Anti-ICERD rally a victory for New Malaysia but a  setback for Pakatan Harapan

The peaceful holding of the Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday is a victory for New Malaysia but a setback for Pakatan Harapan.

As the Home Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin rightly said after the rally, it was a demonstration that the Pakatan Harapan government will always respect the rights of the people to speak and assemble peacefully, as long as these rights are practised according to the provisions of the law and the Federal Constitution.

The former UMNO/Barisan Nasional government will never have recognised,  respected and upheld  the constitutional and democratic right of Malaysians to speak and assemble peacefully, as witnessed what happened to the five Bersih rallies from 2007 to 2016 – Bersih 1  on  10th November 2007, Bersih 2 on 9th July 2011,Bersih 3 on  28th April 2012, Bersih 4 on 29th and 30th 2015 and Bersih 5 on 19th November 2016.

But there is a major hitch – the organisers of the of the Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur did not want a New Malaysia, which was born on the historic day of May 9, 2018, to re-set Malaysian nation-building policies to save Malaysia from the trajectory of a rogue democracy, a failed state,  a kakistocracy and a global kleptocarcy and awaits Malaysians to give it  flesh, blood and soul to be a world top-class nation, united, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous –  which may take one or two decades to accomplish.

The organisers of the Anti-ICERD rally came to destroy and not to create  a New Malaysia.

I said it was a setback for the Pakatan Harapan to build a New Malaysia because yesterday’s rally would not have happened if the Pakatan Harapan government had handled the ICERD issue better.

As constitutional law expert from the University of Malaya, Professor Shad Faruqi, has stressed, most of the criticisms against ICERD have no legal basis.

He said: “
However, as hate and fear are potent weapons in politics, the perpetrators have succeeded in polarising society and raising the spectre of violence.”

As Shad Faruqi has pointed out, ICERD is neither  anti-Malay nor against the Malaysian Constitution.

Since yesterday, Malaysia has  become the laughing stock of the Muslims in  the world, as 99% of the 1.9 billion Muslims of the world live in 179 countries which have ratified ICERD, including 55 of the 57 Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) nations.

UKM Research fellow, Dr. Denison Jayasooria wrote  a good article in Malaysiakini entitled: “Examining Icerd ratification among OIC members”, where he reviewed the ratification by OIC member states, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Palestine, and he concluded: “
As far as I note none of them has objections or placed reservations in the name of Islam.”

ICERD  also does not undermine the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to result in the abolition of the system of Malay Sultans.

There are 38 countries with the monarchical system, out of which 36 countries have ratified the ICERD including the United Kingdom in 1969, Norway 1970, Sweden 1971, Denmark 1971, Netherlands 1971, Jordan 1974, Belgium 1975, Japan in 1995, and Saudi Arabia 1997.

There are absolutely no indications that the ratification of ICERD by these 36 countries have undermined the monarchical system as to lead to their abolition.

But as Malaysia is a plural society, it is of utmost importance that the unity and harmony of our  diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in Malaysia must be the paramount goal of the nation.

For this reason, Malaysia should not ratify ICERD until the majority of the races and religions in Malaysia are comfortable with it,  support it and understand that it poses  no threat to the various races, religions or the Federal Constitution but a step forward to join the world in promoting human rights.

The Pakatan Harapan Government should not have allowed the organisers of the anti-ICERD rally to hijack, twist  and distort  the ICERD debate with the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion to incite baseless fears that ICERD is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers, which camouflaged an agenda  to allow those responsible for sending Malaysia into the trajectory of a rogue democracy, a failed state, a kakistocracy and a global kleptocracy to make a political comeback and to destroy efforts to re-set nation-building efforts to create a New Malaysia.

This is a lesson the Pakatan Harapan Government must learn quick and fast, or both Pakatan Harapan and the great vision of a New Malaysia will be destroyed.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskander Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Ipoh  on Sunday, December 9, 2018)

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Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Ipoh pada Ahad, 9 Disember 2018:

Himpunan Anti-ICERD adalah satu kemenangan kepada Malaysia Baharu, namun suatu rintangan kepada Pakatan Harapan

Perhimpunan Anti-ICERD yang dijalankan secara aman di Kuala Lumpur semalam adalah satu kemenangan kepada Malaysia Baharu, namun suatu rintangan kepada Pakatan Harapan.

Kerajaan UMNO/Barisan Nasional sebelum ini tidak pernah mengiktiraf, menghormati dan mengangkat hak perlembagaan dan demokratik rakyat Malaysia untuk bersuara dan berhimpun secara aman, seperti yang dilihat berlaku dalam lima perhimpunan yang dianjurkan Bersih dari 2007 hingga 2016 – Bersih 1 pada 10 November 2008, Bersih 2 pada 9 Julai 2011, Bersih 3 pada 28 April 2012, Bersih 4 pada 29 dan 30 Ogos 2015 dan Bersih 5 pada 19 November 2016.

Pun begitu, terdapat satu masalah besar – pihak penganjur Anti-ICERD di Kuala Lumpur tidak mahu sebuah Malaysia Baharu, yang lahir pada hari penuh bersejarah iaitu pada 9 Mei 2018.

Pihak penganjur Anti-ICERD hadir untuk memusnahkan, dan bukannya mencipta, sebuah Malaysia Baharu.

Mengapa ia dikatakan suatu rintangan kepada Pakatan Harapan untuk membina sebuah Malaysia Baharu adalah kerana perhimpunan semalam tidak akan berlaku sekiranya kerajaan Pakatan Harapan menangani isu ICERD dengan lebih berkesan.

Seperti yang ditegaskan seorang pakar undang-undang perlembagaan dari Universiti Malaya, Profesor Shad Faruqi bahawa kebanyakan kritikan terhadap ICERD tidak mempunyai sebarang asas perundangan.

Beliau berkata: “Bagaimanapun, oleh kerana kebencian dan ketakutan adalah senjata ampuh dalam politik, pihak tidak bertanggungjawab telah berjaya mempolarisasi masyarakat dan menghidupkan bayang-bayang keganasan.”

Seperti yang dinyatakan Shad Faruqi, ICERD tidak bersifat anti-Melayu atau menentang Perlembagaan Malaysia.

Sejak semalam, Malaysia telah menjadi bahawa ketawa orang Islam di seluruh dunia, kerana 99% daripada 1.9 bilion orang Islam di seluruh negara menetap di 179 negara yang telah meratifikasi ICERD, termasuk 55 daripada 57 negara Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC).

Felo Penyelidikan UKM, Dr. Denison Jayasooria menulis artikel di Malaysiakini bertajuk: “Examining Icerd ratification among OIC members”, di mana beliau mengulas ratifikasi ICERD oleh negara-negara OIC, termasuk Arab Saudi, Indonesia, Turki, Mesir, Iran, Palestin, dan membuat kesimpulan: “Tidak ada satu pun daripada negara-negara itu menentang ICERD atas nama Islam.”

ICERD juga tidak menjejaskan kuasa Yang di-Pertuan Agong apatah lagi menyebabkan pemansuhan sistem Kesultanan Melayu.

Terdapat 38 negara yang mengamalkan sistem monarki, 36 daripadanya telah meratifikasi ICERD termasuk United Kingdom in 1969, Norway 1970, Sweden 1971, Denmark 1971, Belanda 1971, Jordan 1974, Belgium 1975, Jepun in 1995, and Arab Saudi 1997.

Ini adalah bukti yang jelas bahawa ratifikasi ICERD oleh 36 negara-negara berkenaan tidak menjejaskan sistem monarki, apatah lagi membawa kepada pemansuhannya.

Namun, oleh kerana Malaysia mempunyai masyarakat majmuk, adalah penting untuk perpaduan dan kehormanian pelbagai kaum, bahasa, budaya dan agama di Malaysia menjadi matlamat paling utama.

Oleh sebab ini, Malaysia tidak harus meratifikasi ICERD sehingga majoriti kaum dan agama di Malaysia selesa dengannya, menyokonnya dan memahami apa yang dibawanya itu tidak mengancam kepelbagaian kaum, agama atau Perlembagaan Persekutuan, namun satu langkah ke hadapan untuk menyertai dunia dalam mempromosi hak asasi manusia.

Kerajaan Pakatan Harapan tidak harus membenarkan penganjur anti-ICERD merampas dan memutarbelitkan wacana ICERD dengan politik toksik pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, perkauman dan agama bagi mengapi-apikan ketakutan tidak berasas bahawa ICERD kononnya anti-Melayu, anti-Islam dan anti-Raja-raja Melayu, yang sebenarnya merupakan agenda samaran untuk membolehkan mereka yang bertanggungjawab memusnahkan negara membuat comeback politik dan memusnahkan usaha untuk membetulkan semula dasar pembinaan negara dalam usaha mewujudkan sebuah Malaysia Baharu.

Ini adalah pengajaran yang perlu dihadam secepat mungkin oleh Kerajaan Pakatan Harapan, atau kedua-dua Pakatan Harapan dan visi besar Malaysia Baharu berdepan bakal berdepan risiko musnah.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 December 2018, 7:45 am and is filed under
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PAS the biggest winner of the Anti-ICERD rally while UMNO the biggest loser

The biggest winner in  Anti-ICERD (Internatioal Convention on  the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination) rally in Kuala Lumpur yesterday was PAS, which managed to distract public attention from the fact that  its President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang had reduced PAS from a national party achieved under the presidency of Fadzil Noor back into a regional political party in the 14th General Election.

The biggest loser of the Anti-ICERD rally was UMNO, as for the first time in 72 years, the UMNO President played a secondary role to that of the PAS President, with the UMNO President wooing PAS for an union while PAS played coy in the courtship.

Hadi’s ambition for PAS has increased exponentially before and after the 14th General Election.

Before the 14GE, Hadi wanted PAS to play the role of “king-maker” by winning 40 parliamentary seats, which would enable him to prop up Datuk Seri Najib Razak to continue as Prime Minister of Malaysia, heedless of Najib’s role in hurtling Malaysia in the trajectory of a rogue democracy, a kakistocracy, a failed state and a global kleptocracy.

Now, Hadi could not be satsified to be a “kingmaker” for UMNO to continue to rule Malaysia, as he would himself want to be Prime Minister in a political scenario  where UMNO needs PAS more than PAS needs UMNO!

Hadi has said that all Muslims must oppose the ratification of CERD, alleging ICERD is a “Freemason agenda” with the intention to destroy the religion, nation and society.

But there was not a word of this “Freemason agenda” and interntional conspiracy against Islam in the speeches at the Anti-ICERD rally yesterday.

The Anti-ICERD rally yesterdy should have  launched an international campaign to save Muslims in the world  from the Freemason conspiracy, as 99 per cent of the 1.9 billion Muslims in the world are living in 179 countries which have ratified ICERD,  including 55 of the 57 member nations of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,  Palestine,  Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Is Malaysia to be the saviour of Muslims in the world, including Muslims in the Islamic heartlands centred in  Saudi Arabia, or has Malaysia become the laughing-stock of the world, including the Islamic World-  except for Brunei, the other Muslim country which has not ratified the ICERD?

I believe that that overwhelming majority of Malaysians from all over the country who attended the Anti-ICERD rally did not realise that ICERD is not anti-Malay, anti-Islam or anti-Malay rulers as 36 of 38 countries with monarchical systems have ratified ICERD for the past half a century.

If Malaysia is to become a world top-class nation, there must be no room for the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion.

Let us learn from the United Arab Emirates, which introduced a National Tolerance Programme in 2016, together with the appointment of a Minister of State for Tolerance, which underlined  the UAE’s commitment to eradicate ideological, cultural and religious bigotry in the society.

Under the UAE National Tolerance Programme, there is an anti-hate speech law which criminalises any acts that stoke religious hatred or that might insult religion through any form of expression, be it speech or the written word, books, pamphlets or in online media platforms.

As a practical application of the principle of tolerance, the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince  Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ordered renaming the Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Mosque in Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, to ‘Mariam, Umm Eisa’ — Arabic for ‘Mary, the mother of Jesus’.

(Media Statement  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 10th December 2018)

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Kenyataan media Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang di Parlimen pada hari Isnin 10 Disember 2018:

Pasca perhimpunan anti-ICERD, PAS menang besar, UMNO kalah besar

Yang menang besar dalam perhimpunan anti-ICERD di Kuala Lumpur tempoh hari lalu lalu ialah PAS, yang telah berjaya mengalihkan melalaikan orang ramai daripada hakikat bahawa presidennya Datuk Seri Hadi Awang telah membawa PAS dari kedudukannya sebagai sebuah parti nasional di bawah kepimpinan Fadzil Noor, menjadi suatu parti politik kedaerahan pada PRU ke-14.

Yang kalah besar dalam perhimpunan anti-ICERD pula adalah UMNO. Buat pertama kalinya dalam tempoh 72 tahun, presiden UMNO memainkan peranan sekunder kepada presiden PAS, dengan si presiden UMNO cuba menggoda PAS untuk bersatu, manakala PAS pula malu tapi mahu.

Cita-cita Hadi untuk PAS semakin melangit sebelum dan selepas PRU14.

Sebelum PRU14, Hadi mahu PAS memainkan peranan sebagai ‘king-maker’ dengan memenangi 40 kerusi parlimen, yang membolehkan beliau terus menyokong Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia, tanpa menghiraukan peranan Najib mengheret negara menuju sebuah demokrasi pincang, sebuah kakistrokrasi, negara gagal dan sebuah kleptokrasi global.

Sekarang Hadi tidak boleh berpuas hati menjadi ‘king-maker’ kepada UMNO untuk terus memerintah Malaysia, kerana beliau sendiri mahu menjadi perdana menteri dalam sebuah senario politik di mana UMNO lebih memerlukan PAS, berbanding keperluan PAS terhadap UMNO.

Hadi telah mengisytiharkan bahawa seluruh umat Islam mesti membantah ratifikasi ICERD, sambil mendakwa bahawa ICERD adalah ‘agenda Freemason’ yang berniat menjahanamkan agama, bangsa dan masyarakat. Tetapi sepatah pun tentang ‘agenda Freemason’ ini serta konspirasi antarabangsa terhadap Islam diucapkan di perhimpunan anti-ICERD tempoh hari.

Perhimpunan anti-ICERD sepatutnya telah melancarkan sebuah kempen global untuk menyelamatkan umat Islam seluruh dunia daripada konspirasi Freemason, memandangkan 99 peratus daripada 1.9 bilion umat Islam tinggal di 179 negara yang telah meratifikasi ICERD, termasuklah 55 daripada 57 negara anggota OIC, seperti Arab Saudi, Indonesia, Turki, Qatar, Emirah Arab Bersatu, Mesir, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestin, Algeria, Maghribi, Afghanistan, Bangladesh dan Pakistan.

Adakah Malaysia akan menjadi penyelamat umat Islam sedunia, termasuk umat Islam di ibu kota Islam di Arab Saudi, atau adakah Malaysia telah menjadi bahan ketawa dunia, termasuk dunia Islam – kecuali Brunei, satu lagi negara umat Islam yang tidak meratifikasi ICERD?

Saya percaya majoriti rakyat Malaysia dari seluruh negara yang menghadiri perhimpunan anti-ICERD itu tidak menyedari bahawa ICERD adalah tidak anti-Melayu, anti-Islam atau anti-Raja Melayu, memandangkan 36 daripada 38 negara dengan sistem monarki telah meratifikasi ICERD sejak setengah abad lalu.

Jika Malaysia mahu menjadi sebuah negara kelas tinggi, tidak boleh ada ruang untuk politik pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, serta politik agama dan perkauman sempit.

Mari kita belajar dari UAE, yang telah memperkenalkan program toleransi kebangsaan pada 2016, bersekali dengan pelantikan seorang menteri toleransi, yang menggarisbawahi komitment UAE untuk membasmi ketaksuban ideologi, budaya dan agama dalam masyarakat.

Di bawah program toleransi kebangsaan UAE, terdapat undang-undang anti-ucapan kebencian yang menjenayahkan sebarang tindakan yang meniup api kebencian agama, atau menghina agama melalui sebarang bentuk ekspresi, tidak kira ucapan, tulisan, buku, risalah atau secara atas-talian.

Sebagai pelaksanaan praktikal bagi prinsip toleransi ini, Putera Mahkota Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan telah mengarahkan supaya masjid Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Mosque di Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi dinamakan semula sebagai masjid ‘Mariam, Umm Eisa’.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2018, 4:37 pm and is filed under
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Making the rounds of social media is the work of a wag that  Najib attended the Anti-ICERD rally on Saturday to turn it into IC(uri)E(engkau)R(amai-ramai)D(efend) endorsement of his kleptocratic rule and the 1MDB corruption scandal

Making the rounds on the social media is the work of a wag that the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak attended the Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to turn it into a IC(curi)E(ngkau)R(amai-ramai)D(efend) endorsement of his kleptocratic rule and the 1MDB corruption scandal.

This cannot be so, as it is unbelievable that the tens of thousands who rallied at Dataran Merdeka on Saturday supported Najib and his kleptocracy record, including the globally infamous 1MDB kleptocratic scandal.

Najib’s attendance at the Anti-ICERD rally is most questionable, especially as it is confirmed that Najib, accompanied by the former 1MDB Chairman Arul Kanda Kandasamy, will be charged tomorrow over the alleged tampering of the Auditor-General’s 1MDB Report – continuing Najib’s personal odyssey to overtake UMNO President Datuk Zahid Hamidi’s 45 corruption charges.

A day after the Anti-ICERD Rally, New York Times carried a long report entitled “A Yacht, a Monet, a See-Through Piano: The U.S. Collects on a Fugitive’s Shopping Spree”, a fulsome account of the ill-gotten gains of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal.

It said:

“The fund at the center of the investigation, called the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund or 1MDB, was supposed to benefit ordinary Malaysians. It raised billions of dollars from banks and borrowed from investors, ostensibly to finance projects like a joint venture with a Saudi oil company and the purchase of power plants.

“But prosecutors say 1MDB became a ‘massive, brazen and blatant’ money-laundering scheme, in which billions were diverted into the bank accounts of senior officials, including the former prime minister Najib Razak, his family and associates and Mr. Low.”

Will there be a Anti-Kleptocracy Rally, and will the  two major speakers at the Anti-ICERD rally, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hadi Awang prepared to speak at such a rally to condemn 1MDB scandal and grand corruption in Malaysia, which reached such stratospheric heights as to make Malaysia a global kleptocracy under Najib’s premiership.

Of course not.

Today is the last day of the Parliamentary budget meeting for the Dewan Rakyat.

Neither at the 20-day Opening of the 14th Parliament meeting in July/August nor at the 30-sitting of the Budget meeting in October/November/December had a single Opposition Member of Parliament from UMNO and PAS declared his or her stand whether 1MDB scandal was a national catastrophe and whether Najib should be held responsible for Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.

For the past few years, Malaysia had been haunted and hounded by the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, totted up a national debt of a trillion ringgit and gained international notoriety as a global kleptocracy. Are these lies and slanders?

If Malaysia is to be a world top-class nation, Malaysians must put an end to the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion whether it be the falsehood that the 1MDB scandal is a international conspiracy  against Malaysia or the falsehood that the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)  is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Malay Rulers and a “Freemason agenda” to destroy Malaysia and Islam.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, llth December 2018)

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Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Parlimen pada Selasa, 11 Disember 2018:

Kini sedang beredar di media sosial satu bahan lawak yang mengatakan bahawa Najib Razak hadir pada himpunan Anti-ICERD pada Rabu kerana mahu menjadikannya himpunan itu sebagai himpunan IC(uri)E(engkau)R(amai-ramai)D(efend), iaitu suatu bentuk sokongan terhadap pemerintahan kleptokratik beliau dan skandal rasuah yang membelenggu 1MDB.

Kini sedang beredar di media sosial satu bahan lawak yang mengatakan bahawa Datuk Seri Najib Razak hadir pada himpunan Anti-ICERD pada Rabu kerana mahu menjadikannya himpunan itu sebagai himpunan IC(uri)E(engkau)R(amai-ramai)D(efend), iaitu suatu bentuk sokongan terhadap pemerintahan kleptokratik beliau dan skandal rasuah yang membelenggu 1MDB.

Tidak mungkin, kerana sukar untuk percaya bahawa ribuan yang berhimpunan di Dataran Merdeka pada Sabtu lalu menyokong Najib dan rekod kleptokratiknya, termasuk skandal kleptokratik 1MDB yang dikenali di seluruh dunia.

Kehadiran Najib pada perhimpunan Anti-ICERD baru-baru ini paling dipersoal, lebih-lebih apabila beliau disahkan, bersama-sama bekas Pengerusi 1MDB Arul Kanda Kandasamy, bakal didakwa esok atas dakwaan meminda laporan 1MDB yang dikeluarkan Ketua Audit Negara.

Sehari selepas himpunan Anti-ICERD, New York Times menerbitkan sebuah laporan panjang bertajuk *_“A Yacht, a Monet, a See-Through Piano: The U.S. Collects on a Fugitive’s Shopping Spree”_*, yang menceritakan mengenai skandal kleptokratik 1MDB.

_“Dana yang sedang menjadi siasatan utama, dipanggil sebagai dana 1Malaysia Development Berhad atau 1MDB, sepatutnya memberi manfaat kepada rakyat Malaysia biasa. Ia meminjam berbilion dolar wang daripada bank dan meminjam daripada pelabur, kononnya untuk membiayai projek seperti usaha sama dengan sebuah syarikat minyak Arab Saudi serta pengambilalihan loji kuasa._

_“Bagaimanapun pihak pendakwa raya berkata 1MDB telah menjadi sebuah skim pengubahan wang haram yang bersifat ‘mega, tidak tahu malu dan terang-terangan’, di mana berbilion wang dilencongkan ke dalam akaun bank pegawai kanan, termasuk bekas perdana menteri Najib Razak, keluarganya dan rakan subahatnya serta Encik Low.”_

Mungkinkah akan ada himpunan Anti-Kleptokrasi selepas ini, dan adakah dua penceramah utama himpunan Anti-ICERD iaitu Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi dan Datuk Seri Hadi Awang sudi untuk berucap pada himpunan seumpama itu bagi mengutuk skandal 1MDB.

Sudah tentu tidak.

Hari ini adalah hari terakhir sidang belanjawan Parlimen untuk Dewan Rakyat.

Sepanjang 20 hari pembukaan sidang Parlimen ke-14 pada Julai/Ogos dan 30 hari sidang belanjawan pada Oktober, November, Disember, tidak ada seorang pun Ahli Parlimen Pembangkang dari UMNO dan PAS menyatakan pendirian mereka berhubung sama ada skandal 1MDB merupakan malapetaka kepada negara dan sama ada Najib harus dipertanggungjawabkan kerana menjadikan Malaysia sebuah kleptokrasi global.

Untuk beberapa tahun lalu, Malaysia dihantui dan dibayangi oleh skandal RM50 billion 1MDB, menjadikan hutang negara meningkat sehingga RM1 trilion ringgit. Adakah ini pembohongan dan fitnah?

Jika Malaysia mahu menjadi negara bertaraf dunia, rakyat Malaysia harus meninggalkan politik toksik pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, perkauman dan agama, apatah lagi pembohongan bahawa kononnya skandal 1MDB adalah konspirasi dunia terhadap Malaysia atau pembohongan bahawa kononnya ICERD anti-Melayu, anti-Islam, anti-Raja-raja Melayu dan kononnya sebuah “agenda Freemason” untuk memusnahkan Malaysia dan Islam.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 11 December 2018, 1:51 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir may not have the right information when he said local council elections could lead to racial conflict

The Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad may not have the right information when he said yesterday that local council elections could lead to racial conflict and widen the urban-rural divide.

The  view that  restoration of local council elections would benefit the Chinese at the expense of the Malays ignores the local government restructuring and the process of Malay urbanization in the past five decades.

Based on the 2010 Census, out of the 148 local authorities in Malaysia (comprising three City Halls, nine City Councils, 37 Municipal Councils and 99 District Councils), only two per cent or three of the local authorities have Chinese majorities, namely Sibu (Chinese 63.4% Malay/bumiputra 35.7% Indians 0.4% Others 0.5%); Kuching Selatan (Chinese 62.5% Malay/bumiputra 36.4% Indians 0.6% Others 0.5%) and Pulau Pinang (Chinese 56.4% Malays 33.7%; Indians 9.5% Others 0.4%).

Local authorities with Malay majorities of over 50% of the population number 132 or 89.2% of the 148 local authorities, with the balance of 13 having a plurality of races with seven Chinese dominant and six Malay dominant.

In the 2020 Census to be held in more than a year’s time, there would be further changes in the  racial composition of the demography of  the local authorities in favour of the Malays, because of the higher birth rates among the Malays compared to the non-Malays.

The restoration of the 53-year suspension of local government elections is an important building block not only for democracy but also for plural nation-building in Malaysia.

It has nothing whatsoever with the 3Rs of race, religion or rulers, but is concerned with the 3Rs of “Rates, Roads and Rubbish” although the scope of local government responsibility has expanded by leaps and bounds worldwide, such as including community services like libraries and parks, tourism, urban renewal, community health services, accessible transport and pollution control.

Elected local government is to empower citizens with the democratic right to participate in the third tier of democratic governance to take ownership of the decision-making process about their immediate environs – serving as a training ground for citizens in the direct experience of democratic governance at the grassroots level.

The restoration of  elected local government had been the objective of DAP ever since our formation in 1966.

It was an important issue  in the Segamat Utara parliamentary by-election in Johor in October 1968 where Tun Musa Hitam was first elected as Member of Parliament – later to rise up the political ladder to become Deputy Prime Minister.

I made at least two major speeches in Parliament on the restoration of local government during the three-year resumption of Parliament from 1971-1974 – my first term as an elected MP.

(Remarks by DAP MP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang  at the Sekolah Malam  “Where to, Malaysia” forum, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi on Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 8.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 December 2018, 10:58 am and is filed under
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One of the greatest threats to New Malaysia is toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race and religion

It is an honour and privilege  to be invited by the organisers of Malam Sekolah, UKM to come to the UKM  campus to speak, which would be unthinkable if there had not been a historic change of government in Putrajaya on May 9, 2018.

This comes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of my cultural debate with Professor Naguib Alatas at the MARA Auditorium on November 24, 1968, on whether Malaysian literature must be written only in Bahasa Malaysia, or whether it could be written in other languages, whether Chinese, Tamil or English –  in other words,  whether there is going to be cultural democracy in Malaysia.

I have to go back to the first book published by DAP in 1969,
 “Who Lives if Malaysia Dies
”,  to locate my speech at the cultural debate.

The approval for the holding of the  Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday would also be unthinkable and impossible if not for the historic decision of May 9, 2018 which gives Malaysians the opportunity to re-set nation-building directions and policies after six decades.

But while May 9, 2019 gave birth to the vision of a  New Malaysia, there is no guarantee that it will succeed and can be established, as it is not a mission which can be accomplished in 100 days, two years or even one general election cycle, but will take a decade or two.

It is up to Malaysians to give life to the shape, structure, sinews and muscles of the New Malaysia which will be in vain if Malaysians do not have the willpower, stamina, perseverance and commitment to save Malaysia from becoming a rogue democracy, a failed state, a kakistocracy and a global kleptocracy to become a world top-class nation which is united, harmonious, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous.

One of the greatest threats to the success of building a New Malaysia is toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race and religion.

If such toxic politics are to be believed, I am the most powerful and among the richest Malaysians in the country.

Before the 14th General Election, such toxic politics alleged that I will be the Prime Minister of Malaysia if Pakatan Harapan wins the polls.  When such lies and falsehoods were proved wrong after May 9, new lies and falsehoods were manufactured  to allege that I am the real power in the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya and that Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, Azizah Ismail and Mohamad Sabu were merely my stooges and puppets.

I was alleged to have received RM1 billion from Mahathir for him to join and head  Pakatan Harapan. I was also alleged to receive RM1.2 billion from Israeli sources to promote their cause.  There were other allegations of other fortunes coming my way to make me one of the richest men in Malaysia – except  that these billions exist only in the realm of the toxic politics of lies, hate and fear of opportunistic and desperate political leaders.

I am probably the most demonised man in Malaysian politics.

I was accused of being a communist, in fact, a relative of Chin Peng; responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots, leading the street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur shouting anti-Malay and anti-Islam slogans although I was never in Kuala Lumpur after the May 10, 1969 General Election; painted as quite a devil, a puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; an agent of KGB, CIA, MI6 and even Australian Intelligence.

Recently, I was  accused of wanting to split Peninsular Malaysia into two, East Coast for the Malays and the West Coast for the Chinese.

DAP had been demonised with all sorts of lies and falsehoods, but DAP Secretary-General and Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng is the only political leader in Malaysia  who had crossed ethnic lines to sacrifice his political future and position as Member of Parliament, and even went to jail, in the defence of honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl, when he was a MP for Kota Melaka in the nineties.

No political leader, whether UMNO, MCA or any other Opposition party, had ever made such sacrifices.

The Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday is the result of such toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion.

Malays from all over the country came to Kuala Lumpur for the Anti-ICERD rally, because they were made to believe that the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and Anti-Malay Rulers.

But is ICERD anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers?  I myself will oppose any ratification of ICERD if it is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.

ICERD was described as a “Freemason agenda” and an international conspiracy against Islam to destroy the religion.

If so, the Anti-ICERD rally on Saturday  should have launched an international campaign to save Muslims in the world from the Freemason conspiracy, as 99 per cent of the 1.9 billion Muslims in the world are living in 179 countries which have ratified ICERD.

These countries included  55 of the 57 member nations of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Is Malaysia to be the saviour of Muslims not only in the world, but also in the Islamic heartlands centred in Saudi Arabia or has Malaysia become the laughing-stock of the world including the Islamic World- except for Brunei, the other Muslim country which has not ratified the ICERD?  Why was there not a word of mention of the alleged Freemason agenda behind ICERD?

I believe that that overwhelming majority of Malaysians from all over the country who attended the Anti-ICERD rally did not realise that ICERD is not anti-Malay, anti-Islam or anti-Malay rulers, especially as 36 of 38 countries with monarchical systems have ratified ICERD for the past half a century.

How do we combat the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion?

Not by banning the Anti-ICERD Rally on Saturday. I support the approval given for the Anti-ICERD rally, for in a vibrant democracy, we must be prepared to allow the people to speak and assemble freely, provided that it is done peacefully and in accordance with the law.

But we must not allow the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion free rein, as they must be countered by arguments, reason,  facts and the truth.

The historic decision on May 9 shows that Malaysians can rise above the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion to unite to build a New Malaysia, which is a top world-class Malaysia where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, are proud to be Malaysians.

I agree with one member of the audience that something is very wrong with  our education system and our religious upbringing when  Malaysians could accept the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy until May 9, 2018.  All Malaysians must ponder this bitter fact.

The historic decision on  May 9, 2019 has however  redeemed Malaysia and it is our challenge to complete the task of a New Malaysia, which must include the transformation of Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity.

(Speech by DAP MP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang  at the Sekolah Malam  “Where to, Malaysia” forum, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi on Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 8.30 pm)

————————————-

————————————-

Ucapan oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang pada forum “Mahu ke mana, Malaysia?” anjuran Sekolah Malam, di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi pada 8.30 malam, 11 Disember 2018:

Salah satu ancaman paling besar terhadap Malaysia Baharu adalah politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian, perkauman dan keagamaan

Saya berasa amat berbesar hati kerana dijemput oleh pihak penganjur Sekolah Malam, UKM untuk hadir ke kampus UKM bagi menyampaikan ucapan, satu perkara yang tidak mungkin akan berlaku sekiranya tidak terjadi perubahan kerajaan di Putrajaya pada 9 Mei 2018.

Majlis ini diadakan sempena memperingati ulang tahun ke-50 debat budaya antara saya dan Profesor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas yang berlangsung di Auditorium MARA pada 24 November 1968, yang membahaskan tentang sama ada sastera Malaysia harus dikarang hanya dalam Bahasa Malaysia, atau sama ada ia boleh digubah dalam bahasa lain, tidak kira bahasa Cina, Tamil atau Inggeris – dalam erti kata lain, membahaskan kemungkinan tercetusnya demokrasi budaya di Malaysia.

Saya perlu kembali menyelak semula buku sulung yang diterbitkan DAP pada 1969, “Who Lives if Malaysia Dies”, bagi menggali semula ucapan yang disampaikan saya pada debat budaya itu.

Kebenaran yang diberikan pihak berkuasa untuk penganjur himpunan Anti-ICERD mengadakan himpunan di Kuala Lumpur pada Sabtu lalu mungkin tidak akan terjangkau oleh fikiran kita, malah mustahil untuk dijalankan sekiranya tidak berlaku peristiwa bersejarah pada 9 Mei 2018 yang lalu.

Namun, walaupun 9 Mei 2018 telah melahirkan visi Malaysia Baharu, tidak ada jaminan bahawa ia akan berjaya dan boleh ditubuhkan, kerana ia adalah sebuah misi yang tidak boleh dicapai dalam tempoh pendek 100 hari, dua tahun atau satu pusingan pilihan raya, tetapi sebaliknya memakan masa sedekad dua.

Terpulang kepada rakyat Malaysia untuk menghidupkan bentuk, struktur dan kekuatan Malaysia Baharu yang mana akan menjadi sia-sia sekiranya rakyat Malaysia tidak mempunyai kemahuan, stamina, ketabahan dan komitmen untuk menyelamatkan Malaysia daripada terus terjerumus menjadi sebuah demokrasi penyangak, negara gagal, kakistokrasi dan kleptokrasi global, dan bangkit menjadi negara bertaraf dunia yang bersatu padu, harmoni, demokratik, adil, progresif dan makmur.

Salah satu ancaman besar terhadap usaha pembentukan Malaysia Baharu adalah politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian, perkauman dan keagamaan.

Jika mereka percaya politik toksik sedemikian, tidak mustahil mereka juga akan percaya dakwaan bahawa saya kononnya individu paling berkuasa dan antara orang terkaya di negara ini.

Sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14, dakyah politik toksik sedemikian mendakwa bahawa kononnya saya akan menjadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia jika Pakatan Harapan menang pilihan raya itu. Apabila pembohongan dan fitnah itu dibuktikan dan ternyata tidak benar selepas 9 Mei lalu, pembohongan dan fitnah baru direka untuk menuduh bahawa kononnya sayalah yang paling berkuasa dalam kerajaan Pakatan Harapan di Putrajaya dan kononnya Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, Azizah Ismail and Mohamad Sabu hanyalah pak turut dan boneka saya.

Saya juga dituduh menerima RM1 bilion daripada Mahathir untuk membolehkan beliau menyertai dan mengetuai Pakatan Harapan. Saya juga dituduh menerima RM1.2 bilion daripada sumber Israel bagi membawa agenda mereka. Terdapat juga dakwaan lain bahawa kononnya akan ada harta yang begitu besar yang akan diberikan kepada saya untuk menjadikan saya salah seorang individu terkaya di Malaysia – semua ini hanya wujud dalam dunia politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian dan ketakutan yang dimainkan oleh pemimpin politik terdesak dan oportunis.

Saya mungkin individu yang paling banyak dimomokkan dalam sejarah politik Malaysia.

Saya dituduh komunis, malah, dikatakan kononnya mempunyai pertalian saudara dengan Chin Peng; dituduh sebagai dalang rusuhan 13 Mei 1969, dituduh mengetuai tunjuk perasaan jalanan di Kuala Lumpur sambil berteriak slogan anti-Melayu dan anti-Islam walaupun saya ketika itu tidak berada di Kuala Lumpur selepas Pilihan Raya Umum 10 Mei 1969; digambarkan sebagai syaitan, puaka, malahan jembalang; bahawa saya kononnya anti-Melayu, anti-Islam, kononnya seorang agen KGB, CIA, MI6 malahan perisik Australia.

Baru-baru ini, saya dituduh mahu memisahkan Semenanjung Malaysia kepada dua bahagian, Pantai Timur untuk orang Melayu dan Pantai Barat untuk orang Cina.

DAP telah dimomokkan dengan pelbagai pembohongan dan fitnah, namun Setiausaha Agung DAP dan Menteri Kewangan, Lim Guan Eng adalah satu-satunya pemimpin politik di Malaysia yang melangkaui sempadan etnik dengan mengorbankan masa depan politik dan kedudukannya sebagai Ahli Parlimen, malah dipenjarakan, kerana mempertahankan maruah dan kehormatan gadis Melayu bawah umur, semasa beliau menjadi Ahli Parlimen Kota Melaka pada era 90-an.

Tidak ada seorang pun pemimpin politik, sama ada UMNO, MCA atau mana-mana parti Pembangkang, pernah melakukan pengorbanan sebegitu.

Himpunan Anti-ICERD di Kuala Lumpur pada Sabtu adalah hasil daripada politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, perkauman dan keagamaan.

Orang Melayu dari serata negeri datang ke Kuala Lumpur untuk menghadiri perhimpunan Anti-ICERD, kerana mereka dimomokkan bahawa Konvensyen Antarabangsa Mengenai Penghapusan Segala Bentuk Diskriminasi Kaum (ICERD) bersifat anti-Melayu, anti-Islan dan anti-Raja-raja Melayu.

Namun, adakah ICERD benar-benar anti-Melayu, anti-Islam dan anti-Raja-raja Melayu seperti yang didakwa? Saya sendiri akan menentang sebarang usaha untuk meratifikasi ICERD jika ia bersifat anti-Melayu, anti-Islam dan anti-Raja-raja Melayu.

ICERD disifatkan sebagai “agenda Freemason” dan konspirasi antarabangsa terhadap Islam untuk memusnahkan agama itu.

Jika benar, perhimpunan Anti-ICERD yang berlangsung pada Sabtu lalu harus melancarkan kempen antarabangsa untuk menyelamatkan orang Islam di seluruh dunia daripada konspirasi Freemason, kerana 99 peratus daripada 1.9 juta orang Islam di dunia tinggal di 179 negara yang telah meratifikasi ICERD.

Negara-negara ini termasuk 55 daripada 57 negara ahli Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC), seperti Arab Saudi, Indonesia, Turki, Qatar, Emiriah Arab Bersatu, Mesir, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwat, Palestin, Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Bangladesh dan Pakistan.

Adakah Malaysia mahu menjadi penyelamat umat Islam bukan sahaja di dunia, malahan di tanah suci Islam di Arab Saudi atau adakah Malaysia sudah menjadi bahan ketawa dunia termasuk dunia Islam – kecuali Brunei, negara Muslim lain yang tidak meratifikasi ICERD? Mengapa tidak timbul soal agenda Freemason di sebalik ICERD?

Saya percaya majoriti rakyat Malaysia dari seluruh negara yang hadir ke perhimpunan Anti-ICERD tidak menyedari hakikat bahawa ICERD tidak bersifat anti-Melayu, anti-Islam atau anti-Raja-raja Melayu, lebih-lebih lagi 36 daripada 38 negara yang mengamalkan sistem monarki sudahpun meratifikasi ICERD sejak separuh abad lalu.

Bagaimana kita melawan politik toksik pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, perkauman dan keagamaan?

Bukan dengan mengharamkan perhimpuan Anti-ICERD pada Sabtu. Saya menyokong “lampu hijau” yang diberikan kepada perhimpunan Anti-ICERD, demi demokrasi, kita harus bersedia untuk membenarkan rakyat bersuara dan berhimpun secara bebas, dengan syarat ia dijalankan secara aman dan mengikut undang-undang.

Namun, kita tidak harus membiarkan politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan, perkauman dan keagamaan merebak, ia harus dikekang dengan hujah, logik, fakta dan kebenaran.

Keputusan bersejarah pada 9 Mei menunjukkan bahawa rakyat Malaysia boleh mengatasi politik toksik berbaur pembohongan, kebencian, ketakutan perkauman serta keagamaan dan bersatu padu untuk membina Malaysia Baharu yang bertaraf dunia, di mana rakyat Malaysia, tanpa mengira kaum, agama, wilayah atau politik berbangga menjadi anak Malaysia.

Saya setuju dengan pandangan seorang hadirin malam ini bahawa ada yang tidak kena dengan sistem pendidikan dan asuhan agama yang diamalkan kita apabila rakyat Malaysia tidak malu digelar oleh dunia sebagai kleptokrasi global sehinggalah 9 Mei 2018. Rakyat Malaysia harus memikirkan kenyataan pahit ini.

Keputusan bersejarah pada 9 Mei 2018 bagaimanapun telah menebus maruah Malaysia dan adalah menjadi cabaran untuk kita melengkapkan tugas sebuah Malaysia Baharu, yang harus meliputi transformasi Malaysia daripada terus digelar kleptokrasi global kepada negara terkemuka yang berintegriti.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 December 2018, 11:08 am and is filed under
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Charging of Najib and Arul Kanda over tampering with Auditor-General’s 1MDB Report  highlights the role  of PAS leadership in  aiding and abetting the 1MDB scandal

The charging of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1MDB Chief Executive Officer  Arul Kanda Kandasamy with tampering of the Auditor-General’s 1MDB report in 2016 has highlighted the role of the PAS leadership in aiding and abetting the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal.

In April 2017, the PAS Central Working Committee publcily  gave approval to the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda who briefed it for more than two hours about the 1MDB.

No wonder  that that there won’t be a joint UMNO-PAS  anti-1MDB Rally where the respective UMNO and PAS Presidents,  Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hadi Awang will  condemn Najib, the  1MDB scandal and grand corruption in Malaysia, which reached such stratospheric heights as to make Malaysia a global kleptocracy under Najib’s premiership.

The PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang may be able to square Islam with kleptocracy, but I am sure that the majority of Muslims and non-Muslims cannot accept any equation of  Islam or any of the great religions of the world with corruption and kleptocracy.

It has been reported that the fear of UMNO becoming too Islamic-centric and getting closer to PAS were the main reasons for the exodus of its Sabah members.

A stronger reason would be the axis between UMNO and PAS to defend Najib’s kleptocracy and the 1MDB scandal.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 13th December 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 13 December 2018, 2:14 pm and is filed under
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Did PAS win the two state governments of Kelantan and Terengganu in the 14GE because of  immature young voters?

The question whether PAS won the two state government of Kelantan and Terengganu in the 14th General Election because of the immature young voters in the two states is the immediate response to the startling assertion by the PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang that the Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the 14th General Election on May 9 partly due to the “political immaturity” of young voters.

Hadi does not seem to agree that the corruption and misbehaviour of BN leaders were major causes of the BN defeat, which reinforces the perception on PAS’ role to aid and abet former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal until the people rejected Najib in the ballot box.

It is highly regrettable that Hadi continued to be one of the foremost practitioners of the toxic politics of lies, fear, hate, race and religion, to incite fears over the alleged 66 parliamentary seats held by non-Muslims and 58 by Muslims in the government coalition and that the Muslim MPs are being bullied and dominated by the non-Muslim MPs.

It is clear that as PAS President, Hadi regrets  UMNO and Barisan Nasional lost  in Putrajaya, as he is not interested in integrity and good governance issues  and has no objections to Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy as a result of former Prime Minister’s 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal.

It is therefore most fortunate that Hadi failed to play any “kingmaker” role in the 14th GE with the PAS failure to win 40 parliamentary seats, with the intent to prop up Najib to continue as Prime Ministe of Malaysia and keep UMNO and Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya.

From Hadi’s statement, it would appear that PAS under his leadership is opposed to the proposal to lower the voting age from 21 years to 18 years. Let PAS leaders speak up.

(Media Statement (3) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 13th December 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 13 December 2018, 3:36 pm and is filed under
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Is Rahman Dahlan prepared to show direction for UMNO by condemning Najib for the 1MDB catastrophe which brought Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy

Former Najib stalwart who was Minister and Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan was spot-on when he said that the lack of direction in Umno following the party’s colossal defeat in the May 9 polls is one of the reasons for the exodus of its Sabah lawmakers.

Is Rahman  prepared to show direction for UMNO by condemning Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the 1MDB catastrophe which brought Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy?

UMNO was rudderless because it had lost the moral compass, and no one even after the colossal defeat suffered by UMNO in the 14th General Election dared to speak up to identify Najib and his 1MDB kleptocracy as the leading causes of UMNO’s undoing.

On the contrary, currenty UMNO leaders want to cling to the 1MDB ill-gotten gains.

It has been reported that  RM470 million from Najib’s personal banking accounts and which were traceable to 1MDB,  had been diverted to Barisan Nasional parties for the 13th general election, including the following:

UMNO – RM 417,414,000

MCA – RM 16,500,000

MIC – RM 20,550,000

BN – RM 3,550,000

SUPP – RM 3,500,000

LDP – RM 3,500,000

UPKO – RM 2,000,000

PBRS – RM 1,000,000

PPP – RM 700,000

Gerakan – RM300,000

These are serious misappropriation of public funds to the Barisan Nasional parties in 2013 as they belonged to 1MDB.

Are  UMNO and all present and former BN parties (including UMNO, MCA and MIC) prepared to atone and redeem themselves about their 1MDB past  and return the RM470 million to public coffers as they had been misappropriated from 1MDB?

Not only has UMNO leaders lost the moral compass to repudiate Najib and 1MDB scandal as national catastrophes, but they have accepted Najib as the present de facto leader of UMNO – as witnessed by his prominent attendance of Saturday’s Anti-ICERD rally, which turned the rally into an endorsement of Najib and 1MDB scandal!

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, December 13, 2018)

———————————-

———————————-

Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Parlimen pada Khamis, 13 Disember, 2018:

Adakah Rahman Dahlan bersedia untuk menunjukkan hala tuju kepada UMNO dengan mengutuk tindakan Najib Razak berhubung skandal 1MDB yang telah memalukan nama Malaysia dengan gelaran kleptokrasi global?

Kenyataan bekas penyokong setia Datuk Seri Najib Razak yang pernah menyandang jawatan Menteri dan merupakan Pengarah Komunikasi Strategik Barisan Nasional, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan bahawa tindakan wakil rakyat UMNO Sabah keluar parti adalah disebabkan hala tuju tidak jelas parti tersebut selepas mengalami kekalahan pada Pilihan Raya 9 Mei lalu, adalah satu kenyataan yang tepat.

Adakah Rahman Dahlan bersedia untuk menunjukkan hala tuju kepada UMNO dengan mengutuk tindakan Najib Razak berhubung skandal 1MDB yang telah memalukan nama Malaysia dengan gelaran kleptokrasi global?

UMNO hilang arah tuju kerana ia hilang kompas moral, dan tidak ada seorang pun, meskipun selepas kekalahan UMNO pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14, berani untuk menyatakan bahawa Najib dan kleptokrasi 1MDB yang dicetuskannya adalah penyebab utama kemusnahan UMNO.

Sebaliknya, pemimpin UMNO yang ada sekarang masih mahu bergantung kepada 1MDB.

Dilaporkan bahawa sejumlah RM470 juta dari akaun bank peribadi Najib dan didapati berpunca daripada dana 1MDB, telah dilencongkan ke kantung komponen Barisan Nasional untuk kegunaan mereka pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13, seperti berikut:

UMNO – RM 417,414,000

MCA – RM 16,500,000

MIC – RM 20,550,000

BN – RM 3,550,000

SUPP – RM 3,500,000

LDP – RM 3,500,000

UPKO – RM 2,000,000

PBRS – RM 1,000,000

PPP – RM 700,000

Gerakan – RM300,000

Ini adalah penyelewengan serius ke atas dana awam untuk kegunaan komponen Barisan Nasional pada 2013 kerana wang tersebut adalah milik 1MDB.

Adakah UMNO dan bekas komponen dan komponen BN (termasuk UMNO, MCA dan MIC) bersedia untuk menebus maruah mereka berhubung skandal 1MDB dan memulangkan semula RM470 juta yang diterima mereka ke kantung dana awam kerana ia sebenarnya adalah wang hasil daripada penyelewengan ke atas 1MDB?

Bukan sahaja pemimpin UMNO hilang kompas moral untuk mengaku bahawa Najib dan skandal 1MDB adalah malapetaka kepada negara, mereka malah menerima Najib sebagai pemimpin de facto UMNO – seperti yang dapat dilihat dengan kehadiran Najib pada perhimpunan Anti-ICERD pada Sabtu, yang mana menjadi perhimpunan menyokong Najib dan skandal 1MDB.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 13 December 2018, 11:41 am and is filed under
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Pakatan Harapan leadership must set the New Malaysia example to show commitment to the objective to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation in integrity

The exodus of four Members of Parliament, two Senators and nine State Assembly representatives as well as division heads in Sabah from UMNO on Wednesday created shock waves in the whole country.

Questions raised include whether this is now the  season of party defections, this time from UMNO to other political parties.

But the most important question is not about UMNO, but about Pakatan Harapan, whether it has lost its commitment to fight corruption and all forms of abuses of power which has degenerated under the Najib premiership to stratospheric level so much so that Malaysia becomes the laughing stock of the world and is condemned  worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

For this reason, the Pakatan Harapan leadership must set the New Malaysia example to show that its commitment to the objective to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation in integrity is undiminished seven months after the historic 14th General Election decision on May 9, 2018.

This is why no party in the Pakatan Harapan coalition should do anything which undermines public perception about its commitment, stamina and perseverance to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation in integrity, a feat which had not been achieved by any nation in the world.

Recently, Qatar’s third Sheikh Tamin Hamad Al-Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award was held in Malaysia with the  Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its guest of honour.

This was in total contrast to the three-day 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya in September 2015 – when one international speaker after another hauled  Malaysia over the coals for the 1MDB scandal.

The  Transparency International President Jose Ugaz opened up the 16th IACC attacks on the 1MDB scandal  with a powerful plea for “honesty and integrity” from the Najib administration, asking Najib pointedly to restore confidence and trust by answering questions about the US$700 million in his personal bank accounts – (1) who paid the money and why; and (2) Where did it go.

This was followed up on the second day by the TI co-founder and erstwhile adviser to Najib on anti-corruption matters, Michael J. Hershman, telling Najib to come clean on the RM2.6 billion donation that he received.

On the third and last day of the IACC, the Global Investigative Journalism Network executive director David Kaplan said those attempting to cover up the matter are out of touch with the times and that the government cannot conceal information on the RM2.6 billion deposited into PM Najib’s personal bank accounts in the digital age.

Amnesty International secretary-general Salil Shetty asked if the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank accounts was “grand corruption”.

Transparency International managing director Cobus De Swardt warned that in the absence of answers and an independent investigation, “suspicion of corruption, mistrust and appearance of being above the law will prevail”.

The Chairman of UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) coalition, Manzoor Hasan, wanted Najib to step down as Prime Minister to allow the investigation into the RM2.6 billion donation he received to proceed without interference.

When the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Percepton Index (CPI) series was introduced in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries or the 6th highest-ranked nation in the Asia-Pacific after New Zealand -1, Singapore – 3, Australia – 7, Hong Kong – 17 and Japan – 20, with a CPI score of 5.28. (10 stands for “highly clean” and 0 for “highly corrupt”).

Qatar was only first listed in the TI CPI 2003, when it was ranked No. 32 out of 177 countries and scored 5.6 points, while Malaysia was ranked No. 37 with a score of 5.2 points.

In all the nine years with Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018, the gap between Malaysia’s ranking and score with Qatar on the annual TI CPI series widened from Qatar being ranked No. 22 and scored 7.0 points in 2009 to No. 29 with 63/100 points in 2017 as compared to Malaysia’s ranking and score of No. 56 with 4.5 points in 2003 to No. 62 with 47/100 points in 2017.

In fact, under Najib’s nine-year premiership, Malaysia was not only more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers Mahathir and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but had the dubious honour of being the only Asian-Pacific country to slip in both TI CPI ranking and score since the introduction of the TI CPI annual series in 1995.

Malaysia’s greatest challenges is to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity, or to be among the first 45 out of 180 countries.

I expect Malaysia to improve both in score and  ranking in the the TI CPI 2018 when it is released in a month’s time, but it would not be substantial as only a start has been made in the second half of this year in   the anti-corruption efforts after the historic results of the 14th General Elections on  May 9.

But I would expect substantial  improvements in Malaysia’s ranking and score from the TI CPI 2019 onwards, when the full effects of the  anti-corruption programme of the Pakatan Harapan Government take effect.

However, all these gains in anti-corruption efforts would be negated and  undermined if the political leadership fails to show commitment to the objective to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation in integrity, as would be the case if the exodus of UMNO MPs, SAs and Divisional leaders ends up in their influx into the Pakatan Harapan, despite the fact that they were the ones  who must be held responsible for Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy  because of their blind and submissive support for Najib’s kleptocracy and the long-running 1MDB scandal.

Forty years ago on March 21, 1978, I moved a private member’s bill entitled Members of Parliament (Prevention of Defection) Act 1978 to ensure political integrity of Members of Parliament, which would require a Member of Parliament to vacate his seat within 30 days and cause a by-election to be held on his resignation or expulsion from the Party on whose ticket he was originally elected.

I told Parliament that such legislation was  important  to ensure the political integrity of elected MPs and to prevent political corruption.

I said when introducing the private member’s bill in Parliament:

“Nothing disgusts the Malaysian public more than to see MPs or State Assemblymen elected on one party’s ticket and then betray the Party and the people’s trust by switching parties. This makes them very little different from con-men. Such practices debase politics, and strengthen the general impression that ‘politics is dirty’, when it is the dirty people who get into politics to make politics dirty.

“The defection of MPs or State Assemblymen from parties on whose ticket they got elected is most undesirable and unethical, because they are elected not because of their personal qualities, but because of the Party they represent. Such practices also permit elected politicians to be bought and sold as if they are on the market place.

“If an elected MP resigns or is expelled from the Party on whose ticket he was originally elected, then he should resign his seat and cause a by-election to be held. If the resignation and expulsion is over a matter of political principle which has the support of the people, then the MP or State Assemblyman concerned should have no qualms about getting re-elected.”

I fully stand by the principle behind the private member’s bill which I had introduced in Parliament 40 years ago.

However, there is not only no  anti-hopping law in Malaysia, but there is a constitutional provision that if an MP or State Assembly representative resigns for whatever reason, he or she could not stand for re-election – a constitutional amendment which I had opposed in the nineties.

There should be an anti-hopping law in Malaysia, but until there is such a legislation, the political leadership whether in government or the opposition, should set an example of political integrity to ensure that any party defection by an elected representative  is not purely for personal or opportunistic reasons, which would raise  grave integrity issues.

Are all those MPs, SAs and other political leaders in Sabah who have left UMNO to become independents prepared to publicly seek apology from Malaysians and atone for their support of Najib and the 1MDB scandal in the past few years, and are they prepared to publicly declare that they pledge support to all efforts to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation in integrity before they seek to join one of the Pakatan Harapan parties?

The Pakatan Harapan coalition should not allow anyone of the former  UMNO political leaders to join anyone of the component parties until and unless they have publicly atoned for their wrongs and failures for giving support to Najib and the 1MDB scandal in the past few years, together with public pledge by them that they now fully endorse the goal of transforming Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation in integrity.

Sabah produced three kingpins who propped up Najib and the 1MDB scandal after the “Week of Long Knives” at the end of July 2015 when Najib sacked the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, and virtually removed from power or influence all those in the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara  and the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament who might want to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal –  two of whom were involved  the exodus from Sabah UMNO on Wednesday.

The two kingpins were Najib’s two right-hand Ministers, Datuk Salleh Keruak and the 1MDB Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Mulia Amin. The third, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, was not in the exodus although he pontificated that the lack of direction in Umno following the party’s colossal defeat in the May 9 polls was one of the reasons for the exodus of its Sabah lawmakers.

Is Rahman prepared to show “direction” for UMNO by condemning Najib for the 1MDB catastrophe which brought Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy, especially he had told the world as far back as Sept. 2016 that the “MO1” mentioned in the US Department of Justice’s largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets was none other than Najib?

UMNO was rudderless because it had lost the moral compass, and no one even after the colossal defeat suffered by UMNO in the 14th General Election dared to speak up to identify Najib and his 1MDB kleptocracy as the double national catastrophes of the country.

Are Salleh and Pandikar to get away for their support of Najib and the 1MDB scandal, and even more serious, the infamy of Malaysia of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy,  just by joining the exodus from UMNO and later joining one of the Pakatan Harapan parties?

I have been in Parliament since 1969, except for a break from 1999-2004, but I was never more ashamed to be MP than in the 13th Parliament from 2013-2018 as the 13th Parliament became the 1MDB Parliament with a 1MDB Speaker.

I was twice suspended for six months from the 13th Parliament for wanting to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal, and in the last few days of the 13th Parliament, I was regarded as a “parliamentary ghost” by the 1MDB Speaker for he  decided not to “see” my presence in Parliament!

The New Malaysia we want to build in the next 10 to 20 years must be a country which has zero tolerance for corruption. Does Pandikar, Salleh and Abdul Rahman stand up to such a standard?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Ipoh when attending the AMANAH National Congress  on Friday, December 14, 2018)

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Kenyataan media Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang ketika menghadiri Konvensyen Nasional Parti Amanah Negara pada hari Jumaat, 14 Disember 2018 di Ipoh:

Kepimpinan Pakatan Harapan mesti memberi contoh bagi Malaysia Baharu untuk membuktikan komitmen kepada tujuan mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi sebuah negara berintegriti

Tindakan empat Ahli Parlimen, dua Senator dan sembilan ADUN serta beberapa ketua bahagian UMNO Sabah pada hari Rabu telah mencetuskan gelombang di seluruh negara.

Timbul persoalan sama ada sudah tiba musim lompat parti, kali ini dari UMNO ke parti-parti lain.

Tapi persoalan paling penting bukanlah tentang UMNO, tapi Pakatan Harapan; sama ada ia telah hilang komitmen membanteras rasuah dan segala jenis salahguna kuasa yang telah semakin memburuk di zaman pentadbiran Najib sehinggakan Malaysia menjadi bahan ketawa dunia, dan dikutuk sebagai sebuah kleptokrasi global.

Atas sebab ini, kepimpinan Pakatan Harapan mesti memberi contoh bagi Malaysia Baharu untuk membuktikan komitmen kepada tujuan mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi sebuah negara berintegriti tidak pernah luntur, setelah tujuh bulan keputusan bersejarah PRU ke-14 pada 9 Mei 2018.

Ini sebabnya kenapa mana-mana parti dalam gabungan Pakatan Harapan tidak boleh melakukan sesuatu yang menjejaskan persepsi umum terhadap komitmen, stamina dan iltizamnya untuk mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global ke arah sebuah negara berintegriti, suatu pencapaian yang belum berjaya dilakukan mana-mana negara di dunia.

Baru-baru ini, majlis anugerah International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award yang ketiga anjuran Sheikh Tamin Hamad Al-Thani dari Qatar telah diadakan di Malaysia, dan Perdana Menteri Dr Mahathir Mohamad dijemput sebagai tetamu kehormat.

Ini jauh berbeza dengan persidangan International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) ke-16 yang dianjurkan di Putrajaya pada September 2015 – di mana seorang demi seorang pemidato antarabangsa telah mengutuk Malaysia dalam hal skandal 1MDB.

Presiden Transparency International, Jose Ugaz membuka tirai IACC ke-16 dengan serangan ke atas skandal 1MDB, sambil mendesak kejujuran dan integriti daripada pentadbiran Najib, meminta beliau mengembalikan keyakinan dan kepercayaan dengan menjawab persoalan mengenai wang berjumlah US$700 juta di dalam akaun peribadinya – 1) siapa yang membuat bayaran itu dan kenapa, serta 2) ke mana wang itu pergi.

Ini diikuti pada hari berikutnya oleh pengasas bersama TI yang juga bekas penasihat Najib dalam hal-ehwal anti-rasuah, Michael J. Hershman, yang memberitahu Najib supaya berlaku jujur tentang ‘derma’ berjumlah RM2.6 bilion yang diterimanya.

Pada hari terakhir IACC, pengarah eksekutif Global Investigative Journalism Network, David Kaplan berkata bahawa mereka yang cuba menyembunyikan hal terbabit adalah terpisah daripada realiti dan kerajaan tidak boleh menyembunyikan maklumat tentang RM2.6 bilion yang dimasukkan ke akaun peribadi Najib di zaman digital ini.

Setiausaha Agung Amnesty International, Salil Shetty pula bertanya sama ada RM2.6 bilion di dalam akaun peribadi Najib boleh dianggap sebagai “grand corruption”.

Pengarah Urusan Transparency International, Cobus De Swardt pula memberi amaran bahawa dalam ketiadaan jawapan mahupun siasatan bebas, ‘syakwasangka bahawa rasuah, ketidakpercayaan dan andaian melampaui undang-undang akan menguasai’.

Pengerusi gabungan UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Manzoor Hasan pula mahu Najib meletakkan jawatan sebagai perdana menteri bagi memberi laluan kepada siasatan ke atas derma RM2.6 bilion, tanpa sebarang gangguan.

Ketika Indeks Persepsi Rasuah Transparency International diperkenalkan pada tahun 1995, Malaysia berada di tangga ke-23 daripada 41 negara, atau negara kenam tertinggi di rantau Asia Pasifik selepas New Zealand -1, Singapura -3, Australia – 7, Hong Kong -17, dan Jepun – 20; dengan skor CPI 5.28. (10, sangat bersih, 0, sangat korup).

Qatar hanya tersenarai buat pertama kali dalam CPI tersebut pada tahun 2003, pada tangga ke-32 daripada 177 negara dengan skor 5.6, manakala Malaysia berada di kedudukan 37 dengan skor 5.2.

Dalam tempoh sembilan tahun Najib menjadi perdana menteri dari 2009 hingga 2018, jurang antara kedudukan dan skor berbanding Qatar dalam siri CPI ini melebar daripada kedudukan Qatar di tangga ke-22 dengan skor 7.0 pada tahun 2009 ke tangga ke-29 dengan skor 63/100 pada tahun 2017; berbanding Malaysia yang berada di tangga ke 56 dengan skor 4.5 pada tahun 2003 ke kedudukan nombor 62 dengan skor 47/100 pada tahun 2017.

Malah, di bawah pentadbiran sembilan tahun Najib, Malaysia bukan sahaja lebih korup di bawah dua mantan perdana menteri Mahathir dan dan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, bahkan juga mendapat ‘penghormatan’ sebagai satu-satunya negara Asia Pasifik yang menjunam kedudukan dan markah CPI-nya sejak siri tersebut diperkenalkan pada 1995.

Cabaran terbesar negara ialah untuk mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi negara contoh yang berintegriti, atau menduduki tangga 45 teratas daripada 180 negara.

Saya mengharapkan Malaysia dapat menambahbaik skor dan kedudukan dalam CPI 2018 apabila ia diterbitkan dalam masa sebulan lagi, tetapi ia tidaklah begitu substansial kerana kita hanya bermula pada separuh masa kedua tahun ini dari segi usaha membanteras rasuah selepas keputusan bersejarah PRu ke-14 pada 9 Mei lalu.

Tetapi saya pastinya mengharapkan kemajuan yang substansial dari segi kedudukan dan skor pada CPI 2019 dan seterusnya, apabila program anti-rasuah kerajaan Pakatan Harapan benar-benar memberi kesan.

Bagaimanapun, semua kemajuan dalam usaha anti-rasuah ini akan terbatal dan terjejas sekiranya kepimpinan politik sedia ada gagal menunjukkan komitmen kepada tujuan mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi sebuah negara contoh yang berintegriti, seperti dalam hal keluarnya beramai-ramai Ahli Parlimen, ADUN dan Ketua Bahagian UMNO yang kemudian masuk berjemaah ke dalam Pakatan Harapan, walaupun merekalah sebenarnya yang mesti bertanggungjawab ke atas nasib Malaysia menjadi sebuah kleptokrasi global akibat sokongan membuta-tuli terhadap kleptokrasi Najib dan juga skandal berterusan 1MDB.

40 tahun lalu, pada 21 Mac 1978, saya mengemukakan rang undang-undang persendirian yang diberi nama Akta Ahli-ahli Parlimen (Pencegahan Memaling Tadah) 1978, bagi memastikan integriti politik Ahli Parlimen, yang menuntut seorang Ahli Parlimen mengosongkan kerusinya dalam tempoh 30 hari dan memberi laluan kepada pilihanraya kecil sekiranya beliau meletakkan jawatan atau dibuang daripada parti yang memberi tiket untuknya bertanding.

Saya memberitahu Parlimen bahawa undang-undang sedemikian adalah penting bagi memastikan integriti politik wakil-wakil rakyat yang dilantik, serta bagi menghalang rasuah politik.

Dalam ucapan memperkenalkan rang undang-undang ini, saya menyebut:

“Apa yang menjijikkan rakyat Malaysia ialah apabila mereka melihat Ahli-ahli Parlimen atau Wakil Rakyat yang dipilih atas nama sesuatu partai mengkhianati partai tersebut serta juga kepercayaan rakyat dengan menukar parti. Mereka ini tidak beza dari ‘con-men’. Amalan-amalan seperti ini merendahkan politik dan hanya menguatkan pendapat umum yang ‘politik adalah kotor’ bilamana orang-orang yang kotorlah yang mengambil bahagian dalam politik untuk membuatkan politik kotor.

“Perkara defection yang dilakukan oleh Ahli-ahli Parlimen daripada parti atas nama mana ia dipilih pada asalnya adalah tidak senonoh dan tidak beretika kerana mereka ini dipilih bukan kerana sifat-sifat peribadi mereka tetapi kerana parti yang mereka mewakili dan amalan-amalan seumpama ini juga membolehkan ahli-ahli politik yang terpilih dibeli dan dijual seolah-olah mereka ini berada di pasar.

“Jika sekiranya seorang Ahli Parlimen yang dipilih meletak jawatan atau disingkirkan daripada partai atas nama mana ia dipilih pada asalnya, maka beliau hendaklah mengosongkan kerusinya dan mengakibatkan satu pilihanraya kecil diadakan. Jika perletakan jawatan atau penyingkiran itu disebabkan oleh sesuatu prinsip politik yang mendapat sokongan orang ramai, maka Ahli Parlimen berkenaan tidak patut ragu-ragu yang beliau tidak akan dipilih sekali lagi dalam satu pilihanraya kecil.”

Saya berpegang teguh kepada prinsip di sebalik RUU yang saya perkenalkan di Parlimen 40 tahun lalu.

Namun, bukan sahaja tidak wujud undang-undang anti-lompat parti di Malaysia, malah terdapat peruntukan perlembagaan bahawa sekiranya seorang Ahli Parlimen atau ADUN meletakkan jawatan untuk sebarang sebab, beliau tidak boleh bertanding semula – suatu pindaan perlembagaan yang saya bantah di zaman 90’an.

Harus ada undang-undang anti-lompat parti di Malaysia, namun sehingga wujud undang-undang sedemikian, kepimpinan politik tidak kira kerajaan atau pembangkang, harus menunjukkan contoh integriti politik bagi memastikan sebarang tindakan berpaling tadah oleh mana-mana wakil rakyat bukanlah dilakukan dengan alasan peribadi atau oportunistik, yang akan menimbulkan persoalan integriti.

Adakah semua Ahli Parlimen, ADUN dan pimpinan politik di Sabah yang telah meninggalkan UMNO untuk menjadi wakil rakyat bebas bersedia untuk memohon maaf secara terbukan daripada rakyat Malaysia bagi menebus kesalahan mereka menyokong Najib dan skandal 1MDB sepanjang beberapa tahun lalu, dan adakah mereka bersedia mengaku untuk menyokong semua usaha untuk mengubah Malaysia daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi sebuah negara contoh berintegriti sebelum memohon untuk menyertai mana-mana parti Pakatan Harapan?

Gabungan Pakatan Harapan tidak patut membenarkan mana-mana bekas pemimpin UMNO untuk menyertai parti komponennya sehinggalah mereka telah menebus kesalahan mereka menyokong Najib dan skandal 1MDB untuk beberapa tahun lampau, bersekali dengan ikrar terbuka bahawa mereka kini menyokong tujuan mengubah negara daripada sebuah kleptokrasi global menjadi sebuah negara contoh berintegriti.

Sabah telah menghasilkan tiga orang tokoh yang menyokong Najib serta skandal 1MDB selepas “Week of Long Knives” yang berakhir pada Julai 2015 apabila Najib memecat timbalannya, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Peguam Negara Tan Sri Gani Patail, serta membuang mereka yang berpengaruh dari pasukan polis, SPRM, Bank Negara dan PAC di Parlimen yang mungkin mahu menyiasat skandal 1MDB – dua daripada mereka terlibat meninggalkan UMNO Sabah pada hari Rabu lalu.

Dua tokoh ini adalah dua menteri kanan Najib, Datuk Salleh Keruak dan Speaker 1MDB, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia. Yang ketiga, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, tidak terlibat meninggalkan parti, walaupun beliau bersyarah panjang tentang bagaimana tiadanya hala tuju parti berikutan kekalahan besar UMNO dalam PRU 9 Mei adalah penyebab wakil-wakil rakyat UMNO Sabah keluar parti beramai-ramai.

Adakah Rahman Dahlan bersedia untuk menunjukkan hala tuju kepada UMNO dengan mengutuk tindakan Najib Razak berhubung skandal 1MDB yang telah memalukan nama Malaysia dengan gelaran kleptokrasi global, terutamanya setelah beliau memberitahu dunia pada September 2016 bahawa ‘MO1’ yang disebut dalam tindakan undang-undang kleptokratsi Jabatan Kehakiman Amerika untuk melucuthak aset bernilai US$1.7 bilion terkait 1MDB itu adalah tidak lain, Najib sendiri?

UMNO hilang arah tuju kerana ia hilang kompas moral, dan tidak ada seorang pun, meskipun selepas kekalahan UMNO pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14, berani untuk menyatakan bahawa Najib dan kleptokrasi 1MDB yang dicetuskannya adalah penyebab utama kemusnahan UMNO.

Adakah Salleh dan Pandikar akan bebas daripada kesalahan menyokong Najib dan skandal 1MDB, dan lebih penting lagi, kehinaan negara dicela dunia antarabangsa sebagai sebuah kleptokrasi global, hanya dengan keluar meninggalkan UMNO dan kemudian menyertai parti Pakatan Harapan?

Saya telah berada di Parlimen sejak 1969, kecuali untuk satu tempoh antara 1999-2004, tetapi saya tidak pernah merasa begitu malu menjadi Ahli Parlimen dalam sidang ketigabelas dari 2013 hingga 2018, kerana Parlimen Ketigabelas menjadi Parlimen 1MDB, dengan Speaker 1MDB.

Saya digantung dua kali selama enam bulan dalam Parlimen Ketigabelas kerana mahu menyiasat skandal 1MDB, dan pada hari-hari terakhir Parlimen Ketigabelas, saya dianggap sebagai ‘hantu’ oleh Speaker 1MDB apabila beliau memutuskan untuk tidak melihat kehadiran saya di Parlimen!

Malaysia Baharu yang ingin kita bangunkan dalam tempoh 10 ke 20 tahun lagi mestilah menjadi sebuah negara yang mempunyai toleransi sifar terhadap rasuah. Adakah Pandikar, Salleh dan Abdul Rahman mampu mencapai standard ini?

– LIM KIT SIANG

                This entry was posted on Friday, 14 December 2018, 7:44 am and is filed under
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Principle that the Chairman of PAC  be an Opposition Member should be subject to the proviso that no PAC Chairman should sit and examine government accounts for years where he or she was a government MP and  not an Opposition MP

The principle that the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament should be an Opposition Member should be subject to the proviso that no PAC Chairman should sit and examine government account for years where he or she was a government MP and not an Opposition MP.

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has asked Ronald Kiandee to resign as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman as he was appointed at the discretion of the Opposition Leader.

Zahid Hamidi is wrong. The PAC Chairman is not appointed at the discretion of the Opposition Leader, but by Parliament by way of a motion.

The Pakatan Harapan Government has accepted the convention that the Chairman of the PAC come from the Opposition, which means on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, but the final decision lies with Parliament and not with the Opposition Leader.

Zahid Hamidi should realise that he does not appoint the PAC Chairman, but he recommends to Parliament on the nominee for the PAC Chairman.

After all, the principle that the PAC Chairman comes from the Opposition is one of the parliamentary reforms introduced by the Pakatan Harapan Government, as the UMNO/Barisan Nasional which had been the Federal Government for over six decades had never accepted this principle, and never in the 13 Parliaments before May 9, 2018 had Opposition MP be allowed to chair the PAC.

Zahid should know this as he was Deputy Prime Minister of the UMNO/BN Government that was evicted from Putrajaya on May 9, 2018.

There is however a necessity to qualify this principle to ensure that no PAC Chairman should sit and examine government accounts for years where he or she was a government MP and  not an Opposition MP.

For instance, the latest set of Auditor-General’s Accounts are with regard to Federal Government Accounts for the year 2017, in other words,  belonging to the period when UMNO/BN was in government.

It would be rather invidious for an UMNO/BN MP at that time now to sit as Chairman of PAC to examine  accounts of the Federal Government for that period, as we will then have the ridiculous situation of the PAC Chairman sitting in judgment over the accounts of his own government, which the principle  that the PAC Chairman should come from the Opposition sought to avoid.

Ronald Kiandee is among the four Sabah UMNO  MPs who announced on Wednesday their quitting of UMNO.

If he joins one of the Pakatan Harapan parties, then he is obliged to resign immediately as PAC Chairman as the Pakatan Harapan has introduced the principle that the PAC Chairman must be an Opposition MP.

Until then, I think Ronald Kiandee is in the twilight zone – as he has not yet become a government MP although he has left UMNO.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, December 14, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 14 December 2018, 4:10 pm and is filed under
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Expulsion of Najib from UMNO may be the only step to save UMNO from total extinction although even this step  may be too late

If the Larut MP Hamzah Zainuddin was telling the truth, that 36 BN MPs including 33 from UMNO had only a month ago signed letters of support for the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, and that  UMNO President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi was kept completely in the dark, it portends two possibilities:

· Firstly, that as many as another 20 UMNO MPs are set on leaving UMNO, resulting in  UMNO, which at one time claimed the divine right to rule the country, to the regional  status of PAS in having less than 20 MPs; and

· Secondly, that Zahid Hamidi’s tenure as UMNO President is likely  to be the shortest in UMNO history.

The Anti-ICERD rally of PAS and UMNO in Kuala Lumpur on 8th December 2018 had acted as  a catalyst for the implosion in UMNO, losing 10 Members of Parliament after the rally.

What former UMNO Minister and Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed said on  September 18, 2018 when quitting UMNO bears remembering.

Mustapha  said UMNO had not made any efforts to rejuvenate itself.

He said to be relevant in a dynamic national political scenario today, Umno as the backbone of Barisan, cannot depend on the sole support of the Malays and Bumiputras.

He said: “
My political principle is that Umno should be inclusive, moderate and a party that takes the middle path.

“Umno must continue to fight for the rights of Bumiputras and Islam, but should never sideline the importance of other races and religions.

“I believe this is the best way in a multiracial country like Malaysia.”

Based on the latest developments, he felt  that it was getting difficult to salvage the diminishing trust deficit and Umno’s image.

He said he saw no sign that the majority of the multiracial and multireligious people in Malaysia “
will once again trust the party’s struggles”.

He said:  “
I pray that our country will remain peaceful, prosperous and internationally respected.

“May the new chapter in Malaysia create a more mature and inclusive political culture which prioritises integrity and governance.”

Former Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said  the UMNO leadership is not entirely to blame following the recent flight of lawmakers and other members from the party.

Saying he was “disappointed” with the exodus from UMNO, the former Umno president said the party was undergoing a “natural cleansing”.

Najib is shedding crocodile’s tears as he has single-handedly destroyed UMNO by his kleptocratic rule and the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal as well as the  other 1MDB-like scandals in Tabung Haji, Felda, Felcra, MARA –  making Malaysia suffer the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being condemned by the whole world as a global kleptocracy.

The expulsion of Najib from UMNO may be the only step to save UMNO from total extinction although even this step  may be too late.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 15th December 2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 December 2018, 8:15 am and is filed under
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Why no one in UMNO, whether individuals, branches or divisions, dare to raise the subject of Najib and his kleptocractic government in the current debate on the future of UMNO?

Some press have reported that I have made two contradictory statements on the exodus of UMNO MPs from UMNO yesterday – one when attending the AMANAH national conference in Ipoh in the morning and the other when launching the Malay Mail book “100 Days, 100 Pictures” in Kuala Lumpur in the evening.

These press were wrong, for I did not contradict myself in these two statements.

I pointed out in Ipoh that forty years ago on March 21, 1978, I moved a private member’s bill entitled Members of Parliament (Prevention of Defection) Act 1978 to ensure political integrity of Members of Parliament, which would require a Member of Parliament to vacate his seat within 30 days and cause a by-election to be held on his resignation or expulsion from the Party on whose ticket he was originally elected.

I told Parliament in 1978  that such legislation was  important  to ensure the political integrity of elected MPs and to prevent political corruption.

I said when introducing the private member’s bill in Parliament:

“
Nothing disgusts the Malaysian public more than to see MPs or State Assemblymen elected on one party’s ticket and then betray the Party and the people’s trust by switching parties. This makes them very little different from con-men. Such practices debase politics, and strengthen the general impression that ‘politics is dirty’, when it is the dirty people who get into politics to make politics dirty.

“The defection of MPs or State Assemblymen from parties on whose ticket they got elected is most undesirable and unethical, because they are elected not because of their personal qualities, but because of the Party they represent. Such practices also permit elected politicians to be bought and sold as if they are on the market place.

 “If an elected MP resigns or is expelled from the Party on whose ticket he was originally elected, then he should resign his seat and cause a by-election to be held. If the resignation and expulsion is over a matter of political principle which has the support of the people, then the MP or State Assemblyman concerned should have no qualms about getting re-elected.”

I still stand by the principle against defection of MPs which I enunciated in Parliament 40 years ago, that an MP who resigns or is sacked from the party on whose ticket he or she was elected should resign from Parliament and seek a new mandate from the voters in a by-election.

However, there is not only no  anti-hopping law in Malaysia, although it is available in other countries like India, Pakistan, Singapore, Bangladesh, Pakistan,  Thailand and Nigeria.

But there is an additional  constitutional hurdle in Malaysia, for in the nineties, the Constitution was amended to provide that  that if an MP resigns for whatever reason, he or she could not stand for re-election – a constitutional amendment which I had opposed in Parliament.

Until there is such an anti-hopping legislation, and the Constitution amended so that an MP who resigns his or her parliamentary seat cannot contest in any by-election or even general election for a period of five years are removed, the political leadership of any  political party should set an example of political integrity to ensure that any party defection by an elected representative  is not purely for personal or opportunistic reasons, which would raise  grave integrity issues.

This is why I suggested, which I repeated when asked by the media at the launching of the Malay Mail book in Kuala Lumpur later in the evening, that  the exodus of UMNO MPs from UMNO must not result in  the creation of the  image that the pre-eminent consideration of the UMNO MPs leaving UMNO and joining any Pakatan Harapan government was not any opportunistic self-interests, but because of the overriding national interests for a clean, democratic and just Malaysial.

This was why I suggested that the UMNO MPs who have left UMNO and not yet joined any Pakatan Harapan party should publicly atone for their support of Najib Razak and the 1MDB scandal in the past few years, and be  prepared to publicly declare their support to Pakatan Harapan  efforts to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation in integrity; and that those who had been guilty of corruption and other crimes of abuses of power must be hauled to the courts to pay for their crimes.

In the meantime, pressures have been mounting in UMNO for the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to resign on the ground that the UMNO grassroots have lost confidence in his leadership.

I am surprised that while pressures for Zahid to resign as UMNO President has mounted, no one in UMNO, whether individuals, branches or divisions, dared to raise the subject of Najib and his kleptocractic government in the current debate on the future of UMNO.

It would appear that  the pressure for Zahid to resign as UMNO President has nothing to do with any awareness in UMNO to dissociate itself and to repudiate Najib and the 1MDB scandal, as well as  to transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity,  but a mere power struggle in UMNO.

If this is the case, then UMNO could not be reformed at all.

(Media Conference Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang after launching the Impian Malaysia education programme at Kampong Simpang Arang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 15th December 2018 at 1pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 December 2018, 5:37 pm and is filed under
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Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance will study why after six decades, Orang Aslis continue to be the  forgotten community in Malaysia

The Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Chairman and myself as Deputy Chairman will study why after six decades, the Orang Aslis continue to be the forgotten community in Malaysia, denied of basic needs like proper roads, clean water, electricity, schools, educational advancement,  easy access to medical care, housing ,  decent jobs, business opportunities and protection of their customary land rights.

It is time that Orang Aslis stand up like the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans to demand that in a New Malaysia which the country has embarked upon with the historic decision of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018,  Orang Aslis in Malaysia can also enjoy justice, integrity, freedom and democracy in Malaysia.

Orang Asli communities should take the opportunity of the formation of the Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance to initiate a national discussion as to what can be done to restructure institutions and governance so that all the Orang Asli communities in the country can be absorbed into the mainstream of national development.

They should not miss the opportunity to make representations to the Parliamentary Caucus on Reform and Governance, which will finalise its modus operandi and scope of jurisdiction, which will be announced when ready.

There is now a new  Pakatran Harapan Federal  Government in Putrajaya and a new Pakatan Harapan Johore state government in Kota Iskandar.

Pakatan Harapan must prove in five years that it is better than the UMNO/BN government for all Malaysians, whether Orang Asli, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans or the voters will not re-elect Pakatan Harapan in the 15th General Election in 2023.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang after launching the Impian Malaysia education programme at Kampong Orang Asli Simpang Arang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 15th December 2018 at 12.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 December 2018, 6:04 am and is filed under
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The Opportunity provided by historic  May 9, 2018 decision must not be wasted to set the country on a new direction away from sham democracy, kakistocracy, afailed state and global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity and a Tiger Economy  which is united, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous

I believe that I am one among the overwhelming majority of Malaysians who had not expected that Malaysians are capable of making the historic decision on May 9, 2018 to make a peaceful and democratic transition of power, much as we wanted it to happen – and in my case, I have dedicated 52 years of life to  this goal.

The opportunity provided by the historic May 9, 2018 decision must not be wasted to set the  country on a new direction away from a sham democracy, kakistocracy, a failed state and a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity and a Tiger economy, which is united, democratic, just, progresive and prosperous.

This is a mission which cannot be accomplished in 100 days, two years or in one five-year general election cycle, but will engage the commitment and dedication of patritoic Malaysians for a decade or two.

At this stage, we are still feeling the reveberrations from the historic decision of May 9, 2018, viz:

· The cracking up of UMNO, which for six decades, have virtually  claimed the divine right to rule  Malaysia  – with another MP leaving UMNO, leaving the party with 43 MPs, and another five allegedly set to quit UMNO;

· The resort to the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion which culminated in the Anti-ICERD rally of 8th December 2018. There was both pros and cons – among the pros, the country moving solidly towards a democratic state where the people can speak and assembly peacefully and in accordance with the law; among the cons, the lengths the practitioners of lies, hate, fear, race and religion are capable  of going to pursue their selfish and petty political interests at the national expense.

The monstrous 1MDB scandal, which cast Malaysia to perdition by being condemned  by the world as a global kleptocracy, must be a terrible lesson for all Malaysians, that we must never again allow the nation to be pawned to anyone’s greed for power or wealth and  that the interests of all Malaysians of diverse races and religions and future generations  must always take higher priority than the interest of one man or group of persons, however exalted their position or power.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the launching of the Malay Mail book, “100 Days, 100 Pictures” in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 14th December 2018 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 December 2018, 5:56 am and is filed under
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Will UMNO have to  build a mega-stadium with the capacity to accommodate 146,000 UMNO delegates before Zahid  could be removed as UMNO President?

The past four days marked the lowest ebb in the 69-year-old history of UMNO, as with 38 MPs in Parliament with the exodus of 16 MPs, UMNO has created history in having the least number of UMNO MPs in Parliament for  six decades  since 1959.

The number of UMNO MPs elected in the previous thirteen general elections were:

1959 – 52/104

1964 – 59/104

1969 – 52/144

1974 – 62/144

1978 – 70/154

1982 – 70/154

1986 – 83/177

1990 –  71/180

1995 – 89/192

1999 – 72/193

2004 – 109/219

2008 –  79/222

2013 – 88/222

Now, from the 54/222 parliamentary seats won by UMNO in the 2018 General Election, UMNO is left with 38 MPs – i.e. from the height of  UMNO MPs comprising 56.7% of all MPs in 1964, 49.7% of all MPs in 2004 to the present 17.1 per cent of MPs in Parliament.

UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has defied increasing pressure from inside UMNO as well as pro-UMNO NGOs to step down, declaring that the only way to remove him as Umno president is through the party’s general assembly by over 146,000 delegates to fulfil the requisite  two-thirds quorum.

This raises the question whether  UMNO will  have to  build a mega-stadium with the capacity to accommodate at least 146,000 UMNO delegates before Zahid  could be removed as UMNO President.

If the former UMNO Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism and  Larut MP Hamzah Zainuddin is to be believed that 36 BN MPs including 33 from UMNO had only a month ago signed letters of support for the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, and that  Zahid had been  kept completely in the dark about it, then  as many as another 20 UMNO MPs may leave UMNO.

This may result  in  UMNO, which at one time claimed the divine right to rule the country, to be reduced to the regional  status of PAS or  even in having fewer MPs than PAS for the first time in Malaysian history – another ignominy for UMNO after playing second fiddle to PAS in the Anti-ICERD rally in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 8, 2018.

But what continues to shock all right-thinking Malaysians is that the convulsions in UMNO have nothing to do with the greatest shame and ignominy which UMNO has brought to Malaysia – Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s kleptocratic government, in particular the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and other 1MDB-like scandals in FELDA, Felcra, Tabung Haji, MARA, etc.

UMNO claims to have more than three million members. Have they all lost the moral compass as well?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 16th December 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 December 2018, 6:12 am and is filed under
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