Oil policy – change it to encourage economic growth

by
Dr. Chen Man Hin

The present oil policy to set gasoline and diesel prices at international market prices has caused a sharp decline of the economy causing hardships to the people.

This is the current policy adopted in developed economies which do not advocate subsidised oil for the people. Their experts contend that subsidised oil would distort the market, and people would not be encouraged to conserve the use of oil.  In the end there would be a disastrous impact on the economy and on the environment.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,  who is also Minister of Finance slavishly followed the concept practised in developed countries.  It has proved to be disastrous for Malaysia.

Because of the high pump prices of gasoline and diesel, the economy has slowed down considerably. The wheels of industry are not humming, and more people are laid off.

Consumers buy less because of lower income and inflationary prices of food and other essentials.

Every sector of the economy  is affected, be it transportation, industries, consumerism, tourism or health.

The DAP has been advocating that Malaysia as an oil producer and exporter should use its revenue from oil to subsidise pump prices, in order to keep the economy going and ensure that  the people do not suffer.  Unfortunately, the advice has fallen on deaf ears.

The dap highly recommend a smart way to deal with rising oil prices, by adopting an oil policy that is centred to encourage economic growth at any cost.

It is the same policy adopted by China, whose economy is kept going at a fast clip.  They were smart enough to adapt and innovate to ensure that the people were not made to suffer by raising gasoline and diesel prices to international. market rates.

China’s oil policy of ‘subsidies and price-ceilings’ have proven to be the right formula to cope with rising oil prices.  Their subsidies are capped at 1% of the GNP and at the same time they impose a ceiling on pump prices.

Malaysia should send a delegation to China and study the hows and whys of a tried and successful system.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 August 2008, 5:40 pm and is filed under
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Permatang Pauh by-election – Anwar will win hands down if decided by Nomination turnout

If the Permatang Pauh by-election is decided by the Nomination Day turnout this morning, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Anwar Ibrahim would win hands down.

Never before in any by-election nomination in Malaysian electoral history has the Barisan Nasional been so-outnumbered and overwhelmed, whether in terms of supporters;  publicity materials whether flags, buntings or banners; or sheer enthusiasm, morale and  spirit of the supporters.

In the sea of humanity at the Nomination Centre this morning, Anwar’s supporters from the three Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, DAP and PAS simply drowned out  the Barisan Nasional supporters from Umno, MCA, Gerakan and  MIC, led by a very subdued  Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself, Umno Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin.

There are those who estimate that the crowd was as big as 100,000 or more, with the Pakatan Rakyat supporters exceeding the Barisan Nasional supporters by a ratio of  from 1:7 to 1:10.

UMNO Youth Hishammuddin  yesterday played the sympathy card when he “begged” Permatang Pauh voters to support the Barisan Nasional candidate
“because we are the underdog”
.

The role of an “underdog” does not sit well with Hishammuddin as memories among Malaysians  are still fresh that he was far from being an underdog when he wielded the Malay keris at the Umno Youth general assembly for three consecutive years, utterly insensitive of the sensitivities of a multi-racial Malaysia.  Nor is the Prime Minister’s son-in-law best cast in the role of an “underdog”!

The impression the outnumbered and demoralized BN team gave at the  Nomination Centre this morning was certainly not one of an “underdog” but of a Chinese description of the “rat running across the street”!

Anwar is right however in his caution to all workers and supporters not to be complacent and  take the BN mechanism  lightly, as the BN is fully capable of turning the table on polling day by  snatching  victory from the jaws of defeat with its tested “bag of dirty tricks”.

It is a sad commentary on Anwar’s  total lack of confidence in the independence and integrity of the electoral system that Dr Mansor Othman, former Penang PKR leader, had to be nominated as an independent candidate as a “strategic contingency” move  in case Anwar was unreasonably and unjustly disqualified  – with Mansor announcing his withdrawal when Anwar sailed through the nomination process, forfeiting RM15,000 in the process!

Anwar had very good reason to take such a precautionary  measure as the decision by the Election Commission to fix a Tuesday – August 26 – as the polling day for the by-election was clearly unfair and undemocratic, designed to discourage a high voter turn-out being a working day particularly for the high percentage of factory workers in the constituency and therefore unfavourable to Anwar’s candidature.

The battle royale of the Permatang Pauh by-election for the next ten days is on – with far reaching consequences not just for Anwar and the constituency, but for the nation and 27 million Malaysians.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 August 2008, 4:13 pm and is filed under
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PP by-election – focus of Malaysia and the world

The Permatang Pauh by-election has become the focus of the whole country and the world because it is not a contest between Anwar Ibrahim and Ariff Shah.  It is not just a by-election about who should represent Permatang Pauh.

It is a battle for the future of Malaysia – of 27 million Malaysians and future generations.

The 58,459 voters of Permatang Pauh have a historic mission to perform and  three things to accomplish on polling day on August 26:

–	to speak up on behalf of 27 million Malaysians to reaffirm in the most convincing and decisive manner  possible the historic result of the March 8 general election  for political and economic  change and reforms;

–	to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of the deep and widespread  national disappointment at his  failure to fulfil his latest promise that he has finally heard the message of  Malaysians in the March 8 “political tsunami” and his new undertaking to implement the many stillborn reform promises  as he has nothing to show for the past five months whether over police reforms as establishing the  IPCMC, judicial reforms or an all-out war against corruption; and

–	to endorse Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister when a Pakatan Rakyat federal government is formed.

(Gist of speeches at Permatang Pauh by-election ceramahs in Sungai Lembu and Permatang Pasir on Nomination night)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 August 2008, 11:57 am and is filed under
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Gerakan leaders –  take a stand against Umno’s racist politics in the Permatang Pauh by-election and not wait until October

Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Gerakan acting  President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon were greatly embarrassed yesterday when they were asked questions about the call by the Gerakan Wanita chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe that  Gerakan
quit
the Barisan Nasional.

Speaking at the Perak Gerakan annual delegates conference in Ipoh, Tan, who is also Deputy Information Minister, said the party should pull out from the BN due to Umno’s unabated and unabashed racial politics that had hurt the sentiments of non-Malays and non-Muslims.

She whacked Umno for continuing to play racial politics and  not learning from the harsh lessons meted out by voters in the recent March general election.

Another Gerakan leader, national vice chairman and Perak Gerakan chief Datuk Chan Ko Youn  is quoted in the media as saying that 80% of the Gerakan delegates in Perak supported Gerakan’s pull-out from the BN.

Both Tan and Chan are right and Koh wrong – as Umno has clearly not learnt the lessons of the March 8 “political tsunami”, when Malaysian voters transcended their racial, religious and even political differences to vote as one Malaysian people for unity, freedom, justice and democracy in Malaysia.

Unfortunately, the Umno leaders have proved to be even more racist, communal and chauvinist than in the past, as evident from one Umno Youth banner displayed during the Permatang Pauh by-election Nomination Day,which screamed:

MELAYU DITINDAS – MANA KEADILAN???

Is this  one of the Barisan Nasional campaign themes in the Permatang Puah by-election?

How can the Gerakan, MCA and MIC leaders, members and supporters support such a racist, communal and chauvinist campaign theme in the by-election?

Gerakan leaders cannot wait until October but must take a stand against Umno’s racist politics in the Permatang Pauh by-election!

In two weeks’ time, Malaysians will be celebrating our 51s National Day.

However, the 51st Merdeka anniversary on August 31 has been made quite meaningless with the obsession  with “Malay Unity” instead of “Malaysian Unity”  in the past five months by Umno leaders  who form the backbone of Barisan Nasional government – to the extent that UMNO Youth could so blatantly display a racist, communal and chauvinist banner like “MELAYU DITINDAS – MANA KEADILAN???”.

Who had suppressed and oppressed the Malays?  If the Umno Youth banner refers to the Malays in Penang, is it a condemnation of the 18 years of Chief Ministership of Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon?

If the banner refers to the Malays in Malaysia, is it a condemnation of the failure of the Umno leadership, in particular Abdullah’s premiership in the past five years?

Gerakan leaders, and those from the MCA, MIC and other BN component parties, should take a leaf from Dr. Toh Kin Woon, the “conscience of Gerakan” and take a clear-cut stand for the interests of all Malaysians against the racist and communal politicking of UMNO, which had gone from bad to worse in the past five-and-a-half months since the March 8 “political tsunami”.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament at 3 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 August 2008, 6:06 pm and is filed under
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Last Chance To Save Malaysia

by
M. Bakri Musa

Before last March 2008 elections, I urged Kepala Batas voters to perform a great national service by booting out Prime Minister Abdullah.  That would have triggered a seismic shift in UMNO’s leadership.  With its ban on contesting top posts effectively circumvented, the party would get to preview other potential candidates.

            If Kepala Batas voters were to shy away from exercising that historic opportunity, I suggested that Malaysians could still teach Abdullah a lesson by substantially reducing his coalition’s victory.  That would also trigger a challenge to his leadership, and we would have the same effect as with the first scenario.

            Alas, Malaysians did teach Abdullah a hard lesson, but not hard enough.  Besides, being a slow learner, Abdullah did not get the message.  Now voters in Permatang Pauh, practically next door, will get a chance to deal Abdullah a third and final knock-out blow, one he would surely get.

            This upcoming by-election will be more than just electing the area’s representative to Parliament.  Permatang Pauh voters will get the unique opportunity to decide on behalf of entire Malaysia on who will lead our nation.  It is as much an opportunity to vote for Anwar Ibrahim as it is against Abdullah Badawi, and to vote for Malaysia’s future – on whether she would progress to join the developed world or continue its present path to join the likes of Zimbabwe.

Anwar Versus Abdullah

In Abdullah we have a dull and apathetically detached leader who exploits the differences among us in order to remain in power.  In Anwar we have a charismatic leader well regarded especially internationally.  He nurtures our commonalities and challenges us to rise above our differences.

            Abdullah’s “I am Prime Minister for all Malaysians” utterance rings hollow when he allows, nay encourages the racist taunting of UMNO Youth leaders.  Again illustrative of his opportunistic and exploitative character, right after the March elections when his party’s position was threatened in many states, he initiated a series of secret meetings with the opposition PAS.  In so doing he showed contempt for his Barisan coalition partners.

            Abdullah was also insensitive, or more accurately contemptuous of the feelings of those non-Malays who voted for his Barisan candidates, UMNO and non-UMNO alike.  The rewards he dangled must have been quite substantial to tempt the otherwise self-righteous PAS leaders to participate in those talks.  Fortunately wiser heads prevailed in PAS; the futile discussions were aborted.

            Anwar does not have as yet a formal leadership role.  Yet as adviser to PKR he successfully created a viable coalition effective enough to deny Barisan its two-thirds majority in Parliament and dislodge it in five states, including such major ones as Perak, Penang, and Selangor.

            It is a testament to his leadership skills that Anwar could forge an alliance comprising the DAP and PAS, two parties that represent the polar extremes of political views in Malaysia.  Anwar was successful because he builds on their commonalities, their yearning for a clean, efficient and transparent government, one not blighted by cronyism and corruption.

            It is also the wish of all Malaysians, whether they embrace “Malaysia for Malaysians” or the “Islamic State of Malaysia” political ideals.  It should also be the theme and aspiration of any government.

            I am also impressed with Anwar’s ability to attract many young talents.  While UMNO had to content with such worn-out retreads like Ezam Noor, Anwar managed to attract many young educated individuals like Nik Nazmi and Sim Tze Tzin.

            It reflects the priorities of Abdullah and more importantly, his lack of diligence as a leader, that on such important matters as our energy policy he remains blissfully detached except for making empty silly remarks.  With rocketing oil prices threatening the global (and Malaysian) economies, Abdullah and his deputy Najib are content busying themselves that Saiful would swear on the Quran that he had been sodomized.

            It is the height of obscenity to see this young man wearing his songkok and Baju Melayu, symbols of everything pure and pristine in our culture, entering the sanctity of the holy mosque in the heart of Malaysia to utter, “… telah memasukkan zakarnya ke dalam lubang dubur saya.”

            All so clinical, and so well-timed politically!  It would have been obscene even without the ugly smirk on Saiful’s face after he blurted his utterance.  Thankfully, he spared us the lurid details.  One’s fantasy can get quite vivid, especially when given some attention and encouragement.  As for the frequency, he has yet to decide on that.  He is waiting to see Anwar’s diary first!

            With his hands above the Holy Quran, witnessed by the Imam and nationally televised, those crudities issued forth from his sullied mouth.  Obviously the cleansing ablution he took only minutes earlier before entering the mosque was merely a ritual, and a meaningless one at that.  Surely Saiful, and others beside him including and especially the pious Imam, realized that by just uttering those crudities he had effectively nullified his ablution.  Yet there he was, piously declaring Allah hu Akhbar (God is Great!), and then proceeding to his prayers.

            I cannot imagine a more despicable sight of desecration of our Holy Book.  I would not stoop to this college dropout’s gutter level to even translate the obscenities coming forth from his soiled lips.

            Someone had put a microphone on the young man so the world could hear his filthy utterance.  How thoughtful!  The event was broadcasted at prime time!  I pity those parents who would have to explain to their young children on what had transpired.

            Such are the priorities of this dysfunctional duo of Abdullah and Najib.  And they want Permatang Pauh voters to endorse their leadership!

            Contrast that with Anwar’s statesmanship.  The day he forms the government, he declared, he would lower gasoline prices and release those prisoners of conscience held under the ISA.  Regardless whether one agrees with his policies, there is no denying that Anwar has set his priorities and the national agenda right.

Respecting The Quran

I am appalled that many Malaysian Muslims are calling for Anwar to debase himself to the same sewer level as Saiful by swearing on the Quran.  If the truth could be had so simplistically, we would not need the court system and extensive police force.

            Those Muslims’ commitment to things Islamic does not extend however to their suggesting that the Sharia Court takes jurisdiction over this case.  After all both participants are Muslims, and Anwar has already lodged a complaint to the religious department.  Somehow at this particular instance and circumstance, those Muslims suddenly have more faith with our secular criminal justice system than with the Sharia.

            I would rather Anwar swear on the Quran to commit that, on becoming Prime  Minister, he would uphold the constitution and lead a government that is efficient, not corrupt, and has the interests of the people uppermost, as encapsulated in his Ketuanan Rakyat declaration.  I also challenge Abdullah and Najib to do likewise.  That would be the proper and dignified use of our Quran, the symbolic enactment of the phrase, “Let Allah be my witness!”

            It would also have been more meaningful and dignified had Saiful taken the oath over the Quran committing himself to be a diligent student when given the rare opportunity for a precious slot in a local university.  And had he followed through with that and studied hard, he would have achieved something for himself and be of service to his nation.  Saiful should have known that he was given an opportunity denied to too many other young Malaysians.  Instead, he blew that chance for a moment of infamy.

            A few years ago former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghaffar declared that UMNO could be had for a few billion ringgit, at most.  He was referring to the endemic corruption in the party.  Apparently that price has gone down considerably since.  Today, a local college drop-out with only a promise of a cheap scholarship to a lousy local institution could derail the whole UMNO government and paralyze the country.

            I would have never imagined that the future of our Prime Minister and his Deputy would hang on whether a young man’s posterior had been violated.  That is what Abdullah’s and Najib’s leadership has been reduced to, and how it will end, on Saiful’s end.

            If a struggling failed-freshman like Saiful could create such a havoc, I would not dare imagine what a smart, savvy, rich foreigner could do to UMNO and our country.  There is one sure way to spare our beloved nation such a fate:  get rid of UMNO and the incompetent and dysfunctional team of Abdullah and Najib.

            By voting for Anwar in the upcoming elections, Permatang Pauh voters get to do just that, and thus protect our country.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 August 2008, 8:30 am and is filed under
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Will the Sodomy II  charge against Anwar be withdrawn if he swears on the Quran?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said  yesterday that it was up to Anwar Ibrahm to
swear
 on the Quran and clear his name.

Will the criminal charge of Sodomy II against Anwar under Section 377B  under the Penal Code for consensual sodomy be withdrawn if Anwar swears on the Quran?

If not, what is the point or purpose of Abdullah making such a statement, except to underline his bias and prejudice against Anwar?

Abdullah reiterated that
“Saiful was a victim in the issue”
.

In one fell swoop, he Prime Minister has again become judge, prosecutor and accuser all in one.  If  Abdullah is convinced that Saiful is the “victim” in the sodomy charge against Anwar, even before the date for hearing has been fixed, who can expect a fair trial for Anwar?

It is most improper and completely unthinkable that a Prime Minister can make the type of comments prejudicing a fair trial for Anwar, as reported in the
Star
 today:

Ball in Anwar’s court, says Abdullah

BUTTERWORTH: It is up to PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to swear on the Quran and clear his name, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“It is up to him to decide what he wants to do. He should know what is best for him,” he said after meeting Chinese and Malay community leaders here yesterday.

Commenting on Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s declaration at the Federal Territory mosque on Friday that Anwar had sodomised him, he said the manner Saiful took the oath followed Islamic practice and law.

“We must respect a person who seeks justice when he professes that something unlawful was done to him. It is a personal matter and we should not question his sincerity.”

Abdullah reminded the people that Saiful was a victim in the issue.

He said Saiful made a personal decision to swear on the Quran, a move that is not taken lightly by a Muslim.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 August 2008, 8:46 am and is filed under
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An Open Letter to UiTM Vice Chancellor

by
Dr. Chen Man Hin

AN OPEN LETTER TO UiTM VICE CHANCELLOR ,  DATUK SERI PROF IBRAHIM ABU SHAH

UiTM VICE CHANCELLOR SHOULD  THANK  MB KHALID  FOR GIVING HONEST,  SINCERE ADVICE TO IMPROVE STANDARDS.

The whole country is aware that the standards of institutions of higher studies are quite low when compared to international universities in developed countries.

Thousands graduate every year, but not all can find jobs because prospective employers are not impressed by the quality of the graduates, and they are passed over. Not many have the qualification to go for post-graduate studies.

If it is any comfort to UiTM vice chancellor, well established universities like Universiti Malaya, UKM, USM have also been found wanting by world ranking bodies like the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In an examination of the world ranking of Malaysian universities by Times Higher Education Supplement Top Universities 2007, Universiti Malaya was ranked 246 and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) ranked  364.

In the academic ranking of World Universities 2008 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, not a single Malaysian university achieved ranking among the survey of 503 universities.

For the Asia Pacific Universities ranking of top 100 universities,  no Malaysian university was listed

A ranking of South East Asia  universities by  CYBERMETRICS LAB (2008) ranked Universiti Sains Malaysia 15; Multimedia University 17; Universiti Putra Malaysia 18; Universiti Kebangsan 21; Universiti Malaya 22; Universiti Utara Malaysia 35; Universiti Teknologi Mara 39; Universiti Malaysia Sabah 66; Universiti Tenaga Nasional  67; Universiti Teknologi Petronas 76; Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 79.

GLOBAL RANKING (CYBERMETRICS LAB) 2008.   Universiti Sains Malaysia  1065; Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 1087;  Multimedia Universiti 1155; Universiti Kebangsan 1357; University of Malaya 1381; International Islamic Universiti Malaysia  1709; Universiti Utara  1997; UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA 2022;  Universiti Malaysia Sabah 3316;Universiti Teknologi Petronas 3636; Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 3721;Universiti Malaysia Perlis 3968.

It is obvious that universities in malaysia are ranked poorly when compared with other universities in other countries. There is no argument about this.

Under such circumstances sniping between the MB of Selangor and UiTM is not constructive. Advice and criticisms should be received with open arms, as the objective is the same – to raise academic standards in the universities including UiTM. It would be in the interest of UiTM to adopt an open policy. The more friends you have, the better

Tan Sri Khalid’s suggestion to have an intake of 10% of non-bumiputras by UiTM is a sound proposal, as Malaysia is a multiracial country.  it is in line with government policy of having different races in an educational institution to promote harmony and unity.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 7:06 am and is filed under
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Anwar Sodomy II – internationalising Malaysia’s Misrule of Law?

I had wanted to ask the Foreign Minister, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim the following supplementary question in Parliament this morning:

“Are you aware that by taking Anwar’s Sodomy II selective prosecution to the United Nations by way of a letter of protest to the  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at American interference in Malaysian domestic affairs as well as organising a series of ‘information sessions’ overseas, you are only internationalising Malaysia’s ‘misrule of law’  which you had so eloquently and devastatingly  criticised in your book
‘Freedom under Executive Power’
, exposing the nation to greater mockery in the global arena as we will only be able to depend on rogue states like  Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Sudan for sympathy and support for the following reasons:

(i) deterioration of the rule of law in the past decade since the publication of the book, as evident from disturbing developments in the system of justice in the country, such as

(a) the selective prosecution of Anwar on Sodomy II under Section 377B of the Penal Code on consensual sodomy when the complainant  Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had alleged that he had been raped, which should have come under Section 377C on sodomy rape;

(b) why Saiful was not similarly charged under Section 377B on consensual sodomy;

and

© the insistence by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Anwar should also swear on the Quran like Saiful, making Malaysia an international laughing stock as to whether we have a Prime Minister who understands and upholds the system of justice in the country;

(ii) grave loss of national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity and quality of the system of justice when material witnesses like private investigator Bala Subramaniam on the Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial and the Pusrawi Hospital doctor Dr. Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid had “disappeared” together with family members after making two contradictory statutory declarations within 24 hours in the former and after penning  medical notes on his first examination of Saiful in the latter;

(iii) grave international concerns of a conspiracy against Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy II charge, which has been expressed not only by Western leaders but also by Islamic leaders like former Indonesian President and head of the largest Indonesian Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama with 40 million members, Gus Dur, yesterday.”

Unfortunately this multi-barrelled supplementary question to Rais was not asked as I did not get the chance to pose it during the exchange on the first question this morning on  the measures the government was taking to tackle “foreign meddling in the sovereignty of laws of the country”.

However, as these questions continue to be uppermost in the minds of right-thinking, justice-loving and patriotic Malaysians, is the Abdullah government capable of answering them?

If so, I call on the Prime Minister or even Rais  to make  a Ministerial statement to answer all these questions before next Tuesday – the polling day for Permatang Pauh by-election.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 12:09 pm and is filed under
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Gerakan somersault and Tsu Koon in sackcloth

After dropping a bombshell proposing that Gerakan quit the Barisan Nasional as UMNO had not learnt from the lessons of the March 8 “political tsunami” in continuing with its racist and communal politicking, Gerakan Wanita chief and deputy information minister Datuk Tan Lian Ho has done a somersault.

She was front-page Chinese newspaper headline banner news yesterday but within hours, she backtracked and clarified that the “quit BN’ call was not her suggestion but that  of some Gerakan delegates.

Never mind that she had said yesterday that she was prepared to risk her post as deputy minister for speaking up, the question is why the somersault?

Backing her call yesterday, Gerakan national vice chairman and Perak Gerakan chief Datuk Chan Ko Youn said 80 per cent of the Gerakan delegates in Perak support the “quit BN’ call.

Gerakan Youth leaders have also told the press that at least half of the Gerakan Youth members  support the party leaving the Barisan Nasional.

The last word yesterday came from the Deputy Umno President. As reported by Star
“No truth to Gerakan pullout move, says Najib”
, the Deputy Prime Minister said that Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon had confirmed that Gerakan has no plan to leave the BN coalition.

Tsu Koon is wearing the sackcloth but are there no more
Dr. Toh Kin Woons
 in Gerakan, Wanita Gerakan and Gerakan Youth?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 19 August 2008, 8:55 am and is filed under
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Lee Chong Wei – pity to become  PP by-election “fodder’

Congrats to Lee Chong Wei as Olympics badminton silver medalist.

I watched his finals match with Lin Dan  and was rooting for him to win the first Olympics gold for Malaysia, but it was not to be.

He visited Parliament yesterday and would be honoured in a special ceremony in Penang tonight where he would be presented with a cheque for RM300,000 and a monthly pension of RM3,000.

Chong Wei is a national hero for all Malaysians.

It will be great pity if this national status is diminished by making him a “fodder” in the Permatang Pauh by-election – as indicated by the
New Straits Times
Dewan Dispatches article
“Lee Chong Wei becomes Permatang Pauh fodder”
.

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 August 2008, 9:07 am and is filed under
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MARA is progress not fascism

by
Azly Rahman

Mara means “to advance (forward)”. It is the opposite of “retreat” and the declaration of defeat. It does not mean Undur.

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) must live up to its name. So must its younger brother Maktab Rendah Sains MARA. It is in the interest of the public to suggest good ideas for reform – and to advance.

In my lifetime I have been affiliated with both organisations. I taught in the former institution and I was schooled in the latter. Whether a product of historical accident or not, I am proud of my experiences in both. There is a reason for things to happen. I came from a poor family and was given the chance to have an education I wish many more Malaysians, my parents included.

But I wish to share my view on this troubling phenomenon that is plaguing a certain segment of the Malays. My argument will be largely linguistic.

What is the Malay view of the recent protest of UiTM student – of those young “men-in-black” whose are mourning and calling for the death of reason and rationality and for critical sensibility?

I think Malays in general are angry at the protesters. I think they are embarrassed that those few thousands of Malay students were displaying their ignorance of what Universiti Mara means.

While other universities have advanced (sudah mara ke hadapan) and are proud that they are embracing diversity and sharing resources for the benefit of deserving children of all races, those protesting UiTM students are experiencing the opposite.

They are yelling with pride the word “defeat” and “retreat”. Instead of Ayuh Mara they are actually saying Jom Undur. While thinking needs to advance, these students are saying that they need to digress (Ayuh… mari mundur ke belakang). Mundur is the derivative word.

Should a university embody the philosophy of mundur rather than mara? Should it even be proud of being and embodiment of that philosophy? I doubt it. Only a misguided leader will be proud of being a guide to ‘defeat and retreat’ while the world around ‘advances’ and moves.

But these students are not entirely at fault. It is the ideology and perpetrators of the ideology of undur itself that’s at fault. It is the leaders implementing the retrogressive ideology that are at fault.

It is the systematic indoctrination programme of ketuanan Melayu run over the decades that are advancing this UiTM philosophy of retreat.

It is an overdose of the work of government-sponsored Biro Tata Negara (BTN) that is making the mass retreat and defeat possible. It is the work of Malay-dominated agencies like these that are imprisoning the minds of the Malays. This is an anti-Malay-progress establishment that is using deformed arguments on race and ethnicity to pursue an educational ideology that has gone bankrupt.

Docile Malay intended

This is an anti-Malaysian mode of thinking that is still allowed to shackle the mind of the Malays. The idea is simple: make the Malay mind docile and afraid to think and you will divide and conquer them.

UiTM students need to instead protest against the continuing oppression they are experiencing through the work of their own institution and through BTN. They should demand that multiculturalism instead of blind nationalism be made the foundation of their college experience. UiTM students are more intelligent than those who protested against the suggestion.

In the 1980s UiTM’s (then ITM) orientation programme used to be conducted using the tactics of sheer humiliation and stupidity; meant to stupefy the young, bright Malay minds.

The ROTU (Reserve Officers Training Unit then) was part of the week-long organisers of the orientation to create an awareness of how ITM students must learn to live in a tough and challenging environment.

Senior students would prey upon the incoming freshmen to make them ‘tough’ through humiliation – name-calling, physical threats, psychological abuse, etc. Minggu Orientasi (Orientation Week) is a week for the seniors to have control over the mind of the Malays; oftentimes in a gangsterish way.

Of course, it is also the time for the senior boys to show toughness to the young girls in this ‘big brother-little sister’ game of tough love. Many of them fell involved with each other in this ‘Master-Slave’ relationship. Even senior girls prey upon young boys, acting rough and tough on them. Pathetic paternalistic philosophy in progress.

At times the freshmen would be roughened up by students in army boots and told to just follow instructions if they are to survive in ITM. They will be screamed at for trying to speak up. This is the ideology of ketuanan Melayu at work; how to enslave the mind of the young Malays and continue to do so through the hidden curriculum designed by those who wish to have control over the mind of the bright young and eager-to-learn Malays.

Instead of teaching the in-coming students how to take good notes, listen to lectures, speak up in public, pay extra attention to English Language, and be open to new ideas, respect each other, and learn from other cultures, the Malay students are subjected to humiliation in a place that called itself a university.

Retrogressive ideologies

In MRSM as well, a predominantly Malay-elite secondary institution for the best and brightest  young Malays, similar things have been happening since the 1980s as well. Kursus Kesedaran (Self Awareness Courses) are conducted to instill the questionable idea of Ketuanan Melayu, making the children afraid of “Malaysian boogeymen and boogeywomen” and their own shadows.

Open-mindedness is rarely encouraged and students take control over each others’ lives transplanting retrogressive ideologies into each other’s head, with the help of ultra-nationalist and anti-multiculturalist teachers.

Even if these children survive the ideological ordeal and experience ‘tough love’ and go on to get their degrees from top American and British universities, they will still be Malays with a shallow understanding of multiculturalism or become more sophisticated Malays with more complex arguments on Ketuanan Melayu.

They will then design policies to affect the needed sustenance of ideology in order to protect the interests of the few.  Neo-feudalistic cybernetic Malays are then new creation of the political-economic ruling class. They run the country and many are now running it down.

As an educator wishing to see Malays progress alongside in peace and prosperity with other races, I call upon us all to put a stop to all forms of  indoctrination held especially by the BTN; an organisation that is of no value to the advancement of the Malays they claim to want to liberate.

It should be taken over by progressive Malaysians and replaced with a systematic effort to promote not only racial understanding through teaching respect and deep reflection on the cultures of the peoples of Malaysia, but also teach conflict resolution and mediation through cross-cultural perspectives. All must question the presence of BTN on campuses. All must reject BTN’s programme for indoctrination.

Let us no longer allow any government body of that sort to set foot on our campuses or our schools. As Malaysians we have to demand an end to the further dissemination of racist ideologies.

Open up, not only UiTM and MRSM but also Umno to more cultures. We will have a great celebration of diversity and respect for human dignity in decades to come. I speak as a silent reproduction and capitalised human of both MRSM and UiTM; a product of the human capital revolution of the Mahathir era.

MARA means progress. Malays are now sick of contradictions and doublespeak. They do not wish to Undur. Let us all protest against the stupefication of the Malays. Let us dismantle racist institutions.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 August 2008, 8:49 am and is filed under
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Home Minister very at home with his ignorance

by
Martin Jalleh

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar believes it is his prerogative and position to preach to the Catholic community in Bolehland on what they should and should not believe in.

“Religion and politics should not mix”– he pontificates. This is ludicrous especially coming from a Minister whose political party’s interpretation of its own religion has politicised almost everything in Bolehland.

The Home Minister  hops on the bandwagon of the horde of “little mullah napoleons” (LMNs) in the country to dominate, dictate, decide and even define what non-Muslims can and cannot discuss, deliberate on, and display in print.

He joins the LMNs in his ministry in hounding
The Herald
.  He says he was not aware of the instructions by his Ministry to decide whether to suspend or revoke
The Herald’s
publication permit, yet he decides to threaten the publication.

An official in his ministry had said that
Herald
 may have its permit suspended if it goes ahead and publishes an editorial on the Permatang Pauh by-election, because an editorial on the by-election was a topic under current affairs and politics
(Star, 13.08.08)
.

Yet, as was pointed out by The Herald’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew, the officer had not even seen the editorial. Yet he had the audacity to issue such a threat. And as it had turned out the editorial was only asking people to pray for a just and fair by-election.

So now it appears the LMNs even feel they have the right to tell adherents of faiths other than Muslim what they can or cannot pray for!

Rites & Rituals

“If you are to write on religion, then you are supposed to touch on matters pertaining to questions on rituals, adherence to God, followers and anything related to your divine mission.

“If you go beyond that, definitely you have committed some breaches,” so declared Syed Hamid when responding to questions from reporters on The Herald being given a show-cause letter and several warning letters for writing on politically-related issues and events.

In response to Syed Hamid’s hype the Catholic Lawyers’ Society of Kuala Lumpur homed in on the fact that “(u)ltimately, the interpretation of what constitutes religious matters should be left to the leaders and adherents of the faith”.

In a recent press statement, its president Mabel Sabastian said that the reporting in The Herald was “in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church in social and political charity”.

“The Home Ministry is not in a position to dictate to the Catholics (or for that matter, the proponents of any other faith) the scope of their religion,” she drove home the point.

“In seeking to control the contents of The Herald, the Home Ministry’s warning and show-cause letters go against Article 3 (1), Article 10(1)(a) and Article 11(3)(a) of the Federal Constitution, that is, the right to freely practise one’s religion, the general freedom of speech and expression and the right of a religious group to manage its own affairs.”

“Such controls will deprive the Catholic community of current information and education in relation to their faith. Such an act by the authorities is tantamount to curtailment of religious freedom,” she concluded.

Dangerous dichotomy

Contrary to the narrow and naïve definition of religion by Syed Hamid, the Catholic Church teaches that her religion must go beyond the realm of rites, rubrics and rituals and be one that seeks to respond radically to her “divine mission”.

In fact, the Catholic Church has warned her adherents of having a religion that is “nothing more than the fulfillment of acts of worship and the observance of a few moral obligations”.

She calls the “compartmentalization” of faith (as dictated by Syed Hamid), “one of the gravest errors of our time”. She says that “the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and their day-to-day conduct” is vehemently denounced in the Bible.

Catholics are taught not to view their faith as a purely private affair. It may be true that there are personal dimensions of faith but there are also social dimensions that require believers to live and take their faith into the public and political arena.

Indeed, far from pietism and personalized salvation, the Catholic faith is profoundly social. “We cannot be called truly “Catholic” unless we hear and heed the Church’s call to serve those in need and work for justice and peace,” a Church document succinctly puts it.

In sharp contrast to the narrow perspective of the Home Minister, the Catholic church also believes in carrying out its “divine mission” in solidarity with others. It proclaims that “no matter our national, racial, ethnic, economic or ideological differences, we have a global commitment to love our neighbors and to work for justice.”

“We also have a commitment to work towards a just, even and fair development of our world, where no one society is exalted materially above the rest, and no other society is left, quite literally, in the dust. Development must respect the rights of all nations and their people, always promoting the moral, cultural and spiritual dimensions of each person.”

If Syed Hamid is sincere and serious about religion being related to “your divine mission” then he can find no fault with The Herald which has only been reporting and reminding Catholics of their divine mission – which is the same as Jesus’ divine mission of bringing “good news to the poor, liberty to captives, and new sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18) – a mission that clearly and inevitably and ultimately involved the political realities of his time.

The Catholic Church also teaches that “(t)he members of the Church, as members of society, have the same right and duty to promote the common good as do other citizens. Christians ought to fulfill their temporal obligations with fidelity and competence. They should act as a leaven in the world, in their family, professional, social, cultural and political life” (Justice in the World).

As an organ of the Catholic Church in Malaysia it is The Herald’s responsibility and even sacred duty to keep Catholics informed and involved in playing an active role as citizens of this country –and this logically includes the political sphere too.

Wisdom & Will

The ignorance displayed by Syed Hamid is so reminiscent of what the Prime Minister had warned us of when he opened the “International Conference on Religion in The Quest for Global Justice and Peace”, in July this year.

He had called on religious scholars and intellectuals to engage with the wider public in order for them to play a vital role in “combating ignorance and the perversion of religion” and “in broadening public understanding of religion, and its role in promoting justice and peace,”

“Our religious education should convince us that the dignity and integrity of all human beings is worthy of our respect. Religion should inculcate a truly universal and inclusive outlook, not a mentality that is narrow, exclusive and parochial,” Pak Lah added.

Pak Lah also stressed that there is “the need to amplify the role of the media in promoting a universal and inclusive dimension of religion that focused upon justice and peace”. Will this point by the PM hit home, Mr. Home Minister?

Perhaps there is no better statement by the PM himself that exonerates The Herald, affirms what it has been doing,  and spurs the publication on to continue to translate into reality its “divine mission” than the following:

“Journalists and media practitioners in general should deepen and broaden their understanding of religion, in order to play a more effective role in advancing the universal values of justice, peace and compassion which lie at the heart of our great religious philosophies.”

Come this 31st August, may we be able to truly celebrate our freedom from all religious narrow-mindedness. May God grant to the adherents of each faith, the wisdom, will and way to live out fully their divine mission for the good of all. Merdeka!

(20 August 2008)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 August 2008, 12:21 am and is filed under
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MALAYSIAN SPIRIT WINS OLYMPIC BADMINTON MEDAL FOR  MALAYSIA

By
Dr. Chen Man Hin

The whole nation is happy and proud that Lee Chong Wei battled his way in the Beijing  Olympics and won a silver medal in badminton.

He has won honour and glory for Malaysia, and though we are a small country, we have people like Lee Chong Wei to strive hard and win a medal despite intense competition from bigger countries.

We must not forget that behind every athlete’s success, there is the guiding hand of the coach. The man behind Lee Chong Wei’s success is Misbun Sidek, the national badminton coach.

Misbun was also the coach who guided Hafiz Hashim to win the All England badminton triumph in 2003.

Misbun is the ideal Malaysian who rises above race or color and gives his experience and expertise to ensure that Lee Chong Wei would succeed. They worked as a team, a Malaysian team, with nary a thought of race.

It is the combination  and co-operation of Lee Chong Wei’s skill and Misbun Sidek’s coaching that clinched the silver medal for Malaysia.

It is an inspiring example for all to follow – that Malaysians should work together to achieve success.

The lesson for Malaysians is to be united as one, irrespective of whatever race we may be.

With Unity and Solidarity, guided by the Ketuanan Rakyat philosophy, we can conquer the world.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 August 2008, 12:48 pm and is filed under
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A week to 51st Merdeka anniversary  – completely devoid of National Day enthusiasm

A week to go for the 51st Merdeka anniversary on 31st August.

Never before is the country so devoid of National Day enthusiasm.

This the point I tried to make during question time in Parliament on Wednesday but it ended up in a pandemonium.
(video)

The
Sun
report on the parliamentary proceeding as follows:

Uproar over Lim’s words

The Sun – 21 August 2008

At the Dewan Rakyat

by Husna Yusop

OPPOSITION stalwart Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) came under fire from Barisan Nasional MPs yesterday over his remark that the government was focusing more on Malay unity rather than Malaysian unity.

Lim made the comment after he was not satisfied with Deputy Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Teng Boon Soon’s answer to his question.

In his supplementary question, Lim said the national integration programme had failed as the BN government was emphasising more on the Malays rather than Malaysians.

“Especially in the last six months, there have been pressures over racial issues, Malay supremacy, Malay sovereignty and Malay unity which should actually be about Malaysian unity, not Malay unity.

“And there were extreme reactions towards the Bar Council’s forum on social contract and conversion to Islam. And recently, in Permatang Pauh, we found bunting saying Melayu Ditindas, Mana Keadilan? (Malays oppressed, where is justice?)

“Is the MCA agreeable to this? What about Gerakan? There has been talk that they wanted to leave BN? Aren’t these signs that efforts to create national integrity have failed?” he asked Teng.

Teng said the issue of national unity needs the commitment of everyone, especially political leaders. “If we do not incite the rakyat by provoking them and together we honestly and fairly tackle the problems that the country and people are facing, I think we would be able to enjoy a more comfortable situation,” he said.

Lim was not satisfied with the answer, saying it was only 11 days before the 51st National Day celebrations but the feeling or atmosphere of national unity is still lacking “as the government was only focusing on the Malays”.

This created an uproar among the BN MPs led by Datuk Tajudin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak), who shouted that Lim was being racist, and voices were heard telling him this is not China and asking him to go back to Singapore.

However, it was not long before Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia managed to get the situation under control and the proceedings continued with the next question.

Earlier, Teng told Datuk Mohd Jidin Shafee (BN-Setiu) the government is satisfied with the effectiveness of the national integration programme but efforts must be continued to instil the spirit of unity among Malaysians.

“Everyone, including the politicians, must cooperate and work towards uniting the people by giving priority to national interest and not being too enthusiastic over individual aspirations and party agenda,” he said.

At least RM100 million was spent last year to commemorate the 50th Merdeka anniversary – all gone down the drain without fostering any greater sense of national unity or Malaysian nationalism!

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 August 2008, 5:02 pm and is filed under
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ACA – extraordinarily efficient against PR but terribly incompetent against BN

This morning, DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Dr. Hiew King Cheu, accompanied by DAP’s sole Sabah State Assemblyman, Jimmy Wong Sze Phin (Sri Tanjong) and Sabah DAP leader Edward Mujie was at the Dang Wangi police station to lodge a police report to demand that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) investigate the allegation which had appeared in the press and  the Internet about a Hong Kong seizure of RM16 million cash meant for the Umno Permatang Pauh by-election campaign.  DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng and I were also present to witness Hiew lodging the police report.

In the past few days, the Internet had been abuzz with the news and report that Michael Chia, a  confidante of the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman had been arrested at the  Hong Kong International Airport on August 14 for alleged money trafficking and laundering with Singapore currency worth RM16 million before boarding a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.

Although Musa has denied that he had any political or financial  connection with Michael Chia, why is the ACA so silent on this issue.

The ACA  had been extraordinarily efficient in arresting  two Perak Exco members from Pakatan Rakyat and four others in connection with a RM180 million housing project in Seri Iskandar which the Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin has said did not exist.

As far as the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat are concerned, the corrupt whether from  Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, must face the full weight of the law.

However, the ACA should not  become an instrument of the Barisan Nasional to persecute and victimize Pakatan Rakyat leaders – and this is the question uppermost in the minds of Malaysians if the ACA can be extraordinarily efficient against the Pakatan Rakyat but terribly incompetent when the Barisan Nasional is concerned.

For instance, how can  the ACA be so terribly incompetent as to stand idly by for more than a week at the swathes of grave allegations and imputation of corrupt practices, abuses of power and money politics swirling in the press and Internet concerning the RM16 million Hong Kong seizure which is allegedly linked to the Sabah Chief Minister and the Permatang Pauh by-election?

What didn’t ACA act on the tip-off in the press and Internet instead of waiting for a police report?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 August 2008, 3:36 pm and is filed under
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Sabah
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ANWAR –  THE ONE LEADER THE PEOPLE TRUST

by
Dr. Chen Man Hin

Despite intensive propaganda by the government and Umno publicity machines against Anwar Ibrahim, the people still trust him. This is shown by the polls taken by Merdeka Centre research which indicate that only 11% of those polled believe the allegation that Anwar sodomised Saiful. An overwhelming 89% prefer to trust Anwar – that even 76% of Malays polled do not believe the government propaganda about Anwar

When news about allegations of sodomy against Anwar  were spread in the international print and electronic media, there was shock and dismay.

Condoleeza Rice, US secretary of state, a Canadian ex-prime minister, former World Bank president, former IMF president, Gus Dur ex president of Indonesia, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – all expressed dismay and disbelief.

They say Anwar is innocent and called upon the Malaysian government to free Anwar of the sodomy charge.

Gus Dur visited  Malaysia and declared that Anwar is innocent and not the type of person to commit sodomy. He has called upon the prime minister to practise democracy.

International opinion must be valued and not taken lightly. If foreign investors see that democracy and justice are absent, their confidence will be affected and foreign investments to Malaysia will diminish.

Obviously, to foreign leaders,  ANWAR IS THE ONE.

THE HOPE – THE LEADER

There is a crisis of confidence in the country. Merdeka Centre  has from a poll found that PM Abdullah’s standing has descended rapidly from its high point in 2004 to only 26% today. This is because corruption has gone from bad to worse, the judiciary is corrupt, there is no rule of law and there is a corrupt police force. All the promises to clean up the judiciary and police force have come to nought.

Government policies which are supposed to treat all races equally and fairly have deteriorated and are now based on the concept of ketuanan melayu or supremacy of Malays.

Instead of good governance, the entire government is now engaged in a conspiracy to convict Anwar of sodomy on a false charge.

Mafia methods are adopted. The police attempted to pressure the Burmese doctor to change his medical report of Saiful by repeated visits, but the doctor stood by his findings. After filing his sworn affidavit, he and his family are now missing – probably fled overseas for refuge.

if PM Abdullah perceived Anwar as a threat to his government, he should deal with him through democracy, not by subverting the government administration, the Attorney-General’s  chambers and the police and pursuing a desperate conspiracy to trap and convict Anwar of sodomy.

The whole country is tired and disgusted with the conspiracy and lack of good  governance.  The people want a change, for someone to take the country out of the mess and become a clean, corruption-free, multiracial, multireligious, multicultural, democratic and progressive society.

THE HOPE, THE LEADER.    ANWAR IS THE ONE.

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 August 2008, 2:09 pm and is filed under
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Fifth police raid of RPK’s house – Malaysia lurching towards police state?

It is most deplorable that the police today raided the house of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin – for the fifth time!

This time the raid is in connection with the statutory declaration made by a Burmese doctor from Hospital Pusrawi, Dr. Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, on August 1 standing by his medical report which ruled out that Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had been sodomised.

Saiful was examined by Osman before he lodged a police report on June 28 claiming that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim had sodomised him.

In his statutory declaration, the doctor claimed that he had fled the country with his family following several visits by the police.

Malaysiakini
, which broke the story of the fifth police raid on RPK’s house today, reported:

A five-member team from the Bukit Aman police headquarters arrived at the blogger’s house in Sungai Buloh at 8am. They confiscated a laptop computer, a scanner and some documents.

According to Raja Petra, this is the fifth time that the police have raided his house.

“The laptop which they confiscated the last time has yet to be returned to me,” he said when contacted.

The latest police action against Raja Petra is most reprehensible.

Are we moving towards a more open society or retreating back to a closetted one?

Is Malaysia lurching towards a police state?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 August 2008, 4:44 pm and is filed under
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Pakatan Rakyat “Cabinet” – mischief-makers at work

A Pakatan Rakyat “Cabinet” list was mysteriously circulated to parliamentary reporters yesterday and I was asked whether there is any basis to it.

It is utter bunkum as the Pakatan Rakyat leaders had never discussed any such Cabinet line-up.

It is in fact the second so-called Pakatan Rakyat “Cabinet” line-up concocted by Barisan Nasional mischief-makers.

Malaysiakini
 has carried a story on it, viz:

Bogus Pakatan ‘shadow’ cabinet list appears

Syed Jaymal Zahiid

Aug 21, 08 6:50pm

A bogus list – purportedly the ‘new’ cabinet line-up to be unveiled by the Pakatan Rakyat alliance should they succeed in forming a new government – is being distributed in Parliament.

The origin of the list, which features PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister and finance minister, is unknown.

However, Pakatan MPs said it is not from them.

“It is ridiculous. It does not have me on it,” quipped Dr Hatta Ramli (PAS, Kuala Krai).

“The list is ridiculous. I think the Barisan Nasional supporters might have done it,” said Bukit Mertajam DAP MP Chong Eng.

A copy of the list was found at Umno election operation centre in Permatang Pauh (photo).

The ‘shadow’ cabinet line-up names three deputy prime ministers.

Deputy prime minister number one will be DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang. The MP for Ipoh Timur will also be placed in charge of internal security.

R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) was listed as deputy prime minister number two and minister of legal and judiciary matters.

The third slot for deputy prime minister will go to SAPP supremo Yong Teck Lee, who will also be asked to head the Rural Development Ministry.

Hadi, Karpal to be senior ministers

Noticeably low on the list is PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (Marang), whose party recently voiced hopes of him becoming premier instead of Anwar.

Hadi was named senior minister in charge of religious affairs, while another veteran Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) was picked to be minister for integrity affairs and federal ties.

William Leong (PKR-Selayang) will act as economics cum international trade and industry minister and PKR vice president Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) is poised to become the second finance minister.

Meanwhile, PAS Youth chief and Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub said the appearance of the list showed rising fear that Anwar’s persistent claim of wresting control of the government from BN might come true.

“I think the list is the product of fear of the fact that Anwar is rising to power,” said Salahuddin.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 August 2008, 1:13 am and is filed under
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Surprised to be topping party polls

Bridget Welsh asked me last night whether I had ever topped party polls before.  Not that I could recollect.

Was actually surprised that I came in first in the DAP’s triennial Central Executive Committee (CEC) election at the DAP Congress in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

I had expected to be somewhere down the list, not as bad as in the previous CEC election in 2004, but not leading it.

As Party Secretary-General and later Party Chairman, I had  at times to take unpopular decisions in the interests of the party as the challenge as party leader was  not to win a popularity contest but to do what was  right for the party and the political struggle for a Malaysian Malaysia, even it meant stepping on toes in the party.

For that reason, I had expected to be trailing in party polls and  not be topping them.

I had not been focussing very much on the likely outcome of the CEC polls yesterday and was pleasantly surprised that I had topped the list.  This must be the result of stepping less on party toes as I am no more  actively involved in the day-to-day executive duties of the party in the past four years when I was no more party secretary-general or chairman.

I thank all party delegates for the support. It definitely makes it more difficult to think of a retirement mode.

The newly-elected DAP CEC will meet shortly this morning before resumption of the party congress to elect the new party leadership as well as to co-opt new CEC members.

There is likely to be a “surprise” announcement at the resumption of the CEC congress.

The DAP CEC election results are in the press today, as in the following
Star
 report:

Lim Kit Siang – 624

Lim Guan Eng – 620

Tan Kok Wai – 571

Fong Kui Lun – 504

M. Kula – 500

Teresa Kok – 495

Dr Tan Seng Giaw – 492

Chong Chieng Jen – 476

Karpal Singh – 471

Ngeh Koo Ham – 455

Anthony Loke Siew Fook – 452

Ahmad Ton – 448

Tony Pua – 446

Chong Eng – 434

Teng Chang Khim – 417

Ngah Kor Ming – 417

Chow Kon Yeow – 410

P. Ramasamy – 340

Boo Cheng Hau – 332

Gobind Singh Deo – 305

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Sunday, 24 August 2008, 7:41 am and is filed under
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Tunku Aziz – new DAP National Vice Chairman

Welcome Tunku Aziz into the DAP

Tunku Aziz, Malaysia’s most famous crusader for integrity and transparency,  has been appointed a DAP national vice chairman.

Tunku is a Malaysian par excellence with an impressive c.v. and glittering public service record.

He was formerly  vice chairman of Transparency International and founder President  of the Kuala Lumpur Society for Transparency and Integrity, the Malaysian Chapter of Transparency International.

He was also formerly Bank Negara adviser, Group Director of Sime Darby and Director of Commonwealth Secretariat.

Tunku is  one of the ten members co-opted by the Central Executive Commitee (CEC) this morning.

The other nine co-opted CEC members are:

Teo Nie Ching –
MP for Serdang;

Vincent Wu Him Ven

Thomas Su Keong Siong –
 Perak State Exco

Leong Ngah Ngah –
SA for Triang

Liew Chin Tong –
MP for Bukit Bendera

Jeff Ooi  –
MP for Jelutong

Ronnie Liu –
Selangor State Exco

P. Gunasegaren –
SA for Senawang

Hiew King Cheu –
MP for Kota Kinabalu

Sdr. Karpal Singh and Dr. Tan Seng Giaw have been re-appointed as DAP National Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively.  The five National Vice Chairmen are Tunku Aziz, M. Kulasegeran, Chow Kong Yeow, Teresa Kok and Chong Chieng Jen.

The other line-up are:

Secretary-General
– Lim Guan Eng

Deputy Sec-Gen
– Prof P. Ramasamy, Chong Eng, Ngeh Koo Ham

National Treasurer
– Fong Kui Lun

Asst. Nat. Treasurer
– Nga Kor Meng

Nat. Org. Sec
– Tan Kok Wai

Asst NOS
– Vincent Wu

Nat. Publicity Sec
– Tony Pua

Asst. NPS
– Teo Nie Ching

Political Education Director
 – Anthony Loke

Asst Pol. Dir.
 – Jeff Ooi

International Secretary
 – Liew Chin Tong

Bureau set up:

Education Bureau – Chong Eng;

Education (Chinese) Bureau – Sim Tong Him;

Education (Tamil) Bureau – M Manogaran;

Labour Bureau – A. Sivanesan

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Sunday, 24 August 2008, 12:50 pm and is filed under
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A Merdeka upside down?

by
Azly Rahman

“Our Nation, Malaysia is dedicated to: Achieving a greater unity for all her people; maintaining a democratic way of life; creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably distributed; ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural tradition, and building a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology.

We, the people of Malaysia, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends, guided by these principles:

• Belief in God

• Loyalty to King and Country

• Upholding the Constitution

• Sovereignty of the Law, and

• Good Behaviour and Morality”

– From the Rukunegara, circa 1970

The words above constructed and proclaimed in 1970, after the bloody riots of May 13, 1969, contain internal contradictions if we are to analyse them today.

As we approach Aug 31, our independence or Merdeka Day, we read the following stories:

– an irate prime minister mulling action against a blogger for flying the Malaysian flag upside-down in cyberspace;

– a by-election campaign in Pematang Pauh in Penang, that shows up the ugliness of smear campaigns focusing on race, religion, and personal issues instead of presenting solutions to national crises;

– an aborted Bar Council forum on conversion to Islam, disrupted by groups claiming to represent the survival and dignity of Malaysian Muslims;

– an angry Vice-Chancellor of an all-bumiputera university threatening to sue the chief minister of Selangor for the latter’s suggestion that Universiti Teknologi MARA be opened to non-bumiputera;

– a teacher in Selangor reprimanded and transferred for hurling racial slurs at her Malaysian school-children of Indian origin;

– the continuing and intensified work of the prime minster’s propaganda outfit, Biro Tata Negara, in ensuring that the ideology of Ketuanan Melayu remains funneled into the minds of Malay students, educators, and civil servants;

– the continuing refusal of the Ministry of Higher Education to grant freedom to students to gain concepts and skills of political consciousness by its refusal to radically revise the University and University Colleges Act;

– an increasingly cacophonic and toxic relationship between the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislative as a consequence of the 22-year rule of the previous Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad;

– a hyper-modernised country trapped in the excesses of nationalism and globalisation at a time when the global food and energy crisis is taking a toll on the economic and political lives of nations.

After 51 years, what do we have?

These are among the snapshot items of Malaysia circa 51 years of Merdeka or independence. The composite image of divide and conquer left by the British colonials continue to be artistically refined into subdivisions of divide and conquer, aided by the propaganda machine of the ruling class.

What can now be seen in Malaysia are images of the little brown brothers becoming the new colonisers and transforming themselves into ’emperors in new clothes’.

If the words of the1970 proclamation are to be our benchmarks of Merdeka, we must ask these questions:

– How have we fostered unity amongst the nation when our government promotes racism thorough racialised policies and by virtue that our politics survive on the institutionalisation of racism?

– How have we maintained a democratic way of life, when our educational, political, and economic institutions do not promote democracy in fear that democratic and multicultural voices of conscience are going to dismantle race-based ideologies?

– How are we to create a just society in which the wealth of the nation is equitably distributed, when the New Economic Policy itself is designed based on the premise that only one race needs to be helped and forever helped, whereas at the onset of Independence, poverty existed amongst Malaysians of all races?

– How are we to promote a liberal approach to diverse culture and tradition when our education system is run by politicians who are championing Ketuanan Melayu alone and ensuring that Malay hegemony rules at all levels and spheres of education, from pre-school to graduate levels?

– How are we to build a progressive society based on science and technology when our understanding of the role of science and society do not clearly reflect our fullest understanding of the issues of scientific knowledge, industrialisation, and dependency?

A failed Malaysia? Across the board, the country is in distress. Education in shambles, polarised, and politicised. The economy is in constant dangerous flux. The judiciary is in deep crisis of confidence. Public safety is of major concern due to declining public confidence in the police, and politics remain ever divided along racial and religious lines.

This is the Malaysian depiction of Dorian Gray, one that shows the image of a “vibrant nation of progress and harmony, racial tolerance and a robust economy” but behind that is actually a deformed Malaysia, a mere continuation of the past’s feudal and colonial entity.

Broken promises

The colonised have become the colonisers. The state has become a totalitarian entity using the ideological state apparatuses to silence the voices of progressive change. The nationalists have nationalised the wealth of the nation for themselves and perhaps siphoning the nation’s wealth internationally.

This is the picture of the broken promise made by those who fought for independence; the voices of the early radical and truly nationalistic Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Sikhs, etc, of the early Merdeka movement.

How then must Malaysians celebrate their 51st Merdeka? By flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down? Or to do better than this – by putting justice in place, by engineering a multicultural jihad against all forms of excesses of abuse of power and to de-toxify the nation entirely, and then next – begin Year Zero of our cultural revolution by using a gentle enterprise called peaceful education?

Education is the solution. I believe we need a radical overhaul of everything, philosophically speaking. We have the structures in place but we would need to replace the human beings running the system.

We have deeply racialised human beings running neutral machines. We have ethnocentric leaders running humane systems. We have allowed imperfection and evolving fascism to run our system.

We have placed capitalists of culture behind our wheels of industrial progress; people who have the dinosaur brain of ketuanan this or that.

We have created these monsters and have unleashed them to run our educational, political, economic, and cultural systems. We have Frankenstein-ised our Merdeka.

We need to re-educate ourselves by reinventing the human beings we can entrust to run our machines. We must abolish the present system and create a new one; just as how we created our new cities – Putrajaya and Cyberjaya – the symbols of our oriental despotism and Asian capitalistic decadence.

We must be aware that class in the broadest and most comprehensive sense of the word is what we are dealing with and through class and cultural analyses, we can arrive at a different path to a new Merdeka.

This Merdeka, the rakyat, armed with wisdom of a new era, must now speak softly but carry a big stick. Our struggle for Merdeka has only just begun.

–

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 4:59 pm and is filed under
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American-Style Crony Capitalism

by
M. Bakri Musa

(www.bakrimusa.com)

Beware of lecturing others; you may have to learn that same lesson.  And sooner than you may think!

            In 1983 when the Soviets shot down a Korean Airline 747 jet, there was outrage especially in America, and rightly so.  How could those Russians be so barbaric?  How could they not recognize a jumbo jet on a clear moonlit night?  Barely five years later, an American missile cruiser shot down Iran Air Flight 655 on a clear morning, also killing hundreds of innocent passengers.

            As an aside, the Soviet general who ordered the shooting was disgraced while the American commander was honored upon his retirement.

            In 1997 with an economic contagion destroying much of Asia’s recently-gained prosperity, the ‘Washington consensus’ demanded, as the price for its much-needed assistance, greater transparency, end of crony capitalism, and “shock therapy” to wean citizens off subsidies.

            A decade later, with America reeling from its humongous sub-prime mortgage mess that threatens its (and the global) financial edifice, there is little indication that America is willing to learn the very lessons it dogmatically preached earlier to Asia and the world.

            Asian leaders, especially former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir, may be excused in being gleeful at America’s present economic plight.  Alone among them, Mahathir bravely defied the then prevailing wisdom and stood up against the Washington consensus.  The result of this unique economic ‘experiment of nature’ is now readily apparent:  Malaysia emerged earlier and stronger than the other Asian countries that followed Washington’s prescription.

            Mahathir could also be excused for being smugly satisfied, for many of the measures Washington is now taking in managing its economic mess are straight out of his 1997 playbook.  There is the massive bailout of huge government-linked companies (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), the earlier ‘rescue’ of Bear Stearns, a major investment bank, and FDIC’s (a regulatory agency) nationalizing a major bank, Indymack.

            Of course this is the 21st Century, and with it some new vocabulary for a new-fangled financial age.  Granting massive and generous credit lines to the two financially-troubled giant mortgage companies is not a “bail out” but merely providing the necessary “liquidity backstop,” in the language of Treasury Secretary Paulson.  Taking over Indy Bank is not nationalization, rather “regulatory supervision.”

            Then, suffering Asian countries were forced to end subsidies for food and other essential goods as per the wisdom of Washington.  Meanwhile in America, the tax-deductibility of mortgage interests (otherwise known as subsidy for homeowners) remains sacrosanct.  No politician would even dare touch that, even in light of the current mortgage mess.  At least with the Indonesians, the subsidies were for basic staples and benefited the poor.

            Like Malaysia earlier, America is purposefully keeping its interest rates low and unhesitatingly going into massive deficits to keep its economic pump primed, even at the risk of igniting inflation and devaluing its currency.

            Malaysia also anticipated the same potential negative effects then and wisely devalued its currency formally; America leaves it to the marketplace to determine the value of its dollar.  There is orderliness and predictability to the former; the latter would be at the mercy of and subject to the herd mentality inherent in the marketplace.  Yes, it is this same herd mentality that created the housing bubble in the first place.

            Of course when Mahathir devalued the currency, kept interest rates low, and injected much-needed capital into government-liked enterprises (otherwise known as bailouts), he was accused of being reckless, anti-capitalistic, and ignorant of marketplace realities.  When Paulson does essentially the same thing however, he is being prudent and responsible, to calm a jittery market and maintain its stability.

            Cynicism aside, I hope (and the world too) Secretary Paulson would be successful.

The Relevant Lessons

Before Malayisans savor their sense of schadenfreud (glee in the misfortune of others), remember that America is, among other things, our biggest trading partner and source of foreign investments.  Whatever that would cause America to sniffle could wreck a suffocating pneumonia upon Malaysia.

            Besides, there is much that Malaysia could learn from the current American financial mess, and for America to tweak the lessons Malaysia so painfully learned during its tribulations of a decade earlier.

           The Malaysian situation in 1997 was eased considerably in that the economic crisis was her only albeit heavy burden.  America today faces the far more serious challenge of simultaneously fighting not one but two very expensive and bloody wars abroad.

            Treasury Secretary Paulson’s remarks that the bailouts would cost “at most two month’s war in Iraq” betrayed his callousness on the plight of hundreds of thousands of Americans evicted from their homes through foreclosures, and the consequent devastations on their loved ones. He also dishonored the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers, Americans as well as Iraqis.

            Quite apart from the huge expense, the wars divert attention and resources of American leaders and institutions.  The economic crisis is challenging enough even without the two ongoing wars.  Ending the war would simultaneously ease the global oil market and remove a huge financial burden, two steps that could only help the financial strain, quite apart from the humanitarian considerations of ending the killings and sufferings.

            Had Malaysia still been fighting its communist insurgency in 1997, or had to contend with ethnic unrest as with 1969, that would have definitely slowed if not aborted the recovery.  Economists in their analyses of the slower recovery in the other Asian countries ignore this important element.  Indonesia was bogged down fighting a bloody secessionist movement in Aceh; the Philippines its Moro Independence movement; and Thailand its rebellion in the south.

            Malaysia also had a strong leader then; Mahathir could and did push whatever stern measures he needed and the populace would comply, if not grudgingly.  Had Abdullah been in charge, he would be flip-flopping from one policy to the next, and Malaysia would still be mired in the mess.  To say that President Bush is weak is a gross understatement; besides, the Democrats control Congress.  Thus any initiative would have to satisfy both parties and their respective lobbyists, meaning it would more likely be diluted and ineffective, with the taxpayers carrying the final tab.

            Malaysia could take comfort in that the blights of crony capitalism and political corruption, in their infinite variations, are universal.  In America, the transfer of money from interested parties to politicians is ‘political contributions;’ in Malaysia, outright corruption.  The intent is the same in both.  Presumably when the transfer of money is receipted and duly claimed as ‘business expense,’ it all miraculously becomes legitimate.

            America may swallow its capitalistic pride and adopt barely-concealed socialistic remedies in managing its current crisis, nonetheless it does not lack for strong dissenting views.  These are expressed vigorously in open congressional hearings, the editorial pages, and in academic symposia.

            There will also be lawsuits, civil and criminal.  Rest assured that accounting and other shenanigans will be uncovered, and appropriate punishments meted out.  The Enron scandal of a few years ago took the venerable accounting firm of Arthur Andersen with it, together with some hitherto powerful corporate figures.  More than a few are now behind bars.

            More importantly, new legislations were adopted that would hopefully prevent future recurrences.  The consequence of the Savings and Loans scandal of the late 1980s saw the demise of that entire financial sector.

            Contrast that to the many financial debacles in Malaysia, from the London Tin fiasco to the collapse of Bank Bumiputra.  No one was held accountable.  There were no parliamentary hearings or royal commissions, and our academics have showed minimal inclination in studying them.

           If in our haste in gleefully criticizing the American style of crony capitalism we overlook these other important lessons, then we would have missed a splendid learning opportunity.  It is always dyspeptic to acknowledge our mistakes and to learn from them, but ultimately that is the best safeguard against repeating them.  That is the crucial lesson Malaysia could take from America, regardless of whether America is preaching it or not.

———————————–

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                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 2:11 am and is filed under
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FLASH NEWS (2)! Anwar’s majority more than Azizah’s

Permatang Pauh by-election – history in the making. Anwar’s majority should be a few thousands more than azizah’s majority –
in the 16,000 region
.

[ sys admin – we are moving into strip down mode to cope with the increased load on the server ]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 8:05 pm and is filed under
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FLASH NEWS (3) Official PP result

Anwar    31,195

BN         15,524

Ind              92

Majority  15,671

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 10:01 pm and is filed under
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No smooth 2009 Budget presentation  if Anwar is not sworn in as MP to become Opposition Leader

A spate of news reports quoting the Speaker,
Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia
as saying that the oath-taking ceremony to swear in the winner of the Permatang Pauh by-election today would most likely be held in mid-October and that he did not see any urgency to “fix a quick date” has raised eye-brows all round and thrown up a flurry of questions.

There can be no doubt that if the Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar wins the Permatang Pauh by-election, he would definitely be sworn in as MP in Parliament this week, latest by Thursday if not tomorrow itself – so that it could be used by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah  Ahmad Badawi as a much-needed confidence-booster after the devastation suffered by  the Barisan Nasional in the March 8 “political tsunami” relegating the Barisan Nasional to  the Opposition benches in five states – Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan – and depriving  for the first time in Malaysian history of its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

I believe nobody in Malaysia doubts that if Arif could win the Permatang Pauh by-election today, he would be sworn in as MP in Parliament tomorrow or latest by Thursday.

Why then should the position be any different if Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is re-elected as MP for the constituency and storms back to Parliament with a historic majority?

Abdullah, the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who had spearheaded the Barisan Nasional Permatang Pauh by-election campaign to be a 4Ds campaign – the dirtiest and the most disgraceful, dishonourable and divisive election strategy – and other Barisan Nasional leaders may not want to see Anwar return to Parliament in triumph to take his seat as the Parliamentary Opposition Leader exactly opposite Abdullah for 2009 Budget presentation on Friday,  but this is not for them but  for the voters of Permatang Puah to decide today!

The reasons that have been given by the Speaker in the press why Anwar will not be able to take his rightful seat in Parliament for the 2009 Budget presentation on Friday when he wins the by-election do not stand up to scrutiny.

This is what Pandikar Amin said, as reported in
The Star
 today:

Pandikar Amin said although the by-election result would be announced tonight, he would still have to wait for a formal letter from the EC before he can fix a date for the new MP to take his oath.

“I do not see any urgency for me to fix a quick date. For all you know, the newly elected MP may want to go for a holiday first, or even for an umrah before coming to the Dewan Rakyat,” he said yesterday.

“I am prepared for anything but I can’t answer whether the new MP will be able to attend the tabling of the Budget this Friday,” he said.

If Anwar is frustrated from being  sworn in as MP and to take his rightful place in Parliament during the 2009 Budget presentation on Friday, Parliament would have failed the voters of Permatang Pauh and the people of Malaysia.

There is no reason whatsoever why Anwar could not be sworn in as MP and appointed as Opposition Leader to take the first Opposition seat opposite the Prime Minister in Parliament for the 2009 budget presentation on Friday.

In 1983, the then DAP National Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin won the Seremban by-election on Saturday, 19th November 1983 and was sworn in as MP on Monday, 21st November 1983.  The Seremban by-election was created when the then MCA President, Datuk Lee San Choon who had won the seat from  Dr. Chen in the 1982 general election,  made a sudden announcement of political retirement.

If Dr. Chen could be sworn in as MP in less than 36 hours of his re-election as MP, as Parliament was then in session, we should be even more efficient 25 years later especially in the era of information technology.

I don’t see why Anwar could not be sworn in as MP in Parliament tomorrow on his victory in the Permatang Pauh by-election today.  Even if Anwar could not be sworn in tomorrow, there is no reason whatsoever why Anwar could not be sworn in on Thursday, start  his appointment as Parliamentary Opposition Leader and take his place in the first Opposition seat in Parliament on Friday directly opposite Abdullah during the 2009 Budget presentation.

Pakatan Rakyat, which won 82 seats in Parliament, has appointed Anwar as the new Parliamentary Opposition Leader in place of Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. An official letter on Anwar’s appointment would be submitted to the Speaker tomorrow.

Abdullah may not be able to smoothly present the  2009 Budget on Friday  if  Anwar is frustrated from being sworn in as MP and taking his rightful place in the first Opposition seat as Opposition Leader in Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 3:40 pm and is filed under
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One Bangsa – 50 years on?

Letters

by
Jeff Lim

Man on the Street

I am 51 years of age, Malaysian, a self made businessman, married with 3 adult children and living in Penang. I am just a down to earth man on the street earning a decent living and community service is part of my life. If there is RM50 to give away now. There are many individuals and families who would need it desperately just to get a square meal and get by a few days.

It saddens me to see disparity amongst the races and politicians fighting pitching against themselves and within themselves. This country is a mad house. A truly Malaysia context should be fighting for all Malaysians and energy and time should be use to address other priority issues.

The wealth indicators are often used to display the racial social standing status in terms of success and wealth. Chinese have much to be proud of. They could be better if not for the brain drain and political agendas. The others have only  grievances to complain about one after another, simply because their living skills to help themselves is seriously lacking.

Yes, we lack true leadership in shaping the country. Singapore, our neighbour has forever been used as an exemplary example. Irrespective of who you are, be it a Malay, Chinese, Indian, whatever colour, meritocracy is the ONLY way of life. Nothing must stand in the way, nor politics nor religion nor corruption. In the days of P.Ramlee, we were all just one. Why must it be different now.

I sincerely pray that Permatang Paud election will be a huge success for PR in terms of a whooping victory. We need a new beginning, a breath of fresh air and hope. We need to carry on, even if it means taking another next 51 years. Malaysia Boleh, Malaysia for all Malaysians. Make it happen. God bless you and congratulation on the resounding victory on March 8th and LGE a legacy in the making. You must be a proud father.

Just 1 question – do you foresee a Bangsa Malaysia? Is that possible? and How and When?

Thank you for fighting a just cause even if it means going to jail which not many have that courage. Its time to celebrate the Permatang Pauh victory.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 11:45 am and is filed under
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Permatang Pauh voters – tryst with destiny

Polling for the Permatang Pauh by-election  has just started.

This a tryst with destiny for the voters of Permatang Pauh.  They have the opportunity to make history for themselves, 27 million Malaysians and future generations for a new Malaysia.

Let the Permatang Pauh by-election mark the rise of a pioneer generation of Bangsa Malaysia to herald the beginning of the new politics of Bangsa Malaysia to liberate Malaysians  from the divisive and negative  politics of race and graft of the Barisan Nasional.

In the past 10 days, UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders  pulled out all the stops to conduct the dirtiest, most disgusting and dishonourable election campaign in the 51-year history of nation, breaking  all election laws against money politic and  violating all moral and ethical principles of a clean and honest election campaign.

As I said in two eve-of-polling ceramahs last night,  there is no doubt of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim  being re-elected as MP for Permatang Pauh and his return to Parliament after an absence of a decade.

The only question is Anwar’s majority. I will not be satisfied unless it is an even bigger majority than Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s 13,398-vote majority in the March 8 “political tsunami” – to trigger a mini political tsunami in Malaysia by itself!

Let us be a witness to PP’s  tryst with destiny.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 8:08 am and is filed under
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STOP PRESS! Latest! Anwar’s majority more than Azizah’s

Counting of the by-election result proceeding. From all indications, Anwar Ibrahim’s majority will be more than Wan Azizah’s  majority in March 8 general election, which was 13,398 votes.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 6:54 pm and is filed under
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Permatang Pauh reinforces message of March 8th

by
Dr. Chen Man Hin

PERMATANG PAUH SENDS A CLEAR CONFIRMATION OF THE MESSAGE FOR CHANGE OF MARCH 8TH GENERAL ELECTIONS, AND IS A STUNNING VICTORY FOR PAKATAN RAKYAT FIRST-EVER ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Anwar Ibrahim won by a clear majority of 15,671 votes in a constituency representative of the multiracial composition in Malaysia.

It is a very significant victory for the Pakatan Rakyat philosopy of democracy, justice, racial equality, freedom of religion, rule of law and transparency.

It is particularly significant as Malays form 69% of the electorate (41,000) with a good mix of Chinese and other races.

This is particulary galling to UMNO to see that their traditional Malay ground has rejected their policy of
ketuanan melayu
, corruption and cronysm.

The people of Permatang Pauh have spoken for the people of malaysia. They want change for a new Malaysia where all Malaysians whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, and indigenous races of Kadazans, Ibans, Bidayuhs and others, have an equal and just place under the Malaysian sun.

Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah should also take heed of Permatang Pauh’s rejection of his government’s conspiracy to charge Anwar  of sodomy to prevent him from challenging his government and become the new Prime Minister of Malaysia. They regard the sodomy charge as fictitious. Only 11% of the people believe it according to prominent pollster Merdeka Centre, while 89% reject the sodomy charge.

The people have spoken. Anwar is THE ONE.   He will lead the country to a new Malaysia of democracy, justice, rule of law  and equal opportunities for all.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 3:16 pm and is filed under
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