Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- After PKR-DAP spat over seats in Johor, more friction in the offing?
- Internal Security Act to be abolished
- Dr M: I would have sacked Anwar even if advised not to
- Jamil Khir: I did not steal zakat money
- Nasi lemak: The dish to unite a country
- SNAP’s presidential race mired in money politics?
- Is Mat Sabu an undercover communist?
- Deliver reforms or face polls snub, Pakatan warns Najib
- Govt’s soft approach exploited, says Hisham
- Economist: No tax cut in budget
| After PKR-DAP spat over seats in Johor, more friction in the offing? Posted: 15 Sep 2011 04:20 AM PDT (Bernama) - The spat between PKR and DAP, two of the three partners of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR), over allocation of seats in Johor may be just the beginning of intense bickering, according to some political analysts. They believe that such tiffs will crop up in the states as the leaders at that level are unlikely to look for a compromise until intervention by their top leaders.
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| Internal Security Act to be abolished Posted: 14 Sep 2011 10:58 PM PDT Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak says two new laws will be introduced to safeguard peace and order. (Bernama) - : The Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960 will be abolished and two new laws will be introduced to safeguard peace and order, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said. The prime minister also announced that the government would repeal the Banishment Act 1959 and reviewing other laws to be in line with current needs. A comprehensive study will be carried out on the Restricted Residence Act 1993 and the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 where annual renewals would be done away with, and replaced with issuance of licence until it is revoked. Announcing the matter tonight in his special Malaysia Day message, Najib said the two new laws would be formulated "under the spirit and umbrella" of Article 149 of the Federal Constitution to prevent subversive elements as well as fighting organised terrorism and crime, in order to safeguard peace and public order. In the message delivered in front of 800 people at Angkasapuri and aired live over TV1 and TVi, the prime minister said the new laws replacing the ISA would provide for a shorter detention period. He added that extension of detention can only be done through a court order, except in the law concerning terrorism where the power remained with the minister. "Generally, the power to extend the detention period will shift from the executive to the judiciary, except in matters concerning terrorism," he said. Stern action against street protesters Najib had promised when he first took over the helm of the country's administration on April 3, 2009 that he would carry out a comprehensive review of the ISA. Najib said tonight that the government would ensure that the rights of those being taken action under the new law would be safeguarded in line with the spirit of the Federal Constitution. He said the government also assured that individuals would not be detained because of their political ideologies. "The government will also review Section 27 of the Police Act 1967, taking into account the provision in Article 10 of the Federal Constitutions concerning freedom of assembly," he said. Najib stressed, however, that stern action would remain against street demonstrators. He said that the permit to assemble would be given under certain set of criteria to be determined later, taking into consideration the norms at the international level. Najib said the government would not hesitate to amend or repeal laws which are no longer relevant.
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| Dr M: I would have sacked Anwar even if advised not to Posted: 14 Sep 2011 06:24 PM PDT
Tun Dr Mahathir denies allegation by Perak Mufti, says it is not true (The Malaysian Insider) - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today denied Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria asked him not to sack Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 but added he would ignored the advice even if it was given. In a blog posting today, the former prime minister reasoned that at the time, witnesses had already convinced him of Anwar's sodomy crimes and he was not prepared to accept an "immoral" person as his successor. "Even if the Mufti did advise me, and I deny that he did, I would not be able to take that kind of advice. "The learned Mufti may be prepared to accept an immoral person to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. I am sorry but I hold my responsibility as an 'amanah', a trust, and I never can be prepared to accept an immoral prime minister," he wrote. The Malaysian Insider published Harussani's statement last month saying he had attempted to meet with Dr Mahathir 13 years ago to advise him against sacking then deputy prime minister Anwar and against charging him in court for sodomy. "I would have ignored the claim by the Mufti that he advised me. But the report is in the online news portal and that has political implications unfavourable towards me," Dr Mahathir complained. The Perak Mufti had explained that he was concerned back then that Anwar's sacking would bring about split Malays, and that he had repeatedly cautioned the former prime minister to think about an alternative solution.
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| Jamil Khir: I did not steal zakat money Posted: 14 Sep 2011 05:14 PM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom has denied that he used Islamic tithes to build a mansion for his family. The minister in charge of Islamic affairs told a press conference today he had lived in the Kampung Batu Muda home since 1994 and renovations were paid for with his own money. "Wallahi, I did not take zakat money. You can check with the Federal Territory zakat department and get a clean audit. "I dare to swear if they dare," Jamil Khir told reporters.
The Malaysia Today news portal had published a picture of Jamil Khir's home yesterday (picture above), alleging that it was worth millions of ringgit. In the report, PKR Youth deputy chief Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin had challenged the minister to explain how he could afford such a home after three years in office with a monthly salary of not more than RM15,000. But the senator said today the allegations were a "desperate political" move to tarnish his image. "I have lived there for 17 years and I do not know why it is now being raised. It is just renovations. "I don't want to prolong this issue. Before this I was not unemployed. My last post was as a Major-General with a pension and gratuity. Not up to RM1 million but it was enough," he added. He also said that the expansion of his home was due to the increasing number of people in his family, including his parents and his six children who also earn their own income now.
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| Nasi lemak: The dish to unite a country Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:54 PM PDT By NZ Herald An ethnic Chinese rapper accused of stirring Malaysian racial tensions has brought his social commentary to cinemas with a food-themed comedy celebrating the country's mixed cultural recipe. But Wee Meng Chee - better known by the alias Namewee - characteristically pulls few punches in Nasi Lemak 2.0, an unusually daring exploration of a tide of racial distrust that has stoked concern in multi-ethnic Malaysia. The comedy, named after the national rice dish and which opened last week, takes an unflinching but ultimately fond look at many of the racial stereotypes that Muslim-majority Malaysia's various ethnic groups aim at each other. The main character, an arrogant chef played by Wee, expresses revulsion at Islamic practices such as circumcision. In another scene, an ethnic Chinese student complains of difficulty getting into college, a reference to quota policies and other privileges favouring the dominant Malay ethnic group.
"My message is that the system in Malaysia is unequal ... But when we live together, we eat together, there is no racism," said Wee, sitting for an interview with AFP wearing his trademark beanie pulled down to his eyes. More than half of Malaysia's near 28 million population are Malay Muslims, who live alongside sizeable Chinese, Indian and indigenous minorities. Overt racial and religious antagonism has been largely avoided since deadly race riots in 1969. But tensions have increased recently amid rising resentment over the Malay preferential policies, a trend toward what many say is increasing Islamisation of society, and other recent disputes. Wee first stirred the hornet's nest in 2007, shooting to celebrity with a song mocking the national anthem. In 2009, authorities threatened sedition charges over another song, Nah - based on a real incident - which lashes out a Malay school headmistress who makes racist slurs against her ethnic Chinese and Indian students. Wee insists he is a patriotic Malaysian and that his art is meant to provoke a positive discussion leading to fairness and social harmony. With potentially divisive snap elections expected to be called soon, Prime Minister Najib Razak has pushed his "1Malaysia" campaign promoting ethnic unity, and Wee said the film was meant to support that. However, he adds: "I want to show the real Malaysia, how we live together. For 1Malaysia to work we have to be treated equally." "I just want to share my music, my creativity with my true feelings without hiding anything." The film's plot is anchored in Malaysia's undisputed common cultural touchstone: love of the country's diverse and spicy cuisine. Wee plays Chef Huang, who studied Chinese cooking in China and ridicules Malay food. Roped into a cooking competition, he finds however that he needs the help of people from all races - including a Malay with four wives and Indians who dance Bollywood-style - to create a delicious new version of nasi lemak. Co-producer Fred Chong told AFP the movie - which mixes several of the nation's languages and dialects - made more than 1.5 million ringgit (A$472,988) in its first four days in cinemas, closing in on a previous high of 1.6 million ringgit for a movie by an ethnic Chinese producer. Malaysia's film market is dominated by Malay and, above all, Hollywood films. Nasi Lemak 2.0 was made on less than 1 million ringgit after private investors pulled out last year, spooked by the threat of sedition charges against Wee. None were ever filed. Despite the film's positive message, Wee remains outspoken. He said Nasi Lemak 2.0 was aimed at internet-savvy Malaysian youngsters fed up with official calls for unity by the Malay-dominated government that has been in power for decades. "Our government always treats the people who are against them or disagree with them as criminals," he added, referring to the threatened sedition charges. With its cast of local stars, song-and-dance numbers, martial arts routines, and numerous jokes drawing on current events, the movie has proven a hit with some, and Wee's Facebook page has been bombarded with supportive postings. "Nasi Lemak 2.0 may not be perfect, but it has its moments," leading English daily The Star said in a review. "It's a Malaysian movie, yes, but it is out to make us take a good hard look at ourselves... and laugh."
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| SNAP’s presidential race mired in money politics? Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:36 PM PDT (The Borneo Post) - KUCHING: Money politics has crept into the tussle for the president's post of Sarawak National Party (SNAP) during its coming triennial general assembly (TGA) this Sept 24 and 25. A concerned senior party member said a certain candidate for the president's post is offering as much as RM3,400 for each delegate to cover air tickets, hotel room, pocket money and dinner. "It saddens me when I heard and learned that money politics is now practised in the party by a certain individual who aspires to become the party president." "So it is my fervent hope that such thing (money politics) will stop for the sake of the party because the TGA is not about money, but the leadership quality, commitment and responsibility to serve and deliver." "The party is not and must not be sold," he told The Borneo Post yesterday. He advised party members not to be influenced by money politics, but to choose candidates who have the calibre and leadership quality to lead the party. SNAP secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol when contacted said he has been told by a few delegates that they were promised money by "someone". He denied being involved with money politics in the party, adding: "I do not have money." Jugol warned of severe consequences for those who resort to bribing delegates to vote for them at the TGA. "We are watching the situation closely and those involved will be suspended or sacked. There is also a possibility that we will refer them to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)," Jugol warned. Jugol said money politics have happened in Umno where the guilty members were sacked, and SNAP will sack members found guilty of doing that. Meanwhile, SNAP president Edwin Dundang is sticking to his decision not to seek re-election in the coming TGA. In a telephone interview, Dundang said the decision was to pave way for younger party members to lead the party. "Many senior party members have accepted (my decision not to contest) and that I give way to younger ones," said Dundang who has indicated several times that he will not seek re-election to helm the party. According to Dundang, so far two candidates – secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol and Michael Lias – are contesting for the president's post. Nomination for the president post closed on Sept 17. SNAP, the oldest state political party was formed on April 10, 1961 and deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in 2002. However, it won the appeal last year when the Court of Appeal set aside the RoS decision. In the last April 16 state election, the Election Commission (EC) reported that from the total 672,667 (68.66 per cent) registered voters who turned up, SNAP only received 15, 663 votes (2.33 per cent). In the election, the party contested in 26 seats and lost all. |
| Is Mat Sabu an undercover communist? Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:30 PM PDT By Stephanie Sta Maria, FMT KUALA LUMPUR: Who is whispering into PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu's ear? And was his controversial statement on Mat Indera part of covert efforts by communist sympathisers to revive the ideology in Malaysia? These were the questions posed at a Perkasa-organised forum on "Communism, Mat Indera and Independence" at Kelab Sultan Sulaiman last night. The perplexed inquirer was a panellist and former Special Branch officer, Zulkifli Abdul Rahman, who wondered why Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, raised the Bukit Kepong incident during his ceramah at Tasek Gelugor, Penang, last month. Even stranger yet, he said, was that Mat Sabu chose Mat Indera as his idol when the latter has been long dead and is not well-known to the former. "It's a mystery," Zulkifli told the 500-strong crowd. "Why not Rashid Maidin or Shamsiah Fakeh? What inspired him to choose Mat Indera?" "And who is Mat Sabu? He is not a communist… that I'm sure, but who among those surrounding him planted this idea in his head? Was this controversy deliberately engineered? And if so, by whom?" asked Zulkifli. Zulkifli, 75, warned that while the communist armed movement is dead, its ideology is still very much alive and infiltrating institutions of education. He explained that there were two types of communism – first being the armed movement and second being the subversive front or the Communist United Front. "The Communist United Front were undercover communists who spoke fluent Malay and had identity cards which allowed them to merge into society," he said. "(Malayan Communist Party secretary-general) Chin Peng himself said that the conversion to communism is as strong as a religious conversion." "The communists will never abandon their mission of conversion and are targeting the educated ones now. This is why I'm curious as to why Mat Sabu suddenly spoke of communism." Zukifli added that Mat Sabu was wrong in branding Mat Indera a freedom fighter as even Chin Peng had admitted that he was a communist during a meet-the-students session at the National University of Canberra, Australia, in 2004. Another panellist and former army chief, Lieutenant General Jaafar Onn, meanwhile, pointed out that Mat Sabu's praise of Mat Indera was akin to praising the communists who dealt great suffering upon the Malays. And that, to him was unthinkable, considering what he had heard first-hand when his father was serving as an army officer in Batu Pahat in 1945. "The communists wanted to establish a communist republic and went into villages on a recruitment drive," he recalled. "Whoever rejected them were accused of being in cahoots with the Japanese and shot." "The villagers came to see my father to seek his help and relate how their families were tortured. I remember two people talking about their family members being burnt alive, hung upside down to die and tossed in river with bound hands and feet." Jaafar, 78, who is also the son of Umno founder, Onn Jaafar, questioned whether these were the people that Mat Sabu was hailing as freedom fighters.
READ MORE HERE. |
| Deliver reforms or face polls snub, Pakatan warns Najib Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:27 PM PDT By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider PETALING JAYA, Sept 15 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers today warned Datuk Seri Najib Razak against announcing overly ambitious promises tonight, saying a more "mature" electorate would still reject his administration if the reforms are not implemented before the polls. The lawmakers pointed out that Malaysians have been repeatedly misled into believing many such reform promises in the past and have now grown more doubtful of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government. "History, when it repeats itself for the second time, becomes a joke. "Pak Lah (Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) did this... he promised the sky and the people trusted him and gave him a huge mandate. Now, whatever Najib promises he must deliver before elections are called. If he cannot deliver, I do not think people will believe in those promises," the DAP's Liew Chin Tong (picture) told a joint press conference with other PR leaders here. Najib is expected to announce a raft of reforms centred on security and press laws tonight in a bid to jump-start his 29-month administration that critics say has been stalling lately. The prime minister is to address the nation in a special live telecast at 8.45pm in conjunction with Malaysia Day tomorrow after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday decided that he must tell Malaysians about reforms for the Internal Security Act (ISA) and several laws related to the media.
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| Govt’s soft approach exploited, says Hisham Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:23 PM PDT By Sa'odah Elias, The Star PUTRAJAYA: The Government's initial "soft" approach towards Bersih 2.0 had been exploited by those with political agendas, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. He said the whole thing was exploited by people who had ulterior motives. The Government, he said, had always upheld civil liberty and had been accommodating with the organisers as they said their planned rally would not be political, but things started to change later. "So at the very last minute we thought that we could not take any chances. "We did not want to take the risk of the whole scenario changing and becoming racial or religious," he said here yesterday. Hishammuddin said that was also why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had offered the organisers a stadium venue for their rally, an offer that was never withdrawn. "But when you are dealing with people with political agendas, in whatever they do they will keep shifting the goal posts. "If you offer a stadium, they would want a stadium in the middle of the city and they will want to parade all the way there," he said. Hishammuddin said it was the same with the Government's plan to use biometrics for the identification of voters in the coming general election, which the Opposition had objected to. Now, he said, they wanted the use of indelible ink. "When we planned to have the Parliamentary Select Committee address all their demands, they said they would not even go unless we extended the campaign period. "A lot of these arguments have political agendas. Issues can be exploited by people who have ulterior motives," he added. Najib is expected to make several announcements in his Malaysia Day message today, some of which were said to directly involve the Bersih rally. |
| Economist: No tax cut in budget Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:21 PM PDT By Wong Sai Wan and Mergawati Zulfakar, The Star KUALA LUMPUR: Major political, social and security reforms are among the highlights of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Merdeka/Malaysia Day speech that will be aired on private and public TV channels live tonight. The Prime Minister is expected to announce measures that will make it less restrictive for people to express themselves and those who have seen the speech say that it "will redefine the political landscape of Malaysia". "This is all about the democratic process. This is what the people have been clamouring for. The Govern-ment is listening to them. "And it is all about the transformation process by the Government. We already have the Government and economic transformations. This is now the time for political transformation in line with current global developments," said a source. Najib is expected to make announcements on laws and practices that are deemed draconian and undemocratic by the people, including the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Emergency Ordinance. While senior aides said that the ISA would not be repealed, they said Najib would announce measures to "update" it, including on the length of the detention period. In what can be seen as an answer to criticisms on the Government's handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally, Najib is also expected to announce measures to relax control on the freedom of expression and the right to assemble. A government official said the recent announcement of the formation of the parliamentary select committee to improve the electoral process was part of the reform process. The Government is also expected to introduce reforms for media practitioners, including on censorship and the need for them to renew their permits annually. "The Government needs to move on with the times and do ourselves a favour without having to control publications," said another source. Home Ministry deputy secretary-general (security) Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi said on Tuesday that the Government would be more open towards media practitioners by getting their feedback due to the changing global landscape and rapid information technology development. He had said the ministry would also be studying legislation in other countries regarding demonstrations and assemblies, taking into consideration civil liberties as well as national security. Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim said the Prime Minister's address would be televised at 8.45pm. "He will be speaking in front of about 800 people comprising Cabinet ministers, senior government officers, members of Barisan Nasional component parties and non-governmental organisations at Auditorium Perdana, Angkasapuri. "He is expected to stress on key issues concerning major changes deemed crucial for the Government and the country," he said after chairing a post-Cabinet meeting at his ministry at Wisma TV, Angkasapuri, here yesterday. |
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