Kit Siang warns BN may retake Kelantan

By Nigel Aw

Malaysiakini

1:00PM Sep 28, 2014

Amid a backlash against PAS over its teetering in the Selangor crisis, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has warned that PAS-led Kelantan government may fall into the hands of BN.

Lim said this would be the case if the 4.5 percent vote swing against PAS and by extension Pakatan Rakyat, is replicated in other constituencies in the state.

“If Pengkalan Kubor happens (in all of Kelantan), Pakatan will only get 20 seats and BN will capture 25 seats.

“That means the power to rule in Kelantan would be lost,” he told a DAP fundraising dinner in Petaling Jaya last night.

Lim’s warning comes a week after PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat warned that the Islamic party’s support among local Kelantanese had fallen below 50 percent, according to a post-mortem by the party’s central committee.

PAS vice president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Mat had dismissed that the Selangor crisis was a factor for the bigger loss at the Pengkalan Kubor by-election.

But Lim said if this was replicated in other states, Pakatan would suffer.

As such, it was imperative that all component parties abide by the coalition’s consensus.

“If we did not follow by our common policy framework, it would not have been possible for us to win 89 parliamentary seats and over 200 state assembly seats in the 13th general election.

“Umno would have recaptured two-thirds majority in Parliament,” he said.

He added Pakatan needed to study on how the coalition’s cooperation could continue working after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (left) twice defied Pakatan’s consensus.

“In the last two Pakatan leadership council meetings on July 23 and Aug 17, even though a consensus was achieved, it was not followed by the PAS president.

“If consensus is not the basis for the Pakatan leadership council how are we going to cooperate?” he questioned.

Lim proposed the creation of a committee comprising three to four representatives from the respective parties in Pakatan in study the matter and resolve it.

Also present at the dinner were PAS state assemblypersons Saari Sungib (Hulu Kelang) and Hasnul Baharuddin (Morib) who had defied their own party to support Pakatan.

Lim asked the over 700 mostly Chinese voters present to give 100 percent support to the duo, who have been branded as “traitors” by some leaders in PAS.

DAP hopeful about Azmin

The Selangor crisis had been prolonged after PAS could not agree with DAP and PKR on the new Selangor menteri besar candidate.

The crisis was finally resolved after PKR deputy president Azmin Ali was sworn in as the new menteri besar.

Weighing in on the new government, Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua said he did not know if Azmin (right) would be a significantly better menteri besar but said he was hopeful.

“In my meeting with Azmin, he indicated that he wanted to correct the wrongs in the previous administration,” he said.

This, he added, would include a break from the previous administration under Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who had disregarded the voices of elected representatives.

Pua said he would also propose that the new Selangor government allocate funds to assist those being prosecuted under the Sedition Act, as a role model in standing up against the federal government’s injustices.

Echoing this, Damansara Utama state assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin said she too was uncertain about Azmin but the new menteri besar had sent the right signals from day one.

“I was glad that on the first day he was sworn in, Azmin Ali stated that the Bible issue must be resolved,” she said.

Yeo was referring to the confiscation of 321 Malay-language and Iban-language copies of the Bible by the Selangor Islamic Religious Authorities which she said Khalid had failed to resolve.

“We need a leader who can solve sensitive issues, something Khalid was not able to do,” she asserted.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 1:58 pm and is filed under
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S’gor PAS duo gets heroes’ welcome by DAP

By Nigel Aw

Malaysiakini

8:52AM Sep 28, 2014

Branded traitors by PAS, Selangor assemblypersons Saari Sungib and Hasnul Baharuddin who defied their party to stand with Pakatan Rakyat in the Selangor crisis received a heroes’ welcome from Chinese supporters at a DAP fundraising dinner last night.

The duo, who were seated beside DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, received a standing ovation from the largely Chinese audience as several DAP leaders described them as “saviours of Pakatan Rakyat”.

“Thank you Saari and Hasnul, that we still have a Pakatan government. You are not traitors, you are the rakyat’s heroes,” declared former Selangor exco Ronnie Liu at the 70-table dinner in Petaling Jaya last night.

Meanwhile, Bukit Gasing state assemblyperson R Rajiv said the duo’s move to sign statutory declarations with other PKR and DAP representatives in backing PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the menteri besar “shattered” any hopes of a PAS-Umno unity government.

“If not for the two of them, we would have seen a unity government between PAS and Umno. But because of their willingness to sacrifice, we have preserved Pakatan in Selangor under our new menteri besar Azmi Ali,” he said.

Damansara Utama state assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin too praised them for their courage, relating what Saari’s wife had told her as Saari prepared to declare that he would stand with Pakatan.

“She told me the pressure was like when Saari was about to be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), but the pressure did not stop them from making this decision,” she said.

Lim, who later took the stage likewise heaped praise on the duo before inviting them onto the stage to address the excited audience while he continued to stand beside them as they spoke.

A smiling Saari began his speech by asking, “DAP okay? PKR okay?”

To which he received a loud “okay” from the crowd before asking in a hushed voice, “PAS okay?” to which he also received an equally loud, “Okay”.

Saari then related how he had struggled with fellow DAP leaders since the reformasi era, praising their consistency in fighting for democracy.

However, he lamented that the struggle for democracy sometimes faltered among his own party comrades.

‘Shed tears over bid with Umno’

“This was proven in 2008 in Selangor when DAP won 13 seats, PKR won 16 seats, PAS won 8 seats and BN won 20 seats.

“DAP and PKR were already holding meetings to plan (the new government), but I lost my own (then colleague) PAS commissioner Hasan Ali.

“We kept trying to find him but we could not. It turned out he was negotiating with Umno (to form the government),” he said as the crowd broke into laughter.

Saari said he was deeply disappointed at that time and had “shed tears” that his leaders thought that he, who had struggled since the reformasi era and detained under the ISA twice, would be willing to ally with arch-enemy Umno.

He added had PAS allied with Umno then, he would have quit the party to become an Independent, to which some in the crowd shouted, “Join DAP.” But Saari merely smiled.

Likewise, Saari said in the latest saga he and colleague Hasnul had stood with Pakatan without hesitation.

“Our decision was simple and straightforward, the muktamar had decided that we should stand with Pakatan. But unfortunately 13 of our other colleagues were not prepared to do so.

“Outsiders call us saviours, that it our contribution to save Pakatan in Selangor. But in our own party we are labelled as traitors.

“Are we traitors?” he said as the audience shouted back, “No, heroes!”

As a result of his decision, Saari said he received the highest ‘honour’ from his party that he described as Double B and Double D – Broker, Barua (lackey), Dicuri (stolen), Dibeli (bought over) – in reference to what PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang labelled the duo during the muktamar.

Saari however stressed he has received no reward for standing with Pakatan and had asked the new menteri besar not to include his name in the shortlist for any exco positions when the government was being formed.

‘Like child breaking law’

Meanwhile, Hasnul admitted that he was under tremendous pressure when he decided to side with Pakatan during the MB saga.

“My colleague (Damansara Utama state assemblyperson) Yeo Bee Yin said I looked scared when I entered the room (to declare support for Pakatan), like I had done something wrong to break the law, like how a child breaks the law.

“That was how scared (I felt), but I felt it was a sacrifice I had to do,” he said, adding that he hopes the Pakatan coalition will persevere.

Hasnul admitted that his actions means that he is unlikely to be allowed by PAS to contest in the next general election, but joked he could still contest under DAP.

“It’s dangerous for me to say like this,” he said laughingly. “No, what I meant is I do not care about my position.”

“But many of my friends in PAS thought if they did the same (to support Wan Azizah), they would not be nominated to contest in the next election,” he said.

Both PAS state assemblypersons when approached by journalists later stressed they will not quit PAS, and will leave their fate up to the party’s disciplinary committee.

Saari and Hasnul during the Selangor crisis acted as tie breakers after the duo joined 28 PKR and DAP state assemblypersons to back Wan Azizah.

PAS, which refused to make a decision at the time to back Wan Azizah as MB, had caused a stalemate as the 28 PKR and DAP representatives only made exactly half of the 56-member state assembly.

The crisis was triggered when Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim refused to step down from his position, after the party decided to replace him over increasing difficulty in working with him.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 1:44 pm and is filed under
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Armed with cell phones, Hong Kong’s young protesters ‘increasingly not scared’

By Wilfred Chan, CNN

September 29, 2014

Hong Kong (CNN) — It was 10 PM on Sunday and 22-year-old Michelle Li, a dancer, was supposed to be in her room doing homework.

But when she saw Facebook updates of police tear gassing pro-democracy protesters in downtown Hong Kong, she was too agitated to study. Within minutes, she followed online postings to the protest site itself — and soon had tear gas fired at her as well.

Only then did she peel her eyes from her mobile device. “While we were waging battle, we screamed out news to each other,” she tells CNN. “But before and after, I’d update people on the internet.”

It’s a high-tech response to a high-stress situation.

 Armed with top-of-the-line phones on some of the world’s fastest mobile networks, Hong Kong’s young protesters are able to organize themselves at a lightning pace older generations of activists could have only dreamed of.

“The internet is a critical reason these protests have exploded so quickly and so out of control,” says Li. “We all want instant news, and people are very unsettled.”

Barely an hour after Li was sprayed by tear gas, many young people, clutching glowing smartphones, used group chat apps like WhatsApp and Firechat to set up a splinter protest some 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of Hong Kong’s downtown Central district.

Just before the clock struck midnight Sunday, at least 1,000 protesters — many heeding messages that had been posted online just minutes before — suddenly flooded the main road in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok shopping district, leaving police surprised and outnumbered.

Then, in a coordinated move, dozens of young protesters parked vans and trucks in a tight formation, protectively surrounding protesters.

The police seemed unable to respond, and withdrew from the scene. Along with many other parts of Hong Kong, Mong Kok remains occupied with protesters Monday evening.

Crowd confusion

As protesters develop new ways to organize themselves online, it’s become less clear who is leading.

The police may have to deploy more terrible weapons to scare us.

Last night, student protest leaders — including high school striker Joshua Wong — asked supporters to go home out of safety, but thousands of protesters continued joining protests after midnight.

Rumors of an impending crackdown have also added to the confusion.

One message forwarded to CNN contained a cell phone recording of a young man who claimed to be the son of a police officer.

“There will be 2,000 to 3,000 riot policemen tonight,” said the voice. “Please spread this, just don’t quote my name.”

Another image briefly sparked panic Sunday night, purporting to show Chinese military vehicles moving in toward the protest. They turned out to be photos from an unrelated date.

To try and calm nerves, a group of 11 journalism students at the University of Hong Kong started a Facebook page with minute-by-minute protest updates that they claim to have verified. The page, launched less than 24 hours ago, already has over 70,000 followers.

“Not many of our friends really believe what they see on TV any more,” says Gloria Cheung, 23, who helps run the Facebook page. “But there are a lot of rumors causing panic on the internet.”

“Right now we just want to verify information, so people don’t get confused.”

Locals aren’t the only ones looking for news, though.

One group of volunteers has used social media to translate protest updates into thirteen languages, using the hashtag #UmbrellaMovement — a reference to the umbrellas used by Hong Kong’s protesters to shield against pepper spray.

‘What’s terrifying is, we’re not scared’

Despite the sophistication of their tools and the efficiency of their actions, students like Cheung and Li share a sense that the world they know is falling apart.

“It’s such a shock for me and my friends,” says Cheung. “We have been living such a normal, protected, and comfortable life in Hong Kong. We never thought there would be tear gas explosions.'”

There will be 2,000 to 3,000 riot policemen tonight. Please spread this, just don’t quote my name.

Anonymous Internet message

Li says it’s frightening how quickly young people have adapted to chaos as a new normal.

At first, she said her group of friends were scared of being arrested, then they were scared of pepper spray and then they feared being tear gassed.

“What’s terrifying is, we’re increasingly not scared — and the police may have to deploy more terrible weapons to scare us.”

The fear of bloodshed is perhaps felt most painfully by Hong Kong’s older generation, who still have memories of Tiananmen Square etched into their minds.

Li plays a WhatsApp voice message she was forwarded last night, from her former high school teacher.

“Hello students, this is your teacher, I’m safe right now, please don’t worry,” the woman says steadily.

Suddenly, her voice wavers and cracks with emotion.

“But please, listen to me, don’t come out any more, you are just high school students. You shouldn’t have to face these scenes, please go home.”

“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she continues, now crying.

“If you are at the protest right now and you can hear the sound of my voice, please leave immediately, because we just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 September 2014, 8:43 pm and is filed under
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Eat. Pray. Jihad. Malaysians fighting for IS in Syria say Prophet demands it

The Malay Mail Online

September 29, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 ― Ahmad Salman Abdul Rahim chose to leave his job at a Malaysian construction company to fight alongside jihadists in Syria for a reason he says is 1,400 years old: The Prophet Muhammad demands it.

Muhammad, the founder of Islam, once advised a companion to fight in the area that makes up modern-day Syria and predicted that Allah would send an “army of mujahideen” to the region, Ahmad said. He said he’s there to avenge Muslims tortured and killed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“We are portrayed as terrorists but I don’t care as this affair is between me and God,” UK-educated Ahmad, 38, said via Facebook messages from near Kfar Zeta in Syria’s Hama region. “Many of the end-of-times battles will happen around Syria. That’s among the reasons why I am here.”

As nations around the world grapple with the threat of Islamic State, the Southeast Asians fighting in the Middle East pose a risk in several ways, security analysts say. They could return and breathe new life into militant groups in a region with a history of extremism and occasional large-scale terror attacks, and they could radicalize friends and family at home via social media, aided by slick Islamic State promotional videos.

“It is not IS per se that might pose a danger to the region but rather its extreme militant ideology as well as the skills, battleground experience and international networks that Southeast Asian jihadists got from Syria and Iraq,” said Navhat Nuraniyah, an associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies who looks at terrorism and radicalization.

Continued mission

“If even a small minority of them do return, they will be highly respected by existing local groups,” she said. “If they do intend to continue their mission they will have no problem finding recruits and support.”

The total number of Southeast Asians fighting alongside Islamic State is estimated by governments and police to be a few hundred. The violence and brutality committed by terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria poses a threat to the Middle East and, if left unchecked, the world, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in a statement September 27.

Among those overseas is Akel Zainal, the drummer from a 1990s Malaysian pop group known for songs such as “You’re the Only One.” From Syria he solicits requests from Facebook followers to write their names on mortar shells, printing their names ― as many as five per shell ― next to the words “Malaysian Citizens Together with the Islamic Revolution.”

‘Eat. Pray. Jihad’

“US soldiers and other infidel armies usually write down names on bombs that they use on Muslims as a taunt,” Akel wrote on his Facebook page, which showed photos of him walking through the rubble of buildings destroyed by Syrian forces, a gun slung across his back. “Is it wrong then for me to want to taunt them back, these enemies of Allah? It’s my idea, it’s my way of sharing the fervour of the battlefields with my friends. Eat. Pray. Jihad.”

The counter-terrorism division of Malaysia’s police force has identified Ahmad and Akel as among those who have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight, said Ayob Khan Mydin, deputy chief of the unit. As many as 40 Malaysians may be there and police haven’t identified them all, he said.

“This is the first time a state committed to the application of Islamic law is actually winning victories and controlling oil, controlling territory and attracting an international body of fighters,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

Jemaah Islamiyah

Members of Islamic State have committed crimes such as torture, murder, enforced disappearances and forcible deplacements as part of attacks on civilians in Syria, the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a report released last month. Public executions have become commonplace in Islamic State-controlled areas, the report found.

Foreign fighters have been linked to the beheading of aid workers and journalists in the Middle East. Journalist James Foley was beheaded in a video released last month in which the executioner preached jihad with an English accent.

Terror attacks in Southeast Asia ― home to about 15 per cent of the world’s 1.57 billion Muslims, according to the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project ― have declined as security forces arrested or killed militants from regional groups like Jemaah Islamiyah. That group orchestrated the deadly 2002 nightclub bombings on the island of Bali, where tourist arrivals, a driver of the economy, fell 22 per cent the following year.

‘Political oxygen’

Islamic State-trained militants could re-energise groups like Jemaah Islamiyah, which was formed in the early 1990s by jihadists returning from Afghanistan with the goal of setting up an Islamic state across parts of Southeast Asia. Returnees may also form their own groups and seek to interrupt efforts to bring stability to areas such as Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

“Jemaah Islamiyah was very much weakened after Bali but now you can see these groups are reviving because the Syrian and Iraq conflict has given them political oxygen,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “Southeast Asians in Iraq and Syria, when they return they will bring new skills, new expertise, new motivations, new ideologies, new networks.”

“It is very likely that those who return from Syria and Iraq will form the nucleus of a new set of groups that will emerge in the region,” he said. Asean is the fourth-largest exporting region, accounting for 7 per cent of global exports, according to McKinsey & Co ― if it were a single country, Asean would be the seventh-largest economy in the world.

‘No idea’

The Philippine government has been alerted to the possible entry of Islamic State operatives, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported yesterday, citing President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman Abigail Valte. Authorities are tapping into the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace treaty with the government, to gather information, according to the report.

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, Muhammad In’am had never heard of Islamic State until his 19-year-old brother, Wildan Mukhollad, blew himself up in a suicide attack in Iraq earlier this year.

“We found out he died in February from news on the Internet,” In’am, 38, recalled. “We had no idea about IS.”

As a child Wildan wanted to become a cleric and attended an Islamic school in east Java founded by the family of one of the Bali bombers. In 2011 he moved to Egypt to study. About a year and a half later, Wildan disappeared, In’am said.

Several months after he vanished he contacted his family to tell them he was in Syria to wage jihad, In’am said. He ignored their pleas to return and late last year, in his last call to his mother, Wildan told her to make peace with the fact he would probably die there.

“The danger of IS is that it recruits young people whose understanding of Islam is not yet comprehensive,” In’am said. “IS degrades the morals of Islam itself.”

Social media

Islamic State, like other militant groups over the past decade, has a heavy online presence, using the Internet to communicate and organise, as well as release sermons and magazines touting its cause. Fighters share nearly real-time updates from the front lines, often gruesome photos and videos, on social media accounts.

“The fight in Syria, or the so-called struggle in Syria, is the first tweeted ‘jihad,’” said Mohamed Bin Ali, vice chairman and counselor at the Religious Rehabilitation Group, a group of Islamic scholars and teachers in Singapore that counsels extremists detained by the government. “Many of those who have been influenced, not only in Singapore, but from across the globe, they are indoctrinated, influenced via the Internet.”

Islamic teacher

Amir Mahmud is an Islamic studies teacher in the central Java city of Solo who said he founded the Islamic State Supporters Forum in July so that Indonesian jihadi groups could harness interest in the “heroic movement” happening in the Middle East. He said early meetings drew several thousand people, though the group since stopped its gatherings.

“I don’t see anything wrong with people here showing support for IS,” Amir said. “There’s no harm in expressing ideas that will always grow in Indonesia.”

Amir, who spent three years in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said he doesn’t support using violence to spread the ideology in Indonesia, though he understands why Islamic State has used it in Iraq and Syria. “You cannot spread your ideology, movement with words if you are at war.”

Even so, opponents of Islamic State in Indonesia are going online to reject it in what Sidney Jones called “the biggest popular backlash we have ever seen in Indonesia.”

“Many mainstream Muslim leaders are coming out in a way we haven’t seen before rejecting things out of hand,” she said.

Syria dreams

Mohammad Fadhlan, 21, left an Islamic boarding school in Kedah state in May to travel to Syria. He received instructions on getting there by contacting Lotfi Ariffin, a former official with an Islamic political party seen as the leader of the Malaysians in Syria, through social media.

“His dream was to go to Syria to join the jihad,” recalled his classmate Ameerul Hafeez. Lotfi and Fadhlan were killed earlier this month in the same battle.

Ameerul, 18, said he envies Fadhlan. “It’s not just me, it’s everyone who wishes to die as a martyr,” he said by phone.

Decide ourselves

“The people who went there didn’t go for fun or adventure, it’s for Islam and because the Syrians need help from foreign fighters,” said Ameerul, who had former pop star Akel write his name on a mortar. “We get our information from the Internet, we can decide for ourselves what we feel is right.”

While former construction company worker Ahmad fights on in Syria, his family frets at home.

“There’s a bit of sadness, a bit of pride and there is fear that we will lose him,” his sister Aini Salina said.

Ahmad said he doubts he’ll see Malaysia again, given the risk of arrest ― and if he did, he wouldn’t commit violence in his home country. Still, “I left behind all of life’s luxuries for Islam,” he said. “I am sacrificing it all.” ― Bloomberg

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 September 2014, 8:39 am and is filed under
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Reaffirmation of common policy framework and the consensus principle are the two prerequisites to restore public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat and save it from the fate of being a  one general-election wonder

Pakatan Rakyat has emerged from its worst crisis in its six-year history.

Pessimists, whether inside the coalition or outside, have grave doubts about the continued viability of Pakatan Rakyat while optimists are a distinct minority.

Meanwhile UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders and strategists are working overtime to sow dissension and fan division in Pakatan Rakyat.

Yesterday, for instance, the UMNO mouthpiece Mingguan Malaysia carried a special article entitled
“Nasib Pas selepas muktamar”
 alleging that PAS was being “bullied” by DAP while elsewhere in the non-Malay media, MCA and Gerakan leaders continue with their propaganda that DAP was being bullied by PAS.

Both allegations are equally preposterous and untrue, but the UMNO/Barisan Nasional propagandists are not interested in upholding the truth but in disseminating lies and falsehoods to sow dissension and conflict within the Pakatan Rakyat.

It will be a bonus to these UMNO/BN propagandists if they could get a few in  PAS to believe that the PAS is being bullied by DAP and a few in DAP to believe that DAP is bullied by PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, for this will aggravate tensions and conflict in the Pakatan Rakyat.

Although Pakatan Rakyat formed by DAP, PKR and PAS failed to dislodge the Barisan Nasional from federal power in the 13th General Elections last May, it won 52% of the popular vote and for the first time in the nation’s history, there is a minority Federal Government in Putrajaya.

The question on everyone’s mind is whether  Pakatan Rakyat will be around as a coalition to contest the 14th GE to replace the Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya?

It does not serve any purpose to play down the grave damage inflicted on Pakatan Rakyat as a result of the long drawn-out Selangor Mentri Besar crisis, which was dragged out for more than 45 days than it should have been after the expulsion of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim from PKR on August 9, and which might have dragged on into November or even indefinitely into next year.

At the DAP Petaling Jaya Selatan dinner in Bukit Gasing on Saturday night, I said that based on the results of the Pengkalan Kubor by-election results in Kelantan on Sept. 25,  the percentage of vote won by the PAS/PR candidate decreased 4.5% from 35% in the 13GE last May to 30.5%, and that if this result is projected to all the state assembly seats in Kelantan, UMNO/BN would have retaken the Kelantan State Government.

Table 1: State and Parliament seats won by BN and PR in Kelantan based on Pengkalan Kundor by-election results

Projections

GE 2013

BN State

25

12

PR State

20

33

BN Parliament

8

5

PR Parliament

6

9

BN would go from winning 12 state seats in GE2013 to winning 25 state seats which means that the BN would win control of the Kelantan state government.

At the parliamentary level, BN would go from winning 5 parliament seats to winning 8 parliament seats. PR marginal parliament seats such as Kuala Krai, Pasir Puteh and Bachok will be lost to BN.

In my speech last Saturday, I also touched on the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election in May where there was a 6.4% fall in the DAP/PR candidates’ vote share – from 56.3% in GE2013 to 49.9% in the by-election. The DAP/PR candidate’s vote share among the Malays increased by 3.3%, among the Chinese decreased by 15.1%, among the Indians decreased by 11.6%.

If this result is projected to all the state and parliament seats in Perak, the following would be the results:

Table 2: State and Parliament seats won by BN and PR in Perak based on Teluk Intan by-election results

Projections

GE 2013

BN State

36

31

PR State

23

28

BN Parliament

16

12

PR Parliament

8

12

BN’s advantage in the Perak state legislature will increase from 31 state seats in GE2013 to 36 seats. BN would win 4 more parliament seats (from 12 to 16). PR would lose parliament seats like Bukit Gantang (PAS), Sungai Siput (PKR / PSM), Beruas (DAP) and Kampar (DAP). On the state seat side, PR would lose Kuala Sepetang (PKR), Changkat Jering (PAS), Sungai Rapat (PAS), Teja (PKR) and Hutan Melintang (PKR).

The reaffirmation of Pakatan Rakyat’s common policy framework and the consensus principle are the two prerequisites to restore public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat and save it from the fate of being a  one general-election wonder.

There can be no doubt that both these factors were critical in PR’s electoral success in the 13GE, winning 89 Parliamentary seats and 229 state assembly seats (excluding Sarawak), and continuing to deny  UMN0/BN two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The consensus principle has now broken down as the  PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has refused to abide by the consensus reached by the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council in the meetings of July 23 and August 17.

How is the Pakatan Rakyat and the PR Leadership Council to function if consensus is not going to be the PR’s guiding operating principle?

Pakatan Rakyat  needs  to study  how the coalition’s cooperation could continue working and I suggest the creation of a working committee comprising three or four representatives from each PR component party to study and make recommendations.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 September 2014, 11:51 am and is filed under
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Second of Three Parts: Molding Our Students

A Modest Proposal for the Champions of Ketuanan Melayu

by M. Bakri Musa

[In Part One I suggested that our current obsession with the presumed deficiencies of our race and our undisguised resentment over the successes of others are but expressions of frus (frustration) and fury for our own lack of competitiveness and productivity. We should focus instead on remedying both, and begin with our young, especially those promising ones at our SBPs.]

It may seem obvious but needs to be stated explicitly: We must prepare these students for top universities the moment they step foot at a SBP. That’s how they do it elsewhere. American students aspiring to top universities begin their preparation upon entering high school, or even earlier. The courses they take, their extra-curricular programs as well as their summer activities are all geared towards this central mission.

            My grandchildren who are in an American school in Singapore have assigned reading lists for the summer, and they are still in primary school! Likewise, SBP students must have mandatory reading lists and writing assignments during their long holidays. The purpose is two-fold. One is to prevent attrition of knowledge and study skills during the long hiatus, and the other, to inculcate the habit of reading and writing. It impresses upon them that those skills are not just for examinations.

            Once when I took my family on an overseas trip, my son’s teacher asked him to keep a journal to be shared with his class while my daughter was assigned to study a Malay folk tale. In high school my son was invited to spend his summer break at Ames Research Center.

            I speak with some experience. When my daughter entered Harvard Law School over 15 years ago, she was the first Malaysian to enroll there. There has not been another since. One of my sons works for an agency that prepares students for selective universities.

            We should prepare all SBP students for recognized matriculation examinations like IB, American AP, or British “A” level, and start them from day one. Consequently it would serve no purpose for them to sit for SRP and SPM. Those tests have little predictive value anyway; their philosophy and assumptions are also very different.

            Since these students have limited English proficiency coming as they are from the national stream, why not have their first year at SBP be full English-immersion akin to the Special Malay or “Remove” Classes of yore? Better yet, make all SBPs English-medium. That however, is no panacea. MARA already has a few English-medium SBPs but their students’ achievements remain disappointing. We need to do more.

            I envisage admitting the students in the middle of their Form II instead of Form I, as at present, based on their SRP scores as well as their Form I and first term of Form II performances. By the time they sit for their IB or “A” level five years later, their cohorts in the regular school would be in the middle of their Upper Six.

            Their college counseling should start right away, as with preparing for their PSAT and SAT. There must be adequate resources and personnel to guide these students in their college choices, but more on that later.

            Daewon’s and Minjuk’s excellent results were skewed because their students were children of diplomats, expatriates, and others who had been educated in the West. The South Korean government has since changed the rule to make those schools liberalize their admissions. For SBPs I suggest that they reserve half their slots for those who would be the first in their family to enter university and those from the kampongs.

            No matter how stringent the selection process, inevitably there will a few who would not thrive in the residential school environment. While every attempt should be made to help them, but if they do not measure up, then they should be returned to regular schools. They are not failures rather they are better suited for day school.

            Three features of the Korean schools are worth emulating. First is the mentoring system where first-year students are paired with a senior. Second, those students are constantly exposed to successful role models, fellow Koreans as well as non-Koreans who are graduates of top universities. Those students get first-hand perspectives beyond what could be gleaned from the college brochures. Likewise, our SBPs should invite Malaysians who are graduates of top universities to give talks to and inspire these students.

            The third striking feature is that the students’ time is structured during their entire waking hours. They are always involved in something, if not with their classes and class assignments then debates, sports, music, and a myriad of extra-curricular activities. When students are occupied, they are less likely to get into trouble.

            MCKK obtained excellent results during the time of Principal Howell when he instituted daily afternoon “preps” in addition to the evening ones. When you have high expectations and demand more from your students, they respond.

            The converse is even more consequential. If you have low expectations or reward those who do not strive, as with sending them to third-rate universities abroad, then you are imparting the wrong message. That would be akin to membajakan (adding fertilizer) lallang. Even without the extra help, those weeds would snuff out the lengkuas. In a rentier economy, we are busy fertilizing our lallang.

            MARA is membajakan lallang by sending hundreds of its students to third-rate universities abroad. The money could be better spent to strengthen its matriculation programs and SBPs at home. MARA should adopt tougher standards and send only those who have been accepted to top universities. Currently it sends students abroad even for sixth form. It is cheaper and far more effective to prepare those students in Malaysia. MARA’s current policy only perpetuates this culture of mediocrity.

Next Week: Last of Three Parts: Leveraging Residential Schools

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 September 2014, 8:53 am and is filed under
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US admits there is a much scarier terrorist group than ISIS

RT

September 21, 2014

New intelligence has emerged warning Washington that its upcoming confrontation with the Islamic State may leave it blind to a more sinister and direct threat from a much lesser known terrorist group that has arisen from the ashes of the Syrian war.

Very little information is being released at the moment by anyone within American intelligence circles, but the group calling itself Khorasan is said by officials to have concrete plans for striking targets in the United States and Europe as a chosen modus operandi – more so than the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS.

The first ever mention of the group occurred on Thursday at an intelligence gathering in Washington DC, when National Intelligence Director James Clapper admitted that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.”

According to the New York Times, some US officials have gone as far as saying that, while the Islamic State is undoubtedly more prominent in its show of force in the Middle East, it is Khorasan who’s intent on oversees campaigns in a way Al Qaeda usually is.

In this sense, the US air strike campaign and the coming actions by the anti-IS coalition might just be what coaxes the IS into larger-scale attacks on American and European soil – what Khorasan is essentially all about.

This brings up another issue seen in the current Western stance on terrorism: it is so focused on the terror spread by the IS that it’s beginning to forget that the destruction and mayhem of civil war across the Middle East is spawning a number of hard-to-track terrorist factions with distinct missions.

“What you have is a growing body of extremists from around the world who are coming in and taking advantage of the ungoverned areas and creating informal ad hoc groups that are not directly aligned with ISIS or Nusra,” a senior law enforcement official told the NY Times on condition of anonymity.

The CIA and the White House declined to give comment.

According to government sources, the Al-Qaeda offshoot group is led by a former senior operative – 33-year-old Muhsin al-Fadhli, reportedly so close to Bin Laden’s inner circle he was one of the few who knew of the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks in advance.

He had reportedly fled to Iran during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda’s story goes hazy after the campaign: many operatives are said to have traveled to Pakistan, Syria, Iran and other countries, forming splinter groups.

In 2012, al-Fadhli was identified by the State Department as leading the Iranian branch of Al-Qaeda, controlling “the movement of funds and operatives” in the region and working closely with wealthy “jihadist donors” in his native Kuwait to raise money for the Syrian terrorist resistance.

Although the first public mention of the group was only this Thursday, American intelligence is said to have been tracking it for over a decade. Former President George W. Bush once mentioned the name of its leader in 2005 in connection with a French oil tanker bombing in 2002 off the coast of Yemen.

Khorasan itself is shrouded in mystery. Little is known publicly apart from its being composed of former Al-Qaeda operatives from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The group is said to favor concealed explosives as a terror method.

Like many other groups taking up the power vacuum in war-torn Syria, Khorasan has on occasion shifted its alliances.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri at one point ordered the former ISIS to fight only in Iraq, but cut all ties with it when it disobeyed and branched out. The result was that the Nusra Front became Al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. It’s said that Khorasan is to Al Nusra Front what the latter was to Al-Qaeda.

When The Daily Signal spoke to James Phillips, a Middle East expert at The Heritage Foundation, he outlined some American intelligence views on the group: they see their mission in “[recruiting] European and American Muslim militants who have traveled to Syria to fight alongside Islamist extremist groups that form part of the rebel coalition fighting Syria’s Assad regime.”

“The Khorasan group hopes to train and deploy these recruits, who hold American and European passports, for attacks against Western targets,” he said.

He believes Khorasan to be Al-Qaeda’s new arm in attacking America, its “far enemy.” While they are Al Nusra’s allies in Syria, their role is believed to be to carry out terrorist attacks outside the country.

The group reportedly uses the services of a very prominent Al-Qaeda bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, whose devices previously ended up on three US-bound planes. He is known to be a true pioneer of hard-to-detect bombs.

Phillips believes that the next step is taking those bombs and pairing them with US-born and other foreign jihadists returning home.

In this respect, Phillips views the Khorasan threat to the US to be much more direct compared to the Islamic State’s more regional ambitions. And since President Obama’s upcoming anti-IS strategy reportedly does not include Al Nusra, this potentially frees Khorasan’s hands.

What sets Al Nusra apart from the many other groups is that it’s now the only faction with active branches throughout Syria.

Syria analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, Jennifer Cafarella, told the NY Times “there is definitely a threat that, if not conducted as a component of a properly tailored strategy within Syria, the American strikes would allow the Nusra Front to fill a vacuum in eastern Syria.”

Because of al-Zawahiri’s current weakened position in terrorist cricles, both Al Nusra and Khorasan by extension are less prominent than the IS. But these things have a way of changing unpredictably, and because the plans of these more traditional terrorist groups in Syria aren’t yet clear, a danger arises.

The volatile conflict zone that is Syria, with its lax borders and an increasing number of distinct, armed Islamist groups, the US may be surprised by how difficult it soon may be to pinpoint the origin of the next threat.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 September 2014, 9:08 pm and is filed under
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DAP’s newest recruit in niqab sparks vitriol from critics

The Malay Mail Online

September 30, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Dressed in a niqab — the veil which covers her face leaving only her eyes visible — 22-year-old Jamila Rahim makes an unlikely face for the DAP, a secular political party that is mostly Chinese.

So much so that her public announcement and appearance as the DAP’s latest recruit has sparked a huge storm on the Internet, with a pro-Umno blog telling the young novelist and activist that she would be better off being a “whore” than joining the opposition party.

But Jamila, popularly known as Melati, is unfazed.

“I think the voice of the activists is quite the minority. Not everyone wants to listen to the voice of activists,” Melati told the DAP’s news portal Roketkini in an interview published today.

“If party members are not with them, who else will be? At least those who join political parties can deliver their voices,” she added.

The University of Selangor graduate said she joined the party to represent the activist community, which she said was marginalised during her four years of activism.

In another interview with English portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) yesterday, Melati said she joined the party as its principles is near to her Islamic values, despite being seen as a “Chinese chauvinist” party.

“If reviewed roughly, in the DAP constitution itself, humanism or humanity is put as the spine or main core. In Islam itself, humanity is fundamental and is a need for a human,” she told FMT.

However, Melati’s entry into DAP, especially after two other Malay girls Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and Syefura Othman, was not received well by critics of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat.

While DAP was criticised for allegedly banking on Dyana and Syefura’s looks, it was a different situation with Melati and her Islamic image.

Instead, her entry was said to be another ploy by DAP to purportedly weaken the position of Islam in Malaysia.

“The truth is, it is nobler for a prostitute who sells herself for a bowl of rice, compared to those who wear tudung and purdah “selling themselves” to DAP for worldly comfort until Islam is weakened,” said an editorial in the portal MyKMU, seen as aligned to Barisan Nasional (BN).

“Hopefully Diyana Sofea [sic], Melati and their friends are given the guidance to return to a better and nobler path, although imperfect,” said the editorial, titled “Melati, Lebih Baik Jadi Pelacur Dari Sertai DAP”

[Translation: Melati, it is better to be a whore than joining DAP].

However, Melati seemed unfazed by her move, which she made public in a footnote for a short fiction piece she sent to Roketkini on September 13.

“[Is it] against the norm? If others have the right to do what they want and believe, why do I need to stop my right to do what I want?” asked Melati.

Lawyer Dyana, 26, joined DAP as the political secretary to Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang; and was picked to contest in the Teluk Intan by-election in May, but lost to Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong by 238 votes.

Syefura, 25, is a more recent recruit, joining during a DAP breaking fast ceremony.

Besides Melati, the two have since received media attention as symbols of the party’s push to gain relevance with the Malay community.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 6:25 pm and is filed under
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Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF

Damian Carrington

The Guardian

29 September 2014

Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.

“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.

“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” said Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF. He said more of the Earth must be protected from development and deforestation, while food and energy had to be produced sustainably.

The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates.

“We have all heard of the FTSE 100 index, but we have missed the ultimate indicator, the falling trend of species and ecosystems in the world,” said Professor Jonathan Baillie, ZSL’s director of conservation. “If we get [our response] right, we will have a safe and sustainable way of life for the future,” he said.

If not, he added, the overuse of resources would ultimately lead to conflicts. He said the LPI was an extremely robust indicator and had been adopted by UN’s internationally-agreed Convention on Biological Diversity as key insight into biodiversity.

A second index in the new Living Planet report calculates humanity’s “ecological footprint”, ie the scale at which it is using up natural resources. Currently, the global population is cutting down trees faster than they regrow, catching fish faster than the oceans can restock, pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them and emitting more climate-warming carbon dioxide than oceans and forests can absorb.

The report concludes that today’s average global rate of consumption would need 1.5 planet Earths to sustain it. But four planets would be required to sustain US levels of consumption, or 2.5 Earths to match UK consumption levels.

The fastest decline among the animal populations were found in freshwater ecosystems, where numbers have plummeted by 75% since 1970. “Rivers are the bottom of the system,” said Dave Tickner, WWF’s chief freshwater adviser. “Whatever happens on the land, it all ends up in the rivers.” For example, he said, tens of billions of tonnes of effluent are dumped in the Ganges in India every year.

As well as pollution, dams and the increasing abstraction of water damage freshwater systems. There are more than 45,000 major dams – 15m or higher – around the world. “These slice rivers up into a thousand pieces,” Tickner said, preventing the healthy flow of water. While population has risen fourfold in the last century, water use has gone up sevenfold. “We are living thirstier and thirstier lives,” he said.

But while freshwater species such as the European eel and the hellbender salamander in the US have crashed, recoveries have also been seen. Otters were near extinct in England but thanks to conservation efforts now live in every county.

The number of animals living on the land has fallen by 40% since 1970. From forest elephants in central Africa, where poaching rates now exceed birth rates, to the Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh and European snakes like the meadow and asp vipers, destruction of habitat has seen populations tumble. But again intensive conservation effort can turn declines around, as has happened with tigers in Nepal.

Marine animal populations have also fallen by 40% overall, with turtles suffering in particular. Hunting, the destruction of nesting grounds and getting drowned in fishing nets have seen turtle numbers fall by 80%. Some birds have been heavily affected too. The number of grey partridges in the UK sank by 50% since 1970 due to the intensification of farming, while curlew sandpipers in Australia lost 80% of their number in the 20 years to 2005.

The biggest declines in animal numbers have been seen in low-income, developing nations, while conservation efforts in rich nations have seen small improvements overall. But the big declines in wildlife in rich nations had already occurred long before the new report’s baseline year of 1970 – the last wolf in the UK was shot in 1680.

Also, by importing food and other goods produced via habitat destruction in developing nations, rich nations are “outsourcing” wildlife decline to those countries, said Norris. For example, a third of all the products of deforestation such as timber, beef and soya were exported to the EU between 1990 and 2008.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK said: “The scale of the destruction highlighted in this report should be a wake-up call for us all. But 2015 – when the countries of the world are due to come together to agree on a new global climate agreement, as well as a set of sustainable development goals – presents us with a unique opportunity to reverse the trends.

“We all – politicians, businesses and people – have an interest, and a responsibility, to act to ensure we protect what we all value: a healthy future for both people and nature.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 9:10 am and is filed under
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In tale of ‘Rainbow Loom’ maker, racial quota rears its head again

The Malay Mail Online

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — “Rainbow Loom” creator Ng Cheong Choon’s story of how he came to invent the toy fad begins much like that of former Malaysians who head for greener pastures after being allegedly deprived by racial quotas here.

Writing of his experience in British daily The Guardian, the creator of the colourful rubber bracelets said he and his brother were forced to head to the US for their education in 1991, despite barely being able to speak any English.

“After school, I dreamed of becoming an engineer, but I could not get into my local university, because Malaysia’s race-based quota system limits the number of ethnically Chinese students.

“Like many of my friends, I had to leave Malaysia to go to university,” Ng wrote in his article for The Guardian.

Malaysia practises a system of racial quotas for university placements, with preference given to the Bumiputera community that is largely Malay.

Ng also said his graduation with a master’s in mechanical engineering coincided with the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis that hit Malaysia and other countries in the region hard, prompting him to stay on to start a career in crash safety in the US motor industry.

The genesis of the Rainbow Loom was happenstance, after Ng saw his daughters playing with bracelets made of rubber bands that kept falling apart.

Applying both his childhood memories of skipping ropes made from linked rubber bands and his engineering know-how, Ng then spent six months developing what would eventually become the “Rainbow Loom”.

“We invested our entire family savings of US$10,000 (RM33,500) ) to order tooling and 2,000lb (910kg) of rubber bands from China, and assembled the kits ourselves in our garage,” Ng wrote.

He then attempted to convince toy stores in Michigan to stock the bands, but found no success for months as people simply did not “understand how they worked”.

Ng then had his daughters and niece demonstrate the loom bands in a YouTube video that later spread across the Internet, planting the seeds of what would later become a toy phenomenon.

He received his first order for a dozen loom kits in July 2012, before the same toy store in Georgia came back with a US$10,000 order.

“We thought it was a mistake. The storeowners told us they had never seen anything like it. After that, our sales climbed every month until, in December 2012, we reached US$200,000 wholesale sales a month.”

He then took a three-month sabbatical from his job at Nissan, but never returned.

Ng’s “Rainbow Loom” went on to register over US$40 million in sales last year, a figure he expects to double this year.

Racial quotas are a common refrain in success stories involving Malaysians who leave the country in search of opportunities elsewhere.

In July, US webzines wrote of Penang-born “Mamak” Azalina Eusope’s rags-to-riches tale in which she also said she left the country after failing to enter university here.

Former street vendor Azalina is opening a 15,000 sq ft restaurant in Twitter’s headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A World Bank report from 2011 concluded that 20 per cent of Malaysian graduates opt to quit the country, with Singapore cited as the preferred destination.

More than two million Malaysians have emigrated since Merdeka.

Last year, a total 308,834 high-skilled Malaysians moved overseas, with 47.2 per cent going to Singapore, 18.2 per cent to Australia, 12.2 per cent to US and the rest to other countries like UK and Canada.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 8:31 am and is filed under
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ISIS+Al-Nusra Front? Islamists reportedly join forces, new threat against West issued

RT

September 29, 2014

Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front has issued a new threatening audio message featuring its leader warning the West “will pay the heaviest price” for its actions. The Syrian group is reportedly now joining up with the estranged Islamic State militants.

The leader of Syria’s most prominent terrorist group, Abu Mohamad al-Golani, in denouncing the US-led air strike campaign, has urged Westerners everywhere to do the same “by standing against the decisions of your rulers,” otherwise bloodshed would be brought to their soil.

“Muslims will not watch while their sons are bombed. Your leaders will not be the only ones who would pay the price of the war. You will pay the heaviest price,” Reuters cited him as saying. He threatened viewers that the fight would be brought “to the hearts of your homes.”

The US-led coalition has been involved in airstrikes against what until lately it thought was the most dangerous group in the Middle East – the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

However, recent intelligence has pointed to the danger of avoiding other groups whose modus operandi involves carrying out attacks on American and European targets. The IS’s so far has not.

The US has opened two airstrike fronts in its war against the IS: Iraq, since August 8, and Syria since September 23.

The promise was to “degrade and destroy” the terrorist group, while Al-Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda were reduced in importance.

Indeed, for the past year, the IS had fallen out of favor with the likes of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda leader who tried to keep the militants in check. The reason was the group’s unwillingness to operate only in Iraq.

Now, however, the American airstrike campaign appears to have brought the two back together again: Al-Nusra Front has come under pressure from its own members to make good with the IS and embark on a mission to repel the “crusader” assault on Islam.

Although the two groups had fought a bitter battle on the sidelines of the broader Syrian conflict against President Bashar Assad’s forces, a senior Al-Nusra Front source has confirmed to the Guardian that a series of war planning meetings is underway.

While there’s still no word of a deal, any potential unity could be seen as a reason to worry. The Western airstrike campaign has been aiming to cripple the IS’s funding sources in order to slow its progress in Syria and Iraq. The addition of at least some elements of the Syria-based Al-Nusra Front to IS ranks would be a counter-balancing factor. In fact, 73 members had already reportedly defected to IS last Friday, according to an Al-Nusra Front source speaking to the Guardian.

The official Al-Nusra Front spokesman paraphrased in another message the earlier words of Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri, that this is now a full-on “war.” And as Zawahiri said, “this war will not end in months nor years, this war could last for decades.”

With the Islamic State rampaging across northern Syria and Iraq during the past year, Al-Nusra Front was in relative obscurity. In Tuesday’s strikes by the US, however, 50 of its fighters were killed, including the leader of Al-Nusra-linked Khorasan – the group reportedly tasked with carrying out Al-Nusra’s attacks abroad.

Gholani made sure to mention that losses by all said groups make an imprint on the entire campaign, and will provoke retaliation, adding that in the end “even if we suffer some pain during it,” the war will be won.

Most importantly, he urged all Middle Eastern groups who had suffered at the hands of the IS to not use the opportunity to strike back at them, and instead unite to fight the West.

“[IS injustice] should not push any of you to be driven behind the West and take part in the alliance which they want to use to end jihad,” he said.

He further appealed to Sunni Muslims in Lebanon to leave the army and rise up against Hezbollah – the Shiite militia – in order to also fight the Shiite-aligned Assad in Syria.

Some Islamist elements of Syria’s three-year-long opposition are also visibly angry that the airstrike campaign is going nothing to offset the gain of the Syrian government.

“We have been calling for these sorts of attacks for three years and when they finally come they don’t help us,” said the leader of the Qatar-sponsored Islamic Front.

Airstrikes, however, also kill civilians. One such strike killed 31 civilians, when a school near the Iraqi city of Tikrit was hit on September 1. This included 24 children and a further 41 wounded civilians.

In the meantime, US President Barack Obama has in a CBS interview blamed intelligence for “underestimating” the threat posed by Islamic State in Syria, adding also that the fall of Iraq’s army in the north was likewise unexpected and is allowing the terrorist group to “reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Melati Move – Langkah ‘ninja’

Wawancara

Roketkini

30 September 2014

Langkah novelis Pelacur Kelas Pertama Melati Rahim menyertai DAP secara senyap-senyap hampir sahaja mengabsahkan perawakan separa ninja yang dibawanya. Ya, Melati gadis berpurdah. Tutup semua, sehingga yang kelihatan hanyalah dua biji matanya.

Langkah ninja Melati disusun melalui cerpennya di Roketkini, yang menyelitkan di hujung tulisan bahawa Melati ini ahli DAP. Dengan harapan, ada mana-mana media yang mengutip maklumat tersebut. Ternyata ada, boleh baca di sini.

Gadis Melayu berpurdah masuk DAP bukan perkara biasa. Malah ada yang di dalam DAP sendiri masih terkejut dengan “Melati Move” ini. Sebenarnya, Roketkini sudah dudukkan Melati dan bertanyakan tujuan menyertai DAP secara bertentang mata.

Adakah sebab banyak orang menghalang-halang Melayu dari mendekat dengan DAP maka kau pun macam ‘ahhh.. aku nak masuk DAP lah’

Tak tak tak.. Aku masuk DAP bukan sebab tu. Aku tengok Perlembagaan DAP dan aku perhatikan sikap beberapa orang wakil rakyat DAP. Aku pergi rumah mereka ni… rumah mereka sangat biasa. Membuatkan aku rasa ‘alahai normal betul’.

Ada yang cakap pada aku ‘Kalau nak masuk parti, jangan fikir nak jadi YB. Kita kena fikirkan perjuangan dan perjuangan kita adalah untuk rakyat’. Benda ini aku tak nampak pada parti lain.

Sepanjang empat tahun aku beraktivisme, aku perasan bahawa apa sahaja suara dan aktiviti yang aku buat, orang tak peduli pun, keselamatan aku tak terjamin dan aku tak ada sokongan. Jadi aku masuk parti sebagai wakil aktivis yang tidak masuk parti, aku mahu jadi wakil suara aktivis.

Jadi sebelum ni kau seorang yang ‘apolitikal’ dan memilih untuk meninggalkan ‘prinsip’ tu kerana?

Aku rasa suara aktivis ni suara yang agak minoriti. Tak semua mahu dengar suara aktivis. Kalau tak orang parti bersama mereka, siapa lagi yang nak bersama mereka? Jadi sekurang-kurangnya ada dari kalangan aktivis yang menyertai parti politik yang boleh sampaikan suara mereka.

‘Suara’ ni suara apa sebenarnya? Apa yang ‘suara’ ni mahukan?

Banyak isu yang aktivis suarakan. Isu Ali Abd Jalil contohnya (yang ditahan 20 hari untuk siasatan di bawah Akta Hasutan), dan isu-isu wanita, anak-anak kurang upaya. Aku sekarang kerja di sebuah rumah amal yang tempoh hari dapat jemputan sambutan hari raya, tetapi terang-terang ditulis di situ jemputan untuk anak-anak normal. Apa anak-anak kurang upaya ni tak berhak sambut hari raya? Sedangkan mereka pun berpuasa.

Dan sebagai aktivis yang buat kerja-kerja amal, ada masanya kami perlukan bantuan dan mobilisasi tenaga kerja. Parti politik ada sumber-sumber ini, untuk membantu para aktivis.

Rumah amal? Cuba cerita sikit.

Ada satu rumah amal ni dekat Teluk Intan. Rumah ni dia jaga semua; warga tua, anak tak sah taraf, orang tak sempurna akal, orang kurang upaya, semua ada. Di situ aku buat kerja sukarela. Walaupun sebenarnya bidang tugas aku kerja pejabat, tapi sebab rumah ni cuma ada empat orang pekerja dan 70 orang penghuni, jadi aku buat semua dan bantu mana yang patut.

Pagi-pagi aku mandikan budak-budak, bersihkan tempat tidur, suapkan makan, pergi pasar beli barang-barang dapur. Dan rumah ni tak ada pekerja lelaki, dan selalunya yang datang bekerja hanya bertahan sehari atau sekadar bertahan waktu temuduga, lepas tu terus tak datang.

Dan kau sanggupkan kenapa?

Sebab aku rasa kalau bukan aku, siapa lagi nak tolong? Aku sentiasa fikir macam tu. Sebenarnya aku habis kerja di situ bulan Ogos, tapi aku anjakkan lagi tiga bulan.

Tentang penulisan kau. Adakah penulisan dan aktivisme kau campur adukkan?

Buku aku (Pelacur Kelas Pertama) adalah salah satu inisiatif aku untuk membantu rumah tadi dari segi kewangan. 10% dari hasil jualan buku aku dibagi ke rumah tu. Kadang-kadang aku tak ambil pun. Sebab bagi aku kalau aku nak duit, aku boleh buat dengan cara lain. Aku boleh kerja dengan kudrat sendiri. Penulisan tu hanya setakat aku keluarkan idea, dan mungkin itu sahaja cara untuk aku bantu orang.

Aku tulis buku dalam keadaan aku menangis kot. Ada bahagian-bahagian yang aku menangis, terutama bab penderaan rumah tangga, kisah watak yang dijual keluarga supaya jadi pelacur; aku nangis. Cerita tu memang aku tulis dengan penuh emosi. Dengan penuh rasa kasih sayang dan cinta.

Kau liberal?

Apa tu liberal? Cuba bagi definisi.

Ya lah, maksudnya tak konservatif. Percaya bahawa sesebuah rupabangsa itu tak tertafsir dengan nilai-nilai yang kaku, tetapi lebih cair.

Ok.

Sebagai orang yang ‘liberal’ dan berpurdah pula, kau tak rasa masuk DAP ni macam…

Melanggar norma? Kalau orang lain ada hak untuk buat apa yang dia nak dan percaya, kenapa aku kena halang hak aku untuk buat apa yang aku nak? – Roketkini.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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Sedition rampage continues but Zahid has not honoured his oath that police will commence investigations “within 24 hours” on any sedition report as 120 hours have passed but still no police investigations against Najib and Mahathir

Another university lecturer is the latest victim in the lengthening list of the sedition crackdown intensified by the Najib government in the fortnight before the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations – Dr. Abdul Aziz Bari of the Universiti Selangor, who will be investigated by the police tomorrow under the Sedition Act after almost 100 reports were lodged against him for allegedly insulting the Sultan of Selangor for his views on the Selangor Mentri Besar constitutional crisis.

The sedition rampage continues, as hardly a day passes in the past month without someone being investigated or charged for sedition as if Malaysians have suddenly become the most “seditious” and anti-nationhal people in the world.

However,  the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has not honoured his oath that police will commence investigations “within 24 hours” on any sedition report as 120 hours have passed but still no police investigations had been commenced against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir.

The DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng lodged police reports 120 hours ago last Wednesday against Najib and Mahathir respectively for having committed the sedition offence, but police investigations on both of them had not commenced although Mahathir had given the police a blank cheque to arrest him if he had broken the law.

Mahathir had jumped the gun, for the question is not whether the police dared to arrest him if he had broken the law, but whether the police even dared to commence investigations and to require the former Prime Minister to give a statement as part of the police investigations.  This applies to the Prime Minister as well.

Can Zahid or the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar enlighten the public as to whether the police had approached Mahathir or Najib to take a statement from them as a result of Lip Eng’s police report on sedition, and if so, when?

I am not suggesting that Mahathir or Najib should serve jail-time for their sedition offences, but such double standards serve to  highlight the selective and malicious police investigation as well as selective and malicious prosecution by the Attorney-General in the gross abuse and misuse of the Sedition Act to stifle freedom of expression and legitimate criticism and dissent whether by Pakatan Rakyat MPs or State Assemblymen, social activists,  academicians, journalist or student leaders.

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Najib reminded them of his speech four years ago in September 2010 when  he stood before them and called for a global movement of the moderates to counter extremism.

It is a pity that in his third speech to the UN General Assembly, Najib had  not dwelt on the failure of the  Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) which from the 65th UN General Assembly, he took to other prestigious platforms including the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the East-West Centre, the Asia-Europe Meetings and the ASEAN Summit to develop the concept.

The  rise of the black-shirted Islamic State (ISIS) militants, who, in a few months of indiscriminate horror have committed appalling atrocities against civilians and minority communities of every faith and ethnic group, including kidnap, beheadings, rape and torture, is a powerful testimony  of the failure of GMM.

The GMM should be in forefront of an international campaign to mobilise world opinion against the ISIS terrorists, as Najib had called on  “moderates of all countries, of all religions, to take back the centre, to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalize the extremists”.

But the GMM cannot play any role to mobilise national and international opinion against the menace to international peace, harmony and understanding posed by the rise of violent extremism and religious intolerance in Syria and Iraq when GMM is busily fighting for its survival in its own country, warding off attacks by the extremist and intolerant forces in the country!

The sedition dragnet intensified  in the past six weeks is a microcosm of the larger battle between moderation and extremism being waged world-wide.

Najib should realise that moderation cannot win the battle against extremism in the international arena unless moderation is instituted as a national policy by Malaysia and all other countries, with the common objective to marginalise extremism.

Just as Islam is not under siege internationally, it is not under siege in Malaysia, and those who use the name of Islam to justify extremist and intolerant outbursts and actions must be contained, not only internationally but also nationally.

If Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates is not to end up like Tun Abdullah Badawi’s “Islam Hadhari” initiative, he should immediately align his domestic policies with his international pronouncements on moderation and  marginalising extremism; end the “white terror” spree in the past six weeks, drop all sedition charges and investigations; and empower the GMM to place on top of its agenda a national and international campaign to campaign to promote moderation and reject all forms of violence and extremism in the face of the global threat posed by Islamic State (ISIS).

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 1:27 pm and is filed under
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We are the weeds with fire

By Sharon Chin

Malaysiakini

Sep 30, 2014

COMMENT
I’ve wondered what it was like to be grown-up during Operasi Lalang. I was seven that year – truly a child of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who came to power in 1981, and ordered the government crackdown on political dissidents and activists in 1987. Over a hundred people were arrested under the Internal Security Act, and many of them got sent to jail.

People who lived through that time are calling this recent spate of arrests and convictions under the Sedition Act ‘Ops Lalang 2′. DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang blogged about a “…climate of fear in the country, as if we are in the midst of a ‘white terror’…” Former Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan declared to rousing applause at a forum: “…We are no ‘lalang’ (weed). We’re going to stand up today.”

Perhaps the confusion and fear in 1987 was the same as ours is now. Maybe parents chided in lowered voices about being careful what you write or say, at least until “this blows over. You never know”.

The same but not the same.

In 1987, we didn’t have the Internet. We didn’t have these amazing magic machines which let you write, take photos, make music, shoot video and then connect it instantly to the whole wide world. The same machines with which you could start a fire, or a spark of hope, and watch it spread, or flickering, die, only to revive again, like those magic birthday candles that refuse to go out.

My favorite journalist in the West, Quinn Norton, has called the Net the “Promethean substance of this age. It can consume, it can destroy, and it can empower. Like fire, we have to learn to use it and live with it”.

If you’re an artist, or a writer, if you keep a blog, or have a Facebook profile or Twitter account, whether you scribble the workings of your heart, or work all night drawing scary hands (because dammit it is fun), you wield a tiny part of this power. Now is the time to use it.

In contradiction to Ambiga’s words, though not, I believe, their spirit, I say: We ARE the weeds. We are the weeds with fire. We’re sending smoke signals across the net to find each other, and our hands are moving faster than theirs can catch.

SHARON CHIN is an artist living in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 September 2014, 8:53 pm and is filed under
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Latest rebuttals to the DPM and PM’s boasts of Malaysia as “world’s best democracy” and “world’s best education system”

Malaysians woke up this morning to further and latest rebuttals to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s boasts of Malaysia as the “one of the world’s best education system” and “world’s best democracy”.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s boast that Malaysia has “one of the world’s best education system” was given a bloody nose by the report that Malaysian universities again failed to make the cut to this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) top 200 global rankings while Singapore’s National University (which shared the same beginnings with University of Malaya) leapt into the top 25 universities list.

The Malay Mail Online in its report
“Malaysian universities not in top 200 global rankings, Singapore’s improves”
 said the  latest index shows a significant drop for Malaysian universities from last year’s ranking.

Muhyiddin has been Education Minister for more than five years since 2009.

He should make a Ministerial statement when Parliament resumes next Tuesday on Oct. 7 why all efforts during year  tenure as Education Minister for over five years  have  failed to restore Malaysia’s high international standing in university academic repute and excellence in the fifties and sixties – to the extent that for five consecutive years, none of the Malaysian universities had been able to be ranked among the THE Top 200 University Rankings.

It should be noted that in the past five years, Singapore two universities, National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University improved their rankings in the THE Top 200 World University Rankings from No. 34 and No. 174 placings in 2010 to No. 25 and No. 61 rankings respectively, while the scores of Malaysian Universities remain steadfastly  outside the THE  200 Top  University  Rankings.

Nine years ago during the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, the then Deputy  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, threw the challenge to University of Malaya to raise its 89th position in 2004 among the world’s top 200 universities in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World Universities Ranking to 50 by the year 2020.

Let Muhyiddin explain in his Ministerial statement next week  how he proposes in the next five years  to meet Najib’s challenge to place University of Malaya in the ranks of THE Top 50 Universities by 2020 when in the past five years, not a single Malaysian university could get into the THE Top 200 World University Rankings!

A Ministerial statement from Muhyiddin next week is all the more urgent and imperative as the THE World University Rankings 2014 is only the latest blow suffered by Malaysian higher education this year, viz:

(1) In March, Malaysia  absent from the THE Top 100 World Reputation Rankings list losing out to other Southeast Asian countries.

Singapore National University (SNU) achieved the best World Reputation Rankings in the four-year THE series, ranked No. 34 in 2011, 40 in 2012, 29 in 2013 and 21 in 2014. SNU is only behind two other Asian universities the 2014 World Reputation Rankings – University of Tokyo and Kyoto University in 11th and 19th ranking respectively.

Other Asian universities following closely behind SNU in the THE World Reputation Rankings 2014 are Seoul National University (No. 26), Tsinghua University (No. 36), Peking University (No. 41), University of Hong Kong (No. 43), Osaka University (No. 50), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), National Taiwan University and Tokyo Institute of Technology (No. 51-60), Tohoku University (No. 61-70), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yonsei University (No.81-90) and Nanyang Technological University (No. 91-100).

(2) In April, Malaysia  left out of this year’s ranking of the THE Top 100 Universities under 50 years old.

Four Asian universities were ranked among the top 10 of the world’s young universities, including South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology which took the top spot.

(3) In June, Malaysia left out of THE Top 100 Asia University Rankings 2014.

Five countries were represented in the top 10 of the Asian university rankings – Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and China. Even India made outstanding progress with 10 institutions in the top 100, compared with only three last year. Thailand has two universities  in the top 100 list.

Malaysia is not only facing a serious and deteriorating higher education crisis, but a grave crisis in the entire education system as witnessed by recent international assessments which place Malaysian students in the bottom-third of international educational benchmarks and attainments.

It is not only Muhyiddin, however,  who was given a bloody nose, but the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak as well, as morning news reported of another victim of the current sedition spree – law student Dalbinder Singh Gill from Penang who was detained late last night (and released early this morning) under the Sedition Act for his Facebook posting.

It is reported that it was the police itself who lodged the police report against Dalbinder, which reminded me that it was also the police which lodged a sedition police report against me for saying during a forum commemorating the fifth death anniversary of Teoh Beng Hock that Beng Hock did not commit suicide at the MACC premises in Shah Alam in July 2009 but was killed and that his killers were still at large – resulting in the police launching a sedition investigation against me.

My other thought of police report against  Dalbinder for sedition was whether the police would be making sedition police reports against those responsible for the ISMA video in connection with the sedition trial of ISMA President Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, and what is the criteria for police itself lodging sedition police reports and not lodging police reports.

Be that as it may, the sedition madness intensified in the week before the 57th Merdeka Day to create a climate of fear to  suppress freedom of expression and stifle legitimate criticism and dissent should be halted immediately if Najib’s pledge to make Malaysia the world’s best democracy is to retain any credibility.

The decision by the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today to allow law professor Dr. Azmi Sharom to challenge in High Court the constitutionality of his sedition charge and the Sedition Act is a  welcome development.

The  Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should explain why he is still sanctioning a blitz of sedition investigations and prosecutions when he had promised more than three weeks ago  on Sept. 9 to review all sedition cases.

How can the Attorney-General justify pushing for custodial sentences in the recent sentencing of student activists Adam Adli Abdul Halim and Muhammad Safwan Anang during the duration of the review of the sedition dragnet.

At minimum, until the outcome of the review of sedition charges by the Attorney-General Chambers, there should be a halt of all sedition investigations and charges, and all pending sedition prosecutions should be suspended in the meanwhile.

Most important of all, Malaysians are entitled to know the outcome of the AG’s review of the sedition cases – or have the review been stopped in its tracks?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 1 October 2014, 1:49 pm and is filed under
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After two court victories, Mkini still denied permit

Malaysiakini

Oct 2, 2014

The government has yet again rejected Malaysiakini’s application for a publication permit for a daily newspaper despite the courts twice ruling that the independent news portal has the right to publish.

In a letter received by Malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran last week, the Home Ministry said the rejection was because the news portal “often causes controversy” by publishing news that could “distress” the people.

Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Division head Hashimah Nik Jaafar also stressed that the reports “could cause hatred towards national leaders”.

“The ministry had decided not to approve the application for a publication permit on the basis that the news published by Malaysiakini’s online portal often causes controversy and is not neutral…

“Such news, if published in the print format, will cause shock and distress among the public. Sensitive issues are also published in the form of news, commentary, opinions and readers’ comments which could cause hatred towards national leaders,” she said.

Hashimah also pointed out that the application states that the editor for the print version will be the same person as the online version, indicating that the type of news “will definitely” be the same.

Five ‘contentious’ articles

According to the Home Ministry, among the contentious reports published by Malaysiakini are compilations of readers’ comments on the Terengganu menteri besar crisis five months ago.

The item, ‘How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu?’ published on May 14, 2014 has also prompted Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in an unprecedented action, to sue the portal for defamation.

The Home Ministry also found issue with a commentary by think-tank Political Studies for Change (KPRU) condemning Najib’s lawsuit against Malaysiakini.

Another “controversial” report cited by the ministry is an article on the government’s private jet, in which Najib and his wife were believed to be on board, being spotted in various European cities in August this year.

The ministry also frowned on an article quoting the Malaysian Indian Progressives Association (Mipas) slamming police chief Khalid Abu Bakar for saying he was taking the “middle path” in an inter-religious custody battle.

The final article cited is on the arrest of Penang executive councillor Phee Boon Poh over the Penang Voluntary Patrol Squad (PPS) issue. Journalist Susan Loone was arrested for sedition over the article.

All the five articles cited, other than the Yoursay item, were published in the website’s Bahasa Malaysia section.

Back to square one

On Oct 1, 2012, the High Court quashed the Home Ministry’s decision not to award Malaysiakini publisher Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd a publication permit for a daily newspaper.

Judge Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim ruled that the ministry’s decision was “irrational and improper” and breached the constitutional right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to a publishing permit.

He ordered Malaysiakini to make a fresh application to the Home Ministry. Following the decision, the ministry filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

On Oct 30, 2013, a three-member Court of Appeal panel unanimously rejected the government’s appeal and upheld the High Court’s decision.

When the government did not appeal to the Federal Court – the country’s highest court – Malaysiakini submitted a new application to the Home Ministry early this year.

Editor-in-chief Steven Gan, who is not surprised by the latest setback, said Malaysiakini will take the matter back to court.

“We are back to square one. Malaysiakini will again be challenging this asinine decision by the home minister, and we hope that this time the courts will order the government to issue us a publication permit.”

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 October 2014, 8:46 am and is filed under
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Gani Patail should explain why the sedition blitz has stepped up in pace and intensity after his Sept. 9 pledge to review the slew of sedition prosecutions

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should explain why the sedition blitz to invoke a climate of fear and repression has stepped up in pace and intensity in the past three weeks since his pledge to review the slew of sedition prosecutions.

Gani had said on Sept. 9 that those charged under the Sedition Act, including law professor Dr. Azmi Sharom, were “currently having their cases reviewed”, and he  described the review “a normal procedure”.

Is Gani also implying that the intensification of malicious and selective sedition prosecutions and investigations against Opposition leaders and activists during the tenure of such a review is also “a normal procedure”?

Gani said on Sept. 9 that the final decision on the review of sedition prosecutions will be made “soon”.

Can Gani explain how soon is his “soon”?  Could it be as long as months and even years, until he steps down as Attorney-General?

In fact, nobody knows whether Gani is serious about such review of sedition prosecutions, who are undertaking the review and whether it has even started.

Such secrecy is totally against the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s National Transformation Programme promising accountability, transparency and an open government.

The Prime Minister should make a ministerial statement when Parliament reconvenes next Tuesday, Oct. 7 to inform MPs of the progress of the Attorney-General’s review of the sedition prosecutions as well as the state of his promise in 2012 to repeal the Sedition Act.

Increasingly, sedition developments have become a daily staple obsession in Malaysia, as if Malaysians have become the most “seditious” people in the world  – and Malaysia would undoubtedly qualify to be the world’s most “seditious” nation going by the number of sedition prosecutions and investigations under way.

The last three days provide examples of such dubious infamy – starting with the police hauling up Dr.Abdul  Aziz Bari of Universiti Selangor for sedition investigations (the second academician to fall under the sedition dragnet after Prof Azmi Sharom of University of Malaya), followed by the arrest of law graduate Dalbinder Singh Gill in Penang for sedition in connection with his Facebook posting, and the charging of a NGO leader A. Rajaretinam under the Sedition Act for making seditious comments against the Indian Muslim community and the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma).

Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (Mipas) secretary-general S. Barathidasan is right in condemning the authorities of practising double standards as the police have not acted on their complaints against groups like Perkasa and others for making seditious remarks.

The  administration of justice has recently suffered serious stain as it had been  been afflicted by the dual sins of selective and malicious prosecution by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and selective and malicious investigation at the police level.

As the  Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday allowed law professor Dr. Azmi Sharom to challenge in High Court the constitutionality of his sedition charge and the Sedition Act,  will Gani set an example of respect and upholding the rule of law by halting all sedition investigations and charges, as well as suspending  all pending sedition prosecutions, until the outcome of the challenge on the constitutionality of the Sedition Act?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 October 2014, 3:58 pm and is filed under
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What is Najib and Muhyiddin going to do about the crying shame and national disgrace that not a single Malaysian university could get into the THE Top 400 World University Rankings 2014?

Today the media of all countries with higher education masterplans and strategies to take their people and economies to greater  heights are focussing and debating the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2014, and the performance of their universities  – with the exception of Malaysia.

Not a word in the Malaysian mainstream media owned or controlled by the Barisan Nasional parties about the THE World University Rankings 2014 and the dismal performance of Malaysian universities.

The reason is simple. For the fifth year in succession, since the launching of the THE World University Rankings in 2010, not a single university had made it into the THE Top 400 University Rankings.

The Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin maintains a conspicuous silence about the continued exclusion for the fifth year of Malaysian universities from the THE Top 400 Universities, just as he had continued to maintain a conspicuous, inelegant and infamous  silence about Malaysia’s poor performance in the 2011 TIMSS (Trends in International Maths and Science Study) and 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) both of which fell during his term in the education ministry.

Muhyiddin is only good in eating sour grapes with regard to the ranking of Malaysian universities in international university rankings.

Muhyiddin does not have anything to say when rankings of world universities are released, but his stand on these world rankings are on public record – that international rankings of local universities are secondary or even irrelevant, on the ground that  most of the criteria and the yardsticks used to gauge the position of local universities in the world rankings do not meet the country’s aspirations.

Malaysian higher education will never be able regain the  international greatness and excellence it enjoyed in the 50s and 60s  unless we stop having an Education Minister with “sour grape” mentality about world university rankings, who could be complacent and proud that for five successive years, not a single Malaysian university was able to make it to the THE Top 400 University Rankings!

Nine years ago, at the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister challenged the University of Malaya to raise its 89th position among the world’s top universities in the THES-QS Ranking 2004 to 50 by the year 2020.

Let Muhyiddin declare whether he stands by Najib’s challenge to University of Malaya in 2005 to be among the world’s Top 50 universities by 2020, or whether he thinks this is a scatter-brained idea and is repudiating it as unrealistic and irrelevant to Malaysia’s tertiary education and developmental needs?

It is a reflection of the continued decline and deterioration of higher education standards in Malaysian universities that while in the THE-QS Top 200 World University Rankings 2004, two local universities were cited with University of Malaya ranked No. 89 and Universiti Sains Malaysia ranked No. 111, there is not a single Malaysian university a decade later in the THE Top 400 World University Rankings 2014.

The THE Top 400 World University Rankings 2014 show a “power shift” from the United States and United Kingdom to the Far East.

While US and UK universities continue to dominate the THE World University Rankings 2014, they are starting to lose ground to East Asian rivals.

What should concern Malaysians is why this shift of higher education excellence from the West to the  East has by-passed Malaysia.

Some 24 Asian universities are now in the top 200 compared with 20 a year earlier. This includes two listed in the top 25 – Tokyo University and the National University of Singapore.

In the top 400 universities list, 52 are from Asia, comprising Japan 12, China 12, South Korea 9, Hong Kong 6, Taiwan 6, India 4, Singapore 2, Thailand 1.

There can no reason for Muhyiddin, the Education Ministry and the Najib Cabinet to continue to be complacent about  Malaysia being by-passed in this shift of higher education power from West to East, to the extent that not a single Malaysian university could  get into the THE 400 World University Rankings 2014.

What is Najib and Muhyiddin and Najib going to do about this crying shame and national disgrace that not a single Malaysian university could get into the THE Top 400 World University Rankings 2014?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 October 2014, 5:57 pm and is filed under
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