Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Illegal Media Campaign
- How the BN Has Debased Commissions of Inquiry
- The Dirtiest GE
- PR - Form a Shadow Cabinet Please.
- MyOverseasVote clarifies Federal Constitution for Najib
- End of the rope for Najib
- It’s About Time
| Posted: 02 Aug 2011 02:42 PM PDT
Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Sarawak Mesti Menjelaskan Perlantikan Syarikat Britain untuk menjalankan Kempen Media Haram Sarawak Report telah mendedahkan bahawa Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Sarawak telah melantik sebuah firma penerbitan TV dan komunikasi strategik Britain, FBC Media untuk menjalankan kempen media secara haram bagi mempromosikan dasar-dasar mereka. Blog tersebut mendedahkan bahawa FBC Media dibayar sebanyak RM15 juta setahun oleh Kerajaan Sarawak. Ini berikutan pendedahan YB Saifuddin Nasution, Setiausaha Agung KEADILAN di Parlimen bahawa Kerajaan Persekutuan menerusi Pejabat Perdana Menteri telah membayar sebanyak RM57.68 juta kepada FBC Media antara tahun 2008 dan 2009 sementara RM42 muta lagi dibayar untuk "Public Affairs and Government Services and Strategic Communication, Public Relations and Press Outreach" mengikut bajet tambahan terkini. Dokumen-dokumen Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat turut mendedahkan bahawa FBC Media membayar APCO sebanyak AS$70,000 sepanjang dua tahun lepas untuk melobi Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat bagi pihak Kerajaan Malaysia. Peranan bercanggah FBC Media sebagai penerbit TV dan firma komunikasi strategic menimbulkan persoalan memandangkan mereka menerima bayaran daripada Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Sarawak untuk menerbitkan program TV yang berat sebelah dan ditayangkan syarikat penyiaran antarabangsa seperti CNBC, CNN dan BBC. Kerajaan Persekutuan dan Sarawak juga mesti menjelaskan mengapa mereka telah memilih taktik terdesak membelanjakan jutaan ringgit wang pembayar cukai untuk terbabit di dalam kempen media secara haram. NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD Communications Director Parti Keadilan Rakyat Laporan Sarawak Report boleh diakses di sini: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2011/08/taib-paid-out-5-million-to-attack-sarawak-report-international-expose/
Federal and Sarawak Government Must Come Clean on Hiring of British Company to engage in Illegal Media Campaign Sarawak Report has revealed that the Federal and Sarawak governments has engaged a British based TV production and strategic communications firm, FBC Media to engage in an illegal media campaign to promote their policies. The blog reveals that FBC Media is being paid RM15 million a year by the Sarawak Government. This follows the revelation by YB Saifuddin Nasution, the Secretary General of KEADILAN in Parliament that the Federal Government through the Prime Minister's Office paid RM57.68 million to FBC Media in 2008 and 2009 while a further RM42 million was paid for "Public Affairs and Government Services and Strategic Communication, Public Relations and Press Outreach" according to the latest supplementary budget. United States' government documents also reveal that FBC Media paid APCO US$70,000 over the past two years to lobby the US Government on behalf of the Malaysian Government. Questions should be raised on FBC Media's conflicting role as a TV producer and strategic communications firm, as the latter involves receiving payments from the Federal and Sarawak governments for the former to produce sympathetic and biased TV programs that are placed in international broadcasters such as CNBC, CNN and BBC. Furthermore, the Federal and Sarawak governments must come clean on why it has resorted to such desperate tactics by spending millions of ringgit of taxpayers' money to engage in an illegal media campaign. NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD Communications Director Parti Keadilan Rakyat
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| How the BN Has Debased Commissions of Inquiry Posted: 02 Aug 2011 02:38 PM PDT By Dr Kua Kia Soong, Director of SUARAM The presumptuous conclusion by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) committed suicide even though the experts had not concluded so should be an occasion for Malaysians to ponder the debasement of Commissions of Inquiries set up by the BN / Alliance government all these years. 1. No Public Consultation over Composition of the RCI During the recent phone hacking scandal by the News of the World in Britain, the Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to immediately set up a commission of inquiry. He did this first of all by consulting the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband and they then discussed the composition of the commission. The moment the scandal had been exposed by The Guardian, the expectations of the people regarding the composition of the commission were widely discussed in the British media. David Cameron could not ignore this or the commission of inquiry would have been denounced at the outset. Thus, the first condition for the composition of any RCI must be BROAD PUBLIC CONSULTATION. The BN has time and again ignored this requirement whenever it appoints commissions in this country and this includes SUHAKAM commissioners as well as other commissions. To ensure the composition of RCIs is credible, certain procedures must be in place to ensure the commissioners' INDEPENDENCE, IMPARTIALITY and COMPETENCE. These conditions can only hold if the government consults the Parliamentary Opposition and respected members of civil society. Membership of the RCI must include representation by appropriate groups to ensure plurality and fairness. The RCI could be headed by a judge but the members do not necessarily have to be entirely made up of judges. The Teoh Beng Hock RCI was a rushed job by the BN government due to public pressure and only after dragging its feet for so long after Beng Hock's death. Competence would include expertise in human rights and humanitarian law. On this point, former High Court and Court of Appeal judge Datuk N. H. Chan has commented that the Teoh Beng Hock commission had no business forming such an opinion as none of the experts it called upon gave the opinion that Teoh committed suicide. He pointed out that this went against Section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950, which states that when a court has formed an opinion on a point of science, the opinions of experts are relevant facts. "Without any relevant fact, that is to say, without an opinion from an expert, a court is unable to form an opinion upon... the scientific point that Teoh Beng Hock took his own life. In this case, none of the experts gave the opinion that Teoh took his own life," (The Malaysian Insider, 1 Aug 2011) 2. Ignoring Recommendations by RCIs The BN (including its predecessor Alliance) government has also debased RCIs by ignoring their salient recommendations. This is an affront to the people and a total waste of public funds. The Athi Nayappan RCI on Local Government had recommended the reintroduction of elected local government during the sixties but the BN government has chosen to ignore this important recommendation to restore Malaysian democracy to what it was at Independence. What sort of transformation is the Najib talking about when we have regressed compared to our democratic institutions at Independence? The RCI on the Police in 2005 had a most important recommendation which has direct bearing on Teoh Beng Hock's death, namely, the setting up of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Committee (IPCMC). Up until today, the BN government has been dragging its feet on this. Independent Police Complaints Committee Now, if the IPCMC had existed prior to TBH's death, it could have stepped in and investigated his death from the moment his body was found. The MACC and the police would have been obliged to step aside for the IPCMC to complete its full investigation and bring the culprits to justice. The longer the BN government puts off the establishment of the IPCMC, the more it must be responsible for other deaths and torture under the police or enforcement agencies' custody. The British IPCMC covers not only the police but also enforcement agencies including the customs and Inland Revenue. And as we know too well, torture under detention without trial continues under BN rule and that is all the more reason for an IPCMC. The government must also ratify the Convention against Torture. This will ensure international scrutiny to stop torture inMalaysia. 3. Justice for Teoh Beng Hock While we dispute the conclusion by the RCI that TBH committed suicide, it is very clear from the report that the MACC officers had harassed him to a point that was unacceptable. Therefore, the government must bear responsibility for allowing such a culture to pertain in its enforcement agency, the MACC. Consequently, the government must compensate adequately the family of Teoh Beng Hock for the loss of someone so dear to them. This does not detract from the fact that the culprits responsible for TBH's death have still to be brought to justice.
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| Posted: 02 Aug 2011 02:34 PM PDT  By Tony Pua The rumours have been swirling intensely for the past few months that the Barisan Nasional (BN) is registering foreign workers and permanent residents as voters for the coming general election. Various parties have given eye-witness accounts of vans from the National Registration Departments (NRD) heading to remote areas to conduct discreet registration exercises. In May 2011, PKR Ampang Member of Parliament, Zubaidah Kamaruddin had also surfaced a letter allegedly written by UMNO Hulu Selangor to the Home Minister to grant citizenship to a list of 2,000 foreign workers with the pretext that they will vote for BN in the upcoming elections. However, it was the reports in Malaysiakini yesterday providing hard-evidence that foreign permanent residents have been granted voting rights in Malaysia. What was perhaps more shocking was that within a matter of 4 hours, the status of the dubious new voters were immediately changed from permanent residents to citizens of this country in the NRD database. Essentially, these foreigners first secured their permanent residency, then became a voter and subsequently granted their citizenship. The above cases prove beyond doubt that there is an unholy conspiracy between BN, the Election Commission as well as the NRD to cheat their way to victory in the next general election. Alarm bells are raised over the integrity of our national security systems because of the flagrant abuse of the process and the ease at which our citizen data get manipulated. They also prove that the biometric system proposed by the Election Commission to "prevent phantom voters" is a complete non-starter. If even our NRD system can be tampered with so blatantly, there is no credible assurance that the government can provide that the biometric system proposal worth hundreds of millions of ringgit will be clean, transparent and secure. The action of the above parties follows the Prime Minister's rallying cry in Selangor in May 2011 for BN to "win at all costs". While the results of 2008 took BN by surprise, they are now leaving nothing to chance and would use all tricks in the book to maintain their strangle hold on power as well as to recapture the states lost to Pakatan Rakyat. It is also not the first that BN has awarded of citizenship to foreigners in a massive scale. They have previously done the same in Sabah with the covert "Project IC" which is also known as "Project M" where "M" denotes Mahathir. The project has cemented UMNO's stranglehold on power and reduced the political power of the Kadazan, Dusun and Murut communities in Sabah. The outcome today in Sabah was a population explosion where naturalised "foreigners" outnumber locals in the state. BN will use its control over the media and security apparatus to intimidate Malaysians to vote BN as seen most recently during the Bersih rally, and money will not be an object to buy votes as shown in the Sarawak state elections. And if intimidation and the buying of votes do not assure them of success, BN would blatantly cheat its way to victory. Malaysians who are united in seeking free and fair elections will need to work doubly hard to negate the electoral malpractices committed by BN. And Malaysians seeking to achieve change in the next general election will have to work triply hard to convince those who are still in doubt over the need for change to overcome the uneven playing field in favour of BN. Tony Pua |
| PR - Form a Shadow Cabinet Please. Posted: 02 Aug 2011 01:21 PM PDT
By batsman There comes a time when old excuses cannot be accepted anymore. The situation has changed. We are now faced with an impending almighty battle for the hearts and minds and ultimately the votes of Malaysians. The PR shadow cabinet must be formed yesterday. When the barbarian tribes faced the legions of Rome, they often outnumbered Roman soldiers 2 to 1. Unfortunately, these tribes were alliances of small tribes headed by their own chieftains. The outcome of the battles were never much in doubt. The Roman army was disciplined and led by a professional general. It is only when the tribes are headed by someone as charismatic and tough as Hannibal that the Romans meet their match. Worse still, at the time of the worst crisis, the Romans made the mistake of dividing their army into 2 and headed by 2 pro-Consuls. They never made the same mistake again. If the PR is serious about forming the next government of Malaysia, they must give their troops united strength. The troops must not waver and look towards their own chieftains in times of confusion and indecision. The objective of forming the next government of Malaysia must overcome all sectarian loyalties. The rakyat is always ahead of the political parties. The rakyat took the political parties by surprise in the tsunami of 2008. They took the political parties by surprise in the Bersih 2.0 rally. But in all of this, the rakyat are essentially unorganized. The political parties step into the breech to fill this gap, but they also brought along their own heavy baggage. This heavy baggage is usually in the form of sectarian self-interest hiding a whole mass of individual self-interest. The leaders may either be selfless or selfish. Only selfless leaders can win the trust and respect of the rakyat. Along the line, the supporters, party members and activists also have their own heavy baggage to carry. This is also usually in the form of self-interest. In the coming decisive battle of the 13th GE, all these heavy baggage must be left behind. There is no room for self-interest. When we say that RCIs must be independent, it means that the judges must not have any interest in the outcome of the RCI. This means self-interest must not get in the way of a fair and honest result. Similarly when we say that the civil must be politically independent, it means the civil service must not have any interest in the outcomes of elections. This means that the people with the least self-interest should be listened to the most. Party leaders, party members and party supporters all have their own interests to weigh them down. The people with the least self interest should actually form the prime drivers in the impending electoral battles. The people with the least self-interest must be able to point the way ahead. Political parties as the organizers of the unorganized people must listen closely to the people with the least self-interest. With this in mind, when self-interest is cast aside, it makes huge sense to form the shadow cabinet as a matter of urgent priority. Sectarian loyalties and self-interests have to be cast aside for the impending battle. Saying that the PR cannot afford it is no longer an acceptable excuse. With self-interest cast aside, forming a shadow cabinet will not cost a single sen. It does not have to be a full cabinet even. The shadow cabinet must be in a position to take over the reins of government immediately the election results are known. It must be in a position to neutralize any dirty tricks the moment they surface. It must be able to throw off its virtual shadow existence, materialise and hit the ground running. For those politicians who like to make predictions about the outcome of the 13th GE, this is the what they must organize to back up their predictions, not just leave their predictions as a balloon of stinky foul hot air. If they really believe their own predictions, they must back it up by forming the shadow cabinet NOW! |
| MyOverseasVote clarifies Federal Constitution for Najib Posted: 02 Aug 2011 01:26 AM PDT
Article 119 of the Federal Constitution currently provides that every Malaysian citizen has the right to vote so long as he is at least 21 years old and registered either as a voter resident in a constituency or as an "Absent Voter". At the 5th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit on 31 July 2011, the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak was asked how Malaysians studying and working abroad could vote from overseas. In his answer, the Prime Minister said that he would look into the practicalities of allowing overseas voting and whether it was necessary to amend the Constitution in order to allow Malaysians overseas to vote(ref. 1). NOTE : Overseas Malaysians who want to vote from abroad, please sign the MyOverseasVote petition at : References (1) Video Clip of PM Najib's response to the Overseas Vote question. http://www.malaysiakini.tv/video/22077/pm-dodges-malay-first-poser-for-fear-of-rift.html (2) MyOverseasVote report on Malaysian foreign missions' confusion over voter registration http://myoverseasvote.org/2011/07/28/myoverseasvote-finds-continued-confusion-among-malaysian-missions-overseas/ Links MyOverseasVote website http://myoverseasvote.org
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| Posted: 01 Aug 2011 04:09 PM PDT
From Douglas Tan, via e-mail, Free Malaysia Today Over the past few months, we have all seen the steep decline of our Prime Minister. From calling on youth to "defend Putrajaya" as though the nation is expecting an invasion, to being unable to back up his own 1Malaysia policy when asked by a student at a recent Malaysian Student Leader's Summit. It truly seems that Najib is unable to do anything right at the moment. First he attacks the Opposition parties outright, claiming that they would destroy this nation and that Barisan Nasional is the shining light to guide the nation forward. To ask the youth to help defend Putrajaya against the Opposition is nothing short of pretentious, as though Umno/BN has the divine right to govern this country infinitum. This was quickly followed by Bersih 2.0, where he exposed himself as a lame duck leader. Instead of assuming a non-partisan role and showing true leadership, he aligned himself more as Umno president than the Prime Minister of Malaysia by demonising the coalition as an "illegal organisation" and stooping so low to the extent of roping in mosque ceramahs to spread their propaganda of the so-called "perhimpunan haram". His handling of Bersih 2.0 in itself was nothing short of despicable. If he truly recognised the event to be a national crisis, he himself should have been in Kuala Lumpur that day to defuse the situation. Instead, he found himself in Terengganu, with his tail between his legs, smiling at the co-op event, as though he found the hyped-up illegal rally in Kuala Lumpur to be a mere inconvenience to his schedule. In the lack of true leadership, he "tai-chied" all of the responsibility onto his cousin's shoulders. Hishammudin didn't fair much better, especially with his justification of the clampdown on civil liberties, to the extent that those who knew him declared him as sounding "mentally impaired"! As though this was not bad enough, the cover up of Tung Shin Hospital episode, the police violence and the subsequent spread of lies through the media had caused a self-inflicted international black eye. Ignoring all of this, he proceeded to meet the Queen of England in a stunning yellow dress, just in case he failed to get the message. Although he had managed to establish ties with the Vatican, his subsequent comments to the Christian community did little to them to endear him, especially when he implied that Christians were intolerant, when that clearly is not the case. His wife's extravagance would distance him further from the grassroots as allegations that she purchased a US$24 million ring had sent shock waves through the community, especially at a time that the Rakyat are told to tighten our belts in the midst of reduced subsidies and rising prices.
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| Posted: 01 Aug 2011 01:11 PM PDT By Chee Chook Ying I can't believe we are turning 54 this year. With what has been happening recently, it does seem we are rolling back to "ancient" times, since some still want to hang on stubbornly to former social structures that are no longer suitable. Admittedly, we do need institutions put in place to prevent anarchy. However, humankind is constantly changing, led by the evolution in every sphere of life, be it technology, education, social, political, etc. Clearly, what were creatures of their time cannot be relevant today. If it were the case, what have we achieved to account for, these last 54 years? Nothing? Do skyscrappers mean anything if our mentalities have not changed? No wonder a part of our society appear to be in crisis! Are some of us still hanging on to ancient structures that are ill-adapted to present situations? I think it's quite dangerous to entertain the thought that by returning to the past, we can reestablish order. Definitely, some institutions today have to make way for a better tomorrow, for Malaysia. The reality today is, there's no room for absolute power. An enlightened conscience will tell you that. We are no longer a people afraid to make our own decisions. We are no longer a people afraid to take initiatives. We are not some medieval nation where theoretically, the leader will be God's representative and his people's servant but in reality, he will serve his own ambitions and oppress his people! We are a democracy, no leader is indispensable. Don't let some far-fetched propaganda We are going to face our 13th General Election soon. How should we vote? Who do we vote for? Bulging tummies are not a sight for sore eyes! They do say something about the owners. Lean and mean? Like the lean but not the mean. Saul, the first king of the chosen people, was courageous, yet obstinate, not wanting to take risks and was rather attached to the ideas of his time. He failed as a king as he was considered not humble enough to undertake new and great things without being afraid of possible failures. Granted that there is no political life without parties but one cannot confuse responsibility with abuse of authority, by not listening to the voice of reason, especially when one is so entrenched in a party that is so used to having its own way and this voice of reason is not from within. A leader cannot act according to his own judgement, especially when one is isolated from others (usually true when one is in the highest authority), becoming arrogant or worst still, pessimistic. As a leader, his destiny goes beyond the ordinary. He is the sacrificial lamb, not the other way around. Though he is not required to do an-Abraham, he cannot very well direct the destiny of a nation or measure up to such a responsibility if he does not listen to the voice of reason or that of his people, for We should not choose a leader who pretends to be more than the man (or woman) that he or she is. It is necessary to discover the values of this person and not be deceived by appearances, "to look into his or her heart". If we do this, perhaps we will be able to find the right people needed to animate our community instead of the purely ambitious ones who are full of rhetoric. If we care to take a leaf from out of the story of David and Goliath, we will realize that victory does not come to the ones who are physically stronger or heavily armed. Just ask anyone from the just concluded "Bersih Walk for Free and Fair Elections". Anyone dispirited from the experience? The resounding answer would be that all those who took part would work even harder now for change, for a better Malaysia, for all. It's about time. It's about time leaders get it into their thick skulls that we, the majority of Malaysians are rather united in wanting to build a better Malaysia for all. It's about time some of you numbskulls realize that the majority of Malaysians are very aware of the fact that they have been robbed of their birthright and that those of you purportedly looking out for the welfare of your kin are actually the culprits. It's about time, we deny those who seek to advance their own progress or that of their family another opportunity. It's about time those who wish to be elected realize that once elected, they are servants and not masters. They are to persevere in bringing about a Malaysia worthy of humankind, one where food, shelter and dignity are given to all. Why should anyone go hungry when those we put in office, spend billions on gadgets that don't work. It's a sin. Such elected representatives should be anathema, come GE 13th. It's about time we, Malaysians, all of us, practise what we preach. It really is about time we coexist as one, all of us. We can do this, we really can. |
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