Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Don’t be Duped by BN’s Bread and Circuses
- Surat Ringkas Buat Chua Soi Lek
- Object hudud, not insult Islam
- Rafizi’s attacks on NFC has set Malaysia back by 10 years
- The Firefighter's Plight
- PAS gets my vote
| Don’t be Duped by BN’s Bread and Circuses Posted: 25 Oct 2012 10:56 AM PDT
Nicole Tan Lee Koon, Secretary, Seremban branch, DAP NS The term "Bread and Circuses" (Latin: panem et circenses) is a figure of speech for a fake sense of satisfaction or the "feel good" factor. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the garnering of public approval through manipulation and/or the instant/quick mere satisfaction of the shallow requirements of the citizens. In other words, as "panadols" for quick fixes. Juvenal (a Roman poet) defined it as "a simplistic motivation of common people". The phrase is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To politicians, it connotes the winning formula for the survival of the Roman Republic for centuries. Both the Roman Republic and China's Han dynasty lasted for 500 years. The former used "bread and circuses" whilst the latter was an absolute monarchy. Instead of winning the citizens' approval through excellent public service and policies, the Roman Republic gave cheap food and entertainment. The Roman Republic provided the bread and circuses in order to order to keep the Roman citizens from becoming too discontent with their lives. The Roman government provided the citizens with enough food (bread) so they wouldn't starve and enough entertainment (circuses) so they would be amused. Hence, the Romans elected them again and again. BN's breads are the 1Malaysia goodies and handouts (BR1M Part 1 & 2, free tyres for taxi drivers, smart phone allowances for young adults, FELDA's RM15,000, pay rise for civil servants, etc). BN's latest " bread" was announced by Najib : "Najib Announces RM2.98 Billion for Sabah next year" (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/najib-announces-rm2.98b-for-sabah-next-year/). BN's circuses shows are the alphabet soup management (ETP, GTP, NKRA etc); not forgetting tarring the roads before any General elections. Another great circus show was Najib's "groundbreaking" announcement in his Malaysia Day's speech. He said the government shall repeal the 3 Emergency Declarations and the draconian statutes like ISA, Printing Presses and Publications Act and Banishment Food (or bread) for thought : is BN using the age old formula of "Bread and Circuses" to survive another general elections? Are we gullible enough to allow that to happen again? N.B : Steven Sim's article "Is A Country A Brand?" also touches on bread and circuses. |
| Surat Ringkas Buat Chua Soi Lek Posted: 23 Oct 2012 09:01 PM PDT
Syafiq Kamil, Penerangan Ma'ruf Club Hari ini bicara Hudud kembali hangat semula di media dengan kenyataan kurang beradab seorang makhluk Allah bernama Chua Soi Lek. Kepada Encik Chua Soi Lek, kami menawarkan kepada anda dua pilihan; sama ada anda berhenti bercakap pasal agama lain, atau jika anda mahu juga bercakap mengenai agama lain lebih-lebih lagi Islam, anda duduk belajar mengenai agama Islam dengan ulama'-ulama' kami. Anda perlu faham, anda sebenarnya seorang yang masih jahil bab hukum hakam Islam. Lihatlah sahaja bagaimana Encik Lim Kit Siang membalas kenyataan anda. Kenyataan anda semakin hari semakin pelik. Anda mendakwa Islam membenarkan wanita bukan Islam yang tidak menutup aurat dirogol oleh orang Islam. Dari mana anda belajar? Bahkan anda tahu atau tidak apa yang dimaksudkan dengan aurat atau ketika kod pemakaian Islam? Jika anda tidak tahu, silakan baca artikel ini terlebih dahulu. Jika anda masih tidak faham istilah-istilah yang digunakan, tidak mengapa kami akan cuba terangkan. Kami akan terangkan dengan penuh beradab dan budi bahasa. Budi bahasa budaya kita. Sekarang bukan soal anda dari parti mana. Kami di peringkat mahasiswa sentiasa jelas dengan pendirian kami, tidak kira parti mana, jika ianya menghina sensitiviti agama Islam mahupun agama lain, anda wajib ditegur. Anda mesti mahu mendapat penjelasan mengapa PAS begitu bersungguh-sungguh mahu melaksanakan hudud bukan? Sebelum itu anda masih mengerti atau tidak apa yang dimaksudkan dengan hudud menurut perspektif Islam? Sudah dengar penjelasan pimpinan PAS? Adakah bezanya hudud PAS dengan hudud sebenar yang digariskan dalam Islam? Kalau masih belum mengerti, di sini kami sertakan link mengenai penjelasan di sekitar 'hudud PAS'. Link yang kami sertakan ini semuanya diambil dari jaringan web kelolaan PAS. Jangan melatah lagi, baca dulu, Encik Chua Soi Lek. Jika anda masih perlukan penjelasan dan penerangan dengan lebih lanjut, kami sedia berjumpa menerangkan kepada anda dengan lebih lanjut. Kita buat usrah sekali, anda mahu tanya seribu empat ratus enam puluh tiga soalan pun, kami akan cuba untuk jawab dengan penjelasan mendalam. Kami sediakan pakar-pakar yang terbaik buat anda! |
| Object hudud, not insult Islam Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:54 PM PDT
Datuk Chua Jui Meng, PKR vice-president NO MALAYSIAN has the right to insult any religion. And MCA, in its amok frenzy to garner Chinese support for the next general election, is doing just that against Islam, the national religion. Using the hukum hudud (Islamic criminal law) bogey, as has been used for umpteen years after Merdeka (Independence), what the MCA and even the dominant Umno in Barisan Nasional (BN) don't realise is that the hudud is a double edged sword. It harms and damages the integrity of both MCA and Umno. Malaysians have every right to object to the implementation of the hudud but not insult Islam. When MCA president Chua Soi Lek says eight of the 11 countries that implemented hudud were backward and corrupt, that is just a plain insulting sweeping statement. When Chua says hudud is a cruel law, that is harsh to the Muslims and Islam. Can't he articulate more diplomatically? Like saying the hudud is not suitable for this era because … There are many other insults hurled by MCA against Islam which I do not wish to repeat. The Islam-bashing led by Chua exposes Umno as a hypocrite, unable to defend the national religion against the insults. With Mahathir Mohamad, the man who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, saying MCA did not object to 'Islamic country' declaration, MCA is now a political dead duck to the Chinese and Muslims. It is also becoming increasingly clear to all that Mahathir is still running the country. As usual, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can't make a stand. He had no response when asked about Soi Lek's insulting statements. Najib could not defend his own religion. In exasperation, Mahathir had to take the issue into his own hands. After the fire bombings of churches over the use of the word "Allah", it was Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who emerged to defend the constitutional rights of the Christians. The Christian weekly, The Herald, then took the Umno-led federal government to court over the use of the word "Allah" to describe God. On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court ruled that the Christians had the right to use the word "Allah" because the word was not exclusive to Muslims only. I say there is no more room for race and religious politics in Malaysia. We are Malaysians loyal to the country. And this is an extract of a June 20, 2002, AP report: All these zombie-like religious and racial slurs put up by MCA and Umno for the past 55 years are aimed at only maintaining their political power to enrich their crony businesses and the elite. That is the only plausible explanation why, a natural resource-rich country, including oil and gas, like Malaysia has accumulated more than RM500 billion in federal debts, just 1.3% short of the 55% legislated debt ceiling. If this is not gross mismanagement of the country's wealth, what is it?
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| Rafizi’s attacks on NFC has set Malaysia back by 10 years Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:46 PM PDT
Industry players in the agriculture sector say the relentless rhetoric by Rafizi has set Malaysia back by 10 years from meeting the government's objectives in its National Meat Policy (Ruminant Sector) 2006. Fabiani Azmi A New Straits Times report has quoted the Attorney General as saying, "The investigation did not reveal criminal breaches as far as the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is concerned." Will the government then immediately revitalize the NFC project? Will it expedite the construction of the important Export Quality Abattoir to meet the slaughter numbers? Will Malaysians then stop consuming tough buffalo meat imports (Malaysia is the largest importer of Indian buffalo meat termed misleadingly as Cara beef). Fabiani Azmi talks to those that matter and is told .. It would appear that Malaysians have not been given the right impression on the issues confronting the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) and National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) which otherwise would have been a highly viable and profitable venture for entrepreneurs especially contract farmers who were targeted to raise beef sufficiency levels to 40% by 2015, one big step towards Malaysia's food security. The suspension and silence adopted by the government had allowed the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim and his slanderous strategy honcho Rafizi Ramli to fuel lies, distortions and misrepresentations on the NFC beef project and NFCorp. Industry players in the agriculture sector say the relentless rhetoric by Rafizi has set Malaysia back by 10 years from meeting the government's objectives in its National Meat Policy (Ruminant Sector) 2006. It has never been the intention of Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition to see Malaysians benefit from government initiatives. The Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGVH) IPO re ignited by the prime minister to lift the welfare of farmers is a perfect example. By listing Felda, Najib had upgraded the position of Felda from a group of local farmers into a mega international conglomerate, the listing of which is the second largest in the world this year. But the opposition's incessant vile attacks on FGVH to wreck government initiatives were evident in the lead up to its listing. In NFCorp's case, the opposition's primary aim was to derail the Wanita UMNO Chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who commands a membership portfolio of over 1.3 million women voters. Shahrizat is married to NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Dr Salleh. The opposition was never really concerned that the beef project was important to Malaysia's food security. Their zeal and fervour was to knock Shahrizat off from the government machinery by running down the NFC project and NFCorp the company to demolish the government. So for months, Malaysians were fed with lies, distortions and misrepresentations. Among others, the opposition had harped on the findings of the Auditor General's 2010 Report. For the NFC beef project to have been successful, an Export Quality Abattoir (EQA) designed to slaughter 350 heads of cattle a day was vital. Without the EQA in place, the contract farmers under the Entrepreneur Development Programme (EDP) would not be able to slaughter 186,000 heads of cattle in 2014. Neither could NFCorp for their 60,000 heads of cattle. This foremost point was never clearly brought to the public's attention by the Auditor General in his previous 2010 report. Nor did the opposition in their politically motivated attacks. The EQA deferment meant that the EDP programme could not be rolled out. Nor could the feed mills and the bio gas plant (which relies on volume abattoir waste) to generate electricity, be feasible. Nor could more cattle be imported as there would be a surplus with many left to idle and languish in the farms. And currently there is no other such EQA of this capacity in Malaysia. The EQA meets world-class standards and is an imperative requirement by international hypermarkets and supermarkets in Malaysia before the slaughtered beef can be sold to consumers at their outlets. The AG's lack in co-relating this crucial missing link of the EQA in the NFC equation had contributed to misperceptions. Instead, concerns were on beef production shortfall, delays in the construction of ancillary facilities such as the feed mills and a bio gas plant, the deferment of the EDP and satellite farms, government infrastructure and other weaknesses. As a result, the opposition used these points to their advantage and created a political stir against the government, NFCorp, and robbed 310 potential contract farmers of a lucrative opportunity for a better livelihood. The latest 2011 AG Report released recently reported the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Attorney General's Chambers mulling civil action. NFCorp said in a statement that it was the MOA's prior act of default on the Implementation Agreement that had caused all the needless shortcomings and set backs in the NFC project. The statement sought the Attorney General's indulgence to be fair in assessing the truth of the situation in all fairness to the parties before plunging into any civil action. It is understood that as early as 2007, NFCorp had been reassured in meetings with the MOA that the EQA would be completed by 2008. However, the MOA had only tendered the EQA construction in 2009. In May 2009, the ministry called off the EQA and suspended the NFC project. The reason given was that a Viability and Business Model Study had to be undertaken. Despite two years with NFCorp on track with the NFC project, one wonders should not this study have been done first before tendering the project? It was also really unnecessary to halt the NFC project. NFCorp had already succeeded in importing 8,897 heads of cattle, 11 per cent more than the planned target for 2010. The government-commissioned independent study by UPM Holdings had pointed, "On the whole, the NFC Project represents a viable project both from an implementation and profitability standpoint, and is in line with the aspiration to develop entrepreneurs in the feedlot sector provided the project is carried out as outlined in the Implementation Agreement." Today the EQA and NFC project remains deferred. The MOA defaulted on its obligations in the Implementation Agreement. There is really no basis for the government to take civil action, lawyers tell. The AG had also come out to say in an NST report that "The investigation did not reveal criminal breaches as far as the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is concerned." If that is the case, what is next for Malaysian Halal beef consumers in this predicament? The NFC beef project has been suspended. The EQA has yet to be built. The Government's National Meat Policy (Ruminant Sector) 2006 to ensure Malaysia's food security has been jeopardized and set back by the opposition by 10 years. Will we continue to be eating Buffalo meat imports? "All this is so illogical without any sense and sensibility," said housewife Noorjanah Abdul Samad on a trip to the market to procure beef for her rendang that she intends to cook to celebrate Hari Raya Haji. She finds it hard to distinguish between Indian beef and the genuine beef. She asked why was Indian buffalo meat referred as Indian beef? Will she and many other unsuspecting housewives end up with a periuk of tough Indian buffalo rendang? In this quagmire, Fabiani believes this is tantamount to labeling kangaroo meat as Australian beef. About the Writer Fabiani Azmi is an avid reader of Malaysia Today, intelligent mainstream newspapers and Internet news portals. When not reading, he also enjoys the company of sapiosexuals. It's a stimulating discovery for him. |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:42 PM PDT
Nicole Tan Lee Koon, Secretary of Seremban branch, DAP Negeri Sembilan. I want to share the firefighter's plight with you. Let's say an arsonist started a fire. The firefighter then comes and tries to extinguish the fire. The arsonist then tries to sabotage the firefighter's effort. In the late 80s, Chan Ah Chye, a former engineer and project manager in Selangor state subsidiary PKNS formed Talam Corporation. He was the crony of BN Menteri Besar, Muhammad Muhammad Taib and became a major player in the Selangor development scene. An extremely large amount of state land was alienated to Talam for a song. Talam's modus operandi was to use the land for huge loans to finance their projects. Talam's loan kept growing. Talam also owed MBI (Menteri Besar Incorporated) a huge sum of money i.e RM392 million. In 2008, Pakatan took over Selangor and Khalid Ibrahim became the MB. Khalid inherited a situation in which Talam owes MBI the said RM392 million. Khalid, an expert in corporate finance then planned to recover the RM392 million from Talam, which was owed to Selangorians. Khalid and his team succeeded. For a more information, please read Nathaniel Tan's article : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/202941. The story does not end here. Chua Tee Yong then comes along and cries wolf. He claimed that MBI's restructuring was tainted with scandal. However, Chua did not do his homework properly. He reduced the amount of money claimed to be 'misused' by Selangor - from RM1 billion, to RM260 million, to RM42 million. Using "The Star" as his mouthpiece, Chua continued attacking Pakatan with his malicious lies. Summary : There you have it. A fire (Talamgate) started by an arsonist (BN). A firefighter (Pakatan) managed to extinguish the fire. Instead of thanking the firefighter for saving the fire, the arsonist (BN) tried to sabotage the firefighter's (Pakatan) effort, by claiming that it was done wrongly! What shall we do with an arsonist such as BN? Kick the arsonist out in GE13!!! |
| Posted: 22 Oct 2012 01:11 PM PDT
Instead of suggesting something constructive, the MCA, in election gear, decides to embark on a fear-mongering campaign. May Chee I think every kampong or neighbourhood has this one person whom you see at the warung or food-stall during mealtimes. He kind-of holds court, speaks rather loud and in a condescending tone. If you stay long enough, you will also notice that he never pays for his food. It's as if he needs to speak the way he does to earn his keep. I think you call that "free-loading"? All this "hate" speech lately by the MCA against PAS, hudud, and about my favourite Mursyidul Am, Nik Aziz instigating rape of non-Muslim women borders on being just that – "free-loading". Rehashing news from 2008 just goes to show how bankrupt MCA has become. To go back in time when you should move forward – to create, innovate, progress, anything but backslide and with such malice, too. It beggars belief! Instead of suggesting something constructive, the MCA, in election gear, decides to embark on a fear-mongering campaign. Goodness, a dearth of brains in the MCA-ah? Are the people in MCA even serious about wanting to represent our interests in Parliament? Aiyoh, how-lah? How can we trust such bird-brains to fight for us? Sure lose, hands-down! Despite what a fumbling imbecile of a minister may say, Karpal Singh, another towering Malaysian has reminded us not too long ago that in 1988, former Lord President of the Federal (later, Supreme) Court of Malaysia ruled that the country was governed by secular law which meant Malaysia was a secular state. Is that not clear enough? Come on MCA, we are not morons. We know you for what you are. Among the feather-brain schemes, initially the 1Care and now, the latest being the AES, you are in cahoots with the plunderers to rob us, Malaysians, blind! How lofty can you people in the MCA get? Are you not touching base with the ordinary rakyat? How on earth can we afford to enrich you and your cronies any further? To feed your avaricious appetite for money and power? Have you not seen how the poor are getting poorer and the ordinary Malaysian is finding it hard to get by? And you people still think that it is only a perception that the crime rate has skyrocketed? Are you people in the MCA living in denial or what? By the time you wake up, the rest of us Malaysians have crossed over to the other shore while you stay behind, stranded! Worse still, you'll be drowned! PAS president, Abdul Hadi Awang, himself had reiterated last year, that the Quran did not provide for an Islamic state but a welfare state. That's not a bad thing. Shouldn't that be every leader's responsibility, to see to the welfare of the state? What do we have in the MCA? Now and then, fighting for scraps that fall off the banquet table? Even Lazarus had better! Are you anyone's equal, MCA? 1Malaysia, what's that? A miserable handful of scholarships for some students and that too, debatable about whom they go to. I've heard stories about how some people obtained their scholarships. You are a farce, MCA, you really are! We have real problems here, in Malaysia. For instance, we need to do something real quick about our mounting debts. It's definitely not a perception that we live in fear. My daughter was almost "mishandled" by someone in a car-park in one of the shopping centres in KL recently. Thank God she had a friend with her and a gentleman who parked his car on the same level. I cannot wait to pack her off to where she can be safer. Our education system is in shambles. My nephew who has been placed first in class since he started Standard 1 told my sister that he needed Physics tuition because his teacher has not taught since the beginning of this year. All she does is to ask the students to refer to some bright sparks in class. I don't want to foam at the mouth, as RPK would say. But honestly, MCA, are you aware of the problems we, the people whom you profess to represent, have? Doubt fear-mongering, using PAS as your punching bag, is the quick-fix we need. Get real, MCA or ship out! To me, the MCA has apparently isolated itself from the misfortunes of the ordinary rakyat, and day after day, wastes the opportunity to help them. Yes, it's an opportunity to be of service to others, for the last shall be first and the first, last. I don't see any effort coming from the people in MCA that promote human dignity nor do I see any of them participating actively in the building of the future of this nation. But I do see how hastily these same people wanted to implement the AES. I see a loathing self-interest to enrich their own coffers and a lack of courage in standing up to their "sleeping partners". Or is it a case of "you scratch my back, I scratch yours"; acting like opportunists whose deeds do not match the responsibilities that they are entrusted with. Coming from the Malacca hometown of Tun Tan Siew Sin, I shudder to think that the MCA of today has all but lost its original identity and mission. I see a leadership whose intuition is bogged down by corruption, cronyism and cowardice. And for that, the MCA is already deemed irrelevant and will have no further impact on our Malaysian history. I believe many past and present leaders of the MCA realize that they are no longer respected by the majority of Malaysians, not even those they "sleep" with. Yet, MCA, you are not purging yourselves to merit this respect. Sad, no? Aren't you made of sterner stuff? Your forefathers crossed oceans, with nothing more than the shirts on their backs, to seek a fortune for themselves. Even the cousins they left behind in Thong San are doing really well. As national leaders, those of you in the MCA should open your eyes to the evils that afflict the nation. You should know by now that injustices will be paid for dearly or are you still fooling yourselves that you can get away with it? We need progressive leaders who can champion unity, not those who still engage in the stone-aged tactics of divide-and-rule. That's not Malaysian. We have to discover a new meaning in the Malaysian way of living. For that, we have to leave behind an existence where we live alienated lives from one another. That's no more Malaysian. We need each other to mature as a true, progressive people. Things will work out better for us if we share our responsibilities. That's Malaysian. Having a stranglehold on the economy and perhaps, leaving entire classes of people in poverty is no more acceptable. It shall not be Malaysian.The devil is not out there, MCA. It's not PAS and it's not the DAP. It's within you. Be afraid, MCA, be very afraid. I'm not alone here when I, a Catholic and a Chinese woman say, "PAS gets my vote, any day!" God bless, especially Mursyidul Am, Nik Aziz and please forgive MCA's insolence. Thank you. |
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