Whose decision was it anyway?

KJ John

Malaysiakini

Jul 17, 2012

I am a proud former Administrative and Diplomatic Service (PTD) officer. I thoroughly enjoyed my service as a PTD officer when in the public services. In our day we were taught to assume the role and responsibility of policy advisers to the minister to whom we were fully accountable to. Therefore, during our time, when the minister, for example, said, “Jump,” we would not just ask, “how high?” but instead ask “why not run, or walk, or skip?”

I get the feeling, from today’s kind and quality of decisions being made, that most officers only proffer the minister three options on simply how to jump, instead of alternative policy options which include “the walking and skipping or running”. Therefore, today’s options are what I call “project-management options but not policy consideration options”.

Any such policy option would also stipulate the intended outputs of the agenda, some interpretation or evaluation of the potential impact, and even some plausible outcome related considerations with views about them.

My greatest fear today is that this kind and quality of public policy analysis is not fashionable any more. More fashionable are MBA-type project management potential costs and benefits calculation, but with all assumptions based on project level extrapolations which cannot be concretely tested or verified.

And when all these are reduced to numbers with a bottom line, they aid decision-making without a full review of all longer term considerations. Therefore, whether we call such projects PKFZ or the Cowgate or Syabas water supply; the so-called Public Policy Analysis stinks and therefore there is much that is rotten in the state of Malaysia!

Therefore and consequently, I am rather amused that the out-going public services chief was dismissed from his job and he apparently does not even know the reason. How can this be?

Usually, it is the Civil Services Department (JPA) which recommends persons considered for new appointments; especially by promotion.

Therefore, I am totally confused that the chief himself does not know why he was suddenly terminated. Who gave this instruction and who determined and signed the letter of termination to the chief? He was the one who usually signs all such letters to others?

Most incompetent decision ever made

If it is as reported, I must say that this singular decision to remove the JPA chief must be the most incompetent decision ever made, if the incumbent genuinely did not know why and for what reasons he was being terminated.

I know that the new salary scheme was introduced and has since been withdrawn. I am one of the so-called potential beneficiaries, through my pension payments. Even if that was so, and even if the JPA chief had opted into this new scheme, I believe he was only 57 years of age and I think the mandatory retirement age has already been extended to 58?

The last time a senior officer of the rank of secretary-general was removed rather abruptly without justification was when an incumbent of the Finance Ministry portfolio was dismissed. I understand this was because the person publicly (even if in a closed meeting) disagreed with the then prime minister about the way forward the financial and currency crisis was handled in 1998.

It was simply a matter of differences in policy options-type of disagreement and it was fair and justified for the incumbent to leave as he was also already on contract by then.  Presumably then a normal one-month notice is fine.

Arbitrary and non-rational decision-making is one of the most critical problems facing policy making today. The head of the JPA is always appointed by the Public Services Commission.

The nature and form of consultation and considerations are usually not specified but one thing is always clear. The head of JPA is a very senior appointment and it must be cleared and approved by the Cabinet but the actual appointment must always be made by the Public Services Commission.

Only the appointing authority can ‘dis-appoint’

Likewise the federal constitution is also clear that no authority or body more junior in rank or status than the Public Services Commission can “remove the incumbent JPA head”. This is simply because the federal constitution stipulates that only the appointing authority can similarly “dis-appoint!”

Therefore, these are my questions on the incumbency of the Head of JPA and why he was removed:

1.Did SPA, as a Public Services Commission, deliberate and seek a consensus on this case before he was told to retire? When was that meeting held?

2.Was the incumbent not initially appointed by the SPA? If so, what criterion and factors were considered in that appointment? Did those factors and consideration suddenly disappear now?

3.Usually there is positive vetting for the suitability of the holder for the post of the head of JPA. Was this done in this incumbent’s case? Was it not evident in quite a few Auditor-General’s Reports that the same incumbent was cited for failures as the Defence Ministry’s controlling officer?

4.I understand that he may have failed in his duties in the conduct and performance of “the salary review” which was finally aborted, but what was the due process for the terms of reference or ToR and subsequent appoint of the review committee? Was he alone in this committee? If not, are the others being equally punished for the same failure? Was the cabinet not involved in the approval of the said “new salary policy” before it was announced for execution?  How could have the Pensions Division make payments to pensioners on the new scheme if the cabinet had not approved the policy and therefore payments? Why was the federal cabinet not then held equally liable for the same failures as the incumbent who only made the recommendations? Is this not the Ling Liong Sik argument in court?

5.I think the SPA must come clean and clarify why the incumbent was removed and what were his failures and also admit if they failed in making the appointment in the first place.

Personally I think it is high time for the public services in Malaysia to be raised to another level of efficiency and effectiveness. All secretaries-general are important policy advisers to any government of the day; and they must all serve without fear or favour. We must move beyond the “Yes Sir three bags full syndrome;” wherein the minister is always right and the policy adviser apparently redundant.

Can someone come clean and clear the name of the former head of JPA so that he and all Malaysians can know why he was asked to terminate his services to the government of Malaysia? And, by the way, what did it cost the tax-payers for this arbitrary decision?

——————————————————————————–

KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 18 July 2012, 12:54 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia: The Changing Scenes

by
Allan CF Goh

Once there was a quiet, idyllic land,

Blessed by a lot of rich, fertile soil,

Regularly nourished by rainfall;

Crops grew easily, without much toil.

Nature provided bountiful food,

Within her rivers and forest foil;

Life was really an easy passage,

Without hunger threatening to roil.

This earthly paradise was ended,

When troubling storms arose from the West.

Coveting the richness of the place,

Colonisers converged here to wrest

The envied land of milk and honey.

They claimed domain for their royal crest,

After they subdued the local reign.

What followed is history, and the rest.

White men came to exploit the riches;

All resistance was firmly reduced,

With mighty guns or cunning sweet deals.

Many land-owners were soon seduced,

With easy cash and mounds of money.

Soon, much tin and rubber were produced.

The farmers became landless tenants;

From government affairs, they subduced.

Trade and commerce followed in tandem,

Spawning a need for education.

Knowledge brought forth an informed wisdom,

And rising hope and aspiration.

People realised the selfish intent

Of the colonial exploitation.

Nationalism was awakened

To demand for self-determination.

World War II exploded the shared myth

Of western invincibility.

All the races became united

Against imperial ‘superiority’.

Britain conceded to the people’s wish,

And the country’s viability.

Malaya achieved independence,

An act of inevitability.

With four partners, Malaysia was born,

To staunch the breath of communism.

After the communists were routed,

“Control” supplanted idealism.

Politics became racialistic;

Things gave way to communalism.

The merdeka spirit of oneness

Soon lost its founding enthusiasm.

Drunk with unmitigated power,

The regime lost its transparency.

Self-interest and gain slowly replaced

The ideals of true democracy.

Absolute control was the main game

To ensure racist supremacy.

Though the country developed with time,

It is oft mired in controversy.

Malaysia now shows many fault-lines,

That can be so incendiary.

The regime’s commitment to rightness

Has become much less honorary.

The pledged separation of powers

Has become more illusionary.

That government needs rapid changing,

Before it becomes the Adversary.

It is time to make Malaysia,

Beautiful again in its perfection.

Tis time for a thousand flowers’ bloom

In freedom and exhilaration.

Tis time for good ideas to contend,

To make the country a real Nation.

It is time for every Malaysian

To make our country a celebration!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 July 2012, 5:44 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia The Unready

— Tota

The Malaysian Insider

Jul 19, 2012

JULY 19 — In English history there is King Æthelred The Unready. He earned this nickname because he was never ready for anything good or wise. Bolehland displays many similar characteristics to qualify to be called “Malaysia The Unready”.

The Umno-dominated BN government has shown a stubborn refusal to make Malaysia a truly democratic state where the rule of law, civil rights and liberties, equality and justice are respected and practised. The Umno-dominated BN government’s mantra is that Malaysia is not ready for so many things that are basic in all truly democratic and progressive countries.

Malaysia The Unready is not ready to:

● make Malaysia a truly democratic, secular state as enshrined in the Constitution.

● make Parliament democratically functional with an elected Speaker.

● have an elected Senate.

● elect office-bearers from kampung to Parliament level as is done in Indonesia.

● hold local council elections to create a participatory democracy.

● introduce proportional representation.

● share power and resources between the federal and state governments

● hold free and fair elections without electoral fraud and shameless gerrymandering.

● establish a true meritocracy.

● make every Malaysian equal in every way.

● establish rule of law and not rule by law.

● abolish all repressive and oppressive laws like the newly minted laws denying the right to assemble and march in protest, the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and the Universities and University Colleges Act.

● restore human rights, individual rights and liberties like freedom of speech, the right to dissent and the right to assemble.

● lower the voting age to 18.

● register automatically those eligible to vote.

● appoint an Ombudsman.

● make the civil service, the judiciary, the MACC, the Election Commission, the police, and the Registrar of Societies truly independent and free from executive control and manipulation.

● abolish the post of Attorney-General and have an independent Public Prosecutor like the US or an independent Director of Prosecution as in the UK.

● abolish all ethnicity-religion based policies.

● abolish the NEP and replace it with needs-based policies.

● appoint a Law Reform Commission to modernise archaic laws like the ones with ouster clauses which deny justice to litigants against ministers whose decisions are presently not subject to judicial review.

● sign all UN Conventions.

● legislate a Race Relations Act.

● legislate a Freedom of Information Act.

● establish an Interfaith Commission.

● accord all religions equal importance and respect.

● appoint a fair number of non-Malays as governors (in Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak).

● overhaul completely the education system which is an absolute disaster now.

● increase ethnic minority representation among VCs, Deputy VCs and deans in public universities.

● institute fair ethnic representation in the police, army, navy and air force.

● establish an independent print and electronic media to enable all voices and views to be heard.

● establish a public register for government servants and politicians to declare their income and assets.

● wipe out corruption by punishing the “big fish”.

● establish genuine gender equality.

● respect the people’s choice and will — no more “Peraks”!

● promote Ketuanan Rakyat — not Ketuanan Melayu.

● promote Agenda Rakyat — not Agenda Melayu, which makes 1 Malaysia a big farce, hoax and a gimmick.

With so many lacks, who was the goon who said that Malaysia is the world’s best democracy? — aliran.com

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 July 2012, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Treating the ‘Selangor water crisis’

— The Malaysian Insider

Jul 19, 2012

JULY 19 — With the amount of water splashing around in Selangor these days, one would think any discussion about water would revolve around the abundance rather than the shortage of the liquid.

But this is Malaysia and today, we learn that Putrajaya has formed a special Cabinet Committee chaired by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to discuss the issue of the availability of treated water and the need for another treatment plant that will be ready at least two years down the road.

And that any shortage and rationing now is due to the recalcitrance of the Selangor government, run by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) – the political foes of Barisan Nasional (BN) which controls Putrajaya.

Add to the potent mix that could give votes to either side in the next elections is utility provider, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) which is controlled by Tan Sri Rozali Ismail , who is also Selangor Umno treasurer.

The question is, is there really a water crisis or is it manufactured by Putrajaya in what is seen as an attempt to wrest back the country’s wealthiest and most industrialised state back to BN.

Doesn’t it look like strictly out of the standard political playbook to create a crisis and then come up with a solution favourable to the rakyat in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya?

Also, what can Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik and Green Technology, Energy and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin contribute to the solution?

On a political level, they are all part of the BN government and except for Chin, really have no ministerial relevance to the water issue.

Unless it’s because Noh is from Selangor Umno and Raja Nong Chik runs FT Umno?

And why not a bi-partisan panel? Or allow the National Water Services Commission (Span) to sort out the issue of raw water supply and treated water services?

And is PR really incompetent? Is a political solution all there is to it, with the great unwashed masses being let to suffer until they decide on a party that can ensure adequate water supply.

The lives of the largest concentration of Malaysians in the country, plus the number of expatriates and foreign workers are at risk here from reports of a water shortage.

Does any political coalition want to play with that and risk a backlash at the polls from Malaysians?

Don’t treat Malaysians the same way water is being treated – as political football. One might end up surprised with the score, just like

2008

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 July 2012, 6:02 pm and is filed under
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Why no Cabinet committee to deal with worst palpable fear of crime in country’s history?

The Cabinet yesterday set up a special Cabinet Committee over  the looming water crisis in Selangor.

The question that is uppermost in the minds of Malaysians is why no Cabinet committee has been set up to deal with the worst and most palpable fear of crime haunting various parts of the country!

This question becomes even more  poignant following reports of the latest high-profile victim of crime – Puan Sri Faizah Shuib, 67  the widow of former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Megat Junid who was Deputy Home Minister for more than a decade from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties and major implementer of the infamous Project Mahathir in Sabah in the early nineties.

It is reported that Faizah’s house was robbed by three men, believed to be Indonesians, who escaped with jewellery and watches worth RM50,000 and she was tied up during the robbery.

There is a very serious disconnect between one the one hand, repeated assurances by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the police of a declining crime rate in the country and on the other, lack of public confidence and credibility even among foreign investors in  such assurances, with rising and undoubtedly the worst palpable fear of crime haunting Malaysians in various parts of the country – not just at shopping malls, but in the streets, public places and even the privacy of the homes!

My attention has been drawn to an establishment  blog which conducted a poll which ended two days ago on whether Hishammuddin is fit to be Home Minister.

Out of 622 who voted in the three-day poll, a staggering 96% gave Hishammuddin “the thumbs down”, with the largest number of votes (400 votes or 64%) said that Hishammuddin is not fit  to be Minister of anything, 102 votes or 16% said that Hishammuddin is not fit to be Home Minister, and a sizable number of 94 or 15% “who are beyond fed up with Hisham”.

Only 26 voted yes to Hishammuddin as fit to be Home Minister!

Considering that this is an establishment blog with mostly Barisan Nasional supporters, the result is a most shocking and crushing one, demonstrating that public confidence and support for Hishammuddin as Home Minister has reached a very  low ebb even in Umno/BN circles.

This poll showing 96% lack of support for Hishammuddin in an establishment blog visited by mostly pro-Barisan Nasional supporters has punctured  the National Day and Malaysia Day theme of “Janji DiTepati”, especially with the worst and most palpable fear of crime enveloping the country – even raising questions whether there should be a new Home Minister to deliver the most elementary of fundamental human rights every Malaysian should be entitled to, the right to be free from crime and to be free from  the fear of crime!

After more than three years as Home Minister, can Hishammuddin say that he has secured  these two fundamental human rights to be free from crime and free from the fear of crime for all Malaysians?

Eight years ago, the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission conducted a public opinion survey between 22nd November 2004 and 1 December 2004, and found that 89% of the 575 adult respondents from various parts of the country were “worried” to “extremely worried” about the occurrence of crime in their neighbourhood. Only 11% or a ratio of one in ten of the respondents were not worried. The level of worry was broadly similar across ethnic groups in urban areas from all 13 states and the Federal Territory.

Some five years later after Hishammuddin’s  appointment as Home Minister, the Home Ministry conducted an online opinion survey on its website from 20th to 28th July 2009, and found a worsening in public confidence in the crime situation in the country with public worry about the lack of safety from crime and their fear of crime increased from 89% in 2004 to 97% – while  the number of respondents who felt safe from crime fell  sharply from one in ten in 2004 to one in 100 in 2009!

The following were the findings of the Home Ministry website poll in 2009:

•	97% or 9,729 out of 10,060 respondents felt unsafe because of the high crime rate, with only 1% or 89 respondents felt safe and 2% or 242 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

•	95% or 8,883 out of 9,319 respondents felt that the safety of the people was not guaranteed as compared to 3% or 248 respondents who felt it was still guaranteed, with 2% or 188 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

•	94% or 8,743 out of 9,261 respondents felt that government had not done its best to ensure that the safety of the people was at the best level with 2% or 185 respondents felt that the government had done its best, and 4% or 333 persons “uncertain”?

Dare Hishammuddin ask the Home Ministry to conduct an update of this online opinion poll on the Home Ministry website to ascertain whether in the past three years,  there is any improvement in the percentage of respondents who feel firstly, unsafe because of the high crime rate; secondly, the safety of the people is not guaranteed and thirdly, that the government had not done its best to ensure that the safety of the people is at its best level?

The opinion poll on all these three categories three years ago were very dismal – registering  97% of the respondents who  felt unsafe because of the high crime rate; 95% felt that the safety of the people was not guaranteed and 94% felt that the government had not done its best to ensure that the safety of the people was at the best level.

Three years have passed with Hishammuddin as the Home Minister. Could the results be possibly even worse if an opinion poll by the Home Ministry website is repeated now?

There must be an end to the denial syndrome about the widespread  public skepticism and disbelief in  government claims about decline in the crime statistics since the launch of the Government Transformation Programme and the National Key Result Area in reducing crime and the very real situation of palpable public fear of crime which  is probably at its  worst stage in the nation’s history.

It is therefore most regrettable that the Cabinet has failed to set up a Cabinet Committee on the crime situation or even to put on its agenda the government’s failure to deliver to Malaysians their  two most fundamental human rights – the right to be free from crime and to be free from the fear of crime.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 July 2012, 12:50 pm and is filed under
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Najib/Hisham should  explain why they are “scraping the bottom of the barrel” in giving greenlight to SB to go public with “cock and bull story” of JI terrorists and communists infiltrating PR parties as candidates

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammmudin Hussein should explain why they are “scraping the bottom of the barrel” in giving the green light to the Special Branch to go public with the “cock and bull story” of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists and former communists infiltrating Pakatan Rakyat parties and trying to be fielded as candidates in the coming general election.

The Bernama report yesterday of the “revelation” by the Special Branch assistant director of the E2(M) national social extremist threat division head Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin at the National Young Leaders Convention in Parliament yesterday, claiming that JI elements were trying to infiltrate PAS while the communist elements were trying to infiltrate DAP, would have been laughed off and dismissed as the most sick and top political joke of the year if not for the gravity of having such wild,  scatter-brained and crackpot ideas influencing and determining policy making at the highest government and security levels in the country.

With the resurrection of the Islamist terrorist and communist bogeys infiltrating the Pakatan Rakyat parties, is the stage being set for a special operation against the Pakatan Rakyat parties to remove the democratic and legitimate threat posed by Pakatan Rakyat to continued UMNO/Barisan Nasional hold on  federal power in the 13th general election?

It is open secret that Najib would have dissolved Parliament to hold general elections before the start of the fasting month tomorrow  if not for the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28, which placed UMNO/Barisan Nasional in an even more  adverse and disadvantageous position compounded by the most insensitive and high-handed government/police response which regarded salt and mineral water as capable of toppling the UMNO/BN government!

Have the  UMNO/BN leadership become so desperate in the face of the democratic electoral  challenge from Pakatan Rakyat that they have to  get the Special Branch to conjure up the latest scare,  “cock and bull story” of the JI and communists infiltrating Pakatan Rakyat parties, in particular PAS and DAP, to prepare for an undemocratic pre-emptive strike against the Pakatan Rakyat?

Or is this an attempt by the Special Branch establishment to justify its hogging of RM381 million or 6% of the 2012 police budget of RM6.3 billion when there is increasing demand that the police should be devoting more of its budget and resources to fighting crime and make Malaysia safe for Malaysians instead of just maintaining  UMNO/BN hold on power after 54 years?

And why is the Biro Tatanegara of the Prime Minister’s Department involved in the one-day National Youth Convention to spread the lie and poison that Pakatan Rakyat parties are being infiltrated by JI terrorists and communists, when only last week, BTN was involved in the  1Malaysia Social Media Convention to raise an army of 10,000 UMNO/BN cybertroopers with the message that it was permissible to spin lies and falsehoods against the Pakatan Rakyat parties?

Is the Special Branch  canard about JI terrorists and communists infiltrating Pakatan Rakyat parties the latest example of such permissible “spin” of lies and falsehoods against PR, just like the earlier “spins” of lies and falsehood about the DAP wanting to establish a Christian Malaysia and appoint a Christian Prime Minister as well as wanting to establish a republic by abolishing the constitutional monarchical system?

I challenge Najib, Hishammuddin and Mohd Sofian of the  Special Branch to identify the present DAP and PR leaders, MPs and State Assembly members who are either closet JI terrorists or communists or name names of those who have “infiltrated” the PR parties “trying to be fielded as candidates in the coming general election”.

If not, Mohd Sofian should withdraw and apologise for such a serious and baseless allegation or he should face disciplinary action and even be sacked for making a most irresponsible statement unbecoming of a public servant whose topmost priority must be to serve the nation and not the political party currently in power.

Najib and Hishammuddin should also answer these questions. The Home Minister in particular should also tell Malaysian taxpayers when the Special Branch was officially recruited to be part of UMNO/BN propaganda machinery to help in its 13th general election campaign to hold on federal power!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 July 2012, 6:53 am and is filed under
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Challenge to Muhyiddin on raising the May 13 spectre

I challenge the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to prove he is a responsible political leader and Malaysian nationalist when raising the spectre of May 13 wanting to prevent any recurrence and not indulging in the low- class, irresponsible, unscrupulous and contemptible double politics of fear and race to preserve UMNO/Barisan Nasional in power at all costs in the next general election.

It has been reported that at a national youth conference held in Parliament yesterday, Muhyiddin called on the young generation to be united in order to ensure the country remains stable and peaceful and to avoid a repeat of the May 13, 1969 tragedy.

Muhyiddin was quoted as declaring at the conference: “We don’t want May 13 repeated.”

On behalf of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat, let me officially respond by declaring that we in DAP and Pakatan Rakyat also do not want a repeat of the May 13 tragedy and we pledge to do all we can to prevent any such recurrence.

DAP and Pakatan Rakyat offer to co-operate and work closely with UMNO and Barisan Nasional to ensure that there will be no repeat of May 13 in the next general election, and Malaysians are entitled to ask how there could be a repeat of the May 13 tragedy if both political coalitions – Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat – sincerely pledge to work together in the national interest to prevent any such recurrence?

I confess I am concerned at the way Muhyiddin raised the spectre of  May 13, which had been used in the past decades to create fear among voters as part of the scare tactics to force voters to vote for UMNO and BN, as it raises the question whether the DPM was giving an assurance that there would be no May 13 recurrence or he was subtly threatening that there could be another May 13 if UMNO loses power!

Could there be another May 13 in the next general election? My answer would be a strong NO.

Without going into the debate as to who should be held responsible for the May 13 tragedy in 1969 (and there are diametrically conflicting accounts and versions of who should be held responsible and this is why right from the beginning after the May 13 riots, DAP and I had called for an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry into its causes) the circumstances today are completely different from those prevailing 43 years ago in 1969.

The most important difference between 1969 and the 13th general election is the emergence of a multiracial multireligious naional coalition represented throughout the country to peacefully and democratically challenge UMNO/BN’s hold to power in Putrajaya -as the Pakatan Rakyat coalition of PKR, PAS and DAP is a Malaysian coalition of all races, religions and regions in Malaysia!

Only the most irrespnsible, anti-national and treacherous elements in our country can try to distort and misinterpret a PAkatan Rakyat victory in the 13GE as  victory of one race against another, as to justify wild thoughts tinkering with the idea of anther May 13, when any victory for Pakatan Rakyat will be a Malaysian victory representing all races.

Is Muhyiddin sincere when he declared “We don’t want May 13 repeated”.

If so, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should break his silence and answer the question I had posed to him many times in the past three years – whether he would declare clearly and unequivocally that he would accept the verdict of the people in the 13GE, including the election of a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya to replace the Barisan Nasional and that he would personally ensure and facilitate a peaceful transition of federal power for the first time in the nation’s history, to tell the world that Malaysia has becoome a normal democracy and even en route to become, in Najib’s own words, “the best demoracy in the world”!

[
Speech at the DAP Inanam Sepanggar ceramah on Friday July 20, 2012 at 9pm
]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 July 2012, 11:34 am and is filed under
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Most cowardly, craven and irresponsible reply from Hishammuddin who is proving to be lousiest Home Minister in nation’s history

It is the most cowardly, craven and irresponsible response from Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein who is proving to be the lousiest Home Minister in the nation’s history.

How can a responsible Home Minister claim ignorance when a top Special Branch officer could go public to make the most damning allegations against Federal opposition parties as claiming that Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists and communists are infiltrating PAS and DAP respectively to stand as candidates in the next general election when there is no basis whatsoever?

All that Hishammuddin has got to say on the serious allegations by Special Branch’s assistant director of the E2 (M) national social extremist threat division head Mohd Sofian Md Makin is that he was “not sure” about the alleged infiltration of Islamist terrorists and communists into Pakatan Rakyat, that “I don’t have the relevant information at the present moment.Therefore, I cannot say whether it is true or not. I can only say this much, this topic is very sensitive.”

Would this be Hishammuddin’s response if Sofian had publicly alleged that terrorists and communists have infiltrated into UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, and the BN Sabah and Sarawak parties to stand as candidates in the next general election?

Of course not!

Is it conceivable that a responsible and diligent Home Minister would not have been informed or his approval sought before a top Special Branch officer go off on a rampage against the Federal opposition and that he would be completely clueless what Sofian was saying?

Was Sofian acting unilaterally and arbitrarily without getting clearance from the Inspector-General of Police and the Home Minister to make the “political attacks” on the Pakatan Rakyat? If so, Sofian had not only committed a gross breach of civil service discipline, he is guilty of an anti-national act and should be suspended immediately from his Special Branch position before he could do more mischief!

No sane or sensible person would believe that Sofian was acting independently on his own bat, like an unguided missile.

This is confirmed when Sofian told the press that he had given some 300 talks exposing the security risks represented by Pakatan Rakayat parties which he accused of being “anti-government”.

This would mean Sofian had been poisoning and brainwashing the minds particularly of the students and the young generation of Malaysians with his lies, falsehoods and ridiculous conspiracy theories for may be two years assuming he gives a talk an average of once in three days.

Sofian is the archtypical example of a “national social extremist threat” his division is supposed to be monitoring!

Imagine a Home Minister who does not know what his top Special Branch officer had been doing in public talks for some two years?

Is Hishammuddin admitting he is the lousiest Home Minister in the nation’s 54-year history?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 July 2012, 2:12 pm and is filed under
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Cat out of the bag – UMNO’s quartet of lies on 4Rs, Race, Religion, Rulers and Riots the centerpiece of its strategy on dirtiest general history in its increasingly desperate bid to hold on to federal power in 13GE

The cat is out of the bag – UMNO has a quartet of lies on 4Rs on Race, Religion, Malay Rulers and Riots (May 13 threats) to attack DAP and Pakatan Rakyat as the centrepiece of its strategy for the dirtiest general election in history in its increasingly desperate bid to hold on to federal power in Putrajaya in the 13 General Election.

For the past three years, UMNO propagandists through their owned and controlled mainstream media as well as social media and Internet, have been playing the first 3R cards of Race, Religion and Malay Rulers to defame and demonise DAP as anti- Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers but clearly to little effect in this age of information when these are all lies and falsehoods.

Since our formation 46 years ago in 1966, DAP has committed itself to be a political party for all Malaysians irrespective of race, religion or region.

In the first general election contested by DAP in 1969, we fielded Malay candidates and two Malay candidates were successfully elected as State Assemblymen – one from Perak and the other from Negri Sembilan. We have also Malay Members of Parliament, most notably former CUEPACS President Ahmad Nor who was elected MP for Bayan Baru in Penang.

This is also why DAP achieved the distinction of being the first political party to become a Pan-Malaysian party, having  branches and operating politically not only in all the states in Peninsular Malaysia but also in Sabah and Sarawak.

This is why UMNO’s 3R cards against the DAP for being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers have neither credibility nor traction.

DAP’s support for the system of constitutional monarchy cannot be challenged or doubted for the Common Policy Framework of Pakatan Rakyat clearly and unequivocally committed the three component parties, viz DAP, PKR and PAS to respect, support and uphold the fundamental features of the constitution – including the provisions on Islam as the religion of the Federation of Malaysia and the system of Malay Rulers.

This was also what I stated in Parliament in my first speech in the Dewan Rakyat in February 1971.

Is it because UMNO leaders and propagandists have realised that their 3R cards against the DAP are not achieving the desired political effects that they have come out with the fourth R card of threatening unrest and riots if UMNO and Barisan Nasional lose federal power in the next general election, which is the subtle message of the reference to May 13, 1969 tragedy.

I am still waiting for response from the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to my offer at the DAP ceramah at Inaman on Friday night that the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat co-operate to ensure that there is no repeat of the May 13 tragedy in the next general election.

If Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat sincerely pledge to co-operate to ensure that there would no repeat of May 13 tragedy in the next general election, it is unthinkable that there could be a repeat of May 13.

Why is the silence from Muhyiddin and Najib if they really do not want any repeat of May 13?

At the DAP ceramah at Kota Belud, I proposed the formation of a National Committee with representatives from all political parties, religions and important  NGOs with the common objective to ensure that there would be no repeat of May 13. Let us see how Muhyiddin and Najib, as well as UMNO and BN, would respond to this refined proposal to ensure no repetition of May 13.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 July 2012, 5:47 pm and is filed under
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Cabinet sincerity on RCI for illegal immigrants in Sabah cast under grave doubt when a top SB officer could condemn advocates of RCI as anti-national elements out to incite anti-peninsular sentiments among Sabahans

Penampang is the sixth and last parliamentary constituency in my three-day tour of Sabah with DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng and Sabah DAP leaders which included Putatan, Sepanggar, Tuaran, Kota Belud and  Tenom to feel the pulse of interior Sabah to the winds of political change blowing throughout the country since the political tsunami in the 2008 general election.

The inescapable impression and conclusion of our tour  is that Sabahans, like their compatriots in the rest of Malaysia, are impatiently waiting for the 13 general election to see fundamental political and economic changes in the state and country.

Sabah has changed the state government four times in the past five decades but things have got from bad to worse for the people of Sabah whether on the increasingly grave issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah which have reduced the genuine sons and daughters of Sabah into foreigners and strangers in their own land in less than half a century, crime, corruption, poverty or just basic socio-economic amenities and infrastructures for the people of Sabah.

The political lesson is very clear – without political  change in Putrajaya at the national level, it is very difficut to effect meaningful changes at the state level. This is why Sabah DAP has coined the slogan: “Save Sabah Save Malaysia”, as firstly, Sabah cannot be saved without saving Malaysia; and secondly, if Malaysia  is to be saved, Sabah must also be saved.

In February the Cabinet finally succumbed to decades of pressure – which included incessant calls by the DAP inside and outside Parliament – and decided to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI)  to address the long-standing sore problem of illegal immigramts in Sabah.

However the Cabinet decision made double but dubious history both inside the country and internationally.

I do not think there is another Cabinet decision in the 54-year history of the nation which has commanded lower public esteem, trust and credibility.

If an opinion poll is conducted in Sabah, the overwhelming majority of the people would have given the opinion that the Barisan Nasional is not serious in wanting to resolve and root out the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah but only to give the false impression that something is being done to address the problem in order to lure Sabah votes in the “fixed deposit” state in the next general election.

The  Cabinet has also  made international   history in being the only nation in the world  in deciding on a RCI whose terms of reference and composition of membership could still not be announced after almost six months – as if the RCI is still-born! This is most dishonourable and disgraceful.

But should anyone particularly in Sabah be surprised by such indifferent, nonchalant  and dishonest treatment of the illegal immigrant problem by Barisan Nasional considering the history of UMNO on the issue, particularly the disgraceful episode of Project Mahathir in the early nineties?

In this connection, the recent statement of a top Special Branch officer had cast grave doubts on the sincerity of the Cabinet when it took the decision in February to set up a RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

This top Special Branch officer is none other than the  notorious assistant director of the E2 (M) national social extremist threat division head Mohd Sofian Mohd Makin who made the wild, baseless and reckless allegation that the Pakatan Rakyat was being infiltrated by Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists in the case of PAS and by communist in the case of DAP – and have not been able to come out with any iota of evidence when challenged to do so.

Sofian has told the press that the advocates of RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah are anti-national elements who only want to extract political capital from the issue, undermine diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines and incite anti-peninsular sentiments among Sabahans.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should declare whether Sofian represents the secret but mainstream and official thinking of the UMNO/BN Federal government on the issue of RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah, and if not, whether immediate action would be taken to suspend and discipline Sofian as he has become the worst example of a “national social extremist threat” his division in the Special Branch is supposed to be monitoring.

[
Speech at the DAP “Save Sabah Save Malaysia” Ceramah in Penampang on Sunday July 22, 2012 at 9pm
]

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 July 2012, 2:08 pm and is filed under
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Hishammuddin deserves more than RM10 salary cut motions in forthcoming Parliament for his “transformation” from a “know nothing Minister” to “all knowing Minister” all in a matter of 24 hours

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein deserves more than RM10 salary cut motions in the forthcoming budget Parliament for his “transformation” from a “know nothing Minister” to “all knowing Minister” all in a matter of 24 hours.

This is the  transformation of  Hishammuddin before the eyes of 28 million Malaysians in his response to the wild and reckless speech by Special Branch’s assistant director of the E2 (M) national social extremist threat division head Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin to the National Youth Leaders Convention in Parliament last Thursday alleging that Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists are infiltrating PAS and former communists infiltrating the DAP for  the coming general election.

When asked on Friday, Hishammuddin put up the front that he is a Minister who knows nothing, pleading that he was “not sure” about the alleged infiltration of communists and terrorists into Pakatan Rakyat: “I don’t have the relevant information (about the issue) at the present moment. Therefore, I cannot say whether it is true or not. I can only say this much, this topic is very sensitive.”

When Hishammuddin was strongly criticized for his  “most cowardly, craven and irresponsible response” to Sofian’s wild and reckless allegations and being “the lousiest Home Minister in the nation’s history”, as “how can a responsible Home Minister claim ignorance when a top Special Branch officer could go public to make the most damning allegations against Federal opposition parties?”, Hishammuddin performed a full somersault in 24 hours and claimed to be a “all knowing Minister”.

Hishammuddin said on Saturday that the “alleged infiltration” of JI terrorists and communists into Pakatan Rakyat is not at a level that would threaten the country’s security, saying:

“Right now, I am saying that the reports that have come to me, whatever penetration (in the opposition) as far as ideology is concerned, it does not affect the security, safety and stability of our nation. So don’t make it more than that.”

Asked whether the police had any evidence on the claim, Hishammuddin replied: “If it concerns national security, it is not just evidence, action must be taken and it has to be transparent and open. But if it is just an observation concerning involvement that does not threaten national security at this stage, then I am not worried.”

He added that what the Special Branch said were “merely facts”, adding “If it does not affect national security that we do not see it as a threat”.

Hishammuddin is not talking as a sane and sensible Home Minister but uttering gobbledegook because he was trying to defend the indefensible.

What are the “merely facts” that Hishammuddin is referring to with reference to Sofian’s allegations of JI terrorists infiltrating PAS and communists infiltrating DAP?

Hishammuddin and Sofian have been challenged to name names of JI terrorists who have infiltrated PAS and communists who have infiltrated DAP, and if they cannot name names, these allegations are not “merely facts” but downright lies and falsehoods arising from pure flights of Sofian’s imagination!

Instead of reprimanding and disciplining Sofian for abusing his Special Branch position to become the political pawns of Barisan Nasional, Hishammuddin tried to defend Sofian’s transgression by indulging in gobbledegook himself.

At the same time, he tried to appear as a “know all Minister” 24 hours after he told Malaysians that he was a “know nothing Minister” as far as the wild allegations were concerned.

Hishammuddin is proving to be quite a national disaster as a Home Minister.

Recently, he  was afflicted with the serious denial complex denying that Malaysians have been gripped by escalating fear of crime as a result of rising crime incidents in the country – blaming it all on “perception” and the social media.

There can be no dispute that for the first time in the nation’s history, Malaysians feel unsafe in the country. This is in addition to the increasing fear of crime felt by Malaysians and foreign investors in the country.

This is another illustration where Hishammuddin wanted to project the image that he is a “know all Minister” when he appears to “know nothing” at all!

Hishammuddin does not appear to be on top of his Ministerial responsibility to ensure that the police must give top priority to their core functions of keeping crime low to allow Malaysians to feel safe in the country. Instead, he is condoning the waste of public funds and resources with the police trying to keep UMNO/Barisan Nasional in power, like Sofian’s wild and reckless allegations.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 July 2012, 4:35 pm and is filed under
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Why police are impotent in dealing with growing crime

Dr Lim Teck Ghee

CPI

A few days ago a colleague sent me a copy of an email which read:

Though the government is denying it, we are seeing severe escalation of serious crime in the country. At lunch today, I learnt from a member of [respectable organization] that the xxxxxx Embassy is now holding briefings on crime and precautions. There is also a recent entry of some [foreign] crime groups. We are all living in fear….Most people would agree that the current crime rate is the worst we have ever seen. When victims lodge police report, often police will refuse the report as it affects their KPI.

There is a witticism which states that “there are lies, damn lies and statistics”.

A reminder of the close proximity between statistics and damn lies should be sent to Pemandu, the government’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department which has staunchly defended statistics showing street crime has fallen by 40 percent in the past two years. According to Pemandu too, the country’s crime index fell by more than 10% between January and May this year – a claim which has drawn hoots of derision from readers in the internet media.

It is a fact that Malaysians are cynical of the statistics put out by the government. Although the government has been at pains to argue that there is a declining trend in crime, the man in the street does not believe the government. The average Ali, Siva and Chong is even more agitated when the government blames the issue of escalating crime on public perception and blown-up media accounts.

The truth is that our government friendly media are underreporting rather than over-reporting on crime and violence. Let’s be frank and admit that the official statistics on crime, especially petty crime, are unreliable.

Unlike the statistics collected by the Department of Statistics, police statistics are generated by front line personnel who have a vested interest in underreporting. Everyone knows that police personnel have every incentive to avoid extra work through understating crime incidence. They also do not want to give a bad name to the police district if they can help it.  Under-recording of actual cases of crime is very much the norm in most police stations.

No need to argue with the public

It is difficult for the government to convince Malaysians that the police statistics are believable since there is no way the public can monitor how the statistics are generated or processed.

If we go by neighbourhood and other grassroots accounts, it appears as if episodes of house break-in, handbag snatching, armed robbery and other criminal acts have become commonplace instead of being the exception.

Rather than trying to argue with the public on crime statistics, it is more prudent for the government to acknowledge the surge in criminal activity, especially of petty crime and to take strong measures to prevent it from getting worse.

How to combat growing crime

Amongst necessary measures, these should have priority:

1.	Instilling a greater sense of responsibility and urgency in the police top brass on tackling crime. Trying to defend the police or deflect legitimate criticism is the wrong approach.

2.	Requiring that a greater proportion of police personnel be assigned to work on the beat instead of at the office.

3.	Adopting William Bratton’s policing philosophy. This veteran police officer who is advisor to the British Prime Minister David Cameron on law and order is an advocate of the ‘broken window’ criminological theory of the norm setting effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behaviour. The theory which has been well backed by empirical research argues that monitoring and maintaining urban environments in a well-ordered condition stops further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.

4.	Bratton is also a strong advocate of having an ethnically diverse police force representative of the population; maintaining a strong relationship with the law-abiding population; tackling police corruption; being tough on gangs and having a strict no tolerance of anti-social behaviour.

All of these are commonsense measures aimed at instilling a higher degree of professionalism and requiring our police and urban authorities to focus on protecting the public from criminals. They should be implemented without further delay.

Tackling police impotency at the roots

We also have to tackle the problem of an ineffective police force – the Special Brach may be a lone exception – at its roots. In the past, these root causes may have something to do with small size of the force and poor pay. Today they are unacceptable as reasons to explain the relative inefficiency or impotency of the police.

According to United Nations survey, the Malaysia police force is a very large one compared with other countries at similar stages of development. The United Nations recommends a minimum police strength of 222 per 100,000 people.  Our number is much higher than this. In 2000, we reported having 354 police per 100,000 people. By comparison in 2007, Singapore had 239 police officers per 100,000 people.

As for poor pay leading to demoralized personnel, police salaries have recently gone up considerably for all ranks of personnel. Our police today cannot by any measure be considered to be underpaid.

The root causes of police impotency are found in at least two major factors. This description of crime and industrialization in Britain is instructive.

“Crime was rising due to dislocation and poverty and the apparatus of criminal justice was …increasingly ineffective. During the period 1805-1842 the proportion of people per 100,000 of the population committed for trial rose 7 times. This is of course what we should expect: rapid urbanisation with people uprooted from their traditional rural ways of life and forced into the intolerable poverty and overcrowding of the early factory towns. These festering conditions were exacerbated by the fluctuations in the labour market and the fact that workers were periodically thrown out of work without any social security or unemployment benefits….”

For us in Malaysia, the ‘broken window’ theory and the interaction of marginalized immigrant and local poor communities and rising inequality between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ amidst visible affluence provide the breeding ground for breaking rules and anti-social behaviour.

Effete social policies, tolerance of white-collar and high-level crime, and widespread uncivil behaviour of the general population also provide our underclass the justification for their attempts to subvert the system.

Our situation compares poorly with Singapore where there is zero tolerance of corruption in the police and civil service, the ordinary citizen is socialized (some would argue, regimented) to higher standards of civic norms, and ‘broken windows’ are mended unlike in Kuala Lumpur where not only the backstreets but also the main streets are littered with garbage, unrepaired pavements and other visible symptoms of urban decay and the indifference of the authorities.

Perhaps the most important root cause is the trend towards the political use of the police. Instead of focusing attention on fighting crime, our police are all too often ordered to perform political work aimed at suppressing the opposition and other opponents of the ruling government.

This politicization of the police force has become worse, with the recent massive police mobilization for the Bersih 3.0 demonstration serving as a prime example.

Potential election game changer

The government must recognize that the growing incidence of crime has political ramifications.

The more the government engages in spinning the crime statistics, the more it denies there are major problems with our police force, the more it orders the police to take political sides; the more the government is alienating itself from the public and inviting an electoral backlash.

It will be poetic justice if the politicization of our police force is one of the factors responsible for the Barisan Nasional’s downfall.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 July 2012, 8:58 pm and is filed under
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Hanya BN yang mampu mencetuskan kekecuhan jika kalah PRU

 — Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jul 24, 2012

24 JULAI — Selalu saya terfikir yang negara perlu memulakan “facet” yang baru dalam politiknya kerana dengan isu perkauman yang sedang digendang oleh pihak pemerintah sekarang ini amat merbahaya untuk kestabilan dan keselamatan negara. Pihak BN tidak mahu menerima hakikat dan semangat demokrasi dan kekalahan dalam pilihanraya merupakan satu perkara yang mereka tidak dapat hendak terima sedangkan itu lah perkara yang biasa yang berlaku di dalam mana-mana negara demokrasi.

Nampaknya cita-cita negara untuk mendapatkan sebuah negara yang mencapai “national unity” tidak mungkin tercapai sampai bila-bila selagi BN masih memainkan isu perkauman yang terlalu besar. Isu perkauman ini tidak akan dapat diselesaikan sampai bila-bila kerana itu pun isu yang digunakan oleh pihak BN terutamanya Umno untuk meneruskan cengkaman terhadap pemikiran rakyat kerana tamakkan kuasa.

Umno tidak mahu menerima hakikat bahawa untuk memperbaiki diri, mereka harus dan wajib menerima yang mereka juga mesti melalui zaman dan waktu sebagai pembangkang. Umno harus menerima yang waktu duduk di kerusi pembangkang itu merupakan waktu yang terbaik untuk memperbaiki diri.

Perasaan saya begitu mendidih apabila pimpinan Umno membuat andaian yang negara akan menghadapi zaman kekecuhan jika PR memerintah. Saya tidak tahu bagaimana hendak mendapatkan rasional nya terhadap andaian itu. Pihak pembangkang khususnya DAP tidak pernah membuat andaian yang merbahaya ini tetapi hanya Umno sahaja yang membuat andaian ini semata-mata untuk menakut-nakutkan orang ramai dan memberikan sokongan terhadap parti yang sudah memerintah selama lebih lima dekad itu.

Sebenarnya pihak pembangkang telah menerima kekalahan setiap pilihanraya dan tidak pernah membuat kekacauan. Kita telah mengadakan pilihanraya sebanyak 12 kali dalam sejarah negara merdeka kita. Mengingatkan peristiwa 13 Mei itu merupakan kerja menakut-nakutkan rakyat untuk membuat pilihan secara bebas dan jika berlaku kekecuhan ia akan hanya dilakukan oleh pihak BN dan bukannya dari pihak PR.

Jangan mengungkit cerita lama tentang peristiwa berdarah itu kerana ramai di antara mereka yang membesarkan isu ini belum pun lahir lagi atau masih dalam buaian semasa itu yang di antara mereka sudah menjadi Menteri-Menteri Besar dan Menteri-Menteri dalam kerajaan sekarang. Contohnya Hishammuddin, Menteri Dalam Negeri kita yang tidak semenggah itu masih bermain dengan tali seluar lagi.

Pada tahun 1969 itu adalah pilihanraya yang berkeputusan seperti pilihanraya 2008 dalam mana BN atau pun Perikatan semasa itu hampir-hampir tidak dapat membentuk kerajaan. Di sini kita lihat kekecuhan hanya berlaku jika BN kalah atau hampir kalah kerana BN akan melakukan segala-gala perkara buruk untuk membawa negara kearah kekecuhan dan mengambil keadaan itu secara “expedient” untuk mengistiharkan dharurat seperti yang berlaku semasa itu.

Perayaan kemenangan parti Gerakan yang pertama kali menyertai pilihanraya sebagai pembangkang semasa itu di ambil kesempatan secara halus oleh pimpinan BN atau Perikatan semasa itu untuk mencetuskan situasi yang membolehkan dharurat di isyhtiharkan. Setakat itu sahaja yang saya mahu sebutkan untuk menafikan yang kekecuhan itu dilakukan oleh pembangkang. Bagi orang-orang lama ia tidak perlu disebut-sebut lagi kerana jika disebut ia seperti “menepuk air di dulang” seperti apa yang dikatakan oleh perbilangan kita orang Melayu.

Saya tidak berminat untuk membuat kenyataan yang sangat dibimbangi oleh semua pihak ini tetapi cukup sekadar menyatakan yang 13 Mei sengaja di cetuskan secara sistematik oleh pihak yang sedang hampir kalah dengan menggunakan perayaan dan perhimpunan kemenangan pilihanraya itu sebagai “immediate cause” kepada peristiwa berdarah itu.

Semasa itu perhimpunan dan perayaan kemenangan adalah bebas, tidak seperti sekarang. Pihak pembangkang tidak dapat mengadakan ceramah-ceramah semudah dahulu dengan adanya bermacam-macam akta yang digubal untuk kepentingan politik pihak pemerintah sahaja.

Oleh yang demikian kita harus berfikiran yang menyejukkan dan bukannya mempunyai pemikiran yang boleh memanaskan keadaan. Peristiwa 13 Mei itu membuktikan yang keadaan kekecuhan itu akan hanya berlaku jika pihak yang memerintah mengalami kekalahan atau hampir kepada kekalahan. Didalam pilihanraya-pilihanraya yang lain tidak ada kekecuhan kerana BN memang dalam angka yang memudahkan mereka meneruskan pembentukan kerajaan.

Dalam situasi sekarang BN merasakan kali ini merupakan kali yang terakhir mereka mendapat mandat, bukan kerana rakyat sengaja hendak menolak mereka tetapi terpaksa melakukan penolakan itu kerana Umno sudah tidak lagi menjadi parti yang bertanggungjawab terhadap kepentingan rakyat dan negara.

Oleh itu pihak Umno dan pimpinannya lah yang sepatutnya memujuk hati mereka sendiri supaya tidak melakukan kerja seperti pada tahun 1969 itu jika mereka mengalami kekalahan dalam PRU yang akan datang. Umno dan pimpinan patut memujuk hati dan jiwa masing-masing supaya menerima hakikat bahawa apa yang hidup akhirnya akan mati kerana segala makhluk bersifat baharu itu wajib menghadapi kematian. Begitu jugalah Umno, mesti menerima hakikat jika sampai waktu dikalahkan, terimalah dengan penuh ‘gentleman’.

BN tahu yang kali ini PAS, DAP dan PKR akan mendapat mandat (insyaallah) maka itulah sebabnya isu perkauman kembali subur dalam politik sekarang ini. Perlu di ingat dialam gabungan PR, tidak ada satu parti pun yang bersifat perkauman.

Rakyat tidak mahu lagi cerita-cerita perkauman seperti isu Melayu-Melayu yang didendangkan oleh Umno untuk mendapatkan sokongan, tetapi Melayu tidak kemana juga… asyik tertipu oleh retorik pimpinan bangsanya sendiri. Melayu tidak habis-habis tertipu sepanjang hayatnya.

Oleh itu saya impikan negara kita kembali bermula dipangkal jalan dengan cara yang baharu untuk mencapai matlamat yang satu, iaitu “perpaduan national”. Tidak ada seorang pun dalam kepimpinan hari ini boleh melakukannya kerana kesemua di antara mereka itu sudah hilang segala “plot” untuk mentadbir negara.

Kita perlu mencari agar timbul seorang Mandela dalam negara kita untuk membuat penyusunan kembali siasah dan politik negara untuk menjamin “perpaduan national” itu. Mereka yang perlu diberikan tanggungjawab itu ialah mereka-mereka yang berpengalaman  luas yang “senior” untuk duduk dan berbincang bab masa depan negara.

Isu ini isu serius dan tidak boleh ditangguh-tanguhkan lagi. Kita hendak tinggalkan politik berpuak-puak yang tidak ada hadnya seperti sekarang ini kerana yang akan menerima celakanya adalah generasi kita yang akan datang. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 9:39 pm and is filed under
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Implications when Najib not prepared to declare there would be no repeat of May 13

The three-day silence by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is deafening – his failure to follow up on Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s “We don’t want May 13 repeated” statement by declaring clearly and unequivocally that he would accept the verdict of the people in the 13th General Election and that he would ensure and facilitate a peaceful transition of federal power from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat if this is the result of the general election.

This is the question I had posed publicly at a DAP ceramah at Sepanggar in Sabah last Friday following earlier online reports that Muhyiddin had told a national youth conference calling on the young generation to be united to ensure that the country remains stable and peaceful to avoid a repeat of the May 13, 1969 tragedy.

Malaysians were taken aback by Muhyiddin’s reference as they doubt the Deputy Prime Minister’s bona fides, with more Malaysians  convinced that Muhyiddin raised the  spectre of May 13 as a subtle threat to voters that there would be another May 13 bloodshed if UMNO loses power rather than as an assurance to Malaysians that May 13 was a tragic chapter of past history which would not  and could not recur!

I had extended  Pakatan Rakyat’s offer to co-operate and work closely with UMNO/Barisan Nasional to ensure that there will be no repeat of May 13 in the next general election, asking how there could be a repeat of May 13 tragedy if both political coalitions – BN and PR – sincerely pledge to work together in the national interest to prevent any such recurrence?

This was why I had issued the challenge to Najib  as Prime Minister and President of UMNO/Barisan to declare his public stand.

My Sepanggar speech elicited a response from the UMNO secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, the Sabah Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and an UMNO MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak) who pledged a smooth transition of power should Pakatan Rakyat defeat them in the coming polls.

As examples, they pointed out that their party had to concede defeat in Selangor, the country’s richest state, and Kelantan, which has been under PAS’s rule for over two decades now.

But losing federal power in Putrajaya is very different from losing power in five states as in 2008, i.e. Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan as well as losing BN’s customary two-third majority in Parliament.

Furthermore, Malaysians will not easily forget Najib’s incendiary speech at the UMNO General Assembly two years ago that UMNO would  defend its  power in Putrajaya with “crushed bodies and broken bones”, which is no assurance whatsoever that would be no repeat of the May 13 tragedy.

This is why the responses from Tengku Adnan and two UMNO MPs were most unsatisfactory and grossly inadequate  as they cannot undo what Najib had said, which could only be done by the Prime Minister himself, and why his continued silence is both ominous and very poor reflection on his commitment to both democracy and political transformation in Malaysia.

Najib must be reminded that before talking about Malaysia becoming “best democracy in the world”, he should first ensure that  Malaysia becomes a normal democracy where no one doubts there would be peaceful transition of federal power if decided by voters.

In normal democracies, whether the United Kingdom, European Union countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States or even in Japan, none of their citizens would doubt that there would be peaceful transition of power from one political party or political coalition to another, whether at the national or state level, if this is the verdict of the electorate in a general election.

But this is not the case in Malaysia. In fact, we are still a very long way from being a normal democracy, when even the Prime Minister,  the Cabinet Ministers, UMNO and all the component Barisan Nasional parties  are still not prepared to make a clear and unequivocal commitment for a peaceful transition of federal power if this is the decision of the electorate in the next general election and that there would be no repeat of May 13 in the country!

Najib cannot delay any further in making a public commitment to accept and facilitate a peaceful transition of federal power in the next general election if this is the verdict of the electorate, and that there would not be any repeat of May 13, or he would be proving right the recent description  of  him as a “false democrat” who “hold elections but have no intention of giving up power”.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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Moving on from May 13

— The Malaysian Insider

Jul 21, 2012

JULY 21 — May 13, now that’s a date that keeps cropping up although the racial clashes on that date happened in 1969, 43 years ago.

Can we ever let it rest? Can we ever move on? Can we ever get politicians to stop saying they don’t want it repeated, yet bring it up every now and then?

May 13 keeps popping up as a scaremongering tactic to keep various demographics united to support political parties facing an election, especially Umno.

There used to be some reverence and remorse for the darkest day in Malaysian history when blood spilled on the ground among us.

Now it is used with utmost disrespect by Umno strategists who believe that fear of trouble will persuade them to support the status quo – keeping Barisan Nasional (BN) in control of Putrajaya.

Here’s the rub. BN can keep Putrajaya as long as it fulfils its promises. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has toured the country countless times, fixing problems and issues with his grand programme under the New Economic Model (NEM), Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

So, why do we still hear about May 13?

Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang commented on the latest May 13 reference made by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday, asking the Umno deputy president if he had meant to assure Malaysians that a similar clash would not repeat or warn them otherwise.

“I confess I am concerned at the way Muhyiddin raised the spectre of May 13, which had been used in the past decades to create fear among voters as part of the scare tactics to force voters to vote for Umno and BN,” the Ipoh Timor MP said last night.

According to news reports yesterday, Muhyiddin asked the country’s youths to stand united to avoid a another bloody racial clash like the 1969 riots, which is said to have claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 Malaysians.

“We don’t want May 13 repeated,” the deputy prime minister had said.

But Lim said Malaysia’s political and social landscape have changed significantly since the clash, pointing to the birth of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a coalition of three parties – DAP, PKR and PAS – which he said promotes multiracialism.

“So could there be another May 13 in the next general election? My answer would be a strong ‘No’,” he said.

That is something that all Malaysians should believe. That there will not be another May 13 ever. And shame the politicians who keep bringing it up.

Some of us have moved on to be the Bangsa Malaysia that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dreamt. We just have to make sure the laggards who want to cause mischief are not allowed to do so.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 2:34 pm and is filed under
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A Right and Significant Verdict on Bersih

By Kee Thuan Chye

Malaysian Digest

25 July 2012

THE High Court has declared that Bersih (Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections) is not unlawful. And rightly so.

Although this comes as a blow to the Government, and especially the Home Minister, the Attorney-General (A-G) should not pursue an appeal.

Doing so would hurt the Government’s image even more. It would appear to sensible Malaysians that the Government refused to admit wrong even when the evidence clearly showed it was wrong.

Furthermore, the Government had responded positively to the Bersih 2.0 rally of July 9, 2011, by setting up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into electoral reform. If it continued to insist on the quibble that Bersih 2.0 is unlawful, it would contradict itself, call to question the sincerity of its PSC move. It would appear to act in bad faith.

After all, is it such a big issue to the Government whether Bersih 2.0 is unlawful or not?

The judge, Rohana Yusof, has pointed out that it’s not unlawful – on the grounds that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong granted Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasen an audience to resolve the situation even though the Bersih 2.0 rally had been declared illegal; that there were negotiations after that between Bersih 2.0 and the Government as to where the rally could be held; and that when the rally took place on July 9, Bersih 2.0 did not face any official censure.

She went on further to say that the Home Minister’s decision to declare Bersih 2.0 unlawful on July 1, 2011, was “tainted with irrationality”. She is also spot-on on that score.

Even at the time Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein made the declaration, sensible Malaysians were already rapping him for it. He looked like he came to that decision because the police had before then been arresting people for wearing Bersih T-shirts without any apparent legal justification. Declaring Bersih 2.0 unlawful gave them that justification, even though it was after the fact.

Hishammuddin deemed Bersih 2.0 unlawful because it was not registered with the Registrar of Societies. But now Judge Rohana has ruled that despite that contention, Bersih 2.0 can exist as an entity under Section 2 of the Societies Act 1966 although it is not registered.

More than this, after the King had met with Ambiga, Hishammuddin arrogantly maintained that Bersih 2.0 was illegal. He famously said that “just because Tuanku met them doesn’t mean they are no longer illegal”. Fine, but then why was the prime minister, Najib Razak, offering Bersih 2.0 a stadium to hold its rally?

Why would any government offer a movement a venue to hold its rally if that government considered the movement unlawful?

Therein lay the great irrational contradiction.

To compound it further, the same Home Minister even allowed the Bersih 3.0 rally to take place on April 28, 2012. He was satisfied that it was not a security threat. He even said that if Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) would not allow the rally to take place at Dataran Merdeka, “it does not mean they cannot offer other places”. He even suggested Bukit Jalil Stadium and Merdeka Stadium as alternatives.

He came across as being so accommodating – to an organisation he had deemed unlawful. Was that not the height of irrationality?

If the A-G were to appeal the case, how would he address this point? That it was standard operating procedure for the Home Minister to behave irrationally?

Would it therefore not serve the Government better to acknowledge its incompetent handling of Bersih 2.0 than to pursue what would clearly be a wrong cause?

In fact, would it also not reflect well on the Home Minister to admit he made a mistake in acting irrationally and apologise for it? If he were to do so, he would surely win tremendous sympathy. After all, with the general election coming up soon, this is not the time for arrogance and face-saving. He has been caught out. If he tries to be defensive, he could actually lose more face.

Hishammuddin has embarrassed himself in public several times before in his capacity as Home Minister. The most recent occasion of this is unforgettable – when he said it was part of the police’s standard operating procedures to confiscate memory cards from the cameras of pressmen and the public during the Bersih 3.0 rally. The following day, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) had to correct him. He should therefore be more careful not to embarrass himself again.

The way he is going, one wonders if he should even be fielded as a candidate for the general election. Would he be a “winnable” one for Barisan Nasional (BN)?

Speaking of the general election, this High Court verdict is likely to hurt the Government and, therefore, BN’s chances at the polls.

While sceptics say that this could be another wayang kulit performance and that the judge’s decision might be overturned on appeal, the fact remains that Judge Rohana’s pronouncements will be going out to people who have so far been brainwashed into thinking that Bersih is evil. It will be going out to fence-sitters and people who read only mainstream media.

It will be going out to the teachers who were summoned by the Education Department to a special meeting in Johor last month where they were told all the bad things about Bersih.

Now they will be questioning the truth about what the Government has been saying about Bersih, the truth of the Government’s intent.

Minds might change. Those who might initially have been ambivalent about Bersih might now see things afresh. They might begin to see the positive effect of the Bersih 2.0 rally in influencing the Government to initiate the PSC on electoral reform. They might begin to see that the call for free and fair elections is legitimate and justified, and not aimed at bringing down the Government, as has been so often alleged. They might even begin to see that the electoral system is actually flawed and unfair.

Given this, if there should ever be a Bersih 4.0, the Government should tremble.

All told, this is just vindication for Bersih after all the injustices that have been done to it and its cause. No doubt, many of us can still recall with sadness the irrational things that were done in late June and early July of 2011.

It started with the detention of the 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia members under the Emergency Ordinance for supposedly resurrecting Communism and waging war against the King when they were merely going to Penang for a Bersih 2.0 roadshow. Then the police began arresting people for wearing Bersih T-shirts, and even Gopeng MP Lee Boon Chye for just wearing a yellow T-shirt. Absurdity ruled when none other than the IGP threatened to arrest anyone using any medium to promote the rally, which included yellow shoes, cars, buses!

That was a time when it looked like the country’s leadership was going mad. Now, one hopes, it will begin to return to sanity.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the bestselling book  No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 9:40 pm and is filed under
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Hamid cannot be more wrong, Hishammuddin should apologise for irrational, illogical and inconsistent ban of Bersih

Former Home Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar cannot be more wrong when he said his successor, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein need not apologise when the latter’s ban on Bersih as an “unlawful organisation” was quashed by Kuala Lumpur High Court as Hishammuddin was just exercising his powers as Home Minister. (TMI)

Hamid is not the most qualified to tender such an advice as he still owes a public apology for his gross abuse of powers in September 2008 when he was Home Minister and  senior Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Cheng was arbitrarily arrested under the Internal Security Act “for her own personal safety” together with DAP National Organising Secretary and Selangor Senior Exco for Investment, Trade and Industry, Teresa Kok.

There can be no doubt that in the present case, right-thinking and rational Malaysians agree that with the judgment of the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge, Justice Rohana Yusof  yesterday, the time has come  for the Barisan Nasional government to end its  petty,  vindictive and vengeful attitude to Bersih, with  Hishammuddin setting the example by extending a public apology  for his  irrational, illogical and inconsistent ban of Bersih on the baseless and ridiculous ground of being “prejudicial to public order and security”.

Hishammuddin and the Barisan Nasional should end their irrational attack of Bersih xanthophobia (fear of yellow), with the ridiculous standing instruction to the police at one stage that anyone wearing yellow, and not just the yellow Bersih T-shirt, as anti-national elements to be arrested on sight!

Instead, Hishammuddin and the BN  government should start acting in a more rational, level-headed and democratic manner and engage constructively with Bersih with the common goal to ensure that Malaysia has a clean, free and fair electoral system to usher a new era where Malaysia can mature to become a normal democracy.

The police must stop being the pawns of the ruling coalition helping to keep the present regime in power but instead, should be completely non-partisan in the electoral outcome of the 13 General Election, mindful its top priority must be its three core functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption in the police force and uphold human rights (as recommended by the Dzaiddin Royal Commission of Inquiry 2005).

Is Hishammuddin capable of changing tack and represent the Barisan Nasional in a constructive engagement with Bersih?

If not, then the country needs a new Home Minister who can engage with Bersih instead of fighting imaginary demons like banning Bersih as an unlawlful organization –guilty of  the 3is of being “irrational, illogical and inconsistent”.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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Hishammuddin should initiate government action to compensate Asrul for life for police violence at Bersih 3.0 rendering Asrul  “blind” and unemployable

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should initiate action for the government to compensate mechanical engineer Asrul Wadi Ahmad, 27, for life as a token of personal responsibility, remorse and recompense for police violence and brutality in indiscriminately and wantonly firing tear-gas canisters  at participants of  the Bersih 3.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur on April 28, rendering Asrul “clinically” blind and unemployable.

Asrul, who testified at the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry into violence at the Bersih rally, gave a most heart-rending account of his plight when he was hit by a tear gas canister during the Bersih 3.0 rally.

Asrul had perfect 20/20 vision prior to the injury but visibility in his right eye has now been reduced to 15 percent.  As a result, he may become unemployable as a mechanical engineer though he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn in February.

Asrul has consulted doctors from two private and three government hospitals and been told that the injury to his right eye cannot be reversed via medical procedures.

Asrul recounted at the Suhakam inquiry his horrendous experience at the Bersih 3.0 rally.

Moments before the incident, together with his father and younger brother, Asrul fled from the water feature at Jalan Tun Perak, adjacent to Dataran Merdeka.

He said: “We ran from the location when the tear gas was fired, the three of us took refuge in Masjid Jamek.

“A little while later we walked out of Masjid Jamek but because it was so crowded and chaotic, my brother and I were separated from our father.

“That was when I hit by the canister and fell to the ground. It was shot straight at me, I could see it coming.

“People around me carried me back into Masjid Jamek and then the paramedics came in an ambulance which took my brother and me to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.” (Malaysiakini)

Asrul’s right eye required nine stitches and he had two more for wounds under his nose.

If Hishammuddin is not prepared to initiate action for the government to compensate Asrul for life, a nation-wide campaign should be launched to demand that Hishammuddin and the government should assume responsibility for Asrul’s eye injury and be responsible for life-long compensation to Asrul.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 8:51 am and is filed under
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M’sian patriots, stand up to corruption and injustice

May Chee Chook Ying

Malaysiankini

Jul 24, 2012

Last year, there was a spate of burglaries at the apartments where my daughter lives in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

I met a technician from a pest-control company there one afternoon and we got to talking about it. This was his take – times are so bad now, people don’t have enough to live on. They are desperate!

There are studies that have shown that the root of all social problems is inequality.

If at all it’s true that RM892 billion, which is three times our foreign debt of RM257.2 billion in 2011, (and second only to Nigeria) has been siphoned out of the country, don’t you think that this will contribute to a very huge and sinful disparity between the haves and have-nots? Second only to Nigeria?

I don’t know which is more shocking or shameful!

Self-interest and greed create inequality. For those who created this inequality, there’s news for you. Inequality is an equal-opportunity disease that impacts everyone.

Inequality causes society to be more hierarchical, thereby intensifying the effects of social status differentiation which is both divisive and socially corrosive.

Violence is triggered when people start to feel disrespected and looked-down on; when this status anxiety expresses itself in crime, ill-health and mistrust.

Honestly, no matter how we perceive the increase in the crime rate to be, we need to get to the root of this problem. Isn’t it plain for all to see – our problems in Malaysia are rooted in corruption?

If there hadn’t been such corruption and massive outflow of illicit funds, all Malaysians would be better off. I honestly think we can even eradicate poverty!

No one needs to live in such sub-human condition the way some do now. We can all live with dignity and need not resort to crime at every corner. We need not live in fear!

It’s because of corruption that some are hanging on to power. And because they are afraid to pay for their sins, they need to frighten and threaten others to keep them in power.

Or maybe they think they can continue to milk the country and what’s left of it. These are the ones who tell the masses that they are the true patriots while their detractors are terrorists and commies.

We have real problems here, in Malaysia. Please, enough of the sandiwara (show) and charades.

If there are some of you who need to manufacture figures to steal from us, you are not patriotic but thieving.

If you need to make movies to cause disharmony and fear, you are not patriotic but seditious. If you need to break up families again and again and cause others so much pain, you are not patriotic but sleazy.

If you are going to let your children plunder the nation further, you are not patriotic but bad at parenting. If you need to be selective in persecution, you are not patriotic but unjust.

If you continue to take your fellow Malaysians for fools, you are not patriots but the bigger fool.

Worse still, there are those of you who need to continue to shackle your brothers and sisters and deny them the dignity they richly deserve, you are not patriotic but oppressive.

When you are keen to only ensure the advancement of your own kind while others are left to languish, are you a patriot?

When you reserve the best education opportunities for yourself and your kind, leaving others incompetent, are you a patriot?

When you should act in solidarity with the rest of your people, instead you act contrary to their interests, are you a patriot?

Do we have patriots running our country? Do we have leaders who are interested to restore our brothers and sisters as human persons in all dimensions, be they individual, family or social?

Do we have leaders who have the will and ability to narrow the disparity between our brothers and sisters? Do we have leaders who will serve us truly?

Social cohesion is sorely threatened in our country because of corruption and inequality.

We have been independent for a good 54 years and we are second only to Nigeria?

We have been negligent for far too long.

We have backslid too far back. We are going bankrupt. It’s time to stem the rot, if not, we will disappear as a people.

Calling all patriots, please stand up. We are all Malaysians and we can do this if we are truly one. Don’t let the ghost from the past frighten us to maintain a status quo that will destroy us as a people, as a nation.

We must rise to a new life. Say no to corruption, say no to corrupt leaders. We can do this, we can. Don’t be frightened, let’s give each other strength. We are brothers and sisters. Malaysia means the world to us.

We have to fight injustice in order to liberate ourselves and our beloved country. We can cure the sin with the very instrument of sin.

If these corrupt people think they can cheat us at the polls, let’s mitigate the reality by turning out in full. Please, let’s turn out in full to beat corruption.

Enough is enough. Please, my fellow Malaysians, time to be a patriot. Save our country before it’s too late. We can do this, we really can.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 7:57 am and is filed under
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The face that launched a thousand bricks

by Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Jul 23, 2012

You’re on holiday, you’re curious about the government in the country you are visiting, but the travel guides say very little. Why not try the following unscientific survey?

First, look around to see if there are posters of the prime minister or president and second, check the condition of the public toilets.

A vain head of government would have posters of his image littering the country. The third world mentality is reflected in a profusion of his images in public spaces.

As if to reflect the oppressive nature of the government, the state of public toilets tends to mirror the decline of the nation. In a way, the overall condition of the public toilet could also be a metaphor for the governance of the country.

Those who have travelled widely (both internally and abroad) may have noticed that in some countries, they are charged for using public toilets, only to find that there is no toilet paper and the facilities are a disgrace.

Sometimes, all that greets them is a stinking hole in the ground. On occasion, they are supplied with only two sheets of toilet paper, at the entrance.

The toilet user feels much like the citizen who has paid his taxes but finds an inefficient public service. There is no one to complain to, the attendant (metaphor for the MPs and civil service) is indifferent, and the suggestion box only leads to the cesspit.

The visitor to America is not bombarded with pictures of President Barack Obama, on every street corner. Nor are those who visit England, repulsed by posters of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Last week, when members of the Free Syrian Army captured a border post on the boundary with Turkey, they vented their frustrations by decimating posters of President Abas Assad with machinegun fire. During the Tahrir Square demonstrations, angry Egyptians tore down posters and stomped on the face of then-president Hosni Mubarak.

Unless Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is trapped in his ivory tower and has no way of gauging the mood on the ground, why was he persuaded to plaster his face all over the doors, walls and pillars of the KTM Komuter trains and stations?

It has been alleged, by an insider, that only the new trains from China had Najib’s image painted on them.

What is not widely known, is that Najib’s image has allegedly been defaced several times and even pelted with bricks.

The management is understandably concerned. When the brickbats missed their target, the windows were smashed, and at RM20,000 per window, KTM is counting the cost of having Najib’s portrait on its new trains.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd chairperson Mohd Zin Mohamed is the Selangor BN coordinator. He would do well to read the alternative media occasionally. Was he not aware of the debacle with the 100-Plus isotonic drink?

The gimmick disgusted the Malaysian public and they boycotted 100-Plus. The company which markets the drink offered an explanation, but to no avail. The damage was done. Sales have suffered.

So was Mohd Zin acting in Najib’s interests? Does he dare tell Najib that his image is costing KTM several thousands of ringgit in repair and replacement costs?

Poor Najib!

If that was not bad enough, Najib’s presence at the Hari Koperasi Negara on July 14 was another embarrassment. The organisers had allegedly been ordered to produce 100,000 people to attend the event at Stadium Bukit Jalil.

It is alleged that there are only 4,000 cooperatives in the nation and the organisers were hard pressed to find 100,000 for the function.

In the end, homemakers and school children were ‘enticed’ to attend, but despite their presence, many seats remained empty. Those who went alleged that many in the audience did not know why they had been asked to come nor were they told the nature of the event.

After the time-consuming opening ceremony, it was Najib’s turn to speak.

The problem was that people started to walk out. They had been there since the early afternoon, and were tired.

To make matters worse, the bored school children then blew on their vuvuzelas, and drowned Najib’s speeches.

Poor Najib! First he was interrupted at the London’s O2 Arena in May, by calls of “Bersih, Bersih!” Now, that he was on home ground, schoolboys with their vuvuzelas were his latest irritant.

He had to tell the school children to keep quiet, much like he had to tell the Bersih supporters in London to allow him to speak and to meet him after the event, a promise which he never intended to fulfil.

When will Najib learn that he should stop play-acting and start assuming his role as the leader of a nation? Crime is frightening ordinary Malaysians. The cost of living is rising. The educational standards are dropping. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

It is easy to use smear tactics, sex videos and thugs to attack the opposition. It is an irresponsible government which accuses the opposition of being communist and of harbouring terrorists in their midst.

The only reason Najib’s administration does this is because Umno has no original ideas. If Najib wants to be taken seriously as PM, he should stop putting his images everywhere (they will end up as targets) and have the courage to push through the reforms, which he has promised.

If he is still at a loss as to where to start, how about addressing the fury which is caused by the children of ministers, their cronies and VVIPs ‘winning’ contracts for highly lucrative multi-million ringgit projects?

These ‘lucky’ children dominate the air (air-traffic control), water (dam projects in Sarawak), land (cows and transport) and it appears, even alternative sources of energy (solar).

——————————————————————————–

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

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 7:10 pm and is filed under
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