Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 12 Oct 2013 11:08 AM PDT
That said, tomorrow will be the D-day when the Court of Appeal delivers the much-awaited decision as to whether the Catholic weekly publication The Herald could continue using the word "Allah". Human rights have never been on the BN government's radar. This is one reason why the government had no compunction bulldozing its way to get the Prevention of Crime Bill (Amendment and Extension) 2013 sanctioned by Parliament despite the fact that it negated human rights. Jeswan Kaur, FMT Vision 2020 – the nation's ambitious ideal mooted 22 years ago by none other than its most 'famous' premier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Among others, the vision calls for economic prosperity, social well-being, educational world class, political stability and psychological balance. Two decades after it was unveiled during the tabling of the Sixth Malaysia Plan, the vision which has seven years' of grace period left, is anything but achievable. Vision 2020 remains elusive. Still, Malaysia has created a record of sorts – it is number one in obesity, ranking top in Southeast Asia and sixth in the Asia Pacific region. Malaysia has also made it to the list of the 'most corrupted countries' as revealed by the Ernst and Young report. But do such infamies worry the government of the day? Hardly, for the federal administration too has gone on to create history as far as wasting taxpayers money goes, as proven by the Auditor-General 2012 report. The report has undoubtedly opened a can of worms – from nepotism to cronyism to corruption – the country's leadership is far from remorseful over having misused the nation's funds to galvanise their own agendas. From the prime minister to his deputy and the King and even his deputy, all get ferried about in rented jets – with the aircrafts' maintenance a shocker. But does that perturb the central government headed by Barisan Nasional? No! With so much misappropriation of public money gay abandonly taking place, it gives premier Najib Razak no credibility to discuss the repercussions of graft as he did during his four-day trip to America last month. Najib had cited corruption as the reason for the Arab Spring. Yet, back home the message never rings a bell and BN in particular continues to indulge in money politics, in more ways than one. From leading the nation to securing his political hegemony - the premier has conveniently made graft the most viable ammunition – it is a tragedy that he keeps getting away. Umno's 'fool-proof' antics It is not only Najib that continues to indulge in his 'fool-proof' schemes. His colleagues in the Cabinet too have demonstrated similar shenanigans. While Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz thinks it is no one's business to question why his wife needs to buy a house and one that is a whopping RM7 million, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has forgotten the do's and dont's of being a politician and wakil rakyat (people's representative). A former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, Ahmad Zahid who once criticised Dr Mahathir for the omnipresent cronyism and nepotism in the government, has decided to 'let bygones be bygones' and embraced the Umno culture wholeheartedly. Ahmad Zahid's ultra-Umno stance has seen him intimidating not just the rakyat but also the media especially the news portals for trying to paint him as a racist politician. It was two Saturdays ago that Ahmad Zahid while in Malacca threw caution to the wind and said that it was alright for the police to "shoot to kill" when arresting dangerous criminals. He had also openly backed the pro-Umno Tiga Line bunch of gangsters, a fact which Zahid who is also vice-president of Umno, later refuted. If that was not unbecoming of a politician, the Home Minister also threatened to close down newspapers which reported his speech at a supposedly closed-door forum in Malacca – again abusing his authority to invoke thae Printing Presses and Publication (PPPA) 1984 that gave powers to Home Minister to revoke the permit of a publication. Deny as much as he wants, the Umno-convert Zahid like the rest of the Umno stooges has shown his bigotry, time and again. When, soon after the 13th general election, the Black 505 rallies took place to denounce electoral fraud and vote manipulation, Ahmad Zahid reportedly said that Malaysians who were unhappy with the country's political system should pack their bags and leave.
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