Formulation of Covid-19 SOPs for Malacca and Sarawak general elections should not be abused but should strike a proper balance between ensuring free, fair and clean election and preventing the spread of Covid-19 infections

(Versi BM)

Yesterday, the emergency in Sarawak was lifted and the Election Commission is set to conduct the 12th Sarawak state general election within 60 days.

Election Commission Secretary Ikmalrudin Ishak said that in accordance with Section 2(2) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) (Sarawak) Ordinance 2021, the Sarawak state assembly is automatically dissolved when the emergency is lifted.

The following data shows how the Covid-19 pandemic had been mishandled and messed up, making Malaysia one of the worst-performing nations in the world:

Date

Event

Daily new Covid-19 cases

Daily new Covid-19 deaths

11.01.2021

Proclamation of Emergency

2,232

4

01.06.2021

Imposition of Total Lockdown

7,105

71

04.11.2021

Sarawak Emergency Lifted

5,713

64

The formulation of Covid-19 SOPs for Malacca and Sarawak general elections should not be abused but should strike a proper balance between ensuring free, fair and clean election and keeping Covid-19 pandemic in check.

There is no justification for the Ministry of Health and the Election Commission to impose a total ban on physical campaigning provided the Covid-19 SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections is complied with.

We must “live with Covid” in the transition of the Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic, but this does not mean that the Election Commission should go overboard to impose a total ban on physical campaigning and to allow a most unfree, unfair and dirty general election to be held.

This will be contrary to the “Live with Covid” theme to provide for the transition of Covid-19 from a pandemic to an endemic, which is seeing the opening up of the economy to save both lives and livelihoods.

It is the duty of the Election Commission to ensure the highest voter turn-out for the Malacca and Sarawak state general election, while ensuring that the Covid-19 SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid18 infections, and not be more “Ministry of Health” than the Ministry of Health.

Let us not follow the Jordanian example where there was only 29% voter turnout or the Algerian example where there was only 30% voter turnout when they held parliamentary elections in the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Parliamentary special select committee on health, science and innovation should summon the Election Commission to explain how it is striking a proper balance between ensuring free, fair and clean election in the Malacca and Sarawak state general elections and preventing the spread of Covid-19 infections at a time when Malaysia is making the transition from the Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic.

Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 5th November 2021

Perangkaan SOP Covid-19 untuk PRN Melaka dan Sarawak tidak boleh disalahguna, sebaliknya ia perlu memastikan terdapatnya keseimbangan di antara mengadakan pilihan raya yang bebas, adil, dan bersih dan mengelakkan penularan wabak Covid-19

Semalam, perintah darurat di Sarawak telah dibatalkan dan Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya perlu mengadakan Pilihan Raya Negeri Sarawak yang ke-12 dalam masa 60 hari.

Setiausaha SPR, Ikmalrudin Ishak mengatakan menurut peruntukan Seksyen 2(2) Ordinan Darurat (Kuasa-kuasa Perlu) (Sarawak) 2021, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak terbubar dengan sendirinya apabila darurat ini diungkaikan.

Data berikut menunjukkan bagaimana wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia telah diuruskan dengan salah sehingga Malaysia menjadi salah satu negara dengan prestasi terburuk dalam mengendalikan wabak ini:

Tarikh

Peristiwa

Kes baharu Covid-19

Kes kematian harian Covid-19

11.01.2021

Pengisytiharan Darurat

2,232

4

01.06.2021

Pelaksanaan PKP menyeluruh

7,105

71

04.11.2021

Darurat Sarawak dibatalkan

5,713

64

Perangkaan SOP Covid-19 untuk PRN Melaka dan Sarawak tidak boleh disalahguna, sebaliknya ia perlu memastikan terdapatnya keseimbangan di antara mengadakan pilihan raya yang bebas, adil, dan bersih dan mengelakkan penularan wabak Covid-19.

Tidak ada sebab untuk Kementerian Kesihatan dan Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya untuk mengenakan larangan menyeluruh terhadap proses kempen secara fizikal dengan syarat SOP Covid-19 untuk mengekang penularan dipatuhi sepenuhnya.

Kita perlu “hidup dengan Covid-19” dalam tempoh peralihan di antara fasa pandemik kepada fasa endemik ini, tetapi perkara ini tidak bermakna SPR boleh mengambil tindakan melampau dengan melaksanakan larangan menyeluruh kepada proses berkempen dan membenarkan sebuah pilihan raya yang tidak telus dan adil untuk berlangsung.

Perkara ini bertentangan dengan tema “hidup bersama Covid-19” dalam peralihan kepada fasa endemik yang membawa kepada pembukaan semula ekonomi untuk menyelamatkan nyawa dan punca pendapatan rakyat.

Menjadi tanggungjawab SPR untuk memastikan terdapat kadar keluar mengundi yang tertinggi dalam PRN Melaka dan Sarawak, sambil memastikan SOP Covid-19 yang ada mengekang penularan wabak ini. SPR tidak boleh menjadi lebih “KKM” berbanding dengan Kementerian Kesihatan sendiri.

Janganlah kita mengikuti langkah seperti di Jordan, di mana hanya 29% pengundi keluar mengundi, atau seperti mana di Algeria di mana hanya 30% pengundi keluar mengundi dalam pilihan raya Parlimen mereka.

Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas Parlimen mengenai Kesihatan, Sains, dan Inovasi perlu memanggil SPR untuk menjelaskan bagaimana keseimbangan dapat dicapai oleh badan tersebut dalam memastikan terdapatnya pilihan raya yang bersih, adil, dan bebas di Melaka dan Sarawak dan pada masa yang sama mengekang penularan wabak Covid-19 semasa negara kita sedang beralih daripada fasa pandemik kepada fasa endemik.

Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat, 5 November 2021

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 November 2021, 10:11 am and is filed under
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Malacca and Sarawak general elections must renew hopes of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, that the Malaysian Dream, though  difficult and uphill, is not an impossible dream

(Versi BM)

Yesterday, I issued an Open Letter to DAP leaders, members and supporters in Malaysia and the Diaspora that the hardliners in the Ismail Sabri government who wanted Malacca and Sarawak general elections this year believing that there is a possibility of wiping out the DAP or delivering a fatal blow to DAP have won over the moderates who wanted to uphold the confidence-supply-reform (CSR) memorandum of understanding (MOU) and delay elections.

I warned that the DAP faced the existential threat of either being wiped out or suffering a fatal blow to the DAP’s Malaysian Dream of building an united and prosperous multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural country which is a world-class great nation in important fields of human endeavour after leveraging on the best values and virtues of the four great civilizations of the world.

Today, I am issuing a second Open Letter to state that the Malacca and Sarawak general elections must renew hopes of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, that the Malaysian Dream, though difficult and uphill, is not an impossible dream.

The only right thing that Ismail Sabri has done since becoming Prime Minister on August 20, apart from signing the CSR MOU, was his coinage of the “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan – which is a tribute to DAP’s Malaysian Dream that Malaysia can only succeed as a world-class great nation if we can unite and fully exploit the talents and capabilities of Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural diversity as any mono-ethnic or mono-religious nation-building policy will end in Malaysia becoming a failed state.

But “Keluarga Malaysia” had only remained a slogan in the 77 days that Ismail Sabri was the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia, as he had failed to give meaning and substance to the “Keluarga Malaysia” policy.

The 2022 Budget would have been an excellent opportunity for his “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan to become a policy, but instead it was the very opposite of a “Keluarga Malaysia” budget.

No wonder the former economic adviser of the Pakatan Harapan government, Mohammad Abdul Khalid, asked where was the fairness in the 2022 Budget over the measly allocation of millions for non-bumiputeras but billions for the bumiputeras.

The acrimonious rhetoric over Timah Whisky and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s ban on hard liquor sales by grocery and convenience stores were the very anti-thesis of a “Keluarga Malaysia” policy.

The realisation of the Malaysian Dream is not going to be easy one.

But progress had been made.

Who would have thought, for instance, that it was possible to end UMNO hegemony in Malaysia politics and save Malaysia from becoming a kleptocracy in the 2018 general election?

Perseverance, stamina and commitment to the long-term goal are needed for the fulfilment of the Malaysian Dream – for the sake of the future of Malaysia and her citizens, regardless of race, religion or region.

This is the message we must spread in the Malacca and Sarawak general election.

(Second Open Letter to DAP leaders, supporters and members in Malaysia and the Diaspora by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Friday, November 5, 2021)

Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka dan Sarawak perlu memperbaharui harapan untuk semua rakyat Malaysia, tanpa mengira kaum, agama, atau kawasan, dan Impian Malaysia, walaupun sukar dan mencabar, bukanlah satu impian yang mustahil

Semalam, saya mengutuskan satu surat terbuka kepada pemimpin, ahli-ahli, dan penyokong DAP di dalam dan di luar negara, menyatakan golongan pentaksub dalam kerajaan Ismail Sabri yang mahu Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka dan Sarawak untuk diadakan tahun ini percaya ada kemungkinan DAP boleh dikalahkan sepenuhnya, golongan ini telah menang berbanding dengan golongan moderat yang mahu menegakkan memorandum persefahaman kepercayaan-perbekalan-reformasi (MOU CSR) yang dipersetujui sebelum ini untuk menunda pilihan raya.

Saya memberikan amaran yang DAP berhadapan dengan ancaman besar dan begitu juga nasib Impian Malaysia untuk membina sebuah masyarakat majmuk pelbagai kaum, agama, bahasa, dan budaya dalam sebuah negara berkelas dunia yang berjaya dalam semua bidang yang diceburi manusia dengan menggembeleng nilai terbaik empat tamadun utama dunia yang bertemu di negara kita ini.

Hari ini, saya mengutuskan surat terbuka kedua, untuk menegaskan yang PRN Melaka dan Sarawak ini mesti memperbaharui harapan semua rakyat Malaysia, tanpa mengira kaum, agama, atau kawasan, dan bahawa Impian Malaysia ini, walaupun sesukar mana sekali pun, tidaklah mustahil untuk dicapai.

Satu-satunya perkara yang betul yang dibuat oleh Ismail Sabri selepas menjadi Perdana Menteri pada 20 Ogos, selain daripada menandatangani MOU CSR, adalah slogan “Keluarga Malaysia” beliau — yang merupakan satu penghormatan kepada konsep Impian Malaysia DAP yang menegaskan bahawa Malaysia hanya mampu berjaya sebagai sebuah negara berkelas dunia sekiranya kita semua bersatu dan mengguna pakai sepenuhnya bakat dan kebolehan yang ada dalam masyarakat majmuk berbilang kaum, agama, bahasa dan budaya, kerana sebarang dasar pembinaan negara bangsa yang berteraskan kepada mana-mana satu kaum atau agama hanya akan membawa kepada kegagalan.

Tetapi, “Keluarga Malaysia” ini kekal hanya sebagai satu slogan dalam 77 hari Ismail Sabri menjadi Perdana Menteri ke-9, kerana beliau gagal untuk memberikan makna kepada dasar-dasar Keluarga Malaysia ini.

Belanjawan 2022 memberikan satu peluang yang sangat baik untuk beliau mengubah Keluarga Malaysia ini daripada sekadar satu slogan kepada dasar, namun perkara yang bertentangan dengan semangat Keluarga Malaysia yang dapat dilihat dalam belanjawan ini.

Tidak terkejutlah mantan penasihat ekonomi kerajaan Pakatan Harapan, Mohammad Abdul Khalid, bertanya, dimanakah keadilannya dalam Belanjawan 2022 apabila peruntukan untuk golongan bukan bumiputera hanya diberikan beberapa juta sedangkan golongan bumiputera diperuntukan berbilion ringgit.

Retorik buruk mengenai Wiski Timah dan larangan Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur untuk penjualan arak oleh kedai runcit dan kedai serbaneka juga merupakan satu perkara yang amat bertentangan dengan semangat Keluarga Malaysia.

Usaha mencapai Impian Malaysia ini bukanlah satu perjalanan yang mudah.

Namun, kemajuan telah berlaku.

Siapa sangka, sebagai contoh, hegemoni UMNO dalam politik Malaysia dapat ditamatkan dan Malaysia dapat diselamatkan daripada menjadi sebuah kleptokrasi dalam Pilihan Raya Umum 2018?

Kecekalan, stamina, dan komitmen jangka panjang diperlukan untuk kita memenuhi Impian Malaysia — demi masa depan Malaysia dan rakyatnya, tanpa mengira kaum, agama, atau kawasan.

Inilah mesej yang perlu kita sebarkan dalam PRN Melaka dan Sarawak.

(Surat terbuka kedua kepada pemimpin, penyokong, dan ahli-ahli DAP di dalam dan luar negara oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang pada hari Jumaat, 5 November 2021)

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As Khairy is over two-thirds in his first 100 Days as the new Health Minister, is the reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia  to less than 500 cases still on target as his 100-day PKI?

I am reading the two-volume report of the Parliament Special Select Committee on Health, Science and Innovation which was tabled in Parliament this week, comprising the recommendations of the Parliament Special Select Committee and the transcripts of six meetings of the Select Committee from July 23, 2021 to October 4, 2021.

Among those who appeared before the Select Committee in these six meetings were Khairy Jamaluddin on 14th September, 16 days after he was sworn in as Health Minister; Mohd Shafiq bin Abdullah, Secretary-General of Health Ministry; Noor Hisham bin Abdulah, Health Director-General; Dr.  Abu Bakar Suleiman (Chairman of Health and Sciences Covid-19 Advisory Group of Experts EAG) and  public and private health experts.

In his presentation to the Select Committee on the 100-day KPI and “The Way Forward” as Health Minister,  Khairy  referred to the objective of reducing the daily new Covid-19 cases to 500 cases.

As Khairy is over two-thirds of his first 100-Days as the new Health Minister, is the reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia  to less than 500 cases  by December 7 (Khairy’s First 100 Days as Health Minister) still on target and one of his PKIs?

Under Khairy’s stewardship, Malaysia has passed the peak of the surge of  third Covid-19 wave in Malaysia, which is probably the longest in the world lasting more than 14 months since the Sabah state general election last September,  but the trajectory of decline in daily new Covid-19 cases is proving to be an agonisingly slow one.

In his 69 days of Health Minister, Malaysia has managed to fall to the lowest point of 4,626 daily new Covid-19 cases on November 1, when Indonesia has been recording 22 consecutive days of triple-digit daily new Covid-19 cases, with 518 new Covid-19 cases yesterday as compared to Malaysia’s 4,922 daily new Covid-19 cases.

When Khairy was sworn in as Health Minister on August 30, Malaysia recorded 295 daily Covid-19 deaths as compared to 568 Covid-19 deaths on that day.

Yesterday, Malaysia recorded 47 Covid-19 deaths as compared to Indonesia’s 19 Covid-19 deaths.

Both Khairy and Noor Hisham have admitted to the Select Committee that the high Covid-19 deaths including the high Brought-in-Dead (BID) Covid-19 deaths must be addressed, but why is Malaysia performing so poorly on this score as compared to Indonesia?

When will Malaysia be able to reduce the daily Covid-19 deaths  to single-digit figures?

Can either Khairy or Noor Hisham explain?

(Media Statement (2) by  DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, November 6, 2021)

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Election Commission should draw up separate  SOPs for the  four phases of the NRP to demonstrate its is mindful of its duty to conduct free, fair and clean elections

From Monday, five more states currently under Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) will transition to the final Phase 4 for full  re-opening,  leaving Kelantan and Sarawak as the only states still in Phase 3.

Compared to Phase 3, Phase 4 has fewer restrictions for curtailing the spread of Covid-19, such as by allowing social functions such as wedding receptions to take place albeit with certain precautions still in place.

The Election Commission should draw up separate  SOPs for the four phases of the NRP or it will be open to the accusation that it is  misusing  the Covid-19 pandemic to clamp down on electioneering activities to benefit the government parties, completely oblivious of its duty and responsibility to ensure that elections are free, fair and clean by having one SOP for all four phases.

The Election Commission must be challenged to prove that it is mindful of its responsibility to conduct “free, fair and clean” elections.

I have suggested that the Election Commission should consult the Health Ministry, political parties and  NGOs like Bersih and Suaram before deciding on the different  SOPs for the Malacca and Sarawak general elections, but the suggestion seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

A report yesterday that the Malacca Police had found no element of “vote-buying” in a food and cash handout event for the elderly people that is being aired in a viral video, has raised more questions.

The Malacca Criminal Investigation Department chief Azlan Abu said that the event represented by the Facebook image showing food packages together with RM50 cash, with the  caption alleging that it happened in Malacca, was investigated by the Malacca Police under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, and the Malacca Police found that  the event was not mean to affect the ballots.

The Malaysian public are entitled to more information as to how  the Malacca Police came  to such a conclusion or its credibility as an professional non-partisan force not taking side in the forthcoming general election will be at stake.

Once the Malacca state assembly is dissolved and pending the election of the new State Assembly, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Election Commission should be on the lookout to prevent vote-buying activities.

(Media Statement by DAP  MP for  Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, November 6, 2021)

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Malacca and Sarawak general elections will be important forerunners of the 15th General Election to decide whether the Malaysian Dream has come to an end and there is no way for Malaysia to become a successful plural society and a world-class great nation

In my 57 years of political work, I have always regarded myself as first and foremost a Malaysian.

This has been distorted by my enemies to mean that I have sold out the Chinese or given up on my identity as a Chinese. They cannot be more wrong for one who regards himself as first and foremost as a Malaysian does not relinquish his ethnicity. I want everyone to regard himself or herself as a Malaysian first and foremost  without relinquishing his or her ethnic identity and roots whether  as a  Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban.

The Malaysian Dream, which I formulated in my  schooldays in Batu Pahat in the 1950s,  is not a minus but an addition exercise – not to deduct but to add the Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban dimension to the Malaysian equation.

But this was only one of the many demonisation campaigns which I had to face in my political work, as I was also demonised as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.  I also even accused as being a communist and the  cause of the May 13 1969 riots although nobody asked if I was a communist or cause of the May 13, 2019 riots, why I was never detained under the frightening Internal Security Act (ISA) for these reasons.

The DAP was and  is first and foremost a party dedicated to the national interests .

This  is why I had  proposed a political moratorium  for all political parties to come together to resolve a common national crisis  three times in my 57 years of political work – in 1969, 1987 and 2021.

The first time was during my first Internal Security Act detention when on 5th August 1969, I wrote a letter from the Muar Detention Centre to the then Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and conveyed to him my anxieties for the future of Malaysia.

I said that the result of May 10, 1969 General Election was the people’s verdict for democracy, as against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) campaign for boycott and rejection of the 1969 election.. There was joy and expectancy after the results, not to deprive anyone of his rights but at the new hope to work for a more just, equal and fulfilling  Malaysian society.

I appealed to Tunku at the moment of the nation’s trial in 1969  to “rise above party politics and think only of the long-term national interests”.

To ensure communal harmony and goodwill, and the development of a Malaysian consciousness and identity, transcending racial ties and affinities, I made three proposals, including the establishment of an all-party, all-races Royal Commission of Inquiry to probe into “the entire gamut of racial problems in Malaysia with the view to seek long-term solutions”.

I ended the letter stressing that I was not writing as a “party politician but as a Malaysian nationalist”.

The second time was one day before my second Internal Security Act detention and I made the proposal in Parliament during the debate on the 1988 Budget on October 26, 1987 – a day before the Operation Lalang mass arrests were launched.

I proposed a one-year moratorium for all political parties where no racial, language, cultural or religious issues would be created or raised so that  everyone could concentrate on the national priority  and crisis of achieving economic recovery and growth.

I said that unless sanity could prevail and return to the Malaysian body politic and all political leaders and parties stop stoking the racial flames of hatred and ill-will, then the racial volcano will one day explode in Malaysia.

I proposed that all political parties agree to a one-year moratorium, where no racial, language, cultural or religion issues will be created or raised, so that every Malaysian could concentrate on the national priority of achieving economic recovery and growth.

The third time was during the Covid-19 pandemic when on June 17, 2021, I called for a political moratorium where there is only one national priority – to  face the national crisis to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure that the Covid-19 fatalities did not exceed 5,000 deaths.

From a country which was commended by the world in the early months  for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia has become one of the world’s top worst performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, we have passed the 2.5 million-mark for the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, while the world passed another grim milestone exceeding the 250 million-mark for  global cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

As one of the world’s worst performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia faced a national crisis and an existential threat if we do not end the upsurge  of Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths.

When emergency was declared   in Malaysia on January 22, 2021, Malaysia had cumulative totals  of 138,224 Covid-19 cases and 555 Covid-19 deaths. When Ismail Sabri was appointed the ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia on August 20, 2021, the cumulative totals have shot up to 1,513,024 Covid-19 cases and 13,713 Covid-19 deaths.

The upsurge of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the longest Covid-19 wave in the world in Malaysia must be stopped before more millions of Malaysians fall victim to the Covid-19 pandemic, and worst of all, tens of thousands  die!

From the 63rd National Day on August 31, 2020, when we were No. 89 in the world among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, we were overtaking other nations on an average of five to six a month until we were No. 22 among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases when Ismail Sabri became the Prime Minister.

This is a national crisis of the first order and the first priority of the nation must be to save lives and livelihoods.

This was why the DAP supported the Pakatan Harapan stand for the signing of a Confidence-Supply-Reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the Pakatan Harapan leaders to save Malaysian lives and livelihoods to turn  the defeat in the Covid-19 Pandemic into victory.

Malaysia is now ranked No. 20 in the world among nations with the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases – but we have stopped overtaking over nations.  In fact, the stage for the reverse process is being set – and I hope to see other nations overtaking Malaysia in having more cumulative total of Covid-19 cases than the other way round, and Malaysia falling to No. 60-80  among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

For reference, Malaysians must note the   ranking of the following countries in the world for having the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, and wonder why Malaysia is not among them: Japan (27), Saudi Arabia (55),  Denmark (70), Oman (82), Singapore (89), Australia (99), China (113), Taiwan 160), Hong Kong (172) and New Zealand (178).

At a  moment of national peril, we have shown that we are prepared to put all political, racial, religious and personal differences aside to sign a CSR MOU to  overcome the national crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic to save lives and livelihoods as we do not want five million Covid-19 cases or100,000 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia.

The CSR MOU has slowed down the upsurge in increase of Covid-19 cases from the daily peak of 24,599 cases to 4,626  cases and daily  Covid-19 deaths from the peak of 463 deaths to 36 deaths, but the deceleration is too slow, as I would like to see daily new Covid-19 cases reduce to double-digit figures and daily Covid-19 deaths reduce to single-digit numbers by the end of the first 100 Days of Khairy Jamaluddin as Health Minister on Dec. 7, 2021.

If Indonesia for 23 consecutive days could record triple-digit daily new Covid-19 cases, with 401 cases yesterday as compared to Malaysia’s  4701 daily new cases, and 15 Covid-19 deaths as compared to Malaysia’s 54 daily deaths, there is no reason why Malaysia could not do better.

To ensure that the national interests of all Malaysians prevail,  let every Malaysian play their part to make the CSR MOU succeed to surmount the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We must recognise that if Malaysia is to survive the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic, all Malaysians must unite as Malaysians and be prepared to put aside their racial, religious, regional and political differences.

For if Malaysia fails, no race, religion, region or political party can benefit from it.

But there are too many negative vibes in Malaysia today.

There is a sense of  apathy, hopelessness, despair and desolation in the land that not much change had taken place in the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government forgetting that the Pakatan Harapan government was  meant to last for five years until it was undemocratically toppled by the Sheraton Move conspiracy, and that Ismail Sabri’s “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan is a fake article as illustrated by the 2022 Budget where even the former economic adviser of the Pakatan Harapan government, Mohammad Abdul Khalid, asked where was the fairness in the 2022 Budget over the measly allocation of millions for non-bumiputeras but billions for the bumiputeras.

I worry the voter turnout in Malacca and Sarawak state general election may be as low as less than 30 per cent, as Malacca and Sarawak general elections will be important forerunners of the 15th General Election to decide whether  the Malaysian Dream  for Malaysia to become a world-class great nation has come to an end and there is no way for Malaysia to become a successful plural society and a world-class great nation.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the launching of Liew Chin Tong’s book “Lim Kit Siang – Patriot, Leader, Fighter” at Skudai, Iskandar Puteri on Saturday, 6th November 2021 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 November 2021, 7:15 am and is filed under
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Is the Election Commission the most anachronistic and antiquated  agency which goes against the government’s “Live with Covid” policy marking the transition of Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic and leading to the opening up of the country and economy?

Is the Election Commission the most anachronistic and antiquated agency which goes against the government’s “Live with Covid” theme marking the transition of Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic and leading to  the opening up of the country and economy?

Malacca is in Phase 4 of the Covid-19 Pandemic National Recovery Plan and Sarawak is in Phase 3 of the Plan.

There should be different election SOPs for Malacca and Sarawak, just as there should be different sets of election SOPs for the four different phases of the Covid-19 Pandemic National Recovery Plan.

Or does the Election Commission just want to impose a total ban on all physical campaigning for the general election, whether in  Malacca, Sarawak or the forthcoming 15th  National General Election to benefit the government parties but to the detriment of Opposition parties?

Has the Election Commission any responsibility to ensure that the Malacca and Sarawak General Elections are conducted in a “free, fair and clean” manner, instead of allowing any form of abuse of power and corrupt practice to  be used in the election?

Lawyers have said that the Health Ministry’s blanket ban on events related to the Malacca state general election was against the law and that the government should instead allow any activities where physical distancing was possible.

The co-chair of the Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee, New Sin Yew,  for instance, argued that the total ban on any election gatherings during the campaign period would be contrary to the legal rights given to Malaysians under the Federal Constitution and the Election Offences Act.

New also said the Health Ministry’s blanket ban “is disproportionate and arbitrary given that most economic sectors and social activities have been relaxed all over the country.”

Lawyer Andrew Khoo said that the Election Commission’s (EC) standard operating procedures for the Malacca state general election should facilitate “genuine democracy”.

He said: “The EC’s eventual SOPs should not prohibit in-person rallies and campaigning. SOPs should continue to be along the lines of masks and safe-distancing in open-air ceramahs. Indoor meetings should also follow current SOPs for indoor gatherings.

“The EC’s SOPs should not and do not need to prohibit the exercise of democracy.”

I agree with these lawyers and hope that it would not be necessary to go to the courts to test this important principle in the Federal Constitution and the laws.

(Media Conference Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at Pengkalan Batu, Malacca on Sunday, 7th November 2021 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 November 2021, 6:15 pm and is filed under
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Congrats to KJ for reaching a new low for daily new Covid-19 cases when 4,343 Covid-19 cases  and 35 Covid-19 deaths  were recorded yesterday

(Versi BM)

Congrats to the Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin for reaching a new low for daily new Covid-19 cases when 4,343 Covid-19 cases and 35 Covid-19 deaths were recorded in Malaysia yesterday, but why is the reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases and daily Covid-19 deaths such an agonisingly slow process as compared to other countries like Indonesia and India?

For daily new Covid-19 cases, Malaysia has fallen from the peak of 24,599 cases on August 26 to 4,343 cases yesterday, while daily Covid-19 deaths have fallen from the peak of 592 deaths recorded on Sept. 11 to 35 deaths yesterday – but still a long way from double-digit figure for daily new Covid-19 cases and single-digit number for daily Covid-19 deaths for Malaysia “to live with Covid”.

At this rate of reduction, it will be impossible for Khairy to achieve the 100-Day target of less than 500 new Covid-19 cases a day by Dec. 7, 2021.

Indonesia is far ahead of Malaysia in the reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases – for it has been recording for a consecutive 24-days for daily new Covid-19 cases in triple-digit numbers, and for a longer period of 38 consecutive days, recording double-digit figure for Covid-19 deaths.

Yesterday, Indonesia recorded 444 new Covid-19 cases and 11 Covid-19 deaths as compared to 4,343 cases and 35 Covid-19 deaths for Malaysia – indicating that Indonesia will beat Malaysia in first recording single-digit daily deaths in the next few days.

The comparison with India, which has over 43 times’ the population of Malaysia, is even more stark – as India has yesterday reduced its daily new Covid-19 cases to 11,648 (or 2.8% of its daily peak of 414,433 cases of May 6, 2021) and 256 daily Covid-19 deaths (or 5% of its daily peak of 5,015 Covid-19 deaths on May 23, 2021).

In contrast, Malaysia had only yesterday reduced to 17.6% of its peak of daily new cases and come down to 6% of its peak of daily Covid-19 deaths.

Khairy should convene an urgent meeting of public and private health experts to find out how Malaysia can get better and faster results in ending Malaysia’s long third wave since September last year by Khairy’s first 100 days on Dec. 7, 2021.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 8th November 2021)

Tahniah KJ kerana negara mencapai kadar terendah baharu dengan 4,343 kes dan 35 kematian akibat Covid-19 dicatatkan semalam, tetapi mengapakah penurunan ini terlalu perlahan berbanding dengan negara lain seperti Indonesia dan India?

Tahniah Menteri Kesihatan, Khairy Jamaluddin kerana negara mencapai kadar terendah baharu dengan 4,343 kes dan 35 kematian akibat Covid-19 dicatatkan semalam, tetapi mengapakah penurunan ini terlalu perlahan berbanding dengan negara lain seperti Indonesia dan India?

Untuk angka kes harian Covid-19, angka di Malaysia telah turun daripada kemuncak 24,599 kes pada 26 Ogos kepada 4,343 kes semalam, manakala kadar kematian pula telah turun daripada kemuncak 592 kematian sehari pada 11 September kepada 35 kematian semalam — tetapi perjalanannya masih lagi jauh sebelum kita mencapai kadar kes dalam julat dua angka dan kadar kematian dalam julat satu angka untuk Malaysia “hidup bersama dengan Covid”.

Pada kadar penurunan seperti ini, mustahil untuk Khairy mencapai sasaran 100 hari pertama beliau untuk mencatatkan kurang daripada 500 kes Covid-19 menjelang 7 Disember 2021.

Indonesia berada jauh di hadapan Malaysia dari segi penurunan kes Covid-19 — negara tersebut telah mencatatkan 24 hari berturut-turut dengan kes dalam julat tiga angka dan 38 hari berturut-turut mencatatkan kadar kematian dalam julat dua angka.

Semalam, Indonesia mencatatkan 444 kes baharu dan 11 kematian akibat Covid-19, berbanding dengan 4,343 kes dan 35 kematian akibat Covid-19 di Malaysia — menunjukkan yang Indonesia akan mengalahkan Malaysia untuk mencatatkan kadar kematian dalam julat satu angka dahulu dalam beberapa hari yang akan datang.

Perbandingan dengan India, yang mempunyai 43 kali ganda lebih ramai penduduk berbanding dengan Malaysia lebih ketara — India menurunkan kadar kes baharunya kepada 11,648 (atau 2.8% daripada kemuncaknya sebelum ini, 414,433 kes pada 6 Mei 2021) dan 256 kematian akibat Covid-19 (5% kadar kematian pada kemuncak 5,015 kematian pada 23 Mei 2021).

Sebaliknya, Malaysia semalam hanya menurunkan kadar kes ini kepada 17.6% kadar kemuncak kes baharu sebelum ini dan menurunkan kadar kematian kepada 6% daripada kemuncak kadar kematian sebelum ini.

Khairy perlu memanggil persidangan segera pakar-pakar perubatan awam dan swasta untuk mencari cara bagaimana Malaysia boleh mendapatkan hasil yang lebih baik dengan lebih pantas dalam menamatkan gelombang ketiga penularan yang telah berlanjutan terlalu lama sejak September tahun lepas sebelum mencapai 100 hari pertama beliau menjadi Menteri Kesihatan pada 7 Disember 2021.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Isnin, 8 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 November 2021, 10:13 am and is filed under
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Election Commission is becoming the most anachronistic and antiquated agency which goes against the government’s  “Live with Covid” policy marking the transition of Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic and the opening up of the country and economy

(Versi BM)

The Election Commission is becoming the most anachronistic and antiquated agency which goes against the government’s “Live with Covid” policy marking the transition of Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic and the opening up of the country and economy.

Malacca is in Phase 4 of the Covid-19 Pandemic National Recovery Plan (NRP). Is the election SOP of the Sarawak general election going to be as strict as for the Malacca general election, although Malacca is in Phase 4 and Sarawak in Phase 3 of the NRP?

Will there be different election SOPs for Malacca and Sarawak because the two states are in different phases of the NRP?

The Election Commission has virtually imposed a total ban on all physical campaigning for the general election in Malacca which is most disadvantageous and to the detriment of Opposition parties, who do not have access to radio and television facilities.

It is clear that the Election Commission has completely disregarded its responsibility to ensure that the Malacca General Election is conducted in a “free, fair and clean” manner, instead of allowing any form of abuse of power and corrupt practice in the election.

Lawyers have said that the Health Ministry’s blanket ban on all physical campaigning in Malacca state general election is against the law and that the government should instead allow activities where physical distancing was possible but which also complied with SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections.

The co-chair of the Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee, New Sin Yew had argued that the total ban on any election gatherings during the campaign period is contrary to the legal rights given to Malaysians under the Federal Constitution and the Election Offences Act, and “disproportionate and arbitrary given that most economic sectors and social activities have been relaxed all over the country.”

Lawyer Andrew Khoo said that the Election Commission’s (EC) standard operating procedures for the Malacca state general election should facilitate “genuine democracy” and should not prohibit indoor meetings and in-person rallies and campaigning with strict compliance to SOPs on masks and safe-distancing.

I urge the Election Commission to be mindful not to prohibit democracy by immediately revising the election SOPs for the Malacca general election which strike a proper balance between “free, fair and clean election” and the prevention of spread of Covid-19 infections.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 8th November 2018)

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya kini telah menjadi agensi kerajaan yang ketinggalan zaman dan bersifat kuno yang bertentangan dengan dasar kerajaan untuk “Hidup bersama dengan Covid” yang menandakan peralihan dari fasa pandemik kepada endemik untuk membuka semula aktiviti dan ekonomi dalam negara

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya kini telah menjadi agensi kerajaan yang ketinggalan zaman dan bersifat kuno yang bertentangan dengan dasar kerajaan untuk “Hidup bersama dengan Covid” yang menandakan peralihan dari fasa pandemik kepada endemik untuk membuka semula aktiviti dan ekonomi dalam negara.

Melaka kini berada dalam Fasa 4 Pelan Pemulihan Negara (PPN). Adakah SOP Pilihan Raya Negeri Sarawak akan kekal ketat sebagai mana SOP PRN Melaka ini walaupun Melaka berada dalam Fasa 4 sedangkan Sarawak berada dalam Fasa 3 PPN?

Adakah akan terdapat SOP pilihan raya yang berbeza di antara Melaka dan Sarawak kerana kedua negeri ini berada dalam fasa PPN yang berbeza?

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya telah meletakkan larangan menyeluruh kepada semua kerja kempen secara fizikal dalam PRN Melaka yang membawa kesan buruk kepada parti-parti Pembangkang yang tidak mempunyai akses kepada kemudahan televisyen dan radio.

Jelas sekali SPR telah mengabaikan tanggungjawabnya untuk memastikan PRN Melaka ini diadakan secara “bebas, adil, dan bersih”, sebaliknya membenarkan penyalahgunaan kuasa dan amalan korup dalam PRN ini.

Para peguam telah mengatakan yang sekatan Kementerian Kesihatan terhadap semua bentuk kempen secara fizikal di Melaka ini bertentangan dengan undang-undang dan kerajaan sebaliknya patut membenarkan aktiviti di mana penjarakan boleh diadakan dengan mematuhi SOP untuk mengelakkan penularan jangkitan Covid-19.

Pengerusi bersama Jawatankuasa Hak Asasi Manusia Majlis Peguam, New Sin Yew, telah berhujah bahawa larangan menyeluruh untuk sebarang perhimpunan untuk pilihan raya ini bertentangan dengan hak undang-undang yang diberikan kepada semua rakyat Malaysia dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan Akta Kesalahan Pilihan Raya, dan “bersifat tidak berpatutan dan tidak berasas memandangkan kebanyakan sekatan sektor ekonomi dan aktiviti sosial telah dilonggarkan di seluruh negara.”

Peguam Andrew Khoo mengatakan yang SOP SPR untuk PRN Melaka ini perlu membantu perjalanan proses “demokrasi sebenar” dan tidak patut menyekat mesyuarat dalaman dan perhimpunan dan kempen fizikal dengan pematuhan ketat kepada SOP pemakaian pelitup muka dan penjarakan fizikal.

Saya seru kepada Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya untuk tidak menyekat proses demokrasi dengan segera menyemak semula SOP pilihan raya di Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka dengan cara yang menyeimbangkan antara pilihan raya yang “bebas, adil, dan bersih” dan pencegahan penularan wabak Covid-19.

(Kenyataan media (2) Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Isnin, 8 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 November 2021, 5:19 pm and is filed under
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Ismail Sabri is the weakest Prime Minister in Malaysian history – completely lost about the Malacca state general election which would have far-reaching implications for Malaysia for many years to come

(Versi BM)

Ismail Sabri is the ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia but he is the weakest Prime Minister in Malaysian history, completely lost about the Malacca state general election which would have far-reaching implications for Malaysia for many years to come.

Tomorrow is the Nomination Day of the Malacca general election. It will see multiple contests – between the Pakatan Harapan and the Government parties on the one hand as well as between Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional on the other.

Nobody can predict what is going to happen on Polling Day on Nov. 20, 2021.

The country is searching for a new political equilibrium and equation after two important political developments:

(i) The toppling of the UMNO-BN government in the 2018 general election; and

(ii) The Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2021 which toppled a legitimate and democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months when it was to serve for five years, ushering in a backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate government in Malaysia for the first time in over six decades. We have now a Backdoor, Illegitimate and Undemocratic Government 2.0.

The 14th General Election destroyed the political hegemony of UMNO which it had abused for decades, but the Sheraton Move conspiracy disrupted the political and democratic process and the country since then had been seeking for a new, healthy and stable political equilibrium and equation which can fulfil the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to become a world-class great nation.

Just as the 22-month Covid-19 pandemic is forcing a new norm in Malaysian social and economic life, the country is in search for a new norm in Malaysian politics after the 14th General Election and the Sheraton Move conspiracy.

Now, we have a political situation where no single political party can exercise political hegemony in Malaysia for the days when a single political party can command a simple majority in Parliament are over.

The day for meaningful coalition politics in Malaysia has come, and political parties must learn to co-operate with each other for the good of the nation – not for personal and political party self-aggrandisement but on the principles of justice, freedom, fair play, well-being for all Malaysians so that Malaysia can be a world-class great nation and avoid the traps of kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state.

I was sent by DAP to Malacca to spearhead the DAP cause in 1969 and was MP for Bandar and then Kota Malacca for three terms – in 1969, 1974 and again in 1982.

In the seventies and the eighties, Malacca was the front-line state in Malaysia for the nation to become a world-class great nation, which could leverage on the virtues and values of the four great civilisations – Malay/Muslim, Chinese, Indian and Western – which meet in confluence in Malaysia.

Since, the torch as the frontline state for Malaysia to be a world-class great nation has passed to other states – Penang, Perak, Selangor and Johore. Now the torch has come back to Malacca to light the way forward for Malaysia in this Malacca general election.

I do not agree with my friend Francis Paul Siah who said that the general election in Malacca, the nations’ second-smallest state, is unimportant.

On the contrary, I believe that the Malacca and the Sarawak state general election will be important forerunners of the 15th national general election to decide whether the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to become a world-class great nation has come to an end and there is no way for Malaysia to become a successful plural society and a world-class great nation.

In fact, the outcome of the Malacca and Sarawak state general elections may decide whether the Confidence-Supply-Reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Ismail Sabri and the four Pakatan Harapan leaders on Sep. 13, 2021 should be torn up and the 15th General Election held early next year.

There had been many unforgettable episodes in my years as Member of Parliament for Bandar/Kota Malacca, and a leading one is the “Save Bukit China campaign”.

It was regarded as a lost cause, a no hoper, as how could the Malacca State Government be stopped when it had decided in 1984 on demolishing the 12,500 graves on the 360-old cemetery hill for commercial development?

But succeeded we did – after a long drawn-out campaign which went national and embraced all racial and religious communities to preserve a historic heritage site – including 35-km walk from Pulau Sebang to Bukit China.

I call on the people of Malacca on Polling Day to summon the “Save Bukit China spirit” to Save Malaysia from becoming a kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state, and instead to fulfil its potential to become a world-class great nation.

(Statement at the launching of Liew Chin Tong’s book “Lim Kit Siang – Patriot, Leader, Fighter” at Ayer Keroh, Malacca on Sunday, 7th November, 2021)

Ismail Sabri adalah adalah Perdana Menteri paling lemah dalam sejarah negara — tidak mampu mencerap realiti berkenaan pilihan raya negeri Melaka yang mampu memberikan kesan yang besar kepada Malaysia untuk tahun-tahun mendatang

Ismail Sabri adalah Perdana Menteri Malaysia kesembilan, tetapi beliau adalah Perdana Menteri paling lemah dalam sejarah negara, dan tidak mampu mencerap realiti berkenaan pilihan raya negeri Melaka yang mampu memberikan kesan yang besar terhadap Malaysia untuk tahun-tahun mendatang.

Esok adalah Hari Pencalonan pilihan raya negeri Melaka. Ia bakal menyaksikan pertembungan pelbagai penjuru — antara Pakatan Harapan dan parti-parti dalam kerajaan, malah antara Perikatan Nasional dan Barisan Nasional.

Tiada siapa yang dapat meramal tentang apa yang akan berlaku di Hari Pengundian pada 20 November 2021.

Negara sedang dalam fasa mencari-cari persamaan dan keseimbangan dalam landskap politik baharu selepas dua peristiwa penting berlaku baru-baru ini:

(i) Kejatuhan kerajaan UMNO-BN pada Pilihan Raya Umum 2018; dan

(ii) Konspirasi Langkah Sheraton pada Februari 2021 yang menggulingkan kerajaan Pakatan Harapan yang dipilih secara sah menerusi proses demokrasi selepas 22 bulan mentadbir sedangkan ia mempunyai mandat selama lima tahun untuk menerajui negara, sekaligus membawa masuk kerajaan pintu belakang, tidak sah dan tidak demokratik.

Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14 (PRU14) memusnahkan hegemoni politik UMNO yang Telah disalahgunakan berdekad-dekad lamanya, namun konspirasi Langkah Sheraton menyebabkan proses demokrasi menjadi haru-biru dan sejak daripada peristiwa itu, negara berada fasa mencari-cari persamaan dan kesimbangan bagi mencapai matlamat Impian Malaysia untuk menjadikan negara ini sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia.

Sejurus selepas wabak Covid-19 yang berlarutan selama 22 bulan memaksa suatu pembentukan norma baharu dalam kehidupan sosial dan ekonomi rakyat Malaysia, negara kini masuk ke dalam fasa mencari suatu norma baharu dalam politik Malaysia pasca PRU-14 dan peristiwa Langkah Sheraton.

Kini, kita berdepan dengan situasi politik di mana tiada satu pun parti politik boleh menggunakan kuasa hegemoni, kerana zaman di mana satu-satu parti boleh membentuk kerajaan dengan majoriti mudah telah berakhir.

Era di mana setiap parti politik membentuk kerjasama yang bermakna telah bermula, dan semua parti-parti politik harus belajar untuk bekerjasama antara satu sama lain bagi membentuk sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia — bukan untuk kepentingan peribadi atau demi menjulang imej parti, sebaliknya bagi menegakkan prinsip keadilan, kebebasan, kesejahteraan untuk semua rakyat Malaysia supaya Malaysia mampu menjadi sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia dan mengelakkan Malaysia terjerumus menjadi kleptokrasi, kakistokrasi dan negara gagal.

Saya telah dipertanggungjawabkan oleh DAP untuk merintis perjuangan di Melaka pada 1969, dan merupakan Ahli Parlimen untuk Bandar dan kemudian untuk Kota Melaka selama tiga penggal — pada 1969, 1974 dan sekali lagi pada 1982.

Pada era 70-an dan 80-an, Melaka adalah negeri yang disebut-sebut bakal memacu Malaysia ke arah menjadi negara hebat bertaraf dunia, yang memanfaatkan nilai-nilai murni empat tamadun hebat — Melayu/Islam, Cina, India, Barat — yang menjadi titik pertemuan di Malaysia.

Sejak itu, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor dan Johor antara negeri yang dilihat mampu menjadi pemangkin untuk memacu Malaysia ke arah menjadi sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia. Kini, Melaka kembali dilihat sebagai negeri yang mampu untuk merintis jalan kedepan untuk Malaysia menerusi pilihan raya negeri Melaka ini.

Saya tidak bersetuju dengan sahabat saya, Paul Siah yang menyifatkan pilihan raya negeri di Melaka, negeri kedua terkecil di negara ini, tidak penting.

Sebaliknya, saya percaya pilihan raya negeri Melaka dan Sarawak menjadi semacam pemanas badan untuk kita menghadapi Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15 bagi menentukan sama ada matlamat Impian Malaysia bagi menjadikan Malaysia sebagai negara hebat bertaraf dunia telah berakhir dan tiada lagi jalan untuk Malaysia menjadi sebuah negara hebat yang memanfaatkan kepelbagaiannya.

Malah, keputusan pilihan raya negeri Melaka dan Sarawak bakal menentukan sama ada Memorandum Persefahaman (MOU) Kepercayaan-Perbekalan-Reformasi (CSR) yang ditandatangani antara Ismail Sabri dan empat pemimpin Pakatan Harapan pada 13 September 2021 harus dimansuhkan dan PRU-15 diadakan awal tahun hadapan.

Terdapat begitu banyak memori yang tidak dapat dilupakan sepanjang saya menjadi Ahli Parlimen Bandar/Kota Melaka, dan permulaannya adalah “kempen Selamatkan Bukit Cina”.

Ia dianggap sebagai usaha yang gagal, kerana mana mungkin kerajaan negeri Melaka akan mengambil keputusan untuk menghentikan kerja-kerja memusnahkan 12,500 kubur yang terletak di atas kawasan perkuburan berusia 360 tahun bagi tujuan pembangunan komersial kerana keputusan untuk melaksanakan projek itu telah diputuskan sejak 1984 lagi?

Pun begitu, kita akhirnya berjaya — selepas melaksanakan kempen berterusan, yang menarik perhatian masyarakat pelbagai kaum dan agama di seluruh negara bagi mempertahankan tapak warisan sejarah — termasuk laluan pejalan kaki sepanjang 35km dari Pulau Sebang ke Bukit Cina.

Saya menyeru rakyat Melaka untuk menjiwai ‘semangat Selamatkan Bukit Cina’ di hari pengundian nanti, bagi menyelamatkan Malaysia daripada menjadi sebuah kleptokrasi, kakistokrasi dan negara gagal, sekaligus memanfaatkan potensi kita untuk menjadi sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia.

(Kenyataan di Pelancaran buku bertajuk “Lim Kit Siang – Patriot, Leader, Fighter” hasil nukilan Liew Chin Tong di Ayer Keroh, Melaka pada Ahad, 7 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 November 2021, 7:33 am and is filed under
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Although the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia  have been halted, will  Covid-19 pandemic statistics on Ismail Sabri’s First 100 days as ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia on Nov. 28 see cumulative totals of 2.6 million Covid-19 cases and 30,000 Covid-19 deaths?

(Versi BM)

We have stopped the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia, although 4,543 Covid-19 cases and 58 Covid-19 deaths recorded yesterday highlights the agonisingly slow rate of such reduction in Malaysia.

We are not only unable to end the longest Covid-19 wave in the world – the third Covid-19 wave continuing for 14 months since the Sabah state general election last year – but we are performing worse than Indonesia and even India in reduction of daily Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths.

Yesterday was not only Indonesia’s 25th consecutive day of daily new Covid-19 cases in triple-digit numbers, but the 39th consecutive day of daily Covid-19 deaths in double digit numbers – 244 daily new Covid-19 cases and 12 daily Covid-19 deaths (as compared to Malaysia’s 4,542 new cases and 58 Covid-19 deaths yesterday).

We are losing not only to Indonesia, but to India.

India has over 43 times the population of Malaysia, but India recorded 7,841 daily new Covid-19 cases and 304 daily Covid-19 deaths yesterday as compared to Malaysia’s 4,543 daily new Covid-19 cases and 58 Covid-19 deaths.

I believe that the Pakatan Harapan Government, if it had not been toppled by the Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020, would have kept the Covid-19 cases and deaths very low, like South Korea, which today ranks No. 73 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases. South Korea’s cumulative totals yesterday were 381,694 Covid-19 cases and 2,980 Covid-19 deaths.

In contrast, although the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia have been halted, Covid-19 pandemic statistics on Ismail Sabri’s First 100 days as ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia on Nov. 28 may see cumulative totals of 2.6 million Covid-19 cases and 30,000 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia?

And are we to maintain our rank as the No. 20th nation in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases?

This is the price of the Sheraton Move conspiracy – instead of less than half a million Covid-19 cases and less than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths, we are heading towards Ismail Sabri’s First 100 Days as Ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia with 2.6 million Covid-19 cases and 30,000 Covid-19 deaths!

This is the overwhelming reason why Pakatan Harapan signed the confidence-supply-reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ismail Sabri on Sept. 13, 2021 – to save Malaysian lives and livelihoods as we must stop the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths to reach four or five million Covid-19 cases and over 100,000 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia.

What will be the Covid-19 pandemic statistics on Khairy Jamaluddin’s first 100 days as the new Health Minister on Dec. 7, 2021?

This is why I suggested that Khairy should convene an urgent meeting of public and private health experts to find out how Malaysia can get better and faster results in ending Malaysia’s long third wave since September last year .

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 9th November 2021)

Meskipun peningkatan mendadak kes jangkitan dan korban Covid-19 di Malaysia sudah terhenti, adakah kita akan menyaksikan negara ini merekodkan 2.6 juta kes terkumpul jangkitan Covid-19 dengan jumlah keseluruhan 30,000 korban pada 100 hari pertama Ismail Sabri menjadi perdana menteri pada 28 November ini?

Peningkatan mendadak kes jangkitan dan korban akibat Covid-19 telah terhenti, meskipun negara ini merekodkan 4,543 jangkitan dengan 58 korban Covid-19 semalam — kadar penurunan yang dilihat begitu perlahan.

Kita bukan sahaja tidak mampu untuk menamatkan gelombang penularan Covid-19 terpanjang di dunia — gelombang ketiga berlanjutan selama 14 bulan sejak pilihan raya negeri Sabah berlangsung pada tahun lalu — kita juga menunjukkan prestasi yang lebih buruk berbanding Indonesia, malah India dalam kadar penurunan kes jangkitan dan korban Covid-19.

Semalam, Indonesia bukan sahaja mencatatkan jumlah kes baharu Covid-19 dalam lingkungan julat tiga angka untuk tempoh 25 hari berturut-turut, malah berjaya mengekalkan kadar korban Covid-19 dalam lingkungan julat dua angka untuk tempoh 39 hari berturut-turut — 244 kes jangkitan dengan 12 korban (berbanding Malaysia yang merekodkan 4,542 jangkitan dan 58 korban Covid-19 semalam).

Kita bukan sahaja tewas kepada Indonesia, malah turut tewas kepada India.

India mempunyai jumlah penduduk 43 kali ganda lebih ramai berbanding Malaysia, tetapi India merekodkan 7,841 kes jangkitan dengan 304 korban semalam berbanding Malaysia yang merekodkan 4,542 jangkitan dengan 58 korban.

Saya yakin sekiranya kerajaan Pakatan Harapan tidak digulingkan oleh konspirasi Langkah Sheraton pada Februari 2020, kita mampu untuk mengekalkan kadar jangkitan dan korban Covid-19 pada tahap yang terendah, seperti Korea Selatan, yang kini berada di kedudukan ke-73 di dunia dengan jumlah kes keseluruhan Covid-19 tertinggi. Korea Selatan mencatatkan 381,694 kes terkumpul Covid-19 dengan 2,980 korban keseluruhan setakat semalam.

Sebaliknya di Malaysia, meskipun kadar peningkatan mendadak kes jangkitan dan korban Covid-19 telah terhenti, adakah kita akan menyaksikan negara ini merekodkan 2.6 juta kes terkumpul jangkitan Covid-19 dengan jumlah keseluruhan 30,000 korban pada 100 hari pertama Ismail Sabri menjadi perdana menteri pada 28 November ini?

Dan adakah kita akan kekal di kedudukan ke-20 dengan jumlah kes keseluruhan Covid-19 tertinggi di dunia?

Inilah kesan dan akibat daripada konspirasi Langkah Sheraton — daripada kurang setengah juta jangkitan Covid-19 dan kurang 3,000 korban akibat wabak itu, kita sedang menuju angka 2.6 juta untuk jumlah keseluruhan jangkitan Covid-19 dan 30,000 korban keseluruhan akibat wabak itu menjelang 100 hari pertama Ismail Sabri sebagai perdana menteri!

Ini antara sebab mengapa Pakatan Harapan menandatangani Memorandum Persefahaman (MOU) kepercayaan-perbekalan-reformasi (CSR) dengan Ismail Sabri pada 13 September 2021 — untuk menyelamatkan kehidupan dan mata pencarian rakyat Malaysia kerana kita harus menghentikan peningkatan mendadak kes jangkitan dan korban Covid-19 yang berisiko meningkat kepada lima juta kes jangkitan dengan 100,000 korban Covid-19.

Berapa banyak pula kes jangkitan dan korban terkumpul yang akan dicatatkan pada 100 hari pertama Khairy Jamaluddin menjadi Menteri Kesihatan pada 7 Disember 2021?

Ini sebabnya mengapa saya mencadangkan Khairy supaya segera mengadakan mesyuarat dengan pakar kesihatan awam dan swasta bagi mencari cara untuk segera mengakhiri gelombang ketiga Covid-19 di Malaysia yang telah berlanjutan sejak September tahun lalu.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Selasa, 9 November 2021)

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Election Commission failing its national duty to conduct “free, fair and and clean” Malacca general election with its antediluvian, anachronistic and antiquated election SOPs imposing a virtual ban on physical campaigning

(Versi BM)

The Election Commission is failing in its national duty to conduct “free, fair and clean” Malacca general election on November 20, 2021 with its antediluvian, anachronistic and antiquated election SOPs imposing a virtual ban on physical campaigning.

Malacca is in Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP). Is this the phase for the virtual ban on physical campaigning for elections? If so, when will physical campaigning be allowed?

Why can’t the Election Commission strike a proper balance between ensuring “free, fair and clean” Malacca general election and prevention of Covid-19 infection?

The Ministry of Education has announced that educational institutions under the Education Ministry in Perlis, Perak, Penang, Sabah and Kedah will resume operations on Nov 21 and 22, in accordance with the regulations stipulated under Phase Four of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

It was announced that Malaysia and Singapore will launch a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from Nov 29, 2021.

But the Election Commission continues to hide its head in the sand, oblivious to the need for Malaysia to “live with Covid” with the Covid-19 pandemic transiting from a pandemic to an endemic.

The Election Commission’s virtual total ban on all physical campaigning for the general election in Malacca is most disadvantageous and to the detriment of Opposition parties, who do not have access to radio and television facilities.

It is clear that the Election Commission has completely disregarded its responsibility to ensure that the Malacca General Election is conducted in a “free, fair and clean” manner, instead of allowing any form of abuse of power and corrupt practice in the election.

Lawyers have said that the Health Ministry’s blanket ban on all physical campaigning in Malacca state general election is against the law and that the government should instead allow activities where physical distancing was possible but which also complied with SOPs to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections.

Will the Election Commission listen to immediately revise the election SOPs for the Malacca State Election, with Malacca voters slated to vote on November 20?

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 9th November 2021)

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya telah gagal dalam melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya untuk mengadakan pilihan raya Melaka yang “bebas, adil, dan bersih” dengan SOP ketinggalan zamannya yang menghalang sebarang bentuk kempen secara fizikal

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) telah gagal dalam melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya untuk mengadakan pilihan raya Melaka pada 20 November 2021 yang “bebas, adil, dan bersih” dengan SOP ketinggalan zamannya yang menghalang sebarang bentuk kempen secara fizikal.

Melaka kini berada dalam Fasa 4 Pelan Pemulihan Negara (PPN). Adakah ini fasa yang melibatkan sekatan menyeluruh kepada aktiviti kempen fizikal dalam pilihan raya? Sekiranya ya, bilakah kempen fizikal akan dibenarkan semula?

Mengapa SPR tidak mampu untuk mencari titik perseimbangan di antara memastikan terdapatnya pilihan raya yang “bebas, adil, dan bersih” dan pada masa yang sama, mengekang penularan wabak Covid-19?

Kementerian Pendidikan telah mengumumkan yang institusi pendidikan di bawah Kementerian tersebut di Perlis, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, dan Kedah akan meneruskan operasi bermula 21 dan 22 November, selari dengan peraturan dibawah Fasa 4 PPN.

Juga telah diumumkan baru-baru ini yang Malaysia dan Singapura akan melancarkan Laluan Perjalanan untuk mereka yang telah menerima vaksin, Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) di antara Lapangan Terbang Changi dan Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) bermula 29 November 2021.

Tetapi SPR masih terus menyorokkan kepalanya di dalam pasir, tanpa mengambil kira keperluan untuk negara kita “hidup bersama Covid” dalam tempoh peralihan di antara fasa pandemik dan endemik.

Larangan menyeluruh SPR ini memberikan kesan yang amat buruk kepada parti-parti Pembangkang, yang tidak mempunyai akses kepada kemudahan radio dan televisyen.

Jelas sekali SPR telah mengabaikan tanggungjawabnya untuk memastikan PRN Melaka ini diadakan secara “bebas, adil, dan bersih”, sebaliknya membenarkan penyalahgunaan kuasa dan amalan korup dalam PRN ini.

Para peguam telah mengatakan yang sekatan Kementerian Kesihatan terhadap semua bentuk kempen secara fizikal di Melaka ini bertentangan dengan undang-undang dan kerajaan sebaliknya patut membenarkan aktiviti di mana penjarakan boleh diadakan dengan mematuhi SOP untuk mengelakkan penularan jangkitan Covid-19.

Adakah SPR akan akhirnya mendengar dan menyemak semula SOP pilihan raya untuk PRN Melaka, dengan rakyat Melaka yang kini dijadualkan mengundi pada 20 November?

(Kenyataan media (2) Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Selasa, 9 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 November 2021, 8:35 am and is filed under
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Malacca General Election the messiest general election in Malaysian history for six decades with the most number of candidates likely to  lose their deposits

(Versi BM)

The Malacca General Election is the messiest general election in Malaysian history for six decades, with the most number of candidates likely to lose their deposits.

There are 112 candidates vying for 28 Malacca State Assembly seats. There will be three-cornered fights in 11 seats, four-way contests in nine, five-cornered battles in five and six-way fights in three.

Although it is a Malacca state general election, it will have far-reaching political future implications for the future of Malaysia and may even decide whether Ismail

Sabri will Prime Minister for the shortest term – shorter than the term served by his “backdoor” predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin.

It may also decide whether there will be a creeping return of kleptocracy in Malaysia.

One of the weapons used in the Malacca state general election will be lies and misinformation.

A Bersatu leader has already accused the DAP of being “chauvinist” and “anti-Malay”.

I cannot understand this Bersatu leader for I have been in politics some 57 years and I do not have a single anti-Malay bone in my body.

I have on the other hand been accused by the real “chauvinists” of having sold out Chinese rights and interests, and a traitor to the Chinese race, because I had said that optionally learning Jawi does not make one less of a Malaysian – which I did during my first Internal Security Act detention in Muar in 1969.

I can still remember 44 years ago on the night of 8th November 1977 when DAP MPs supported PAS MPs in opposing the declaration of an emergency in Kelantan and a bill to enable the Federal Government to take over the administration of the Kelantan State Government.

DAP MPs opposed the emergency measure in Kelantan in Parliament, which was debated through the night until 2.45 am the next morning.

Nobody accused the DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam then!

Let me ask this Bersatu leader, which is open all politicians in all parties based on Malay mono-ethnic ideology, whether any of them had gone to jail or sacrificed his qualification to be a Member of Parliament in defending the honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl like the DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng in 1994?

The Malacca state general election is the proper time for one of the great lies and misinformation to be laid to rest.

Although Ismail Sabri has coined the “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan, he has to prove that he can live down his past.

It was only after he became Prime Minister that I found from the social media the leading racist role he played in demonising the DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam, especially over the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) ratification issue at the end of 2018.

The DAP leadership knew nothing about the ICERD ratification issue beforehand and we were taken by surprise by the then Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s speech at the United Nations that Malaysia was going to ratify ICERD.

The ICERD ratification issue gave the Malay-first politicians the opportunity to go on a racist rampage and Ismail Sabri was one of the leading proponents.

We are still living with the consequences of the toxic politics of lies, misinformation, hatred, race and religion, so deftly mobilised during the ICERD ratification fiasco in 2018, whether it be the “Sheraton Move” conspiracy in February 2020 to topple a democratic and legitimate government and replace it with a backdoor and illegitimate government, or the deadly Covid-19 pandemic which had killed nearly 30,000 people and caused over 2.5 million Covid-19 infections in the past 22 months.

The Foreign Minister at that time is now back as the Foreign Minister.

I call on Saifuddin Abdullah to speak the truth that the ICERD ratification issue at the end of 2008 had nothing to do with the DAP although DAP was accused of being the instigator behind the issue.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang to the DAP Malacca General Election Publicity Committee in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 9th November 2021 at 12 noon)

Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka adalah pilihan raya paling bercelaru dalam enam dekad sejarah Malaysia, dengan besar kemungkinan ramai calon akan hilang wang deposit

Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka adalah pilihan raya paling bercelaru dalam enam dekad sejarah Malaysia, dengan besar kemungkinan ramai calon akan kehilangan wang pertaruhan.

Terdapat 112 calon yang akan merebut 22 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri Melaka. Berlaku pertembungan tiga penjuru di 11 kerusi, empat penjuru di sembilan kerusi, lima penjuru di lima kerusi dan enam penjuru di tiga kerusi.

Meskipun ini cuma pilihan raya negeri, ia tetap akan memberikan impak yang meluas terhadap masa depan Malaysia, malah akan menentukan nasib Ismail Sabri — sama ada beliau akan menjadi perdana menteri paling singkat dalam sejarah Malaysia, lebih singkat daripada perdana menteri kerajaan “pintu belakang”, Muhyiddin Yassin.

Ia juga akan menentukan sama ada kleptokrasi akan kembali mencengkam Malaysia.

Salah satu senjata yang digunakan dalam kempen pilihan raya negeri Melaka ini adalah pembohongan dan penyebaran maklumat salah.

Antaranya pihak yang menggunakan senjata itu adalah pemimpin Bersatu yang baru-baru ini menuduh DAP sebagai cauvinis dan anti-Melayu.

Saya tidak faham mengapa beliau perlu membuat tuduhan semberono begitu. Saya telah menceburi bidang politik hampir 57 tahun dan tidak pernah sekalipun saya anti-Melayu.

Di satu pihak yang lain pula, mereka menuduh saya sebagai cauvinis sebenar yang telah menggadaikan kepentingan dan hak kaum Cina, selain memomokkan saya sebagai pengkhianat kepada kaum Cina, kerana saya pernah berkata bahawa belajar Jawi atas pilihan sendiri tidak menjadikan seseorang itu kurang menjiwai semangat rakyat Malaysia — Hakikatnya, saya memang pernah mempelajari Jawi ketika pertama kali ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri di Muar pada 1969.

Saya masih ingat, 44 tahun lalu, pada malam 8 November 1977 semasa Ahli Parlimen DAP menyatakan sokongan kepada Ahli Parlimen PAS yang ketika itu menolak pengisytiharan darurat di Kelantan dan membantah usul yang memberi kuasa kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk mengambil alih pentadbiran Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan.

Ahli Parlimen DAP menyuarakan bantahan di Parlimen berhubung usul pelaksanaan darurat di Kelantan, yang mana dibahaskan sehingga jam 2.45 pagi keesokan harinya.

Masa itu, tiada pula yang mengatakan DAP anti-Melayu dan anti-Islam!

Benarkan saya untuk mengajukan satu soalan kepada pemimpin Bersatu berkenaan dan persoalan ini juga terbuka untuk dijawab oleh semua ahli politik yang bergiat dalam parti-parti politik yang bertunjangkan ideologi ketuanan Melayu — Pernahkah mereka dipenjarakan atau mengorbankan kelayakan mereka sebagai Ahli Parlimen kerana semata-mata mempertahankan maruah dan kehormatan seorang gadis Melayu bawah umur seperti yang pernah dilakukan oleh Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng pada 1994?

Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka adalah wadah yang sesuai untuk menguburkan segala pembohongan dan penyebaran maklumat salah seumpama ini.

Meskipun Ismail Sabri sudah ‘insaf’ dan mencipta slogan “Keluarga Malaysia”, beliau perlu membuktikan bahawa beliau telah benar-benar berubah.

Hanya setelah beliau menjadi perdana menteri barulah saya terjumpa pelbagai poster dan kenyataan beliau yang menuduh DAP sebagai anti-Melayu dan anti Islam di media sosial, terutama berhubung isu ratifikasikan Konvensyen Antarabangsa Mengenai Penghapusan Segala Bentuk Diskriminasi Kaum (ICERD) pada penghujung tahun 2018.

Pemimpin DAP tidak tahu-menahu tentang isu ratifikasi ICERD sehinggalah mantan Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad menyatakan bahawa Malaysia akan meratifikasi ICERD semasa beliau berucap di Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB).

Isu ratifikasi ICERD memberikan “peluru” kepada ahli politik ketuanan Melayu untuk mengeluarkan kenyataan rasis dan Ismail Sabri adalah salah seorang yang menangguk di air keruh dalam isu berkenaan.

Kita terperangkap dalam suasana toksik pembohongan, penyebaran maklumat salah, kebencian, perkauman dan keagamaan, yang mudah dijadikan alat sewaktu isu ICERD mula meletus pada 2018, yang juga mencetuskan konspirasi Langkah Sheraton pada Februari 2020 yang menggulingkan sebuah kerajaan yang sah dan dipilih secara demokratik, yang kemudiannya digantikan dengan kerajaan pintu belakang dan tidak sah, malah menyebabkan hampir 30,000 terkorban dan lebih 2.5 juta dijangkiti wabak Covid-19 sepanjang 22 bulan lalu.

Menteri Luar Negeri yang bertanggungjawab terhadap isu ICERD itu dilantik semula ke jawatan asal dalam kerajaan baharu.

Saya menggesa Saifuddin Abdullah untuk menyatakan perkara sebenar bahawa DAP tidak ada kena-mengena dengan isu ratifikasi ICERD meskipun DAP telah dituduh sebagai dalangnya.

(Ucapan oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang dalam mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Publisiti DAP Pilihan Raya Negeri Melaka di Kuala Lumpur pada Selasa, 9 November 2021, 12 jam tengah hari)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 November 2021, 2:20 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia First – Boleh ke?

Firstly, I want to thank Kee Thuan Chye for writing about my past.  I did not know what he was writing and I was quite curious when he gave me the first copy of the book when it was published – and I find it most readable and absorbing.

He did not ask me very much of my school days and I found to my surprise that he has learnt quite a bit. The stories were true although some aspects were quite  apocryphal, gained from the telling and re-telling of the stories.

Whatever  lessons we can learn  of the past, it is the future that is  my concern – for I think we are in one of the most  critical times of the nation.

As this webinar has posed the question: Malaysian first – Boleh Ke?

I do not think anybody has an answer to this question, but one thing is sure, if we cannot be Malaysian first, then the future is a bleak one – there is no way to stop  Malaysia from heading towards  a kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state.

Yesterday, I came across  an article by Murray Hunter on “The Dark Forces Changing Malaysian Society” and I am reading Nazir Razak’s book “What’s In a Name”.

Fortuitously, we are in the midst of the Malacca general elections with Polling eleven days away on Nov. 20.

For the past 50 years, the nation-building policies moved away from “Malaysia First” approach, and as a result, we lost  two million of our brightest and the best sons and daughters to the diaspora in the world.

They emigrated to other countries to become supermen and superwomen when they should remain in Malaysia to help build the country into a world-class great nation.

It is not that we have not achieved anything in the past six decades.

We have the Malaysian Constitution, which celebrated Malaysia’s plural society, the separatuion of powrers, the rule of law, good governance and human rights.

We have the Rukun Negara principles of nation-building, although I suspect we now have Ministers who do not subscribe to the Rukun Negara principles.

And then we have the 2018 general election which performed the impossible and   toppled Umno the hegemon was an undoubted achievement, more so because UMNO was so invincible.

But the Pakatan Harapan government squandered the opportunity to bring about institutional reforms and changes  in the country before it was itself toppled after 22 months, ushering in two backdoor, illegitimate and undemocratic governments by the

Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020.

The rejection of the “Malaysian First” nation-building policy is sadly illustrated in the 22-month Covid-19 pandemic, with Malaysia becoming one of the worst performing states in the world, ranked No. 20 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, with over 2.5 million Covid-19 cases and nearly 30,000 Covid-19 deaths.

But there are too many negative vibes in Malaysia today. There is a sense of apathy, hopelessness, despair and desolation in the land.

We have a new Prime Minister  Ismail Sabri who coined the  “Keluarga Malaysia” slogan, but could he live down his past for he was one of the main UMNO leaders who went on a rampage on “race and religion” rhetoric, particularly over the ICERD ratification lies and misinformation.

Then we have the 2022 budget which even the former economic adviser of the Pakatan Harapan government, Mohammad Abdul Khalid, asked where was the fairness over the measly allocation of millions of ringgit  for non-bumiputeras but billions of ringgit  for the bumiputeras.

I worry the voter turnout in Malacca and the subsequent  Sarawak state general election may be as low as less than 30 per cent, as Malacca and Sarawak general elections will be important forerunners of the 15th General Election to decide whether the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to become a world-class great nation has come to an end and there is no way for Malaysia to become a successful plural society and a world-class great nation.

Do we say No to the question: Malaysian first – Boleh ke?

I still believe that it is still possible.

Man do not live by bread alone. We all have a dream larger than ourselves.

I have not asked Kee Thuan Chye why he named his son  Jebat Arjuna Kee. This is his dream for a better and greater Malaysia.

Malaysia is at the confluence of four great civilizations – Malay/Muslim, Chinese, Indian, Western.  There is no reason why we cannot leverage on the values and virtues of these four great civilisations to make Malaysia a world-class great nation.

We owe it to our children and children’s children to continue to try until we succeed.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the book-launch webinar “Malaysia First – Boleh ke?” on Tuesday, 9th November 2021 sat 5.30 p.m)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 9 November 2021, 6:32 pm and is filed under
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Can the voters of Malacca turn the Malacca general election on Nov.20 poll into the first “Malaysians First” election forerunner   to the 15th  Malaysian General Election?

(Versi BM)

Last night, I had the first taste of the Malaysia-made Timah Whisky. I also had a first taste of Taiwanese Omar whisky.

Whisky connoisseurs will have their opinion of Timah and Omar whisky but only those who don’t drink can come out with silly or stupid statements like “drinking a Malay woman” or “drinking a Malay man”.

But the episode has made Malaysia notorious as a nation which is unable to differentiate between what are essential and non-essential.

There is for instance considerable attention to “political frogs” in the Malacca state general election but the real question for Malaysians is how the country can leap-frog to become a world-class great nation after half-a-century of being overtaken by other countries, instead of Malaysia overtaking other countries.

In the first decade of Malaysian nationhood, we were ahead of Taiwan and South Korea. Today, we have been overtaken not only by these two countries, but others like Vietnam and Singapore, and in danger of being overtaken by others like Indonesia.

Can the 22-month Covid-19 pandemic be a wake-up call for Malaysians?

Yesterday, Indonesia recorded 434 new Covid-19 cases (Indonesia’s 26th consecutive day in triple-digit numbers) and 21 Covid-19 deaths (Indonesia’s 40th consecutive day in double-digit numbers) compared to Malaysia’s 5,403 new Covid-19 cases and 78 Covid-19 deaths.

We are paying a heavy Covid-19 price for the Sheraton Move conspiracy, which toppled the democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months and ushered in two backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate governments.

I believe that whatever its faults, the Pakatan Harapan government would have kept the Covid-19 cases and deaths very low, like South Korea, which today ranks No. 73 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases – 383,407 Covid-19 cases and 2,998 Covid-19 deaths.

In contrast, although the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia have been halted, Covid-19 pandemic statistics is still on the high side with cumulative total of 2,516,255 Covid-19 cases and 29,427 Covid-19 deaths.

The price of the Sheraton Move conspiracy is the over 2.5 million Covid-19 cases and nearly 30,000 Covid-19 deaths under the two backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate governments.

I had the first taste of Timah and Omar whisky after the webinar “Malaysian First – Boleh Ke?” to mark the launch of Kee Thuan Chye’s book, “Lim Kit Siang: Malaysian First”.

This made me think whether the voters of Malacca can turn the Malacca general election on Nov. 20 poll into the first “Malaysians First” election forerunner to the 15th Malaysian General Election.

This of course is for the voters of Malacca to decide.

(Media Comment by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Malacca on Wednesday, 10th November 2021)

Bolehkah pengundi Melaka menjadikan pilihan raya negeri Melaka pada 20 November sebagai pilihan raya yang pertama yang menjiwai semangat “Malaysian First” supaya semangat yang sama dapat dibawa ke dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15 dan seterusnya?

Semalam, buat pertama kali, saya menikmati wiski buatan Malaysia jenama Timah. Saya juga kali pertama menikmati wiski jenama Omar buatan Taiwan.

Penggemar wiski akan mempunyai pendapatnya yang tersendiri berkenaan wiski Timah dan Omar, tetapi mereka yang tidak meminum minuman tersebut pasti akan mengeluarkan kenyataan yang tidak masuk seperti “minum perempuan Melayu” atau “minum lelaki Melayu”.

Tetapi peristiwa ini menjadikan Malaysia terkenal dengan reputasi sebagai sebuah negara yang gagal membezakan antara perkara yang penting dan perkara yang kurang penting.

Sebagai contoh, soal “katak politik” telah diberikan sorotan yang meluas dalam pilihan raya negeri Melaka, tetapi persoalannya yang sebenar yang perlu diberi perhatian adalah bagaimana Malaysia dapat melonjakkan kedudukannya untuk menjadi sebuah negara hebat bertaraf dunia selepas lebih setengah abad dilihat ketinggalan berbanding negara-negara lain.

Pada era awal pembinaan negara bangsa Malaysia, kita berada di hadapan meninggalkan Taiwan dan Korea Selatan. Kini, kita dipintas bukan sahaja oleh dua negara ini, malah Vietnam dan Singapura, dan berisiko dipintas oleh negara lain seperti Indonesia.

Mampukah wabak Covid-19 yang berlarutan selama 22 bulan ini boleh menjadi pencetus kesedaran (wake-up call) untuk rakyat Malaysia?

Semalam, Indonesia merekodkan 434 kes baharu Covid-19 (hari ke-26 berturut-turut negara itu mencatatkan kes tiga angka) dan 21 kematian (40 hari berturut-turut kes kematian direkodkan pada julat dua angka) berbanding Malaysia dengan 5,403 jangkitan baharu dan 78 kematian.

Kita telah membayar harga yang mahal akibat daripada Langkah Sheraton, yang menggulingkan kerajaan 22 bulan Pakatan Harapan yang sah yang dipilih rakyat dan membawa masuk kerjaaan pintu belakang, tidak demokratik dan tidak sah.

Saya yakin apa jua kekurangannya, kerajaan Pakatan Harapan akan memastikan angka jangkitan dan korban Covid-19 kekal rendah, seperti Korea Utara, yang hari ni berada di kedudukan ke-73 antara negara dengan kes keseluruhan Covid-19 tertinggi — 383,407 kes dan 2,998 korban.

Sebaliknya di Malaysia, meskipun lonjakan kes jangkitan dan kematian telah terhenti, kita masih merekodkan jumlah kes keseluruhan Covid-19 dan kematian akibat wabak itu yang begitu tinggi iaitu masing-masing berjumlah 2,516,255 dan 29,427.

Inilah harga konspirasi Langkah Sheraton yang ditanggung kita semua — jumlah kes yang mungkin berada di bawah paras setengah juta dan kematian di bawah 3,000 kes di bawah pentadbiran Pakatan Harapan.

Saya pertama kali merasai wiski Timah dan Omar selepas webinar “Malaysian First – Boleh Ke?” bagi menandakan pelancar buku “Lim Kit Siang: Malaysian First” oleh Kee Thuan Chye.

Ini membuatkan saya terfikir sama ada pengundi Melaka mampu menjadikan pilihan raya negeri Melaka pada 20 November sebagai pilihan raya yang pertama yang menjiwai semangat “Malaysian First” supaya semangat yang sama dapat dibawa ke dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15 dan seterusnya.

Ini adalah persoalan yang sudah tentunya diajukan kepada pengundi di Melaka.

(Komen Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Melaka pada hari Rabu, 10 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 November 2021, 1:13 pm and is filed under
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Its unbelievable – Malaysia not only losing out to Indonesia and Philippines but also to India and China  in daily new Covid-19 cases and deaths in battling Covid-19 pandemic!

(Versi BM)

Its unbelievable – Malaysia not only losing out to Indonesia and Philippines but also to India and China in daily new Covid-19 cases and deaths in battling the Covid-19 pandemic!

Yesterday, Malaysia did a rebound for the second consecutive day, increasing its daily new Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths to 5,403 cases and 78 deaths, as compared to 4,343 daily new Covid-19 cases and 35 deaths two days earlier.

What makes the rebound particularly shocking and unbelievable is that Malaysia is not only losing out to Indonesia and Philippines in ASEAN, but also losing out to India and China in Asia.

Yesterday, Indonesia recorded 434 new Covid-19 cases (Indonesia’s 26th consecutive day in triple-digit numbers) and 21 Covid-19 deaths (Indonesia’s 40th consecutive day in double-digit numbers) while Philippines recorded 1,407 daily new Covid-19 cases and 46 Covid-19 deaths.

What is more shocking is that India, which has over 43 times the population of Malaysia, is performing better than Malaysia recording 4,502 daily new Covid-19 cases and 64 Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

China, which is now ranked No. 113 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases as compared Malaysia’s global rank of No. 20, recorded 62 new Covid-19 cases and zero Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

Khairy Jamaluddin has succeeded in ending the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia but he has failed to end the third Covid-19 wave in Malaysia – which is becoming the longest Covid-19 wave in the world lasting over 14 months since the Sabah state general election in September last year.

Malaysians are paying a heavy price for the Sheraton Move conspiracy in February 2020, as I believe that whatever its faults, the Pakatan Harapan government would have kept the Covid-19 cases and deaths very low, like South Korea, which today ranks No. 73 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

South Korea’s cumulative totals yesterday were 383,407 Covid-19 cases and 2,998 Covid-19 deaths.

In contrast, although the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia have been halted, Covid-19 pandemic statistics is still on the high side with cumulative total of 2,516,255 Covid-19 cases and 29,427 Covid-19 deaths.

This is the price of the Sheraton Move conspiracy – instead of less than half a million Covid-19 cases and less than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths under a Pakatan Harapan government.

One the the reasons Pakatan Harapan signed the confidence-supply-reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri on Sept. 13, 2021 was to save Malaysian lives and livelihoods by stopping the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases and deaths to reach four, five or even six million Covid-19 cases and over 100,000 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia.

But Khairy should explain why Malaysia is performing so poorly in the Covid-19 pandemic, losing out not only to Indonesia and Philippines in ASEAN but to India and China in Asia.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 10th November 2021)

Sukar untuk dipercayai — Malaysia bukan sahaja kalah dengan Indonesia dan Filipina, tetapi juga kalah dengan India dan China dari segi jumlah kes dan kematian harian dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19!

Sukar untuk dipercayai — Malaysia bukan sahaja kalah dengan Indonesia dan Filipina, tetapi juga kalah dengan India dan China dari segi jumlah kes dan kematian harian dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19!

Semalam, kita mencatatkan lantunan semula untuk hari kedua berturut-turut, meningkatkan jumlah kes baharu dan kematian harian kepada 5,403 kes dan 78 kematian, berbanding dengan 4,343 kes dan 35 kematian yang dicatatkan dua hari sebelumnya.

Apa yang membuatkan peningkatan semula ini lebih mengejutkan dan sukar dipercayai adalah apabila kita bukan sahaja di belakang Indonesia dan Filipina di ASEAN, tetapi juga kalah dengan India dan China dalam benua Asia.

Semalam, Indonesia mencatatkan 434 kes baharu Covid-19 (hari ke-26 berturut-turut negara tersebut mencatatkan kes dalam julat tiga angka) dan 21 kematian akibat Covid-19 (hari ke-40 berturut-turut mencatatkan kematian dalam julat dua angka) sementara Filipina mencatatkan 1,407 kes baharu dan 46 kematian akibat Covid-19.

Apa yang lebih mengejutkan adalah India, yang mempunyai 43 kali ganda lebih ramai penduduk berbanding Malaysia, mencatatkan prestasi yang lebih baik berbanding dengan Malaysia dengan 4,502 kes baharu dan 64 kematian akibat Covid-19 semalam.

China yang kini berada di tempat ke-113 dari segi kes terkumpul di seluruh dunia, berbanding dengan kedudukan Malaysia di tempat ke-20, mencatatkan hanya 62 kes baharu dengan sifar kematian akibat Covid-19 semalam.

Khairy Jamaluddin telah berjaya menamatkan peningkatan mendadak kes baharu dan kematian di Malaysia, namun beliau gagal menamatkan gelombang ketiga ini — yang telah berlarutan selama 14 bulan, menjadi gelombang penularan terpanjang di dunia sejak PRN Sabah pada bulan September tahun lepas.

Rakyat Malaysia kini menanggung bala daripada konspirasi Langkah Sheraton pada bulan Februari 2020, kerana saya percaya, walaupun ada kekurangannya, kerajaan Pakatan Harapan akan memastikan kadar kes dan kematian akibat Covid-19 ini rendah, seperti di Korea Selatan yang kini berada di tempat ke-73 dari segi jumlah kes terkumpul.

Jumlah kes terkumpul di Korea Selatan setakat semalam adalah 383,407 kes dengan 2,998 kematian akibat Covid-19.

Sebaliknya, walaupun peningkatan mendadak kes dan kematian di Malaysia telah dihentikan, statistik wabak ini dalam negara masih berada pada paras yang tinggi, dengan sejumlah 2,516,255 kes dan 29,427 kematian akibat Covid-19.

Inilah harga konspirasi Langkah Sheraton yang ditanggung kita semua — jumlah kes yang mungkin berada di bawah paras setengah juta dan kematian di bawah 3,000 kes di bawah pentadbiran Pakatan Harapan.

Salah satu sebab Pakatan Harapan menandatangani memorandum persefahaman (MOU) kepercayaan-perbekalan-reformasi (CSR) dengan Perdana Menteri Ismail Sabri pada 13 September 2021 adalah untuk menyelamatkan nyawa dan kehidupan rakyat dengan menghentikan peningkatan mendadak kes Covid-19 daripada mencecah empat, lima atau enam juta kes dan mengelakkan kadar kematian dalam negara daripada mencecah sehingga kepada tahap 100,000 korban nyawa.

Tetapi, Khairy perlu menjelaskan, mengapakah prestasi negara kita amat buruk sekali, kalah bukan sahaja dengan Indonesia dan Filipina di kawasan serantau ASEAN, tetapi juga kalah dengan India dan China dalam Asia.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Rabu, 10 November 2021)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 10 November 2021, 7:18 am and is filed under
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