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Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Guan Eng defends CEC appointments
- The curse of Dr Mahathir?
- Rise of DAP’s young Turks
- PAS: Tiada kerusi tambahan bagi DAP di Selangor
- DAP adds non-Chinese, East M’sians to CEC
- Ramasamy shrugs off sabotage claims
| Guan Eng defends CEC appointments Posted: 16 Dec 2012 01:34 AM PST
The DAP sec-gen however was coy when asked if the outcome of the party polls would have a bearing in the selection of Malay candidates for the general election. Leven Woon, FMT DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today defended the party's decision to appoint Malay leaders into the centre leadership despite claims that it was merely a window dressing. At a press conference after the party's two-day congress, Lim said political rivals were keen to politicise every DAP's move as political stunts. "It never becomes an issue for parties that don't appoint (Malays to the high post). But we appoint, and it still becomes an issue," he said. Lim's statement came in light of the party polls yesterday that saw not a single Malay leader being elected into the 20-seat centre executive committee (CEC). Only three Indian leaders made the cut while the rest were all Chinese. Although the party today co-opted seven non-Chinese and East Malaysians into the CEC, leaders such as Penang DAP deputy chief P Ramasamy and Penang CEC member Zulklifli Mohd Noor pointed out that the party was still far from being a truly multiracial party. Lim also admitted that there were elements of symbolism when the party appointed Malay leaders to its CEC. He said Ariffin SM Omar was co-opted into CEC because he was an academician and a senator while Zairil Khir Johari was unique because he is the son of the first education minister of Malaysia. Lim dodged an answer when asked whether the party would field more Malay candidates in the upcoming general election, only saying that they would field winnable candidates. He said East Malaysians leaders were appointed into CEC as a result of DAP's inroads to Sabah and Sarawak. "We want to be inclusive, they can play a role in helping us to spread our wing," he described. Meanwhile, the Penang chief minister said that the new Pakatan Rakyat bureau was created to broaden discussion between the coalition parties in the event the Pakatan leadership council failed to reach consensus in certain issue. He said Selangor DAP deputy head Teng Chang Kim was tasked to head the bureau because of his experience as the Selangor speaker and that most of the members were based in Klang Valley.
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| Posted: 15 Dec 2012 04:33 PM PST  It seems we are in the season for cursing and curses, wakakaka. Recently PAS did the unusual in having a prayer session to curse UMNO. The cursing itself was not unusual as you can bet such curses would be a norm during the period running up to an election, be it for the state or party. It was only unusual because PAS announced the cursing session openly, wakakaka. I wonder whether UMNO pollies bought some tangkals (azimat) from Pak Bomoh Awang Mohd Yahya to neutralize the PAS curses. wakakaka. Well after all, more than a few UMNO, PAS and PKR pollies (not Tian Chua or Sivarasa though, wakakaka) consult bomohs prior to any election on to their respective chances - see my posts Religious Devotion of Malaysian Politicians and Doctor is in - by appointment only!
Anyway, many were shocked by a prayer session being used, or as they believed, misused for cursing. But actually, cursing has been part of the Abrahamic religions for eons, with the most dramatic being good olde Moses laying down the evil word on the Pharaoh with the god-given curse of 10 plagues. The 10 plagues (or god's curses manifested) started with the mild, just the River Nile turning red with blood, but escalated in harshness with each succeeding plague until the most drastic and evil of all occurred with the 10th, when the god of the Hebrews murdered every innocent first-born in Egypt, human and animals (Exodus 11:4-6 - KJV): And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. That was worse than the Chinese 'harm kar ch'an', a genocidal curse on the family line of one's enemies - very barbaric and only uttered by low class Chinese [low class in character, mentality and behaviour, wakakaka].
Of course if you leave it to the Judaists and Christians, they would tell you god punished those Egyptians because ... yadda yadda yadda ... ... but really I wonder, which creator god (supposedly loving, compassionate and forgiving) would do that to his own creations. Answer: Of course only the god of the Hebrews. And it would be hardly surprising that such a Hebrew god would call his Hebrews (and thereafter, Israelites, Judeans, Jews) his 'chosen people', as we have come to learn from the OT bible, one incidentally written by, would you believe, the Judeans, wakakaka. If you ask the Japanese, they would tell you they are god's children, where their emperor is descended directly from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and their islands created by the Japanese gods Izanagi and Izanami.
Not to be outdone, an ambitious UMNO man with the moniker of Reezal Merican, undoubtedly eyeing some high positions with all its trappings (wakakaka), decided to make a name for himself by copycat-ing the Judean (Jewish) claim and declaring that Malays are mukhtarin, god's 'chosen ones', and of course (the principal motive and objective) UMNO has been anointed by god as the equivalent of Moses, presumably to lead the Malays into some sort of UMNO-ish promised land. Naturally he omitted mentioning that Moses led the Hebrews wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years, from 1972 to 2012 circa 1350 BCE. Reezal Merican then openly pontificated "What is there of the Malays before Umno came along?" What about them living in the glorious golden age of the Malacca Sultanate? What about them being citizens of the amazing Srivijaya Empire before they decided to be known specifically as Malays?
But Reezal Merican wasn't the first 'Malay' (wakakaka) to claim the 'chosen' status for Malays. Harussani what's-his-name, Perak's chief mufti, beat him to it by declaring in 2011 that Malays are more special than Arabs in Islam, though he, perhaps merajuk-ishly and grudgingly wakakaka, admitted Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an Arab. In the preposterous claim to primary Islamic pedigree, Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, the director general of the Institute of Islamic Understanding, even preceded Harussani what's-his-name by informing us in 2006, that: "The Melayu is defined as first being a Muslim and because he's a Muslim, he follows the customs and traditions of the Malays which are derived from Islam, followed by the language of the Malays which (also) derives from Islam." Huh? "... the customs and traditions of the Malays which are derived from Islam, followed by the language of the Malays which (also) derives from Islam ..."? But then in this, I suppose he's supported by PAS in Kelantan which has prohibited the wayang kulit from showing episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata because of their Hindu origins.
But hey, perhaps wayang kulit proponents could use Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas' argument that the customs and traditions of the Malays including the wayang kulit and makyong have been derived from Islam and have nothing to do with any other religions. And just to be on the safe side, the bersanding ceremony should be reviewed to cull off any inherited Hindu cultural elements, while the Malay lexicon must be purged of words such as raja, agama, negara & bangsa, all of which have been inherited from Sanskrit, wakakaka. Thus, not withstanding Reezal Merican's oratorical antics, and the Hebrews and Japanese myths, it's a matter of who wrote the book (or uttered same at a political party's general assembly, wakakaka) for a race to become god's 'chosen' ones.
All the above UMNO and UMNO-affiliates' silliness have risen to prominence only in the last 30 years - more of their cause later. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. Gasp ... but Deuteronomy 28:30 is quite frightening too in stating: Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: ... etc etc ... Wow, the curse of the Hebrew god actually promoted husbands being cuckold-ed and wives committing adultery? No wonder it set those Hebrew men on their murderous rampage in Canaan.
But okay, those biblical curses by god were about 4000 years ago. Today no church or priests/monks would do that ... aha ... except for those clerics in PAS, perhaps indicating their mentality still resemble the original mould (template) designed during those ancient times, wakakaka. But let's forget about PAS and its perennial perpetual problematic obsession with sex and matters sexual such as Shimshon (Samson) and Delilah in a Kota Baru salon, and Dawid and Yehonathan (David and Jonathan, son of King Saul) allegedly cavorting at the KB airport a la 1 Samuel 18:1-4 (KJV): And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. ... Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
A couple of days ago I posted The Curse of Marina Lee Abdullah? Today I though I would write along the same line but with Dr Mahathir as my new 'Moses' and his curse, that is the curse of (or by) Dr Mahathir, not that bloke who was confused as to whether he was Egyptian or Hebrew. I have to confess that, while I had previously penned a bit here and there about Dr M's 'curse' before, and planned to do an improved post, it has been RPK who inspired me to get on with this task by a few paragraphs in his post The journey in life is never a straight line (PART 16). RPK's post talks about the Great UMNO Split in 1987 (about 8 months after the nation's 1986 general election), an irreparable schism brought about by the acrimonious tussle for power between Dr Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh (Ku Li) which was brought to a finale in UMNO's 1987 party election. The lines which caught my eyes are:
And did it prove to be the mother of all battles! Never before had so much money been spent on a party election. Never before had threats as well as blackmail been used to the extreme to make people do the bidding of those who aspired for power. Never before had Umno been brought to the brink of destruction and which it never really recovered from ever since. The 1987 party contest changed Umno for good and introduced a new culture into Umno that transferred the party from the hands of the nationalists into the hands of the capitalists. Leaving aside RPK's contention in his The journey in life is never a straight line (PART 17) that it had been Anwar Ibrahim who, through his bullying tactics in UMNO intra-party politics, denied us of Tengku Razaleigh as Malaysia's political head in 1987. Tengku has often been touted as the best PM we never had. Instead, Anwar endowed the nation with Dr Mahathir's 22-year premiership, which RPK surmised as a fitting padan muka for poor Mr Manmanlai, wakakaka.
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| Posted: 15 Dec 2012 04:18 PM PST
The Lim family is still on top but the DAP election saw the young Turks pushing the old guards down the rungs and even out of the 20-seat central executive committee (CEC). Anwar had also skipped the PAS muktamar last month and the whispers of tensions over the issue of seat allocations between the three parties are getting louder. PKR vice-president Datuk Mansor Othman urged reporters not to read too much into it even though this is Anwar's homestate and his party will need the DAP's clout to win their seats in the general election. Joceline Tan, The Star THE emcee had said the CEC election result would be announced at about 6.30pm. An hour later, everyone was still waiting. The soft music that had been playing in the background was switched up and Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi's melodic voice came on. Ooi was staging a one-man concert from the Ubah truck parked outside the sports complex where the DAP congress was taking place. The man is wasting his time in politics. He should have become a pop singer he would have made more money and become even more famous than he already is. Everyone burst out laughing when Ooi stopped singing to ask whether the election results were in. The top DAP leaders had already come in from the tea break and were hanging about near the front of the stage, chatting and waiting. At about 8pm, Karpal Singh and his two sons arrived and soon after, the results came. It was a wonder that Karpal managed to look so calm. He must have had some inkling of the outcome. The outspoken lawyer had made a fantastic comeback to the No 3 spot from his previous 9th spot. It was a clear signal that delegates want him to continue speaking out on issues like hudud and the encroachment of PAS policies on non-Muslim lifestyles. Lim Kit Siang, despite his lack of a party post, remains the most well regarded person in the party followed by Guan Eng. The father-and-son pair will have to factor in what Karpal says, including his view on the one-man, one-seat policy in the general election. The outcome was described by some as a transition team. The young Turks are on the rise, with Chong Chieng Jen and Anthony Loke surging into the top five. The old guards like Tan Kok Wai, Fong Kui Lun and Ngeh Koo Ham slipped down the rungs as younger faces like Vincent Wu, Gobind Singh Deo and Tony Pua moved up. The three-way fight in Selangor saw Datuk Teng Chang Khim emerging victorious, moving from No 14 to the prestigious top 10. Rival Teresa Kok slipped from No 6 to No 18 while another rival Ronnie Liu lost. The power structure in Selangor has changed dramatically. "They are the new generation, you can ask for their vote but you cannot tell them how to vote," said a Perak leader pointing to the delegates. The delegates put Kit Siang right on top to show their appreciation while endorsing Guan Eng's quest to defend Penang. Another independent voice Dr Boo Cheng Hau moved up two slots from No 19 to No 17. The inclusion of Teng and Dr Boo in the CEC means that the party wants people who dare to question the leadership. The DAP transition is in place and the next echelon of leaders are up there. The leaders know the veterans have felt left out of the party's post-2008 success and these old-timers were brought on stage to receive mementos in the shape of the Penang ferry. The party is telling them they are still appreciated. It was a good move because these old soldiers will have to work the ground like never before in the general election. Size matters in politics and the opening event was jam-packed with delegates and observers, all of them in an upbeat mood. But the massive show of numbers could not hide the glaring absence of the man whom DAP is promoting as their next prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Neither Anwar nor his wife and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was present. Pakatan Rakyat's other prime minister candidate Datuk Seri Hadi Awang was also missing. PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar and secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali came instead. PAS deputy president Mohamed Sabu popped in after lunch and received a big hug from Guan Eng. PKR was represented by Wanita chief Zuraidah Kamaruddin. Anwar had also skipped the PAS muktamar last month and the whispers of tensions over the issue of seat allocations between the three parties are getting louder. PKR vice-president Datuk Mansor Othman urged reporters not to read too much into it even though this is Anwar's homestate and his party will need the DAP's clout to win their seats in the general election. The other glaring aspect was DAP's attempt to ignore the elephant in the room; the party is clearly afraid to take a strong stand on the recent incidents of moral policing on non-Muslims in Kelantan. The furthest that Guan Eng went was to ask PAS to withdraw the summonses that had been issued against the hair salons. Guan Eng's speech ran on for almost 120 minutes mainly because he spoke in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese. Earlier this month, he had poked fun at the tears and emotion that flowed during the Umno general assembly. But now it was he who was all choked up as he vowed to stand up against Umno and to fight for equality of the races. His cheeks were wet and he could be seen wiping his nose. Some of the delegates looked on a little shocked but fortunately the mood lightened up after the speech when the party's highly entertaining video titled "Ubah Rocket Style", which showed DAP leaders doing the Gangnam Style, was unveiled.
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| PAS: Tiada kerusi tambahan bagi DAP di Selangor Posted: 15 Dec 2012 04:11 PM PST
(The Malaysian Insider) - PAS Selangor bertegas tiada kerusi tambahan di negeri ini yang akan diberikan kepada DAP, kata timbalan pesuruhjayanya, Iskandar Abdul Samad. Menurutnya, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) sebelum ini sudah berbincang dan mendapat keputusan sebulat suara mengenai jumlah kerusi yang akan ditandingi oleh setiap parti dalam pilihan raya umum (PRU) ke 13 akan datang. "Pembahagian kerusi untuk PRU 13 di negeri ini sudah 99 peratus selesai, kerusi di tempat lama tidak banyak perubahan dan kekalkan status quo macam dulu. "Sekarang tinggal enam minggu lagi, kami fokus untuk menang, bukan waktu untuk bergaduh sesama calon merebut kerusi," kata ahli dewan undangan negeri (Adun) Cempaka itu dipetik dari Sinar Harian Online. Semalam, Setiausaha Agung DAP Lim Guan Eng menggesa PR menimbangkan untuk memberi mereka tambahan tiga kerusi Parlimen dan 10 kerusi dewan undangan negeri (Dun) semenanjung Malaysia, manakala di Sabah dan Sarawak mereka pula akan berbincang sesama sendiri dalam pembahagian kerusi. "Kami sasar tiga tambahan kerusi Parlimen dan 10 kerusi Dun di semenanjung. "Manakala Sabah dan Sarawak pula akan berbincang sesama sendiri dalam pembahagian kerusi," tambah beliau. Semasa PRU 2008, DAP berjaya menang 28 kerusi Parlimen dan 71 kerusi Dun serta menguasai negeri Pulau Pinang yang dikuasai oleh parti Gerakan sebelum ini. Semalam, Naib Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein berkata tuntutan tambahan kerusi oleh DAP untuk ditandingi pada PRU ke-13 nanti jelas menunjukkan pakatan pembangkang tidak mempunyai persefahaman. Beliau berkata Umno mahu tahu jawapan pemimpin PAS dan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) terhadap permintaan sekutu mereka itu. "Kalau mereka dapat cari persefahaman di mana mereka boleh beri lebih banyak kerusi (kepada DAP), saya ucap tahniah kepada mereka," katanya dipetik dari Bernama, ketika diminta mengulas Lim itu.
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| DAP adds non-Chinese, East M’sians to CEC Posted: 15 Dec 2012 04:04 PM PST
Of the 10 members co-opted into the CEC this morning, seven of them are non-Chinese and East Malaysians. Leven Woon, FMT The newly-minted DAP central leadership today appointed seven non-Chinese and East Malaysian leaders into the centre executive committee (CEC) in a bid to sharpen its multiracial appeal. DAP first-term senator Ariffin M Omar was made a vice chairman to replace Tengku Abdul Aziz who quit the party in May. Besides him, Zairil Khir Johari, Sabah party chairman Jimmy Wong, Sarawak member John Brian Anthony, Sabah member Edwin Bosi, former Perak speaker V Sivakumar were also the new faces in the CEC. Both Tan Seng Giaw and P Ramasamy, who were bitterly voted out by party members yesterday, made their way back to the CEC through appointments. DAP Central Executive Committee 2012-2015 Office-bearers: To reconfirm: Dr Chen Man Hin as Party Life Advisor Committees/Bureaus: Disciplinary Comm: Headed by Tan Kok Wai Pakatan Rakyat bureau
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| Ramasamy shrugs off sabotage claims Posted: 15 Dec 2012 04:01 PM PST
Sometimes we think we have the support, but the support is not sufficient, he says. Leven Woon, FMT Penang Deputy Chief Minister ll and state DAP deputy head P Ramasamy today brushed aside notions that he lost in the party elections yesterday due to an ouster attempt. "No, I don't think there was an attempt to oust me," he said when approached by reporters today. He likened the party polls to a game where there are always winners and losers. "We must accept it as the normal democratic process. Sometimes we think we have the support, but the support is not sufficient," he said. He said there were only limited slots in the CEC so it was about the delegates' choice and priority. Ramasamy and former DAP deputy chairman Tan Seng Giaw were the biggest casualties at the DAP party polls yesterday as both of them failed to make into the 20-seat centre executive committee (CEC). Ramasamy secured 746 votes while Tan obtained 802. However, both of them were today were co-opted into the CEC through appointments. Tan meanwhile hinted that he knew the reason behind his defeat because a friend of him had tipped him about it before the results were announced. "The party's maneuver is very subtle, but everyone has friends in the party, and they will tell you the actual situation," he said. However, the long-serving Kepong MP refused to disclose the "reasons", only saying that he was not "neglected" by party delegates as claimed by certain quarter. "I know the reason, it has nothing to do with being neglected. But it isn't convenient for me to tell you, otherwise I am not a good party member," he said.
Johor DAP vice chairman Ahmad Ton, who became a CEC member through popular votes three years ago, also did not make it this time with only 347 votes. Ahmad said the health problems he faced might be the reason why the delegates did not give him a major support. However, he also cautioned that party members have failed to elect any of the Malay candidates into the CEC, saying that such trend would not be good for the DAP in the long run. "If I were to assess the result this time, all the Malay CEC members were appointed and not elected. But this is really up to the new generation of DAP. "What is DAP? What is Malaysian Malaysia? If they are still holding the dream of one Malaysia race, such trend is not good for the future," he said.
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