Will Najib lead BN into GE14?

P Gunasegaram

Malaysiakini

Oct 4, 2013

QUESTION TIME
In the wee hours of yesterday as most of Malaysia slept, the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act were pushed through. This brought back the dreaded provision of detention without trial that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had rolled back when he dismantled the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance.

With that, out through the window went Najib’s self-proclaimed programme to promote civil society and get rid of legislation which curtailed human rights in order to restore the same to all Malaysians.

Najib had made this loosening up of tight legislation a part of his election campaign to try and capture some of the more liberal minded, non-bumiputera, and urban voters by at least giving the impression that the nation was moving towards greater freedom.

Along with this Najib sought to become a prime minister for all Malaysians with his 1Malaysia programmes and efforts to get the non-Malay votes by targeting them specifically in ad campaigns and through the English mainstream media.

But post the elections, the tone of changes has taken a completely different complexion. The moves have been to help bumiputeras almost exclusively and to reverse the changes towards greater liberalisation.

What happened to Najib’s programmes? Is he still in control any more? Or has he had a change of heart? Is he jumping on the hardline, completely pro-bumiputera wagon now after his somewhat half-hearted ride on the other one for a while and especially before the elections?

The election results mostly did not favour Najib. He performed worse than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2008, lost the popular vote and did not regain Selangor as widely anticipated. The saving grace was regaining Kedah and the fact that Umno got more seats than before. For Kedah, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was given credit. His son Mukhriz is now chief minister and running for a vice-president’s post in Umno.

It was widely believed that Najib would face pressure to step down, given BN’s poor showing in the general election and the loss of the popular vote to the opposition.

So when Najib was returned unopposed as Umno president ahead of the Umno polls scheduled for later this month along with his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, it raised more than some eyebrows. For good reason, too.

What happened to the expected challenge to Najib? Did all the Umno leaders and other kingmakers choose to just rally behind Najib? Or was there some other deal done?

If any deal had been done, it would most likely be one that was sort of amicable to everyone under the circumstances. This would also help avoid any wrenching challenge for the top post which may split the party apart. And if there was a deal, then it would have to be kept very quiet.

What kind of a deal would that be? The most plausible one is to maintain the status quo for now as far as the top two positions are concerned – Najib as president and Muhyiddin Yassin as deputy, which has already happened

But it would be implausible to think that Muhyiddin, who is getting on in age at 66, would not want a crack at prime minister. If Najib leads the party into the next elections, let’s say four years from now and then carries on for another four years if he wins, Muhyiddin will be 74 by then, which might be too late.

Plausible deal

The plausible deal that could have been made is for Najib to continue for now and then for him to step down ahead of the next Umno general assembly after the one scheduled for later this month. That may be three to four years down the line. Muhyiddin will take over and lead Umno and BN into the next elections, if that is the deal.

It raises the question of who will be in line for number two at that point of time. That means the intense fight for the vice-presidents’ posts which has seen six nominations will be crucial although not necessarily final.

The three incumbents are new Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (who garnered the highest votes in the last polls in 2009 with 1,575) followed by Hishammuddin Hussein (1,515)  and Mohd Shafie Apdal (1,445).

Two oldtimers have thrown their hats into the ring: Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, a former Negri Sembilan chief minister and currently chairperson of Felda Global Ventures as well as other Felda companies, and former Malacca chief minister Mohd Ali Rustam. Both have been in the past hauled up for money politics within Umno.

The sixth candidate is dark horse Mukhriz who of course has the blessing and support of his father Mahathir who is still not a spent force in Umno and exerts considerable influence through his oft-quoted and often off-colour, humorous remarks to the press. Some continue to believe that Mahathir is still a kingmaker.

Most don’t give much of a chance to the two oldtimers seeing as they have been tainted in Umno politics but there is an outside chance that Mukhriz can dislodge one of the incumbents – most bets are likely to be on Shafie Apdal – to take his position as a possible future deputy.

If the deal has been made for Muhyiddin to take over from Najib to lead Umno and BN into the next elections, then Muhyiddin can appoint any one of the vice-presidents as his deputy. Recall that Hussein Onn chose Mahathir, who scored the lowest votes among the vice presidents, as his deputy.

That does not preclude anyone else from contesting the deputy president’s post when the Umno polls are due which still leaves a number of permutations for the number two under the deal scenario.

Another dark horse that can’t be written off is Khairy Jamaluddin (left), son-in-law of Abdullah, who will be contesting for the top Umno Youth position. If he wins he becomes automatically a vice-president but going by past precedent it is not very compelling for Muhyiddin to pick him as interim number two. Still, he could contest for the number two position in the Umno polls but he may wait it out given his relatively young age.

Mahathir does not disguise his dislike for Khairy though, and Mukhriz if he wins the vice-presidency position will likely leapfrog Khairy in the succession order. Mukhriz lost to Khairy in the last polls for Umno Youth head.

If current trends of reversing Najib’s earlier policies indeed presage a departure of Najib before the next elections, then we are in for some interesting times and for some extreme jostling one to two tiers below the top.

——————————————————————————–

P GUNASEGARAM is the founding editor of KiniBiz.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 October 2013, 11:33 am and is filed under
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Let Najib’s White Paper on 2012 Auditor-General’s Report tell Malaysians what has happened to the loss of  RM1.33 million worth of police assets, including 44 firearms

After a week of intense adverse publicity, including  ludicrous pronouncements by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and the Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi  about missing guns “falling into the sea”, Malaysians are no nearer to finding out what has happened to the loss of RMRM1.55 million worth of police assets, including 44 firearms, 156 handcuffs and 29 vehicles, between 2010 and 2012 as revealed by the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report – whether and how many of such police assets have really “fallen into the sea”!

Yesterday, the Malaysian Insider in its report
“One down, 43 to go. One of my men reported his gun was stolen, says police task force director”
 quoted the Federal Special Task Force (Operations and Counter-Terrorism) director Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun as saying that one of the 44 missing guns was stolen from a policeman by a snatch thief.

Although this would account for one of the 44 missing guns, the immediate question that arises is why the policeman had taken more than a year to report that his gun was stolen by a snatch thief!

As a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary, Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa, and comprising the director-general of the Public Service, the Attorney-General as well as representatives from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Finance Ministry and the Royal Malaysian Police, has been formed to scrutinise the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, it is best that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should present a White Paper to Parliament on Oct. 21 to tell Malaysians what has happened to the loss of the RM1.33 million worth of police assets, including all the 44 “missing firearms” – based on the initial findings of this Scrutiny Committee.

Najib’s White Paper should also enlighten Malaysians on the latest updates about the many “horror tales” of corruption, wastage, abuse of power and negligence uncovered by the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, such as:

•	The imprudent establishment of the RM175 million Police Air Wing with five Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft;

•	The RM1.6 million expenditure by Youth and Sports Ministry to bring in three South Korea pop groups for the National Youth Day celebrations last year in contrast to the claim that the cost had been covered by sponsors;

•	Failure by Public Works Department to recover RM15.77 million in performance bonds despite terminating 21 government projects;

•	The building of the RM73 million Malacca Customs and Immigration Quarantine Complex (CIQ) on private land resulting in a RM10.8 million compensation to the landowner;

•	A RM303,813 travel claim by a Communications and Culture Ministry senior officer for a four-day study trip to Geneva which the auditors felt was worth only RM50,000;

•	Waste of RM199 million spent on construction of four incinerators by the National Solid Waste Management Department as there was no expertise to operate such machines once they were built;

•	Government overpayment of TM by RM11.6 million for 999 emergency line; and

•	Severe mishandling of RM2.051 billion for hiring security contractors for schools between 2010 and 2012 – from poorly prepared contracts to hiring of septuagenarians as security guards.

If Najib is unable to present a White Paper  when Parliament reconvenes on Oct. 21 on the latest updates of government actions on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, then the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister must explain to Parliament what  is the purpose and utility of establishing  the high-level Scrutiny Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report headed by the Chief Secretary.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 October 2013, 2:58 pm and is filed under
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Of running dogs, misunderstanding and proving the phrase

NEWS ANALYSIS

The Malaysian Insider

October 07, 2013

The police are looking into five reports against DAP publicity chief Tony Pua for calling the Registrar of Societies and Utusan Malaysia Umno’s running dogs.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin reportedly said they want to decide whether Pua should be investigated under criminal law or the Sedition Act.

This is where it gets farcical. Why investigate a man for calling someone else a lackey?

Do the police, Utusan Malaysia, the five groups that lodged the reports or even Umno understand what running dogs even means? It’s an English translation of the Mandarin word that refers to lackeys or lapdogs.

Maybe Bakri Zinin should go for English classes too, if he is unable to figure out what the phrase means. It is fine to accept police reports on anything but to waste time considering which law to apply here says a lot about the police.

The police top brass should be looking into tightening procedures to prevent guns and handcuffs going missing, or police cars getting stolen or lost. Rather than get themselves involved in semantics.

Calling someone a lackey isn’t a crime, or is it under the Penal Code or Sedition Act?

The persecution of someone who uses the phrase “running dogs” just shows how far we have fallen in our understanding and comprehension of the English language.

And every day, Utusan Malaysia reporters and Umno politicians give Malaysians empirical evidence on why our education system is in the doldrums and Malaysian universities are just conveyor belts churning out mediocrity.

Unless of course, one has confused being moderate with being mediocre.

The police need to act on the crime and security of the country, not on people who have a better understanding of the English language.

Or is that a crime too?

The real crime is acting with alacrity on the matter and proving how true it is for Pua to use that phrase against the authorities and the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia. – October 7, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 October 2013, 11:07 am and is filed under
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IGP Khalid should be hauled before the Chief Secretary’s  Special Committee on 2012 Auditor-General’s Report for the missing firearms and police assets instead being represented on the committee

More and more questions are being asked about the high-level Chief Secretary’s Special Committee to study and scrutinise the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report announced by the Chief Secretary Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa on Saturday.

According to Ali, who will chair the Special Committee, other members are the Public Services director-general, attorney-general as well as representatives from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Finance Ministry and the Royal Malaysian Police.

The first question is whether the Najib government is serious to ensure the highest standards of integrity and accountability in the public service and that the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report is not just a “public relations” exercise to circumvent and distract attention from the avalanche of adverse publicity following the publication of the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report!

Has the first meeting of the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report been held, and will Najib, as the  Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister be able to present a White Paper when Dewan Rakyat reconvenes on October 21 reporting on the initial actions and decisions of the Special Committee?

Secondly, why wasn’t such a high-level Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General Report set up when the Prime Minister’s Department and the Finance Ministry first received the Auditor-General’s 2012 Report in July to demonstrate the seriousness of  the Najib Administration on the Government Transformation Plan (GTP), especially as government integrity and accountability are  important planks in the GTP which has entered into its fourth year?

Thirdly, what is the actual status of the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report? Will it be a permanent feature at least of the Najib premiership overseeing future reports of the Auditor-General on the Federal government accounts? Will it be submitting regular reports to Parliament?

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chmairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed has questioned the setting up of the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, on the ground firstly, that it will duplicate the role of the PAC and secondly, Malaysians would not have confidence in the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee as it comprised government officials.

There is considerable merit in Nur Jazlan’s arguments as many Malaysians are wondering why the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is represented on the Special Committee when he should be hauled before the Chief Secretary’s Special Committee on the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report to give full and satisfactory accounting over the loss of  RM1.33 million worth of police assets, including 44 firearms, between 2010 and 2012!

This has become even more pertinent with the denial by the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang in The Malaysian Insider today that the police had explained to the Audit Department what happened to the 44 missing guns and other police assets.

Ambrin refuted reports quoting the Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi that the Ministry had submitted a report to the Auditor-General on the missing police items but this explanation was not included in the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report.

For this reason, the Inspector-General of Police should be hauled before the Special Committee to give a full and satisfactory explanation for the RM1.33 million worth of police assets which included 44 firearms, 29 vehicles, 156 handcuffs,  26 walkie-talkies, 22 radios and other equipment especially after his earlier dismissive and ludicrous response that the missing guns could have “fallen into the sea”!

It is rather disturbing that  there are no signs that the PAC proposes to haul up the IGP to account for the loss of the RM1.33 million worth of police assets, particularly 44 firearms, 156 handcuffs and 29 vehicles.

It was reported by Malaysiakini on the day the 2012 Auditor-General Reports were tabled in Parliament on Oct. 1 that the PAC had its first meeting and that it had identified four ministries to be investigated after its initial study of the AG’s 2012 Reports – affecting Inland Revenue Board, Kota Kinabalu Airport, construction of incinerators and the Fire and Rescue Department.

Conspicuously absent from the immediate menu of PAC investigations is the loss of RM1.33 million worth of police assets – which is completely against public expectations which would want this item to top the PAC’s priority list of investigations.

This is one important reason why there is very little public confidence in the PAC to check corruption, waste, negligence and abuse of power as revealed by the annual Auditor-General Reports, causing  MPs and the general public to regard the PAC as quite ineffective and toothless under its present structure, constitution and composition.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 October 2013, 4:22 pm and is filed under
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What Utusan doesn’t know about DAP

Liew Chin Tong

DAP MP for Kluang

The Malaysian Insider

October 08, 2013

Falsehoods and pseudo-logic are being fed to Utusan Malaysia readers and the TV3 audience just to prevent the Malays from truly understanding the DAP. Here are some of the things that Umno, Utusan and TV3 ought to know about DAP.

First, is Umno’s electoral system superior to DAP’s?

It is comical to see Utusan and TV3’s recent tirade against DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng for not winning the top spot in the re-election of its central executive committee and why I, being the candidate who received the highest number of votes, should be handed the secretary-general’s post immediately.

Underlying this is the notion that DAP’s party electoral system is faulty and undemocratic. Systems that are dissimilar to Umno’s are not necessarily faulty. Each type of electoral system comes with its own reasoning which requires deeper analysis.

Umno has a system that ostensibly allows for election of key office bearers. On paper it looks democratic. But only on two occasions have Umno presidents had to face a challenger: in 1978 Tun Hussein Onn had to fend off Sulaiman Palestine and in 1987 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad survived a challenge by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah by a mere 43 votes.

Malaysian history would have been very different had Tengku Razaleigh won the Umno election. Or had Umno made it much easier to contest against the president, some of Umno best leaders would have taken turns to serve as Malaysia’s prime ministers. Tun Musa Hitam, Tengku Razaleigh and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim are the prime ministers we never had, in part because Umno’s electoral system is biased towards incumbent presidents.

In the end, Umno presidents could only be removed through party coups. Indeed, Dr Mahathir had a hand in undermining the premierships of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Abdullah Badawi. Tun Razak died prematurely in office. Next we wait to see Dr Mahathir’s knife being pointed at Datuk Seri Najib Razak, especially if Mukhriz Mahathir fails to win his vice-president’s post.

Since the formation of DAP in 1966, all top leaders have to go through election once every three years. Delegates elect 20 members to form the central committee, which in turn elects among its members the office bearers. The 20 elected leaders further appoint another 10 persons to join the central committee.

In all the years that Lim Kit Siang was secretary-general, he never topped the list of votes. It was only in 2008 and 2012, when he was no longer secretary-general, that he received the most number of votes.

Secretary-generals have to run the party and make decisions. Not every decision pleases every single member. Which is why there is a saying among DAP leaders that whoever appointed to chair the Disciplinary Committee – the unit that is supposed to crack the whip, including proposing to sack members – would expect a decline in votes.

The DAP is organised along the idea of collective leadership. The secretary-general does not acquire a presidential aura, but is just the “first among equals” of leaders elected at the same election. The chairman chairs meetings and watches over the secretary-general and other office bearers who execute the decisions of the central committee. The chairman is not the president.

Second, has Umno ever elected a non-Malay to its supreme council?

Of course this is just a rhetorical question, a reminder that non-Malays are barred from joining Umno.

Umno and its surrogates have  accused the DAP of not electing Malay members into the CEC, except for Zairil Khir Johari. In their mind, it’s always the skin colour.

No political party operates from a vacuum. The DAP had to contend with an image problem among the Malays, in part thanks to years of poisoning by Umno and Utusan Malaysia, making it difficult for mass participation of Malays in DAP. Nonetheless, DAP members can still take pride in a party that strives to be “the most Malaysian party” in terms of leadership and candidatures.

Only Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP can claim to have all the key ethnic and geographical groups represented in the party structure and as well as among elected reps at the national level.

Diversity is DAP’s strength. DAP has more Indian elected representatives than the Indian-only party, MIC. In this election, DAP won in some seats that have more than 50% ethnic Malay voters as well as seeing three ethnic Malay reps being elected, namely Dato’ Ariff Sabri, Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji and Zairil Khir Johari.

Geographically, DAP is the first party to have branches in all states of Malaysia. Last May’s general election also saw a Kadazan, Dr Edwin Bosi, being elected as state assemblyman in Sabah.

Admittedly, making diversity its creed and practising it is not an easy task, especially when the likes of Utusan and TV3 kept fanning racial sentiments and insecurity. But diversity is in our “article of faith”.

Third, does Umno provide enough opportunities for young people to be in the party leadership?

I suspect there is something that Umno members are quietly amazed by DAP and felt let down by their own party and leaders: that the DAP has youth power.

40% of the 20 DAP elected CEC members were born after 1970. Chong Chieng Jen (MP for Bandar Kuching), Nga Kor Ming (Taiping), Tony Pua (Petaling Jaya Utara), Gobind Singh (Puchong), Loke Siew Fook (Seremban) and myself were born after 1970 while Teo Nie Ching (Kulai) and Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) were born after 1980.

DAP has a strong pioneer generation cohort that are the moral pillars of the party; for instance, Karpal Singh and Lim Kit Siang evoke deep emotions. The middle-age generation leaders have at least 20 years of experience of electoral politics under their belt.

Lim Guan Eng, Chow Kon Yeow, Teresa Kok, Teng Chang Khim, Chong Eng and Ngeh Koo Ham as well as Dr Boo Cheng Hau have vast experience both in opposition and in state governments while Tan Kok Wai and M. Kula Segaran and Fong Kui Lun are the resilient veteran leaders.

Whereas people of my age in Umno are still competing at youth level (its leader Khairy Jamaluddin is a year my senior) and some friends in MCA Youth leadership already have children about to reach voting age!

Instead, DAP’s young are given the opportunities to learn on the job in the central committee’s executive positions, such as National Organising Secretary, National Publicity Secretary, National Political Education Director, Head of Legal Bureau and International Secretary.

By the next general election, there will be a strong and experienced third generation born after 1970, many of whom would have been elected for at least two terms in the federal parliament.

The young are able to rise in the ranks of the party and form a formidable cohort in part because the electoral system is relatively collegial.

These are the things about DAP that Umno and its surrogates fail to grasp. – October 8, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 October 2013, 12:15 pm and is filed under
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Why Umno leaders are singing such a vile tune these days

NEWS ANALYSIS

The Malaysian Insider

October 08, 2013

If Malaysians are offended by the vile garbage being spewed by the likes of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and other Umno politicians auditioning for the Umno party polls on October 19, there is more distressing news.

A recent poll of 600 Umno party members and their supporters by the respected Merdeka Center has revealed a disturbing picture of a party contented with itself and angry with just about everyone else.

A clutch of questions was asked to gauge the current perception about the ruling party by its own cadres.

In response, just under three-quarters of them said Umno should not give in too much to demands by non-Malays.

Nine out of 10 believed Umno should focus its energy on building up more support among Malays for the next general election.

And here is a real shocker. After all that has been written about the decrepit state of the party, the paucity of leaders with integrity and the hubris which resides in every pore of the party, only 17% of party members and supporters felt that the public was disgusted with Umno because its leaders had strayed from the original goals.

They basically think Umno is in good shape and only needs some tweaking here and there. And that tweaking is focused on generating more support from the Malays.

Two-thirds, or 67%, did not think that Umno is focusing too much on the Malay agenda. Only 16% felt that winning over non-Malays is Umno’s biggest challenge, believing that the priority should be getting older leaders to make way for younger ones and increasing support of Malays for the party.

In GE13, Umno/Barisan Nasional snagged 61.6% of the Malays, thanks primarily to the strategem of creating fear among Malays with the bogey that non-Malays are aiming to wrest political control of the country.

Since the general election, Umno politicians have unleashed two streams of rhetoric: that Malay voters should be rewarded for returning BN to power and that opposition supporters must be punished.

Every candidate for the Umno elections has tried to play the race card, knowing well that there is a ready and receptive audience among party delegates for the blame rhetoric.

It is much easier for the party – from the top to rank-and-file – to blame ungrateful Chinese or belligerent Christians for their dismal electoral performance than to focus on the real reasons for losing more parliamentary seats and the popular vote, compared to 2008.

Against this backdrop, it is much easier for Ali Rustam to spout racist garbage today and blame everyone but himself for his defeat in the general election.
Just listen to him.

“The Chinese want everything. We have treated them well. The Malays have been good to them… when the Chinese want help, request to build schools, scholarships, the government gave it to them. But when election time came, they forgot all this.

“All that is important is that they take over the Malays and turn them into pendatang,” he told a gathering of 100 people at an event by Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad yesterday.

Naturally, the crowd responded in a manner only Umno can, by asking the Chinese to go home.

He should be charged with sedition but that will not happen because the police are no longer honest brokers in Malaysia. Don’t even expect him to be reprimanded by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the champion of moderates everywhere but in his own country.

He and others in Umno feel that since the next general election is five years down the road, they can say anything and trample on non-Malays and play every race and religious card in their playbook. They don’t care if your sensitivities are offended or if you think they are stupid, corrupt and lazy.

They have the floor and they can say anything they want. So what if some Malaysians are offended? So what if Chinese or Indians or Kadazandusuns are angry?

In the minds of Najib, Zahid and gang, they cannot be punished for any transgression. That is why Zahid can say the most damning things and just ignore the uproar. He can defend a criminal organisation like Tiga Line, support a shoot-to-kill policy and even condone the killing of Indian gangsters as some kind of racial payback and not care one bit about a downside.

Why? Because there is no downside in Umno for any politician who stokes the fire of racism, who speaks the language of an uncouth thug. None whatsoever. He is merely preaching to the choir. – October 8, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 October 2013, 12:05 pm and is filed under
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Winds of discontent over Borneo

– Murray Hunter

The Malaysian Insider/Asia Sentinel

October 08, 2013

Since Malaysia’s general election last May, Umno has been attempting to redefine its electoral base to include Bumiputera or native groups across the country, most of them in East Malaysia in Sabah and Sarawak, and not just ethnic Malays.

Malays and Muslim Bumiputera today account for 59.7% of the population, with non-Muslim Bumiputeras comprising another 7.6%. That is expected to rise to 67.9% by the next election. Umno strategists believe that if the party can successfully capture this constituency, it would garner enough votes for the party to continue governing Malaysia into the foreseeable future, simply continuing to disregard the votes of Chinese and Indian voters on the Malaysian peninsula, who turned soundly against the Barisan Nasional, or national ruling coalition in the May election.

A recent statement by Sabah Mulfti Bungsu @Aziz Jaafar calling for the government to classify all Muslim indigenous people as “Malays” seems to support this view. This has attracted criticism from some local components of the ruling state Barisan Nasional coalition, as it ignores the differing histories and elements of cultural identities of peoples of the peninsula and Borneo, and creates many complications around native land ownership because of provisions in state constitutions.

However, this strategy faces problems, with rising discontent in Sabah and Sarawak becoming more and more public. On the eve of a conference organized by the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh personally entered the debate through the local media, saying all Sabah leaders are responsible for the current situation.

This led to a public reply by the State Reform Party Chairman, Jeffrey Kitingan, saying that Harris himself should be blamed for what he sees as Sabah’s downtrodden and subservient position vis-a-vis the Malaysian federal capital of Putra Jaya, now effectively Malaysia’s  12th state.

More than 300 people turned up last weekend at a foundation-organized International Forum on “Malaysia 50 years on: Expectation vs Reality” in Kota Kinabalu to discuss and debate many of the issues related to the relationship between Sabah and Putrajaya.

At the center was a litany of grievances including the Malayanization of the civil service; the former Sabah-owned island of Labuan, which was taken over in 1984 and made a federal territory; Project IC. the alleged systematic granting of citizenship to illegal immigrants, most of them Muslim Malays from Indonesia; illegal immigrants; border security; the oil agreement, which gives the federal government a healthy proportion of East Malaysia’s crude profits; freedom of religion, and native land rights. All were highlighted as reasons why urgent change is needed in the relationship between Sabah/Sarawak and the federal government.

Sabah and Sarawak didn’t enter Malaysia as passive states, according to the conclusions at the forum, but rather were equal parties along with Malaya and Singapore, forming the new entity of Malaysia in 1963. Consequently, Sabah and Sarawak should be equal rather than subservient partners within the Federation of Malaysia. The relegation of Sabah and Sarawak to being mere states within the Federation in 1974 is regarded as effective colonization. Consequently according to Jeffrey Kitingan, Malaysia Day on September 16 is a day of shame rather than celebration for Sabah.

Kitingan told an emotional audience that it is now time to re-evaluate the  Putrajaya relationship to bring back the original intentions and assurances given in the original Malaysia agreement which combined North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore with the existing Federation of Malaya to form the modern country. If one travels around Sabah and Sarawak talking to people, it quickly becomes apparent that many of the sentiments highlighted in the forum are of broad concern to people of all walks of life.

In much more subdued Sarawak, where open discourse is much more low-key, similar sentiments also exist, even within high ranks of the civil service. Although the older generation is loyal to the leaders, younger voters are much more widely exposed to the outside world as they have left longhouses to work in cities and they use social media heavily. They are coming home during festivals and sharing new ideas and values with the older inhabitants.  Together with the dissemination of information from Radio Free Sarawak, this is beginning to have an impact on rural areas. In addition there have been major changes in electoral demographics in the urban areas of Sarawak in the last two elections.

However within Sarawak, many of the up and coming civil servants and politicians themselves are seeing these changes and are aware of the issues behind them. They are looking at remedies and discussing strategies for transformation within the current regime. If this goes to plan, the current government will for a long time remain the dominant force in Sarawak politics no matter what the opposition does.

However there is still discontent with Putrajaya over administration and policy issues in regards to Sarawak’s governance. On July 22 the Sarawak government organized a re-enactment of Liberation Day where the state received independence from Britain, a very symbolic gesture to indicate Sarawak’s sovereignty.

However in Sabah, the state is governed primarily by Umno, the same party that dominates the federal coalition. Some see this as a compromise to Sabah’s interests and ability to express its own aspirations. Although many members of the government and civil service grow tiresome with some of the attitudes of the Putra Jaya administration, they just tend to grin and bear it. This complacency has also been blamed for the erosion of Sabah’s rights.

So the vanguard of discontent is led by the evergreen ‘old guard’ of Sabah’s politics and public life, who include people like Simon Sipaun, Lim Heng Seng, and Yong Teck Lee, once a chief minister of Sabah, accompanied by a group of influential businesspeople including the flamboyant Paul Voon, under the guise of the Borneo Heritage Foundation and other NGOs.

The problem seems to be that there is no dialogue going on and this is leading to greater frustration among those who want a ‘new deal’ for Sabah and Sarawak. Rather than any engagement, anonymous sources within the government indicate that if the current talk continues then stern action may be taken.  Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn has already stated that his ministry will render all assistance possible to the Home Ministry to identify anti-Kuala Lumpur groups in Sabah who are advocating succession. In addition, investigations are underway in an attempt to associate Jeffrey Kitingan with the Lahad Datu incident that occurred earlier this year in which the Sultan of Sulu sent armed Filipinos to invade the state.

Although some quarters have called for succession, the large majority would be very happy for some recognition of the problem by Putra Jaya. Any further escalation of discussion on this matter could be used as a trigger for the government to move in and stifle discontent, as has been done before.

This issue is putting the very fabric of the Malaysia project under stress, where the old adage “a stitch in time may save nine” may be the course of action. – Asia Sentinel, October 8, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 October 2013, 11:56 pm and is filed under
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Call on all Malaysians to reaffirm the Malaysian Dream which is not anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Dayak but pro-all Malaysians

The UMNO party elections campaign have rocked the country with intolerant, incendiary, racist and even seditious pronouncements by contending UMNO candidates which run afoul of what former Deputy Prime Minister and one-time Deputy UMNO President, Tun Musa Hitam had cautioned UMNO candidates against in a recent interview where he said:

“… often times, to show one’s Malayness they become anti-other groups or accuse others of being anti-Malays. Only then they become heroes. This cannot be.”

Two UMNO politicians who had blatantly and irresponsibly  played the race card utterly reckless of the damage they do to 56 years of nation-building in the country are Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in their campaign for the UMNO vice presidency on Oct. 19.

In a bout of Chinese-bashing, Ali Rustam blamed the Chinese voters for his defeat in the Malay-majority Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in Malacca, oblivious of the fact that he would not have lost in the May general elections if he had not also lost the support of the Malay voters in his constituency.

Is Ali Rustam going to blame the Chinese again if he loses in the UMNO Vice Presidential elections next Saturday?

Zahid’s racist, incendiary and seditious rantings are more serious as it compromised his high office as  Home Minister.

If the Inspector-General of Police has transgressed the law, the Home Minister with the support of the Prime Minister could initiate proceedings against the No. 1 policeman in the country, which had been done when Tun Dr. Mahathir initiated action, proven to be unconstitutional and a gross abuse of power, when he removed the No. 1 man in the judiciary in 1988 – Tun Salleh Abas, the Lord President.

But if the sitting Home Minister has committed a crime, what can the Inspector-General of Police, as the top police officer to uphold law and order in the country, do if there is no support from the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General?

This is a question many Malaysians are asking after Zahid’s controversial speech that the police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals at the “security briefing ceremony with community leaders” in Malacca last Saturday.

Ali and Zahid are so far the worst examples of what Musa had warned UMNO candidates against, that they should not try to become Malay “heroes” by showing “one’s Malayness they become anti-other groups or accuse others of being anti-Malays”.

This is also a  total repudiation and negation of the 1Malaysia signature policy advocated by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak but who has fallen silent on the policy in the past five months since the 13th general elections.

While the country, in fact the world, awaits the response and stand of the Prime Minister to the intolerant, incendiary, racist and seditious pronouncements of UMNO leaders and even his Home Minister, whether he is prepared to dissociate himself from such blatant flouting of the law of the land, ordinary Malaysians must reaffirm their support for a Malaysian Dream, which is not anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Dayak but pro-all Malaysians.

It is most deplorable that in the five months after the last general elections, instead of national reconciliation efforts for Malaysians to unite behind  a common Malaysian Dream, racist lies and falsehoods were escalated to cause greater racial and religious polarization in the country – from lies about my contesting in Gelang Patah to cause a confrontation between the Chinese and Malays before the general elections to the equally dastardly lie after the May 5 general election results that

the DAP “wants the Chinese who already dominate the economy to dominate Malaysia’s politics as well”.

This fitted both the Umno and MCA agendas – the former to allow UMNO leaders to play the race card by creating the false sense that the Malays are under siege while the latter to permit MCA leaders to claim that Malaysia is facing a two-race confrontation instead of a two-coalition system to ensure justice, freedom and fair play for all Malaysians.

Before, during and after the 13th General Elections on May 5, DAP had advocated a Malaysian Dream, which I spelt out on April 8 as envisioning “a plural society where all her citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences” with “undivided loyalty to the country…to develop the greatness of the country deriving from the best from the diverse races, religions and cultures so that Malaysia can become one of the leading nations of the world in all fields of human endeavour”.

At a period when some Umno politicians are irresponsibly playing the race card, it is all the more urgent that Malaysians should reject  such  extremist, intolerant, racist and religious appeals and instead,  reaffirm their commitment to the Malaysian Dream, which is not anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Dayak but pro-all Malaysians to build a nation which all Malaysians can feel proud and stand tall in the world.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 October 2013, 2:21 pm and is filed under
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Umno Leaders and Their Racist Hatespeak

By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo! News

9th Oct 2013

No run-up to any Umno party elections has been so notoriously marked with racist fervour as the current one. At least two of the contenders for senior positions have revealed their true colours by openly bashing non-Malays. In any sensibly-governed country with sensible laws, they would both have been arrested for provoking racial tension. But Malaysia is increasingly becoming the country where Umno is king, and anyone who is not Malay doesn’t count for much.

This is why someone no less than the home minister can say with impunity that because more than half of identified gang members in the country are Indians, and most of the victims “are our Malays”, the police are justified, if they have the evidence, in shooting to kill gang members before asking questions.

This statement from Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in front of presumably a predominantly Malay audience in Melaka last Saturday is not only racist; it is also something that in a civilised, sensibly-governed country with the right sensibilities would have resulted in his being sacked, without hesitation, as home minister.

His statement totally disregards human rights and natural justice. It encourages the police to take lives instead of bringing people to justice. It is telling the police to be judge and executioner all at once. How could it have come from a minister of the government?

This is not what we teach our children. But now that a minister has said it, it will have a negative impact on the young. How can we let Ahmad Zahid get away with it? This is not only conduct unbecoming; it is conduct unforgivable.

Lately, Ahmad Zahid has been behaving like a gangster himself – in the way he told Malaysians who were not happy with the country’s political system that they should leave; in the way he promoted detention without trial for criminals and pushed for the amendments to the Crime Prevention Act (CPA); in the way he refused to answer a question from Malaysiakini reporter Lawrence Yong last week over how the police lost 44 loaded firearms as revealed by the Auditor-General’s report; in the way he threatened journalists at the Saturday event in Melaka that if they were to report what he said, he would close down their newspapers.

These were his words: “…this is a closed-door meeting; this is only for Umno delegates. If any news about what I say appears in the newspapers, be it in Malay, English or Chinese or Tamil, I will shut down that newspaper. Do not write, I say do not publish, do not put on Facebook, do not anything. I know what to do. You are dealing with Zahid Hamidi, okay?”

That last bit, “You are dealing with Zahid Hamidi, okay?”, is particularly arrogant. So too is the claim that he can shut down any newspaper just because they publish what he said. In the past, the home minister could have done that and his action could not be questioned. But now, after the recent amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), the action can be challenged in court. Obviously, Ahmad Zahid is getting out of control.

Besides, as far as that Melaka event is concerned, it was reportedly a government function with the Government’s stamp being clearly visible on the logos in the backdrop. But he himself termed it as being “only for Umno delegates”, which must therefore mean that the organisers of the event were misusing government funds and machinery for something related to the party. This would constitute abuse of power.

Ahmad Zahid, who is hankering to be re-elected Umno vice-president, may have had no hand in organising the event, but he would have been aware of the abuse of power. Participating in it makes him an accessory to the fact.

How can he continue to be a minister?

The other Umno leader who exhibited racist fervour was Ali Rustam, another candidate for vice-president. Obviously to attract votes, he chose as his target the Chinese community, one of Umno’s favourite bogeys.

Last Monday, he told a gathering of Malay entrepreneurs that at the last general election (GE13), he was voted out by the Chinese. He was repeating an allegation he had made before. He was repeating it although it has since been pointed out by many quarters that the Chinese alone could not have determined the voting outcome of GE13.

This is what we call a sore loser. Will he be one as well if he loses at the Umno polls?

He also attacked the Chinese by alleging that they were involved in all the “illegal businesses” in the country. “We can’t have casinos, 4-D, Toto, gambling, lottery, massage parlours, Ah Long. These are all illegal. And the Chinese are the ones dabbling in them,” he said.

He must be ignorant or deliberately lying. The casino in Genting, 4-D, Toto, the Big Sweep lottery and even massage parlours are not illegal set-ups. They are approved by the Government. The people who own them pay huge taxes; they contribute a lot to government revenue. Why else would the Government legalise them? And yet Ali Rustam says we can’t have them?

Was he attacking the Chinese on this point because Malay entrepreneurs are not involved in these businesses? Well, to be fair, they could be, but would they want to be? And if they would not because it’s considered haram, why attack the Chinese for it, or anyone else?

In the same speech, he called the Penang chief minister, Lim Guan Eng, a racist. Well, for what he’s saying, isn’t he one too?

And why did he say that if the Opposition were to take over the country, “the Malays will be living along the Gombak River”? He expects people to believe this speculative rubbish? Gombak River! It sounds too laughable!

Worse, he said, “The Chinese want everything. … When the Chinese want help, request to build schools, scholarships, the Government gave it to them. But when election time came, they forgot all this. All that’s important is that they take over the Malays and turn them into ‘pendatang’.”

This is a blatant lie. The Chinese do not want to take over the Malays or the country. They couldn’t even if they wanted to. They don’t have the numbers. Just think: Would a Chinese-led party be able to take over the government? Could it win a simple majority of 112 seats in Parliament? Where would the votes come from? Well, maybe if Communist China, which our government has lately become so friendly with, were to colonise Malaysia, the impossible could become possible. But not then.

It’s appalling that this dangerous talk is coming from someone who has just been sworn in as a senator. A former chief minister, to boot.

And it’s frightening that what he has implanted in the minds of his audience – some of whom responded by yelling for the Chinese to “go home” – could last at least a couple of generations. If Umno leaders like him continue to spout such hateful sentiments, there can be no hope for racial harmony in this country for a long, long time.

And of course, Ali Rustam and Ahmad Zahid are not likely to be the only Umno leaders doing this sort of disgraceful and despicable thing; there must be many more, including those in the lower echelons of the party, who poison the minds of their followers with hatespeak.

The tragic thing is, Prime Minister Najib Razak is complicit with them – just by not doing anything about it. And of course he dares not do anything because he fears for his own position. If he should do the sensible thing of hauling them up – which, according to the rule of law, would entail no less than throwing the Sedition Act at them (think how greatly ironic it would be for the home minister to be charged with sedition!) – or even just ticking them off, he would risk being castigated by his own party and probably be challenged for the party presidency at the next party polls.

All this simply reinforces the danger of race-based politics, which in this enlightened age of the Internet, globalisation and the 21st century should cease to exist. And yet we still have it here in our beloved country, and the entity called Umno looms large over the lives of the entire populace, threatening the harmony among its various races.

And yet it continues to be supported – to the extent that at GE13, Umno won nine seats more than in 2008. It is precisely because of this little triumph – plus the poor performance of its Barisan Nasional (BN) partners at GE13 – that Umno considers itself the king of the kampung that can now throw its weight around without regard for the non-Malays, thus prompting its leaders to assume a take-it-or-leave attitude. They think they can say or do anything and not be held accountable for it.

In a way, they should be pitied. For if we were to look at what they are willing to throw away their sense of right and wrong, their sense of humanity for – a senior party position, a potential ticket for higher positions in government – it seems too high a price to pay. What they are seeking is not even a tiny part of the world.

They might do well to heed what is written in Mark 8:36 of the King James version of the Bible: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Or are they too concerned about profit to care about soul?

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book The Elections Bullshit, now available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 October 2013, 10:28 pm and is filed under
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Despicable meme

COMMENTARY

The Malaysian Insider

October 10, 2013

This is what’s…

• Despicable about Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his ilk:
 They believe that the day after the Umno polls on October 19 they can wrap up their divisive talk and everything will be normal again in Malaysia.

It won’t.

These past weeks of cutting words and right wing rhetoric has set back race relations years, maybe even decades. The fighting words from Zahid and Datuk Seri Ali Rustam – one pitching Indians as criminals and Malays as victims and the other pigeonholing Chinese as power crazy – have reminded non-Malays that behind the cash handouts and 1,000-kilowatt smiles, an enemy looms.

A true test of a leader is his consistency and what he utters under pressure. Will he play to the gallery to score points? Will he sacrifice race relations to get voted into office? Will he speak with a forked tongue to win?

The trouble with the Umno politician today is that he stands for everything that is rotten about the state of the country. He is corrupt; he is a plunderer; he is vindictive; he has no understanding of the rule of law.

And he actually believes that hurt from a quiver full of verbal arrows fired at non-Malays can be forgotten.

• Untrue about what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today about worsening race relations in Malaysia being a threat to the foundation of this country.
 The former prime minister is declaring the cause of friction to be non-Malays not wanting to share wealth with Malays. That is a fairytale.

What is objectionable to many non-Malays is that the Bumiputera enrichment programme rolled out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is nothing more than an elite enrichment programme, aimed primarily at keeping the crony capitalists and Umno warlords fed and contented.

The poor factory worker, the humble clerk, the school teacher are still going to be struggling to make ends meet while the Umno man is going to be flush with cash. Here is a prediction: the sales of Bentleys and apartments in London are going to be up soon. All the government affirmative programmes have benefited the Malay elite more than any other group in this country.

So, Dr Mahathir, save your half-baked analysis on what ails Malaysia for the coming Umno assembly. The culture of easy money and entitlement nurtured and promoted during the Mahathir years is today in full bloom. Take a bow for a job well done.

• Going to happen after the Umno election. Nothing.

Before the general election on May 5, the talk among diplomats and foreign investors was that Najib was waiting for his mandate from the Malaysian people to hit the ground running.

His aides and supporters promised that he would yank off the cloak of lethargy and lead the transformation of the country. Months later, this new version of the PM is still nowhere to be seen. He is more comfortable making pronouncements thousands of miles away from Kuala Lumpur, and is still in love with branding more than substance.

Now the word going around is that he will show his true colours after the party polls on October 19. Apparently, fortified with the mandate to lead Umno, he will set a centrist tone for his party and country with little fear for the right-wing bloc among the Malays.

Privately, he may well want to recalibrate Umno and Malaysia. But he does not have a reservoir of sane individuals in the party that he can tap on for this assignment.

Nor will he be prepared to scrap and fight with the likes of Ibrahim Ali and Dr Mahathir. So what you will get after the Umno polls is more of the same.

This is what’s… going to happen, sadly true, and despicable. – October 10, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 October 2013, 7:09 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s got talent, but they’re being driven away, mostly to Singapore – world economic report

The Malaysian Insider

October 10, 2013

The huge presence of foreign workers in Malaysia has led to static wages, according to the WEF report. – The Malaysian Insider pic, 10 October, 2013.The huge presence of foreign workers in Malaysia has led to static wages, according to the WEF report. – The Malaysian Insider pic, 10 October, 2013.Affirmative action policies and an overreliance on cheap foreign labour have led to Malaysia’s best and brightest leaving to find greener pastures, particularly in Singapore, according to a new report released by the World Economic Forum.

The Geneva-based body’s Human Capital Index evaluates such things as quality of healthcare, infrastructure and education, in order to gauge a country’s ability to develop a skilled workforce.

Its 2013 report ranks Malaysia at the 22nd spot in a list of 122 countries. Topping the list is Switzerland, followed by Finland, Singapore, the Netherlands and Sweden. Asean countries in the list include Thailand which is placed at number 44, Indonesia (53) and the Philippines (66).

The report notes that Putrajaya’s affirmative action policies as well as cheap migrant labour have kept Malaysia from achieving a skilled workforce to compete with its smaller and richer neighbour, Singapore.

The presence of foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia and Bangladesh, has left business owners with little incentive to increase wages or upgrade operations to boost productivity, according to the report.

Recruitment consulting firm Kelly Services has revealed recently that 20% of Malaysia’s highly educated population now opted to leave the country for richer economies, frustrated by the lack of opportunities at home. Many have settled in neighbouring Singapore. The exodus of local talent means that Malaysia faces a shortage of skilled professionals, including bankers, researchers and engineers.

Economists say Malaysia’s economic potential has been stifled by affirmative action policies which favour Bumiputeras. Critics say the policies, introduced in the 1970s to eliminate poverty and close wealth gap between Malays and other communities, have only enriched a handful of individuals close to the ruling coalition.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has vowed to dismantle the policies, promising economic reforms under the New Economic Model. But his recent announcement of the RM20 billion Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Programme has riled up critics who said he was backtracking on his pledge.

WEF founder Klaus Schwab, in launching the latest report, said developing of skills and talent is the key for a country’s future.

Kelly Services has on the other hand revealed that 60% of foreign immigrants in Malaysia only had primary school education or less. Malaysian universities have recently slipped in global rankings. None of them made it in the top 400 universities in the 2013-14 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. – October 10, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 October 2013, 2:36 pm and is filed under
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What is the PM, Cabinet and  IGP’s stand on Zahid’s policy of police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals

Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar cannot continue to  remain silent on the Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s policy of police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals.

Zahid gave automatic backing to the IGP when Khalid made the ludicrous excuse  that the 44 missing police firearms could have “fallen into the sea”  when the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report revealed RM1.33 million worth of missing police assets which had included 29 vehicles, 156 handcuffs, 26-walkie-talkies and 22 radios.

Is Khalid going to give similar backing to the Home Minister that police is now operating on a policy of “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals?

Whichever the position, Malaysians are entitled to know from the Inspector-General of Police whether the police had adopted a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in line with Zahid’s announcement last Saturday, and if so, when this new SOP had taken effect.

The Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry established by former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah submitted 125 recommendations in 2005 to create an efficient, accountable, trustworthy, incorruptible, professional and world-class police force with three core police functions, viz: to reduce crime, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights.

Where is there a world-class police force which carries out the three core police functions but operates on a policy of  police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals?

It is a sad commentary of the present state of affairs that all the three core functions highlighted by the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry eight years ago had not been achieved.

It is not only the Prime Minister who should speak up whether his government countenances and condones a policy of police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals, the Cabinet tomorrow should take a stand on the issue.

In fact, the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council should hold an emergency meeting to declare its stand on Zahid’s policy of police “shoot first” when dealing with suspected criminals.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 October 2013, 12:27 pm and is filed under
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You should be in a home, minister

Eric Loo

Malaysiakini

Oct 9, 2013

When I was a reporter in the late 70s, the home minister known to lecture journalists at press conferences on what to write was ‘King Ghaz’. But Muhammad Ghazali Shafie had our respect. He had style and substance.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has none.

The home minister’s verbal abuse of a Malaysiakini reporter however, had a plus.  It provided a teaching aid to show students that the irrational antics of political morons during press conferences is fodder for great stories.

I commend the reporter for his tenacity despite the minister’s mindless heckling,and maligning of Malaysiakini for ‘spinning’ his words. ‘Spinning’ actually means to twist a report to one’s advantage, which readers know applies well to the mainstream media’s slanted coverageof the 13th general election while demonising the opposition.

Which reminded me of a media ethics workshop I conducted where a Malaysian journalist related how she was sent to cover a pre-matriculation preparatory workshop in an opposition-governed state.

“My editor said the government had been in a pretty bad light lately,” she said. “The ‘bigger’ boss was making noise. We had to report the ‘good things’ the government was doing for the community.”

Now, that’s spinning. What the alternative news sites do – and doing rather well – is contrary to ‘spinning’. They’re reporting what the mainstream media are not.

Ministers who act like feudal lords, manhandle reporters and evade questions by acting stupid should be condemned in the harshest words. The maturity of our parliamentary democracy is reflected in the conduct and intelligence of our MPs. The professionalism of our media is reflected in the manner that journalists represent the people, hone in to the issues, clarify the contexts and persist in getting a truthful answer from politicians, the people’s servants.

Missing police firearms and assets unaccounted for begs so many questions raised by readers in social media sites, which Zahid had blatantly brushed off. Sadly, the other journalists, in muted giggles, failed to join ranks with the Malaysiakini reporter. They failed to stand up for their rights to ask the hard questions, and defend their profession. They should be ashamed of themselves.

The fact that Zahid was completely oblivious that his antics were being recorded, that it would find its way to YouTube, confirms his vile imbecility, total incompetence and scant regard for journalists.

Rakyat won’t care about what they don’t know

Online journalism technologyshould embolden Malaysian journalists to push the boundaries of critical reportage. The rakyat rely on you to represent their concerns, to sieve the issues, to examine the implications of policies, to confront government ministers and to unravel the truth. The rakyat won’t care about what they don’t know. Hence, ‘citizen journalists’ and bloggers are attempting to fill the information gaps left open by the servile mainstream media.

To young reporters working their way up the career ladder, I say do not be disheartened when your editor changes your story to toe the government line. Let the censor not be you. Persist and ask the hard questions your readers would ask. Write the story as you see fit. You decide the angle. You choose your sources. Just be fair, accurate and truthful. If your editors change and ‘spin’ your story, let not your byline be used. At least your integrity’s intact.

I remember an interview I did with an investigative journalist from the Philippines, Glenda Gloria, of Newsbreak Magazine in 2006 (extracted from my book, Best Practices of Journalism in Asia, pp.81-96 and currently managing editor of Rappler.com, a social media news network. Here’s something to ponder on what it means to be a journalist with conviction:

Eric Loo: From 1996-2005, the Committee to Protect Journalists notes that 26 journalists have been killed, making the Philippines the third deadliest country for journalists today, after Iraq and Colombia. In your investigation into public corruption in high places, to what extent are you exposing yourself to intimidation or attacks?  How do you take on this ‘occupational hazard’?

Glenda Gloria:
 On Aug 2 last year (2005), my mother and sister (who live in our family home; I live nearby) received a funeral wreath that the delivery man said was meant for me. The funeral wreath carried a ribbon that said, ‘Condolence from your loving friends’. It was my first death threat as a journalist.

This happened after I wrote a story about the military’s alleged involvement in the alleged wiretapping of President Arroyo and an election official in the 2004 presidential elections. It also came as I was supervising future stories related to election cheating. I realised then that what we’ve done and intend to do in Newsbreak have really angered some people. I felt vulnerable, and I started to worry for my family.

I wished that it was I, not my mother and sister, who received the wreath. That they were the ones who got it made it much more difficult to deal with. It does come with the territory. But that’s easier said than done.

When you get a threat like that, you get scared. You ask questions: am I overdoing it? Is this worth it? Is this the kind of media environment I deserve? But after a while, you just get over it. You take the necessary precautions, you lie low for some weeks, then you go back to work again.

Journalism is the only work I know. I love my work and it loves me, too. It has given me tremendous blessings and opportunities not just for personal growth,but for serving my community in my own little ways. I don’t know of a job better than this. So if what comes with it are these threats, I would have to live with them.

What traits do you think one should inculcate to become an ‘award winning’ journalist, as you have?

First, that you should never be conscious of getting an award for a story. You do a story, you expose wrongdoing because it’s worth doing and not because you’re going to get praised for it.

Second, you have to have a healthy dose of scepticism on one hand, and optimism on the other. Corrupt practices get exposed largely because there are good citizens willing to expose it. Even as you stumble upon wrongdoing, never forget the inherent goodness of people in government and society in general.

Third, you have to be willing to work hard and take risks. Fourth, you have to have a healthy dose of humility to make you say at some point – I got it wrong, I need to verify this, I don’t know all.

ERIC LOO left Malaysia for Australia in 1986 to work as a journalist. He currently lectures at University of Wollongong, Australia, and serves on the advisory committee of UPI Next, a journalism education and training platform run by United Press International. He edits a refereed journal Asia Pacific Media Educator and conducts journalism training workshops in Asia. Email:
[email protected]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 October 2013, 12:04 am and is filed under
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PAC’s first job is to submit an immediate report to Parliament to amend Standing Orders so that PAC can hold public hearings into its examination of 2012 Auditor-General’s Report as is now the practice in most legislatures in the world

The Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek wants live television coverage of his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to prove himself right and the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang wrong over the expenses of  the K-Pop concert last year.

Shabery had challenged the  2012 Auditor-General’s Report that the K-Pop concert, which was part of the mammoth 2012 Hari Belia celebrations,  had cost the government RM1.6 million, claiming that the auditor-general was “culas” (not diligent) in the audit and did not take into account the RM20 million in sponsorship raised.

Strangely, the current Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also said the government paid for the concert, but was forced to do so because sponsorship pledges fell through.

Shabery should be given the opportunity of live telecast of his testimony before the PAC on the Auditor-General’s 2012 Report on the government expenditure of RM1.6 million for the K-Pop concert, when the Ministry had claimed right from the beginning that the cost of bringing in the three K-Pop groups – U-Kiss, Teen-Topo and Dal*shabet – was borne through sponsorship.

Let Shabery respond to the Auditor-General’s 2012 Report on the Youth Ministry when he was the Minister, including the Auditor-General’s reprimand of  “excessive” and “imprudent” spending, amounting to RM3 million on this and eight other prorammes to mark the 2012 Hari Belia.

A total of RM1.11 million was spent on promotion and publicity for the event, which the auditor-general described as too high.

Other expenses similarly classified were:

*Two separate payments of RM50,000 to 50 bloggers for promotion and publicity.

*Three bloggers paid a total of RM7,500 as daily allowance for five days’ coverage of the event.

*Spending on ‘non-prudent’ items such as RM33,500 for a promotional dinner at a Petaling Jaya hotel and RM42,466 for hi-tea and to lodge journalists at Hotel Marriot in Putrajaya.

*Another RM48,300 spent on a ‘working visit’ to Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara in Jitra, Kedah, and then to Songkhla, Phuket and Krabi in Thailand. The trip involved 21 personnel from the National Youth Day secretariat as well as senior ministry officers.

Shabery’s appearance before the PAC will be a good precedent for all other Ministers to appear before the PAC to explain the waste, negligence, malpractices,  abuses of power and corruption causing grave and unacceptable losses of public funds in their Ministries under their watch, for if the former Youth and Sports Minister can appear before the PAC, there is no reason why other Ministers, whether Education, Home, Works, Tourism, Transport, Health, Rural and Regional Development, Agriculture, Defence, Finance or even the Prime Minister cannot appear before the PAC on grounds of accountability, transparency and integrity under the Government Transformation Plan.

However, under the present Standing Orders, the PAC cannot hold public hearings – another example where the Malaysian Parliament has lagged behind legislatures all over the world in parliamentary reforms as the majority of Parliaments, including the House of Commons, have now progressed to public hearings for the PAC to allow for greater accountability and transparency.

PAC’s first job is to submit an immediate report to Parliament when it reconvenes on Oct 21 to amend the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders so that PAC can hold public hearings into its examination of 2012 Auditor-General’s Report as is now the practice in most legislatures in the world.

The 89 Members of Parliament from Pakatan Rakyat are prepared to give support to allow the PAC to immediately conduct public hearings.

Are the Barisan Nasional MPs prepared to co-operate with the PR MPs to give effect to the parliamentary reform to allow the PAC to hold public hearings to allow both members of the public as well as the media to be present at its meetings?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 October 2013, 4:41 pm and is filed under
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Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission

– P Ramakrishnan

The Malaysian Insider

October 12, 2013

Yes, the Election Courts are worse than the Election Commission (EC)! The recent disappointing decisions of the Election Courts have proved that there is no hope for parliamentary democracy even in the judiciary.

If the Barisan Nasional (BN) is a great let-down for democracy, the Election Commission is an even greater let-down for the electoral process. But shockingly, the Election Courts comparatively are far worse in that they cannot dispense justice to the aggrieved party even if there was a glaring injustice.

It is clear as daylight that the BN abused the electoral process by openly bribing voters through its many projects launched especially during the period leading up to the GE13 (including the campaign period itself) by dishing out goodies and cash inducements to win over the voters. Billions of ringgit in cash or projects was dispensed freely giving an unfair disadvantage to the Opposition who were cash-strapped.

Electoral process perverted

Voters were given bonus slips with the promise of cash payments if their respective BN candidates were elected. In this manner, those aligned with the BN perverted the electoral process. And there was evidence that this was so because the Aliran team has evidence to prove that this happened. On 10-12 May, people who had queued up for payments at a shop lot off Jalan Sungai Dua in Penang told Aliran that cash was given out to those who came with the bonus slips. Payments ranged from RM120 to RM200. What was surprising was that this took place barely 100 metres from a police beat station. Conveniently, the police personnel were out on their ‘ronda’ at that time!

By all accounts, this was the dirtiest election ever. State apparatus was fully utilised to promote the BN cause. Money from the national coffers was lavishly used to influence voting patterns in favour of the BN.

The Election Commission, tasked with the duty to conduct free and fair elections, did not live up to that responsibility. It failed to maintain a clean and honest electoral roll to ensure fairness in the voting process. The indelible ink that was meant to be used to prevent fraudulent voting turned out to be a farce and a fiasco, thanks to the EC.

The EC never commented on the one-sided media coverage or the twisted lies and false propaganda trotted out by the electronic media. It maintained its incredible silence over the BN’s excessive expenditure, sumptuous feasts with free-flowing beer, and cash hand-outs.

The election corruption was so rampant that it was not possible to overlook or entirely ignore this electoral offence. It is a fact that that this kind of inducement must have swung votes in favour of the BN, especially in rural and remote constituencies where poverty-stricken residents gratefully cast their votes for the BN.

It is because of these many wrongs that the losing Pakatan Rakyat candidates and supporters filed petitions in the specially set up Election Courts seeking the courts’ assistance for justice. In an environment where everything is stacked against the ordinary citizens, courts are looked upon as dispensers of justice, the only hope for some remedy.

However, this hope was so cruelly dashed.

These litigants went to court fully believing that there were triable issues involved for the courts to take a serious look into the matter. But their petitions were dismissed – by what the lay person may perceive to be on flimsy procedural grounds.

Petitions dismissed on technical grounds

They were dismissed because they had failed to comply with several regulations in accordance with Rule 9 of the Election Petition Rules 1954 and for failing to satisfy regulation 15 of the Election Petition Rules 1954. In one instance, it was quoted that the petitioner had failed to serve the documents personally.

Justice is not served when the petitions are dismissed on technical grounds. It is preposterous that a litigant’s right to justice should be dismissed because of the failings of his or her counsel. The lawyer concerned ought to know how to file a petition but if for some reason that petition is defective, why deprive the litigant from having the case heard?

Is it too difficult – isn’t it in the inherent power of the court? – to order the petition to be put right so that the substantive issues in the petition could be addressed by the court? Justice is not hinged on technicalities but on the question of right and wrong.

Forfeiting the litigant’s right to be heard is a grave injustice. In doing so, isn’t the court perpetuating a wrong and upholding an injustice? This is morally repulsive!

It is incredulous that the petitions for Machang and Selising constituencies were struck off apparently on grounds that could not be sustained. It is patently wrong to observe that the petitions were not personally served on the respondents by the petitioner himself. It is without merit.

Any judge before elevation to the bench must have been a practicing lawyer. Surely, the judge must know that the filing of the case and the serving of documents to the respondents are entirely the responsibility of the lawyer’s firm – not that of the petitioner.

In such a case where justice has to be done to the litigant, the High Court should use its discretion by referring the matter to the Federal Court. This would allow real justice to be done to the petitioner and would be fair to the public.

Apart from this, the Election Courts have also awarded exorbitant costs to the respondents. The costs awarded ranged from RM30,000 to RM200,000! Many litigants who went to court in good faith would find these awards rather excessive.

Genuine concerns for free and fair elections

Ordinary voters who go to court out of a genuine concern for free and fair elections are not rich individuals. They are not in a position to fork out this kind of money for acting in the interest of society at large. In any case why award costs to the returning officer and the Election Commission?

Election corruption and fraudulent voting are serious issues that undermine free and fair elections. This must be addressed soberly; sincerely and honestly so that such abuses can be curbed. For this, senior judges from the bench should be specially appointed to hear these petitions so that they can differentiate the chaff from the grain.

So far, the Election Court rulings have left many frustrated and disillusioned with the courts.

Let us be reminded by this observation that can only come through wisdom:

“The good judge will always endeavour to maintain that justice in his court must not only be done but must be seen to be done. The judge can be as impartial or unbiased as can be but if any party, especially the losing party, should leave his court with the impression that the trial was one-sided then justice has failed.” (Justice C H Chan, ‘Judging the judges’).

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 October 2013, 10:38 am and is filed under
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Najib’s silence on Zahid signals trouble

 – Jay Jay Denis

The Malay Mail Online

October 12, 2013

OCT 12 — “If we get evidence, we shoot them first,” Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted as saying. Reporters were then threatened that if any of what he said was reported, their news portals might be shut down. This is a Member of Parliament put in charge of one of the most key ministries in the country.

What will happen after this? I think you know. There is no need for elaboration.

The Home Affairs Minister has “crossed the line” many a time but has he been held accountable? I don’t recall him being investigated for his statements at all.

To say that “we shoot them first” is preposterous. And that coming from a minister!

Many countries try to observe the rule of law, putting it above everything else so that it acts (via the judicial system), as a check and balance for any society. Ahmad Zahid has undermined the rule of law.

He has undermined the judiciary too. Allowing the police to bypass the courts and act as disciplinarians to society shows that we might be at a crossroad here, where the legal system is not given the chance to do its duty.

Even for Ahmad Zahid’s self-proclaimed law, the now infamous Prevention of Crime Act, the minister said that “even if there is not enough evidence, we can detain them for two years”. He wants free rein to act according to his whim and fancy.

Now more fuel has been added to this ever-growing fire, when he proudly claimed that it was not standard procedure for warning shots to be fired. The Standard Operating Procedure observed by our police force is vague as not many are aware of it. However, there certainly has to be a set of procedures, or rules of engagement, which they are bound to follow, and not be gung-ho when apprehending criminals.

As agents of the law, that is their duty: apprehend criminals and not take them out. I thought we all believed in the notion that one is “innocent until proven guilty”.

The cherry on Ahmad Zahid’s cake is when he nonchalantly challenged to be sued for sedition. His utterances are irrefutably seditious in nature, by even segregating races as a means of getting support for the party elections, which is blowing a lot of steam but losing substance.

All of these do not bode well for his Premier. Prime Minister Najib has not been seen to refute or be dissimilar to Ahmad Zahid’s newfound brashness. Some may opine that silence does not signal agreement but the majority of the public think otherwise, that he indeed has given the “green light” for his Home Minister to carry on doing what he has.

Not a word has been uttered in regard to his 1 Malaysia rhetoric.

The Prime Minister speaks of transformation, and maybe it is. Powers that be are allowed to act on their accord and not be subjected to ministerial responsibility. We have gone up a notch or two after GE13, with the race card at the forefront of Umno’s agenda.

Silence is golden, as the adage goes, but ignorance can be detrimental. The Prime Minister is trying hard to regain the confidence of the people.

He can start immediately, right here, right now. Get tough on the Home Minister, and he should rightfully be dismissed. This has to be a benchmark that more of this sort of unacceptable behaviour will not go unopposed.

Najib should act now, but I know he will not. Or maybe the only way that change can come is from the ordinary people. They might be able to do something extraordinary. The clock is ticking. Hope Najib clicks into gear.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 October 2013, 7:04 pm and is filed under
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In Khairy, Shahrizat twin victories, analysts see a more powerful Najib

By Ida Lim

The Malaysian Insider

October 13, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The return of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “allies” Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil back into their posts as Umno Youth and Wanita chiefs last night will cement the prime minister’s own position in the Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin, analysts have said.

According to analysts, Najib, who has himself returned unopposed as Umno president recently, now has his feet planted firmly on the ground, and has been given the green light to proceed with his transformation plans with the same team of soldiers.

Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, a political analyst from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), pointed out that both Khairy and Shahrizat already support Najib’s national policy of transformation.

“If they win, I think they will strengthen Najib’s position in Umno,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday shortly before the duo’s twin victories, after noting their appointments to positions within the Najib administration this year.

When results streamed in at 3.30am this morning, both incumbents Shahrizat and Khairy were confirmed victors with the former scoring a near-landslide victory with 100 votes from the 191 divisions, and the latter not far behind with 97 votes.

After the May 5 federal polls, Khairy was appointed a minister in Najib’s Cabinet, while Shahrizat was appointed a special adviser to the prime minister on women affairs.

Najib, who is also Umno president, had just retained his party president seat last month when no contenders stepped forward to challenge him.

Dr Faisal Hazis, an academic from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), said the Khairy and Shahrizat’s victories “would definitely consolidate Najib’s faction in the party since both of them are aligned to him”.

Prof Dr James Chin from Monash University’s Malaysian campus said that the status quo would benefit Najib.

“If both win, then Najib wins. Najib wants no change in order to cement his power,” he wrote in an email reply to The Malay Mail Online, saying that the duo’s defeat would have been equivalent to a victory for the faction belonging to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and indicated “big trouble ahead for Najib”.

When commenting on Khairy’s victory, Chin viewed it as the party grassroots’ rejection of a “racist” stand.

“KJ’s win (is) a good omen for Malaysian politics — it shows that the silent majority in UMNO Youth rejects the racist approach of the Mahathir faction,” he said, referring to Khairy by his initials.

“It also shows that UMNO youth understands that the future of Malaysia lies with a multi-racial Malaysia,” he added.

But Chin had a less positive view of Shahrizat’s victory, pointing to the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal that involved a RM250 million federal loan.

“Shahrizat’s win means (Umno) Wanita does not care about public perception of corruption relating to NFC- full stop. It does not care what the public thinks. (Umno) Wanita only cares about (Umno) Wanita,” he claimed.

While noting that Khairy had been able to go beyond race-based politics during his first term as Umno Youth chief, Faisal said his victory “is not because the party is ready for his new brand of politics but because there is no strong challenger”.

“With the new voting system, it would be difficult for challengers especially new faces to unseat incumbents,” he said of Khairy’s win, saying that Shahrizat’s victory was similarly due to the uphill task faced by her challengers in overcoming the incumbent.

Despite the five-corner contest faced by Khairy, Azizuddin said Khairy did not face a “tough fight” to retain his post as the four other challengers were relatively unknown.

Khairy’s position as the incumbent and the newly-minted Youth and Sports Minister also contributed to his win, Azizuddin said.

“The good thing about Khairy is he is moderate and he came out with political brand of progressive. It’s something different coming out from Umno.”

Azizuddin said Khairy’s win was a signal that Umno Youth is “moving towards moderation”, adding that it will transform the party.

“People want Umno to change, to be more progressive, more moderate, not too extreme,” he said.

Azizuddin also attributed Shahrizat’s win to her incumbency, saying that her strength in Umno Wanita coupled with high support from the party grassroots had landed her the win.

“Shahrizat as incumbent has advantage even though she has NFC issue surrounding her,” he said.

But Azizuddin disagreed that Khairy and Shahrizat’s win indicated a lack of strong and capable leaders to take their place, saying that the contests for other posts such as the vice-presidency and the exco for the party wings showed potential able leaders

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 October 2013, 8:16 am and is filed under
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In Umno, incumbency rules, not reforms

The Malaysian Inside

October 13, 2013

Three things we learned from this weekend’s Umno polls.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s influence in the party on the wane.

Yes, he is still the most recognisable name in Malaysian politics and a segment of Umno members yearn for a return to the days when he owned Putrajaya but there is a limit to what Dr Mahathir Mohamad can do these days.

We got a peek into his waning influence in the run-up to the general elections on May 5 when he could not alter the outcome in many places where he campaigned furiously. Remember Gelang Patah. Remember Shah Alam. Remember Pasir Mas. Remember Lumut.

For many younger voters, he was like a voice from another generation. For many non-Malays, he was the leader of the right-wing brigade and a reminder of all the excesses of the Mahathir era.

Still, there was the expectation that within Umno circles, what Dr Mahathir and his supporters say would have significant influence during the party polls.

Not so, it appears. In the run-up to the Umno Youth and Wanita Umno polls yesterday, bloggers and politicians aligned to the former prime minister made clear that they did not support Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil for the Wanita Umno position because her family’s involvement in the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal had tainted her and made her unsuitable for high office.

In Khairy Jamaluddin case, a whole bunch of issues made him unsuitable, chief among them the fact that he is the son-in-law of Mahathir’s nemesis, Tun Abdullah Badawi, and that he more than anyone else was instrumental in convincing Abdullah to dismantle the mega projects of the Mahathir era.

The onslaught against Shahrizat and Khairy failed and both incumbents were returned with yawning margins of victory. Helping Khairy was the fact that none of his challengers were brand names. In fact, they were largely anonymous outside their immediate circle of family and friends.

Helping both Khairy and Shahrizat was the behind the scenes campaigning by all the senior Umno politicians who wanted the status quo. This powerful lobby included Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Umno’s value system versus what Malaysia wants.

In the eyes of most Malaysians, Shahrizat (pic) should be retired.

Even Umno veterans are stunned that Prime Minister Najib appointed her as a special advisor on women’s affairs with the status of a minister, concerned that it will send a signal to the Malaysian public that Putrajaya felt that the NFC fiasco was much ado about nothing.

Congratulations, Najib. You know your party delegates better than most.

They have no concern about scandal, leakages and the standing of an Umno leader among Malaysians. What they care is whether the person they vote into office will be able to look after their welfare and daily needs; whether the person they vote for has the resources and network to make life more comfortable.

Reform? Change? Transparency? Morality? Integrity? Are you kidding? These words do not exist in the lexicon of the Umno person.

Influence of Umno bloggers overstated.

Early in the Abdullah administration, those who felt sidelined and cast aside by the avuncular politician took a leaf out of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters’ book and put forward their case in cyberspace.

They set up blogs and kept up a barrage of attacks to influence the Umno ground and the electorate to reject Abdullah. Even Dr Mahathir began to blog, complaining that the mainstream media was blocking his views.

The pro-Mahathir bloggers worked with other bloggers who thought they could end Abdullah’s rule and, by extension, that of Barisan Nasional for Pakatan Rakyat to capture Putrajaya.

It worked to the extent that Abdullah’s historic 91% control of parliament in 2004 ended with him losing the two-thirds super majority in 2008, ushering in Najib whose aides have assiduously worked with the bloggers to ensure his image remains intact.

Chuffed with their success, the pro-Mahathir bloggers then turned their sights on Khairy and Shahrizat in the Umno polls but to no effect. All the publicity for their opponents came to naught yesterday. Their champions lost.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (left) with Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and newly-elected Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin at the PWTC, yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, October 13, 2013.Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (left) with Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and newly-elected Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin at the PWTC, yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, October 13, 2013.The point is that incumbency has its advantages. Both Khairy and Shahrizat have built their base and pitched it directly to the delegates with their own social media rather than bloggers, some of whom are not even in Umno.

And this is something that Najib should take on board, instead of being afraid of the bloggers. He should take them on, on issues that matter, and go to the ground for people’s support rather than bask in the praise of a few bloggers. – October 13, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 October 2013, 1:54 pm and is filed under
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