Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Elected reps want Anwar's post explained
- In the Malay Press: Pakatan won popular vote only in 4 states, KL
- Student activist Adam remanded for 5 days
- After PKR’s MB kerfuffle, Selangor DAP now disputes exco list
- DAP disputes Selangor exco lineup
- I will not retire, says Anwar
- Karpal tells Tunku Aziz to cease attacks on DAP
- MB: Selangor exco to be sworn in within two weeks
- Chinese businessmen say boycott on community’s products “racist”, will hurt economy
- Meet the Malaysian Neo-Nazis Fighting for a Pure Malay Race
- 4 Things We Should Remember When Arguing About Politics
| Elected reps want Anwar's post explained Posted: 19 May 2013 02:15 AM PDT
(NST) - Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has been asked to justify the reappointment of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Selangor economic adviser. Kuang assemblyman Abdul Shukur Idrus said in the past five years Anwar had brought no apparent investment into Selangor. Instead, the Selangor government had sold many of the state subsidiaries' assets, he claimed. "Land owned by PKPS (Selangor Agriculture Development Corporation) was sold, a golf course in Templer and PKNS (Selangor State Development Corporation) land were sold to developers. "What did the economic adviser do to improve Selangor's economy? What we can see happening is blatant stripping of the state's assets," he said. Yesterday, Khalid tweeted that Anwar was expected to "continue playing an important role in the state administration" because of his experience. Meanwhile, Permatang assemblyman Sulaiman Abdul Razak said Anwar should keep his word and retire from politics after Pakatan failed to take Putrajaya. He said Anwar should not accept any position, including that of Selangor economic adviser. Sulaiman said the position would enable Anwar to use state facilities to further his political interests.
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| In the Malay Press: Pakatan won popular vote only in 4 states, KL Posted: 18 May 2013 06:58 PM PDT
Meena Lakshana, fz.com Pakatan Rakyat's popular vote win in GE13 is limited to four states and Kuala Lumpur, according to an analysis by Sinar Harian. The daily said that even though Pakatan obtained 52% of the national popular vote against 47% by BN, it did not secure the popular vote in states other than Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kelantan and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur. In Selangor, Pakatan received 1,045,956 votes and BN garnered 755,133 votes for the state seats while for the parliamentary seats, Pakatan won 1,044,758 votes and BN won 703,039 votes. In Penang, Pakatan received 621,706 votes and BN secured 498,656 votes for the state seats. For the state's parliamentary constituencies, Pakatan won 614,882 votes and BN received 512,451 votes. In Perak, Pakatan won 490,800 votes while BN received 233,243 votes for state seats. Of the parliamentary votes in the state, 492,863 went to Pakatan and 229,859 to BN. In Kelantan, Pakatan won 520,294 votes while BN won 343,417 votes for state seats, while for parliamentary constituencies, Pakatan garnered 405,478 votes against 402,503 by BN. In Kuala Lumpur, Pakatan won 447,218 votes against 238,902 by BN for parliamentary seats. Even though BN assumed power in Perak, Pakatan won the popular vote for state seats due to DAP's stellar performance in the state, whose candidates clinched overwhelming majorities and won all the seats it contested in the state, the daily noted. It added that BN and Pakatan put up a close fight for the popular vote in several states such as Terengganu, Kedah and Kelantan. In Terengganu, BN won 265,195 votes and Pakatan won 264,465 votes for state seats while in Kedah, BN won 447,198 votes while Pakatan won 440,701 votes for state seats. BN recorded significant wins in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Perlis.
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| Student activist Adam remanded for 5 days Posted: 18 May 2013 06:27 PM PDT
Student activist Adam Adli Abd Halim has been remanded for five days to allow police to question him over remarks he allegedly made at a post-GE13 forum. His lawyer, Latheefa Koya, said a magistrate this morning approved the application by police to remand Adam until May 23.She said Adam was remanded under Section 124B of the Penal Code for allegedly undermining parliamentary democracy as well as under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act for allegedly uttering seditious remarks. "We are shocked that Adam's speech on May 13 could be amounted to undermining parliamentary democracy, because the section is quite general. Anything you said can be interpreted as undermining parliamentary democracy. "We see this as a malicious intention to punish Adam, to detain him in the lockup because the purpose of remand is just to carry out investigation," she said. Adam, 24, was arrested by police outside his Bangsar home yesterday and was kept overnight at the Jinjang police remand centre. His arrest is linked to his remarks at a post-election forum organised by Suara Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) on May 13 where he told the audience that Malaysians "cannot wait for five years to overthrow Umno and BN". "We were told that he was under arrest since 3pm yesterday but not a single statement was recorded untill this morning," Latheefa told reporters outside the centre. Insisting that the case is straightforward as it is about remarks made by Adam at the forum, she said police were supposed to have carried out their investigation over the past few days before arresting him. She added that Adam had decided to exercise his right to remain silent and therefore his statement could have been quickly recorded without the need to remand him for five days. Adam's lawyers will challenge the remand order at the High Court, she added. Eric Paulsen, another lawyer for Adam, pointed out this is the first case of a person being remanded under Section 124B Penal Code, which is a new section that was inserted after the enactment of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012. He said it was an "oppressive and arbitrary" provision with a wide definition of what amounted to "detrimental to parliamentary democracy". Paulsen opined that this is an attempt of the police to shut the mouth of the youth, as well as other civil society members to question and discuss the state of democracy in the country. |
| After PKR’s MB kerfuffle, Selangor DAP now disputes exco list Posted: 18 May 2013 05:55 PM PDT
Boo Su-Lyn, TMI The Selangor DAP is questioning the state executive council composition announced by Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim yesterday, barely a week after a furore in PKR over the state's top post was settled. State DAP deputy chairman Tony Pua said the party was supposed to get four exco seats instead of the three announced by Khalid, adding that the pick for state Speaker was not as agreed. "Last night, we found out a different set of names," Pua told reporters in Subang Jaya here today. "We want to know why; there was no problem on Thursday. It was a quick half-an-hour meet," he added. Pua pointed out that Khalid and Selangor Pakatan Rakyat ― represented by state DAP leaders Teresa Kok and Datuk Teng Chang Khim, as well as state PAS leaders Khalid Samad and Dr Rani Osman ― had agreed in a meeting last Thursday that the DAP would get four spots in the state executive council, while PAS would get three and choose the Selangor Speaker. Khalid told reporters last night that four Selangor executive council posts would be given to PAS, while the DAP and PKR would get three each, apart from the state Speaker being a DAP lawmaker. Pua said he only found out about the allocation of the exco seats through a tweet by Khalid last night. "We're surprised by Tan Sri (Khalid)," said the Petaling Jaya Utara MP. "What's the point of the meeting then?" he added. Pua said that Teng and Kok have been trying to contact Khalid for clarification, but to no avail. Last night, Khalid said that a list of names for the Selangor executive council, along with proposed alternatives, was submitted to the Sultan last Friday. He said the state executive council will be sworn in within the next two weeks.
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| DAP disputes Selangor exco lineup Posted: 18 May 2013 05:44 PM PDT
Leven Woon, FMT DAP has disputed Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim's statement that the party will be given three exco and one speaker posts in the state administration. Citing the meeting between Pakatan Rakyat component parties last Thursday, DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said the consensus arrived was for DAP to have four exco posts, PAS three and the speaker posts, while PKR will take three exco posts and the Menteri Besar post. However, Khalid told reporters a different version at a function last night where he said DAP would have the speaker posts while PAS would have four exco spots. He also said the name list had been submitted to the Selangor Sultan on Friday, and DAP would decide on its speaker candidate. Pua said the party was surprised by Khalid's statement because this is not what the coalition had agreed upon. He said during the 30-minute meeting on Thursday, PAS had agreed to swap their quota with DAP, which would see the Islamic party taking up three exco and one speaker posts. "If now he submitted a different set of names, then what is the point of the meeting?" he said. He said DAP would question Khalid on the matter once the MB returns to Selangor on Friday. "I hope he made a mistake and told the reporters wrongly," he said. DAP announced last Friday that the party had chosen incumbent Selangor assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim and incumbent exco for new village Ean Yong Hian Wah for the exco posts. Pakatan retained power in Selangor with a greater majority in the recently concluded general election. DAP and PAS obtained 15 seats each out of the 56 seats, while PKR bagged 14.
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| Posted: 18 May 2013 01:52 PM PDT
'But why should I retire? We won. Are Umno people stupid? We won and we will fight together with the people against this robbery, says Anwar at a Penang rally. Athi Shankar, FMT Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim will not retire from active politics any time soon, hinting that he would still be around come the next general election. The Permatang Pauh MP defied calls for him to retire by claiming that Pakatan Rakyat had actually "won" the 13th general election, only to be robbed by electoral frauds. He said Pakatan's popular votes, which were more than Barisan Nasional's, proved that majority Malaysians have voted for a change of federal government. Strangely, he claimed that the popular choice of the people had become the opposition while minority choice had formed the government. Hence, Anwar told a nightly rally here yesterday that he would not heed to quit calls made by his opponents. Critics have called on Anwar to make good of his pre-election promise to retire and go into lecturing if BN won the polls and retained Putrajaya. Many cyber commentators have called on Anwar to fulfill his promise for once this time. But Anwar is adamant he would not heed their call. "Yes I said I would retire from politics if Pakatan loses. Some told me to retire as promised and to fight it out next time. "But why should I retire? We won. Are Umno people stupid? We won and we will fight together with the people against this robbery. "We can't tolerate this rigging, robbery and fraud. We want answers now," he thundered before a roaring and flag-waving mammoth crowd in Esplanade field. A total 11,054,577 votes were recorded for federal contest in the just concluded polls on May 5. Pakatan garnered 50.9 or 5,623,984 popular votes against Barisan Nasional's 47.4% or 5,237,699. The three parties in Pakatan – Chinese-dominated DAP, Anwar's PKR and Islamist PAS, collectively won 88 parliamentary seats against BN's 133 seats. Pakatan-friendly Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) won a federal seat in Sungai Siput to make it 89 in the parliamentary opposition bench. Soon after the polls, Pakatan led by Anwar has been organising rallies across the country to claim that their victory was robbed by electoral frauds and an incompetent Election Commission. Pakatan leaders also claimed that they were rightful, legitimate winners due to higher popular votes, while hammering BN as a minority government.
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| Karpal tells Tunku Aziz to cease attacks on DAP Posted: 18 May 2013 01:33 PM PDT
(The Star) - DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has warned former DAP vice-chairman Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim to cease further attacks on the party or he would bring the latter to court. "He is completely getting out of hand. I have been watching him very closely. "The DAP leadership was guilty of serious misjudgement in having given Tunku Aziz membership for the party and immediately made a vice-chairman. "He is not grateful but an opportunist," he told a press conference after a thanksgiving session with the public at a market in Jalan Gangsa in Green Lane on Sunday. Tunku Aziz had quit the party in May last year. Karpal Singh said that while Tunku Aziz has not made personal attacks on him, the latter has gone beyond the limit and must stop with the 'persistent attacks' on the party. When asked on how Tunku Aziz would be charged if brought to court, Karpal Singh said it would depend on what the former said. "Bringing him to court is the last thing we want to do," he said. Karpal Singh added that Tunku Aziz should be a gentleman and not reveal whatever that had transpired during central executive committee meetings when he was still a member.
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| MB: Selangor exco to be sworn in within two weeks Posted: 18 May 2013 01:28 PM PDT
Boo Su-Lyn, TMI The Selangor executive council will be sworn in within the next two weeks, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday. He added that PAS will take four spots in the state executive council, while PKR and the DAP will get three seats each. "The list of names that was given to the Sultan includes alternative names," Khalid (picture) told reporters after a thanksgiving function at Pandamaran Jaya here last night. "I gave alternative names so that Tuanku will have the chance to make his choice," he added. Khalid refused, however, to name the executive council line-up or to confirm if PKR deputy president Azmin Ali was included in the list. Azmin was said to be eyeing the mentri besar post, leading to a protracted tussle over the top government position in Selangor until Khalid was sworn in last Tuesday, more than a week after the May 5 general election. DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said last Friday that party members Teng Chang Khim and Ean Yong Hian Wah will be joining the Selangor executive council. Teng served as the Selangor Speaker in the last term, while Ean Yong, who is also the Seri Kembangan assemblyman, was previously a member of the state executive council. Khalid said yesterday that the DAP will decide on who will take up the post of the Selangor Speaker. Khalid was reappointed Selangor mentri besar for a second term after Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won a two-thirds majority in Election 2013 by sweeping 44 of the 56 state seats in the country's most industrialised state. PAS and the DAP snagged 15 state seats each, while PKR took 14 seats.
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| Chinese businessmen say boycott on community’s products “racist”, will hurt economy Posted: 18 May 2013 01:15 PM PDT
Boo Su-Lyn, TMI The call by pro-Umno bloggers and Muslim groups for a boycott of Chinese businesses is racist and will harm the country's economic growth, according to businessmen from the community. Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year as a result of weaker exports and slower growth in public spending, compared to 4.7 per cent in the same quarter in 2012 and 6.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2012. "How can you say boycott? Who loses? The government and Malaysia are the ones that will lose out," Chen Kien Keong, chairman of the Tea Trade Association of Malaysia, told The Malaysian Insider yesterday. "The priority now is the economy... so few people also pay income tax," he added. Only 10 per cent of the working population in the country pays income tax. Khoo Kah Jin, president of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association, said the call for a boycott of consumer goods produced by Chinese companies was "racist". "If they boycott Chinese brands, (the) Chinese can boycott Malay brands ― where does it end?" he told The Malaysian Insider. "Politics is politics. This is all consumer items. How can you boycott? Leave politics aside," Khoo added. Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz was reported by national news agency Bernama last Wednesday as saying that the economy was forecast to grow between five and six per cent this year. She added that resilient domestic demand would continue to be the "key driver of growth", underpinned by sustained private sector expansion and backed by the public sector. Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Hasan Malek said yesterday that Putrajaya did not approve of the boycott, but said that he could not prevent those who wished to do so. Several pro-Umno bloggers and the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia (PPIM) recently called for consumers to boycott or at least buy goods sold by Chinese companies last, including products such as Massimo bread, Cap Sauh wheat flour and items from the Old Town White Coffee chain. PPIM wrote on its website that such "DAP products" must be boycotted by Malaysians who love peace and harmony. Pro-Umno blog theunspinners.blogspot.com called last Friday for a "Buy Malay first! Buy Chinese last!" campaign and listed several consumer products sold by Muslims and by "DAP allies".
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| Meet the Malaysian Neo-Nazis Fighting for a Pure Malay Race Posted: 18 May 2013 12:08 PM PDT
(Vice.com) - We start off with restraint and a zero tolerance stance, but we won't keep up this position if the Malays in Malaysia are threatened. A couple of years ago, my friend moved out to Malaysia in search of a life where a winter wardrobe isn't a thing and you don't have to worry about stuff like moronic bro culture or seeing Kim K's face on television. What he found was a job as a bar manager in an establishment frequented by Malay punks covered in swastikas, wearing Combat 18 (a neo-Nazi terrorist organization) T-shirts and harping on about "Malay power." Turns out they're a group of far-right nationalists who want to rid Malaysia of any non-ethnic Malays and stop immigration into the country. Which, although pretty backwards and reductive, isn't all that surprising in the current world climate. What was surprising, and kind of confusing, is that they identify themselves as neo-Nazis, are fond of sieg-heiling and listen to Nazi bands like Skrewdriver and Angry Aryan, yet definitely aren't Aryan themselves. And adopting a worldview that specifically discriminates against your race seems a very odd thing to do. I was told that one of the most popular Malay power bands is an act named Boot Axe, so I got in touch with band member Mr. Slay to find out why exactly a group of Malaysians are going through this bizarre, neo-Nazi identity crisis.
VICE: Hi Slay. So what's the deal with all this "Malay power" stuff then? Slay: Malay power is important because we're concerned about keeping a pure Malay community all over the Malay Archipelago [the archipelago between Australia and Southeast Asia, believed by some to be the homeland of the Malay race]. I'm a second generation fighter for Malay power. The first generation, who founded the Malay power movement, have been less active recently. Malay power stems from a point in history—the 13th of May, 1969—where the Chinese and Malay communities fought each other. However, the punk and skinhead Malay power movement started in Kuala Lumpur in the early 90s. As far as I understand it, the idea that there's a "Malay race"—which is supposedly indigenous to the Malay Archipelago—was proposed by German scientist Johann Blumenbach. There's a lot of contention over whether or not such a race actually exists. For a start, Blumenbach's theory hinged around the idea that there were only five different races in the world, which is clearly pretty flawed. I take it racism features pretty heavily in your ideology? OK. How exactly is Nazism culturally relevant to Malaysians? Malaysia isn't a country that most people would associate with Hitler and his Third Reich buddies. How has immigration affected you?
So you aren't openly hostile to minorities at the moment? We don't like minorities in Malaysia if they can't co-exist with the Malay race. If they are good, then we are good. Read more at: http://www.vice.com/read/the-malaysian-nazis-fighting-for-a-pure-race
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| 4 Things We Should Remember When Arguing About Politics Posted: 18 May 2013 12:01 PM PDT
(Cracked.com) - When we have a strong opinion on an issue and have researched and validated that opinion, it can be exceptionally difficult to see why anyone would have the opposite viewpoint. Here's the thing: The person who holds the opposite viewpoint is thinking the exact same thing. Political discourse in America has reached levels of douchebaggery previously only theorized about but never observed, like conversational dark matter. We're in a whole new world of hating people based solely on their opinions on a few key issues, and since this is unexplored territory, our conversations about politics are usually only a couple notches beyond the "hold your breath until the other person agrees with you and/or you die" technique. But it's the 21st century. We have access to the entirety of collective human knowledge in our back pockets at all times. We have taken pictures of the deepest corners of space. We have three different goddamn TV shows about bidding on abandoned storage units. We as a society should have moved beyond figuratively (and literally, probably, knowing you assholes) shitting in our hands and throwing it at each other whenever someone brings up the deficit. So, let's lay down some ground rules for this new interpersonal landscape. Keep these four things in mind and elevate your level of discourse, educate yourself and the people around you, and find simple harmony through honest, open conversation. Or, you know, keep calling each other Dildo Hitlers. It's up to you. #4. There Are Intelligent, Well-Thought-Out Arguments on Every Side of (Almost) Any Issue This is both the most obvious and the most easily overlooked point on this list. When we have a strong opinion on an issue and have researched and validated that opinion, it can be exceptionally difficult to see why anyone would have the opposite viewpoint. Here's the thing: The person who holds the opposite viewpoint is thinking the exact same thing. Read more at: http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-we-should-remember-when-arguing-about-politics/#ixzz2ThhmaNCD |
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