Democracy is dead in M’sia

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Jul 1, 2013

If Umno Baru have nothing to fear and the Election Commission (EC) claims that it is independent, why were they afraid to use indelible ink in previous elections?

Both Umno Baru and the EC want to bury this indelible ink story quickly. Don’t let them. The use of the indelible ink is the single, most important factor that would have ensured the defeat of Umno Baru in the polls. Effective indelible ink will prevent people from voting multiple times.

Both the EC and Umno Baru have lied; if they claim to be fair and to have done nothing wrong, they should have a re-run of the election. Who has the RM7.1 million? Did we buy some of the most expensive food colouring in the world?

Gerrymandering and the other tricks which Umno Baru and the EC employ to cheat are effective up to a point, but with indelible ink, the police, the army, the illegal immigrants, the Umno Baru agents and the pseudo foreigners holding Malaysian ICs will not be able to cast their votes several times and so ensure a win for BN.

Both Umno Baru and the EC have, for successive general elections, prevaricated over the use of indelible ink, or found last-minute excuses not to use it. In GE13 they simply tampered with the product and told bare-faced lies about the ink.

In 2008, the use of indelible ink in GE12 was stopped at the last minute. At a forum on ‘Free and Fair Elections: Reality or Illusion?’ in Kota Baru in January 2012,  the former EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman claimed that the EC was banned from using indelible ink in GE12 because it contravened Article 119 of the federal constitution.

PAS vice-president Husam Musa had challenged this and said that Abdul Rashid had announced on national television then, that the ban was for security concerns. Abdul Rashid had claimed that various people had obtained a similar ink and were using it to trick rural Malaysians into staining their fingers before voting.

Husam said: “This means that Rashid was made to lie to the people,” and added that in 2007, the Fatwa Council had approved the use of the ink.

Former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz confessed that it was he who had prevented the use of the indelible ink prior to the 2008 general election.

He cited constitutional concerns and the worry that Muslims would be unable to perform the proper ablutions for prayers. He denied Husam’s claim that the Fatwa Council had endorsed the use of indelible ink in the 2008 general election.

Chronology of lies

Then, like now, Umno Baru and its puppets cannot come up with one single lie.

On April 30, 2013, a week before the May 5 elections, soldiers were allowed to cast their votes first. One soldier claimed that he was able to wash the ink off his fingers, six hours after he voted.

On May 1, complaints about the indelible ink prompted EC secretary Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria to say that tests had shown that fingers painted with ink from shaken bottles lasted longer than the ink from bottles which had not been shaken.

The following day, May 2, Kamaruddin dismissed reports that the ink was washable. He stressed that traces of the ink could be seen with a magnifying glass and that officers would be supplied with magnifying glass for checking the presence of ink.

Kamaruddin said his staff had found handling the indelible ink nerve-wracking and consequently failed to follow instructions on its proper use and application. He criticised the people who had complained about the washable ink as having ‘ill intentions’ towards the EC.

In an interview with the Straits Times of Singapore on May 12, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof claimed that silver nitrate in the ink was dangerous, and that the Health Ministry had warned about the possible damage to kidneys and risk of cancer.

Meanwhile, a mainstream paper claimed on May 29 that several people had been harassed for lodging police reports on the indelible ink.

On June 6, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam scotched Abdul Aziz’s claim and denied issuing a report about the harmful risks to health from silver nitrate.

On June 17, Abdul Aziz (left) then blamed God for the poor performance of the ink. The ink had been tested prior to GE13 and he said: “On the much-awaited day, the power of Allah is greater when the ink could disappear after being washed several times. Where is the mistake?” [sic]

On June 21, the EC vice-chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said a special internal team would be formed to discover if the ink had suffered from internal sabotage.

He said, “There are many forms of EC staff, and we do not know their intention. Hence, the need for an in-depth investigation to find the truth.

“Could the indelible ink not last long because of its quality or is it the fault of the EC officer who applied it or are there elements of sabotage? We are puzzled as to why the ink does not last long.”

On June 26, Shahidan Kassim (right), the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the ink was actually food colouring. He said, “No chemicals were used in the ink, they were instead replaced with food colouring ingredients which were approved.”

Shahidan declined to reveal the name of the company which had supplied the ink for “security reasons”.

Investigations by Rafizi Ramli, the MP for Pandan, revealed that the EC contract for the supply of the indelible ink had been given to a company owned by a Singaporean.

Rafizi alleged that the company had no experience in this line of work, nor did it have the necessary funds, and had been forced to obtain a loan, from a Kampang Baru businessman, for the RM7 million needed to purchase the ink.

Wan Ahmad told an online portal on June 26, that silver nitrate is not a chemical but a metal. He could not carry out his job at the EC responsibly and now aspires to be a chemist; but seems to have a dearth of knowledge as a chemist.

Meaningless politics

On  June 27, the Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that Malaysia is “not a Third World country” and so does not need indelible ink in its elections. He said that Parliament agreed to its use because “the opposition wanted it”.

Tengku Adnan is wrong. It was the rakyat who wanted the indelible ink as part of its clean and fair election demand. Ku Nan also claimed that chemicals in the ink were not good for the health of the people. He said, “The chemicals were reduced because the government cares for the people.”

We already know from Shahidan that there were no chemicals in the ink. So who is telling the truth?

By June 28, various NGOs were demanding details of the supplier of the ink.

Despite the lies and furore surrounding the indelible ink, Wan Ahmad said that the ink would be used in the Kuala Besut by-election in Terengganu.

Malaysia does not have a free press, an independent EC, judiciary or police force. Our civil service is corrupt and ineffective and we have no idea how our tax money is being spent.

In other words, politics in Malaysia are meaningless, although our leaders pat themselves on the back for having the “best democracy in the world”.

Allegations abound that since former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad won his first election, he has bribed or fudged the results of each election.

Successive BN governments have continued this practice of cheating and instead of the government of the day looking after our interests, Malaysian governance is like a lopsided game, where a handful of individuals fight for their own interests.

Rural and conservative voters are swayed by traditional values and stability. They are not convinced by personal freedom and liberal thoughts.

Democracy is dead in Malaysia. Umno-Baru leaders only use the concept of democracy as a tool to swindle the rakyat. Individuals in BN use democracy to increase their personal profit and enhance the party’s dominance, which is not unlike the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party who enjoyed benefits which were denied to the rest of the country.

Indelible ink, which will last for more than a week, will restore democracy to Malaysia and smite the foes of the rakyat.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 1 July 2013, 11:32 pm and is filed under
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For first time two months, Muhyiddin is talking like DPM for all Malaysians – but for how long will it last?

For the first time in two months after the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013,  Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is talking like the Deputy Prime Minister for all Malaysians, but for how long can this last before he reverts to be DPM for only 47% of Malaysians who voted for the Barisan Nasional in the general elections?

On Saturday night, Muhyiddin urged Barisan Nasional to address the needs of the urban voters and the younger generation as they had conveyed “their message” through the the 13GE, and it was up to BN to win their trust before the next general election.

He asked: “We need to find out why many urban voters did not vote for us.  Is it because we had failed to fulfil their needs?”

Speaking at a Federal Territories BN thanksgiving and appreciation ceremony, Muhyiddin said based on feedback, the issues in urban areas had affected various races and these needed prompt action.

“Their message we conveyed to us through their vote. We need to pay attention to solving these matters.”

Muhyiddin said a similar “message” was conveyed by young voters, who demand a change in BN.

“It is something that we had never thought about.

“They talked about BN’s structure and policies, and they were concerned about inclusiveness.

“It is important for us to be concerned as they are talking about social justice and such matters.

“These are issues that we need to tackle.

“What is more important is our response to gain their confidence.” (New Sunday Times June 30, 2013)

Yesterday, at the launch of the 2013 Kaamatan national open house at the

Sabah National Culture and Arts Department building in Kota Kinabalu, Muhyiddin kept to the inclusive Malaysian theme, stressing that the country and the people will continue to prosper if co-operation between its diverse communities continues.

He said it was important to uphold tolerance and respect each other to ensure the country’s development was on track, as it is only with such a spirit of unity can Malaysia progresses politically, economically, socially and culturally.

This is like a breath of fresh air after some two months after the 13th general election of Chinese-bashing and racialising the 13th General Election results as a “Chinese tsunami” when it is a Malaysian tsunami and in particular, the tsunami of the young generation of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region to go beyond the politics of race in the past 56 years, and to take an unequivocal stand against corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and injustices.

While I welcome these two pronouncements by  Muhyiddin over the weekend, I cannot but wonder how long he will remain committed to the role of being DPM for all Malaysians and not just for 47% of the electorate who voted for BN, reverting to the exclusive position he announced in March 2010 that he is “Malay first, Malaysian second”.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 1 July 2013, 4:03 pm and is filed under
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How Can We Have Faith in the IGP?

By Kee Thuan Chye

July 1, 2013

In street parlance, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) is in deep shit.

Khalid Abu Bakar has been singled out by the judge who gave his verdict on the civil suit brought by A. Kugan’s family against him, the police force and the Government as having not told the truth about how Kugan died while in police custody four years ago.

Khalid was then Selangor police chief. In his first statement to the media at the time, he said Kugan collapsed and died after drinking water. In a subsequent statement, he said Kugan died of water in the lungs.

When an independent post-mortem initiated by human rights lawyer N. Surendran found that Kugan had suffered 45 external injuries and a wide range of internal injuries due to severe beatings, leading to his death from acute renal failure, Khalid did not clarify why its findings contradicted glaringly what he had said to the media.

Senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad, in the civil suit hearing, agreed with the judge that Khalid should have held a press conference to clarify the matter. “Only God knows (why this was not done),” Azizan is reported to have also said.

Indeed. There is a world of difference between dying of injuries sustained from being beaten and dying of water in the lungs.

At the hearing, Khalid testified that there was no cover-up in the investigations into Kugan’s death, and he denied all the allegations against himself, the police force and the Government over what had happened to Kugan.

However, judge V. T. Singham said in his ruling that there is sufficient evidence against Khalid for misfeasance as a public officer. He said with absolute certainty, “No person in any position or rank, when testifying in court, should take this court for granted and attempt to suppress the truth to escape liability.”

He also said, “The lies are not in the core print of the statutes book but in the integrity of the police officer, whatever his rank.”

The import of these words is serious. They call into question the credibility and integrity of the country’s highest-ranking police officer. How much faith can the Malaysian public now have in Khalid Abu Bakar?

What will the government that appointed him to this high position do now? Should it ignore the judge’s comments and continue with business as usual? Let’s use an analogy. If, say, the head of a key department of a company were declared by a court of law to have committed a breach of trust, what should the CEO of the company do?

It already reflects badly on the Government for having selected someone who had some baggage to a position that demands the highest integrity of its occupant. The Kugan case is, after all, no small matter. It is a contentious case that has been hogging media attention for a long time.

Furthermore, in the case of Aminulrasyid Amzah, the 14-year-old schoolboy who was killed after having been shot 21 times by police in 2010, a police report was lodged by the boy’s parents against Khalid alleging a cover-up. Khalid has denied the allegation and also the claim that he had called the boy a criminal, but the subsequent public perception of him has been negative. It doesn’t help any police officer’s reputation to be confronted with cover-up allegations twice.

Besides, last April, the boy’s family took out a lawsuit against the police and the Government, naming Khalid as one of the subsequent defendants. And to cap it all, under his current watch as IGP, two other men – N. Dharmendran and P. Karuna Nithi – have recently died while being held in police custody.

How now can the public have faith not only in the IGP, but also the police and the Government?

More than ever, the Government needs to set up an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), as proposed by the Royal Commission of Inquiry of 2005, to bring about police reform and keep watch on the conduct of police officers. Judge Singham himself categorically says there is an urgent need for this. Most Malaysians would agree.

And yet Home Minister Zahid Hamidi is saying that the IPCMC would overlap with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and contradict the Extra Territorial Offences Act 1976 and Section 127a of the Criminal Procedure Code.

This is mere pussyfooting. The IPCMC would be specifically looking at complaints against the police. If it could encroach on the territory of the MACC, which is tasked with probing corruption, it would be in taking on complaints against corrupt police officers. If this be the case, a provision could surely be made to relieve the MACC of tackling police corruption and channelling this to the IPCMC instead. In fact, this might make the handling of police corruption more efficient.

As for the other existing legal provisions, the Government is surely aware that it is capable of working things out to circumvent this problem.

Zahid’s insistence that the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) that was set up instead of the IPCMC would be enough to do the job is ridiculous when the CEO of the EAIC, Nor Afizah Hanum Mokhtar, has recently disclosed that the Commission has only one investigating officer probing complaints against the police, and its recommendations on action to be taken against errant cops so far may not even have been implemented.

The real question we need to ask is, does the Government care enough to want to bring about police reform? Does it care enough to ensure that citizens will be safe in police hands?

The lip service that the Government pays to this issue is supposed to give the impression that it cares. But the problem is, truth coming from the halls of power these last few years has been in such short supply that we can’t seem to trust whatever the Government says or does.

At this rate, unless the Government proves it is worthy of trust, we the rakyat may be the ones who’ll be heading for deep shit.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the bestselling book No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians, and the latest volume, Ask for No Bullshit, Get Some More!

                This entry was posted on Monday, 1 July 2013, 6:20 pm and is filed under
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Fictitious tale of  DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers being kept alive testimony of power and influence of  vested interests  who want RM350 million allocation whether from UMNO or public funds to pay UMNO/BN cybertroopers for next five years

I am tickled no end by news report today that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Shahidan Kassim would raise in the Cabinet on Friday the proposal for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the allegation that DAP funded the “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers during the 13GE  to demonise UMNO/BN leaders and supporters.

Shahidan revealed this at a media conference at the Parliament lobby after receiving a memorandum from 130 Malay-Muslim NGOs on the fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army”, which had purportedly 300 to 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to demonise and character-assassinate UMNO/BN leaders on the cyberspace, and which is credited as a major cause for the defeat of UMNO/BN in the social media war and their  13GE setbacks.

I do not believe that any UMNO/BN leader of minimum intelligence would believe in the tall tale of the DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget ranging from RM100 million to RM1 billion.

It is now more evident than ever that  the so-called DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” is a concoction  of a well-funded UMNO/BN conspiracy to demonise and destroy the DAP (the DDD Brigade) which is controlled from the inner sanctum of the 13GE Umno/BN “War Room”, and the ability to keep alive the fictitious tale of the DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” is testimony of the power and influence of vested interests who want RM350 million allocation whether from UMNO or public funds to pay for UMNO/BN cybertroopers for the next five years.

I had in fact mentioned this in Parliament last Thursday, but I made a RM100 million-mistake, as I had alluded to a campaign by the Umno cyberwarriors for a RM250 million allocation to fight the imaginary DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” for the next five years – when in fact, the figure being asked for is RM350 million!

If the Cabinet sets up a RCI on the alleged DAP-funded “Red Bean Army”, Malaysia will make history as the first country in the world which establishes a RCI on a fictitious allegation.

I will support a RCI into the lies and falsehoods in the 13GE, in particular the racist lies, falsehoods, provocations and incitements, whether on cyberspace or printed media, which marred the 13th General Election.

Is the Cabinet prepared to establish such a RCI?

If so, then I would suggest that the Cabinet should set up a RCI on the 13th General Election, on why it had not been a “clean, free and fair” elections resulting in the 13GE results being generally regarded as undemocratic and unrepresentative of the will of the electorate – which would  include an inquiry into the lies, falsehoods, racists provocations and incitements perpetrated during the campaign period, whether on social media or printed media.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 4:11 pm and is filed under
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Getting us at get lost

 – Jahabar Sadiq

The Malaysian Insider

July 02, 2013

The classic cliche from Umno is this – if you don’t agree with us or criticise us, just get lost. Leave the country, now.

And they wonder why they lost the popular vote in Election 2013.

Barisan Nasional’s Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin repeated the line today when telling off AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani for criticising Umno newspaper Utusan Malaysia over its racially-slanted articles after the May 5 general elections.

Calling Azran “Melayu Biadap” while debating the royal address in Parliament this morning, Bung Mokhtar said Azran should move if he was not happy in Malaysia.

The same line was said by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in May when saying those unhappy with the GE13 results can also leave the country.

Is that really a solution when the Najib administration specifically set up the Talent Corporation to bring back Malaysians who can push the country to a high-income nation by 2020?

In 2011, then Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan Pillay told parliament that more than 300,000 Malaysians left the country between March 2008 and August 2009, compared to nearly 140,000 in 2007/. Many work in key sectors such as finance, technology and engineering.

Do we want a talent like Azran to leave the country too?

And according to World Bank statistics, some 1.48 million Malaysians or 5.3 per cent of the population were emigrants in 2010.

Most left because of economic prospects. Do we want them to leave because they can’t criticise the government or an Umno newspaper?

Do we want to build a country of yes-men? Isn’t that then a wonder why Barisan Nasional keeps losing more seats than ever? Because the leaders listen to yes-men who have no courage to call a spade a spade.

We need constructive criticism and we need to tell off people who are racists. And we need to take criticisms for the good of the country.

Also, loyalty to the country should not be misconstrued as the need to be loyal to to the government. That we can leave to the likes of Bung Moktar and his colleagues.

What the country needs now is not for loud mouth lawmakers to tell Malaysians to get lost for pointing out faults. What it needs is a government that can run a country well to ensure it gets the people’s support.

Otherwise, the people will tell the government to get lost at the next possible opportunity.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 7:08 pm and is filed under
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Respecting our children’s freedom

Amar Singh

The Malaysian Insider

July 02, 2013

I want to thank every media or editor that has spoken up against the proposal by our government to introduce a law allowing one parent to change their children’s religion. It shows the courage of that media/editor and expresses the opinion of the majority of Malaysians. This attempt by the government to introduce such a law is a violation of the basic human rights of any individual and shows how little they respect the fundamental freedoms of our children.

The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has been available since 1989 and signed by our Malaysian Prime Minister in December 1994. The UNCRC outlines the basic rights that should be accorded to any child. The fact that Malaysia is signatory underlines that the government of Malaysia is committed to uphold these fundamental rights. When countries ratify the Convention, they agree to review their laws relating to children.

Article 3 of the UNCRC clearly states that the best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect children. And that all adults, including the governing body of the country, should do what is best for children. This clearly includes policies and laws.

Article 14 speaks about the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. To quote “Children have the right to think and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Parents should help guide their children in these matters. The Convention respects the rights and duties of parents in providing religious and moral guidance to their children. Religious groups around the world have expressed support for the Convention, which indicates that it in no way prevents parents from bringing their children up within a religious tradition. At the same time, the Convention recognises that as children mature and are able to form their own views, some may question certain religious practices or cultural traditions. The Convention supports children’s right to examine their beliefs, but it also states that their right to express their beliefs implies respect for the rights and freedoms of others.”

This article acknowledges that it is our inherent right to choose what we want to believe in and this is in line with all religions of the world. No religion practises compulsion, only its misguided followers do so.

Every human being, child or adult must be given the freedom to choose what they want to believe in. To remove this is a breach of our fundamental freedoms. That we have laws prohibiting adults to choose their faith is unbelievable. To impose this on children without their choice is unthinkable.

No child, parent or professional of any religious persuasion I have spoken to in the past few days have disagreed with this. It is unthinkable that anyone can choose my job, marriage partner or even my next meal without my permission. But here we are, allowing one parent to make a decision on our most important choice in life. The truth is that neither parent should choose, the individual should do so when they are mature enough and also be allowed to change their choice later in life.

Article 4 of the UNCRC speaks of the responsibility of the government to take ALL available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. Governments are obligated to help families protect children’s rights and create an environment where they can grow and reach their potential.

If the government introduces this law, it will violate the heart of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will announce to the whole world that Malaysians are willing to trample on the basic rights of every child in the country. It will clearly show we do not respect our children as thinking individuals and are prepared to treat them as objects. This law is NOT in the best interests of children, which must be our primary concern.

Article 12 & 13 of the UNCRC speak about respecting the views of children when making decisions that affect them and as well as ensuring they have freedom of expression. I ask all Malaysians who respect children to uphold their fundamental freedoms. In our society where those in authority seldom listen to or consult children, let us collectively be their voice to oppose this injustice. I appeal to all Malaysians elected to public office to defeat this unjust legislation and place the interests and rights of our children at its rightful place.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 10:47 pm and is filed under
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Comments to a journalist

Rom Nain

Malaysiakini

Jun 27, 2013

I recently received a call – and, soon after, an email – from a persistent Malaysian newspaper journalist out to get responses to PM Najib Abdul Razak’s latest attempt at coming across as a rights-motivated liberal.

His announcement, that is, that there would be no (further) censorship of the Internet by his regime, but that we need to be more “responsible” instead in using the new media.

I informed her that I no longer gave interviews to her newspaper because the last time I did, my views were deliberately distorted. And that the pathetic reporter at that time didn’t have the decency to apologise afterwards.

She countered by saying that she’d do an email interview, so that my words would be ‘written’ and hence could not be distorted.

I know, of course, that it is never as simple as that and that devious reporters, subs and editors could easily paraphrase quotations to give quite different meanings. And, of course, they’ve done so.

But since she was polite and persistent, and only posed one general question, namely: “What steps would you suggest to encourage people to be more responsible when posting their comments on social media?”, I thought, let’s give it a go, and crafted out the following response.

In the first place, I wrote, it’s really a bit rich for Ah Jib Gor (I guess he doesn’t use that moniker any more, after blaming the Chinese Malaysian community for the BN’s dismal performance in GE13) to talk about ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘responsibility’.

After all, throughout the period of his regime, he and his henchmen (and women) have been attacking such freedoms and have been totally irresponsible themselves.

You don’t have to look far, of course, for evidence – the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia, which continues to publish lies, has never really been condemned by its owners.

Also, the performance of all four of the Umno-controlled free-to-air commercial TV stations and its newspapers, including the NST (and also The Star which I know is not in the Media Prima stable but, by and large, is still a BN poodle) before, during the elections and even now, is not something any proponent of responsible and free media/speech would applaud.

Condemn, yes, applaud, never.

And, we must also remember, I continued, this is the same character, this PM of yours, who chose a racist and a bigot to run for parliament in Shah Alam, and conveniently allowed another to try to sneak in via Pasir Emas in Kelantan.

Now, it is this context, of course, that is important for us to keep in mind when looking at this statement about freedom and responsibility from Jibby. I could, of course, go on and discuss  the assaults by his agencies (the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and the Registrar of Societies (ROS), for example) on Suaram and the unfair attacks by the mainstream media on other NGOs and web news portals, like Malaysiakini, but I think you get my drift.

Look at three things

In other words, before Jibby or any of his lackeys and media apparatchiks start talking about ‘responsible’ social media, they ought to look at three things at least.

First, the (ongoing) ‘irresponsibility’ of the Malaysian mainstream media that has led to this situation in the first place.

Second, the irresponsibility of pro-Umno cybertroopers and bloggers (remember Papagomo?) who have never really been admonished, let alone genuinely penalised, by their paymasters.

Third, what do they really mean by ‘irresponsible’? Would spreading lies and more lies about the opposition be seen as responsible, while criticising the regime would be regarded as irresponsible?

Looking at the way the authorities have clamped down in ‘chosen’ areas and not in others seems to suggest so. It is the double standards, the hypocrisy, that is so galling, so effing annoying and insulting to the intelligence of many Malaysians.

And then these same jokers talk about ‘responsibility’ and ‘freedom’?

At any rate, to end on a more conciliatory (!) note, I suggested that it’s nice to know that this PM for some Malaysians has got proposals for us all.

Now, as for suggestions ‘to encourage people to be more responsible when posting their comments on social media’, I would say that the best and most effective way to encourage this would be for the regime (led by Jibby who’s the one talking about being ‘responsible’) to loosen its grip on the mainstream media, and allow it to try to regain some of its much-destroyed credibility.

And, in so doing, allow the Malaysian population, after almost four decades of seeing the mainstream media being levelled down to becoming nothing more than BN propaganda apparatuses, to experience a vibrant, critical and, indeed, creative and responsible, media environment.

The regime must understand the reasons for the anger, the irresponsibility. It’s a consequence of so many years of increasing control. And even more control at this juncture will simply not work.

I then concluded my comments with the following dare: “Okay, let’s see your paper publish that without distorting anything. Actually, my request is, if your paper is planning to distort this, please don’t use it at all. It’s happened before and I’m just giving you, as a relatively junior journalist, the benefit of some doubt.”

Needless to say, her paper didn’t publish my comments.

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

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 July 2013, 7:37 am and is filed under
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If I were the police chief…

Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

Malaysiakini

Jul 2, 2013

COMMENT
Perhaps now that a minister’s house and the house of several ministers’ relatives have been broken into, the leaders should now know how ineffective our police force has become in relation to crime and public welfare.

I would not like to mince words but speak directly on what the police should do … if they are interested in public welfare at all. Even if they are not, they, police personnel are also subject to these crimes when they live outside quarters – such as those where I myself grew up.

So, if I were the chief of police, these are the things I would do.

Firstly, I would recognise that the first line of defence against crime is not to increase the number of police personnel, CCTVs or gated communities, or to deport all migrant workers.

The most tried of defences is the knowledge of crime patterns. If the people know how many crimes were committed and these are analysed, then it is extremely easy to protect against such incidents. I will elaborate in due course.

Secondly, I would tell my personnel to get ‘down and dirty’ with the communities they serve. They should not just drive or ride around and then stop for roti canai or nasi lemak, but should interact more with the communities they are supposed to serve. How? Well …patience dear readers and read on.

For the first principle or strategy, that of getting knowledge about patterns of crime to the public, these are what I would suggest if I were the police chief.

I would engage some bright and crusading academic who is interested in conducting research on patterns of criminal offences in housing. This should be done for the sake of society’s welfare and not to fulfill the public university’s insatiable hunger for Scopus journal papers.

I would request that the Finance Ministry approves an adequate grant to let this academic and his team of students swim through all the data on crime and housing, and come up with books, media articles and even television documentaries on how to protect people against break-ins, burglaries, snatch-and-slash thefts in front of house gates, car thefts, kidnap and rape.

This academic will probably tell you that it is very simple to design a terrace house with proper window details, roof construction and door fixtures. Surveillance cameras will not be needed once it is ascertained how criminals break in by fiddling with construction weak spots.

The academic will also probably tell you it is easy to plan the distribution of houses and public spaces, as well as community buildings, that would deter crimes through visual and social surveillance once it is verified that criminals choose particular houses because they are in the ‘blind spots’ of the visual surveillance concept.

Where are the books that explain to planners and architects how to design and plan housing estates? Where are the books to inform houseowners about construction technique to be used in installing security grilles and other features? Where are the media articles or television programmes that would enlighten us? Tak ada! Zip!

Why are the police so reluctant to open up their data bank on reports of crimes and statistical information on crime and housing? Is it because they are afraid to show that there is so much crime that people would think that Malaysia is an unsafe country?

Well, I have news for the police force – the people already know that we are living in an unsafe country with a police force of questionable leadership.

Crimes against women drivers

As chief of police, I would invite other crusading academics to sift through patterns of crime outside of housing areas that would help protect our children, friends, parents and ourselves.

My first focus would be on crimes against women drivers. The modus operandi seems to be to get a women to stop, and then rob or rape her.

I have heard stories of someone bumping the rear end of a woman’s car and pretend to settle the insurance information. I have heard of fake accidents and appealing to the women’s maternal instinct. I have even heard of criminals stopping cars, pretending that they were plainclothes police personnel.

As a father of three daughters, I will tell you how hard it is to tell modern women drivers not to drive alone at night if possible, and not to stop  for strangers asking things. If there were several cases documented in a book or an article, it would make convincing them easier – wouldn’t it?

If I were the police chief, I would not only allow other academics to browse through all the police reports made, but to arrange interviews with criminals serving their terms.

The prisoners will be offered a shorter term if they provide true and important information about how they would survey a victim or a house, make their attacks and arrange a smooth getaway.

The academic will verify all statements by conducting interviews with inmates of various prisons to ensure that the data is sound, and not made up, before recommending a shorter term of punishment.

After all the research and publications are done, I would request these crusading academics to train my police personnel to give talks to the public and hold exhibitions on methods of break- in and other crimes, so that the public and children can take precautions.

Second strategy

For the next strategy, I would require close interaction between the police and the community they serve.

A few police personnel would man every medium-size housing estate (say, a maximum of 1,000 units).

They would be housed in a specially designed structure located strategically in a housing estate, such that they would get the maximum visual surveillance aided with a few well placed CCTV networks.

What’s that? We do not have the manpower? We do not have money? Excuse me. Just pull out all those Special Branch details that go around spying on crusading academics and NGO personalities.

Or upgrade half of the Federal Reserve Unit to police constable since, after so many 505 demonstrations, we have not seen violent incidents. Or appoint Rela personnel as community constables. These constables must make friends with the community to the point that they would know if there were any new tenants renting a house that seem suspicious.

One method that criminals use is to rent an apartment or a house for a few months to help them suss out potential victims and house targets. After carrying out robberies, they move to another housing estate. If we have police constables who know community members, these people who intend harm and crime  could be easily singled out.

So there you have it. My personal programme for the police … if I were the chief of police.

A word to the government: in choosing a police chief, get someone who actually cares about the public and not those who promote him or her to the position. Get one who views the public as not some strangers but could be one of his or her children or close relative.

And while you’re at it, get a chief of police who can think outside the prison box and who is media savvy.

Finally, I wish to say that citizens have come a long way and can take care of ourselves. We just need lots of information and a little help from a police force that cares.

PROF DR MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI is a 23-year veteran academic and teaches architecture at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He specialises in mosque and Islamic architecture particularly that which relates to Malaysia using a hadith-based and socio-cultural approach in order to create the total idea of built environment suited for a whole social structure.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 July 2013, 6:24 am and is filed under
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Nazri’s statement that new bill on unilateral conversion of minors to Islam unfair welcome especially as the 1993 Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territorities) Act provided for both parental consent when bill was debated in Parliament

The statement by Minister for Tourism, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, that the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 on unilateral conversion of minors to Islam is unfair is welcome, especially as the 1993 Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act  provided for both parental consent when the bill was debated in Dewan Rakyat in May 1993.

What was passed by Parliament in May 1993 on Section 95 in  “Part IX – Conversion to Islam”  states (English and Bahasa Malaysia):

“ 95. For the purpose of this Part, a person who is not a Muslim may convert to Islam if he is of sound mind and –

(a)	has attained the age of eighteen years; or

(b)	if he has not attained the age of eighteen years, his parent or guardian consents to his conversion.”

“95. Bagi maksud Bahagian ini, seseorang yang tidak beragama Islam boleh masuk Islam jika ia sempurna akal dan –

(a)	Mencapai umur lapan belas tahun; atau

(b)	Jika ia belum mencapai lapan belas tahun, ibu bapa atau penjaga mengizinkan kemasukannya.”

However, when it  was gazetted, there was a minor but far-reaching variation in its Bahasa Malaysia version for  Section 95(b) permitting unilateral conversion of minors to Islam when Parliament had always intended dual parental consent, as the gazetted Bahasa Malaysia version reads:

“(b) jika dia belum mencapai umur lapan belas tahun, ibu atau bapa atau penjaganya mengizinkan kemasukannya.”

There should be a full inquiry as to how such a minor but far-reaching discrepancy could occur between the passage of the bill by Parliament and the gazetting of the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993.

Be that as it may, the primary considerations for all concerned in considering sensitive legislative proposals like the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 are to ensure they uphold the entrenched constitutional freedoms and human rights as well as to promote national harmony, family integrity and the principles of  justice and fair play.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 July 2013, 3:33 pm and is filed under
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Will Shahidan propose in Cabinet the  establishment of RCI on Utusan Malaysia’s racist, inflammatory and seditious provocations in the past four years if 1,000 or 2,000 Malaysians sign a memorandum for this purpose?

The whole rigmarole about DAP funding a “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget ranging from RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to demonise and character-assassinate has completely gone bersek with Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament quoting lies as gospel truths in Parliament and outside.

Yesterday, at least two Barisan Nasional MPs spoke about the “Red Bean Army” in Parliament, but their credibility is no higher than  that of  the Gerakan MP for Simpang Renggam, Liang Teck Meng who made history by turning himself into an instant parliamentary disgrace yesterday.

Teck Meng purportedly quoted from WiliLeaks to allege that Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim “owns 30 foreign bank accounts” worth RM332 million in four countries, including Israel, when such information is not available on WikiLeaks but only concocted on blogs by UMNO cybertroopers.

Like the “Red Bean Army” canard, this is another example of UMNO/BN cybertroopers finally succeeding in misleading their own leaders!

Is Teck Meng prepared to admit that he had told lies in Parliament yesterday and to surrender himself to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for the proper punishment that should be meted out to an MP who could tell such reckless lies in Parliament?

What is shocking is that there are Ministers who are prepared to believes such lies, like the falsehoods by Teck Meng and the canards about the

DAP funding the “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years, to the extent that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Shahidan Kassim is officially preparing a paper for the Cabinet on Friday in response to a memorandum by 130 Malay-Muslim NGOs for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on the “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers.

Will Shahidan propose in Cabinet the  establishment of RCI on Utusan Malaysia’s racist, inflammatory and seditious provocations in the past four years if 1,000 or 2,000 Malaysians or more sign a memorandum for this purpose?

I can guarantee that the memorandum for a RCI on Utusan Malaysia will be backed up with facts and not lies and falsehoods, like the memorandum on “Red Bean Army”.

If Shahidan can give an assurance that such a memorandum of facts by thousands or even tens of thousands of Malaysians calling for a RCI on Utusan Malaysia will be raised at the Cabinet, I am prepared to start work on such a memorandum.

Those who want RM350 million to fund Umno/BN cybertroopers for the next five years should come out in the open to present their case for such an expenditure, instead of relying on lies and falsehoods about the DAP’s funding of the fictitious “Red Bean Army” to bolster their demand.

Those who concoct the “Red Bean Army” tall tale even go to the extent as to allege that this mythical army operate from various centres throughout the country, specifically naming two places – Komtar in Penang and Hotel Concorde in Kuala Lumpur.

DAP MPs will visit Hotel Concorde tonight to locate where is the  “command centre” of this mythical  “Red Bean Army”.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 July 2013, 5:03 pm and is filed under
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A Bill that Does Not Fit

 By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo News

4th July 2013

The amendment to Clause 107(b) of the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 2013, tabled for passing this month, is going to be one helluva bill. Voting on it will see whether representatives of certain component parties within the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition will break from the party line and vote according to their own conscience.

The MCA, the MIC and Gerakan, avowedly looking after the interests of non-Muslims, have been critical of the bill. It will therefore be a real test of their integrity to vote against it. Abstaining from voting will not be enough. They must walk their talk.

From the layman’s point of view, the bill seems to be simply about granting either parent of a child below the age of 18 the right to convert the child to Islam. The front-page headline of the July 3 edition of theSun sums it up: ‘Mom or dad?’ And if one were to apply simple logic, the answer would be obvious. Since both parents gave life to the child and are responsible for its growth, why should it be that only one is enough to decide?

But the issue is not so simple. It never is when it comes to religion. And more than that, this current bill indicates an about-turn by the Cabinet.

In April 2009, the Cabinet had decided that children should remain in the religion of their parents at the time of the latter’s marriage if one of the parents decided to convert. It even declared that the Government would ban parents from secretly converting children.

The Cabinet also decided that outstanding issues in a marriage should be settled before conversion to prevent children from becoming the victims.

In fact, two months later, the Government then proceeded to table a bill on these matters, but it was delayed by the Conference of Rulers. Nazri Aziz, the then de facto law minister, even expressed disappointment over the delay. But after that, no effort was made to revive the bill.

It’s unfortunate that the 2009 bill didn’t get its day in Parliament. The stand it reflected appears to be an accommodating one that takes into consideration the feelings of non-Muslims. In today’s context, it would cohere with any intention the Government may have of actually bringing about “national reconciliation” instead of just talking about it.

But instead, the Government has now taken an opposite stand. Why?

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin defends it on the grounds that the Cabinet was guided by a Federal Court ruling on a previous case as well as the provisions of the Federal Constitution.

He did not elaborate, but the understanding is, he was referring to the Federal Court ruling of December 2007 in the R. Subashini case in which the court said Subashini’s husband, T. Saravanan, had the right to convert their four-year-old son to Islam without the knowledge of the mother.

It said that according to Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution, the consent of only one parent was sufficient in the conversion of a child. “The argument that both parents are vested with equal right to choose is misplaced,” it added.

This statement is now being disputed by several quarters.

The Bar Council says such conversion of children without the consent of both parents amounts to an “unauthorised alteration” of the Constitution that came about with a new Malay translation of Article 12(4) that saw print in 2002.

Article 12(4) states that “the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his parent or guardian”. Bar Council president Christopher Leong points out that “parent”, although in singular form, refers to both parents as this was in accordance with the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution, which clarifies that “words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular”.

Before 2002, the Malay translation of “parent” in Article 12(4) was “ibubapa” (father and mother) and therefore correct. But the new translation has it as “ibu atau bapa” (mother or father). As such, the Bar Council contends, the confusion caused by the translation cannot be grounds for amending an Act.

MIC Deputy President and Health Minister S. Subramaniam points to the same discrepancy in translation and holds it responsible for the current controversy.

However, he would not commit himself to saying that the MIC would vote against the bill. Instead, he said, “I don’t think it will reach that stage.”

This makes one wonder if the tabling of the bill might not just be a sandiwara to appease Muslim conservatives, and perhaps some Umno members as well in view of the upcoming Umno general assembly which promises to be a high-stakes event for leaders who will be standing for party elections.

Besides, Muhyiddin’s defense of the bill is questionable on both counts. First, the Federal Court ruling was made in 2007, so if, as he says, the Cabinet is now guided by it, why did it come up with a contrary stand in 2009 that was accommodating of both parents? Second, the provisions of the Constitution that he mentions are predicated on a translation discrepancy. Surely, the Government is smart enough to spot that and realise that it cannot be used to support an amendment?

Reading between the lines of the discourse over the bill (Muhyiddin saying the Government will try and find “a fair solution”; Nazri Aziz saying that he still stands by the 2009 Cabinet decision and opining that the Constitution “must be read as inclusive, not exclusive, especially when it comes to religion”; and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom saying, “We will take a look at the bill as best we can and refer to all views.”), I suspect that the Government may not really want to push it through.

If it does, it will be seen to have been insincere in 2009. More significantly, it will further alienate non-Muslim citizens, who might look at this as retaliation by BN for its massive loss of non-Malay support at the recent general election.

It may be that BN, particularly Umno, has decided to give up on winning the favour of those who do not support it and instead concentrate on those who do. If so, we can expect the Government to play the religion and race cards more strongly from now on. In which case this bill could just be the harbinger of more exclusivist actions and policies.

Whatever the motive and whether the bill will be passed, the move to table it already says something about the Government. It neither intends to bring about “national reconciliation” nor change its style of governance. This being so, it will only succeed in making many Malaysians believe in it less.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the bestselling book No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians, and the latest volume, Ask for No Bullshit, Get Some More!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 4 July 2013, 5:14 pm and is filed under
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Another evidence of Utusan Malaysia’s relentless effort to  spearhead Najib’s Media Transformation Programme to transform news into lies, truth into falsehood, fact into fiction and information into misinformation

Another evidence of Utusan Malaysia’s relentless effort to  spearhead Najib’s Media Transformation Programme to transform news into lies, truth into falsehood, facts into fiction and information into misinformation

The Kuala Lumpur High Court award of RM250,000 in damages and RM30,000 in costs against Utusan Malaysia in favour of former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin over the WWW1 car number plate issue is the latest evidence of the UMNO media’s relentless effort to  spearhead Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Media Transformation Programme (MTP) to transform news into lies, truth into falsehoods, facts into fiction and information into misinformation.

In its role to blaze the path towards media transformation programme, Utusan had set a new record for both national and international media, as the media whether inside the country or in the world which is not only the most sued for defamation but for losing the most defamation suits, including:

•	Two libel suits by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who was awarded RM400,000 in accumulated damages for both suits;

•	Judgment of RM50,000 in damages to DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh  in December 2012 for a “mischievous”  Utusan article painting him as anti-Islam; and

•	In  January 2013, the High Court awarded Anwar Ibrahim  RM45,000 in damages after a series of Utusan articles deliberately misrepresented his statement in a BBC interview so as to suggest that the opposition leader was pro-LGBT.

For the past four years, Utusan Malaysia has specialised in spinning fiction as fact, which is why I have said  Utusan Malaysia has long ceased to be a newspaper but is nothing but a “lies-paper” – one important reason why Umno/Barisan Nasional lost the “perception war” in the recent 13th General Election, as it is most naïve on the part of Najib and his 13GE “War Room” strategists  to ever believe that they could win credibility and the perception war by  transforming  news into lies, truth into falsehood, fact into fiction and information into misinformation.

For four years, Utusan Malaysia had been spewing racist, inflammatory, incendiary and seditious lies and falsehoods, like the baseless allegations that DAP wants to create a Christian Malaysia, that the Chinese want to oust the political power of the Malays and to dominate Malaysian politics and the latest canard, a DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers to demonise and character-assassinate Umno/BN leaders.

The baseless allegation of a DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years operating from Concorde Hotel in Kuala Lumpur is the silliest Utusan Malaysia  lies and fiction passing off as truth and  fact,  but what is most astonishing is that there are Ministers and MPs who could be  bitten by the “Red Bean Army” bug as to allow the fictitious issue to  dominate the current debate in Parliament on the royal address and even considered serious enough to be raised in Cabinet!

If  Utusan Malaysia could transform Parliament and Cabinet into “Red Bean Parliament” and “Red Bean Cabinet” to discuss these Utusan fables as if they are true and serious matters of state, the national standing of  the Najib premiership has plunged to a new low.

In such circumstances, it is no surprise that on the fourth year of Najib’s Government Transformation Programme to transform Malaysia’s politics, economics, education and the social scene including the media, Malaysia has hit a historic low in its World Press Freedom Index 2013, being ranked No. 145, the worst since the annual index was begun in 2002.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 4 July 2013, 4:22 pm and is filed under
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No Red Bean Army ‘command centre’ seen in DAP visit

By
Jarni Blakkarly
 | 11:46AM Jul 4, 2013

Malaysiakini

A visit last night to the so-called command centre of the ‘Red Bean Army’ of cybertroopers that Malay daily Utusan Malaysia said are paid at least RM100 million to work for the DAP showed no evidence of such a centre in operation.

The 10pm visit to the centre at a four-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur was organised by DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who wanted to put to rest the allegation against the party.

Lim led a team of party leaders and members of the media to the hotel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and straight away went to the hotel’s restaurant to hold a press conference to rebut the claim made by the Umno-owned daily.

Soon after May 5 general election, BN leaders and Utusan claimed that DAP had spent between RM100 million and RM1 billion to fund a Red Bean Army of cybertroopers to attack the BN and the government in cyberspace, and named Concorde Hotel as one of its bases.

Among the DAP leaders present last night were vice-president and Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, national publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and treasurer and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Loon.

As soon as the press conference ended, the DAP leaders were served bowls of ais kacang, which appeared to be a gesture by the DAP to mock all the reports of cyber attacks the party has been accused of making.

The pronunciation of ais kacang, a very popular dessert in Malaysia, is similar with ‘red bean army’ in Chinese.

While they were enjoying the dessert, they, coincidentally, found out that their ais kacang came without the red bean. As such, Chong jokingly said, “this sends a message that there is no red bean army (in this hotel)”.

Lim and the other DAP leaders have consistently rebutted the allegation, calling it a ploy by “invested interests in Umno” to get funding for their own cybertroopers.

Two days ago, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim said, after receiving a memorandum from 130 Malay Muslim NGOs, that the cabinet would discuss the formation of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate the Red Bean Army claim.

Nevertheless, Lim challenged the police to raid the hotel if they believed in the claim.

“If the police believe this Red Bean Army nonsense, they should raid this hotel. The only reason they haven’t is that they are not stupid enough to believe this tall tale,” he said.

“If the police are smart enough to see through this story, it reflects very poorly on the IQ of the cabinet,” he added.

Are we having a ‘Red Bean Cabinet’?

“Shahidan is being very gullible. He is telling the world that he is the most gullible minister in history.

“We would like to know how many other ministers are as gullible, or if we are having a ‘Red Bean Cabinet’?” he quipped.

Lim also challenged Shahidan to set up a RCI to probe all the “racist” and “inflammatory” statements made by Utusan Malaysia, should this be demanded by the public.

“If I summit a memorandum with more than 10,000 signatures on it, will you promise to hold a RCI into the racist, inflammatory and seditious lies that Utusan has been spitting out over the last four years?

“If Shahidan can give us an assurance he’ll do so, I will start a signature campaign and lodge a memorandum immediately. You want 1,000? 2,000? More than 10,000? I’m sure it should not be a problem,” Lim added.

Meanwhile, Pua called on Prime Minsiter Najib Abdul Razak, who has remained silent on the Red Bean Army issue until today, to step up and put an end to this.

“In the interest of national reconciliation, this matter must stop. Najib has to tell his minions to do so,” Pua added.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 4 July 2013, 1:06 pm and is filed under
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Global corruption watchdog demands MACC act on Taib

by Elizabeth Zachariah

The Malaysian Insider

Jul 05, 2013

An international corruption watchdog has slammed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissioner (MACC) for their delay in wrapping up their probe into the alleged corrupt practices of Sarawak’s Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (pic).

Global Witness noted that the probe began in 2011 and yet no charges had been brought against Taib.

It wanted the MACC to get Taib to declare all his offshore assets, including those held by family members.

Global Witness came to prominence just before the election when it released a video tape showing recordings of conversations between its private investigators and two of Taib’s cousins.

Datuk Paul Low, who was then chairman of Transparency International Malaysia, had urged the Government to immediately commission a panel of independent and reputable external auditors to examine and identify cases of suspected corruption and abuse of public office with regard to state resources and land deals.

GW commended Low whose anti-corruption ambitions include combating graft and improving transparency.

However, they are now holding him to that promise as Low is now Minister in Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the implementation of transparency in the government.

“The investigations began in June 2011 and despite the considerable evidence available, no charge has been brought against the powerful chief minister,” GW stressed.

Calling for swift action to be taken, GW urged the MACC to immediately ask Taib to declare all international assets – including companies held in offshore jurisdictions, of which he and his family are beneficial owners.

“He should also be questioned how companies belonging to his family are now controlling a vast bank of land for oil palm plantations.

“GW would support such an audit as an urgent remedial measure alongside the MACC investigation to prevent abuse of public office in Sarawak.”

MACC set up a 10-men task force and said they were receiving help from the A-G’s Chambers as additional measures.

On Tuesday, Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen presented in Parliament a list of 24 plots of land, acquired in the timber-rich state by the family which is worth about RM1 billion.

Taib had allegedly acquired the land through several companies owned by Taib’s immediate family, from the state for a fraction of its market value.

MACC, which had set up a 10-men task force to investigate Taib, had then approached Chong a day later to ask him for the documents.

Taib, who has been in office for 32 years, has long been in the centre of controversy following allegations of abuse of power.

The powerful chief minister, however, had dismissed the allegations, calling the MACC “naughty”, while maintaining that he would not be cooperating with them for not being upfront with him. – July 7, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 12:18 pm and is filed under
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Guan Eng apologises for no Q and A session

by Susan Loone

Malaysiakini

Jul 5, 2013

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did the honourable and a rare thing for him – apologise for the suspension of the question and answer session at the current legislative assembly sitting.

Lim said the occurrence was a “mistake” and could have been avoided.

He added that the state has decided to appoint executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo to oversee matters in the assembly, to ensure there would be no repeat of such a situation.

“I was shocked and could not accept the excuse of lack of time to suspend the session,” said Lim while wrapping up the debate of thanks to the Governor for his speech on Tuesday.

“The assembly secretary and state secretary have been made to understand and advised that when a new speaker had been appointed a verbal question and answer session cannot proceed.

“This advice was accepted fully by the state government,” he explained.

Lim admitted that as an executive body, they did not look into the rationale of the matter thoroughly and assumed it was the business of the state assembly.

“This is a mistake which should not have happened and I apologise on behalf of the state government,” he said.

Lim said Jagdeep will ensure that democracy will proceed effectively in the state assembly.

“The Dato Keramat assemblyperson will review every recommendation and advice related to the assembly and will consult the state opposition leader Jahara Hamid (right) after obtaining guidance from the speaker,” he added,

Lim absolved speaker Law Choo Kiang from the ordeal, saying he was only appointed on June 28, Friday, the same time when the YBs were sworn in, which was one working day from the opening of the proceedings on July 2, Tuesday.

In an immediate response, Jahara said Lim’s apology and decision to appoint Jagdeep as state assembly overseer was welcomed.

She added that it was a technical matter which had eventually brought grave repercussions.

Jahara also drew the assembly’s attention to the delay in sending replies to written questions by elected representatives in past proceedings, adding that this should be avoided.

“There are also sensitive questions which are not debated or raised, which cannot be accepted, please do not continue to do this,” she added.

Lim and his administration, including Law, have been widely criticised.

According to the House regulations, the YBs should be notified 21 days before the commencement of the state assembly, and during this period it is their responsibility to forward written and oral questions to the speaker.

However, no representatives have forwarded any questions to the House.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 12:08 pm and is filed under
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IGP and Home Minister cannot blow hot and cold but must be consistent whether Malaysia is safe country or not

The Inspector-General of Police and the Home Minister cannot blow hot and cold but must be consistent whether Malaysia is a safe country or not.

The IGP and the Home Minister cannot on the one hand claim that Malaysia is a safe country with crime rate decreasing by 26.8% since the launch of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) in 2009, and ranked the safest and most peaceful country in South-East Asia according to the Global Peace Index, but  suddenly attribute the recent  spike of violent crimes to the abolition of the Emergency Ordinance (EO)  in 2011 which put nearly 2,000 suspected hardened criminals back on the streets.

If the release of the 2,000 suspected hardened criminals under EO in September 2011 was responsible for the spike in crimes, why is this not shown in the crime statistics of the police, which instead claimed that there had been a reduction of overall street crime and index crime by 41.3% and 7.6% respectively in 2012 as compared to 2011?

Or did the leaders of the violent and organised crime syndicates only suddenly become active after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s declaration of “war against crime” a month after the 13th general elections – causing a worsening of crime and the fear of crime when  for the first time Malaysians feel unsafe eating out with the public spate of armed robberies of owners and customers at mamak stalls and restaurants?

Less than a year ago, the then Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin strenuously refuted assumptions that increased crime was due to the  release of the EO inmates.

He said that “despite media reports of ex-convicts being involved in crime, to me the number is not at a worrying level”.

Was Hishammuddin right when he said this last July or was he misleading the Malaysian public?

Last year, the public were assured that the police were keeping tabs on the 1,473 released detainees under the Emergency Ordinance and Restricted Residence Ordinance to help to find them jobs and ensure that they would not return to their bad habits.

What is the outcome of this programme or was it just empty talk which were never carried out by the police in all the states in the country?

If the police want full public co-operation in the battle against crime,it should take the Malaysian public into their confidence and share these information with them.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 4:59 pm and is filed under
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Implausible Nonsense: Malaysia’s Political Theatre

Dr Lim Teck Ghee

CPI

5th July 2013

There are two types of nonsense – plausible and implausible. Plausible nonsense is when someone spins a story to children, which although implausible to adults is plausible to young minds. Though not believable to adults, most children stories have the redeeming value of being educational and entertaining.

Then there is implausible nonsense which does not make any sense at all. Clowns and buffoons engage in implausible nonsense for the purpose of entertaining audiences and bringing comic relief.

In Shakespeare’s plays, his clowns and fools did not only invite laughter but they often had something profound to say. The Shakespeare fool, who is usually a person of low or common birth, provided insights into the main characters belonging to the nobility as well as shedding light on the central themes of the play.

Our substandard political theatre

In Malaysia we have political clowns dominating the national stage but unlike in Shakespeare’s plays, they provide no entertainment or anything of merit or significance to our conflict-ridden society. Instead, they simply push up our stress levels.

The three most recent examples of political clowns are our deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin; the Malacca chief minister, Idris Haron; and the parliamentarian, Bung Moktar Radin.

Why the ‘child conversion’ ambush now?

When given the opportunity to say something sensible about the controversial Administration of Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill tabled in parliament recently, the DPM defended the government action by claiming that “the cabinet has discussed this in detail and … in the current situation, there have been several guidelines that we used. One of them is the court’s decision on a previous case and the second is the Malaysian constitution. So that is the jurisdiction of power we have today.”

Unlike his colleague, Nazri Aziz who has been consistently principled on the issue, Muhyiddin has conveniently forgotten that the new Cabinet decision is overturning an earlier decision of which he was a party to.  He could have used the press conference occasion to demonstrate his Malaysian and not Malay leadership qualities but chose instead to cloud the issue even more by providing spurious legal and constitutional arguments.

We have had more than enough public discussion and debate during the past few years on the issue of the conversion of children under the age of 18 as well as other cases of contested conversion to Islam.

Not only is there a broad consensus of opposition against forced conversion – whether of minors or adults – among our population of non-Muslim faith and religions but Islamic organizations such as Sisters in Islam and the Islamic Renaissance Front and many concerned Muslim individuals have spoken out with regard to the conversion of non-Muslim minors.

Now that the elections are over, perhaps Muhyiddin is trying to pander to the Umno delegates whose support he seeks in the party’s coming general assembly meeting. If he is doing so, he is not helping the cause of Islam in Malaysia and its avowed message of fairness and tolerance.

What is really behind Jonker Walk closure?

Just as big a political clown – though at the state level – is the Malacca Chief Minister who has decided to show to the locals the stuff he is made of by making traffic congestion his first priority on assuming office.

One would have assumed that he would devote his time to more important state matters such as raising the state’s productivity or attracting high value investment than traffic congestion in Jonker Walk. But no, a fight with the area’s street traders who are mostly Chinese and presumably supporters of the opposition seems to be his strategy for grabbing national attention and notoriety.

As with Muhyiddin, Idris will have his eye on the coming Umno general assembly meeting which will see the election of party supreme council members, a position which he is clearly aiming for. What better credentials to win the votes of delegates than a reputation as the man who single-handedly destroyed the rice bowl of opposition-inclined traders?

This would also embellish his international reputation further. Idris, during his first years in Parliament, made news headlines for complaining that the body-hugging outfits worn by stewardesses on Malaysia Airlines would result in male passengers sexually harassing the stewardesses. One wonders if this observation could have been provoked by his own response to the dress wear.

“Leave Malaysia” if you don’t like

The last in this group, Bung Moktar, the MP for Kitabatangan had previously made the headlines with various political antics and a polygamous marriage which did not meet the procedures and conditions required by Islamic law.

This time around when debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address, the Sabah Umno representative lowered his standard of buffoonery to engage in character assassination of AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani. Calling Azran a “Melayu biadab” (rude Malay) who did not deserve to be a citizen, he is reported to have yelled, “Leave this country and go live anywhere else you like.”

His outburst led the Speaker to point out to Bung Moktar that he should not use the privilege to speak in the Dewan Rakyat to criticise civilians and government officials who were unable to use the same platform to defend themselves.

The Speaker should have also reminded the member of the House that such acts of political cowardice will live forever in the pages of Malaysian political history through our Hansard records.

Consolation for us

There is however one solace. In Shakespeare’s comedies, fools are called upon to encourage a more serious examination of the situations and characters of a play. Fools not only amuse and entertain, but they also help the audience to ponder on serious social, religious and political issues.

This is so true in the prolonged wayang kulit and the performing political clowns that invariably take centre stage before Umno’s big day, the party election due this year in November.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 5:40 pm and is filed under
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Malaysian premier shrugs off looming threats to economy

By Stefan Wagstyl in London

Financial Times

July 3, 2013

A slowdown in the Chinese economy, plunging commodity prices and the looming end of US “QE3” quantitative easing might appear to be a perfect economic storm for Malaysia.

The commodity producer exports to China and has benefited handsomely from the cash that washed through emerging markets as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive bond-buying programme.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, however, Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, played down the likely effects of the threats to growth coming from the world economy. As a leader fresh from an election victory, his confidence is understandable. But some might see it as misplaced.

Mr Najib insisted Malaysia remained on course to grow at 5 to 6 per cent annually and achieve the government’s target of joining the ranks of the world’s high-income countries by 2020.

Mr Najib was speaking during a visit to London, made as his government is settling back into office after the ruling United Malays National Organisation overcame the biggest-ever challenge to its power in May’s parliamentary elections. The opposition won 51 per cent of the vote, but Umno and its partners in the ruling coalition secured 60 per cent of the seats under Malaysia’s constituency-based voting system.

The prime minister pledged to accelerate economic reforms and show that the country could be modernised “from within” the existing political framework – a riposte to the opposition’s election claims that Malaysia needed a change of leadership after decades of unbroken Umno rule.

He said: “I want to prove the point that we can make changes from within. We can transform the government and the economy, as well as democracy in Malaysia.”

He was relaxed about the external challenges to an economy that has weathered global turmoil well, with economists expecting gross domestic product growth of about 5 per cent this year, after 5.2 per cent in 2012.

Asked about the coming end of the Fed’s QE effort, Mr Najib said money would “flow back into the United States”, but the US would “probably become a stronger market” for Malaysian exports.

While some emerging market turmoil might occur, “people are still positive about the capital markets in Malaysia”, the prime minister said. Mr Najib was equally sanguine about China’s growth slowing from last year’s 7.8 per cent to 7 per cent or even lower. A Chinese slowdown would mean Malaysia’s trade would “probably not grow as fast as we expected”, but Chinese investment “probably won’t change very much”.

Nor would the impact of a decline in Chinese demand on weakening commodity prices have a serious effect. Mr Najib said prices for palm oil, Malaysia’s biggest commodity export, might weaken, “but we are looking at finding new markets”, he said, listing Africa and South America.

For Mr Najib the challenges at home remain substantial. The softening in support for Umno and its allies was in part the result of what he dubbed a “Chinese tsunami” that saw disenchanted ethnic Chinese vote against the government. The shift was due in large part to frustration among ethnic Chinese over longstanding pro-Malay affirmative-action policies.

Mr Najib said he believed the government needed to phase out gradually such policies and to address better the concerns of the ethnic Chinese as part of a national reconciliation.

Other domestic economic concerns remain. The government had to cut its bill from fuel and other subsidies and Mr Najib said he believed “we do need to introduce [a goods and services tax] to improve government revenue”. Household debts – at 82 per cent of GDP – were also unsustainable and had to be reined in, he said. “People willy-nilly borrow for consumption. Civil servants willy-nilly borrow for consumption and then wonder why they don’t have enough money at the end of the month.”

Since the second world war, only four places in the developing world – South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Komg – are regarded by economists as having made the ranks of the advanced economies, where high income is accompanied by modern economic structures based on industry, services and high education levels. Among those hoping to join them, Malaysia is seen as a hot favourite.

According to the World Bank, Malaysia had a per capita gross national income of $9,800 at the end of last year, compared with a minimum $12,615 for high-income countries. At the government’s projected growth rate of 5-6 per cent annually, Malaysia should easily make the grade by 2020.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 9:07 am and is filed under
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Religious Bill splits Cabinet after divisive election

The Malay Mail Online

July 04, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Some of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet have spoken out in dissent over a Bill that would let a single parent or guardian convert their child to Islam without their partner’s consent.

The proposed change has sparked protests from the prime minister’s biggest coalition partners, as well as leaders of religious and ethnic minorities in the Muslim-majority nation. The row comes as Parliament resumed last week after May’s general election which saw support for the government slide to its lowest level in more than 55 years.

“Certain sections of the Bill can be detrimental to non- Muslims,” Datuk G. Palanivel, a minister who heads the MIC in Najib’s governing Barisan Nasional coalition, said in a phone interview. “The government should propose a fairer version of the Bill, taking into account individual rights and civil liberties.”

The heads of some other parties representing minority groups in Najib’s coalition, including the MCA, have also protested the proposed amendment, testing the alliance’s unity as economic growth slows. Net foreign direct investment dropped 17 per cent last year to US$10.1 billion (RM31.3 billion) as spending in neighbours including Singapore and Indonesia increased, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development last week.

‘Going Backwards?’

“If you are a businessman or investor and considering where to invest, this issue will emerge,” Tan Teng Boo, the Kuala Lumpur-based chief executive officer at Capital Dynamics Asset Management Sdn., said in an interview today. “These things are bound to come up. Why would I want to be in a country that seems to be going backwards?”

About 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 29.6 million-strong population are Muslim, according to the CIA World Factbook. Under the Constitution, all ethnic Malays are automatically Muslims and followers of other races, including Chinese and Indians, aren’t allowed to leave the religion. In a court case in 2007, Lina Joy lost an appeal to stop the government referring to her as a Muslim on her identity card so that she could marry her Catholic boyfriend.

In April this year, a Hindu hair salon owner discovered that her estranged husband had converted their two children to Islam without her knowledge, the Malaysia Chronicle reported on June 22.

Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department overseeing Islamic affairs, tabled the proposed amendment to the Administration of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 for a first reading in Parliament on June 26. The Cabinet has since discussed the matter and will seek a fairer solution, Bernama reported on July 1, citing Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Jamil Khir couldn’t be immediately reached for comment today.

Dwindling Support

Najib’s coalition retained power in the May 5 election even after failing to get a majority of the popular vote for the first time since 1969, which the prime minister attributed to a loss of support from Chinese voters.

Islam is recognised as the official religion of Malaysia, which Najib describes as a “moderate” Islamic nation, and non- Muslims have the right to choose and practice their own faith. The Southeast Asian country has a dual legal system with a British-styled civil court system and a separate syariah, or Islamic legal system, that governs marriage, inheritance and other family matters for Muslims.

‘Fundamentally Unjust’

The provision is “fundamentally unjust as it denies the rights of one parent on the welfare of his or her children,” Datuk Paul Low, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said in a phone interview yesterday.

Christopher Leong, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, said the proposed amendment was “unconstitutional” in a June 18 statement. He pointed to a Cabinet directive in 2009 announced by Datuk Nazri Aziz, then de facto law minister, that children of an estranged couple should remain in the religion of the parents at the point of marriage.

Nazri, now tourism minister, also spoke out against the proposed legislative change this week, saying it’s unfair to non-Muslims, The Star newspaper reported today. — Bloomberg

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 July 2013, 1:19 pm and is filed under
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National Reconciliation

by Allan CFGoh

6th July 2013

The rite of reconciliation

Starts with the admission of wrong.

It is not for crude posturing,

To show off who is really strong.

Reconciliation must respect

The principle that ‘Right is might’;

Not to be manipulated,

Or exploited to ‘Might is right”.

All the recorded ‘facts’ involved,

Must be examined for value.

They must be truly verified,

And given their real, proper due.

When premised on first acceptance

Of blatant immorality,

It negates the truth and justice,

Bowing to insincerity.

All good intentions must be used

For sincere reconciliation.

This healing national process

Must start with true introspection.

When solid facts are established,

Both sides must confirm acceptance;

‘National reconciliation’

Then can become our new conscience.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 6 July 2013, 12:57 pm and is filed under
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Nazri: Between ‘open secret’ and common sense

 – Ravinder Singh

The Malay Mail Online

July 07, 2013

JULY 7 – Nazri is correct in saying that it is an “open secret” that the Conference of Rules (COR) can object to any law (or any sections, words or phrases in it). That is the prerogative of the Rulers.

On the other hand, it is common sense that if the COR does object to any part of a law that has been sent to it after going through the Cabinet and Parliament, the COR must send it back to the Cabinet / Parliament for the parts objected to to be reviewed, amended or dealt with in any other way deemed proper by the Cabinet / Parliament.

It is also common sense that after having approved / amended a bill, it is not the function of the COR to send it for printing / publication / gazetting. This is the duty of the executive.

So how is it that up today not only Nazri but the whole Cabinet and Parliament do not know whether the COR had actually objected to the Cabinet decision of April 2009 on the issue of the conversion of minors?

What Nazri has stated is not fair to the COR. If the COR had really objected to the Cabinet decision, did the COR by-pass the Cabinet and Parliament and send their objections directly to the AG’s Chambers which is responsible for the final drafts of all legislation? Is that why the proposed amendment to Clause 107 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 appeared in the form it did?

Nazri has much to explain about the Cabinet being in the dark whether the Conference of Rulers had objected to the Cabinet Decision of April 2009. Common sense states this is not possible as the convention is that if something goes to the COR from the Cabinet, the COR will surely return it to the Cabinet with its approval or comments for the next action to be taken by the Cabinet.

Nazri’s “explanation” is therefore not convincing at all. He should not insinuate that the Conference of Rulers might have been responsible for the form in which the amendment appeared before Parliament despite the Cabinet decision April 2009.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 July 2013, 11:53 pm and is filed under
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Malaysian Dream Agent Recruitment

Welcome to the launching of the nationwide recruitment of Malaysia Dream Agent.

Malaysia Dream is a movement where we hope that we can gather more Malaysian volunteers (including non-party members) to be Ejen Impian Malaysia for our activities and programs to promote Malaysian identity and consciousness particularly among the young generation of Malaysians.

Our present challenge is whether we can convert the passion for CHANGE shown by Malaysians in the GE-13 into constructive community work so that we can win big in Sarawak Election 2015 and eventually take over Putrajaya in GE-14.

Being the second largest political party in Malaysia, we are looking into every possibility to reach out to new voter groups who have so far been outside our sphere of influence and to garner support in order to promote the Malaysian Dream. We need you to be a Malaysian Dream Agent and take part in the community work for rural and non-cyber communities.

The Malaysian Dream (Impian Malaysia) envisions a plural society where all her citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences as the common grounds binding them as one citizenship exceed the differences that divide them because of their ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural divisions.

The Malaysian Dream does not exist only today. It had existed even before the founding of Malaya and Malaysia.

The Johor Malay leader Dato Onn Jaafar had also fought for it as far back as 62 years ago in 1951 when he suggested that UMNO open its door to non-Malays and UMNO change its name from United Malays National Organisation to United Malayans National Organisation. This is  a worthwhile patriotic contribution to the Malaysian Dream shared by all patriotic Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, down the decades, whether in Malaysia or in the world Malaysian Diaspora.

The Battle of Gelang Patah in GE-13 was the opening shot of the Battle of the Malaysian Dream to unite Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region in a common national vision and destiny to build a Malaysia enjoying  the attributes of  Great, Democracy, Freedom, Safe, Competitiveness, Green, Justice, Integrity, Equal opportunity, Prosperous and Happy nation for all Malaysian citizens.

There is a long journey ahead if Malaysians are to realize the Malaysian Dream – where all Malaysians owe undivided loyalty (to) the country, share in one motherland and come together as one people to develop the greatness of the nation derived from the best from the diverse races, religions and cultures which have made a home in Malaysia so that Malaysia can become one of the leading nations of the world in all fields of human endeavour.

Let us realize the Malaysian Dream, which includes restoring to all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region, the fundamental right to safety and security whether in the streets and other public places or the privacy of their homes.

We welcome supporters to join us as Ejen Impian Malaysia through registration forms and online-registration. For further information, please log-on to Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ImpianRakyatMalaysia

(Media Statement at the launching of the Malaysian Dream Movement recruitment drive in  Gelang Patah on Sunday, 7th July 2013)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 July 2013, 12:26 am and is filed under
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