Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- PRU 13 dan Masa Depan Negara Malaysia
- Kematian Sugumar: Surat Terbuka Kepada Bakal Perdana Menteri Malaysia
- Talk is Cheap Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
- GE13: Palanivel rules out Samy as polls candidate
- Samy Vellu mad with Palanivel and deputy for misconstruing his statement
- GE13: UM student, 23, to challenge Najib for Pekan seat
- After Hindu insult, Zulkifli Noordin says ‘keling’
- Malaysia GE13: Anwar to contest from his old Penang seat after all
- Malaysia's Multi-Ethnic Coalition Near Collapse
- Blogger Papa Gomo says will fight Anwar in GE13
- Three-corner fight in Bukit Gasing with Edward Lee’s son as independent
- DAP blames EC for low overseas postal voter registrations
- The end of Machiavellianism (WITH CHINESE TRANSLATION)
- Battle will be fought on popularity, not policies
- ‘Flood of money leaving Malaysia to reverse after BN wins polls’
- Squabbles in PR camp over seat allocation
- Big win for BN - if see-saw voting trend continues
- Anwar to announce tonight which seat he will contest in
- Wan Azizah: Contesting or not?
- ABU: Don’t be scared of BN’s fear tactics
- Pakatan out to create a bigger tsunami
- ABU disappointed, says Hindraf 'courting' BN
- Pakatan still can't shoot straight on dissolution day
- Mutiny in Sabah Pakatan Rakyat
- Malay vote a stumbling block for Pakatan’s Perak quest
- Leaked papers show offshore interests of Mirzan, Raja Nong Chik
- Ahli PKR bantah Mustaffa Kamil tanding Pasir Salak
- DAP criticised over its ‘extremist’ candidate
- Azmin rejects Sabah PKR’s ‘suggestions’
- Only 6,298 overseas Malaysians have registered as postal voters
- GE13: No parliamentary seat for Jui Meng
- Young voters may call the shots in Malaysia polls
- IC row: Will native parties quit BN?
- Is it time for change in Malaysia?
- GE13: Ghani taking on Kit Siang
- GE13: Sabah PKR grabs 7 MP seats; ignores DAP, PAS
- New Old Trick to continue Cheating Indians -- Dap cares two Fs for Indians
- A Smiling Bully
- Najib hands out citizenship papers to Indians ahead of polls
- GE13: MB announces RM300 bonus for S'gor civil servants
- Opposition plans to abolish 1MDB unjustified, say fund recipients
- Group warns of action against phantoms on polling day
- Malaysian PM Najib predicts victory at polls
- Pakatan ‘list’ circulates on Twitter
- Social media to the fore
- GE13: SAPP eyes 40 seats and dares DAP to contest 20
- Pakatan may lose Kedah with 6 per cent swing in Malay, Chinese votes: Survey
- Hindraf's P. Uthayakumar to contest Kota Raja parliamentary, Sri Andalas state seats
- ‘Give us intelligent, rational new candidates’
- ‘LGE a Chinese hero, but…’
| PRU 13 dan Masa Depan Negara Malaysia Posted: 05 Apr 2013 11:10 AM PDT
Melalui nota ini, saya menyeru kepada semua, terutamanya saudara Islam supaya kita menarik nafas sedalam-dalamnya sejenak dan menempatkan satu ruangan kecil dalam hati anda untuk melakukan perkara berikut tanpa mengira faham politik anda. Mohamed Kamaruddin Alhamdulilah kerana Allah memperkenankan doa kita supaya Parlimen dibubarkan dengan segera untuk membolehkan PRU13 dilaksanakan. Kini, penantian rakyat Malaysia sejak lebih 1 tahun berlalu telah berakhir pada hari Rabu 3 April 2013. Syukur! Kalau diikutkan hati, tak mahu menoleh ke belakang. Senario Negara bergelumang dengan najis politik, umpat mengumpat, dedah mendedah, caci mencaci, dan semua yang sejenis dan sealiran dengannya mengecilkan semua usaha baik, murni, ikhlas, betul, benar – setiap hari. Sikap dan tabiat buruk yang ditunjukkan dan diiklankan oleh pihak dewasa warga politik menjadi satu matapelajaran baru bagi generasi anak-anak yang berusia bawah 17 tahun. Merekalah pemimpin Negara Malaysia pada masa yang akan datang. Sungguh cemerlang warga politik Malaysia melakar generasi politik masadepan Negara. Ya Allah, lindungilah Negara Malaysia kami dari kemurkaanMu. Satu ketika dahulu, tahap silaturahim dan kejiranan amat tinggi. Kita boleh duduk semeja diwarung meneguk teh dan kopi, kita masih boleh berjalan bersama menuju surau dan masjid untuk bersama menyembah dan sujud kepada Allah Yang Maha Esa. Kini ianya hanya dikenang sehinggakan rakan jemaah saf di kiri dan di kanan pun menjadi pilihan. Nafsu politik memperkaumkan ummah dan berjayalah mereka yang merasakan diri mereka adalah Juara Politik! Kini, pembubaran Parlimen telah berlaku sepertimana yang dicita-citakan. Kita kini akan menghadapi tiga situasi genting iaitu: 1. Hari untuk Penamaan Calun Hari Penamaan Calun adalah sama seperti hari pengenalan musuh politik sementara hari pengundian dan keputusan pilihanraya serta hari penubuhan kerajaan baru akan menentukan halatuju masa depan Negara. Melalui nota ini, saya menyeru kepada semua, terutamanya saudara Islam supaya kita menarik nafas sedalam-dalamnya sejenak dan menempatkan satu ruangan kecil dalam hati anda untuk melakukan perkara berikut tanpa mengira faham politik anda. Ruangan berkecuali ini adalah untuk meletakkan usaha murni dalam keindahan Islam bahawa kita semua adalah bersaudara. Gerakkanlah diri kita sendiri untuk melakukan perkara-perkara berikut, ajak dan pelawalah saudara yang lain untuk bersama melakukannya. Mudahan Allah akan melimpahkan Rahmat dan Kasih Sayang Nya kepada kita. Perkara yang akan kita lakukan adalah seperti berikut: 1. Selepas sesi Penamaan Calun, kita semua ke surau atau masjid untuk membaca Surah Al Yasiin diantara Maghrib dan Isya dan berdoa semoga Allah akan memilih calun politik yang terbaik untuk kita kerana Dialah Yang Maha Pemilih. Kita juga berdoa supaya Allah mengekang nafsu amarah semasa berkempen dan Allah merencanakan perancangan pengundian yang terbaik mengatasi semua perancangan pengundian kotor oleh mana-mana pihak. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Perancang. 2. Sehari sebelum sesi pengundian, kita semua kembali ke surau dan masjid untuk sekali lagi membaca Surah Al Yasiin diantara Maghrib dan Isya dan berdoa semoga proses pengundian akan berjalan lancar dengan baik, berdisiplin, selamat, beretika dan bertertib. Hari yang berikutnya iaitu selepas mengundi, kita beramai-ramai ke surau dan masjid untuk bersama-sama sekali lagi membaca Surah Al Yasiin diantara Maghrib dan Isya dan berdoa semoga Allah mempermudahkan proses pengiraan undi dan seterusnya pengumuman keputusan pilihanraya tanpa sebarang insiden yang tidak baik. 3. Keesokan pagi harinya, kita sudah tentu mendapat berita keputusan pilihanraya. Oleh itu kita sekali lagi menuju ke surau dan masjid untuk membaca surah Al Yasiin selepas solat subuh dan berdoa semoga proses penubuhan kerajaan baru selepas PRU13 akan dipermudahkan serta memohon kepada Allah supaya silaturahim semua rakyat Malaysia dipereratkan semula untuk membolehkan kita hidup aman sentosa. Bagi mereka yang bukan berugama Islam, mereka boleh melaksanakan apa sahaja yang bersesuaian dengan agama pegangan mereka. Keutamaannya ialah walaupun kita semua melalui waktu kekalutan, nilai baik dalam diri kita masih ada dan mengerti bahawa esok tak sama dengan hari ini dan kehidupan perlu diteruskan. Tempoh yang singkat dari sekarang sehinggalah penubuhan kerajaan perlu dihayati oleh semua rakyat. Oleh kerana kita sebagai manusia yang lemah tidak berupaya mengekang azab dan siksaan Allah, marilah kita bersama kembali kepada Allah untuk Allah memberikan apa yang terbaik untuk kita. Pangkahan kita hanyalah suatu usaha kerdil kita, pangkahan Allah lebih PASTI! Allahuakbar.
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| Kematian Sugumar: Surat Terbuka Kepada Bakal Perdana Menteri Malaysia Posted: 05 Apr 2013 11:05 AM PDT
Despite the long list of custodial deaths, very few policemen are criminally charged much less found guilty of any offence. Eric Paulsen, Co-founder & Adviser Lawyers for Liberty Kehadapan Perdana Menteri, Kami menulis kepada Perdana Menteri sebagai pertubuhan hak asasi manusia Malaysia, yang prihatin terhadap kematian Mendiang C. Sugumar pada 23 Januari 2013. Tidak syak lagi, Perdana Menteri pasti akan bersetuju bahawa keadaan kematian beliau cukup mengerikan dan sangat serius; Mendiang Sugumar telah dikejar oleh sekumpulan anggota polis berpakaian seragam; beliau dengan cepat dikuasai dan digari. Namun dalam proses tersebut, segerombolan samseng menyerang dan melucutkan pakaian beliau sehingga bertelanjang dan seorang anggota polis melumur muka beliau dengan serbuk kunyit. Meskipun beliau telah tertiarap mengadap ke bawah di atas tanah, dengan tangan bergari ke belakang, seorang anggota polis memijak leher beliau, sehinggalah beliau berhenti bergelut. Beliau meninggal dunia dan tiada usaha dibuat untuk memulihkan beliau atau tiada sebarang rawatan perubatan yang diberikan kepada Mendiang. Kini, PDRM telah membuat dakwaan luar biasa bahawa mereka tidak bertanggungjawab di atas kematian Mendiang serta mendakwa tiada anggota mereka yang terlibat dalam sebarang kesalahan jenayah. Ini kerana menurut PDRM, laporan bedah siasat menunjukkan Mendiang Sugumar meninggal dunia akibat serangan jantung. Ianya tidaklah menghairankan disebabkan PDRM memiliki sejarah dahsyat melindungi dan menafikan pertanggungjawaban, lihatlah contohnya, kematian dalam tahanan Mendiang A. Kugan dan kematian tembakan polis Allahyarham Aminulrasyid, remaja berusia 15 tahun. Dalam mengharungi jalan panjang sejarah daripada kemerdekaan politik sehinggalah kepada Malaysia yang moden dan demokratik, kita seolah-olah kehilangan arah haluan dan telah membenarkan berlakunya keganasan institusi kerajaan dalam paparan awam, untuk pihak berkuasa bertindak sewenang-wenangnya dengan kekebalan undang-undang dan tanpa keadilan. Peristiwa tragis menyayat hati ini mencemarkan nama baik Malaysia dan merupakan peringatan sangat penting tentang seberapa jauh lagi hasrat Malaysia yang kita cita-citakan itu. Telah lebih dua bulan berlalu semenjak Mendiang Sugumar dibunuh pada siang hari, secara terang-terangan ketika di bawah penahanan polis. Mayat beliau masih tersimpan di rumah mayat Hospital Serdang, sementara menanti upacara pengkebumian yang belum selesai dan yang paling diperlukan bedah siasat kedua yang telah disekat oleh pihak berkuasa pada setiap peringkat pentadbiran. Kami berasa amat duka cita kerana terlalu sedikit simpati yang dihulurkan atau maklum balas daripada pihak berkuasa dan ahli-ahli politik yang membentuk kerajaan. Walaupun kematian Mendiang Sugumar diperjuangkan terutamanya dikalangan parti-parti pembangkang dan masyarakat sivil, perkara ini tidak perlu dipersoalkan. Malahan, pihak berkuasa sepatutnya menangani kematian beliau bukannya sekali lagi, dengan membuta-tuli menyokong pasukan polis. Beberapa kematian dalam tahanan polis telah berlaku pada tahun ini, antaranya, Chin Te, Mohd Ropi dan M. Ragu yang turut ikut menyertai senarai sangat panjang dan tragis menyayat hati, iaitu senarai mereka yang telah meninggal dunia dalam tahanan PDRM. Menurut Kementerian Dalam Negeri, dari tahun 2000 sehingga Februari 2011, seramai 156 orang telah ditemui mati dalam lokap atau tahanan. Tetapi terlalu sedikit pertanggungjawaban, ketelusan atau sebarang penyiasatan sebenar oleh pihak mahkamah, polis, Pejabat Peguam Negara dan hospital yang menyediakan bantuan perubatan dan melakukan bedah siasat. Daripada 156 kes ini, 85 (atau 54.5%) diklasifikasikan sebagai Tiada Tindakan Lanjut (No Further Action), apakah maksudnya hal ini? Sebarang kematian dalam jagaan atau tahanan polis sepatutnya perlu diperhatikan secara serius. Namun demikian, institusi-institusi negara yang penting ini dalam kebanyakan kes, jika tidakpun kesemua kes, memilih untuk meremehkan, menutup, mengabai atau bahkan membuat dakwaan keterlaluan terhadap kematian-kematian ini. Ianya menyebabkan institusi terbabit hilang wibawa dan keyakinan orang ramai. Walaupun senarai panjang kematian dalam tahanan ini, terlalu sedikit anggota polis yang didakwa atas kesalahan jenayah, apalagi lebih sedikit lagi yang didapati bersalah atas sebarang kesalahan. Oleh yang demikian, kami membuat rayuan ini dengan harapan bahawa sebagai bakal Perdana Menteri seterusnya, kamu akan membetulkan ketidakadilan yang berleluasa ini dan membenarkan keluarga Sugumar mendapat keadilan dan melakukan upacara penutup kematian beliau. Untuk hal ini berlaku, institusi-institusi negara mesti dibebaskan daripada campurtangan politik yang tidak wajar supaya institusi-institusi ini dapat berfungsi secara merdeka dan saksama seperti mana-mana negara demokratik moden lainnya. Akhirnya, kami berharap Perdana Menteri yang baru juga akan menyokong penubuhan Suruhanjaya Bebas Aduan dan Salah Laku Polis (IPCMC) yang pastinya akan berganjak lebih jauh lagi dalam mencegah kematian dalam tahanan dan meningkatkan keyakinan awam. Terima kasih Yang Benar, Eric Paulsen Pengasas Bersama dan Penasihat Lawyers for Liberty ----------------- Sugumar's Death: An Open Letter to the Next Prime Minister of Malaysia Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to you as a Malaysian human rights organisation concerned with the death of C. Sugumar on 23 January 2013. As you would no doubt agree, the circumstances surrounding his death were appalling and very serious: he was chased by a group of uniformed policemen; he was quickly overpowered and handcuffed but in the process, a mob assaulted and stripped him naked and a policeman also smeared his face with turmeric. While he was facing down on the ground with his hands cuffed to his back, a policeman stepped on his neck until he stopped struggling. He died and no attempt was made to resuscitate him nor was any medical attention given to him. The PDRM have now made the incredible claim that they are not responsible for his death nor have any of their personnel committed any criminal offence because the post-mortem showed Sugumar died from a heart attack. This is not surprising as PDRM do have a terrible history of cover up and denial of responsibility, see for example, the death in custody of A. Kugan and fatal police shooting of 15-year-old Aminulrasyid. In the long road from political independence to a modern democratic Malaysia, we seem to have lost our way and have allowed such a public display of state violence, to pass with impunity and without justice. This tragic incident is a serious blot and reminder on how far we are from the Malaysia we aspire. It has been more than two months since Sugumar was killed in broad daylight while under police custody. His body still lies at the Serdang Hospital morgue, suspended between pending funeral rites and a much required second post-mortem that has been blocked at every stage by the authorities. What further saddens us is that there has been so little sympathy or response from the authorities and the politicians that make up the government of the day. Even though Sugumar's death was mainly championed by the opposition and civil society – this should not have mattered – and the authorities should have addressed his death instead of blindly supporting the police once again. Several deaths in custody have already occurred this year, among them Chang Chin Te, Mohd Ropi and M. Ragu who have now joined a very long and tragic list of people who have died in PDRM custody. According to the Home Ministry, from 2000 to February 2011, 156 people were found dead in police lock-up or custody but yet there is little accountability, transparency or any real investigations by the courts, police, Attorney-General's Chambers and hospitals which provide medical assistance or conduct post-mortems. Out of these 156 cases, 85 (or 54.5%) were classified as "No Further Action" (whatever does this mean?). Despite the obvious seriousness of any death in custody, these important state institutions in most, if not all of these cases, chose to downplay, cover up, ignore or even make outrageous claims over these deaths – causing these institutions to lose credibility and public confidence. Despite the long list of custodial deaths, very few policemen are criminally charged much less found guilty of any offence. We therefore make this appeal with the hope that as the next Prime Minister, you will correct this grave injustice and let Sugumar's family have closure over his death. In order for this to happen, state institutions must be freed from improper political interference so that they are able to function independently and impartially like in any modern democratic state. Lastly, we hope that you will also support setting up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which will certainly go a long way in preventing custodial deaths and enhancing public confidence. Thank you. Sincerely, Eric Paulsen Co-founder & Adviser Lawyers for Liberty
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| Talk is Cheap Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Posted: 05 Apr 2013 10:51 AM PDT
Defending one's life when threatened with death is not violence. These Rohingyas are at the receiving end, maybe it's time ASSK stops playing politics and start speaking as a true statesperson and an agent of change and reconciliation. Win Lwin I felt an urge to write an opinion piece about Aung San Suu Kyi as communal riots were occurring in the Rakhine State but I thought I should give 'The Lady' time to prove me wrong. The time has since passed and the optimistic wish that she would prove me wrong is nothing but a waste of time. With the communal violence in Rakhine still smoldering, we are now in the midst of another targeted violence against the muslim minority; the cloak of deception behind which Aung San Suu Kyi , the Burmese government and by large the majority of the Buddhist population is now lifted and their racist ways are in the full glare of her people and the world. The Rakhine massacre and displacement of tens of thousands of people began after the rape of a Buddhist girl by 3 muslim men allegedly. These men were arrested but a vigilante group comprising of Buddhists murdered a bus full of muslims who were no way connected to the alleged rapists besides professing to the same religion in retaliation for the rape. What followed next is common knowledge to all except to the Buddhist Burmese who have blood on their hands; rapes, targeted killings and systematic eviction of the Rohingyas from their homes and lands by mobs of Buddhist Arkanese while the government security elements looked away or tacitly agreed to what was being done to the Rohingya community. As the world gasped in horror; Aung San Suu Kyi was globetrotting and basking in the international limelight. Questions after questions were directed at her about the ongoing killings and displacement of these Rohingya Muslims back home but she side stepped the questions by talking about the rule of law. After a long silence she then says she had not spoken about violence because she wanted to promote reconciliation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. The fact that she used the words Muslim and Buddhist communities prove that she is fully aware this is not an issue about alleged illegals from Bangladesh but a religious conflict that has been simmering for decades. She has blown the issue in broad daylight by acknowledging that this is an issue between Muslims and Buddhists and has got nothing to do with borders and implementation of the law. She has unwittingly shot herself in the foot by making such a statement. "But don't forget that violence has been committed by both sides. This is why I prefer not to take sides. And, also I want to work toward reconciliation between these two communities. I am not going to be able to do that if I take sides". Defending one's life when threatened with death is not violence. These Rohingyas are at the receiving end, maybe it's time ASSK stops playing politics and start speaking as a true statesperson and an agent of change and reconciliation. What she has failed to realize is that she already has taken sides when she speaks about how monks were insulted by Muslims allegedly without speaking about killings of innocent Rohingya children, women and men by Buddhist dominated mobs. A monk is not above the law; a monk is also a human with weaknesses and as it is quite clear, a vast majority of them in Burma are racists. A man in monk attire who commits a crime is nothing but a man who has committed a crime and a criminal at best. Unless ASSK makes such a statement, she is nothing but a person who preaches democracy, equality, freedom and other democratic ideals for her race and religion only and no one else. She preached idealistic things but failed to explain to the people that an idealistic way of thinking is quite far from the realities of life. She has hoodwinked herself and the people. She has failed to live up to her own ideals which she articulately propagated during her incarceration. Was it all rhetorical or a mask to hide the real ASSK? With the Buddhist population so blinded by their hatred for people and a religion they have little or no idea about, with aggressions perpetuated against Muslims in other parts of Burma increasing, ASSK feels it is prudent to maintain her silence. Is this silence out of desperation not to lose her political base or is this silence an insight to her own racist way? Her silence is irresponsible and the correct phrase to describe her silence is 'criminal'. This silence on her part has also made her a collaborator in the displacement and deaths of countless Muslims in Burma. She too has blood on her hands. This is a woman who was given the 'Noble Peace Prize' for standing up for democracy and freedom for Burma but from my recollection, the idea of nominating her as a candidate for this prestigious prize was not for her fight for such things but because her husband felt it prudent that bestowing such a prize on her will discourage the government from harming her. Of course, my comment is debatable to say the least. I personally feel, this prize was prematurely given to her even if did protect her from harm. After all, many have been tortured and killed for the fight for democracy and freedom; what makes her so special besides who her father was? Her political stand presently is nothing noble and certainly brings shame to the award conferred on her. I am sure many will think this to be rantings of a person who does not know ASSK; but who really knows what she is thinking and who she really is? Politics is perception and my perception of her is that of a racist who is out to canon herself politically for her own interest or that of her own race and religion at the cost of innocent Muslim men, women and children. "The kind of seed sown will produce that kind of fruit. Those who do good will reap good results. Those who do evil will reap evil results. If you carefully plant a good seed, you will joyfully gather food fruit", Dhammapada. In ASSK's case, she is enjoying the rock star status and the chants of people calling her Amma (mother) and Daw Suu ( Daw – used to addressed some with respect ); while people are dying all around her. How is she planting a good seed? She is not planting any seeds, she is just harvesting the fruits as the result of seeds of hatred that the government planted a long time ago towards the Muslims and other minorities in the minds of the Buddhist population. She saw an opportunity to nurture an evil seed to gain political mileage. I have no doubt, the Muslims of Burma will continue to be treated as outsiders and as a pariah community for at least 3 generations to come. The young boys and girls in Burma whose age is between 7 to 10 are already brainwashed to hate Muslims. That leaves the teenagers, young adults, middle aged adults and seniors who are already tainted by racist ways for many more years. Where is the hope for Muslims to enjoy democracy and freedom in Burma when the very person who is leading the fight herself is a racist and a bigot? I personally see a very uncertain future of the Muslims in Burma; what hope is there when the very person who speaks about the rule of law, democracy, freedom and equality is in fact propagating all these democratic values for her own race and religion but no one else. I say a prayer every night with the hope that ASSK will once again garner my respect and support but I remain a pessimist in light of her silence and indifference to the suffering of the Muslim community of Burma who have paid with their lives and blood to support her.
A Burmese in Diaspora, Win Lwin
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| GE13: Palanivel rules out Samy as polls candidate Posted: 05 Apr 2013 10:47 AM PDT
(The Star) - Former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has been ruled out as one of the candidates for the nine parliamentary and 19 state seats allotted to the party. Party president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said although the party had yet to finalise its candidates, Samy Vellu was not one of them. However, he said Samy Vellu had been working hard in the Sungai Siput constituency, which he lost to Dr Michael Jeyakumar in the 2008 election. "He will not be a candidate. It is not right of the media to speculate that Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu will be a candidate," he said yesterday. Samy Vellu, who is Special Envoy for Infrastructure for India and South Asia, had earlier been quoted by online portals as declaring himself to be a "winnable candidate" for the Sungai Siput seat should he be picked to contest there. Palanivel said discussions were ongoing over candidates for several state seats. During the party's central working committee meeting on Thursday evening, Palanivel said MIC was happy that it was allowed to re-contest all the parliamentary and state seats it had contested in the 2008 general election. Palanivel, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, is expected to contest in Cameron Highlands, while Datuk S.K. Devamany, who is MIC vice-president, is tipped to contest the Sungai Siput seat. MIC deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam is set to defend the Segamat seat while another party vice-president, Datuk M. Saravanan, currently Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister, will defend his Tapah seat. |
| Samy Vellu mad with Palanivel and deputy for misconstruing his statement Posted: 05 Apr 2013 10:45 AM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is incensed with party president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and his deputy Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam over the "winnable candidate" issue. He believed they misconstrued his declaration on Wednesday — the day Parliament was dissolved — when he stated he was a "winnable candidate" for the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency, in reply to a reporter's question. In response to Palanivel's earlier statement that Samy Vellu (picture)would not be contesting in the coming general election, the latter said he had not made a request to Palanivel to be nominated for the seat. "Palanivel and Dr Subramaniam have misunderstood my statement at a media conference during the handing over of donations to the families of the slain warriors of Lahad Datu, Sabah in Bukit Aman. "It is true that I told the reporters that I had no doubt I was a winnable candidate, but that doesn't mean that I had requested Palanivel that I wanted to re-contest in Sungai Siput," he said in a statement yesterday. Samy Vellu said he was saddened over their statements as the statements did not reflect his true intentions. "They (Palanivel and Dr Subramaniam) should have called me first to find out what transpired at the media conference (in Bukit Aman) before shooting off their mouth," he said, adding that the duo had shown immaturity in politics by "jumping the gun". Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/samy-vellu-mad-with-palanivel-and-deputy-for-misconstruing-his-statement/ |
| GE13: UM student, 23, to challenge Najib for Pekan seat Posted: 05 Apr 2013 10:43 AM PDT
(The Star) - A 23-year-old Universiti Malaya student will challenge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for the Pekan parliamentary seat in the 13th general election. Gerakan Mahasiswa PRU13 (GM13), a coalition of student groups, will field political science student Mohamed Bukhairy Sofian as an independent candidate. He said the group was fielding a candidate as a call to reform Malaysia's higher education system. "We want to highlight our manifesto and bring these policies to Parliament. "We will not sideline the issues affecting the local residents (in Pekan) as well," he said during a press conference here on Friday. Mohamed Bukhairy is a member of the UM student representative council, as well as the chairman of the Nasional Students Representative Council. Solidariti Mahasiwa Malaysia (SMM) chairman Muhammad Safwan Anang said the manifesto had been forwarded to both the ruling and opposition parties last month, but has yet to receive a response from either side. The student manifesto outlines eight main points, including full autonomy for local universities, academic freedom, free education at the tertiary level, and that students are allowed to manage their own affairs. When asked whether he was confident about winning, Mohamed Bukhairy said, "I will do my best... the point is to try." |
| After Hindu insult, Zulkifli Noordin says ‘keling’ Posted: 05 Apr 2013 10:41 AM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Independent lawmaker Datuk Zulkifli Noordin has been captured on Youtube uttering the word "keling", which Indian Malaysians find racially offensive, just days after an earlier video deemed religiously-insensitive went viral. The latest video clip was posted yesterday and showed the controversial Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP at a public event in the Ampang suburb on March 6, purportedly weighing in on the conspiracy theories surrounding the 2006 murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu and the private detective hired to tail her, P. Balasubramaniam who died of heart attack last month. "Ada badigol Baghdad ni percaya, entah keling mana bawa kitab Hindu dia, 'saya ada tengok, saya ada bukti'. Keling ni bawa kitab Hindu sumpah, dia percaya (There are these Baghdad fools who believe this keling from nowhere who brings his Hindu holy book, saying, 'I have seen, I have proof'. This keling brings and swears on his Hindu holy book, he believes)," he said, using a derogatory word in the Malay language to refer to Malaysians of Indian ancestry. The two-and-a-half minute clip uploaded by a Youtube user identified as "Chandra Lawan Tetap Lawan" appears to be an extract of a slightly longer video first posted by Malay news portal KLPos.com, which was also uploaded to Youtube, under the title "PAS Gadai Kalimah Allah [PAS pawning Allah]". Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/after-hindu-insult-zulkifli-nordin-says-keling/ |
| Malaysia GE13: Anwar to contest from his old Penang seat after all Posted: 05 Apr 2013 12:35 AM PDT
Carolyn Hong, Straits Times Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will defend his long-time Permatang Pauh seat in Penang, putting an end to his earlier hints that he may move to a seat in Perak. He announced at a rally in Penang Friday that he wanted to be with his loyal voters and supporters in this seat. "My wife had earlier disagreed with me when I told her that I was considering contesting the Tambun parliamentary seat in Perak,' he was quoted as saying by the Star in Penang. "She said the people of Permatang Pauh were loyalists and diehard supporters who had stood by her and PKR through thick and thin all these years." Datuk Seri Anwar had earlier hinted that he might leave the seat that he has held since 1982 to move to contest in Perak which the opposition Pakatan Rakyat is keen to wrest back from the ruling Barisan Nasional. The PR had won Perak in the 2008 general election but lost it to the BN a year later when three of its assemblymen defected. A PR heavyweight - the Democratic Action Party veteran MP Lim Kit Siang - will be leaving his Perak seat to lead the PR charge in Johor. Mr Anwar was speculated to be filling the vacuum in Perak. Permatang Pauh is a safe seat for Datuk Seri Anwar who had held it from 1982 until 1999 when he was sacked from government on charges of corrupt practices and sodomy. He has maintained that these charges are trumped up. The seat was held by his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail until he regained it in 2008 upon his return to active politics after he was released from prison. He won the seat in a by-election in 2008 by a landslide, taking two-thirds of the 47,000 votes.
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| Malaysia's Multi-Ethnic Coalition Near Collapse Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:41 PM PDT
UMNO may have to go it alone as Chinese, Indian parties crumble Thus indigenous tribes, most of them in East Malaysia, with 11 percent of the population, probably hold the key to the 2013 election, most political analysts feel. The states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan control 57 of the 222 seats. The 165 peninsular seats are almost equally divided between the Barisan and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat coalition. John Berthelsen, Asia Sentinel Regardless of who wins Malaysia's 12th general election, expected to be held on April 27, the historic multi-ethnic coalition that has ruled the country since independence will have likely collapsed.
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| Blogger Papa Gomo says will fight Anwar in GE13 Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:27 PM PDT
Mohd Farhan Darwis, TMI Pro-Umno blogger Papa Gomo declared today he will run against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the 13th general elections (GE13), raising the stakes in his personal fight against the oppostion leader. The blogger, whom PKR has identified as Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, had tweeted this afternoon that he had decided to fight head-on against the 65-year-old who dreams of becoming Malaysia's seventh prime minister in national polls due soon. "I have made the decision to stand in this GE13 against Anwar Ibrahim," he said in Malay on his Twitter account, @PapaGomo, before quipping "Lawan tetap lawan" in an apparent dig at the PKR founder's famous slogan. "Certain to lose but let Anwar get indigestion," he added. However, it is unknown where the election battle will take place as Anwar announced recently he may not defend his Permatang Pauh, Penang federal seat in the coming polls. He is reported to be eyeing a seat in Perak. Papa Gomo has also been accused of being ex-policeman-turned-former convict and a "phantom" voter in the run-up to Election 2013, touted to be the tightest-race for both the ruling Barisan Nasional and the three-party Pakatan Rakyat opposition anchored by PKR. Last month, Anwar filed a RM100 million defamation suit against Papa Gomo for allegedly posting on his blog false still photographs of the PKR leader from a fake sex video.
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| Three-corner fight in Bukit Gasing with Edward Lee’s son as independent Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:22 PM PDT
Ida Lim and Md Izwan, TMI The Bukit Gasing state seat in Selangor will see a three-corner fight in Election 2013, with the son of its former representative Edward Lee Poh Lin (picture) to run as an independent candidate against DAP and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. "I'll be running as an independent," Simon Lee Chung Hsin told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today. Lee, who had previously aided his late father in his duties as the Bukit Gasing state assemblyman, is expected to officially announce his candidacy in a press conference next Thursday. DAP publicity chief Tony Pua confirmed that Simon Lee would not be contesting under the party's ticket as his late father did in Election 2008, where he defeated BN's Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng in a massive win with a 8,812 majority. "He will not contest on DAP's ticket, he is an independent candidate," Pua said. Following Edward Lee's death in 2011, no by-election was held, leading to DAP's Subang Jaya state assemblyman Hannah Yeoh's adoption of the Bukit Gasing seat. Recently, The Malaysian Insider reported that DAP would likely field first-timer outsider Kasthuri Rani Patto, the daughter of late DAP hero P. Patto, in the Chinese-majority seat in Petaling Jaya. She had said that Edward Lee's impact continues to be felt, highlighting the "Save Bukit Gasing" campaign which he had started together with local residents in an effort to protect the Klang Valley green lung from development. BN is seeking to regain Selangor, one of the five states that the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took over in Election 2008. PR currently holds 36 seats out of the 56 state seats and 17 out of the 22 parliamentary seats in the country's richest state.
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| DAP blames EC for low overseas postal voter registrations Posted: 04 Apr 2013 09:43 PM PDT
Ong pointed out that he received many questions from overseas Malaysians last Wednesday - the day Parliament was dissolved - about how to register as postal voters. Boo Su-Lyn, TMI The DAP blamed the Election Commission (EC) today for the registration of only 6,298 Malaysian voters abroad, or 0.6 per cent, out of about a million Malaysians living overseas. The Star Online reported EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof as saying yesterday that the low figures were "quite disappointing", despite the polls regulator providing a "convenient registration process". "The announcement for overseas postal voting was only done on January 21st, 2013, after the gazetting of the Quarter 4, 2012 electoral roll," DAP election strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming said in a statement today. "This meant that those Malaysians overseas who had not yet registered as a voter, which is probably the majority of them, were not eligible to apply to be an overseas postal voter after the announcement of the EC guidelines on overseas voting," he added. Ong also accused the EC of not "aggressively" reaching out to overseas Malaysians before January to register as regular voters first, before registering as postal voters. "As far as I know, the EC did not allocate any budgetary resources, nor did it work with Wisma Putra, to conduct an aggressive voter registration exercise for Malaysians overseas," said Ong. He also noted that advocacy group MyOverseasVote found out last July that several Malaysian embassies and consulates had received inconsistent information on who could register as regular voters through them. "This shows the serious failure on the part of the EC to communicate and implement a standard registration procedure among the Malaysian embassies and consulates," he said. Ong pointed out that he received many questions from overseas Malaysians last Wednesday - the day Parliament was dissolved - about how to register as postal voters. "This clearly shows that the EC failed in its outreach to Malaysian voters which resulted in the low number of registrations," he said.
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| The end of Machiavellianism (WITH CHINESE TRANSLATION) Posted: 04 Apr 2013 06:27 PM PDT
I believe that many doubts have been cleared with Najib's recent declaration (that BN won't cling on the power should they lose). The people should now be able to vote as they please without feeling threatened and stressed. And since BN has made its promise, PR should in turn make the same promise that if they lose in their states they will ensure a smooth transfer of power (especially to control some of their fanatical, over-obsessive supporters who have the potential of causing troubles). "Should Barisan National lose in the coming election, will they surrender their power peacefully?"
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| Battle will be fought on popularity, not policies Posted: 04 Apr 2013 06:17 PM PDT
But a significant number of urban voters and non-Malay voters have bought into the ABU sentiment. Hence the drastic weakening of support for Umno in urban areas. More importantly, several BN component parties were almost decimated in 2008 because voters wanted to punish Umno, or where Umno did not contest, they punished the contesting component party.
AT LAST, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of Parliament yesterday after obtaining royal consent from the King. Yesterday also marked the fourth anniversary of Datuk Seri Najib's premiership- he took over the helm from Tun Abdullah Badawi on April 3, 2009. Mr Abdullah was forced to step down after Barisan Nasional's (BN) weak performance in the 2008 general election. Mr Najib's announcement was not at all a surprise. Malaysia has been in election mode since the first week Mr Najib became Prime Minister. Right from the beginning, many people had expected him to seek a mandate by calling a snap election. But Mr Najib obviously thought differently. As a result, when the announcement was finally made, many Malaysians were relieved rather than surprised. The Election Commission will soon announce the dates for nomination and polling. Campaigning will start after Nomination Day. But that is just the formal process. In reality, campaigning started about two years ago, with handouts and goodies, or promises of handouts and goodies, being the most common campaign material. This election therefore is not a battle of serious policies. It is simply a battle of who can be more populist. Hence, we see a raft of proposals designed to win voters, such as welfare assistance policies. The opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) made a lot of such promises in its manifesto. The ruling BN coalition, on the other hand, does not just promise, but has been doing exactly that through various government agencies. It is no secret that this election will be the toughest for BN. Never in Malaysia's history has the coalition seen such a serious challenge. It is difficult to see PR winning Putrajaya, even though the chances of it doing so are much bigger than before. No one should discount the possibility of seeing a Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim driving into Putrajaya. The possibility certainly exists, but it is only a small one. What is more likely to happen is that PR would win more states. It is already the state government in Kedah, Kelantan, Penang and Selangor. PR actually won Perak too in 2008, but lost it to BN after the defections of several elected representatives. This time, PR has a real chance of retaining the four states, recapturing Perak and winning Negeri Sembilan. Even more worrying for BN are the inroads PR has made in states such as Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak. These used to be safe states for BN. Not any more. In Johor, many are complaining that the rapid development of Iskandar Malaysia has pushed the cost of living upwards too fast. For example, they find themselves unable to compete with non-Malaysians who are buying many new properties, thus pushing prices beyond their reach. In Pahang, environmental campaigners have put BN on the defensive over the controversial Lynas rare earth plant. PR has successfully transformed this into a partisan issue and is capitalising on it fully. In Sabah, the Lahad Datu intrusion has opened a can of worms for BN. Sabahans have long complained that their state is flooded with outsiders, allegedly as a result of an unwritten policy to increase the number of Muslims in the state. Some are questioning if the intruders had been given citizenship by the BN administration. The latest bombshell was in Sarawak, where relatives of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud were caught on video insulting Sarawakians. It will not be surprising if the natives choose to punish BN in this election. An additional factor that cannot be ignored is the level of unhappiness against Umno. The movement against BN is actually spearheaded by a movement against Umno. We see today an "anything-but-Umno" (ABU) sentiment being propagated among voters, but there is no such campaign against other BN component parties such as the Malaysian Chinese Association, Malaysian Indian Congress or Gerakan. Ironically, despite the ABU campaign, Umno itself remains quite strong because its bastion is in rural Malay areas, where the voters are less exposed to non-mainstream media. But a significant number of urban voters and non-Malay voters have bought into the ABU sentiment. Hence the drastic weakening of support for Umno in urban areas. More importantly, several BN component parties were almost decimated in 2008 because voters wanted to punish Umno, or where Umno did not contest, they punished the contesting component party. The protest against Umno continues today and it is likely to be a major hurdle preventing BN from doing better than in 2008. Having said that, BN has history and experience on its side. Malaysians have not seen any other party in power. Many remain BN supporters not necessarily because they believe in the BN agenda, but because they fear what would happen if the unproven PR takes over. Whichever way the votes go, it will be exciting to see Malaysians deciding the future of the country. |
| ‘Flood of money leaving Malaysia to reverse after BN wins polls’ Posted: 04 Apr 2013 06:08 PM PDT
(TMI) - Money flowing out of Malaysia should reverse course after an expected Barisan Nasional (BN) win in Election 2013, according to fund managers and market analysts in the region. This comes as foreign funds pulled RM10.7 billion out of Malaysia in February due to election jitters, while at the same time pushing RM29.4 billion into neighbouring Thailand. "Elections are probably going to be held before the end of April and we expect to see funds coming back," Wee-Khoon Chong, a rates strategist in Hong Kong at Societe Generale, told financial wire Bloomberg in a report published today. "The risk-reward is still favoring the incumbent to continue another term." Investors have stayed cautious in the past few months, over the uncertain date of the next polls, and worry that a loss by long-ruling coalition BN might postpone economic reforms. Bloomberg reported that Citigroup Inc analysts Kit Wei Zheng and Brian Tan noted that a narrower win for BN compared to 2008 would raise the risk of delaying some fiscal reforms that will affect inflation, although the policy direction would stay unchanged. "If there's status quo and Barisan Nasional stays in power, there'll be a lot of pent-up demand for Malaysian ringgit assets and funds will probably find their way back onshore," said Lum Choong Kuan, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd's head of regional fixed-income research told Bloomberg. Foreign funds have preferred Thailand because of Malaysia's political uncertainties and Indonesia's current-account deficit, but they are expected to return to Malaysia where there has not been any major civil conflicts like the 2008 and 2010 Bangkok protests. "On a historical basis, the political situation in Thailand has been more volatile compared to Malaysia. In terms of stability, investors still prefer Malaysia rather than Thailand," said Lam Chee Mun, a fund manager at TA Investment Management Bhd. Maybank Investment Bank (IB) Research came up with three possible outcomes for Election 2013 in its daily report yesterday, and a win by opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was in none of them. Maybank IB put a BN win with a smaller majority as its baseline scenario, while keeping the status quo would be the best-case scenario. The third scenario would be a hung parliament.
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| Squabbles in PR camp over seat allocation Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:40 PM PDT
These squabbles are not surprising, said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng, who runs his own consultancy. Since 2008, when PR did spectacularly well in the polls, its membership has grown exponentially, and it now has a slate of better-qualified people. Carolyn Hong & Yong Yen Nie, Straits Times THE pressure is on the parties to finalise their candidates as nomination day may be just days away. The lobbying for seats has been intense, with open squabbles already marring the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) camp, while the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) holds its cards tightly. PR said it hopes to finish the seat negotiations by today, while BN is expected to begin announcing some names from next week. PR has trickled out the names of some candidates over the last few weeks. But even the cautious rate of announcements has not managed to quell the squabbles. There were protests from the ground after the Democratic Action Party (DAP) announced its candidate - former Umno assemblyman Mohd Ariff Sabri - for the Raub seat in Pahang. He is a relatively new recruit. The Kedah DAP also complained publicly after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim picked Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates for the Alor Star and Padang Serai seats, which the DAP had wanted. The worst squabble was in Johor, where PKR chief Chua Jui Meng went incommunicado after DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang was announced as the candidate for the Gelang Patah seat, which Mr Chua was eyeing. Mr Anwar's announcement of former army chief Hashim Hussein for the Johor Baru seat also reportedly caused ripples, as he was new to the party. These squabbles are not surprising, said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng, who runs his own consultancy. Since 2008, when PR did spectacularly well in the polls, its membership has grown exponentially, and it now has a slate of better-qualified people. "Things have become much more competitive now. Public office always holds a great lure for people as it comes with influence and the network," he said. He noted that PKR - the youngest party - seems to have the most problems. Its partners, the DAP and Parti Islam SeMalaysia, have a lot more experience dealing with this. The coalition, he said, will have to resolve its differences quickly, or look fractious. Umno MP in Johor Nur Jazlan Mohamed said it appeared that PR is not immune to the BN disease of fighting for seats, as its members grow to believe there is a chance for the opposition coalition to win power. On the other hand, BN has kept quiet. It is understood that Prime Minister Najib Razak has told his party leaders to give him a free hand to decide on the candidate list. He has met BN leaders over the last few days to finalise it. Sources say some states may see changes, including Johor, where the current Menteri Besar Ghani Othman has already served four terms. Mr Ghani has been speculated to be moving to a parliamentary seat, with several names tipped to replace him. Kedah is another state where there is intense lobbying for the Menteri Besar-designate post. Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir is said to be a front runner. The PM yesterday urged his party leaders at a closed-door meeting to avoid the infighting that had hurt the party in 2008. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said it had completed vetting all candidates. |
| Big win for BN - if see-saw voting trend continues Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:35 PM PDT
BN's best performance was in 1995, when the Malaysian economy was booming. The coalition received 65.1 per cent of the popular vote. Its worst performance in the last two decades was in the 2008 elections, barely staying above water with 50.3 per cent of the popular vote. The united opposition under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took 46.75 per cent of the vote. Reme Ahmad, Straits Times
IF HISTORICAL patterns should hold true, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition should win more seats in the coming general election (GE), and a bigger slice of the popular vote. In the six elections since 1986, Malaysians have enthusiastically voted for BN in one election, only to turn against it in large numbers at the next outing. In the language of the stock market, after a big slide in the 2008 elections, the 13-party BN may be poised for a rebound in the 2013 General Election. Still, as promoters of unit trusts often say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. BN's best performance was in 1995, when the Malaysian economy was booming. The coalition received 65.1 per cent of the popular vote. Its worst performance in the last two decades was in the 2008 elections, barely staying above water with 50.3 per cent of the popular vote. The united opposition under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took 46.75 per cent of the vote. Some basics first. There are a total of 222 seats in the federal Parliament. BN won 140 seats and the opposition PR alliance 82 in the 2008 GE. After defections, BN has 137 seats and PR 75, with 10 MPs declaring themselves as Independents. PR consists of the conservative Parti Islam SeMalaysia, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party and the multiracial Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). BN must win at least 112 seats to retain federal power. In the past, voters shied away from Umno-led BN after major party problems, such as the bitter fight former premier Mahathir Mohamad had with Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah that played out in the 1990 elections. By the next general election they were back, sickened by bickering in opposition ranks and as BN put its house in order. Twice in the last two decades, the vote against the status quo was led by a splinter group from Umno - Semangat 46 in 1990, and in 1999, by Parti Keadilan Nasional, which later changed its name to PKR. And three times in recent history, the opposition cobbled together alliances to take on BN. When that happens, historical data suggests, it tends to get more votes. This time around, the opposition is again united under a single banner. So, will Mr Najib enjoy more voter affection than his predecessor, Tun Abdullah Badawi, in 2008? Or will he be spurned too? The graph is easy enough to read. But Malaysia's voters are in an unpredictable mood. That makes the swings tougher to plot.
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| Anwar to announce tonight which seat he will contest in Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:28 PM PDT
(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he will announce on Friday night the seat he will be contesting in.
But he remained coy about confirming widespread speculation that he was going to contest in Perak. He said he will make the announcement at a rally in Seberang Jaya on mainland Penang. He said he needed to meet his supporters in his current seat Permatang Pauh to explain why he was not contesting here as they have been with him through good and difficult times. He also said he was "heavy hearted" to move from Permatang Pauh as he has been here since 1982. Asked if he was going to contest a seat in Perak, he said "tengok dulu" (let's see). "Rationally, the strategy is to boost the support there (Perak). It's a mixed area there. "We have (Pas spiritual leader) Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat in Kelantan, (DAP secretary general) Lim Guan Eng in Penang and (DAP adviser) Lim Kit Siang in Johor," he told reporters at a mosque here. He was scheduled to attend a meeting with PKR, DAP and Pas leaders to discuss candidacy issues at 3.30pm but declined to reveal where the meeting would be held. When asked about his wife Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's role in the coming election, Datuk Seri Anwar said she was keen to serve the people and assist in campaigning but not keen to be a candidate. He also urged police to look into cases where protesters caused disturbances at Pakatan's rallies and to take action against those responsible. |
| Wan Azizah: Contesting or not? Posted: 04 Apr 2013 04:47 PM PDT
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar denies reports that party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will not contest. K Pragalath, FMT The possibility of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ibrahim contesting a state seat in the 13th general election "remains" open until nomination day, said her daughter Nurul Izzah. "The possibility remains until the announcement date," Nurul told FMT in a text message. Nurul's comment contradicts her father, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's announcement on Wednesday that Wan Azizah would not contest. Anwar had told Al Jazeera during a live interview that Wan Azizah "leads the party but decided not to contest in the election". Earlier today, Nurul dismissed Anwar's statement describing it as mere "political talk" even though the announcement was reported by the PKR media organ KeadilanDaily.com. In the Bernama report, Nurul said KeadilanDaily.com had merely quoted a statement released by the central PKR election department. "An official announcement would be made by Anwar next Wednesday. He definitely knows about the candidates' preparations," she said. Speculations about Wan Azizah contesting in this general election arose last week. Malay daily Sinar Harian reported Azizah's intention to contest for a state seat in Selangor which was unnamed since Azizah had not finalised on where to contest. "Yes, I will contest for a seat in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly but we need to discuss on a suitable seat. That would make it easier for me to conduct an election campaign and focus on the area," she told Sinar Harian. Subsequently, Selangor PKR information chief Shuhaimi Shafiei, who is also Seri Muda state assemblyman, offered Azizah four state seats to choose from the 17 that PKR currently controls. The four state seats are Seri Muda, Kota Anggerik, Seri Setia and Sementa in Kapar. Her intention to contest also created speculations that current Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, who is also vying for the menteri besar seat, would have to give way for Azizah to be the next menteri besar, if she won.
Media speculations Wan Azizah was the Permatang Pauh MP from 1999 to July 2008. She contested in Permatang Pauh after Anwar was disqualified from holding on to his MP position when he was imprisoned. In July 2008, she stepped down to allow Anwar's comeback into active politics. Her decision to step down resulted in her being disqualified to contest for a parliamentary seat until July this year. Responding to another question, Nurul also brushed off talks of Anwar moving to Perak to contest a parliamentary seat as mere "media speculations". "I think he did not mention that he is ready to contest in Perak. It is merely media speculations and I have myself received memorandum from Permatang Pauh residents requesting him to remain there," she said. She added that there was a sentimental factor for Anwar in Permatang Pauh.
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| ABU: Don’t be scared of BN’s fear tactics Posted: 04 Apr 2013 04:41 PM PDT
The EC may set May 11 as the polling date to remind the rakyat about the May 13 incident, say ABU spokesman Haris Ibrahim. Alyaa Azhar, FMT Polls watchdog ABU (Anything But Umno) spokesman Haris Ibrahim today urged Malaysians not to be influenced by fear tactics employed by Barisan Nasional for the coming general election. "From what we have heard, the Election Commission [EC] may set May 11 as the polling date to remind the people about the May 13 incident. "This move is to scare the rakyat and to remind them to vote for stability. We urge the rakyat not to be frightened by BN's tactics. "If the EC sets the date on May 11, please do not let the BN's fear tactics influence our decision to vote. Remember that we are voting for change," he said at a press conference held at ABU's headquarters here today. Haris also urged the rakyat to reject race-based politics and expressed disappointment with Hindraf. "We are disappointed with Hindraf's new stand as it is seen to have courted BN. Why are they [Hindraf leaders] going back to BN, the same BN which has marginalised Indians for so long? "Also, we have traced an SMS which was issued by Hindraf members to boycott the general election. "We urge the Indians not to do this because it does not make sense to boycott the general election," he said. Haris also said that ABU has launched an initiative by distributing "Amaran" (warning) flyers throughout the country to foreign nationals who have been provided with MyKads for the purpose of voting in the upcoming election. "These flyers serve to stop foreign nationals from casting a vote in the general election, or risk facing the ire of the rakyat. "Tahan [Team Abu Halang Asing Ngundi] squads are being assembled throughout the country to safeguard the sanctity of the electoral process. "These squads will consist of ordinary Malaysians who will ensure that these foreign nationals do not vote on polling day," said ABU's Jason Sanjeev Ganeson .
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| Pakatan out to create a bigger tsunami Posted: 04 Apr 2013 04:16 PM PDT
There are about 37.7 per cent Chinese votes in Perak and most of them support Pakatan Rakyat. However, Pakatan Rakyat needs to fight for the 48.59 per cent Malay votes to win the state and more parliamentary seats. And Anwar is the ace to attract Malay votes. Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he intends to leave Penang and contest in Perak, showing that Pakatan Rakyat has made a careful deployment for the focal states in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. There was an announcement earlier saying that DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang will leave Perak to contest in Johor. The move was intended to create a momentum and set off a tsunami from the southern peninsula. And there must be important leaders in the north to make the deployment sound. If Pakatan Rakyat is able to seize Johor, PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub is expected to be the candidate for state mentri besar. Pakatan Rakyat has no preferred chief minister candidate in Malacca. In Negri Sembilan, however, PAS and the PKR have their respective preferred candidates, namely Seremban PKR deputy chief Dr Mohamad Rafie Abdul Malek and PAS central committee member Dr Rosli Yaakob. Although there was a rumour earlier saying that PKR president Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail would contest in Selangor, she later decided not to contest for any seats. However, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali will continue contesting in Selangor. After Lim Kit Siang left Perak to contest in Johor, Anwar shifted to contest in the state to stabilise the situation and fight for Malay votes, with an attempt to take revenge on the BN for seizing the state administration in February 2009. There are about 37.7 per cent Chinese votes in Perak and most of them support Pakatan Rakyat. However, Pakatan Rakyat needs to fight for the 48.59 per cent Malay votes to win the state and more parliamentary seats. And Anwar is the ace to attract Malay votes. If Anwar contests in Perak, he can help improve the winning odds of some parliamentary seats. With more parliamentary seats, there will be a greater chance to seize Putrajaya. It is generally predicted that since Anwar is going to contest in Perak, PKR would then be Pakatan Rakyat's leading party in the state. If Pakatan Rakyat is able to win the state, the mentri besar should then be a PKR member. However, it is impossible for PAS grassroots to give up the post. In the Perak regime change, the relationship between former state Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and the Malay Ruler has changed and thus, it is difficult for him to be the mentri besar again. In Penang, half of the total voters are Chinese. It is not a big problem for Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to keep the regime. In Kedah, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak's performance is poor and has been receiving resistance from the state's grassroots. Therefore, it is rumoured that PAS would field its vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar to contest in Kedah to pave the way for the replacement of the mentri besar. Pakatan Rakyat also has preferred mentri besar candidates in Perlis and state PAS deputy president Mohd Anuar Tahir receives the greatest support. In a recent interview with Sin Chew Daily, Lim Kit Siang predicted that Pakatan Rakyat would be able to seize another two state regimes in the 13th general election, namely Negri Sembilan and Perlis. Therefore, the focal states in the west coast of peninsula, together with Kelantan, Pakatan Rakyat is trying to build a "Great Wall" and if they are linked together, it might trigger a larger tsunami. One thing that should not be forgotten is that during the 2008 general election, Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat leaders focused their election campaign activities in the west coast of the peninsula in the last few days before polling day and it resulted in a tsunami, causing a regime change in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah, while winning 10 of the 11 parliamentary seats in Kuala Lumpur. And now, Pakatan Rakyat is using the old trick with more energetic candidates and a more sophisticated deployment. It seems like Pakatan Rakyat's plan to seize Putrajaya is not limited to an empty talk. The election campaign is expected to be more and more exciting.
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| ABU disappointed, says Hindraf 'courting' BN Posted: 04 Apr 2013 04:05 PM PDT
Anything But Umno (ABU), a friendly opposition movement, today expressed their disappointment in Hindraf over its actions that seem to be "courting" the ruling coalition. "Repent and return to the right path (taubat dan kembali ke pangkal jalan)," ABU spokesperson Haris Ibrahim urged Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy. Haris said Hindraf's meeting and discussion of its blueprint plan with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was seen as leaning towards Barisan Nasional. "We are dissappointed with recent developments of Hindraf. Their recent actions, to us, seems like they are trying to court Barisan Nasional," said Haris. ABU said it is standing up for the 40% marginalised Malaysians and the the main cause of that marginalisation was the ruling coalition's policies. "These (Hindraf's actions) cannot be accepted by ABU," said ABU member Jonathan Jeevan. However, he said the ABU will still leave the door open for Hindraf to work with ABU. "If Hindraf chooses not to, then ABU's message to Hindraf is very simple – you do not represent all the Indians so do not play Umno/BN race card." It was rumoured that Hindraf were sending out SMSes telling Malaysians to boycott the 13th general election.
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| Pakatan still can't shoot straight on dissolution day Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:54 PM PDT
CYNICAL fools hounded and pounded the Prime Minister for years with inane and insane bunk on why he should dissolve the Dewan Rakyat prematurely – to the Opposition's advantage of course. Nevertheless, the misanthropic guesswork that preceded yesterday's dissolution was diabolical: Opposition leaders goaded the PM to announce D-Day on almost every quarter since 2011, hoping an earlier snap election could convert their March 8, 2008 concessions into bigger gains. Azmi Anshar, NST But Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak dismissed the contemptuous bait-and-switch tactics by focusing on an unstoppable momentum to further advance the nation's socio-economic fortunes that has defined his administration. So, it was easy for him to ignore the Opposition hogwash that whined incessantly about a dissolution that didn't arrive to their convenience and one that went beyond the emblematic March 8 date. But when he finally did yesterday, it was Najib's sentimentality that guided the decision – the live telecast to announce Parliamentary dissolution also marked the fourth anniversary of his swearing-in as PM. Who would have thought? Nevertheless, the misanthropic guesswork that preceded yesterday's dissolution was diabolical: Opposition leaders goaded the PM to announce D-Day on almost every quarter since 2011, hoping an earlier snap election could convert their March 8, 2008 concessions into bigger gains. When Najib refused to even nibble their bait, the opposition denounced him "cowardly" but when it was obvious that Najib would look beyond March 8, his March 8 snub was "shameless." Despite the constitutionality of his actions, Najib still endured claims of illegitimacy, no less than by the biggest cynic of them all, Lim Kit Siang. Lim's sneers was hypocritical: if illegitimacy and not legality was the imperilled issue, then he should have ensured that the Pakatan Rakyat state governments of Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Selangor dissolve on March 8 as a mark of "virtuous principle." Was it a surprise that he didn't? Lim blasé argument that Najib had lost moral legitimacy and credibility after March 8 was as flaccid as his jowls. Wouldn't the status of his son the Penang chief minister and the other Pakatan mentris besar be just as morally illegitimate and incredible? The response to Lim's cynical calculation was whooping incredulity that recognised Lim's familiar theatrics cannoning off cynical hyperbole in sound-bite loops that repeats itself to fit his self-preservation. Like his son, Kit Siang would forever – even if he unthinkably ever held Federal power – assumed the bunker mentality of paranoid victimology that suspects lurking dissenters in every nook and corner desperate to sack them from their hypocritically dynastic high horses. However, in the father-son tag team, their paranoia is actually valid: everywhere you go, conscientious DAP state and branch leaders have rebelled so greatly that Guan Eng will now realise that Penang is no walkover and Kit Siang risks political seppuku in Gelang Patah. But why would Lim Kit Siang and son, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his Pas' ilk, these people bray for rule of law, hyperventilate at the thought of a Government optimising its five-year constitutional tenure? Simple: this longest stint recorded is as long as the rope that the PKR, DAP and Pas used to hang themselves as they bicker, backstab and undercut in such juxtaposing bedlam, chronicled assiduously in 30 ways by Anwar's former lawyer, Datuk Zulkifli Noordin, in his blog. Just a sample of Zulkifli's censure of Pakatan's daft potboilers leads to another cynical theme: anything less than the takeover of Putrajaya will deem GE13 as being fraught with fraud and irregularity. Anwar and his minions have harped on the idea of uncontrollable street demonstrations if Pakatan fails to grab Putrajaya on the delusion that majority of Malaysians will vote for them. In the euphoria of that delusion, Pakatan entered into a paradox of sorts when they proclaimed in their Hail Mary general election manifesto that they will ensure a free and fair election once they win Putrajaya. Hold on! If they win, then wouldn't the general election conducted by the Election Commission be more than fair! So why keep carping on a fraud poll? Other than Pakatan implying that they will win elections which themselves rigged, such incontinent self-flattery is the textbook excuse to justify their continued existence even after the majority voted them out fair and square. But for the likes of Pakatan Rakyat's scandal-prone, infirmed, cynical and uncouth leaders, losing objectively and equitably is a nightmare that will truly expose their Orwellian characters and hurtle them down the road to oblivion and, heaven forbid, retirement. |
| Mutiny in Sabah Pakatan Rakyat Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:47 PM PDT
Disclosure by 'Gang of Seven' rankles; Allies fume over what they claim is an unauthorised statement Alexander Chen, Borneo Insider The Pakatan Rakyat-Plus coalition in Sabah seems to be cracking at the seams ahead of the 13th general election. This is all due to a pre-emptive strike by a group of Parti Keadilan Rakyat Sabah veterans led by the wily Ansari Abdullah to announce a shortlist of seven candidates on Thursday. The revelation caught everyone by surprise, including Ansari's PKR colleagues as an official announcement was only expected today (Friday) at the earliest. But knowing that he was most likely not going to be in the list of candidates, Ansari and the 'Gang of Seven' jumped the gun to stake their claim. This produced a curt response from a PKR official in Kuala Lumpur: "Ansari must be out of his mind," he said when informed of the statement. An aide of DAP Kota Kinabalu MP, Hiew King Cheu went ballistic at the news he read in Borneo Insider and called to say, "that's not true. That list must be a figment of imagination by him; no that's not what has been discussed." The Angkatan Perpaduan Sabah (APS) was not amused either, with a Wilfred Bumburing assistant saying that Ansari and gang were only saying things to spite the opposition.  Anthony polled a credible 7.830 votes in 2008 when he stood as a PKR candidate against eventual winner, Maximus Ongkili of the BN. "Ansari knows that Tuaran has been allocated to APS and that Wilfred is the candidate while Marudu will be contested by Maijol Mahap," he said. He added: "Ansari has never won an election so he is hallucinating. His list is one that he and his cohorts must have made up themselves. Definitely it is not an official one but disclosed early so as to embarrass the PR leadership, especially Anwar Ibrahim and Wilfred." On Thursday, Ansari told a press conference that he would be the PR choice for Tuaran and Anthony Mandiau would be re-fielded in Kota Marudu. The others he named were Dr Chong Eng Leong (Sepangar), Mazhry Nasir (Putatan), Mursalim Tanjul (Kudat), Saidil Semoi (Kota Belud) and Jonathan Yassin, the division chief for PKR Ranau, who is also his brother-in-law, though better known for having a hand in the Anwar-Huguan Siou fiasco. Tongue in cheek, he said: "In line with the promise for autonomy (by Pakatan Rakyat leadership), we have taken the liberty to release the names of the seven candidates that have been picked by the respective divisions.  Eng Leong: Another luckless politician whose favourite topic is the illegal immigrants when not indulging in his favourite past-time. "We are very confident that Datuk Seri Anwar and the party leaderships of PAS and DAP will honour their commitment that matters involving Sabah will be decided by Sabahans. "This is a test of whether the party leadership is sincere in its promise to give us autonomy. We are very confident that the party will pass this test," he said.
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| Malay vote a stumbling block for Pakatan’s Perak quest Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:13 PM PDT
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, several PR leaders admitted that Election 2013 would still be a toss-up between the opposition pact and BN, largely due to lukewarm support from the state's Malay voters. Clara Chooi, TMI Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim moved in on the Perak Malay vote last night by dangling his possible candidacy in the silver state for Election 2013 but earned mixed reactions in response — a telltale sign of trouble for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) here ahead of national polls. The prime minister-hopeful belted out a song, told amusing anecdotes and launched his signature charm offensive at two separate locations in Perak's quiet northeast — Lenggong and Gerik, both Malay-majority parliamentary seats and both popularly known as Umno fortresses. The two events drew sizeable mostly Malay-centric crowds, particularly in Gerik, and there was boisterous applause when Anwar was ushered onto the ceramah stage to speak but many in the audience appeared more curious than supportive of the leader's polls pitch. Large numbers of people seemed more interested in the items sold under makeshift tents set up at the fringes of the ceramah venue by traders hailing from as far as Baling and Sungai Petani in Kedah, and Ipoh, which is some 130km south of here. They scurried away when asked to be interviewed, some admitting they were not there for the event. Many hung around to listen to Anwar but kept their distance from the group of a few hundred who crowded near the ceramah stage to cheer and clap at the opposition leader's words. "I appeal for your co-operation," said the bespectacled Anwar at midnight in Taman Semarak, Batu 2, Gerik. "Support our candidates... PKR, PAS, DAP... because we need you to win Perak, to win Putrajaya." In his element as usual, the 64-year-old former deputy prime minister reminded voters of his years in prison and how he had been beaten, stripped bare and even had his privates "measured". He told of campaigns to attack him and his family — his wife, PKR president Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and daughter, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar — and the numerous allegations of his alleged affiliations with the Jews of Israel, the Americans, with the Chinese, the Indians and even the Sulu terrorists in Sabah.
"But the more you threaten me, the greater my support grows. Look at this," he said, gesturing to the crowd. He also told the predominantly Malay crowd that it was only the higher-ups in Umno and their cronies who have been reaping the country's riches, claiming that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has only been feeding scraps to the poorer masses through programmes like Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M). "And then recipients thank them, kiss their hands, saying oh thank you, thank you," he said. "But I want to tell you, the people of Gerik, I want to tell you that if the rich supports them (BN), it does not surprise me. Because timber they get, shares they get, taxi permits they get. "But the Malays from the villages," he continued, gesturing again to the crowd, "... why do you support them?" Anwar later appealed to the crowd to give him 24 hours to decide on his candidacy for Election 2013, but stressed that it was his intention to contest a seat in Perak. "I've been here for nine years. Seven years in Kuala Kangsar.... and two years where? In Kamunting," he laughingly said, referring to his two-year jail term under the Internal Security Act (ISA) at the Kamunting detention camp near here. Speaking on the sidelines of the event, several PR leaders admitted that Election 2013 would still be a toss-up between the opposition pact and BN, largely due to lukewarm support from the state's Malay voters. PKR's Simpang Pulai assemblyman Chan Ming Kai told The Malaysian Insider that PR was banking largely on the state's newly-registered voters and hopes to win at least 40 per cent from this group. He noted that Chinese support for PR has remained strong, while many among the Indian community may have fallen back to BN's fold. "So we can only survive with a simple majority government if we can win at least 30 to 40 per cent of the new Malay votes," he said. One PR leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any talk that PR was a shoo-in to capture Perak in Election 2013 was an overly generous prediction. "If you ask me, it is too close to call. We lose some votes from one group, gain from another. We cannot say for certain what will happen during the polls," the leader said.
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| Leaked papers show offshore interests of Mirzan, Raja Nong Chik Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:07 PM PDT
(TMI) - Mirzan Mahathir (picture) and Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin are among 1,500 Malaysians with offshore companies in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands, two locations popular as tax havens for the rich. The names of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's son and the federal territories minister came up in leaked documents obtained by Washington-based International Confederation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), according to a report in news portal Malaysiakini today. Another name that cropped up in the report was Michael Chia, the man linked with Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman over money laundering allegations. According to the report, the list of people owning these offshore firms include tycoons, parliamentarians, retired politicians and civil servants. They also include members of royal families, as well as criminal kingpins. The report stated that the leaked ICIJ files provide secret records of offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries and territories. "The hoard of documents represents the biggest stockpile of inside information about the offshore system ever obtained by a media organisation. The total size of the files, measured in gigabytes, is more than 160 times larger than the leak of US State Department documents by WikiLeaks in 2010," ICIJ was quoted as saying. According to the leaked documents, Raja Nong Chik is a prominent shareholder and director of RZA International Corporation, a British Virgin Islands entity incorporated on August 21, 2007 via Singapore. The company is a mirror of Malaysian entity Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd, a firm established in 1997 dealing in real estate and equities investment, the news portal reported.
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| Ahli PKR bantah Mustaffa Kamil tanding Pasir Salak Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT
Kecewa Anwar menamakan Mustaffa sebagai calon tanpa terlebih dahulu merujuk kepada kepimpinan cabang PKR Pasir Salak. B Nantha Kumar, FMT PKR menerima tamparan hari ini apabila ahli-ahlinya di sebuah rantingnya di penempatan masyarakat Cina di Kampung Baru Chui Chak , dekat pekan Langkap membantah pemilihan Mustaffa Kamil Ayub sebagai calon Parlimen Pasir Salak. Mustaffa telah diumumkan sebagai calon parlimen oleh Datuk Srri Anwar Ibrahim, Ketua Umum PKR dalam satu majlis ceramah di Kampung Gajah bulan lepas. Dua hari yang lepas, Setiausaha Cabang PKR Pasir Salak yang juga merupakan Pengarah Jentera Pilihanraya PKR Parlimen Pasir Salak Ahmad Taufik Hassan telah keluar parti dan menyertai Umno bagi membantah pemilihan Mustaffa sebagai calon parlimen Pasir Salak oleh Anwar. Setiuasaha ranting tersebut, Chong Hock Then, 60 ( dikenali sebagai Ah Thiam oleh ahli-ahli PKR Pasir Salak) menyatakan rasa tidak puashati bagi pihak ranting tersebut yang mempunyai keahlian parti seramai lebih 350 orang. Katanya beliau kecewa Anwar menamakan Mustaffa sebagai calon tanpa terlebih dahulu merujuk kepada kepimpinan cabang PKR Pasir Salak. Ujarnya Mustaffa yang pernah bertanding di parlimen Pasir Salak dan juga DUN Sungai Manik dalam PRU 12 yang lalu ( dalam parlimen Pasir Salak) hanya timbul 5 tahun sekali, itupun apabila hampir pilihanraya. Katanya lagi Mustaffa tidak pernah menyertai aktiviti parti sendiri di Pasir Salak sebaliknya lebih cenderong untuk menyertai aktiviti PAS setempat. Ujar Chong lagi, beliau berharap pimpinan parti di peringkat Pusat dapat segera mengganti Mustaffa dengan calon yang telah dicadangkan oleh pihak cabang. Katanya lagi beliau khuatir sekiranya pihak pusat tidak bertindak dengan segera, parti akan kehilangan banyak undi dari masyarakat Cina setempat.
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| DAP criticised over its ‘extremist’ candidate Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:41 PM PDT
While Raub DAP division has vetoed Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz's candidacy, MCA has claimed that the latter is a threat to Chinese education. (FMT) - DAP has come under heavy criticism from all quarters for fielding former Umno Pantai Manis assemblyman Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz as the candidate for the Raub parliamentary constituency in Pahang. Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had announced on Monday that Mohd Ariff, who blogs as sakmongkolak47, would be DAP's candidate in Raub in place of Tengku Zulpuri Raja Puji Shah, a popular figure among the grassroots members in Raub. Tengku Zulpuri was slotted for the Mentakab seat. Following the announcement, some 50 DAP leaders from the Raub division held an emergency meeting earlier this week and vetoed Mohd Ariff's candidacy and appealed to the party's central leadership to reconsider its decision. They claimed Tengku Zulpuri was a better candidate for Raub because he had been active on the ground for several years. Mohd Ariff, a frequent critic of Umno and its policy, only joined DAP last January. He was roped in by Umno in the 12th general election although he was a state assemblyman from 2004-2008. When contacted by FMT, Tengku Zulpuri said he understood the feelings of the grassroots members because they have been spending time and money with him to make voters understand about the Pakatan policies. "I hope the new candidate can continue with the mission," he said. However, he dodged the question on whether he still harboured hope of contesting in Raub, saying that the people in Mentakab had expressed support for him. Mohd Ariff an 'extremist' Meanwhile, MCA has also lambasted DAP for fielding Mohd Ariff whom it described as a detractor to Chinese vernacular schools. In a statement issued yesterday, MCA national youth education bureau chief Chong Sin Woon claimed that Mohd Ariff had demanded that the federal government cease providing funds to the Chinese schools.
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| Azmin rejects Sabah PKR’s ‘suggestions’ Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:36 PM PDT
Azmin's dismissal of a candidates' list revealed by Sabah PKR leaders only highlights the growing discontent between the party's national leadership and the Sabah leaders. G Vinod, FMT PKR deputy president Azmin Ali today dismissed a Sabah PKR leader's decision to announce the party's candidates for the state's west coast region, stating that the names were "mere suggestions". "They are merely suggestions. All decisions will be made by our political bureau meetings," he said today at a press conference at party headquarters here. FMT earlier today reported that Tuaran PKR chief Ansari Abdullah had pre-empted the party's top leadership by announcing seven candidates for the state's west coast region. He said that the announcement was made in line with PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim's decision to give autonomy to the East Malaysian state. Ansari announced that he would stand for the Tuaran constituency and Dr Chong Eng Leong for Sepanggar. Others were Mazhry Nasir (Putatan), Anthony Mandiau (Kota Marudu), Mursalim Tanjul (Kudat), Saidil Semoi (Kota Belud) and Johanathan Yassin (Ranau). When unveiling the list late yesterday in Sabah PKR headquarters in Penampang, Ansari had said: "We have taken the liberty to release the names of the seven candidates that have been picked by the respective divisions. "This is a test of whether the party leadership is sincere in its promise to give us autonomy. We are very confident that the party will pass this test," he had added. Azmin's dismissal of the list today highlighted the growing discontent between the party's neational leadership and the Sabah leaders. Pakatan's council meeting "We will discuss issues concerning overlapping seats. Hopefully, we can sort out the matter by the end of the week," he said. When asked if Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng would be contesting in the general election, Azmin said: "We appreciate what he had done for the party. We have made several offers to him and I'm confident we can resolve the mattter." Azmin's reply seemed to contradict Chua's earlier statement when he said that he has yet to be offered any seats to date. Azmin also dismissed a tweet by Yusmadi Yusoff who claimed that the latter was not shortlisted to contest for the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat. "That's his view. The party will decide on him and all PKR members contesting in Penang by this evening. "Anwar will announce on which seat he will contest at the same time," said Azmin.
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| Only 6,298 overseas Malaysians have registered as postal voters Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:29 PM PDT
(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Only 6,298 Malaysians out of over 700,000 Malaysians living abroad have registered as postal voters. "It is quite disappointing after all that we did to provide a convenient registration process for the voters' overseas," Election Commissionchairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said. "The process is simple. Malaysians abroad can e-mail or fax over their particulars. "I would have thought there would be 100,000 or even 200,000 overseas people (Malaysians) registering to vote," he told The Star on Thursday. He said ample time had been given from Jan 21 till the dissolution of Parliament on April 3 to register. Tan Sri Abdul Aziz also said only 2,900 absentee voters would cast postal ballots. Asked whether the EC's website being down on Wednesday contributed to the low registration, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz said it was not a factor. He also dismissed suggestions that EC regulations for overseas voters were too stringent. "One must register as a voter and Malaysians staying abroad can be postal voters so long as they are registered as voters and had been in Malaysia for not less than 30 days in the last five years before dissolution of Parliament," he said. Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said certain groups, especially electoral reforms group Bersih, had called for EC to allow overseas voting, arguing that tens of thousands of Malaysians overseas wanted to vote in the coming general election. "The low rate of voter registration is a little bit disappointing especially when Bersih made a big issue out of it," he said on Thursday. Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat said the poor rate was due to the late announcement of the registration of overseas voters. Meanwhile, following the crash of its website, the EC posted on its GE13 website (http://www.pru13.gov.my/) on Thursday that Malaysians can check their voter status by calling its call centre at 03-8885 6565 or SMS SPRSEMAK IC NO and send to 15888. |
| GE13: No parliamentary seat for Jui Meng Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:25 PM PDT
PKR vice president Datuk Chua Jui Meng said today that he has yet to be offered a parliamentary seat to contest in the 13th general election. However, the veteran politician said he was still willing to contest if Pakatan Rakyat offered him a seat. After going "missing" for weeks, the Johor PKR chief today held a press conference to clear the air over the squabble with DAP for the Gelang Patah seat. Clarifying he was on leave for two weeks, Chua said though he would prefer not to stand in the upcoming elections, he had been persuaded to contest by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. After PKR had "lost" the Gelang Patah seat (which it contested in the 2008 general election) to DAP this time around, Chua had been hopeful of getting the Bakri seat in return. However, DAP has reportedly refused to yield the seat to PKR. "I'm just saying I really do not have a house to go to. I was told to leave my house. Of course, the party offered various constituencies belonging to DAP but unfortunately up till now no doors have been open to me," Chua told a packed room at the PKR headquarters here. "I wish I did not have to stand but if I was given a chance to change the country, how can I turn it down?" "If I am offered a seat, I will contest," he added. He also said he supported DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang's move to contest in Gelang Patah, a seat Chua had reportedly been eyeing earlier. "I am honoured the person who is going to take over from me in Gelang Patah is Lim Kit Siang. "He (Lim) is an honourable man who is persistent in the struggle for change in this country and I am proud to be contributing towards his struggle," he said, adding that Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman decision to go up against Lim is Umno and BN's strategy to get rid of the senior politician. "It is obvious they don't want Ghani," Chua added. He said PKR had been eyeing 12 Johor parliamentary seats but was finally allocated 11 with Lim's moving in to contest in Gelang Patah. "We have very good people who will be candidates and I am not in the business to usurp anyone's seats and I will not ask anyone to step down for me to contest," Chua said, adding that after two weeks of introspection and reflection, he was of the view that he has an 'enviable' position and needed no seat to contest for power. "If I do contest, I win. If I don't contest, I win as well," Chua said.
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| Young voters may call the shots in Malaysia polls Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:20 PM PDT
2.3 million voters will be exercising their rights for the first time
CALL them the wild card in Malaysia's looming national election. Some 2.3 million of the country's 13.3 million registered voters - or one in five - will be entering a polling booth for the first time, going by figures provided by the Election Commission. Analysts say these voters - mostly under 40 and Internet-savvy, raised amid growing prosperity but now irked by inflation, passionate about Malaysia's future and more willing to experiment - are unlikely to be as yoked to Barisan Nasional (BN) as previous generations. One reason is that they have not experienced nation-defining events such as independence from British rule or the 1969 racial riots. So far, neither the ruling BN government nor the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can claim to have won them over. Many people have not voted before as voting is not compulsory in Malaysia. The surge in voter numbers is caused by a spike in political awareness and active registration campaigns held by both sides of the political divide. Pollster Merdeka Centre surveyed 826 first-time voters between November and December last year. More than half admitted to being agnostic in their politics. Still, two-thirds felt the government had paid attention to their needs. These voters, of whom 90 per cent said they had access to the Internet, are less likely to vote by political party and more ready to base their votes on issues, said Merdeka programme director Ibrahim Suffian at a recent forum. What worries BN is that there is no shortage of issues troubling the young - including corruption, crime and the economy. Writer Melody Song, 27, lives in Australia and has registered for a postal vote. She said she and others who have enjoyed a Western education, are less likely to be thrown by threats of civil unrest if they vote opposition. "Younger voters are sick of having propaganda stuffed down our throats, and not being able to question if things could be different," she told The Straits Times. "We are not ungrateful - we just want things to improve because we care about Malaysia." That said, she is still undecided about which way to vote. In an election where every ballot could count, both BN and PR have lavished attention on this group. BN has given vouchers for smartphones to young voters and RM250 (S$100) cash handouts to singles earning under RM2,000 a month. PR has promised free education and lower car prices. Mr Vinod Hariram, 30, an engineer in Sarawak, said rising crime and the recent incursion by armed Filipinos into Sabah helped him make up his mind - he is voting for the opposition. "I want to vote in a government that can give me greater security." Mr Mervyn Leong, 33, who lives in Kuala Lumpur and is unemployed, is still on the fence. "Both BN and PR have good and bad leaders, and I doubt the opposition can give us a significantly better government," he said. "I need to look at the track record of the politicians being fielded." Mr David Yeoh, a 30-year-old accountant, is flying back from China to vote because he is frustrated by the widening income gap and inflation. His decision seems to have been made. "Malaysia is becoming increasingly polarised, and I feel that, despite the economic reforms, many of us have been left out of the policies, and the young are finding it harder to own homes." |
| IC row: Will native parties quit BN? Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:19 AM PDT
(FMT) - It is pointless for native parties in the Sabah BN coalition to continue with their blind allegiance when it is now obvious that the federal government 'does not take them seriously'. Two serious developments have cropped up in Sabah which got the Barisan Nasional native partners all riled up. One is the federal government's rejection of the "united" demand of the BN partners to re-issue fresh MyKads to bona fide Sabahans. The other is the incriminating revelations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the issuing of MyKads to the illegal immigrants. Will these two events be reason enough to compel the BN partners to leave the coalition? Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) hopes these disturbing developments will be enough to lead the parties to collaborate with genuine stakeholders committed to protecting the rights of Sabahans. With general election weeks away, STAR desperately needs to consolidate with other local parties and wrest the state administration from BN control. Straddled between giants – BN and Pakatan Rakyat – STAR and Sabah Progressive Peoples Party (SAPP) are the "bigger boys" among the locals. Both are championing local agendas: STAR has its Borneo Agenda and SAPP has Sabah for Sabahans. STAR and SAPP are backing PBS, Upko and PBRS in their collective call for the federal government to revoke and re-issue MyKads to genuine Sabahans. STAR said de facto law minister Nazri Aziz's dismissal of a "sound proposal" was telling. Nazri claimed that there were "legal implications" and that the process to re-issue fresh MyKads was "difficult". But Sabahans who have been closely following the testimonies of witnesses at the RCI in January into the issuance of MyKads to illegal immigrants in the 1990s in a citizenship-for-votes scam are not buying the tall tale. Nazri's dismissive response to Upko president Bernard Dompok's willingness to surrender his own MyKad merely confirmed suspicions about the direction the RCI was taking and the federal government's intentions. Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/04/05/ic-row-will-native-parties-quit-bn/ |
| Is it time for change in Malaysia? Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:17 AM PDT
The parliament in Malaysia has been dissolved and the gloves are off as political leaders gear up for a fight over corruption, discrimination and the cost of living. "This is a crucial election for the prime minister and the ruling coalition but ... I think there is a certain degree of ... quiet confidence that the Barisan Nasional will retain power for three reasons. Number one ... the series of by-elections that were held before 2010 ... Barisan did fairly well in those by-elections .... Number two, the prime minister has introduced a series of reforms among them economic reforms .... And number three, the demands from a certain segment of our society for a greater democratic space, he's been able to respond to those demands to some extent ... " - Chandra Muzaffar, a Malaysian political scientist Parliamentary polls will pit the National Front Coalition, which is in power since 1957, against a resurgent opposition. The ruling group has already been knocked back, suffering its worst ever results in 2008 elections. And it will not be plain sailing this time either. In the forthcoming elections, three million first time voters - nearly one-quarter of those eligible - will have to decide who to give their support to. "I think the very fact that this prime minister has allowed the parliament to almost automatically dissolve shows that there is actually not much confidence in the many transformation programmes that he has put in place .... Despite the relatively decent economic performance of the country, many people on the street do not feel any ... significant increase in their incomes, the perception is that inequality is actually rising ... the cost of living in the urban areas continues to increase .... I think the majority of the voters feel that this is an opportune time for there to be a transition in government after 56 years of Barisan Nasional rule." - Kian Ming Ong, an election strategist for the opposition Democratic Action Party "In the last four years, all Malaysians have experienced and witnessed a huge change in the economy, the politics and socially within our nation under the government's transformation programme, which has brought tremendous change to peoples' lives and prosperity to the country," he said. "I urge all Malaysians and the parties to take note that if there is a change of power at federal or state level after the next election, [it] must be transferred peacefully and smoothly." Read more at: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/2013446582318256 |
| GE13: Ghani taking on Kit Siang Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:14 AM PDT
(The Star) - Titanic fights are looming on the horizon, barely a day after the dissolution of Parliament with challenges being thrown to some of the biggest names in Malaysian politics. In Johor, speculation is mounting that DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang may not have the easy passage he is expecting in Gelang Patah. Several state Umno leaders have taken the radical step of asking Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman to square off with Lim. In Perak, Barisan Nasional leaders say they will make sure that PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim loses if he contests in the state. The main attention, however, is on the DAP bid for Gelang Patah, which is key to the Pakatan Rakyat campaign strategy in Johor, which it regards as a frontline state. Johor Barisan MPs believe that Ghani is the ideal and most credible candidate to fight the DAP heavyweight in what has been deemed "the hottest seat in Johor". Datuk Puad Zarkashi of Batu Pahat said Ghani would be the game-changer needed in Barisan's defence of Gelang Patah and Johor in the 13th general election. He said the contest would allow Ghani to defend his legacy in Johor. Puad, who is Deputy Education Minister, noted that Gelang Patah is the site of Iskandar Malaysia, the country's most prestigious development project which was launched under Ghani's watch. The new state capital in Nusajaya is also within Gelang Patah. "We hope he will consider it (contesting in Gelang Patah) because he pioneered all these projects. He is the most suitable person to defend what we have in Johor," Puad said. The 66-year-old Ghani has been Mentri Besar since 1995. It is understood that he had informed the Prime Minister that he did not mind offering himself as the Gelang Patah candidate. Gelang Patah is an MCA seat but a party insider said the proposal could be discussed even though MCA division chief Datuk Jason Teoh has been forwarded as the candidate. The insider agreed that the Mentri Besar was popular among the Chinese and had a good chance of winning the seat, which has 53% Chinese voters, 34% Malays and 13% Indians. Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Samad said Ghani's style of politics reflected the "Johor way" of doing things. "DAP's racial politics and divisiveness are not going to be good for Johor. Voters should be given the choice whether they want the Johor way or DAP's racial way. "It is important for Johor to maintain and protect what has been Johor's trademark in race relations. We have been able to depoliticise issues like Chinese education. "Our Chingay festival goes back 150 years and soon the Foon Yew High School will celebrate its 100th anniversary. We are proud of these traditions," said Shahrir. The idea also had the support of Nusajaya assemblyman Datuk Aziz Sapian who said that Ghani had always enjoyed a warm relationship with the Chinese in Johor. He said Ghani also had good working ties with the Johor Chinese groups and associations which looked up to his leadership. However, Deputy Defence Minister and Mersing MP Datuk Dr Latif Ahmad said there was no need to make Lim look so important. Meanwhile, reports that Anwar was likely to contest in Perak met with swift response from Barisan, with Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi declaring that the coalition would "bury" the PKR leader in the state. Ahmad Zahid, who is Bagan Datoh MP, said Anwar's intention to contest in Perak would not scare anyone in Umno and that it would be lawan tetap lawan (fight to the end), regardless of whether it is Anwar or anyone else who takes on Umno in Perak. Anwar's plan to quit Permatang Pauh for another seat in Perak has sparked speculation that he was not confident of holding on to his old constituency, which has more than 71% Malay voters, and that he was looking for a Perak seat with Chinese voters to carry him through. Officially though, his reason for moving south is to lend his weight to Pakatan Rakyat in Perak now that Lim is moving to Johor. Ahmad Zahid said Anwar would not dare to contest in any of the Umno seats in Perak because "we will make sure he is defeated".
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| GE13: Sabah PKR grabs 7 MP seats; ignores DAP, PAS Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:12 AM PDT
(Borneo Insider) - Our stand is that, since PAS did not contest any of these seven constituencies they have no right to contest. DAP obtained lesser votes in Sepangar and Putatan; they even lost to PKR candidates. Parti Keadialan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah Thursday unveiled a list of seven proposed candidates for the West Coast North Zone. They are senior lawyer Hj Ansari Abdullah (Tuaran), anti-illegal immigrant activist Dr Chong Eng Leong (Sepangar), Mazhry Nasir (Putatan), Anthony Mandiau (Kota Marudu), Mursalim Tanjul (Kudat), Saidil Semoi (Kota Belud) and Jonathan Yassin, the division chief for PKR Ranau, who is also brother-in-law to Ansari. Unveiling this was Ansari who is also currently PKR Tuaran Chief in the presence of five of the seven proposed candidates and the various PKR divisional chiefs, in a press conference held at its Headquarters here. "In line with the promise for autonomy (by Pakatan Rakyat leadership), we have taken the liberty to release the names of the seven candidates that have been picked by the respective divisions. All the seven divisional heads of the seven divisions are also here. "We are very confident that Datuk Seri Anwar and the party leaderships of PAS and DAP will honour their commitment that matters involving Sabah will be decided by Sabahans. "This is a test of whether the party leadership is sincere in its promise to give us autonomy. We are very confident that the party will pass this test," he said. He claimed that all the candidates have been long identified, as far back as two years ago, and their backgrounds too have been thoroughly vetted. Ansari also declared that all the seven divisions had during their meeting held earlier reach a consensus to make clear their stands that the other PR components and allies should not contest for any of the said seven constituencies. "Our stand is that, since PAS did not contest any of these seven constituencies they have no right to contest. DAP obtained lesser votes in Sepangar and Putatan; they even lost to PKR candidates. "Neither did they contest in any of the other five constituencies, so DAP should not also lodge any claim on these seven constituencies in the West Coast North Zone. "Therefore, all the seats should go to PKR," he proclaimed. As for the APS led by Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing, Ansari noted that Bumburing had during the launch of APS declared that APS's purpose is not to fight for candidacy but to help the PR, and secondly, they will not take PKR members but those who left BN without any party. "Datuk Wilfred is my friend, he is an honourable man and I am sure he is a man of his words," added Ansari. Besides this, he also emphatically rebutted the notion by a certain local opposition parties that PKR/PR is just a clone of UMNO/BN. "That's not right, because in our Buku Jingga, one of the undertakings given by PR is to treat Sabah as an "equal partner" rather than just another state and whatever that has been agreed under the Malaysia Agreement will be honoured by the coalition," he contended. He was convinced that the Pakatan leadership is sincere and committed to their promise of honouring political autonomy to Sabah should it comes into power. He said this was adequately reflected in the open pledge made by the Pakatan leaderships like Anwar, Datuk Hadi Awang of PAS and Lim Kit Siang of DAP in various occasions, both in Sabah and Sarawak. He cited for example, in 15 September 2010 during the launching of PR Secretariat in Bukit Padang here, Anwar, Kit Siang and Ustaz Nasharuddin Mat Isa of PAS had pledged that all important decisions affecting Sabah will be decided by Sabahans. "And in Last September, in the Kuching Declaration signed by Anwar, Ustaz Hadi Awang and Kit Siang, once again they reiterated that Sabah and Sarawak should be treated as partners within the Federation," he said.
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| New Old Trick to continue Cheating Indians -- Dap cares two Fs for Indians Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:09 AM PDT
All they want to do, like PKR, is to con enough number of Indians over the next few weeks into voting for them in return for their 14-Point Plan for Indians hot air gimmick. Joe Fernandez The Malays on both sides of the political divide have a new old trick. |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:05 AM PDT
Action speaks louder than words. The thuggish acts of BN supporters are a reflection of their leaders who rules this nation with an ironfist through fear and intimidation. Thomas Fann Walking towards a Pakatan rally at Kampung Melayu Dato Sulaiman Menteri in Johor Bahru, I could hear loud music coming from the open area where the ceramah was supposed to be. Initially I thought it was the pre-rally entertainment to amuse those who came earlier but as I got closer I could see Umno and BN flags from where the mega sound system was, just 40 metres from the Pakatan truck which served as the mobile stage.
Around 30 of these flag-waving Umno supporters were hurling verbal abuses and taunting the crowd of several thousands that night who came to hear what Anwar, Kit Siang, Guan Eng and other Pakatan leaders had to say. Scores of police personnel had to act as human barricades to separate this small group of hostile supporters from the larger crowd who to their credit was peaceful and not provoked. Rock music and Umno songs blasted non-stop for more than 4 hours for the whole duration of the ceramah. When different speakers were on stage, abuses would come through the Umno sound system and the Negaraku was played at least five times to interrupt the speech. Anwar got it the worse and as he attempted to speak, one could hear "Penipu, pembohong" being shouted at him. Like many right-thinking Malaysian that night, I was disgusted, saddened and ashamed of the level some segment of our society has descended to! It wasn't my first encounter with such childish attempts to sabotage an event which the ruling government does not agree with but this was the worst case so far for me. With Parliament dissolved and official campaigning about to start, I am afraid the worst is yet to come. Something just doesn't jive, it doesn't make sense. In recent weeks I have been coming across billboards of PM Najib smiling sweetly with children of different faces and the text "This is Happiness" or "This is Stability". On the TV we hear commercials using well-known personalities to "advise" voters to choose wisely, to choose peace, stability, happiness and even Malaysia. Songs about choosing wisely were commissioned and sung by fresh faced, white attired multi-ethnic singers. It just feels so good and gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The image portrayed by the mass media of the BN government is one that is peace-loving, gracious, gentle, stable, mature, tolerant, inclusive and progressive. But these are just mere images and words conjured up by some professional public relation consultants who are no doubt paid tens of millions of ringgit. The reality is shockingly different. Read more at: http://thomasfann.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/a-smiling-bully/
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| Najib hands out citizenship papers to Indians ahead of polls Posted: 04 Apr 2013 01:36 AM PDT
Sted Jaymal Zahiid, TMI Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today handed out documents to help solve the citizenship status of some "stateless" Indians, a key issue for the community, just ahead of Election 2013 expected to be held soon. The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman said today's event, which saw him giving out birth certificates, entry permits and citizenship papers to 120 recipients of which a majority of them are Indians, showed he had kept the promise he made immediately after taking office in April 2009. "After 100 days of me leading this administration, I had promised to solve the registration problem as soon as possible. I made it one of the 12 key promises," he told about 1,000 people who attended the documents distribution event in Sentul here. "From then on, the government had worked hard to achieve that target," added the Pekan lawmaker, who will be seeking his own mandate as prime minister in the upcoming polls. He claimed Putrajaya had to date solved 219,000 cases involving citizenship documents while half of the 7,600 applications for identity documents from the Indian community from 2012 to this year had been solved. The success in achieving the "tough task", was credited to his flagship Government Transformation Plan (GTP) which changed the mindset of the relevant ministry to adopt a radical solution to the problem, added Najib. The GTP was trumpeted as one of the many achievements of the Najib administration on live television just days before the BN chairman announced the dissolution of Parliament yesterday. In its push for the country's third biggest electorate, the opposition claimed the Najib administration had failed to address the "stateless" Indian problem, alleging there are 300,000 Malaysia-born Indians still without papers as a result of racial discrimination. The federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) said it would gather the 300,000 in a protest in front of the National Registration Department in Putrajaya but only 300 had turned up. PR had also included in its elections manifesto the pledge to solve all 300,000 cases within 100 days should it be voted into power but Najib today dismissed the idea as "impossible". "I asked the officers of the home ministry, if it was possible to do this. They told me 'no'. Why? Because first, there are no 300,000. And even if there are, this means they have to solve 3000 cases a day. That is impossible," he said. "This is just another one of their false promises, their lies," Najib said, an argument often repeated by members of the ruling coalition to counter PR's elections pledges.
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| GE13: MB announces RM300 bonus for S'gor civil servants Posted: 04 Apr 2013 01:30 AM PDT
Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today announced a RM300 bonus for all civil servants working for the state government. "We agreed at yesterday's state executive council meeting that all civil servants, including members of the state executive council (exco) will be given a special bonus," he told a press conference at the Annexe gallery of the state assembly building here. "It is a token of appreciation for all the work that the civil servants have done for us," Abdul Khalid said, adding that the bonus will be given in the nearest time. He was responding to questions from reporters about the rate of the performances by each state executive council member since Pakatan Rakyat took over the state after the March 2008 general election. The bonus is parallel to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's efforts in recent months to award employees from government-linked companies bonuses as an appreciation for their hard work as the nation heads towards a highly contested general election this year. Ironically, the opposing coalition Pakatan Rakyat has always criticised Najib for dishing out funds in an attempt to woo voters. Abdul Khalid also announced that all state assembly and exco members had agreed to only spend 50% of their annual allocation of RM500,000 until the end of elections in the spirit of good governance and effective financial management. "This is to ensure there is sufficient funds in order for the new state government to carry out its tasks efficiently and the people's welfare is not neglected." He said when Pakatan had taken over the state in 2008, the administration found that there were insufficient funds to run the state effectively. "There was money but the allocations were not enough, so we had to top it up at our next state assembly meeting," he said. "And this was in March 2008, merely three months after the state assembly members were given their annual allocations. "It is not proper. The funds are supposed to fund them for the entire year," he said, adding he was satisfied with the work that the state had done so far to implement reforms. Abdul Khalid also said the election candidates for all seats in Selangor has been finalised and will be announced next Wednesday by the party leadership. He declined to divulge whether he would be retaining his state seat Ijok and Parliamentary seat Bandar Tun Razak. He also said the Pakatan manifesto for Selangor will be announced in two to three days time.
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| Opposition plans to abolish 1MDB unjustified, say fund recipients Posted: 04 Apr 2013 01:28 AM PDT
(Bernama) - The opposition manifesto to abolish 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is unjustified as it has benefited the people. The ten 1MDB corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes have succeeded in enhancing access to education, health and business among the target groups. Programmes to sponsor mosque officials and kampung headman to perform haj, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Fund, 1Malaysia Mobile Clinic, 1Malaysia Youth Fund and Rumah Arau have improved quality of life in line with the aspiration of 1Malaysia Concept, 'People First, Performance Now'. Some 1.5 million people nationwide have benefited from programmes under the supervision of 1MDB Foundation with RM300 million government allocation. Muhsin Abdul Razak, 27, the recipient of the 1Malaysia Youth Fund for creative art received RM60,000 for his 'Projek Rabak' based in Ipoh. The fund will help the young generation with inclination towards painting, filming, photography and poetry. "We have a Facebook page which received 6,000 'like' and established Khizanat as an open gallery for art lovers to share ideas," said the graduate in automotive engineering from Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. Meanwhile, Malaysian Youth Council secretary-general Mohd Zaidi Aziz said abolishing 1Malaysia Youth Fund is unjustified as the incentives help young people with creative and innovative skills. "We can't just abolish these initiatives but have to see which elements need to be improved. 1Malaysia Youth Fund is given to young people who have high skills in creative fields," he added. The brainchild of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched in 2011 has distributed about RM14.7 million to 249 recipients under 1Malaysia Youth Fund. Melvin Tah Kok Wai, 22, was lucky to be selected for the 'Experience Work' pilot programme with cooperation of 1MDB Foundation and Sime Darby Foundation which provides an opportunity for poor students to work in a university. "I worked in the Student Affairs Department as supervisor for lodging. I gained a lot of experience as well as communication skills," said the software engineering student at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. As of March, a total of 75 university students have benefited from the programme. 1MDB also provide 'Majudiri Project' to improve the quality of life and economy of small traders by providing business enhancement courses and equipment. N. Puspavalli, 36, who runs an Indian traditional cake business said the course gave her the platform to develop her business. "Now I feel more confident when communicating with customers and know how to market my products," said the single mother, one of 3,000 participants who benefited form the course. Meanwhile, Wangsa Maju (Section 1) Rukun Tetangga chairman, Ismail Abu Samah, 59, said if not for 1MDB, he would have to wait for 32 years to make the haj pilgrimage. "I was with 400 other pilgrims under the second group of this special programme," said the father of seven children who was grateful for the offer. Najib recently handed offer letters to perform haj sponsored by 1MDB to 800 people including imams, kampung headmen and chairmen of kampung development and security committees (JKKK). 1MDB also provides PTA Fund of RM20 million to enhance programmes and activities in government schools and government aided schools. It also provides educational scholarships to 900 outstanding Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia students. Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when presenting the manifesto said 1MDB should be abolished as it is duplication of the functions of Khazanah Nasional.
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| Group warns of action against phantoms on polling day Posted: 03 Apr 2013 10:34 PM PDT
"We are ready for you," Haris told Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the video message. "We, many of us, are ready to die. Are you ready to die?" Clara Chooi, TMI An activist movement has warned foreigners and phantom voters away from polling stations during Election 2013, saying they will be dealt with accordingly if they dared to sneak in their votes. Anything But Umno (ABU), an opposition-friendly polls watchdog group, said it will be deploying special squads on polling day to ensure no phantom voter, foreigner or fake IC holder would dare loiter near polling stations. "Please take this warning seriously. On polling day, ABU will be patrolling all stations and will deal with all foreigner who intend to defy this warning," ABU leader Haris Ibrahim said in the group's polls message on video-sharing site YouTube yesterday. "Please. I emphasise again – take this warning seriously." The lawyer-turned-activist also urged Malaysians to assist ABU in its efforts to prevent electoral fraud by casting their ballots early on polling day. He explained that voters could help ABU's squads by staying near the polling stations after they have cast their ballots and even accompany the ballot boxes when they are being sent to the various tallying centres nationwide. "Stay and defend the electoral process," he appealed. In the group's strongest warning yet to possible troublemakers, Haris (picture) declared that ABU members were even "willing to die" to prevent electoral fraud in Election 2013. The activist claimed of plots by the Najib team on polling day but said his team of monitors would be ready to fight them. "We are ready for you," Haris told Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the video message. "We, many of us, are ready to die. Are you ready to die?" The activist added that ABU's members were willing to "go to any length and at all cost" to ensure that the polls process would not be tampered with by outsiders. Haris also told Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties not to squabble over seat distribution, reminding its leaders that many of their supporters would be fighting tooth and nail to ensure that the ruling Barisan Nasonal (BN) falls from Putrajaya in Election 2013. He said much of PR's support was "by default" and not out of love for the pact's three parties but due to a profound hatred towards BN and its lynchpin Umno, which he claimed have "cheated and robbed" Malaysians for years. To non-PR parties contesting against BN, Haris urged their candidates not to betray the votes given to them by the electorate by jumping ship to the ruling pact once they are voted into their seats. He said it was likely that these representatives would later be seduced with lucrative offers to jump ship to BN, but appealed that they reject them or face the consequences later. The activist did not specify what these consequences were but said in the warning that ABU's agents would hunt them down if they did not flee the country after accepting the BN's offers. "Do not succumb (to the offers) but if you do, take this advice – take what you will and leave the country. "If you do not leave, trust me... we will hunt you down and we will ensure that in the shortest possible time, a by-election will be held to fill up the vacancy that would have been caused. "Take this warning seriously," he said.
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| Malaysian PM Najib predicts victory at polls Posted: 03 Apr 2013 10:28 PM PDT
Malaysian PM Najib Razak prepares for general election, says "cautiously optimistic" of victory. (AFP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday he is "cautiously optimistic" of a "big" win on election day if his party can overcome its internal woes. Najib, who dissolved parliament Wednesday in preparation for a general election seen as the ruling coalition's toughest challenge after 56 years in power, has urged voters to give him a strong mandate to rule. "We are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to win big, which means two-thirds majority (in parliament)," he said. "We have to work hard towards it and we have to make sure we minimise all internal problems within the party," Najib said, in an apparent reference to factional struggles within his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). The vote is tipped to be the closest ever, driven by concerns over corruption, the rising cost of living and high crime under the Barisan Nasional coalition which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. Najib has worked hard to rebrand UMNO, which dominates the 13-member Barisan coalition, by launching a series of reforms to strengthen the economy and grant greater civil liberties. "For four years we have fulfilled all our promises," he said after chairing an UMNO meeting. Recently, ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad said Najib could face a ruling-party leadership putsch if he does not improve on a 2008 polls setback. An election commission official said Thursday that the election regulator was expected to meet next week to decide on the polling date. The vote must be held within two months from the date parliament is dissolved. Analysts speculate it would be in late April. Najib is facing his first test at the ballot box since taking over in 2009 and is under pressure to recover from the coalition's shock 2008 election result, when it lost its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority. The resurgent opposition, led by charismatic former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, has gained traction by pledging to tackle authoritarianism and graft and is equally confident of victory. The opposition currently holds 75 of 222 parliamentary seats and controls four of the country's 13 states. Ambiga Sreenevasan, the co-chairman of electoral reform group Bersih, said the opposition had the odds stacked against it. "No doubt the opposition goes into the race with a disadvantage. Please allow the opposition to have access to the media," she told reporters. Currently the opposition does not have access to state media. "I hope voters will come out in big numbers to dilute the discrepancies in the electoral roll," she added, referring to claims the list does not accurately represent the electorate.
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| Pakatan ‘list’ circulates on Twitter Posted: 03 Apr 2013 10:22 PM PDT
It is said to be up to date as of yesterday. Leven Woon, FMT A social activist has leaked through Twitter what he said was the most recently updated Pakatan Rakyat list of candidates for the general election. Adrian Ng, a member of the civic groups Loyar Buruk told FMT he obtained the list from a PKR insider. He posted it on Twitter last night and said it was up to date as of yesterday. According to the list, which has 63 names, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution, who is the current Machang MP, will shift to the Kulim Bandar Baru seat in Kedah. Zulkifli Noordin won it for PKR in 2008, but he was sacked from the party in 2010 and became an independent MP supportive of BN. The list names new candidates for two DAP strongholds in Perak. Former Perak assembly speaker V Sivakumar replaces Fong Po Kuan in Batu Gajah and Canning assemblyman Wong Kah Woh replaces M Kulasegaran in Ipoh Barat. Fong and Kulasegaran are said to be in the bad books of Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming. However, Ng's tweet said Pakatan had yet to finalise its decision on the two seats. In Johor, PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub is said to be contesting for the Pulai parliament seat and former deputy army chief Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid, who recently joined PKR, will stand in Pasir Gudang, also a parliament seat. Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng is said to be running for either the Segamat or Kulai parliament seat. Chua is calling for a press conference tomorrow. He is expected to announce his election plan after disappearing from the public eye for two weeks. Sources said he was sulking over Pakatan's decision to let DAP strongman Lim Kit Siang contest in Gelang Patah. Here is the list according to Adrian Ng:
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| Posted: 03 Apr 2013 10:18 PM PDT
Pundits expect the Internet to be the main battleground in GE13 to a greater extent than in GE12. B Nantha Kumar, FMT You could almost hear the nation letting out a collective sigh of relief yesterday when the Prime Minister finally broke what some would call the most sustained suspense thus far in Malaysia's political history. We say "thus far" because Najib's announcement of Parliament's dissolution marks the beginning of an even more nerve-wracking episode in a drama that will end only with the announcement of the GE13 results. Most of us won't bother to stay in our seats to watch the closing credits. We already know whom to thank or blame—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all the other communication channels that come under the rubric of social media. To be sure, the combatants will still speak at ceramahs, distribute pamphlets and stick their posters all over the place. However, the main battleground will be in cyberspace, like it was in 2008, with the difference that social media, by virtue of their wide reach through interactive engagement, afford much more coverage than what we may now call the "traditional weblogs" that were the campaign media for GE12. GE12 made history because the ruling BN recorded its worst electoral performance ever, slashing its long-held two-thirds majority in Parliament and giving five states to its rival, Pakatan Rakyat (then known as Barisan Alternatif), although Perak went back to BN after several state assemblymen left Pakatan and declared themselves independent. No one—whether he supports be BN or Pakatan or is a fence sitter—doubts that the Internet will play a pivotal role again in deciding the outcome of GE13. Najib himself recognised this long ago and was among the first top Malaysian politicians to embrace social media with a big hug. But whatever medium it decides to communicate through, BN or at least Umno is expected to once again fall back on its tried-and-true method of winning the votes of those who fear the unknown. Pundits say it will try to instil fear in those who don't have it and fan it where it is already existent.
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| GE13: SAPP eyes 40 seats and dares DAP to contest 20 Posted: 03 Apr 2013 05:12 PM PDT
(The Star) - KOTA KINABALU: Although labelled a mosquito party, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) will be going for at least 40 seats and challenged DAP to face it in half of these seats in the general election. "DAP should contest at least 20 seats if it is strong. If it can't, it might as well not contest," SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said at a ceramah here. He said DAP had been boasting about its strength and if it believed in its own rhetoric about its performance in Penang, DAP should go for more seats in Sabah. "We in SAPP, despite being labelled a parti nyamuk (mosquito party) will go for 40 seats at least," said Yong, in an apparent reference to the seat sharing of 85 parliamentary and state seats in Sabah among candidates from DAP, PKR, PAS and two independents Datuk Lajim Ukin and Datuk Wilfred Bumburing . Besides the two men, both former Barisan Nasional MPs, the three parties in the Opposition front will get between 10 and 14 seats each. Yong said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang had conceded the three peninsula-based parties would not be able to win Sabah. Home-grown SAPP is not part of the electoral pact. "If there is no confidence about winning (in Sabah), why contest?" asked Yong.
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| Pakatan may lose Kedah with 6 per cent swing in Malay, Chinese votes: Survey Posted: 03 Apr 2013 04:04 PM PDT
A private survey shows that the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lose Kedah in the upcoming election with a mere six per cent swing in votes from the Malay and Chinese communities. A Kedah Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) leader said a possible reason for the dropin Chinese support was Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Razak's (above) ailing health, which he said had added to the perception of instability in the state government. Straits Times The opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lose Kedah in the upcoming election with a mere six per cent swing in votes from the Malay and Chinese communities, a private survey by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research has found. A Kedah Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) leader told The Malaysian Insider that a possible reason for the drop in Chinese support was Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Razak's ailing health, which he said had added to the perception of instability in the state government. The leader also noted that Malay support for opposition parties PAS, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) during the 2008 general election had not been very strong to begin with, owing to the parties' slim victory in the country's rice-bowl state during the tumultuous polls. "For example, in the Tanjung Dawai state seat, we won by barely a hundred votes," the PAS leader said on condition of anonymity. He added that the trend of votes from the Chinese community in supporting Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates at state-level but backing PR at federal level appeared to suggest a serious lack of confidence in the Kedah PR leadership. Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian underlined three likely factors behind the loss of support for the Kedah PR government, including the RM500 (S$199) cash handouts under the Najib administration's Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) programme. "Secondly, there may be internal issues within the state government, such as its service delivery and thirdly, the new crop of candidates that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has proposed have begun to draw voters back into BN's fold," he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider. The prime minister dissolved Parliament on Wednesday and several states followed suit while the Kedah MB said he would seek the state ruler's consent on Thursday. Elections are expected by the end of April. Datuk Seri Azizan has expressed confidence in PR's chances in Kedah despite the reported in-fighting among state PAS leaders that could topple the fledgling pact in the state. But PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu dismissed the independent pollster's findings, saying it would not hamper the Islamist party's efforts to keep Kedah in Election 2013. "I will go all out to help PAS and Pakatan recapture Kedah. Yes, I am aware of Merdeka Center's findings," he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider. "We promise to improve on our weaknesses to ensure that we will get to rule for a second term," said the PAS leader, who is expected to contest in Kedah's Pendang parliamentary seat. In a recent interview with The Malaysian Insider, Datuk Seri Azizan expressed confidence in PR's chances in Kedah despite a recent prediction that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's influence and in-fighting among state PAS leaders could topple the fledgling pact in the state. Datuk Seri Azizan said voters should continue to support PR in Kedah because of several measures undertaken by his administration, including eliminating corruption and providing insurance coverage to all senior citizens, regardless of race. "There is no corruption in Kedah. If there is, just arrest them," he said. "I give aid to the rakyat without looking at their race. I use the Kifaalah system... all dead people, Malays, Chinese Indians, all get it," added the Sungai Limau assemblyman, referring to an insurance scheme for all senior citizens in Kedah that was first introduced by the Kelantan PAS government. "I give education, education assistance... I also introduced the Kedah agricultural agenda," he said. PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said recently that Datuk Seri Azizan will continue to lead Kedah PAS as its state commissioner in facing Election 2013 that must be held by late June. In Election 2008, the loose coalition of PAS, PKR and the DAP soared to a surprise victory in Kedah when it trounced BN, sweeping 22 of the state's 36-seat assembly. But two PKR representatives - Bakar Arang's Tan Wei Shu and Lunas' Mohd Radzhi Salleh - subsequently quit to become BN-friendly independents, citing their growing disillusionment with their party leadership. Their quit decision effectively narrowed the seat margin between BN and PR to a mere four. In May 2010, rumours began circulating that the state's PR-led government would lose its already tenuous control of the state assembly and even fall back into BN's hands due to more defections from PKR assemblymen. But in a mammoth ceramah on the night of May 22, all remaining 20 PR state assemblymen turned up to defy the rumours, declaring their allegiance to Datuk Seri Azizan's leadership. The PAS leadership has yet to officially indicate who will lead the party's campaign in Kedah for Election 2013. Politicians from the ruling BN and opposition PR will be fighting tooth and nail to wrest majority control over 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats in the coming polls, which analysts have said will a toss-up between both pacts. |
| Hindraf's P. Uthayakumar to contest Kota Raja parliamentary, Sri Andalas state seats Posted: 03 Apr 2013 03:56 PM PDT
(The Star) - Hindraf's P. Uthayakumar will contest as an Independent candidate in the Kota Raja parliamentary and Sri Andalas state seats in the upcoming elections. The former Internal Security Act detainee said he would likely be contesting as an independent candidate if Pakatan Rakyat does not make way for him to contest under their ticket. Uthayakumar said the movement would also be fielding candidates for the Kuala Selangor and Kelana Jaya parliamentary seat as well as Sri Muda, Ijok, Bukit Melawati and Seri Setia state seats in Selangor. He said the candidates would be revealed after the Election Commission announces the nomination date.
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| ‘Give us intelligent, rational new candidates’ Posted: 03 Apr 2013 03:44 PM PDT
In the context of continuity and change, it must be remembered that 'change does not happen in any radical way,' says an academician. (Bernama) - SINGAPORE: As Malaysia gears towards the 13th general election, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have been urged to field new candidates of quality who can work together to deal with the country's upcoming economic challenges. Associate professor for the Contemporary Islam Programme at Nanyang Technological University, Dr Farish A Noor said it was vital to remember that "change does not happen in any radical way". Farish, a Malaysian, was responding to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. Farish was asked to share his views on how important it was for Malaysia to have political continuity and economic stability. Whenever politicians talk of continuity and change, Farish pointed out: "We need to remember that change does not happen in any radical way. "Even PM Najib has said that if there is to be any changes, it ought to be done in a lawful manner, which means that the state apparatus and constitution of Malaysia will remain intact." He said this election would therefore witness both sides offering their vision for a better Malaysia, in the form of PM Najib's economic transformation programme and the opposition's economy-focused manifesto. "I'm glad to see both sides are appealing to the economic aspirations of the Malaysian electorate, and I hope that both sides will field new candidates of quality, who can work together to deal with Malaysia's upcoming economic challenges in an intelligent, rational manner. "We cannot predict the outcome of the GE, but the economic transformation programme does signal an awareness of the needs and demands of the electorate, in the context of a changing society," he added. The dissolution of the 12th Dewan Rakyat paves the way for the 13th general election. The announcement was made on the fourth anniversary to the date of Najib having assumed the post of prime minister.
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| Posted: 03 Apr 2013 03:42 PM PDT
Gerakan says the CM has bought his status at the high cost of social polarisation. Hawkeye, FMT GEORGE TOWN: A Gerakan leader admitted today that the Chinese regard Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as a hero of their community but said he had won that status at the cost of disharmony among citizens of the state. Chia Kwang Chye, a vice-president in Gerakan, appeared careful not to use the phrase "racial disharmony", preferring to talk of "polarisation at every stratum of society" without elaborating on it. "The Chinese community wanted a hero and Lim somehow fits the bill," he told FMT. "But at the same time, he should also act out the virtues of a popular leader, such as uniting rather than disharmonising communities." Chia also repeated a frequently heard criticism of Lim's political style – that he is too combative against detractors. "While it may be good in some instances to be single-minded about issues," he said, "it can be counter-productive as Penang's diverse communities and critical-minded society would prefer an engaging and consultative personality rather than one who keeps talking down on them and politicises every issue imaginable." He advised Lim to tone down his aggression, saying his street-fighter style of politics gave an impression that he was superficial. He said that perception was strengthened last week when Lim, reacting to an online news report, challenged Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow to contest against him for the state seat of Padang Kota. "If one reads the report carefully," he said, "Teng did not challenge Lim. He just said he was ready to meet Lim in the election. Yet the good honourable chief minister thought it was an outright challenge."
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"How many more groups am I an agent of? It is enough," Anwar (picture) said. "You want to insult me? Go ahead. Call me a sodomiser... a dog."
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