaysians have within their hands the power, for the first time in the 61-year history of the nation, to elect a new Federal Government and Johore State Government which is not UMNO/BN, but comprising the Pakatan Harapan coalition of DAP, PKR, AMANAH and PPBM.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is not afraid of the DAP, for he knows that the DAP is only contesting some 50-over parliamentary seats and is incapable of forming the Federal Government in Putrajaya on its own, as there are 222 parliamentary seats.

But he is afraid of the Pakatan Harapan, for the coalition of four political parties  is capable of winning a simple majority of the seats in Parliament to form the new Federal Government in Putrajaya – and this is why he concocting the “Chinese Peril”  to create fear among the Malay voters, who comprise the majority of the electorate, that if UMNO loses, the Malays will perish as the Chinese in the DAP will rule country and dispossess the Malays.

Any rational person will not believe in such nonsense, as it is just an impossibility, but Najib hopes he can create fears among the Malay electorate, especially in the rural areas, by producing a hot-house atmosphere through  strict control of the media – printed, electronic and now social – that Malays in  Malaysia are confronted by a fictitious Chinese Peril, just  like MCA Deputy President, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, who has gone to town on his fictitious RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel scandal.

Can Najib explain where and when this “Chinese peril” surfaced in Malaysia?

Najib has also taken two further steps to ensure he could steal and win the 14th General Election –  firstly, the redelineation of the electoral constituencies, where with the worst constituency gerrymandering in the nation’s history, he hope to steal about 10 parliamentry seats and six Johore state assembly seats  in the 14th General Election to ensure that UMNO/BN continues the form the Federal and Johore State government.

Secondly, by the passage of the Anti-Fake News Act before the 14th General Election,  whose main objective is not to fight fake news which were based on lies to create hatred and ill-will, but a proxy to censor all news reports about corruption in Malaysia, in particular the international 1MDB scandal.

I have just read a long and well-researched report in a Swiss publication published a few days ago focused on corruption and kleptocracy in Malaysia, which brought shame and humiliation to Malaysia.

Only a change of government in the 14th General Election can end Malaysia’s long night of international shame as a result of the 1MDB scandal, which the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions had described as the world’s worst kleptocracy.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah in Tangkak on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 3 pm)

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Sheikh Omar Ali as DAP/PH candidate for the Johore State Assembly seat of Paloh

I have the honour to announce in the presence of Johor DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders that the  Johor DAP Assistant Publicity Secretary Sheikh Omar Ali is the DAP/Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Johore State Assembly seat of Paloh in the forthcoming 14th General Election which is expected within days.

The opening of the DAP/PH election centre in Paloh today is most symbolic and meaningful, for DAP Paloh has restored a burnt shophouse which had been abandoned for over two decades into a hive of activity for political change not only for Paloh but also for the Johor State and the Malaysian nation.

Just as a  shophouse burnt down and abandoned for two decades could be transformed into a centre for political change for the town, state and country, the 14th General Election is the most crucial and critical general election in 61-year history of the nation to save Malaysia from hurtling along the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state to fulfill the Malaysian Dream of our forefathers for the nation to be a world top-class nation respected and envied by the rest of the world as an international showcase as to how  a small and diverse nation of many races, languages, religions and cultures could unite, progress, prosper and achieve excellence in every field of human endeavor!

But today, Malaysia has fallen down the ladder of nations, forfeiting international respect and esteem, reviled worldwide as a global kleptocracy!

DAP was formed 52 years ago not to fight for any single  race, language, religion or culture,  but for all races, languages, religions  and cultures which have made Malaysia their home.

“Instant Asia” is not a tourist or publicity gimmick to attract tourist dollars, but a Malaysian fact of life.

Let me outline the three principles which have guided me and the DAP in the past five decades:

Firstly, we are in politics because of the Malaysian Dream, which  is shared by many Malaysians down the decades who have undivided love and loyalty to Malaysia – to build a nation where all Malaysians, regardless of their different racial, religious, cultural or regional backgrounds, are united and feel as one because they are Malaysians and proud to be a Malaysian, and where Malaysia can leverage on the best of the diverse races, cultures, religions and civilizations which meet in confluence in Malaysia, to be a top world nation in different fields of human endeavour.

Secondly, DAP has always been a party for all Malaysians and never a party for any one race, one language, one religion or one culture. The objectives of  DAP Party Constitution is very clear – it forbids any DAP leader or member to fight for only one racial, linguistic, religious or cultural group but to serve all Malaysians, regardless of race, language, religion or culture.

No person can be a Malaysian leader if he or she is against any one race, language,  religion or culture  or concerned only about the rights and interests of only one community – as Malaysian leaders, we must set an example of rising above the racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and regional differences in the country to serve the common national weal.

Thirdly, Malaysian who had supported DAP loyally and consistently in the past half a century did so not because they want a Chinese Malaysian or an Indian Malaysia, as they know that DAP never advocated a Chinese Malaysia, Indian Malaysia or Malay Malaysia, but because of the Malaysian Dream to build a Malaysia where all citizens, regardless of race, language, religion, culture  or region, have a rightful place under the Malaysian sun.

The UMNO/Barisan Nasional stole the 13th General Election when with only 47% of the popular votes cast, it controlled 60% of the parliamentary seats which allowed Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be the first minority Prime Minister of  the country.

Now, the UMNO/BN coalition is set to steal the 14th General Election with further gerrymandering in the new constituency redelineation rammed through Parliament on Wednesday, which received the royal assent yesterday and has become law!

Now, the UMNO/BN coalition hopes to steal the 14th General Election with some 40% of the popular votes.

With ithe Election Commission’s help, there is the worst gerrymandering in the nation’s history, with the present Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary constituency turned into Damansara and increased from its present 85,000 voters to almost 150,000 voters, which will have four times more voters than Sabak Bernam and about 10 times that of Putrajaya.

Through such worst gerrymandering in Malaysian history, the UMNO/BN coalition hope to steal  10 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia and some half a dozen state assembly seats in Johor, so that they could continue in power in the state and nation.

But if there is a swing of 10% of the Malay voters and 5% of the non-Malay voters from UMNO/BN to Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE as compared to 13GE, then the chances are good that Pakatan Harapan will be able to defeat the undemocratic designs of UMNO/Barisan Nasional and will not only be able to form the Federal Government but also the Johor State Government as well.

Let us ensure that just as DAP in Paloh can restore a burnt, disused and abandoned shophouse to be a hive of activity for political change in the country, DAP and Pakatan Harapan can succeed to Save Malaysia and bring about the first peaceful and democratic change of government in Johore and Malaysia.

(Speech at the opening of the DAP Paloh General Election Centre in Paloh, Johor on Friday, March 30, 2018 at 5 pm)

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Wee Ka Siong is plucking up courage to visit Bagan more often  – let’s hope Wee plucks up sufficient courage to contest against Guan Eng in Bagan

I saw today in the press a  photograph of the MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong in Bagan in Penang last night sitting beside  two empty chairs, one carrying the photograph of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the other myself.

If I am equally petty-minded, I can put an empty chair at today’s kopitiam dialogue and ask why Wee Ka Siong is not here to hear what we have to say.

But this is being very  mean and petty-minded, the work of “petty people” – “hsiao ren” – which we have no time to indulge in.

But from Wee’s MCA programme in Bagan last night, the MCA Deputy President is plucking up courage to go to Bagan, Guan Eng’s parliamentary constituency, which is something the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, would never dare to do.

I would encourage Wee to pluck up  courage to visit Bagan more often, and even to pluck up sufficient courage to contest against Guan Eng in Bagan if Wee is really convinced that his RM20 billion Penang undersea tunnel scandal is not concocted from thin air.

If Wee plucks up sufficient courage to contest in Bagan, we do not know who will be the MCA candidate contesting against the DAP Johore Chairman  Liew Chin Tong, who will leave the Kluang parliamentary seat to contest in the Ayer Hitam parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election.

Be that as it may, the possibility that Wee may pluck up sufficient courage to contest against Guan Eng in Bagan in the 14GE underlines  the important point that the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency  is not a personal contest between Liew Chin Tong vs Wee Ka Siong, but a contest between Liew Chin Tong versus Barisan Nasional as to whether a change of government in Putrajaya and Nusajaya to bring about a new Pakatan Harapan Federal government in Putrajaya and a new Pakatan Harapan Johor Government in Nusajaya is possible and achievable.

There is no doubt that if Pakatan Harapan can win Ayer Hitam in the 14GE, then Pakatan Harapan is well on the way to form the new Federal Government in Putrajaya and the new Johore State Government in Nusajaya.

I note that neither the MCA President nor Wee himself had said that Wee would be contesting in Ayer Hitam, while Liew Chin Tong has done so.  So Wee must accept full responsibility if he chooses to contest against Liew Chin Tong in Ayer Hitam.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah in Ayer Hitam on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 12 noon)

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DAP hopes at least three  new woman MPs from DAP would be elected in the 14GE – Hannah Yeoh, Bee Yin and Shu Qi

I have the honour to announce that the DAP/Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Johor State Assembly seat of Senai will be former NGO activist and DAP Kelapa Sawit Branch Deputy Secretary, Alan Tee Boon Tsong.

An artist active in Johor NGO Yellow Flame,  established during the first Bersih movement, Tee joined the DAP in 2016.

The incumbent Assemblywoman for Senai, Wong Shu Qi, will be standing for a parliamentary seat for the 14th General Elections.

From what has been announced so far, DAP hopes at least three new woman Members of Parliament from DAP would be elected in the new Parliament – Hannah Yeoh, who is presently the Selangor State Assembly Speaker; Yeo Bee Yin, who has left the safe seat of Damansara in Selangor State Assembly to contest in the Bakri parliamentary seat in Johor and Wong Shu Qui.

The parliamentary seats for Hannah Yeo and Shu Qi will be announced in due course, although I do not discount the possibility of the DAP announcing more woman parliamentary candidates.

At present, DAP has four woman MPs – Teo Nie Ching (Kulai), Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan), Teresa Kok (Seputeh) and Alice Lau (Lanang).

UMNO/Barisan Nasioinal leaders are confident that they would win the 14th General Election after Parliament has approved the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report last Wednesday, although it is the most undemocratic and ridiculous  constituency gerrymandering in the nation’s history.

On paper, under the new constituency redelineation, which came into immediate effect in less than 24 hours after the parliamentary motion,  UMNO/BN  would gain additional advantage in some 10 parliamentary seats – which would secure Putrajaya for UMNO/BN.

But the biggest flaw of the gerrymandering and constituency redelineation is that it may be based on false premises – that it is possible to write off the non-Malay votes by concentrating them into fewer super-sized constituencies, while creating more Malay constituencies with smaller  electorates in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 voters.

These calculations would be right and UMNO/BN would gain from the new constituency redelineation and gerrymandering if the voters in the 14th General Elections continued to vote  as in previous general elections where it is possible to break down the constituencies largely into Malay or Chinese constituencies.

But these premises would be proved wrong if in the 14th General Election, voters cease to vote as Malays,  Chinese or Indian voters but unite to support Pakatan Harapan and vote as Malaysian voters.

What will make the 14th General Election historic are two factors: firstly, it presents the country with the chance and even likelihood  of the Pakatan Harapan coalition defeating UMNO/BN, which will see  the first change of Federal government in the nation’s history marking a historic milestone of Malaysia becoming a normal democracy; secondly, voters in Malaysia voting as Malaysians rather than as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans, defeating the premises for the worst gerrymandering by the Election Commission in its latest  constituency redelineation proposals.

UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders have always prided themselves as being more democratic than Singapore.

If so, I call on the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman to withdraw the Anti-Fake News Bill, and follow the example of Singapore Parliament in establishing a Parliamentary Select Committee to study  the need for  Anti-Fake News legislation.

UMNO/BN leaders will not be able to claim that they are more democratic than Singapore when Singapore can have a Parliamentary Select Committee on Fake News but the Malaysian Government is not prepared to be equally committed to democratic principles of public consultation and feedback.

(Speech at the launching of the Kulai Pakatan Harapan General Election Operations Centre on Sunday, 1st April 2018 at 3 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 1 April 2018, 7:31 pm and is filed under
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DAP will not support any disbandment of the Royal Malay Regiment and will ensure that under Pakatan Harapan Federal Government, Royal Malay Regiment will reach greatest heights as a premier defence force of the country and all Malaysians

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently tried to fish for police and army votes when he peddled the fake news that if there is a change of government in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s police and troops may be out of jobs, and the Royal Malay Regiment may be disbanded as the Royal Malay Regiment “is not in line with the Malaysian Malaysia concept”.

He warned that the armed forces and the police may be trimmed in size as “the other side believes the civil service is too bloated”.

I advise Najib to tender a public apology for peddling such fake news to fish for police and army votes.

The president of the veterans group, Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot), Mohamad Arshad Raji had said that it would be “virtually impossible” for any party to disband the Royal Malay Regiment due constitutional safeguards, as well as the unit’s long history.

Arshad Raji said he and other retired Royal Malay Regiment officers were left “puzzled, confused and apprehensive” over remarks made by  the Prime Minister about the oldest unit of the army’s infantry regiments.

Arshad Raji said in a statement  today: “One has to understand the history of the establishment of the Malay Regiment to realise that it is virtually impossible to ‘spell the end’ or to declare the Royal Malay Regiment redundant.

“I say this with very clear conscience, that no government or any succeeding Malaysian government would want to make such a declaration, not only for historical reasons, but more importantly the special attachment the Royal Malay Regiment has with the Malay Rulers…”

The Royal Malay Regiment, established in 1933 by the British Colonial Office, is the oldest and topmost infantry regiment in the army, with its 1st battalion acting as a ceremonial guard for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Arshad said Najib’s remarks were  clearly targeted at opposition parties and would not augur well for overall national unity.

I fully endorse Arshad’s statement, and I want to declare loud and clear that the DAP will not support any disbandment of the Royal Malay Regiment and we  will ensure that under a  Pakatan Harapan Federal Government, the  Royal Malay Regiment will reach its greatest heights as the premier defence force of  the country and all Malaysians.

In fact, we have with us at this kopitiam dialogue in Simpang Renggam a former officer of the Royal Malay Regiment, Col. Hj Mislan Saiman (Rtd), former Battalion Commander of the 17 Royal Malay Regiment and the first Malay officer who led the Malaysian military team for the UN Peace-Keeping Mission (UNTAG) in Namibia 1989-1990, who is as upset as Arshad at Najib’s talk of disbandment of the Royal Malay Regiment.

Mislan tells me that he is confident that  RAMD (Royal Malay Regiment) will remain as  the premier unit of the Malaysian army to defend “King and country”.

Arshad is also unhappy with the speech by the  Armed Forces Chief Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor at the same dinner as Najib, urging members of the Armed Forces and the police to be loyal to the government led by the prime minister.

Arshad regretted that such a “political statement” dragged the two armed services into the realm of politics, thrashing the long-standing tradition that both the armed services are apolitical and have pledged to serve King and country.

May be some clarification is in order from both the Prime Minister and the Armed Forces  Chief.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah in Simpang Renggam on Sunday, 1st April  2018 at 11 am)

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Fully endorse Anwar Ibrahim that two of the earliest decisions of the new Pakatan Harapan Malaysian Government will be making the Election Commission a truly independent body and repealing the Anti-Fake News law if it is passed next week

I have the honour to announce that the DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Rasah parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election will be the DAP Negri Sembilan State Secretary Cha Kee Chin and the candidate for the Negri Sembilan State Assembly seat for Seremban Jaya (formerly Senawang) will the incumbent State Assemblyman P. Gunasekaran.

The 14th General Election is a matter of days away, and everybody is expecting Parliament to be dissolved next week, either before  or after the last parliamentary sitting on Thursday on April 5.

I fully endorse the announcement by  Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whom the Pakatan Harapan has designated as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia,  that two of the earliest decisions of the new Pakatan Harapan Malaysian Government after winning the 14th General Election and  forming the new Malaysian Government with Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as Deputy Prime Minister will be making the Election Commission a truly independent body and repealing the Anti-Fake News law even if it is passed  in Parliament next week.

The Constituency Redelineation Report of the Election Commission, which came into effect in less than 24 hours after it was bulldozed through Parliament on Wednesday (when I  became a parliamentary “ghost” after being suspended for six months from Parliament for asking from where the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, had the powers to embargo the Election Commission Report  for public discussion and feedback after the Report was tabled in Parliament the previous week).

It was a monstrous work of constituency gerrymandering, going against the two fundamental principles of the Malaysian Constitution providing for an independent and non-partisan Election Commission and ensuring  free and fair elections, which will give Malaysia a new international epithet apart from being  a global kleptocracy – a democracy which has become a rogue state!

I said in Parliament that I was ashamed to be a MP in the 13th Parliament as it had done absolutely nothing to clear or cleanse Malaysia of the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – as a global kleptocracy. Now the 13th Parliament as added an additional international epithet for Malaysia in adopting one of the worst constituency gerrymandering reports which makes a total mockery of the cardinal democratic principle of “one man, one vote, one value”.

The whole purpose of the Election Commission’s Report for the  worst constituency gerrymandering is to help the UMNO/BN coalition to “steal” and “win” another ten parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia.

However,  if there is a swing of 15% of the Malay voters and 5% of the non-Malay voters from UMNO/BN to Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE as compared to 13GE, then all the worst  gerrymandering by the Election Commission will be nullified and Pakatan Harapan will be able to win more than a simple majority of the total parliamentary seats to comfortably enter Putrajaya to form the new Malaysian Federal Government.

Another disgraceful and monstrous legislation mentioned by Anwar is the Anti-Fake News Bill before Parliament – which is condemned not only by local journalists but also the international media, with the Washington Post dismissing it as nothing but an excuse for censorship.

As former Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz has said, Najib has become the modern-day “Emperor with New Clothes” who does not know that he is completely naked and  who does not seem realise that in the age of information when information travels at the speed of light,  it is impossible to censor and ban information and  news reports about the 1MDB scandal happening all over the world.

Only a change of government in the 14th General Election can end Malaysia’s long night of international shame as a global kleptocracy and a rogue democracy.

Whether Malaysia can be saved from the double ignominy, infamy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy and a democracy gone rogue  will be decided by the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election!

(Speech at the DAP 14th General Election Preparations Dinner in Senawang on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 8.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 1 April 2018, 8:24 am and is filed under
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Long expose of corruption in Sabah by Swiss magazine last week is further proof of the depth  Malaysia has fallen in international esteem and respect after being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy

This forum stemmed from the failure of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib

Razak, Cabinet Ministers and Barisan Nasional leaders  in the past week to respond to my challenge  to substantiate Najib’s claim – that the Parliamentary  Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB had cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

I am not surprised that the Prime Minister, all Cabinet Ministers and Barisan Nasional leaders have kept their mouth shut, for it is just untrue that the PAC had cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, which Tony Pua, DAP MP for PJ Utara and a member of PAC, will explain in detail to this forum.

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

Tomorrow, the Dewan Rakyat will continue its debate on the Anti-Fake News Biill 2018 and pass it as the first step of the bill  becoming  law.

Will the Minister in the  Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman, who is responsible for the Bill in Parliament, dare to answer the question whether Najib will be the first to be charged under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 for the fake news that he has been cleared by the PAC  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when the Bill becomes law?

Azalina will not dare to answer this question – and her omission will be the best proof that the Anti-Fake News legislation  is not to fight fake news especially those coming from Barisan Nasional quarters, but the latest form of censorship to stop continuing expose of corruption and abuses of power in the country, like the 1MDB scandal.

Last week, a Swiss magazine, Republik, carried a long and detained article – which is available online –  on corruption in Sabah in the past 15 years entitled: “UBS in the jungle”, after examining more than one thousand pages of bank statements and court documents, and carrying out extensive interviews with more than a half-dozen people involved in Europe and Asia.

But the story of the corruption and money-laundering scandal about logging in Sabah in the past 15 years, including reports on  anti-corruption investigations and arrests,  were virtually buried by another larger scandal – the 1MDB – involving greater personalities!

The long expose of corruption in Sabah by the Swiss magazine last week is further proof of the depth  Malaysia has fallen in international esteem and respect after being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy

In the information era where information travels at the speed of light, it is foolhardy to censor reports about the 1MDB scandal, which the Anti-Fake News Bill seeks to do – as it is like Canute trying to stop the tide rising.

(Speech at the DAP forum “Has PAC cleared Najib of wrongdoing over 1MDB?” at Tropical Inn, Johor Baru on Sunday, 1st April 2018 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 2 April 2018, 3:00 pm and is filed under
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Has Arul Kanda Kandasamy being paid superlative remuneration as 1MDB Chief Executive Officer to weave fantastic stories and fake news about the 1MDB scandal?

I read the 1MDB’s Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s interview with Indonesia’s news magazine Tempo on the ties between 1MDB and the tycoon-fugive from justice, Jho Low, with amazement.

Arul now claims that Low was actually PetroSaudi Interntional (PSI)’s broker to negotiate a joint venture deal between PSI and 1MDB in September 2009, which I am hearing for the first time.

If so, why why didn’t the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak or anyone in 1MDB or the Malaysian Government make such a claim in the past eight years, and why has such a claim only surfaced now – in April 2018, after the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury superyacht was impounded by the Indonesian authorites in Bali on the request of FBI in late February?

Has Arul Kanda Kandasamy being paid superlative remuneration as 1MDB Chief Executive Officer to weave fantastic stories and fake news about the 1MDB scandal?

The United States Department of Justice, it its largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, alleged that a  total of US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, including “Malaysian Official One (MO1)”.

Low is accused in the US kleptocratic litigation  of using 1MDB-linked funds to buy Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio a US$3.2 million Picasso painting, and giving about US$9 million in jewellery to Australian model Miranda Kerr.

DiCaprio and Kerr have turned over the items to US authorities and promised to co-operate in the 1MDB probe.

The lawsuits also said US$681 million from 1MDB was transferred to the account of “Malaysian Official 1”, which US and Malaysian sources have previously identified as Najib, and Low’s gifting of a RM144 million pink diamond necklace to “wife of MO1”.

Although Najib has denied any wrongdoing, the Prime Minister has falsely  claimed that he had  been  cleared  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.

Now, Arul is now spinning a new story about the various characters and their “new roles” in the 1MDB scandal.

In his Tempo  interview, Arul Kanda also maintained that Low has no ties with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

How does Arul Kanda know?

Najib has never publicly stated that he had no ties with Jho Low. Is he going to say so now?

Kanda also said he was also not aware of any ties between Low and Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz.

“I don’t know. Jho Low never told me. Najib also never told me,” he said.

I find this incredibly unbelievabe, when Jho Low himself  had admitted in an interview in March 2015 that he were “good friends with Riza”, and that he had known Riza for 16 years (in March 2015) since Low studied at the prestigious school Harrow in the United Kingdom while Riza studied at a nearby school.

Low admitted:  “Through Riza, I met his parents.”

True, Low had denied allegations that he had acted as a business front man for Najib or his wife, and insisted that his dealings with Riza were limited to the the real estate transactions conducted “at arm’s length fair market value”, he had however  admtited publicly that he and Riza were “good friends” and that “through Riza” he had met Najib and Rosmah Mansor.

Isn’t Arul Kanda unaware of the specific allegations in the US DoJ litigation, that the idea of a joint venture between PSI and 1MDB was mooted in late summer of 2009, including a meeting that Low arranged abroad a yacht off the coast of Monaco, which invovled “MO1”; and in particular Paragraph 55 of the US DOJ kleptocratic litigation on the forfeiture of the 1MDB-linked assets which states:

“55. A special meeting of the 1MDB Board was held on September 26, 2009,  which was attended by 1MDB OFFICERS 1 and 2 and members of the Board. LOW also attended this meeting. Just prior to the meeting, LOW spoke by telephone with MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”.

What then is reason for such a revisionism in the sordid tale of the 1MDB scandal?

Is this going to be the official version while other versions, even if true, would fall under the rubic of “fake news” once the Anti-Fake News legislation becomes law, probably tomorrow or day after, which will entail draconian penalties of RM500,000 fine  or six years’ jail or both if spread?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, April 3, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 April 2018, 6:47 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia must rise again in the international community,  respected and admired  by the world as a top world-class nation,  and not tarnished and scorned as a global kleptocracy doubling up as a  truant parliamentary democracy

Today is the ninth anniversary of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Parliament is expected to be dissolved in three days’ time on Friday, April 6, 2018.

All patriotic Malaysians are given an opportunity in the 14th General Election which should be held in a month’s time to ensure that Najib will not be able to mark his 10th anniversary as Prime Minster of Malaysia on this day next year.

Malaysia must rise again in the international community respected and admired  by the world as a top world-class nation  and not tarnished and scorned as a global kleptocracy doubling up as a  truant parliamentary democracy.

It is most ironic that on the 9th anniversary of his premiership, Najib’s political legacy lies in ruins.

What has happened to his 1Malaysia objective to build a Malaysia where every Malaysian regards himself as Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second?

Najib’s 1Malaysia objective has been smashed to smithereens by the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report which for the first time in the nation’s history uses racial polarisation as chief principle to  redelineate parliamentary and state assembly constituencies for the 14th General Election.

Constituencies are turned into super-large non-Malay voter constituencies or mini Malay voter constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia, believing that this is the formula to keep Najib and UMNO/Barisan Nasional in power in Putrajaya and in the various states.

But these premises and calculations would be proved  gravely wrong if voters in the 14th General Election vote more as Malaysians, than as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans, especially in electing new governments at both at the Federal and various State levels committed to Save Malaysia from the triple infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy doubling up as a rogue parliamentary democracy.

Today, the Anti-Fake News Bill will be debated and  passed by the Senate, after it had been steamrolled through the Dewan Rakyat yesterday and I expect it  to be put on the statute books before Parliament is dissolved on Friday.

As Steven Gan of Malaysiakini, a victim of selective prosecution,  has soberly and somberly warned, the aim of the Anti-Fake News law is clear – to sow fear among Malaysians and terrorise them into unquestioned submission, describing it as “the final nail in the coffin of our already floundering democracy”.

It is not a law to  protect the people but to protect the Najib government.

As I predicted  at the DAP forum “Has PAC cleared Najib of wrongdoing over 1MDB?” at Tropical Inn, Johor Baru on Sunday, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, who is piloting the Anti-Fake News Bill through Parliament, would not dare to respond to the query whether

Najib will be the first to be charged under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 for the fake news that he has been cleared by the PAC  of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when the Bill becomes law.

Her omission and evasion of this question will be the best proof that the Anti-Fake News legislation  is not to fight fake news especially those coming from Barisan Nasional quarters, but the latest censorship to stop continuing expose of corruption and abuses of power in the country, like the 1MDB scandal.

At the forum, I referred to a long and detailed article which appeared in  Swiss magazine, Republik, on corruption in Sabah in the past 15 years entitled: “UBS in the jungle”, as the magazine’s journalists had examined  more than one thousand pages of bank statements and court documents, and carried  out extensive interviews with more than a half-dozen people involved in Europe and Asia.

But the story which is available online, of the corruption and money-laundering scandal about logging in Sabah in the past 15 years, including reports on anti-corruption investigations and arrests,  had been   buried by the global corruption and money-laundering scandal – the 1MDB scandal!

The expose of corruption in Sabah by the Swiss magazine last week is further proof of the depths  Malaysia has fallen in international esteem and respect in being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

Undoubtedly, one of the first tasks of a new Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya after the 14GE will be to ensure that there is a truly independent Election Commission fully cognisant of its mandate spelt out in  the Constitution about commanding public confidence and the conduct of free, fair and honest elections.

The other is the  repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act.

Only a change of government in the 14th General Election can end Malaysia’s long night of international shame as a global kleptocracy and a rogue democracy.

Whether Malaysia can be saved from the triple ignominy, infamy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy and a democracy gone rogue  will be decided by the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election, which will also decide whether Najib is able to mark his tenth anniversary as Prime Minister of Malaysia!

(Media Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, April 3, 2018)

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Call on all Malaysians of the Malaysian Diaspora all over the world to prepare to return on GE 14 Polling Day to cast their vote to Save Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and for Malaysians to dare to dream again  the Malaysian Dream of becoming of world top-class nation

A great event is happening on Friday, not in Malaysia, but 4,600 kilometres away in Seoul.

On Friday, the corruption verdict and sentencing of South Korea’s ousted ex-president Park Geun-hye will be televised live,  in a case that could see her jailed for up to 30 years.

The 66-year-old daughter of a former dictator was impeached and arrested in March 2017 over a wide-ranging corruption scandal that exposed shady links between big business and politics, and prompted massive street protests.

The  live broadcast is because of the high public interest – the first time a trial has been televised live in South Korea.

Can such a thing happen in Malaysia?

Not now, although the Korean corruption scandal of the former South Korean President is mere minnow compared to the shark of the  1MDB scandal, which has given Malaysia  the 3Is of infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy!

In fact, Members of Parliament cannot ask questions about the 1MDB scandal, let alone debate it, in the land’s highest deliberative and legislative chamber!

And my second six-month suspension from Parliament in  the 13th  Parliament is not unrelated to the1MDB scandal.

But on Friday, a significant event is expected to happen  in Malaysia which can end Malaysia’s long night of international odium and opprobrium as a result of the epithet of a global kleptocracy as Parliament is likely to be dissolved on that day – setting the stage for the 14th General Election to elect a new Parliament and a new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya.

I want to make two calls tonight.

Firstly, to call on the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara to be the vanguard of political change in Malaysia, to spearhead the national campaign for Malaysia to become a normal democracy where voters can change governments through the ballot box without any threat of violence, chaos or catastrophe as is the case of Asian democracies in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, even  in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The democratic rights of the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara had been devalued in the latest Election Commission’s constituency redelineation exercise, with Tony Pua’s Petaling Jaya Utara constituency inflated and renamed into a mega super-large Damansara parliamnentary constituency crammed with 174,000 anti-UMNO/BN voters as compared to the previous 80,000 voters, while the Election Commission carved out mini parliamentary constituencies averaging 30,000-40,000 Malay voters.

The Election Commission’s constituency redelineation exercise to keep Datuk Seri Najib Razak in power has smashed into smithereens Najib’s One Malaysia objective, to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as a Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.

This is because the principle which guided the Election Commission’s 2018 constituency redelineation is not 1Malaysia but primarily based on the principle of racial polarization, believing that Najib and UMNO/BN have lost the non-Malay votes and can only win the 14th General Elections with support from the  Malay votes.

But such premises and calculations may prove to be fatally wrong and mistaken, for in the 14th General Election, all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, are on the move and want political change to stop Malaysia’s tragic trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and to let Malaysians dare to dream again the Malaysian Dream of a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia which is  a show-case to the world of a successful plural nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures

Najib and the Election Commission want to devalue the democratic rights of the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara.

Let the people of PJ and Damansara prove Najib and Election Commission wrong by giving a premium to the democratic rights of the people of PJ and Demansara – being the proactive vanguard of political change for the better in the 14th General Election by firstly, ensuring the highest voter turn-out and voter support for Pakatan Harpaan in Damansara on Polling Day; and secondly, to go out to from Petaling Jaya and Damansara to all constituencies in the country not only to ensure DAP can win in the marginal seats like Bakri, Ayer Hitam and Labis in Johore, but that all the four parties in Pakatan Harapan can win a simple majority of the 222 parliamentary seats to form the next Federal Government in Malaysia.

Secondly, I call on all Malaysians of the Malaysian Diaspora all over the world to prepare to return on GE 14 Polling Day to cast their vote to Save Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and for Malaysians to  dare to dream again  the Malaysian Dream of becoming of world top-class nation

In this unprecedented national effort to re-generate hope and  re-inspire Malaysians, regardless of race or religion,  to make a herculean national  effort in the 14th GE Polling Day for political change, the DAP leadership is considering the issue of using a common logo for all Pakatan Harapan parties in the 14GE.

It is  heart-breaking and agonizing for DAP leaders, supporters and voters who have loyally and bravely voted for the Rocket symbol for 50 years, if the Rocket symbol does not appear in the ballots in the coming general election, but this is a difficult decision that the DAP leadership has to take in the coming week if we are to set the example of being prepared to make the supreme sacrifice for the sake of ensuring that Pakatan Harapan can present to Malaysians a united commitment to win a simple majority in the forthcoming parliamentary elections to effect political change for the better for all Malaysians.

(Speech at the DAP Petaling Jaya General Elections Fund-Raising Dinner held at MPPJ  Civic Hall CarPark, Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 11 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 4 April 2018, 11:21 am and is filed under
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Is Arul Kanda’s definition of being professional one of  going all over the country and even overseas to tell fake news about the 1MDB scandal?

The 1MDB Chief Executive officer, Arul Kanda Kandasamy’s retort last month that he was a professional and not a politician in response to my challenge to him to stand in the forthcoming general election on the 1MDB ticket instead of organizing roadshows throughout the country on the 1MDB without the 1MDB scandal being answerable to Parliament.

Is Arul Kanda suggesting  that the auditors in the Big Three in the auditing world, namely Ernst & Young, KPM and Deloitte, who had quit or ceased to  1MDB from 2009 to 2016, are all not professional enough by him?

Is Arul Kanda’s definition of being professional one of going all over the country and even overseas to tell fake news about the 1MDB scandal as he did in his recent interview with Indonesian magazine, Tempo?

In his Indonesian interview, Arul Kanda said billionaire-fugitive from justice Jho Low was PetroSaudi International (PSI) broker to negotiate a joint venture between PSI and 1MDB in September 2009, which started the slide of the 1MDB from  a national sovereign fund into a national sovereign poverty fund.

But this is the first time anyone had heard the claim that Jho Low had nothing to do with Najib or 1MDB, and that Jho Low  was acting as the proxy of the Arabs and not on behalf of 1MDB or Najib.

If this was the case, how come Najib and no one in 1MDB or the Malaysian Government made ssuch a claim in the past eight years to keep a  clear distance from the exploits of the Penang billionaire-playboy?

Unfortunately for Arul Kanda, the first Chairman of 1MDB, Tan Sri Bakke Mohd Salleh from 20th August 2009 to 19th October 2009, when he  resigned in protest against the 1MDB Management’s abuses of power and  disregard of the decisions, powers and role of the 1MDB Board of Director, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  a different story about Jho Low’s role when testifying before  PAC hearing on February 11, 2016.

In his testimony, as produced in  the PAC Report on the 1MDB laid on the table of Parliament  on April 2016, , Bakke said that Jho Low attended the 1MDB Board of Directors meeting on 26th September 2009, as an “invitee of 1MDB Management” to provide any clarification with regard to 1MDB’s joint venture with PetroSaudi.

In fact, Bakke’s testimony at the PAC meeting on 11th February 2016 collaborated Paragraph 55 of the United States Department of Justice (DoJ)  kleptocratic litigation filed in July 2016 to forfeit over US$1 billion worth of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland because of 1MDB laundering criminal activities, which states:

 “55. A special meeting of the 1MDB Board was held on September 26, 2009,  which was attended by 1MDB OFFICERS 1 and 2 and members of the Board. LOW also attended this meeting. Just prior to the meeting, LOW spoke by telephone with MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”.

Arul Kanda was appointed 1MDB CEO on 1st January 2015.  What does he know about the 1MDB history and activities going back to September/October 2009?

Malaysians are waiting for information and proof  about his  Tempo  interview claim that the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had no ties with Jho Low and that there were no ties between Low and Najib’s stepson Raja Aziz.

May be  Arul Kanda should explain whether he had ever read the US DOJ’s kleptocratic litigation about Jho Low and Riza Aziz’s exploits in the casinos of Las Vegas, as he seems to be ignorant of the meeting arranged by Low  aboard a yacht off the coast of Monaco, which invovled “MO1” in 2009.

Will  Arul Kanda to speak up to clear the air?

(Media Statement on Wednesday, 4th April 2018)

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Will the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 end the deluge  of fake news, lies and demonization from UMNO/BN propagandists  that I am anti-Malay, received RM1 billion from Mahathir, dominate Pakatan Harapan,  want to be Prime Minister, disband Malay Regiment  and seeks to destroy Malaysia-China relations

Today is last sitting of the 13th Parliament which was elected on 5th May 2013, as Parliament is expected to be dissolved tomorrow to pave the way for the 14th General Election although there is speculation that the dissolution of Parliament will only take place  next Wednesday.

Since last Wednesday, I have attended Parliament daily, but for the last six parliamentary sittings, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker could not see me, and I could not participate in the parliamentary debates nor my votes counted in parliamentary voting.

After being elected to Parliament for 10 terms spanning 45 years from 1969 to 2018 except for the 10th Parliament, I have become a parliamentary “ghost” since last Wednesday, when I was suspended for six months for the second time during the present Parliament for asking the very legitimate question as to where the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, derived powers to impose an  embargo on the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report after it was tabled in the House on 22nd March 2018 – denying MPs the right to consult constituents and the Malaysian people on the Election Commission’s Report and to get public feedbacks before parliamentary debate on the Report.

The Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report is the most pernicious and monstrous exercise in gerrymandering in the nation’s history, completely subversive of the nation-building principles underlined in the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegera, as well as smashing into smithereens the Vision 2020 objective of a Bangsa Malaysia and Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia objective to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as a Malaysian first, and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.

This was why I became a parliamentary ghost after 45 years as a Member of Parliament in Parliament – for standing up for the Malaysian Dream that Malaysia can be a more united, harmonious, progressive and prosperous nation as envisaged by our forefathers, the Malaysian Constitution and the basic nation-building documents like the Rukunegara.

The passage of the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report and the Anti-Fake News Bill are the two ignoble  acts of an expiring political coalition desperately seeking to retain power in Putrajaya in the 14th General Election, although the country is hurtling headlong in the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

I have described the Anti-Fake News Bill as “Save Najib from 1MDB scandal” Bill, not to fight fake news to incite racial ill-will, hatred and enmity, but to proscribe reports about the 1MDB scandal as well as to give immunity and impunity to UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa cybertroopers to concoct and peddle “fake news” against Pakatan Harapan and civil society leaders.

Will the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 end the deluge  of fake news, lies and demonization from UMNO/BN propagandists  that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; cause of May 13 riots in 1969; a communist; multiple agent of foreign powers including CIA, KGB, MI5, Australian Secret Intelligence; received RM1 billion from Mahathir, RM100 million from tycoon Robert Kuok and over RM1 from Israeli sources; given RM40 million to a news portal;  offered PAS President Hadi Awang RM100 million to defy the Sultan of  Selangor; that I dominate and run Pakatan Harapan;  want to be Prime Minister when Pakatan Harapan wins  the 14th General Election;   disband Malay Regiment; destroy Malaysia-China relations, and a litany of incredible fake news, false information and downright lies?

Of course not!  Once the Anti-Fake News Act becomes  law, it will pave the way for an even more ferocious, baseless and immoral deluge of fake news, false information and lies against Pakatan Harapan and civil society leaders.

Such a malicious campaign has long been in the preparation and has even started  before the Anti-Fake News legislation is on the statute books.

Yesterday, the opening salvo for the revival of the canard that I want to be Prime Minister of Malaysia when Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th GE was fired when the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, alleged in the New Straits Times  that if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th GE, I will be  the pact’s main choice for prime minister and not Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

PKR President Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was even dragged into the picture, accusing her of being in the plot with me, as Hamzah claimed that “we just want Dr. Mahathir to be the prime ministerial candidate so that Dr. Mahathir will attack Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak”.

When UMNO/BN Ministers are capable of such pernicious and monstrous  fake news, false information and lies, then the time is long overdue for a change of government to Save Malaysia from hurtling along the trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Thursday, 5th April 2018 at 11.30 am)

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DAP’s decision not to use Rocket logo but a Pakatan Harapan common  logo not an easy but a most painful and heart-wrenching one

I want to announce the DAP/Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Johor State Assembly seat for Perling (new name for Pengkalan Rinting) will be the incumbent DAP State Assemblyman Cheo Yee How.

The DAP decision not to use the Rocket logo, which had appeared in the ballot papers  for eleven general elections from 1969 to 2013, was not an easy one, but a most painful and heart-wrenching decision for all DAP leaders.

For some five decades, the Rocket symbol had been identified with the uphill struggle, with many ups and downs, trials and tribulations, for an united, just, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia.

DAP leaders have not abandoned the DAP principles and struggles with the decision to use a Pakatan Harapan common logo, which will not be the Rocket logo, because the 14th General Election is probably the only opportunity in many decades for a change of Federal government and for Malaysia to take the first step to become a normal democracy where voters can change the government peacefully and democratically through the ballot box, without the threat of violence, chaos or catastrophe.

We want to ensure not only individual candidates and DAP can win in the 14th General Election, we want to ensure that all Pakatan Harapan candidates and all the four component parties in Pakatan Harapan – DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Bersatu – can win over a simple majority of the 222 Parliamentary seats in Malaysia in the 14GE  so as to form the next Federal Government in Malaysia to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

The suggestion that the other three political parties of PKR, AMANAH and Bersatu use a common Pakatan Harapan logo while DAP keeps its Rocket logo in the 14GE is not really an option, for we must be able to convey to Malaysian voters the inspiring message  that the four Pakatan Harapan parties are  united as one political force to Save Malaysia to resolve the economic problems of the people as well as to  undertake the formidable task of reforming national institutions.

The preparedness of  DAP leaders to undergo the pain and heart-wrenching  associated with the decision to use a common Pakatan Harapan logo which is not the Rocket symbol is a game-changer,  sending out a loud and clear message that the time has come for  all Malaysians to rise above race, language, religion and even political parties so that Malaysia can have a second chance to reset nation-building policies and directions by returning to  the fundamental principles laid out in the Malaysian Constitution and key nation-building documents like the Rukunegara and save Malaysia from the fate of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

Does the Najib and the UMNO/BN government believe in Malaysia becoming an open, transparent, accountable and democratic government?

Clearly not, or the several shameful democratic episode which happened in the past ten days would not have taken place, like the worst constituency gerrymandering in the nation’s history through the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report which was bulldozed through Parliament without any benefit of public consultation or feeback; the Anti-Fake News legislation which is nothing but an insidious censorship to impose  a clampdown on reports about the 1MDB scandal and other case of  corruption in Malaysia; and most recently, the 30-day provisional dissolution order which had been issued to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s PBBM by the Registrar of Societies  to bar the new political party from contesting in the 14GE.

As the former Wanita UMNO chief and former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz had asked, why is Najib so afraid of Mahathir that Najib had to resort to all underhand tactics against PPBM?

Beginning from midnight, Parliament stands dissolved – and the 14th General Election is on,  with power returning to the 15 million voters to decide whether there is going to be a change of the political coalition running the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya,  with Tun Mahathir as the Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Deputy Prime Minister, while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will take over the reins of power to become Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister.

(Speech at the Pengkalan Rinting DAP Kopitiam Ceramah in Johor Baru on Friday, April 6, 2018 at 3 pm)

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Dr. Chen’s feeling of pain and agony over the DAP CEC decision to use the Pakatan Harapan common logo which is not the Rocket symbol is the feeling of all DAP leaders, members and supporters

DAP founder Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin’s feeling of pain and agony over the DAP Central Executive Committee’s decision to use the Pakatan Harapan common logo which is not the Rocket symbol is the feeling of all DAP leaders, members and supporters.

I had consulted Dr. Chen on the matter in a telephone conversation with him on Wednesday morning.

As I said at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Pengkalan Rinting in Johor Baru earlier today when announcing the DAP/Pakatan Harapan Johore State Assembly candidate for Perling, the DAP decision not to use the Rocket logo, which had appeared in the ballot papers  for eleven general elections from 1969 to 2013, was not an easy one, but a most painful and heart-wrenching decision for all DAP leaders.

For some five decades, the Rocket symbol had been identified with the uphill struggle, with many ups and downs, trials and tribulations, for an united, just, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia.

I was detained twice under the Internal Security Act as a DAP leader, the first time after my election as MP for Bandar Melaka in 1969 and the second time during Operation Lalang in 1987. I was also tried in court  under the Offcial Secrets Act in 1978 as a DAP leader.

DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng was first detained under the Internal Security Act and subsequently jailed and disqualified as Member of Parliament  as well as disenfranchised for five years barring him from elective office because as a DAP leader he was defending the dignity of an underaged Malay girl.

In the 52 years history of DAP, many  DAP leaders underwent trials and tribulations, including ISA detentions and prosecutions in courts.

DAP leaders have not abandoned the DAP principles and struggles with the decision to use a Pakatan Harapan common logo, which will not be the Rocket logo, because the 14th General Election is probably the only opportunity in many decades for a change of Federal government and for Malaysia to take the first step to become a normal democracy where voters can change the government peacefully and democratically through the ballot box, without the threat of violence, chaos or catastrophe.

We want to ensure not only individual candidates and DAP can win in the 14th General Election, we want to ensure that all Pakatan Harapan candidates and all the four component parties in Pakatan Harapan – DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Bersatu – can win over a simple majority of the 222 Parliamentary seats in Malaysia in the 14GE  so as to form the next Federal Government in Malaysia to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

The suggestion that the other three political parties of PKR, AMANAH and Bersatu use a common Pakatan Harapan logo while DAP keeps its Rocket logo in the 14GE is not really an option, for we must be able to convey to Malaysian voters the inspiring message  that the four Pakatan Harapan parties are  united as one political force to Save Malaysia to resolve the economic problems of the people as well as to  undertake the formidable task of reforming national institutions.

The preparedness of  DAP leaders to undergo the pain and heart-wrenching  associated with the decision to use a common Pakatan Harapan logo which is not the Rocket symbol is a game-changer,  sending out a loud and clear message that the time has come for  all Malaysians to rise above race, language, religion and even political parties so that Malaysia can have a second chance to reset nation-building policies and directions by returning to  the fundamental principles laid out in the Malaysian Constitution and key nation-building documents like the Rukunegara and save Malaysia from the fate of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Friday, 6th April 2018)

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First 100 hundred days of new Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya must start on ambitious  housing-cleaning programme to allow Malaysians not only to dare to dream, but to achieve, the Malaysian Dream

The  first hundred days of the new Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya will be exciting days for the country, for  Malaysians must stop the trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and re-set nation-building directions and policies to allow Malaysians not only to dare to dream, but to achieve, the Malaysian Dream to be a world top-class nation.

The Pakatan Harapan Federal Government, the first government in Malaysia which is not dominated by UMNO to serve UMNO cronies and kleptocrats, will start on an  ambitious house-cleaning programme to optimize and leverage on  Malaysia’s assets –  vast human talents; wealth  of diversity of races, religions, languages  and cultures;  great natural resource – based on the unity and harmony of the citizens of Malaysia.

Pakatan Harapan has announced that in the first 100 days in power in Putrajaya, it will put in place 10 major policy changes, prioritizing the resolution of  the people’s economic woes and the reform public institutions and policies.

High on the agenda of a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya will be the reform of key national institutions to resolve major scandals, whether 1MDB, Felda, Mara or Tabung Haji.

Sixty  years of continuous rule by UMNO-led administrations have resulted in the elimination of all independent institutions, and the collapse of checks and balances that underpin a genuine democratic system of government.

Pillars of good governance like separation of powers, rule of law and the independence of the judiciary have been replaced by an over-centralization of power in the office of the Prime Minister.

The Executive has assumed awesome powers to the detriment of other branches of government.

Perhaps no area of Malaysian public life has suffered greater breakdown than the administration of justice in its broadest sense.

Thus, the Judiciary, the Attorney General’s Chambers,  the police  and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) require radical overhauling and reform.

Hence, law reform is a vital priority for a newly elected Pakatan Harapan government.

The importance of such reform cannot be over-stated.  Leading the battle for legal reform must be a reforming Attorney General who enjoys the full confidence and support of a reforming Prime Minister at the head of a government taking office with a clear mandate from the electorate for real change.

Consequently, the first task for the new government is to appoint an Attorney General, with the widest terms of reference to clean up the legal system of all the debris collected over six decades.  In other words, radical reform.

The chosen candidate for this critical position must have the highest integrity and honesty, and possess a mastery over constitutional law.  He or she must have an established reputation as an outstanding lawyer, with substantial court experience.

The new Attorney General must immediately take every step to return to the people the full measure of their fundamental rights which were promised to them at Merdeka in Part II of the Federal Constitution, but were taken away, step by step, by successive UMNO administrations.

The best method of defending, protecting and preserving the Constitution is by giving practical effect to the full meaning and content of civil liberties guaranteed in the Federal Constitution.

Much of the curtailment to the enjoyment of such rights were by Acts of Parliament and Executive decisions, which a new government elected on a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat, can repeal or revoke.

In other words, even if constitutional amendments cannot be passed because a new government may not have the necessary two-thirds  majority in the Dewan Rakyat, the new government can speedily enhance the liberties of Malaysians by other means under its control.

The new  Attorney General must draft a “Great Repeal Bill” which would be a short, simple Bill listing out numerous Acts of Parliament which have either, totally or in part, to be repealed because they contain provisions which take away or seriously impinge the enjoyment of civil liberties.  These Acts would include :-

i. Peaceful Assemblies Act, 2012;

ii. Communications & Multimedia Act, 1998;

iii. Trade Union Act, 1959;

iv. Immigration Act, 1959;

v. Societies Act, 1966;

vi. Police Act, 1967;

vii. Universities and University Colleges Act, 1971;

viii. Official Secrets Act, 1972;

ix. Sedition Act, 1972;

x. Printing Presses and Publicity Act, 1984; and

xi. Anti-Fake News Act 2018.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Friday, April 6, 2018)

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Only political party  in Malaysia whose conduct is “What I want, I get; what I want, I take” is UMNO, resulting in UMNO hegemony in Barisan Nasional and Malaysia becoming a rogue democracy and global kleptocracy

I am here to announce that the DAP/Pakatan Harapan State Assembly candidate for Stulang, Johore is the incumbent, Andrew Chen Kah Eng.

The Johor Bahru MP, who is FELDA Chairman and former Minister, Tan Sri Shahriri Abdul Samad, in challenging me to contest against him in his parliamentary constituency, said “What DAP wants, DAP gets; what DAP wants, DAP takes”.

Shahrir is sorely mistaken, as in Malaysia, there is only one political party which conducts itself along the line, “What I want, I get; what I want I take” and that party is UMNO of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, resulting in UMNO hegemony in Barisan Nasional and Malaysia becoming a rogue democracy and a global kleptocracy.

In the past few days, we have seen several example of this “What I want, I get; what I want, I take” mentality  in the political arena  – the latest being yesterday’s provisional dissolution order of the Registrar of Societies to Bersatu, which provoked very strong language from former Wanita UMNO leader and former Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz who described  it as “despicable” “unconscionable” and “irresponsible”, and causing her to ask Najib why he is so fearful of the former Prime Minister that he must resort to every possible heavy-handed action in the playbook to prevent Bersatu from contesting in the 14th General Election.

She asked: “What has happened to justice, openness and democracy in this country?”

The provisional dissolution order to Bersatu is only one of five strategies  which the UMNO/BN leaders and strategists have resorted to recently to  enable UMNO/BN to steal the 14th General Election from the people of Malaysia.

The other strategies include the Election Commission’s Constituency Redelineation Report,  the Anti-Fake News legislation and the continued deluge of lies, false information and fake news about Pakatan Harapan  and civil society leaders.

When he was in Johor two days ago, Najib urged UMNO/BN leaders to go all-out to counter the Opposition’s lies – a call for more lies, false information and fake news against the Opposition.

I challenge Najib to a live-telecast public event where Najib can cite ten lies I have told about UMNO/BN in the past three years, while I will also cite  ten lies which Najib had told about the DAP and the Opposition in the past three years.

Is Najib prepared for such a public encounter to prove who had been telling lies, false information and fake news in the past three years?

(Speech in Johor Baru on Friday, 6th April 2018 at 11.30 am)

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Appeal to hardcore DAP members and supporters to have faith in DAP leaders as the decision to use Pakatan Harapan common logo is not to  betray the DAP objectives but to achieve the Malaysian Dream

The decision to use the Pakatan Harapan common logo, and for the first time in 52 years not to use the Rocket symbol, is a very difficult and  heart-wrenching, with some DAP leaders privately shedding tears.

Despite the announcement by the DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng three days ago, many hard-core DAP members and supporters still cannot accept it.

They still feel the pain and agony of not using the Rocket in the forthcoming general election.

I fully understand their pain and agony, for I myself still feel such  pain and agony, as I had used the Rocket symbol in 11 general elections and one by-election in the past five decades.

I appeal to hardcore DAP members and supporters to have faith in DAP leaders, as the decision to use the Pakatan Harapan common logo – the PKR logo – is not to betray the DAP objectives but to achieve the Malaysian Dream.

This decision is one of the game-changers in the 14th General Election, for we want not only individual candidates and DAP to win but all candidates and all the four component parties of Pakatan Harapan – DAP, PKR, AMANAH and PPBM – to win to save Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state; we want every Malaysian to think not just of himself, his race, religion or even political party, but the entire Malaysian nation and  how Malaysia can fulfill her potential as  top world-class nation instead of becoming a global kleptocracy.

There are times when we have to be brave enough make decisions although they are difficult, painful or even dangerous – simply  because it is the right and proper thing to do.

My first such moment was in 1969, after my first election as Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka. Although I had been accused by UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa  cybertroopers of being the  cause of the May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 leading illegal victory street processions, all such allegations were lies, false information  and fake news as  I was never in Kuala Lumpur in the period between the May 10, 1969 general election and the May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur.

On the morning of May 13, 1969, I had flown to Kota Kinabalu to campaign for the independent parliamentary candidates as polling in Sabah and Sarawak was fixed a week after the polling day on May 10 for peninsular Malaysia

It was during the public rally in Kota Kinabalu in support of the independent parliamentary candidate for Kota Kinabalu that evening that I learnt about the May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur.

My public rally speech in Kota Kinabalu that night was on the wasteful and dictatorial ways of the  Sabah Chief Minister, Tun Mustapha Mohamad, who issued me with an eviction order from Sabah the next morning.

But I delayed leaving Sabah for a day and left Kota Kinabalu only on May 15, 1969.

As Subang Airport was closed because of the curfew in the Klang Valley, I disembarked in Singapore and kept contact with party leaders and my family by phone.

They asked me not to return to Malaysia was I was on the Internal Security Act “blacklist” and suggested that I stay abroad for a period until I could return without being arrested.

For me,  this was not an option to be considered, and on18th May, 1969 I booked a flight from Singapore to Subang when the airport was re-opened, determined to return home to be with my constituents who had just elected me as their Member of Parliament as that was my place when my voters were in trouble.

I knew I would be detained under the Internal Security Act but I could have also disappeared – but I never entertained for a moment the proposal that I stay abroad to avoid the ISA detention.

It was the turn of Lim Guan Eng to make the difficult but necessary decision when as MP for Kota Melaka, he was approached to defend the dignity and honour of an underaged Malay girl, which led to his imprisonment in Kajang Prison for a year in 1998, disqualification as Member of Parliament, and loss of his civic rights both to stand for elective office and to vote for five years from the date of his release from Kajang Prisons in 1999.

It was a difficult and heart-wrenching time for me, but I never blamed Guan Eng taking up the case to defend the dignity and honour of the underaged Malay girl resulting in  his imprisonment, disqualified as Member of Parliament and disenfranchised of his civic rights for five years – for this was a cross we must willingly bear  if we hold ourselves out as the people’s representative.

The decision to use a Pakatan Harapan common symbol and not to use the Rocket symbol, which had virtually become part of our identity and consciousness, is equally painful and excruciating but necessary, if we are to set an example to all Malaysians to rise above their individual, race, religious and even political party selves to stand on a united common platform to promote and achieve the Malaysian Dream of generations of Malaysians for Malaysia to be a world top-class nation.

(Speech at the Johor DAP State Committee meeting in Ayer Hitam on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 10 am)

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Call on Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker to apologise to all Malaysians for the 13th Parliament’s failure to do anything to clear or purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy

The 13th Parliament has been dissolved and the country is all set for the 14th General Election.

The country has been long awaiting for this dissolution, from the Sarawak state general elections in 2016, to 2017 and then to 2018; from January this year to February, March and then April; from 11.30 am yesterday for the live telecast of the announcement of dissolution of Parliament by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to 11.40 a.m; 11.50 am and finally after noon!

The picture that is given is  one of great hesitancy and indecisiveness on the part of the sixth Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament for the stakes for Najib is very high.

Most symbolically, in Seoul some 4,600 kilometres away, the former South Korean president Park Geun-hye was yesterday  sentenced to 24 years in prison for abuse of power and corruption.

Can such an event happen in Malaysia, considering that South Korea had not plumbed the depths of corruption as is the case with Malaysia which, in the last few years, had catapulted to become  a global kleptocracy because of the international multi-billion ringgit 1MDB money-laundering scandal, as well as a litany of other corruption scandals of the UMNO/BN kleptocrats.

I had been a Member of Parliamnt for 10 terms from 1969 to 2018, except for the tenth Parliament from 1999 to 2004, spanning 45 years from 1969.  However, I have not felt so ashamed as a MP than in the 13th Parliament which was dissolved at midnight to give way to the 14th General Election.

Its not because I was suspended twice, and for six months, basically because I demanded answers and accountability over the 1MDB scandal but because Malaysia became known as a global kleptocracy during the tenure of the 13th Parliament.

I call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to apologise to all Malaysians for the 13th Parliament’s failure to do anything to clear or purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

The 13th Parliament not only did not do anything to clear or purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a  global kleptocracy, it ignored and subverted the fundamental doctrine of the separation of powers and allowed Parliament to be a rubber stamp of the Executive, not only to suppress questions and debates on the 1MDB scandal, it became a partner in the political crime of enacting the Anti-Fake News legislation to try to save Najib from the full consequences of the 1MDB scandal.

Can the nation expect a fulsome apology from Najib and Pandikar for failure of the 13th Parliament to clear or purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity off being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy?

(Speech at the Johor DAP State Committee meeting in Ayer Hitam on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 10 am)

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