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• Thank the people, not politicians or govt
• Muhyiddin, oh Muhyiddin
• DPM Muhyiddin must apologize for insinuations against Guan Eng's son
• Statement on DPM remarks on allegations against Lim Guan Eng's son
• Why National schools Cannot be the choice of All Malaysians
• Malaysia Children's Day
• Aziz Bari's suspension - Najib sabotaged by his own govt and party?
• Two-thirds Majority

Thank the people, not politicians or govt Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:53 PM PDT By Jackson Ng I WANTED to puke when I spotted The Star's report titled "Chua: Thanks for the Chinese school help". The "offensive" excerpts of the report are: "KAJANG: MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has thanked the Government for allocating land and money to build two new Chinese schools and refurbish another in the Kajang area. He welcomed Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement yesterday of a RM9mil allocation to build two SRJK(C) schools in Kajang Utama and Sg Long and RM3.5mil for SRJK(C) Sg Chua to improve its infrastructure. "We thank the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister for bringing us this much-awaited news." What do expect when it is a report from a newspaper that is directly owned by the MCA and led by a No.1 Umno boot-licker Chua Soi Lek. In the first place, why must Chua thank the government for the land and money for the construction of the two new Chinese primary schools and the refurbishment of another. It is the people, the Malaysian taxpayers, who we must thank. Not the politician or government because providing facilities for education is the elected government's duty and job. If not, why the hell do we elect them. In realty, the government had fared below par in providing quality education since Merdeka due to the politicising of education instead of giving due recognition to meritocracy. None of our universities are rated in the world's top 200, losing out to all our neighbouring countries. The Star reports Chua as saying he welcomed Muhhyiddin's announcement! Can he not welcome the announcement? Please lah! Don't insult the intelligence of Malaysians. Furthermore, the announcement is made due to the coming 13th General Election. There is no sincerity. If The Star had reported Chua as saying he did not welcome it, or it was long outstanding, etc, etc, etc … then that is news and worth the money that one is paying for the newspaper. As usual, The Star goes about reporting their boot-licking boss as thanking the prime minister and his deputy when it is only their job and duty to serve. The master is the people who elected them, not the other way round. If the people don't work hard to pay taxes, then there is no money for the government. If the people don't elect them, then they are not the people who will govern us. It is as simple as that and The Star and Chua cannot understand or maybe they choose not to. In this digital era, education and knowledge is boundless. Therefore, the people today are more informed and more educated. We must therefore treat them with more respect and understanding, not insult their intelligence. This also means, we must change with the times which obviously The Star and Chua (MCA) have not. Stop spewing non-news and making a fool of yourselves.  Jackson Ng

Muhyiddin, oh Muhyiddin Posted: 22 Oct 2011 01:43 PM PDT By Gomen Man Whenever Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin opens his mouth, everyone should remember that he stands a good chance of becoming the prime minister.  Unlike Dr Novandri Hasan or Khairy Jamaluddin or some junior Umno politician, Muhyiddin is the deputy president of Umno and DPM. I bring attention to this because of his comments vis-á-vis the now discredited allegations that Lim Guan Eng's 16 year-old son molested a girl in his school. The principal denied the incident, saying the boy was not even in school at the time of the alleged incident and investigations showed that the girl shopped around by Umno bloggers was a foreigner. The girl has since said that she has not been in Malaysia for seven years.  So Muhyiddin's statement that Lim must go beyond just denying this incident is strange. Either the DPM is dense or is the type of politician who loves to support the indefensible.  But since he is holding Lim to a very burden of proof, perhaps Muhyiddin also should be held to high standard regarding some allegations about him and his family.  Is Muhyiddin's son-in-law the mover behind the billion ringgit biometric scanning project? Why was this project pushed through without a back up system?  Is it true that Prime Minister Najib Razak was against the biometric project and that it was rushed through when the PM was away?  Was there an open tender for this project or was it a sweetheart deal?  Is it true that Muhyiddin is marshalling his forces to move against Najib? Is the relationship between their wives very bad?  This is the discussion among Umno people. So please, Muhyiddin, please privide cogent evidence that all this is not true.  A bland statement of denial will not do.

DPM Muhyiddin must apologize for insinuations against Guan Eng's son Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:16 AM PDT By N Surendran I am astonished and appalled by the statement made on 22 October 2011 by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's denial of sexual harassment claims against his son is inadequate and that " mere denial is not enough". By making such an irresponsible comment, Muhyiddin is clearly suggesting and insinuating that there may be truth in the accusations against Lim Guan Eng's 16 year old schoolboy son. How can the DPM make such a remark when the school headmaster and the alleged victim herself have denied that such a thing happened? It was a deliberate and calculated attempt by the DPM to keep alive the slander against Guan Eng's son. The DPM's conduct is thus no different from that of the malicious pro-UMNO bloggers and Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin who instigated and perpetuated this vicious rumour about this innocent boy.   It has been proven beyond any doubt that Guan Eng's son is completely innocent. Anya Corke, the young chess grandmaster who was supposedly sexually harassed by Guan Eng's son has said that no such incident ever happened and that she does not even know the boy. She also expressed sympathy for the ordeal Guan Eng's son had gone through. In doing so, young Anya Corke showed more maturity, generosity and decency than the Deputy Prime Minister of our country. Although she herself is hurting from the false allegations, she reached out a consoling hand to a boy across the oceans whom she had never heard of before this ugly incident.   It is extremely disturbing to note that slander and baseless character attacks of a sexual nature has become the norm for UMNO and the ruling Barisan Nasional pollitical coalition. Bankrupt of ideas and integrity, and widely seen as corrupt and oppressive, UMNO/BN  are relying for political survival on personal attacks, vulgar abuse and blatant falsehood. Another prominent victim of UMNO-inspired sex allegations is Malaysia's parliamentary opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Resort to such disgraceful tactics degrades and embitters the national political discourse, and does a tremendous disservice to the people of this nation. It is increasingly clear that UMNO/BN will do practically anything and stoop to any depth simply to cling on to political power. We call upon the Deputy Prime Minister to immediately and unreservedly apologize to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his son for making such insinuations, and we demand that UMNO/BN forthwith cease the politics of slander and character assasination.      Issued by: N SURENDRAN VICE PRESIDENT KEADILAN

Statement on DPM remarks on allegations against Lim Guan Eng's son Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:06 AM PDT Media Statement by Tony Pua Datuk Seri Najib Razak must reprimand his Deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for giving implicit support to the UMNO bloggers to defame and destroy an innocent 16 year old child. We are shocked and appalled by by the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who reportedly said that if the Penang chief minister "thinks it is important to correct the information, then he has to come up with a strong statement. Mere denial is not enough."  Tan Sri Muhyiddin was commenting on the case where Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng's 16 year old son was accused of sexual harassment by a plethora of UMNO bloggers which resulted in him being transferred to another school this year.   The Deputy Prime Minister needs to have his head seriously inspected – not only did Lim strongly denied the above incident in the strongest possible terms by calling the allegations by the UMNO bloggers "barbaric lies", we have proven that the case is entirely fictitious when the alleged victim is a 21 year old university student in the United States from Hong Kong who never went to school in Penang.   The alleged victim has even sent a statement to all press, stating clearly that she has not been to Malaysia for the past 7 years, and "the only way in which my 'modesty was outraged' has been the publication of my picture in connection with these scurrilous and unfounded rumours."   The principal of SMK Heng Ee, where Lim's son was studying until the end of last year, Mr Goh Boon Poh has also come out to state that he was shocked by the allegations that Lim Guan Eng's son had sexually harassed a female student of the school, and it is "completely untrue."   Despite Lim having nothing else to prove, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has chosen to lend credence to the despicable rumours and give support implicit to the UMNO bloggers by stating that "mere denial is not enough".   Instead of taking stern action against those perpetrating the evil lies to humiliate the Penang Chief Minister's family, especially since they are all UMNO leaders and members, Tan Sri Muhyiddin has chosen to defend the indefensible.  The onus to prove the scurrilous allegations are on the accusers, and not those unjustly maligned.   To protect the image of the Government, the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must immediately put a stop to this madness by sternly reprimanding his Deputy and all his members from making further unfounded claims against an innocent 16 year old boy.  Otherwise, it'll prove to all Malaysians that UMNO has become morally bankrupt in its pursuit to hold on power at all cost, including attacking innocent children.

Why National schools Cannot be the choice of All Malaysians Posted: 22 Oct 2011 09:31 AM PDT By Richard Teo Khairy Jamaludin has become one of the latest growing lists of proponents that a unitary or singular school sysytem would be an all encompassing solution  to our current racial polarisation.. The introduction of a singular school system would means the abolition of vernacular schools.For some one of Khairy's educational background it is indeed sad that he could not even be unbiased in his evaluation of the dilemma facing our present education system which has caused ethnic division . The question is why is Khairy only focusing his attention on vernacular schools? What about Mara schools , religious agama schools and even tertiary university level like UITM where the students strictly only cater exclusively for one race.?   Is Khairy implying that only vernacular schools are the sole cause of ethnic polarisation and that Mara schools, Religious Agama schools and tertiary university like UITM are exempted from any blame for the ethnic division? It is really sad that someone of Khairy's educational background can be so biased in his evaluation of the cause for such racial polarisation.   The simple and unpalatable truth is that ever since  Tun Razak became the second P.M, we had the misfortune of having Education Ministers who could not understand why National schools could not become the choice of all Malaysians. All of them were incompetent or were not interested in finding out the truth. In the end we had education policies that were ad hoc and flip flop. Even till now there is no clear define policies whether we should adopt English as a medium of instructions.   However, tribute should be given to our first P.M, Tuanku Abdul Rahman. He did not tinker with our education system when we got our independence. He was a visionary leader who knew the importance of the English language. and during his tenure kebangsan schools flourished.. I was a product of that era . The schools were populated with 50% malays, 40% chinese and 10% indians. There was camaderie in all our activities and we accepted each other as Malaysians. We did not look through our differences through any racial or religious lens.We did not bring religion to schools. Religion was something personal where individually we practice our faith at home.Each of us accepted our cultural diversity and each of us respected our religious beliefs. During this time, vernacular schools suffered enrolment problems since majority of Chinese and Indians and malays all opted for National schools.For practical and financial reasons one by one vernacular schools was slowly decimated without any govt forced closure.   The schools during this era was composed of different ethnic compositions.There was mat sallehs, chinese, indians and malays and through their own cultural diversity we learned to accept diversity, tolerance and respect of each others religious beliefs. All these we didnt learned from our school curriculum but through our impressionable minds we were able to acquire from our various  teachers of different origins.   Fast forward to present day, everything has changed for the worse. Religious practice of the islamic faith are conspicously introduced without care to the sensitivity of the other races.Prayers or doa are recited in classes and assembly. Almost 100% of the teachers  were of one race and they were employed because of their religiousity rather than their abilty to teach.Female students were compelled by some schools to wear the malay baju Kurung and some were even forced to wear tudungs.During the fasting month of Ramadam, schools canteen were closed and non malays were forced to fast with the muslim students. Some schools even disallowed students to take food in the school canteen since they view it as a sign of disrespect to the muslims.   With all these various display of islamic introductions in National schools it is little wonder non malays were avoiding the National schools like plague. Khairy almost strike the right chord when he said,'the overtly Malay and Islamic character of national schools  turn other ethnic communities away. ' But he glossed over this core issue which was the chief reason why chinese and indians turned their backs on National schools. It was often argued that the chinese wanted vernacualr schools because of the desire to preserve cultural heritage and language but this was only a mere excuse. Chinese enclaves from San Francisco to London did not see any chinese clamour for chinese language education. They were so willing to send their children to the english school system and in many cases even excel better than their english counterparts.   Khairy and the present Education Minister should examine National schools during Tuanku Abdul Rahman's era and the present era to see what has caused the change in the choice of National schools by non malays.They should not behave like ostrich burying their head in the sands and think that it was the existence of vernacular schools which had caused non malays not to choose National schools

Malaysia Children's Day Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:29 AM PDT Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng Dato' Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil Should Be Pro-active And Courageous In Upholding The Child Act 2001 And United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child To Ensure Them A Safe Physical, Emotional And Mental Environment. On the occasion of Malaysia Children's Day, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development. Dato' Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil should fulfil her Ministerial duty to be pro-active and courageous in upholding the Child Act 2001 and the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child to ensure them a safe physical, emotional and mental environment.  In the past she has paid lip service in opposing child brides but refused to act to take corrective measures. However lately she has even failed to condemn those who lie about innocent children or use innocent children as their object of fun to score political points.   Sharizat's failure to reproach or condemn UMNO Youth President Khairy Jamaluddin for perpetuating a lie that my 16 year old son had sexually outraged the modesty of his classmate shows that Sharizat has failed in her Ministerial duty to protect the basic fundamental rights of a child to live with dignity and safety.   Amongst some UMNO leaders who highligted this shameful episode in the blogs is Bukit Gelugor(Penang) UMNO Division vice-chairman Dr Novandri Hasan Basri. He was then followed by many UMNO leaders rehashing the lies. Sadly even UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaludin joined in these shameful lies by poking fun at my son with this tweet:-   @Khairykj Khairy Jamaluddin @PapaGomo Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada. http://twitter.com/#!/Khairykj/status/125841671102529536   Even though the alleged victim had come out with a statement denying the lies, there is no remorse or apology as yet from Khairy or UMNO leaders.   The Child Act 2001 stipulates that every child is entitled to protection and assistance in all circumstances. No protection was afforded to my child when his photo was plastered all over the blogs and some media outlets. Furthermore, this contravenes Article 16 (Protection of Privacy) of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child to which Malaysia is a signatory. No child should be subjected to libel or slander.   What has Sharizat done to protect not just my child but also any child subject to such lies and slander? Violence against children whether physically, emotionally or mentally cuts across all sectors and violates their rights to protection and a safe environment.   I speak for every parent when I say we live for our children. We work to provide a better life for them. We struggle to ensure their world is better than ours. We strive to protect them from the evils of the world, especially when they are still young.   As a father, there is no pain worse than the helplessness you feel when you are unable to defend your innocent child against brutal, inconsiderate and appalling abuse. If you want to finish me off, do your worst but leave my innocent children alone.   Sharizat had said that as a mother, she constantly fears for her child safety. The question now is how is she going to act when the emotional security and mental well-being of a child is being violated by lies and slander?   In Malaysia, the Child Act 2001 [Act 611] was enacted to fulfil our obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the preamble, it is stated that every child is entitled to protection and assistance in all circumstances without regard to any status. The provisions of this act are based on four core principles, namely: non-discrimination, best interest of the child, right to life, and respect for the views of the child.   What has she done to act against those responsible, including holding high political office, who have violated the spirit of these laws? Why has she chose to remain silent and passive when failure to act will only encourage more of similar mental and emotional abuse of children in future. Today my child may be the victim but will your or another child be the victim tomorrow.   Let's act now to ensure that the needless trauma that my son had to go through because of such lies is not repeated on another or any innocent child.

Aziz Bari's suspension - Najib sabotaged by his own govt and party? Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:08 AM PDT Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang Prof Aziz Bari has become a critical test case whether Malaysia is moving towards greater democrartisation, academic excellence and enhanced International oompetitiveness or the reverse. The suspension of Aziz by IIUM could not have come at a worse time for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's National Transformation Programme whether government, economic or political. It has firstly thrown into doubt Najib's political will, commitment and stamina whether the Prime Minister and his administration are prepared to see through the wide-ranging government, economic, educational and political  reforms without which Malaysia stands no chance of escaping from two decades of middle-income trap, overtaken by one country after another most notably Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. Malaysia cannot expect to achieve the goal of a high-income developed nation unless and until we can produce world-class universities, not just in the eyes of Ministers but acknowledged internationally.  The failure of any Malaysian university to get into the recently-released Times Higher Education (THE) World Top 400 Universities Ranking 2011-2012 is powerful testimony that Malaysia is not doing enough to train, retain and recruit talents to transform our economy into a knowledge economy so as to restore our international competitiveness. The suspension and persecution of Aziz Bari for expressing his views and comments will be a message to the international academic community that Malaysia is not prepared to accept and respect academic freedom resulting in worsening of brain drain of Malaysian talents and condemning the Talents Corporation to failure to attract brain gain from the Malaysian diaspora and the world intellectual resources. Politically, Aziz's suspension has come as a slap-in-the-face for Najib's recent claim of wanting to make Malaysia 'the best democracy in the world''. If Najib is sincere,  then the curbs and fetters undermining academic freedom and excellence like the Universities and University Colleges Act should be repealed! But instead we have the Aziz Bari persecution - reminder that the undemocratic mentality and mindset of repression in key institutions in the country are still in full control of the levers of power despite all the sloganeering about democratization and political transformation. Why was Aziz Bari arbitrarily suspended at variance with Najib's call for democratisatio  and government, economic and political transformation? Is Najib being sabotaged from inside his party and government? Najib's should  direct that the suspension of Aziz by IIUM be revoked immediately and cause an investigation why his call for democratization and government, economic and political transformation is being flouted so blatantly by his own subordinates in government and party!

Two-thirds Majority Posted: 22 Oct 2011 12:06 AM PDT By Hakim Joe When Malaysians gave total control to the Alliance Party by voting in 51 parliamentarians out of a total of 52 contested seats (98%) in 1955, and 74 parliamentarians out of a total of 104 contested seats (71%) in 1959, they are in reality placing their immediate future and the future of their kids and grandchildren in the hands of the politicians.   The Malay-dominated ruling elite then proceeded to use this unprecedented majority in Parliament to elaborately construct an electoral system that practically guaranteed that it could never be removed from power, ever. Additionally, they instituted a wide range of political controls and passed an assortment of laws that restricted interference, criticism and opposition from any single individual or group within Malaysia.  So when BN leaders and former leaders tell you that Malaysia is overtaken by minorities' interests, they are telling a blatant lie. No Non-Bumiputera can ever aspire to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia no matter how suitable or appropriate he or she is for the job or even if 100 percent of Malaysian voters voted him in. The Malaysian Constitution forbids it and that is what I meant by political controls.   A lot of Malaysians are now ecstatic when the news that the Government is planning to repeal the Internal Security Act was announced by the PM on Malaysia Day. The trouble is that no time frame was ever declared and that the foundations to reintroduce a similar law as a replacement for the ISA are still practically in place. It is called the "Emergency Powers" and is enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution.  Clause 1 of the Malaysian Constitution states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may issue a proclamation of emergency if he is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security, or the economic life, or public order in the Federation or any part thereof is threatened. Clause 2 states that this emergency proclamation can be declared before the actual occurrence of the event if the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is satisfied that there is imminent danger of the occurrence of such event(s). Clause 8 states that the satisfaction of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall be final and conclusive and cannot be challenged or called in question in any court on any ground.  It is understood that in such cases, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will be acting on the advise of the Malaysian PM and there are no automatic withdrawing or time-lapse of such a proclamation once it is declared as exhibited by the first emergency proclamation after independence in 1964 after Indonesia launched its policy of confrontation against Malaysia and the 1969 Emergency Proclamation after the race riots.  Once an emergency proclamation has been made, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the ultimate "power to promulgate ordinances that possess the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament" and "may be exercised in relation to any matter with respect to which Parliament has powers to make laws, regardless of the legislative or other procedures required to be followed".  Additionally, Parliament has an unrestricted power to "make laws with respect to any matter, if it appears to Parliament that the law is required by reason of the emergency". It is also stated that neither ordinances nor acts passed under the emergency powers can be found "invalid on the grounds of inconsistency with any provision of the Constitution" except for provisions relating to religion, citizenship, language, Islamic Law, Malay customs and native law and custom in East Malaysia.   Malaysia is legally still in a State of Emergency and based on the grounds that it cannot be challenged in a Court of Law, it is not necessary for the Government to show cause that a grave emergency has in fact existed or still exist within the society. There is no burden of proof necessary. Failure to lift an emergency proclamation has in fact left the government with far-reaching and legally unchallengeable powers that can be brought into force at any juncture of time without the need of Parliamentary approval or the need to declare a new emergency.  Emergency proclamations can be issued nationwide or to a particular state only. In 1966, emergency was proclaimed in Sarawak after the East Malaysian state has fallen to the opposition party SNAP. In 1977 this happened to Kelantan after PAS won the state elections. In both incidents, the central government took over control of the state and deposed the legally elected government. PAS won back the state in the subsequent elections but Sarawak was never lost to the opposition again.   Legally, BN can advise the King to declare separate statewide emergencies in Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan today and take over the state government without fearing any legal recourse. They are not doing it because such an action will have its setbacks but it does not mean that they cannot do it.  Lifting of Emergencies are no euphoric events either as shown in the lifting of the 1948 Emergency in 1960. The Alliance Party (71% Majority) used powers derived from Article 149 of the Constitution to introduce the ISA with the reasoning being that such a law is urgently required to combat Communism in the country after the Emergency is lifted. The ISA Bill sailed through both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara smoothly without any noticeable opposition. If an individual is detained under the ISA, it means indefinite detention without charge or trial.   In 1987, Malay Christian Jamaluddin Osman was detained under the ISA for his allegedly proselytizing activities after the government claimed that he was festering animosity between the Muslim society and the Christians. In the Supreme Court of Malaysia, Chief Justice of Malaya, Tan Sri Hashim Yeop Sani ordered the release of Jamaluddin Osman concluding that, "we do not think that mere participation in meetings and seminars can make a person a threat to the security of the country. As alleged to the conversion of the six Malays, even if it was true, it cannot be regarded as a threat to the security of the country".  This was a no-no for the government and in 1989 amendments were made to the ISA that virtually eliminated the possibility of court challenges to indefinite detention under the ISA. This gave the Government carte blanche to detain (and not arrest) any individual without charge or trial for an indefinite period. The government was also no longer compelled to attempt to establish a credible link between the detainee and any actions deemed to be a grave threat to the security of the country. One could be eating nasi lemak alone at Steven's Corner in Pandan Indah (if you could get someone to take your orders in the first place) and be eating nasi lemak in Kamunting the next day and no Court of Law in Malaysia could get you out from there.  Subsequently a High Court Judge declared that, "it is not competent for the court to inquire into the sufficiency, relevance or otherwise of the allegations of facts (if any). The (Home) Minister's finding is a subjective satisfaction and is not subjected to judicial review".  Another few laws introduced to "protect" the government are the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act. While it can be argued that these laws were deemed necessary to preserve public order, in practice their implementation restricted fair play on the political background as these laws were used to restrict the opposition's scope for public criticisms of governmental actions.  In 1948 when the Sedition Act was first introduced into law, the Colonial Government used the act to direct against offences such as inciting disaffection against the government, inciting contempt for the administration of justice and raising discontent amongst the people. In 1969, the Sedition Act was amended to cover matters and issues with a tendency to promote ill feeling and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia. Also introduced into the Sedition Act was the banning of "any matter, right, status, position, privilege, sovereignty or prerogative established or protected by the provisions of Part III of the Federal Constitution (dealing with citizenship) or Article 152 (establishes Malay as the National Language), 153 (safeguard of the special position of the Bumiputeras) and 181 (sovereignty of the Malay Rulers) of the Federal Constitution".  In 1971, the Federal Constitution was re-amended to extend the application of the Sedition Act to Parliament itself, thus removing parliamentary privileges from discussion of these topics and other issues considered sensitive. All amendments to the Sedition Act required a two-thirds majority for it to be passed in Parliament and even when the Alliance Party did not possess quite the necessary numbers, talks were already in an advanced stage with Gerakan to join the Alliance Party. The PGRM sell out gave the Government sufficient votes.  Both the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act hold extensively far-reaching scopes and legally outlaw an individual to inform another individual of any information that is in the possession of the government regardless of how trivial, insignificant or widely known it already is or is in publication worldwide outside the boundaries of Malaysia. Whether that information is correct, true or otherwise is not in question here and any violation of these laws are punished by mandatory jail terms from one to fourteen years under the penal code if one is found guilty by a Court of Law in Malaysia.  De-politicizing potential opposition is yet another political control instrument in place here. In many Third World nations (and yes, Malaysia is considered as one), opposition to existing governments comes from workers, students and peasants. Malaysia therefore introduced precautionary measures to inhibit its growth.  In 1959, the Trade Unions Ordinance was introduced to prevent office bearers or employees of political parties from holding office in trade unions. The 1969 Essential (Trade Unions) Regulations made it illegal for a trade union to use funds for political objectives. Additionally, trade unions can only be registered into "particular" trades (in the opinion of the Registrar) and therefore it was unlawful to form large general unions covering workers from different trades and fields. The MTUC (Malaysian Trade Union Congress) is therefore strictly not a trade union but a society (registered under the Societies Act).  In 1975, Dr. Mahathir introduced the Universities and University Colleges Act whereby students were banned from joining or allaying themselves with any political party, trade union or any other organization, body or group without the written permission of the Vice-Chancellor. Furthermore, students were prohibited from saying or doing anything that could be interpreted as supporting or sympathizing with, or opposing any political party or trade union. This applies to the academic staff as well. Either one was a politician or a student (or teacher) and not both.  In Malaysia, peasants or rural inhabitants are politically quiescent. There are in fact no independent peasant organizations but the government already has organizations in place to control, manipulate and indoctrinate the farmers and planters. Both the secretary-generals of FELDA and FELCRA are civil servants appointed by the government.  Additionally, the educated middle-class is controlled by the Societies Act. Members of such groups and societies are governed by laws in accordance to the Act and any infringement or purported infringements are penalized by immediate deregistration. In 1981, amendments were made to the law to make clear distinction of a political group or society from a non-political group or society, and to make any decision by the Registrar to deregister a group or society final and non-challengeable in court. In 1983, the category of political society was dropped after then ABIM chairman (who opposed the law) was recruited into Umno (1982). The ABIM (Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia) chairman in 1981 was Anwar Ibrahim.  All such repressive legislations could never be legally implemented unless the government possesses a two-thirds majority in Parliament. It is therefore of utmost importance that Malaysians continue to vote in opposition politicians as a precautionary safeguard against total parliamentary control by any one single political party.

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