Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Bersih: Assembly law changes another Najib ‘flip-flop’
- Najib tells Umno to close ranks, prepare for ‘war’
- Malaysia to amend contested protest law
- Bar Council plumbs for Parliament panel to review peaceful assembly bill
- PKR vows to field ‘principled’ candidates
- Johor an uphill task, says PKR chief
- PKR insists can trounce BN in Johor
- Dr M’s selfish plea for the Umno upper class
- Peaceful Assembly Bill may affect ceramahs
- Entri’s sacking: S’wak BN leaders concerned
| Bersih: Assembly law changes another Najib ‘flip-flop’ Posted: 25 Nov 2011 10:20 PM PST By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — Bersih leaders have criticised the Najib administration for not putting enough thought into the Peaceful Assembly Bill after the government said it will amend several sections in the proposed law following opposition from civil rights groups. Calling it yet another "flip-flop" by the prime minister, Bersih deputy chairman Maria Chin Abdullah said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should not have disregarded the wishes of the people before tabling the Bill earlier this week. "He does this all the time. First, he says yes, yes, yes, and then after that (no, no, no)," she told The Malaysian Insider. Maria lamented that that Najib had fallen short of his Malaysia Day pledge to allow greater freedoms, pointing out that the prime minister had similarly reneged on his promise to stop using the Internal Security Act (ISA). "We are actually in the process of seeing the ISA taken out... and then suddenly, they arrest 11 persons under ISA. "What on earth is going on? I think if he continues in the manner... there will be some strong reaction (from the people)," she said. Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat said the government should scrap the "fundamentally flawed" Bill altogether rather than try to amend portions of it. He likened the Peaceful Assembly Bill to milk powder lace with heavy metals and said it was unacceptable for Putrajaya to merely attempt to reduce the level of contamination. "No, that won't work. You have to throw it away... It's so shameful that Najib should rethink the whole thing," he said. The government need only amend the Police Act to allow freedom of assembly, Wong said, adding that if the authorities wished to implement other changes, the consultation process would have to start anew. Putrajaya has agreed to amend seven sections in the Peaceful Assembly Bill following nationwide protests criticising it as more repressive than current laws.
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| Najib tells Umno to close ranks, prepare for ‘war’ Posted: 25 Nov 2011 10:19 PM PST By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called on his party to close ranks and prepare to go to polls ahead of next week's Umno general assembly, widely expected to be the last before the next general election. In an interview with Bernama today, Najib, who is also prime minister, said Umno must focus all its efforts on improving training, knowledge, logistics and the mindset of members to strengthen the party and ensure electoral victory. "We should be prepared in a holistic and comprehensive manner, either in terms of training, knowledge, logistics or in terms of our mindset, our frame of mind, to focus on efforts which could strengthen our party, and to avoid engaging in acts that could weaken the party. "So it is incumbent that our approach must be able to create a strong front, we must close our ranks and we must show the kind of strength that will strike fear among our opponents," he said, according to the full transcript of the interview on Bernama Online. Likening the election to war, Najib said Umno must bolster its strategy, logistics and equipment well before even the first shot is fired. He added that "fundamental values" like loyalty and allegiance, discipline, commitment and teamwork are also qualities that are needed to be fostered in the party ahead of elections. "All these are fundamental values which we must internalise and which we must not compromise. Otherwise, our party will stand to lose in certain areas," he said. Umno needs to have mental strength and fortitude if it wishes to endure the psychological and emotional stress when competing in enemy territory, Najib also said. "If we are mentally resilient and our spirit is strong, we shall overcome... even if the playing field is not level, like in Jakarta," he said, drawing an analogy with the Malaysian football team's SEA Games success in Indonesia. Najib desperately needs to win a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the next election to secure his mandate. His government has moved aggressively into the opposition's Middle Malaysia fortress in recent months, armed with promises of greater freedoms and civil liberties. To date, the prime minister has repealed three Emergency declarations, pledged to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA), tabled the Peaceful Assembly Bill, set up the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform and given more leeway to university students to participate in politics.
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| Malaysia to amend contested protest law Posted: 25 Nov 2011 08:35 PM PST (AFP) - Malaysia will amend a new law banning street demonstrations, a report said, amid further protests on Saturday by critics who say the bill clamps down on their right to peaceful assembly. Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced a slew of reforms aimed at expanding civil liberties to shore up support ahead of snap elections widely expected to be called next year. But one of his initiatives, the Peaceful Assembly Bill, has come under intense fire for what critics say restricts the right to peaceful protest rather than safeguards it. The Star daily quoted de facto law minister Nazri Aziz on Saturday as saying the Cabinet had agreed to amend several sections of the bill despite Mr Najib defending the law after tabling it in parliament this week.
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| Bar Council plumbs for Parliament panel to review peaceful assembly bill Posted: 25 Nov 2011 08:28 PM PST (The Malaysian Insider) - Bar Council chief Lim Chee Wee is pushing Putrajaya to refer the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill to a parliamentary select committee (PSC) for review instead of making a further mess of the proposed law. In an email statement to The Malaysian Insider today, Lim noted the government's decision to amend seven provisions in the proposed law was "mildly positive" but stressed it was not responding to the real problem. "It is being rushed with unholy haste into law without adequate public consultation," the lawyer said. He noted that much of the government's amendments to the proposed law remained unknown, except for the plan to shorten the advanced notice to the police for a "static assembly" to be held, from 30 days to 10. Lim pointed out there were many other "objectionable" provisions in the proposed law that also bans street demonstrations, or as he called it "assemblies in motion". In comparison, he said in the UK, no notice is required for static assemblies, while "assemblies in motion" only needed a six-day advanced notice. In Finland, organisers only needed to give notice six hours ahead of the planned assembly. "This is outrageous," Lim said, and cited a famous English judge, Lord Alfred Denning, who had said that "freedom of assembly is a hard-earned freedom not to be taken for granted". He added that history is full of warnings against suppression of such rights and reminded the Barisan Nasional government of Umno's 15,000-strong march against the colonialist government's Malayan Union idea, which disregarded the Malay interest.
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| PKR vows to field ‘principled’ candidates Posted: 25 Nov 2011 05:23 PM PST Party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail promises that candidates for the coming polls will be committed to PKR's struggle and not be lured by money. (Free Malaysia Today) - PKR, which witnessed several of its elected representatives abandoning ship in the aftermath of the 2008 general election, vowed not to repeat the mistake. Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, party president and wife of opposition supremo Anwar Ibrahim, said PKR would not pick "suspicious" candidates for the coming polls. "We (PKR's top leadership) guarantee that we will consult the divisions and grassroots in choosing the candidates. "The candidates should be those who are qualified, hold true to the principles of the struggle and will not be tempted by the millions of ringgit from the enemy (to defect)," she added. Speaking to more than 2,000 people while opening PKR's eighth national congress in Johor, Wan Azizah stressed that the party would not compromise with the enemies within. She said the party leadership received feedback on some of its elected representatives who were ill qualified and performed poorly either in Parliament or state assemblies. Those who neglected the plight of the "rakyat" would also face the stick, she said. Blessing in disguise She however said it was a blessing in disguise that the party had discovered traitors (PKR elected representatives who had left the party to become independents) early. "They have now become the tools of corruption," she said.
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| Johor an uphill task, says PKR chief Posted: 25 Nov 2011 05:11 PM PST (The Star) - PKR has acknowledged that it will be an uphill task to capture Johor, the birth place of Umno. PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail said the party had to be realistic about its chances. Speaking at the party's national congress here, she said, however, the party was not short of candidates to field in the general election and gave the assurance that only those committed to the party would be fielded. PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said he was optimistic that the party has more support from the people than five years ago.
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| PKR insists can trounce BN in Johor Posted: 25 Nov 2011 05:05 PM PST (The Malaysian Insider) - PKR reaffirmed its confidence today in toppling Barisan Nasional (BN) in its Johor bastion, claiming the current sentiment on the ground is similar to Perak and Selangor prior to Election 2008.  Saifuddin is confident PKR can take Johor in the next polls. "The signal we get is the same as in Perak and Selangor before. We have planned 20 ceramahs each night and the reception... we never got this five years ago," the Machang MP told a press conference later. He told delegates at what is likely to be the party's last national meet before polls expected early next year that PKR has also previously held its national meet in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Perak before Election 2008. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) grabbed all four states as well as Kelantan in the March 2008 polls and also denied BN its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament. The Malaysian Insider reported that Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman summoned district officers on Thursday morning to brief them on "limiting the impact" of PKR's ceramahs. "MB is taking PKR's presence this weekend seriously," a source said, noting that this was on top of Abdul Ghani's already hectic pre-election schedule that sees him pounding the pavement at least four days a week in "hot seats" across the state. Despite this, the party has refused to be drawn into talk of a mentri besar candidate. Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also told reporters today that PR "won't talk about MB candidate" but would work together to capture the state first. Johor was mostly unaffected from the March 2008 "tsunami" that swept 82 PR lawmakers into Parliament. PR won just one federal and six state seats out of 26 and 56 respectively on offer in Johor in 2008 and none of the winners were from PKR.
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| Dr M’s selfish plea for the Umno upper class Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:38 PM PST By Joe Fernandez, FMT Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 86, appeared on national television Wednesday night on a TV3 programme to flog the age-old line that has so far benefited only a mere handful of "Malays" at the expense of the community itself and the nation. Oblivious to continuing criticism of his "Malay Dilemma" approach, Mahathir reiterated that "the Malay struggle" – whatever it means – was still not over. He argued that the community still needed to be protected by the government until they "duduk sama rendah, berdiri sama tinggi dengan kaum kaum lain". He made no mention, during his selfish plea, of the large numbers of natives of Sabah and Sarawak and the Orang Asli who lie at the bottom of the heap. This kind of skewered political thinking fails to take into account the stark reality that it was the distortions and deviations in the implementation of key legislation and government policy that did and continues to do the Malays in. Besides, it has created a situation where as many Malays as non-Malays continue to flee the country in record numbers to escape the mediocrity culture that has gripped the country. Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, and by extension the New Economic Policy (1979-1990), lie at the heart of the so-called Malay Dilemma. The Federal Constitution, it must be stressed, does not state that the Malays are the natives or original people of Peninsular Malaysia. Nevertheless, Article 153 promises a special position – not special privileges as often claimed by Umno – for the Malays, along with the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia. The special position reserves, for the aforesaid communities, a reasonable proportion of opportunities in four areas viz. intake into the civil service; intake into government-owned institutions of learning and training privileges; government scholarships; and opportunities from the government to do business. Article 153 is not a "sapu bersih" (clean sweep) provision in the Federal Constitution. It recognizes, at the same time, the legitimate aspirations of the non-Malay communities i.e. meaning those other than Orang Asli and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. The bottomline line is that except for a handful of Malays from the ruling elite, the vast majority of Malays like other Malaysians are being denied the fruits of Article 153. Ali Baba syndrome Likewise, the NEP which is an extension of the fourth special position in Article 153, has been an abysmal failure in the wake of the Ali Baba syndrome and successive kleptocratic chief executives heading the federal and state governments. Any business with and from the government – be it contracts, tenders, procurements and the like – cost the tax payer, in the ultimate analysis, anything from twice to ten times the actual figure. The difference is pocketed by the many on the gravy train created by the politics of patronage. This is akin to stealing from the public treasury. One result has been that the Umno government has failed to ensure that the Orang Asli, natives and Malays will own, manage and control 30 per cent of the nation's corporate wealth – i.e. the publicly listed companies – by 1990. Twenty years after the NEP was to have officially ended, the state and federal GLCs are being passed off as the 30 per cent. State-owned assets cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered as being owned by just one community in Malaysia, and to the exclusion of other citizens. |
| Peaceful Assembly Bill may affect ceramahs Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:35 PM PST By Tarani Palani, FMT PETALING JAYA: With the Peaceful Assembly Bill it looks like the police will have the final say on political ceramahs. Now, a police permit is no longer required to hold an assembly. But the orgnanisers must inform the police 30-days in advance before organising such gatherings or assemblies. The Pakatan Rakyat MPs fear that this new ruling will hamper their election campaigns. During a debate over the matter, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim had raised that the fact that the bill further complicates the opposition front's capacity to hold ceramahs and to reach out to the people. DAP MP for Rasah Anthony Loke said political ceramahs was a major way to reach-out to the voters. Under the current law, he said opposition political ceramah activities are already at the mercy of the OCPD. However, with the new law in place, it is more difficult to reach out to the public through these talks. "Usually the crowd, especially the Malay crowd depends heavily on political ceramah. With the current Police Act, we are already heavily depended on the discretion of the OCPD. "If you get a reasonable OCPD, its easier (to attain a permit). If you get an unreasonable OCPD it gets harder," he said. Loke also took issue with the lengthy notification period. "Political activities don't work this way. Within 30 days, the issues would have already died down, "Within two, three days when an issue come to the fore, you need to have forums or briefing sessions to inform the public. Thirty days is unreasonable when we live in an age where information flows within seconds," he added. Huge fines Fellow MP and DAP publicity chief, Tony Pua agreed that ceramahs were an important means to reach out to the public. "We have no control over print and broadcasts media. Our opinions only get published in (the) online media which have limited reach. "We rely on direct communications on the ground to get our message across," said the Petaling Jaya Utara MP. Another issue, which may land MPs in a sticky situation is the of fines imposed on wrong-doers which can disqualify MPs as parliamentarians. As it stands now, MPs could lose their seat if they are fined an excess of RM2,000 or a jail sentence of one year is imposed on them. If a MP is found guilty, under the new bill, he could face a maximum of RM10,000 and RM20,000 for some offences. Loke brushed aside arguments made by Barisan National MPs that it is up to the judge's discretion to issue the fines which may not reach the maximum amount stipulated by the Bill.
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| Entri’s sacking: S’wak BN leaders concerned Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:34 PM PST By Joseph Tawie, FMT KUCHING: Sarawak Barisan Nasional leaders have expressed concern over the effects of the sacking of Sylvester Entri, the Marudi assemblyman from SPDP. The SPDP vice-president and assistant minister of public utilities was sacked last Friday after he was found guilty of leading a group of eight leaders to rebel against the party leadership in January last year. Among the first to react to the sacking was Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud who said that he would discuss the matter with SPDP leaders. "Let things cool down first. I will meet the party leaders," added the state BN chairman, who had earlier described the issue as a "family problem" and not a crisis. State BN secretary-general Stephen Rundi said Entri was still a member of BN. "Entri is not partyless. Whatever it is, we all are still BN men. We will solve the problem," he said. Commenting on the same issue, PRS president James Masing wanted Entri and the other four elected representatives to remain with BN at all costs to prevent them from joining the opposition. BN leaders held an emergency meeting on Friday night at the residence of the chief minister after news of the sacking broke. Entri is no ordinary assemblyman; he was not only hand-picked by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) leaders to contest in Marudi in the 1996 state election donning the SPDP shirt but he was now a Muslim after marrying a woman related to Taib. 'Saddest day of my political career' In announcing the sacking, SPDP president William Mawan said: "Today is the saddest day of my political career. After due process and consultation with the supreme council, with regret I announce that YB Sylvester Entri is no longer a member of SPDP with immediate effect. But the seat of Marudi which Entri is representing remains with the party." Mawan recalled the incident in January last year when Entri staged a walkout, followed by Peter Nansian, senior vice-president and Tasik Biru assemblyman, Dr Tiki Lafe, vice-president and MP for Mas Gading, Rosey Yunus, vice-president and Bekenu assemblywoman, Paulus Gumbang, information chief and Batu Danau assemblyman, supreme council members Peter Gani, George Garai and Cr Eda Egar. "I have consistently maintained that SPDP's door was always open for them. Instead, Entri and his group continuously distanced themselves from the party by not attending supreme council meetings and made sustained attacks on me, challenging and ridiculing my leadership through one press statement after another. "These acts created unnecessary tension and anxiety amongst our party members and can even threaten the existence of our party," he said.
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