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Posted: 25 Dec 2012 01:49 PM PST

Look at the "Comments" section in Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today and Malaysian Insider.

They have total disdain for the establishment and everything associated with the establishment is wrong. They have this utopian idea that by changing the government and leave it to the politicians, things will be better.

The highest form of patriotism is dissent.

This quote is often used to describe the situation in which we protest against something we love, even at the risks of harming ourselves, when it goes in the wrong direction. Opposition supporters attribute their dissent to their love for the country, which is a good thing. However, many of them see things differently when this quote is applied to them.

Opposition enthusiasts don't appreciate it when you protest their wrongdoings.

They'd call you "pengkhianat, katak, turncoat, UMNO dogs etc."

They see their leaders as saints and the other side as devils. For them, political contest is as simplistic as the choice between good and evil.

Like it or not, your favorite politicians are not saints. They make mistakes and take risks; most evidently give their words on too many populist promises.

Two Wrongs Don't Make One Right

Take the Malay members' defeat during DAP's Central Executive Committee (CEC) election. When criticism poured in, DAP's hardcore supporters brushed aside those criticism and pointed at UMNO's mono-ethnic composition. They merely attack their critic's characters and not the argument; this is known as ad hominem. That is not a justification for DAP delegates' racial preferences.

We already know that none of UMNO, MCA and MIC is an inclusive Malaysian party. Their racial foundation is a contradiction to their mission; this is an omen to their failures to unite Malaysians.

Perhaps, race-based parties were needed in the early 20th century, but for far too long since then, they are impediments to unity. DAP's membership is open to all but its delegates are still more comfortable in trusting people of their own race.

Unless DAP wants to continue that pathway, DAP leaders and members need to look at themselves in the mirror instead of keeping a blind eye to their own racial preferences.

I am not saying that the Malay candidates should win due to their race, but as a nationwide party, the DAP should have enough Malays who are as capable as the others.

If this is not true, then the DAP's goal of an inclusive Malaysian society is far-fetch, since the party itself is unable to be multiracial 47 years after its formation. And if this goes on, Pakatan Rakyat's politics is just like Barisan Nasional; DAP will take care of non-Malays and PAS will go to the Malay areas.

Take politicians who jump ships. Opposition supporters welcome those who jump to their side. They are treated like heroes. "He realizes the truth at last! He's enlightened and joined our struggle!" Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his men are trying hard to recruit more of such heroes in Sabah and Sarawak.

But when their own men jumped to the other side, all hell breaks loose.

"She's a piece of crap! He betrayed the people's trust! He has been bought!"

It's amusing to see people's hypocrisy in action. As I see it, people elect their YB to represent their interests which are in line with the YB's party. If the YB decides to jump ship, (it's your freedom to associate), he or she can do but must resign and stand as a new candidate. It doesn't matter which direction he or she jumps to.

I recall that Karpal Singh was the only one who spoke out when the infamous Trojan horse jumped to Pakatan. It took the fall of a state government to make the others pick up the principles they abandoned when the tide favors them.

Check your facts before you shoot

A recent video and an article caught my attention. Both have been widely misinterpreted by opposition supporters who trumpeted that Malaysia is the worst-ranked country in corruption.

Stay the course or abandon ship?

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 01:44 PM PST

To Hu, PAS' struggle is based "on true Islamic principle" and the party is fair to all – Muslims and non-Muslims which is "guaranteed" by the party constitution. Hence his support as long as the constitution remains as it is.

Mohsin Abdullah, fz.com

Following the recent public "spat" between Hu Pang Chau, the National PAS Supporters Congress chairman, and Kelantan state exco member Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan over "actions" against non-Muslims, a logical question to ask now is: Should the supporters (who are all non-Muslims) continue supporting PAS?

After all Takiyuddin has accused Hu of having "bad intentions" for bringing to the media cases of non-Muslims being "penalised" by the Kota Baru Municipal Council for alleged indecent behaviour. Then there was the unisex salon issue, also in Kota Baru, involving the enforcement of gender segregation rules.

Hu's response then was he acted "in the interest of non-Muslims" and was "defending" their rights. So back to the earlier question: should the congress and Hu in particular stay the course?

"My relationship with Takiyuddin is not affected by the issues. We are like crew members of a same ship, holding on to the belief of the PAS constitution and the same struggle. The only difference perhaps is on the approach taken," said Hu in an email response to fz.com.

Meaning he and the congress will continue to stick with PAS. To his critics that is expected. Hu has always been accused of being a "PAS apologist".

Hu nevertheless is unfazed by such accusation. "As long as the PAS constitution remains unchanged, I will continue to support the party," said Hu, adding: "I dare say I understand the objective and PAS struggle better than many party members or leaders".

And he is confident the congress is playing the role of taking care of non-Muslims interests. "We have representatives in the elections and political bureaus or lajnah. Two most important lajnahin PAS," he said.

Still, are the representatives truly "functional"? "If our views and proposals are not accepted why should PAS include us in the bureaus?" was Hu's reply.

PAS has always worked towards reaching out to non-Muslims, especially the Chinese community. In the 1980s, the party established what was known as the Chinese Consultative Council. In 2004, the PAS Supporters Club was set up. And in 2010, the club was upgraded to become the current congress as PAS sought to get more non-Muslims to play a bigger role in the party.

The congress is placed on par with the other wings in PAS, namely Dewan Ulama, Dewan Pemuda, Dewan Muslimah – hence its official name Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS. And it boasts some 30,000 members nationwide, comprising Indians, Chinese, Iban and Malaysians of Thai descent.

But is the congress effective in "helping" PAS?

"Years ago even the sight of a PAS member wearing the kopiah will frighten away non-Muslims, especially the Chinese. Now we have non-Muslims campaigning for PAS carrying the party flags, wearing PAS T-shirts. It's like a miracle. Yes, the congress has been effective. But to what extent I can't say as I do not have a barometer," said a PAS activist.

Hu, understandably, has good words for his outfit. "In the early days, when I went to Chinese areas not even a single Chinese turned up for PAS ceramah. Not even for tea party. Now we get big crowds of non-Muslims at PAS ceramah, not only in the peninsula but also Sabah and Sarawak," he said.

That PAS sees the congress as priceless is given. Said PAS director of election Dr Hatta Ramli: "The formation and inception of the congress is a significant milestone for PAS. For non-Muslims to support PAS so dearly is something unthinkable just a decade ago.

"The congress is an asset for our struggle. It can further soften our image, increase our tolerance and implement a diversity of approaches."

For the 13th GE, PAS will field members of the Supporters Congress. "The congress will likely be entrusted to attract support of non-Muslims not just as election strategists and workers but also as candidates both for the DUN (state legislative assembly) and parliament levels.

"It will take PAS a long way into a new era of inclusive politics. I foresee this as a breakthrough for PAS in national and mainstream politics," said Hatta.

Hu confirmed that PAS will field the congress members in Sarawak and Johor with "Kedah, Perak, Melaka as possibility".

Sabah’s economy on ‘Death Row’

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST

Sabah is slipping down on living standards as families continue to feel the pinch of high inflation and low economic revival.

Vidal Yudin Well, FMT

By the time this article is published, the Mayan calendar phenomenon is probably way behind us and like any other hoaxes of the last century, there was no apocalypse or Armageddon.

Let us go for something more real and imminent:

Upon this coming Chinese Lunar New Year in 2013, the zodiac snake will once again dawn the world. With so many political and fiscal uncertainties staring Sabah in the face, will she ever survive the python squeeze or will asphyxia be her final fate?

Or will the worst be reserved instead for the ruling coalition which has hogged the nation's seat of power for more than half a century of dividing the people and rule, when the celestial serpent finally devour the entire Barisan Nasional in an election tipped to be held in or around February?

Will Malaysians in the country and the diaspora around the world watch and scream their lungs out with roaring ecstasy of colossal joy when past corrupt and vicious leaders and all their greedy cohorts are hunted down like fallen tyrants in the likes of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Chen Shui Bian, Joseph Estrada, or Gloria Arroyo and put behind bars for crimes committed against citizens and looting the nation when Anwar Ibrahim does become the new Prime Minister of Malaysia?

The Jewish people believe that the world will end when every Jew scattered around the globe return to their homeland in Israel.

I personally believe that our motherland will eventually become a paradise when all her people can finally live together without hate, segregation, and persecution.

Many people in Sabah including Malaysians from Peninsular and Sarawak who have settled down here know very well why the BN federal government is issuing MyKads to immigrants and allowing them to flood Sabah.

These newly baked Malaysians are not only competing with genuine citizens in every aspect of life but also jeopardising the security and fabric of society with their thieving and violent cultures thereby destroying the sub-stratum of our formation of this country.

It was an open secret that in the 1994 Sabah elections, in an assault led by former DPM Anwar Ibrahim on Parti Bersatu Sabah, huge numbers of alleged immigrants were supposedly given citizenships and voting rights.

Yet, the Barisan Nasional still lost by a simple majority of seats.

Will the Royal Commission of Inquiry set up to look into this long standing conundrum eventually pinpoint the architects and engineers of this fraud? But what will be fait accompli this election is that Sabah must be won at all costs.

But a united Sabah population, particularly the lower and middle grounds, has now swung over to the local opposition parties, a repeat of 1994. This explains the high frequency of Najib Tun Razak's visits to Sabah.

Can the state BN government be more foolish?

Rhetoric and slogans alone can no longer win elections because the present generation of voters is well-informed. While the people in Sabah are tightening their waist-belts during every meal at home, they often wonder why are their state ministers clueless as to what is actually happening or what should be done to arrest the decline and spur a rebound?

Are 99% of the misfortunes suffered by the people in Sabah these days directly inflicted by an experienced but incompetent state government? This sounded very oxymoronic, indeed.

If a government is competent, even with no experience, it can still produce the desired result albeit at a lower level of satisfaction, which is nevertheless better than nothing.

How is the state government to explain the dwindling quality of life and spiraling costs of essentials that is burdening the people? How can there be growth when every successive administrations of the Barisan Nasional are incapable of coming up with prudent and wise policies that can work in tandem with and for the people to sustain themselves?

It is absolutely preposterous to be the other way around!

Sabah's economy is purportedly supported, among others, by three main sectors: (a) oil and gas, (b) palm oil, and (c) tourism.

To be frank, (save for a handful of local Sabah lads who worked at the rigs, Petronas, oil exploration companies, and federal and state governments) how much of Sabah's oil and gas wealth actually benefitted the people?

Just check out the price citizens are paying for fuel and cooking gas now compared to 10 or 15 years ago and the answers are all out there. And the worst thing is this: we are still producing and exporting petroleum products today!

To give a closest analogy of the kind of sick joke we are living in: if you are a poultry farmer, do you sell your 1st class fowls, buy back 4th class birds, and sell it to your employees at 2nd class prices?

If I were to own the farm, I will sell my 1st class produce to my employees at 3rd class prices for their own consumption.

Sabah's worrying decline in the economy came under more pressure a week ago after a tumble of crude palm oil prices put it on serious negative watch. It will prove very embarrassing for the state government if the condition worsens in the next couple of weeks.

As for the decomposing tourism sector, our hotspots are stale and expensive; a 4 Days 3 Nights package (which include airfare, resort hotel accommodation with food and beverages, transfers, and day trip tours) to Phuket Island in Thailand from Hong Kong costs an average of RM400 per person; a one night stay at a 5-star hotel in Kota Kinabalu alone will cost more than RM400!

Quality tourists are flocking to our neighbours in the region instead of us. Many tour operators including the established players have already closed down with many more on the way.

Non-existent reforms

Sabah is slipping down on living standards as families continue to feel the pinch of high inflation and low economic revival.

With rising food bills eating into spending power, every citizen is as shock as they are furious to know that everyone of their elected representatives in government is living a luxurious lifestyle funded by hard pressed taxes.

Many of these state ministers even find it fit to travel overseas together with their families purportedly for government business where no bilateral reimbursements beneficial to the people were ever brought back.

Not only is their performance appallingly bad, none of them lives by the sacred mantra that "we are all in this hardship together".

READ MORE HERE

DAP leadership must share power

Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:57 AM PST

What the DAP leadership should do is to set up a Malay Matters Bureau and an Indian Issues Bureau

Selena Tay, FMT

The results at the recent DAP party polls held in Penang on Dec 15 wherein 20 Central Executive Committee (CEC) members were elected was a great shock and disappointment for this columnist who had thought that at least one or two Malay candidates would be voted in.

It is obvious that the delegates did not know how to apply what is to be termed as 'cunning voting'.

This is how it works. This columnist was a delegate who had voted at the DAP Women's Congress held in KL on Dec 9. There were 27 candidates contesting for 15 posts in the DAP National Women's Committee. Out of the 27, five were Indians and the rest were Chinese. This columnist voted for all the five Indians. This is only logical math.

Glad to say that out of the five Indians, two of them were voted in to the 15-member committee. They are Mary Josephine Prittam Singh who is now the deputy chairperson and Kamache A/P Doray Rajoo who has been chosen as the assistant secretary.

This columnist did not attend the DAP party polls in Penang.

And sad to say the delegates in Penang were not politically savvy. In fact, this columnist would like to label the situation in Penang as 'delegates malfunction'.

The mindset of the delegates who had voted in Penang can be attributed to the fact that the Malay candidates were not well-known on the ceramah circuit. Be that as it may, they should have just been voted in to the 20-member CEC even if no one knows them from Adam.

Anyway that is all in the past. No use crying over spilt milk. DAP must now look ahead and find ways and means to improve the situation.

Do more for non-Chinese

What the DAP leadership should do is to set up a Malay Matters Bureau and an Indian Issues Bureau. These said bureaus are to be affiliated to the CEC.

The Malay and Indian leaders of these bureaus are to look into ways of helping their respective communities by going on the ground and meeting the people.

Although the setting-up of these bureaus look like race-based politics, this is the current reality.

With the existence of these bureaus, the Malay and Indian public can bring up the relevant issues to their respective leaders. The existence of these bureaus should then be widely publicised.

With the setting up of the Malay and Indian Bureaus, DAP will be more inclusive. DAP leaders must share power evenly with all the other races. Only then can it truly shed its 'Chinese chauvinist' label given by the evil media and the enemy camp.

There is no way DAP can seem inclusive if the Malays remain at the fringe.

Meanwhile, the Malays in DAP must also strive to project themselves by being active on the ceramah circuit. It is useless to just sit down and keep quiet. They must make the rounds and not just sit in the office.

In addition to the above, it is good if one Malay and one Indian is given a prestigious parliament seat to contest. DAP cannot continue to talk about a 'Malaysian Malaysia' if the Malays and Indians feel left out.

Everyone including the Orang Asal must have a sense of belonging in the party. The Orang Asal too must be given a popular parliament or state seat to contest. DAP leaders must break the race barrier and the best time to do this is none other than at the coming 13th general election.

READ MORE HERE

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Rabu, 26 Disember 2012

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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