Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Cybertroopers stooping low with personal attacks and wild accusations
- DAP’s ‘Red Bean Army’ firing on all cylinders
- PAS supporters disrupt PSM ceramah
- All eyes on Kit Siang's latest high-risk move
- Goldman in Malaysia: know your client
- Integrity fears as watershed elections approach
- Malaysia Risks Post-Election Protests on Bias Claims
- Malaysia's close-fought election - The Penang effect
- Salahuddin’s campaign losing steam
- Not enough reforms for GE13
- Flights for voters ‘normal’, paid for by friends of BN, says Tengku Adnan
- Saiful took 2nd oath before Kaaba to prove sodomy claim
- SPs not restricting access to online portals, says commission
- GE13: Evidence of websites, political content being throttled
- Goldman-Arranged Bond Sale Stings Najib Before Malaysia Election
- RPK stands by his story on Lahad Datu
- Anwar and Lahad Datu intrusion has link based on intelligence
- Pakatan continues to ride the wave in S’gor
- 70,000 swarm Johor Pakatan ceramahs
- Pakatan Sabah's another smear attack on Yong on Projek IC
- Voter Status Gone?
- Who to Vote For: A Dummies Guide to the Manifesto
- A Message to all Barisan Supporters
- ‘Explain PMO’s role in flying in dubious voters’
- Stakes high in Malaysia's pivotal election
- Voter fraud hounds Malaysia's ruling party
- Ghostbusters
- Mayra Nazarbayev has applied for Malaysian citizenship?
- Toll - Janji Tidak Ditepati
- Perutusan khas PM Najib kepada semua pengundi masyarakat India
- You Don’t Have to be Loyal to BN
- Different highways to the Malaysian dream
- Malaysian Elections: Preserving Najib’s Gains
Cybertroopers stooping low with personal attacks and wild accusations Posted: 02 May 2013 12:51 PM PDT
(The Star) - Ugly cybertroopers have gone on an overdrive with personal attacks and wild accusations as campaigning enters its final leg before polling this Sunday. The "cyber overkill" has seen a sharp increase in the number of hate mail, doctored pictures and rumour-mongering to destroy candidates before voters head to the polls. With just two days of campaigning left, accusations and name-calling using vulgar language abound as the fight for influence gets dirtier. Some attacks have been inciting anger by flaring racial sentiments. Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam regretted that personal attacks were replacing mature comment. "Most discussions are on personalities and not on issues. Before we vote, we want to know what issues are being raised by both sides," he said, warning that negative postings could result in a backlash. Computer security specialist Dinesh Nair said people should verify the allegations they read online. "Be sensible. There are lot of things being put online. Take it with a bag of salt and use your common sense. If something seems unreal, then most probably it is," he added. Syed Azidi Syed Abdul Aziz, who blogs as Kickdefella, noted that things had changed since he started his website. ![]() "Then, it was all about expressing ourselves," he said. "Now it is about dictating to others what to believe, like in the case of Michelle Yeoh. If you allow those who attacked her to rule, they will become dictators." He said he himself had been attacked a lot for his views. "If I keep reading everything they say (about me), it won't be good for my health, heart and mind," he added. Umno Youth new media unit chairman Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said Barisan Nasional had its own "cyber activists" with some 3,000 trained to disseminate information on the coalition's programmes and achievements on social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. "They are also tasked with countering opposition allegations." He said the opposition cybertroopers had gone overboard. "For example, if a Barisan-friendly video is uploaded on YouTube, they would not just click the dislike button but also post hateful comments and even flag' the video so that it is taken down." Also widely reported is the Red Bean Army' whose aim was reportedly to "assassinate characters online". Some have said it belonged to DAP. But DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke denied this, claiming that the party did not even have cybertroopers. According to party publicity chief Tony Pua, DAP only had an online team responsible for setting up its Facebook page. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin described the claims made via SMSes that outsiders were being brought in to vote in the general election as "just absurd". "The allegations are part of a psychological warfare to make voters believe Pakatan Rakyat is winning," he said after addressing a gathering at Taman Tas in Kuantan yesterday. "Barisan is actually making a major leap in a lot of places and Pakatan, feeling pressured, is sending out such SMSes."
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DAP’s ‘Red Bean Army’ firing on all cylinders Posted: 02 May 2013 12:41 PM PDT
(The Star) - DAP has been training cybertroopers for six years and now the party boasts the biggest number of online troopers dubbed the "Red Bean Army" numbering in the thousands, former Klang DAP Youth chief Shen Yee Aun said. He claimed the cybertroopers, who are paid well, were trained to hack pro-government websites and social media sites. It is alleged that the Red Bean Army has between 2,000 and 3,000 members, whose purpose is to launch attacks on any pro-government messages as well as spreading unfounded allegations. The army's reach could extend to 60,000 through postings in Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. Shen said the messages would then be spread as fast as possible with the aim of instilling hatred and mistrust toward the government. He said the main operations centres for the Red Bean Army were located in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. "The cybertroopers would also threaten people to achieve their objective. Their modus operandi is to create fiction, manipulate information as well as attack and ridicule the government. "Even those seen to support the government would be victimised. These cybertroopers are spreading politics of hate," he said. Shen cited examples of local model Leng Yein, who was victimised by the Red Bean Army, just because she spoke against the Kedah Government's dress code for mo- dels. Even celebrities, including Michele Yeoh, Jackie Chan and Azhar Sulaiman have not been spared from their attacks. Umno Youth's new media unit chairman Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said the lies spread by the opposition had become nasty and slanderous as polling day drew nearer. "We learnt from the 2008 election experience that we cannot let them just spread lies. "We are fighting the opposition on their own turf through our cyber activists. We are lagging behind but at least our presence in the cyber world is felt," he said.
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PAS supporters disrupt PSM ceramah Posted: 02 May 2013 12:34 PM PDT
Angry supporters disrupt ceramah after PAS makes way to PSM to contest Kota Damansara state seat. Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT A Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) ceramah was disrupted by angry PAS supporters who were unhappy with their party's decision to give way to PSM contest the Kota Damansara state seat. The group of 20 unhappy PAS supporters yesterday stormed PSM's Kota Damansara ceramah – which featured PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali – and demanded their leader to denounce PSM candidate Mohd Nasir Hashim. Nasir, who is the incumbent, will be contesting under the PKR logo. "PAS tidak menyokong sosialis (PAS do not support socialists)!" they chanted, brandishing hand-painted banners in support of PAS' candidate for Kota Damansara, Ridzuan Ismail. However, Mustafa brushed their presence aside and called for Pakatan Rakyat to unite as a coalition to support Nasir, who is also PSM chief. "Let them be. The rest of us must unite to defeat the common enemy, which is Umno and Barisan Nasional," Mustafa told the audience. The disgruntled PAS supporters then retorted with: "We are not against PAS and PKR, we are against PSM!" Following Mustafa's address, the group walked away from the ceramah and called for "all those who have faith" to boycott Nasir's speech. "Don't listen to a socialist," they said, leaving the venue and holding up their banners from across the road. However, the group dispersed peacefully after being approached by plain-clothes policemen who told them they were not allowed to rally without a permit. "We have made our point," a member of the group said, before walking away. Nasir had initially wanted to recontest his seat under PSM's banner after the party was officially registered after the 2008 general election. However, PKR had insisted PSM contest under its ticket as per their arrangement in 2008. PSM eventually gave in to PKR over the matter but faced another complication when PAS fielded its own candidate on nomination day. Last week, PAS finally backed down on the three-cornered fight to allow Mohd Nasir to tackle BN in a straight fight.
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All eyes on Kit Siang's latest high-risk move Posted: 02 May 2013 12:27 PM PDT
"DAP leaders must be prepared to come out of their safe seats to fight high-risk constituencies for the sake of the people and party." - Lim Kit Siang (November 20, 1999) When Lim Kit Siang openly shared his feelings to a crowd in Penang last Monday on the heavy task he faces in contesting the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in Johor, the occasion must have been more than just a fortuitous one. The DAP supremo admitted to having apprehensions about winning Gelang Patah where Barisan Nasional (BN) has placed its biggest local name - Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, the Mentri Besar of Johor since 1995 - to surmount Kit Siang's onslaught on the state. It was uncanny that Kit Siang, 72, should open up about his foreboding to a rally here. It was, after all, in Penang that way back in 1990 he had chosen to contest against another political giant - (Tun) Dr Lim Chong Eu, Penang's chief minister of 21 years - vanquishing him in one of the most dramatic encounters in Malaysian electoral history. Chong Eu's famous defeat in the Padang Kota state constituency which he had represented for years signalled his abrupt and total exit from politics and government. Despite the stature that he gained for turning Penang into a modern industrial powerhouse, Chong Eu was hardly seen and heard again in public until he passed away in November 2010. Now, all eyes will be on Gelang Patah come May 5 when millions of Malaysians vote during the 13th General Election. Should Kit Siang again succeed in banishing a chief minister, 67-year old Abdul Ghani may well follow Chong Eu's footsteps and retire from a lengthy career at the pinnacle of government. However, should Abdul Ghani prevail, Kit Siang's voice would be absent from the august halls of Parliament for only the second time since 1969. "Until now I don't know if I am safe or not in Gelang Patah," he told the 50,000-strong crowd at the Han Chiang School field - the very ground on which the DAP had held a mammoth rally just before the last general election of March 2008. Sensing the crowd's almost delirious support for the DAP and the reformation it espouses, Kit Siang commented: "If voters in Gelang Patah are like you I would not be so uncertain, but this is not the case. This is a very risky move because when I won Ipoh Timur it was by more than 21,000 votes in 2008." One can understand Kit Siang's anxiety from a statistical viewpoint. The BN, through its component the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), won Gelang Patah in 2008 by a margin of about 9,000 votes, and before that in 2004, by a whopping 31,666 majority. A legacy of electoral roaming Kit Siang may well have recalled another instance when he ran against a chief minister - and lost. This was in 1995 when he took a risk by challenging Chong Eu's successor Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon at the latter's state stronghold of Tanjung Bungah. Kit Siang lost by a margin of some 70%, though he managed a convincing win at parliamentary level, maintaining his hold on the Tanjung seat. As a matter of record, Kit Siang has in fact moved between seats across the country several times, at both state and parliamentary levels; each not without its share of drama and intrigue. In the general election of July 1978, he moved from the Kota Melaka parliamentary constituency he had previously held to contest and win the Petaling seat. In April 1982, he returned to Kota Melaka to win it again; but moved from his state stronghold, the Kubu state assembly seat in Malacca, to contest the Bandar Hilir state assembly seat - and lost. In August 1986, he switched from Kota Melaka to Tanjung in Penang which he won; and in March 2004, he took on and wrested the Ipoh Timur parliamentary seat. In the midst of this, in November 1999, he lost both his parliamentary and state races, for Bukit Bendera and Kebun Bunga respectively. Ominously enough, Kit Siang had this to say in November 1999, after deciding to take on local Gerakan big names for the two seats in Penang: "DAP leaders must be prepared to come out of their safe seats to fight high-risk constituencies for the sake of the people and party." Though he lost, his words then may well have presaged his leap into Gelang Patah in 2013. |
Goldman in Malaysia: know your client Posted: 02 May 2013 12:23 PM PDT
(Financial Times) - So, your reputation has taken a battering in recent years and you're now just about out of the spotlight. And, even if you're not deeply loved, at least most people have got bored of calling you the Vampire Squid.
What do you? A: Try to ensure you do everything you can to keep your nose clean and stay away from controversy? Or B: Take on what looks like a highly lucrative private bond deal for a government-linked entity in Malaysia, barely a month ahead of what is expected to be the closest fought election since elections began in the late 1950s.
If you're Goldman Sachs, the answer is… B! The question is: why?
Some in the bank might now be asking this after it attracted some sharp criticism from the political opposition in Malaysia over a $3bn bond deal it arranged for an entity called 1MDB at the end of March.
To recap briefly, the entity in question – a British Virgin Islands-registered, Malaysian government-controlled fund – raised capital by selling $3bn worth of unrated bonds to Goldman for just $2.71bn, or 90 cents on the dollar. The bonds eventually got a public rating from S&P, "A-", the same as Malaysia's government debt rating – leaving the bank with some heavily discounted bonds, significantly boosting their effective interest rate yield. Even before discounting, these bonds carry a coupon that yields a full 1 percentage point more than Malaysian sovereign bonds in the market.
The lower the yield you can resell at, the higher the price you'll get for the bonds. You don't have to be Bill Gross to see there's more than a little bit of value there.
1MDB has already attracted its own controversy. It has faced questions over the fate of proceeds from its exit of an earlier joint venture with PetroSaudi International. Last week, the fund issued a statement slamming any allegations as baseless and politically motivated – read the statement here.
So, what attracted Goldman to this trade? Read more at: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/05/02/goldman-in-malaysia-know-your-client/#axzz2S9aqu7xl
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Integrity fears as watershed elections approach Posted: 02 May 2013 12:17 PM PDT
(Australian News Network) - A local election commentator says Malaysia's political landscape "will never be the same" after the polls on Sunday, no matter who wins. Edmund Bon vs Wan Ahmad Wan Omar
Edmund Bon, Malaysian human rights lawyer and Loyar Buruk blog contributor, has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific fears about the integrity of the polling process persist. Malaysia's election commission is under fire for not acting more decisively about the reported failure of indelible ink to be used on voters' fingers. Allegations of planned fraud have been also levelled against the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. But deputy chairman of the Malaysian Election Commission Wan Ahmad Wan Omar has rejected the allegations. BON: We have been warning of these allegations or these events for some time back, when Bersih raised these issues. So we heard about this for the first time on the internet, and I think these allegations (of phantom voters) are now being verified by NGOs. The unfortunate thing of course, is that the EC (Election Commission) has lost much of its credibility and whatever it says now, that it (BN govt) is not flying in these so-called foreign people, it's really something that we cannot accept at face value. So it needs to verified, but resources are very thin on the ground, and I think the Opposition is trying to get the (flight) manifests and more details on that. LAM: Has there been a response from the Election Commission of Malaysia? BON: Ya, the Election Commission has said that they (the government) are not doing such things. It's just a bare denial, but I think the Opposition has said that they have proof of manifests and some details. So we will have to wait and see. In fact, there's news from the ground and even on Twitter, where Indonesians or Bangladeshis are saying to their friends, that they're actually going to vote on the 5th of May, which is very shocking. And you don't have ordinary Malaysians lying about it. There's really no reason for them to tweet about it and lie about it. And as I read this on Twitter, it gets more and more depressing. LAM: But how are we to know that these are not gremlins that were put there by agents provocateurs, if you like? BON: Ya, I think alot of these people we know from Twitter are our friends, and there is some credibility to what they say. And some of them are just ordinary people, who're coming to vote for the first time, who have no interest - many of them are fence-sitters at the moment. So it's very surprising that I'm reading about this and hearing about this. LAM: What about this issue of indelible ink? Turns out that the ink might not be as indelible after all. Is that cause for concern? BON: Definitely. I think the EC has tried to justify it in two ways. The first is that election officers did not shake the bottle, so the ink that was used does not have the proper 'content' to be indelible. The second reason given is that if you use a magnifying glass, you can see that the ink has seeped into your finger nails. These are again reasons which just boggle the mind, because you don't expect election officials who're supposed to be trained in using the ink, not to know these things. And does it mean now, that every election officer has to have a magnifying glass to go through everybody's finger nails? LAM: With such suspicions and cynicism in the lead up to Sunday, what do you make of Opposition assertions that if they lose, then there must be an element of fraud involved. Do you think such statements might make for a very tensed atmosphere? BON: It's already very tensed on the ground, I think, especially among the political parties. We've been going on the ceramahs (political gatherings) as NGOs and talking to different people, and we can see there's a great amount anticipation, especially for first-time voters on Sunday. We hope that there'll be no political violence. We've seen some instances. We hope that everybody will keep rational. But we do not know what will happen because this is probably the first time in our history that the ruling coalition is being challenged to this extent. LAM: And Edmund, you mentioned 'ceramahs' the political gatherings they're holding all over Malaysia during this campaigning period - and you've attended a few - indeed, given talks yourself. What impressed you most in what you've seen so far in the two weeks of campaigning? BON: You're seeing for the first time, alot of young voters coming out, many first-time voters, fence-sitters. And the issues that we've been talking about, about removing ethnic identification from the registration forms, talking about civil and political rights, are really sinking in with them. And they're coming not just to be part of the atmosphere, but they're coming to really listen and get more information. Apart from the usual political speeches they want to hear, they want to talk about it (the issues). And it's very surprising, I think to see many, many people coming out. You have numbers from 500 onwards, almost every night, to 1,500 in small centres, and you can see of course in Johor, even in rural areas, people are coming out. LAM: You wear many hats of course, and one of them, apart from being a human rights lawyer, is involvement in the voter awareness campaign, UNDI MALAYSIA, that's one of the initiatives you were invovled in. Looking at the past fortnight, do you think Malaysians are fully engaged in the political process? BON: We're more engaged in the process, and we definitely want more people to be politically-aware. Unfortunately, our education system does not allow for that kind of awareness at an early age. But I think this is the first time you've seen people much more aware, due to alot of differnt acts of dissent - Bersih (the campaign for free and fair elections), HINDRAF (Hindu rights group) rallies, that has ignited the imagination of the youth for a new Malaysia. I come from a non-partisan position and I only speak about human rights issues - so we speak of issues like deaths in custody, we talk about corruption, the income and inequalities - these are facts and these are matters which are very basic to everyone. We just simplify the messages - we say there're problems with the Constitution where power is concentrated in only a few (members of the) elite. These are things that Malaysians want to hear, and they want to know how we can do things to change, and these barriers towards making Malaysia a more developed country. LAM: What is the impression that you get from Malaysians - it's been reported Malaysians are ready for change - but do you think Malaysians can sense change on the horizon, whether it's under the BN or under the Pakatan Rakyat? BON: I think the political landscape of Malaysia will never be the same again. It depends on who you speak to. Of course, the urban centres have always been talking about this change. And even if they don't facts to back it up, they're saying, you can't have a monopoly of one party for fifty over years. The rural areas are much more difficult to read because there're alot of cash handouts, a lot of different tactics and the education levels are a bit lower than the urban centres. So these are the differences that we need to take into account. Listen to the podcasts at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-02/political-landscape-will-never-be-the-same/4666546?section=australianetworknews |
Malaysia Risks Post-Election Protests on Bias Claims Posted: 02 May 2013 12:13 PM PDT
(Bloomberg) - Malaysia faces the risk of public protests over the accuracy of results from the May 5 national election after an opposition-backed group cited evidence of vote buying and bias by the official ballot oversight agency. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, known as Bersih, has captured vote-buying on video and received complaints ranging from improper electoral rolls to government abuse of state-run media, according to co-chairwoman Ambiga Sreenevasan. The group, whose protests in recent years have drawn thousands of people onto Kuala Lumpur's streets, has yet to decide on organizing demonstrations, she said this week. A contested result between Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition and Anwar Ibrahim's opposition alliance threatens to spark protests in a country that has never seen a transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1957. A tight finish would be the worst outcome for Malaysian stocks because it would lead to policy paralysis and may end Najib's tenure, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said this week. "Anything over a 15-to-20 seat victory margin will lead to suspicion -- the race is that close," said Bridget Welsh, associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University, who has edited two books on Malaysian politics. "You're going to see people on the streets" if election observers produce solid evidence of fraud, she said. Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/malaysia-risks-post-election-protests-as-group-cites-vote-buying.html |
Malaysia's close-fought election - The Penang effect Posted: 02 May 2013 12:08 PM PDT
Watch the video at: The Economist THE story of Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Penang, tells much about how Malaysian politics has been transformed in recent years. Mr Lim heads the Democratic Action Party or DAP, a member of the three-party opposition coalition hoping to wrest power from the ruling Barisan Nasional in a general election on May 5th. This is the first time since independence from Britain in 1957 that the opposition has a genuine—if still outside—chance of winning a federal-government election. That follows its startling advance in the previous general election in 2008, when, as this year, 12 of Malaysia's 13 states held simultaneous elections. One of the opposition's triumphs was to win the thriving state of Penang, an island off the west coast famous for its electronics and tourism industries. So Mr Lim took up perhaps the highest-profile establishment position ever held by an opposition politician in Malaysia. This was quite a step up from his past as a jailbird. In 1998 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for "sedition" and "spreading false news". The offence dated back to 1995 when he spoke out about a case in which a 15-year-old girl named 15 men with whom she had had sex. Of these 14 were charged with statutory rape. The 15th, a senior politician, was not. Such apparent injustices seemed to run in his family. His father, Lim Kit Siang, also led the DAP, which draws most of its support from Malaysia's ethnic-Chinese minority. He was twice jailed under Malaysia's Internal Security Act, first in 1969, after the country suffered its worst race riots, and again in 1987 when the authoritarian prime minister of the time, Mahathir Mohamad, used a row about Chinese-language education as a pretext to lock up dozens of critics. Dr Mahathir was impervious to foreign criticism of this act of repression, and a decade later, equally indifferent to the international outrage at Lim Guan Eng's fate. The elder Mr Lim is also back on the stump for this election, contesting a seat in one of Barisan's strongholds, the southern state of Johor. The Lims are able to point to Penang to counter one of the government's most strident arguments: that the opposition is untested in office, rash in its promises and its victory would be followed by a collapse in investor confidence. In fact, under the DAP, Penang has impressed outside observers. The opposition's confidence that it will win the federal election may be for show. But the certainty the DAP expresses about retaining Penang seems real. Watch the video at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/04/malaysias-close-fought-election?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/thepenangeffect
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Salahuddin’s campaign losing steam Posted: 02 May 2013 12:07 PM PDT
A random survey by FMT shows that Malay voters are generally backing BN, thus making it an uphill task for Salahuddin to win. Leven Woon, FMT PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub's campaign in the Pulai parliamentary constituency is faltering with polling only two days away. His confidence of scoring a victory in his first venture in Johor looks increasingly dim because support appears to be swinging to Barisan Nasional. A random survey by FMT in Pulai shows that most of the Malay voters interviewed, except those with land problems, are backing BN and its incumbent MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed in the race to the May 5 polls. The survey done on May 1 found that Salahuddin has garnered some support in former squatter areas thanks to his championing of land rights, but his influence there is limited. His support is quite strong among the Chinese and Indians, but some of them complained that they have yet to see him in person after more than 10 days of campaigning. There are 100,695 voters in Pulai, of whom Malays made up the majority (47%), followed by Chinese (41%) and Indians (10%). Based on rough calculations, even if Salahuddin manages to obtain 25% of the Malay votes, 70% Chinese votes and 50% Indian votes, he would only poll 36,611 votes, which is 5,619 shy from what Nur Jazlan would get (42,230). To turn the table on BN, the opposition candidate would need another 10% swing of either Chinese or Malay votes to Pakatan. He would then clinch the seat by a mere 886-majority vote (with 80% Chinese votes) or 1,843-majority vote (with 35% Malay votes). 'Where is Salahuddin?' Another way Salahuddin can capture the seat is to increase his vote tally by 5% across the board from all races, thus giving him 40,557 votes against Nur Jazlan's 38,383. The calculations are based on a voter turnout of 80%. But Salahuddin may still find it tough to achieve this target going by the responses of the man in the street. For Mohd Hairul Tomok, 38, who operates a restaurant in the urban area of Pulai, his vote is going to BN. He said he would definitely vote for BN because it has been his family tradition to support the ruling coalition. Moreover, he said, Nur Jazlan is someone who performs, citing an instance where he obtained funds for his business with the MP's help. And Salahuddin? Said Hairul: " I have never seen him working on the ground before." Foodstall operator Mohd Farid Zulkifli, 29, and lorry driver K Mahindran, 45, also share the same views. They both praised Nuz Jazlan, describing him as an approachable man, who has helped solve many problems in their constituency such as getting damaged roads repaired. "Look at Kelantan: PAS can't even manage Kelantan well, so how can they run the country? There are so many Kelantanese who came to Johor to work," said Farid. Mahindran said he has no confidence in the Pakatan manifesto which promises to provide a number of things for free. A businessman, who only wished to be known as Koh, 42, said he would not cast his ballot for Salahuddin although he is an opposition supporter. "Yes, we must have more opposition members so as to have check and balance. But I have never seen him [Salahuddin] before. If he wants my vote, he should at least show up," he said.
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Posted: 02 May 2013 12:06 PM PDT
(The Nut Graph) - To what extent have Bersih 2.0's demands for a clean, free and fair election been met? What new measures have been introduced thus far as Malaysia heads to the polls on 5 May 2013, and are they good enough? THE Coalition for Clean, Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) had eight demands to ensure that the 13th general election since Malaya's independence (GE13) would be democratic and legitimate in its outcome. In the midst of the GE13 campaign, it is timely to critically review the state of these demands. To what extent have Bersih 2.0's demands for a clean, free and fair election been met? What new measures have been introduced thus far as Malaysia heads to the polls on 5 May 2013, and are they good enough?
The electoral roll is, at the very least, still marred with irregularities and plagued with errors. The Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap) continues to uncover and highlight discrepancies in the electoral roll. The latest revelation on 19 April 2013 disclosed that there were 900 voters with the name Fatimah binti Ibrahim in Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu. Of the 900, there are 14 pairs sharing the same birthdays. And of these 14 pairs, 10 were from the same state. The Election Commission (EC) has also not responded adequately to freshly arising claims by voters that they have been registered without their knowledge and consent. Complaints are also being received by Bersih 2.0 from voters who have voted before who now say that they can no longer find their names on the EC's database of voters. Read more at: http://www.thenutgraph.com/not-enough-reforms-for-ge13/?wpmp_switcher=desktop
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Flights for voters ‘normal’, paid for by friends of BN, says Tengku Adnan Posted: 02 May 2013 12:02 PM PDT
(TMI) - Umno acknowledged today the existence of flights ferrying voters to key states, but said it was part of the party's "get out the vote" campaign. Party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor also said the flights were paid for by "friends" of Barisan Nasional (BN), Reuters reported this evening. He denied the accusation earlier today by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the Election Commission (EC) and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) were involved in an operation to transport more than 40,000 dubious voters from Sabah and Sarawak to key states in the peninsula. Tengku Adnan said the flights were normal electoral practice. "The flights in question were organised and paid for by friends of Barisan Nasional. They brought registered voters to their home districts so that they may vote in the upcoming election," he said in a statement reported by Reuters. This evening, the Prime Minister's Office also denied any involvement in the opposition's claim that Malaysians, as well as, foreigners are being flown in to the peninsula to vote in Sunday's polls. A government spokesman said that "the Prime Minister's office denies any involvement in these flights," the national news agency Bernama reported this evening. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/flights-for-voters-normal-paid-for-by-friends-of-bn-says-tengku-adnan/
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Saiful took 2nd oath before Kaaba to prove sodomy claim Posted: 02 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT
(Bernama) - "This is my last defence in continuing with my fight for truth," said Mohd Saiful, who was accompanied by his lawyer, Zamri Idrus, at the press conference. Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan repeated his "sumpah laknat" (religious oath) before the Kaaba in Mecca last year, that he was telling the truth about being sodomised by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim four years ago. At a press conference here today, the former personal aide to Anwar showed a video recording of the "sumpah laknat" that he took in April last year in front of the Baitullah (House of Allah) while he was on umrah in the Holy Land. "After one year I took the "sumpah laknat" in front of the Baitullah, nothing (bad) has happened to me, which proves that I was speaking the truth about being sodomised. "This is my last defence in continuing with my fight for truth," said Mohd Saiful, who was accompanied by his lawyer, Zamri Idrus, at the press conference. The 27-year-old first took the "sumpah laknat" over his sodomy claim at the Federal Territory Mosque in Jalan Duta, here, on Aug 15, 2008. Mohd Saiful said his second oath (in Mecca) was to show to Muslims throughout the world that his sodomy claim was true and that he was not influenced by anyone to commit political conspiracy against Anwar as alleged by some quarters. He said he took the first oath in 2008 on the suggestion of two religious figures, former Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. In fact, he said, he had also asked several religious figures on his intention to take the "sumpah laknat" in front of the Kaaba and was told that a serious disaster would befall him if he lied. On Jan 9, 2012, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah acquitted and discharged Anwar of allegedly sodomising Mohd Saiful at the Desa Damansara Condominium on June 26, 2008 as there were no strong evidence to support his testimony. The case has been brought to the Court of Appeal which will in July, hear the prosecution's appeal against the High Court's decision. Today, Mohd Saiful also expressed regret over Anwar's refusal until now to take the "sumpah laknat" to prove his innocence. "Even when he had to make his defence against the sodomy charge in court, he refused to testify under oath," he said. On his father Azlan Mohd Lazim's action yesterday to withdraw his statement made in March this year, claiming that his son had been used by certain quarters to fix Anwar, Mohd Saiful said his father had been influenced by PKR leaders to do that.
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SPs not restricting access to online portals, says commission Posted: 02 May 2013 02:59 AM PDT
(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Internet Service Providers (ISP) have not been restricting access to local online portals, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
"Preliminary investigations indicate no such restrictions by ISPs as alleged by certain quarters," it said in a statement on Thursday. It said network congestion could have caused users to experience difficulties in accessing the sites, adding that there was an increase in traffic for election-related articles. "There are several possibilities that could affect quality of service, such as issues relating to network routing and capacity constraints due to an increase in the number of people accessing those particular websites," it said. Online news sites such as Malaysiakini have alleged that their sites have been restricted by local ISPs, adding that users were unable to view their pages. The news portal also claimed that it suffered from distributed-denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks in recent weeks. MCMC Head of Strategic Communications Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman said that it received only one official complaint so far - from Umno Online on Apr 29. He added that MCMC was still waiting for an official complaint from Malaysiakini on the matter. He said MCMC was investigating the allegations and advised the public "not to jump to conclusions". The MCMC said ISPs could be charged under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 if they were found to have unlawfully restricted access. It had advised ISPs to "step up" their network security levels two weeks prior to avoid service disruptions. |
GE13: Evidence of websites, political content being throttled Posted: 02 May 2013 02:36 AM PDT
Edwin Yapp, TMI The technical data on the forum was verified by independent experts contacted by DNA, who also conducted their own tests. Malaysiakini chief executive officer and co-founder Premesh Chandran said the portal had evidence that shows access to Malaysiakini was being restricted. After receiving complaints from readers last week, his staff conducted investigations in which they tracked access to Malaysiakini from various points, he said on the Digital News Asia (DNA) segment of the Tech Talk show on BFM radio today (May 2). "We also looked at our Google Analytics and web statistics, and took a long time to figure out what's happening," he said. "But by Friday (April 26), we noticed that for 60 seconds the site would be available, and in the next 60 seconds, you'd get a delay or it hangs. "We put all this data together and showed it to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). We also informed the ISPs regarding what was going on and alerted them to the possibility that someone could have hacked their systems and that they should look at it," he added. Premesh said that by Sunday (April 28) however, this pattern of Malaysiakini being intermittently accessible had disappeared. "We're still monitoring [the situation]. Basically, this shows that someone has been able to access the country's main ISPs and actually create these blockages. "This blocked access is not only limited to Malaysiakini as our YouTube videos produced by KiniTV have also been affected," he added. Free access to info crucial With Malaysia going to the polls on May 5 in the country's 13th general election (GE13), ISPs and the MCMC were urged to be increasingly vigilant against any attempts to prevent open and free access to the Internet. GE13 is shaping up to be the tightest election ever, with many already describing it as "the mother of all elections," and much of the battle is playing out in cyberspace. "A lot is happening online - just look at your Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter timelines," DNA executive editor A. Asohan told Tech Talk. "This is particularly true of the Opposition parties as they have taken to the Net to campaign," he said on Malaysia's first and only business radio station, noting that the Opposition had little or no access to the mainstream media. News that online news portals and Opposition content were being blocked intermittently should be investigated. "There is something going on and it's a very troubling and serious issue as Malaysia has the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantees which states that there shall be no censorship of the Internet," Asohan said. "But obviously some parties are finding ways to slip past this 'no censorship guarantee' to restrict free and fair access to information," he added. Asohan urged the MCMC to conduct a thorough investigation into this alleged ISP throttling. "I would like to see MCMC ... find out who is restricting access to Malaysians, as I believe this is a serious betrayal of the Malaysian Government's own stated objectives and guarantees to the Internet businesses out there that there'll be no censorship. "It is very important to this nation's credibility that this be investigated. If there are rogue elements within the ISPs, they have to be identified and brought to book," he added. The industry regulator had yet to respond on these allegations as at press time, though it is understood the MCMC is preparing a statement. DDoS attacks too Independent news websites such as Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider have also reported increasing Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against them.
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Goldman-Arranged Bond Sale Stings Najib Before Malaysia Election Posted: 01 May 2013 09:11 PM PDT
(Bloomberg) - "The private placement raised too many red flags, coming so close to the election date" Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing calls before a weekend election to justify a $3 billion bond placement by the sovereign-wealth fund he leads, with opponents saying the deal was unnecessary and mispriced. Goldman (GS) Sachs Group Inc. arranged the March 19 sale of 10- year debt by 1Malaysia Development Bhd., also known as 1MDB, and the notes were priced to yield 4.4 percent, 141 basis points more than sovereign Islamic dollar bonds due July 2021 were yielding at that time. The 1MDB yield was 3.76 percent today, giving investors who were in at the start a return of 5.7 percent for the six weeks since the debt was issued. U.S. Treasuries gained 1.43 percent on average during the period, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index. "The private placement raised too many red flags, coming so close to the election date," said Wong Chen, a 44-year-old corporate lawyer and a parliamentary candidate from the opposition National Justice Party. "They were rushing this out and they don't know how to spend it. We don't know who received this private placement and who they may sell it on to." Najib is chairman of the board of advisors of 1MDB and the March bond sale has given candidates opposing him in the May 5 polls ammunition to criticize the fund, with Wong calling for more transparency. The accusations are part of a smear campaign before the voting, according to a government spokesman, who's not authorized to be named. Recent opinion polls suggest that the election will be tight with the opposition alliance having gained support in recent months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report published today. 'Timely Completion' 1MDB considered all of its options in raising debt before the March sale and chose the Goldman-led structure to "ensure the timely completion of this economic initiative," it said in an April 23 statement. The $3 billion will be used for investments in "strategic and important high-impact projects like energy and real estate," which are part of a collaboration agreement between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, it said. The fund will not elaborate further on the sale, said Shahriza Embi, a spokeswoman. 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Mohd Hazem Abd Rahman was not available to comment. Goldman spokesman Edward Naylor declined to discuss details of the March bond sale. Goldman was selected for the placement after arranging a $1.75 billion bond issue for 1MDB in May 2012, as well as having raised $1.6 billion in two offerings on behalf of the Sarawak state government in the past two years. Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/goldman-arranged-bond-sale-stings-najib-before-malaysia-election.html
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RPK stands by his story on Lahad Datu Posted: 01 May 2013 06:59 PM PDT
The popular blogger was today questioned by two CID personel from Bukit Aman in Jakarta over his article on Anwar, MNLF founder Nur Misuari and the Lahad Datu incursion. (FMT) - Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin today stood by his article that Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim sought the help of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari to win the general election. Raja Petra, better known as RPK, also told two CID officers from Bukit Aman in Jakarta today that the contents of his posting on March 25 on his website Malaysia-Today was based on a reliable source. The Malaysian police today took a statement from Raja Petra at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta over his article titled "The Untold Story of the Lahad Datu Incident" in which Raja Petra had claimed that Anwar had met Nur Misuari and his top military commanders on July 16, 2012 in Indonesia. "I told the two CID officers that I stood by my article and that my source for that article is totally reliable," Raja Petra told FMT via a telephone interview after his three-hour session with the policemen. He said the policemen had asked him on the veracity of his article in which he had said that Anwar had sought Nur Misuari's help to win at least 30 of the 57 parliamentary seats in East Malaysia to wrest federal power from Barisan Nasional. The meeting, Raja Petra had added, took place at the Crowne Plaza Jakarta Hotel and was arranged by an Indonesian MP close to Anwar. In his article, Raja Petra wrote that Anwar had urged Nur Misuari to convince Muslims in East Malaysia, particularly those from Sabah, to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th general election. In return, Raja Petra claimed that Anwar had promised that Sabah and Sarawak would be given autonomy, once Pakatan wins federal power. "The states will be given 20% oil royalty which will ensure that Sabah and Sarawak become wealthy, with an estimated RM4 billion a year for each state. "Anwar also promised that the non-Malaysian Filipinos in East Malaysia would be given Malaysian citizenship, or at the very minimum, permanent resident status so that they could seek employment in Sabah," Raja Petra alleged in his article. The blogger also claimed that Nur Misuari had agreed to Anwar's terms and appointed Ibrahim Omar as his coordinator, or "unofficial ambassador" to Sabah to help Anwar garner the support of the Filipino Muslims in the state. Raja Petra also had said that this arrangement put the Malaysian government in a bind during the Lahad Datu intrusion, as taking military action would only play into the hands of the conspirators, adding that intrusion was definitely a shadow play and many are convinced there were people who masterminded the episode. "But who is the dalang [puppet master]? Well, Malaysia-Today has just revealed the untold story and I challenge the Malaysian government to deny its authenticity," he had stated in his article. Summoned by the Malaysian police Following the publication of the article, Raja Petra was summoned by the Malaysian police to give a statement. He flew down from the UK, where he is based now, to Jakarta yesterday to meet with the two CID personnel today. "They wanted to know who were my sources. I didn't reveal the identity of my sources but told them the organisation from which the information came. They should be able to do their own homework to find out the truth," he said today.
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Anwar and Lahad Datu intrusion has link based on intelligence Posted: 01 May 2013 06:01 PM PDT
(The Kuala Lumpur Post) - The group editor-in-chief of Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad, Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak, maintained that the news linking the opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the armed intrusion in Sabah was reported by Utusan Malaysia based on intelligence by Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as international media reports. The company and Aziz also explained that the newspaper is a mainstream newspaper which provides information and knowledge to its readers, where the defendants have moral and legal obligations. In addition, the intrusion in Lahad Datu was an issue of public interest which should be shared with the people. Both defendants stated that the plaintiff did not meet with the requirement under Order 18 Rule 12 (1A) of the Rules of Court 2012, whereby the quantum of claim for general damages cannot be stated. Their position is that the motive of the plaintiff in filing the suit was driven by political interest and not to clear his name. Anwar, 66, filed the defamation suit demanding for RM100 million on March 8 by naming Utusan and its editor as the first and second defendants, followed by TV3 and group managing editor of Media Prima Berhad, Datuk Shaharudin Latif, as third and fourth defendants. The news editor of TV3′s Buletin Utama, Ing Boon Seng, was named the last defendant. The third to fifth defendants, in their statements of claims, said the news programme was aired based on reliable facts and reported in the public interest and in good faith. The three defendants asked the court to dismiss the plaintiff's demands on grounds that he had no right to any remedy or relief as claimed. Judge Rosilah Yeop fixed hearing for three days beginning Dec 9.
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Pakatan continues to ride the wave in S’gor Posted: 01 May 2013 05:55 PM PDT
Going by the sentiments on the ground, efforts by BN to win over Selangorians appears to be futile. K Pragalath, FMT The 13th general election is just a few days away. By the end of May 5, Selangor along with the rest of the Malaysia would have made their choice of government. The 2008 polls was a turning point for Malaysia. The ruling Barisan Nasional unexpectedly lost five states to the opposition. They lost Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor. But BN retook Perak the follwoing year in a reverse takeover. BN has never got over losing Selangor. In the 13th general election, Selangor is a vital state for BN to recapture. Its importance is depicted in BN's campaign – Sayangi Selangor, Yakini BN – which begun in late 2011. Selangor has 21 parliamentary seats and 56 state constituencies. Of these only Sabak Bernam, Hulu Selangor, Sungai Besar, Tanjong Karang and Sepang can be considered safe seats for BN. The hot seats are the state capital Shah Alam and Pandan. In Shah Alam incumbent Khalid Samad of PAS is defending his seat against BN's direct candidate, the controversial lawyer and Perkasa vice president, Zulkifli Noordin. In Pandan, MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek dropped incumbent and former party president, Ong Tee Keat in favour of lawyer Gary Lim, leading to a three-cornered battle against PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli. Politically the importance of Selangor was manifested when Prime Minister and BN chairman Najib Tun Razak appointed himself as the Selangor Umno liaison chief following the 2008 polls. Urban Malays favour Pakatan At this point, BN is even offering 20 cubic meters of water to match Pakatan Rakyat's free water campaign in Selangor. But going by the sentiments on the ground, efforts by BN to win over Selangorians appears to be futile. Pakatan's daily ceramah sessions attract thousands of people. Urban Malays seems to favour the incumbent Pakatan government led by the PKR in Selangor. Among the issues raised by Umno/BN against the Pakatan government is the Allah matter. They have also raised issues over DAP's dominance in deciding the destiny of Selangor whereas PAS is depicted as having minor roles.
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70,000 swarm Johor Pakatan ceramahs Posted: 01 May 2013 05:50 PM PDT
The Pakatan Rakyat ceramahs in Johor are pulling in bigger and bigger crowds. Leven Woon, FMT A tremor hit Johor, the Barisan Nasional stronghold, when tens of thousands of people flocked to Pakatan Rakyat ceramahs featuring Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at different locations last night. At the Pakatan "grand" ceramah held at an open carpark of a shopping complex – Sutera Mall – near Gelang Patah, the crowd swelled to 70,000 when Anwar arrived at 10pm. It was the largest turnout ever seen at any political ceramah in Johor. Near Johor Baru, some 10,000 people thronged the PKR ceramah held outside of Larkin Stadium despite the venue being dimly-lit. The "strong winds" also swept through a Malay village in Pasir Gudang as thousands of people turned up at a PKR ceramah in Kampung Pasir Putih. The highlight of the Gelang Patah ceramah was when Anwar went onto the stage with DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang. Holding their arms aloft, Anwar and Lim greeted the sea of people who were cheering and blowing vuvuzela. "May 5, Ubah!" shouted a section of the crowd. The crowd, some of whom arrived as early as 6pm, wore colourful T-shirts representing different civil movements and waved flags of Pakatan component parties. Anwar, when addressing the crowd, said a historic moment is about to happen on May 5 (polling day). "The opportunity to change the government is only a few days away; the opportunity to have a government with dignity has finally arrived," he told the cheering crowd. He also dismissed accusations that he is "willing" the death of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. "No, I want him to live until May 6 and watch the TV3 news of us taking over Putrajaya," he told the boisterous crowd. He also outlined a slew of reforms to be implemented by Pakatan as soon as it captures power: among them are abolishing the National Higher Education Funds (PTPTN) scheme, reducing petrol price and ensuring media freedom.
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Pakatan Sabah's another smear attack on Yong on Projek IC Posted: 01 May 2013 03:43 PM PDT
(WkiiSabah) - A furious 45-minute confrontation between the DAP and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) raised temperatures in the Chinese enclave of Foh Sang in Luyang here Wednesday night. Police had to step in around 9 pm to calm the situation, triggered by an argument at a Pakatan Rakyat ceramah over who was to blame for the controversial 'Project IC' in which illegal immigrants obtained identity cards to become voters. There, he told supporters that he had gone over to clarify that he was not involved in Project IC.
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Posted: 01 May 2013 03:24 PM PDT Can anyone verify this? Dear all, Penang finished liao. His name gone (GE12 vote PAS) Wife name gone (1st time voter) Mum name remain (GE12 vote UMNO) High chances that Penang will falls back to BN as many Pakatan supporters will be eliminated... Pls dont go to their event any more.!!! God bless Malaysia. Regards, Sam It is confirmed that those who gave their ic for the Han Chiang concert and Michelle Yeoh PKFZ dinner are not able to vote. Their names have been removed from the electoral roll. Nothing is given for free. Najib said before that he will take back Penang and Selangor at all cost. Please spread the news around and get those involved to quickly check and lodge complaint immediately. That includes the petty traders who had taken their goodies. The dirtiest election ever. from my friend ! read this Just confirm from my staff ... Her aunt took money n give ic to set up hawker stall to give dinner every nite for BN ... We just chk her ic at spr n confirm her name was took down ... Pls spread the news to all the ppl who gave ic to BN ... N ask them chk their ic ... So dirty ...
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Who to Vote For: A Dummies Guide to the Manifesto Posted: 01 May 2013 03:19 PM PDT
For especially the young voting population which forms a majority of the 3.7 million new registered voters, this upcoming polls seem to be likened to the uphill task of "choosing the lesser evil". There is actually a significant difference between the two proposed manifesto and it will shape Malaysia differently. Anas Alam Faizli The most anticipated general elections looms, yet we still hear utterances of political apathy, such as "politicians will be politicians" and "they are all the same". For especially the young voting population which forms a majority of the 3.7 million new registered voters, this upcoming polls seem to be likened to the uphill task of "choosing the lesser evil". There is actually a significant difference between the two proposed manifesto and it will shape Malaysia differently. Modern democracies like the US and the UK see very distinct ideologies engrained within their political systems. We have left wingers such as the labour party and the democrats, as well as pro-market and business-friendly republicans and conservatives. As a result, once a new alternate government is elected into power, we will see tremendous shifts in public policy and the country's entire strategic direction. This is why for example that the slashing of more than 70 percent of the Carter-era taxation to below 40 percent when Reagan took over, did not come as too much of a surprise. What this gives us are actually very powerful sets of data points which allows for retrospective and empirical assessments of the different policies and ideologies. It is a bit different here in Malaysia, where neither coalition seemed to be skewed towards either end of the political philosophy spectrum. But there is one thing for sure; that the rakyat's concerns have unanimously evolved to cost of living and safety and security, as found by the latest Merdeka Centre census. While infliction of racial-supremacy and claims for legitimacy continue to be bandied about this election, significant imbalances, wealth and income inequality, and laggard wage growth has lead to a major shift in the Malaysian political direction; from race-based politicking of the post-Merdeka period, to a class-based discourse. Rakyat-friendly welfare items thus became very important for either side of the political divide, making manifesto-drafting a very populist endeavor. In our quest to be an informed voter, we need go beyond this plethora of physical promises and start reading between the lines. Malaysia's Factsheet Before dissecting a manifesto, it is always good to keep some facts at the back of our minds. Only then we can decide which manifesto will benefit all Malaysians holistically, especially in the longer term. 29.6 million people now inhabit Malaysia, the majority being the Bumiputera at 61% of the population, followed by the Chinese 24% and Indians 7%. Our GNI/capita stands at USD 9,970, with 12.7 million employed workers including legitimate 2 million foreign workers. Reports indicate that on top of that there is another 2 million illegal foreign workers residing in the country. By 2011, 827,000 Malaysians are working overseas, while talent initiatives by PEMANDU has brought home less than 2,000. Our GDP, which is close to RM1 trillion, is made of 47% services, 41% industry and 12% agriculture. National debt is at RM546 billion, which is 53% of GDP, mainly from domestic lenders. Our household debt to disposable income is among the highest in the world, surpassing that of the US at 140%, meaning for every RM1 taken home there's RM1.40 worth of debt. Welfare states and the average OECD nation contributes more than 20% of their GDP for social spending, largely on health and education, while Malaysia spends 4.1% on Education (ranking her 101) and 4.4% on Healthcare (ranking her 156 in the world). Malaysia also ranks among the largest disparity gap in Asia between the rich and poor. Malaysia's forecasted revenue for 2013 stands at RM208.6 billion, while RM201.9 billion and RM49.7 billion of operating expenditure and development expenditure are expected. Fiscal deficit is 4% of GDP. Transparency International reported that there is RM28 billion of money lost to corruption every year and the Asian Wall Journal placed Malaysia highest in the cost of doing business perception. Bearing all this in mind, which manifesto then is sustainable and will further grow or even sustain our pockets? 2008 - 2013 Report Card To begin, one must critically evaluate the proven track record between both contesting parties. Let's benchmark using the 2008 Manifesto. In essence, there have been promises kept by BN but it will be quite tricky to measure. Some of the highlighted promises are general, vague and difficult to quantify. There are straightforward cases like the five economic corridors, which no longer receives the spotlight under the new premiership. Then, there's the question; if Muhyiddin were to take over the helm later, will the Manifesto's promises be continued? What about GST? PEMANDU has come out clearly to advocate for GST and despite no mention were made in the BN manifesto, it is touted to be very much in the plan. PR meanwhile recognizes that the income profile of majority Malaysians is still unready to stomach GST. BN came short of the promised 2 million new employments in its 2008 manifesto. Less than 1 million new jobs were created over the past 5 years. Corruption and dubious manslaughter cases still persisted; a number of them made known to public such as the PKFZ scandal, NFC cows and condominium fiasco, Scorpene, diamond rings, Ahmad Sarbani, too many to name here. One may argue that cleaner and transparent government alone would already bring about material returns. Unbearable rise in the cost of living and price of goods still continues. Whereas there was a promise made to reduce the fiscal deficit, the BN government has been overspending for the past 15 years when in power. To compare with PR's performance, the Auditor General reported that the Pakatan-led states were the best financially managed states with Penang registering 95% reduction in debt and 47% increase in revenue. Selangor deposited RM1.2 billion, its highest record in 28 years. Kelantan too boasted a 58% surge in the amount of consolidated funds. Manifesto: Barisan Nasional (BN) versus Pakatan Rakyat (PR) The BN Manifesto is largely business as usual without any fundamental or structural changes to how things are executed in Malaysia. It is the same things albeit more attractive goodies and cash handout! The Manifesto offers promises in 17 categories with over 150 very comprehensive promises. Question is, are they sustainable? Can they be maintained or are they purely election winning strategies? These are questions that needed to be asked. More apparently is that the BN manifesto lacks the spirit of reform that is badly needed, such as the abolishment of lucrative IPP compensation methods and cessation concessions with ridiculously long contractual terms to the politically affiliated. There was no mention on the abolishment of tolls (which will result in RM5 billion per year returning to the people's pockets) to reduce cost of living, no mention of structural reforms to foreign workers policy. Neither were there proposals to clamp down on cronyism, transparent contract awarding and revisit monopolistic corporate structures that allow for the exploitation of end customers. In education, BN is proposing the same protectionist policies for the vernacular schools, except that different format schools such as religious, missionary and special needs schools are included. Rather out worldly, it also promises to increase the education standards to the top three ranked in the world, where we now stand in the bottom third. According to the National Education Blueprint 2013- 2025, 15% of our schools lack access to clean water. On top of that, 20% have inadequate science labs and 27% have inadequate computer labs. This needs addressing. PR on the other hand proposes 5 new technical universities and 25 new vocational schools. In its development and housing proposals, BN promised 1.0 million houses in the span of five years, compared to the rather manageable and more realistic target of 125,000 by the PR government. This is a repeat of Manifesto 2008. A simple analysis indicates a yearly reduction of roughly RM1,500 in the cost of living if the BN Manifesto is executed; by means of BR1M and other handouts. If the PR Manifesto were to be executed instead, RM5,500 will effectively be reduced. How is this proposed to be achieved by PR? It is via lower fuel prices, electricity, water, lower car prices, free education, more affordable housing, abolishing anti-competitive tolls and monopolies as well as the imposition of a minimum wage of RM1,100 via gradual and steady reduction of independence on foreign labour. For economic growth, BN has promised 5.3% and the achievement of high income nation before 2020 while PR promised 7% yearly growth. The difference between the two is subtle yet most defining. Changes will not come from seemingly transformative patchwork of myopic polices that simply add-on to existing processes. It needs political will to revamp underlying inefficiencies and leakages within the systems in place. 1.0 million new affordable housing is noble but is it achievable and who will be the contractors? What are the procurement policies with regards to this massive scale of projects? What kind of incentive systems are in place within the contractors, to ensure the targeted rakyat groups receive quality affordable housing? Will there be exceptions in the balloting and allocation of those houses? Another example is the reduced car prices and fuel subsidy rationalization, BN proposed to reduce car prices by 20- 30% in gradual stages. Yet, the issue at hand is bigger than this. There is no mention of ways to tackle crony-favouring practices in the awarding and subsequent trading of APs? car price reduction truly in the Meanwhile, the PR addresses this specifically by proposing the reduction of excise duty and auction off APs. BN did not even touch on reducing petrol price, while PR despite questioned as being unsustainable promises a reduction of 40 cents to pump petrol prices, to be financed by removing gas subsidy to the IPPs. So Who Should We Vote For? First, consider the baseline, which is the starting point that the manifesto will have to work from. Identifying needs such as tackling inequalities, quality of education and cost of living, consider then for yourself if what we need are core structural changes backed by political will to ensure sustained outcomes however expensive it may seem, or would we rather temporary fixes, which too are expensive, but in no way guarantee that the systems in place will be changed to make way for fresh new policies. You might not agree with everything BN or PR proposes, but they are at the end of the day political manifestos to win our votes. It is only fair to go through the manifestos in its entirety and not in piece meals limiting ourselves to personal sentiments, and only what our hearts and pockets desires. If one is contented with one's current situation, afraid of change and is happy to be considered qualified for welfare aids like BR1M angpows, by all means your vote should be for BN. However, if you are willing to step up for the sake of your livelihood and that of your children in hopes for structural and fundamental changes within a cleaner government, a vote for PR might be your salvation. Many already are excited by the prospects of PR, as showcased in the past 5 short years in the four Pakatan-led states. Albert Einstein famously said that, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." And you will be insane to hope for a change if you vote for status quo. Your vote counts! "No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent." - Abraham Lincoln * Anas Alam Faizli is an oil and gas professional. He holds a master's degree in project management and is pursuing a post-graduate doctorate. He tweets at @aafaizli. ** Datas and figures are derived from EPU, DOSM, HIS 2009, HDR 2011, World databank and BNM. For details, please refer to BLINDSPOT (www.facebook.com/blindspot.msia)
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A Message to all Barisan Supporters Posted: 01 May 2013 03:11 PM PDT
Najib's game plan is a totalitarian 1Malaysia similar to the One China Policy and One World Order. 1Malaysia Plan will give autonomy to Sabah, Sarawak and DAP Penang like Hong Kong. Merdeka Malaysians in one voice have decided to change the government. The Chinese and Indians have dumped MCA and MIC into a rubbish bin; expect the Malays also to dump UMNO. A full and final INDEPENDANCE is not DEPENDANCE on BN Government to do for the people what they can do for themselves. Malaysia produced RM1,000,000,000,000 (Trillion) worth of Oil since 1979 and only now the government can give the poor a RM500 BRIM peanut. Why sell ourselves short and let BN make a monkey out of us during elections? Najib dreams of Transformation into a Super State and have all people as submissive servants to it. Submission to Allah is not his agenda, but is counting on the All Powerful Communist China instead to prop a failed BN Regime in return for strategic favors they need in the region. Najib's game plan is a totalitarian 1Malaysia similar to the One China Policy and One World Order. 1Malaysia Plan will give autonomy to Sabah, Sarawak and DAP Penang like Hong Kong. Najib promises Prosperity with full control of every aspect of people's lives whereby the government owns everything - you name it, including kedais, kliniks, transport, tadika, education. Only Corporate thieves who ransack the nation in broad daylight can have his blessings. They have stolen so much, they are now throwing money to buy, cheat and bribe for votes. His caption is, "Trust me". Losing the Elections is unthinkable for Najib and there is a danger he will resort to any desperate means including riots for an excuse to impose military rule like Myanmar. Malay support is vital, but with only 50% of the Conservative Malays' support, UMNO may now try to recruit more illegal foreigners to dilute the race and change their name to become bumiputras. Tun Abdul Razak is the father of Institutionalized Racism and the son is Mahathir. Abdul Razak created a sub-Malay species called Bumiputra that God did not create, the root cause of corruption. All the ills of today can be traced to this one man alone, Dr. Mahathir s/o Kutty; corruption, cronyism, communalism, crime and the cancer of poverty. The same Razak is here to pay for his father's sin; like George Bush paid for Iraq. Ketuanan Melayu (Brown Supremacy Policy) is a crime against free citizens, whose sympathizers are not guiltless but partners to the crime, knowing or unknowingly. This age old disease is not invented in Malaysia but had long existed with Tamils and Singhalese, Arabs and Jews, Serbs and Croats. What then is nation building if not building with raw materials consisting of different ethnic materials to erect a nice edifice solidly fused together with its own identity? Post 13GE marks a maturity of Malaysian people. We begin work with a new paradigm of consent which span the full spectrum of common interests for all:- food, water/energy, transport, prosperity and the ecology. A Pakatan government can do 10 times more what BN can do under Chinese hegemony. Resource rich Malaysians can be richer than their Singaporean neighbors when partners in crime are banished forever, and replaced by partners in consent. Malays who want to stand strong together with all other races must drop their UMNO crutches at the polls. The sunset of UMNO will drown in deep blue sea, all corruption, all filth. Pakatan is a ship for Malaysian peoples to sail towards the sunrise of a nation undreamed of.
Let us again speak in one voice, Merdeka! Dear Reader: 1 Million copies must be distributed. Please help photostat 100 pieces for distribution to your colleagues before elections.
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‘Explain PMO’s role in flying in dubious voters’ Posted: 01 May 2013 02:49 PM PDT
(FMT) - As many as 30,000 and more foreigners are being moved to the Peninsular from Sabah and Sarawak, claims Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar Ibrahim wants caretaker Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to explain the Prime Minister's Office's alleged role in moving 30,000 foreigners from Sabah and Sarawak to the Peninsular within the next three days. "We have received information that chartered 747 jets, as many as 16 flights a day [will be used]. We have credible documentary evidence. "Why is the Prime Minister's Office involved, Najib?" the Pakatan Rakyat supremo asked during a press conference held at the PKR headquarters this morning. He revealed that on average some 4,500 people were moved in 16 flights daily from East Malaysia, especially from Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan in Sabah and Sibu and Miri in Sarawak. Bersih wants MAS to clarify "Based on reports, it appears that Boeing-747s are being used, and this is unusual because MAS had stopped using 747s," Bersih co-chair S Ambiga told a press conference here. "We hear the flights are happening in wee hours in the morning. We need to hear from MAS themselves if this is happening," she added. Read more at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/05/02/explain-pmos-role-in-flying-in-dubious-voters/ |
Stakes high in Malaysia's pivotal election Posted: 01 May 2013 02:42 PM PDT (BBC) - Marimuthu Seeniueasan holds keys to his new apartment - a project finished by the government On Sunday 5 May Malaysians will vote in the most hotly contested general election in their country's history. For the first time since independence in 1957, there is a real possibility that the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition of Prime Minister Najib Razak may be defeated by the Pakatan Rakyat alliance nominally headed by Anwar Ibrahim. As in any election a host of local and national issues are being debated in the campaign, with accusations and counter-accusations flying back and forth at rallies, in newspapers, TV channels and websites, but at its heart is a simple choice for Malaysia's 13 million voters. Do they stick with a coalition which, for all the accusations of corruption and cronyism, has delivered solid economic growth and political stability? Or do they chance handing power to a vigorous but largely untested opposition? Opinion polls suggest the result is too close to call. There is a great deal at stake for both leaders.
For Najib Razak, the son of a prime minister, losing his first election as prime minister (he got the job in 2009 when his predecessor resigned), and presiding over his party's first ever defeat, would be a crushing blow, and perhaps the end of his long political career. He would almost certainly be challenged for the party leadership. For Anwar Ibrahim, now 65 years old, this may be his last chance to complete a remarkable comeback, 15 years after he was sacked as deputy prime minister, jailed, beaten and repeatedly prosecuted on what he has always believed were politically-motivated charges. Failure to win this time could break up the coalition he has built, from his own reformist Keadilan party, the Islamic party PAS, and the ethnic Chinese party DAP. Cheap rice and petrolBoth men have been campaigning relentlessly across the country, aware that every vote is important. Watching them both on the same day, the differences in style were revealing.
Mr Anwar arrived in pouring rain at a rally in a patch of ground next to a highway in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. Despite the weather and the late hour, an enthusiastic crowd spilled out into the street, to watch him pour scorn on the government's performance and promises with characteristic energy. It had the feel of a grassroots campaign, with palpable excitement about the possibility of change. Mr Najib chose a desolate housing estate on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, still surrounded by bits of tropical forest. There were plenty of Barisan volunteers on hand, brandishing 'WE LOVE PM' banners, but the rest were families who had been waiting to move into the apartment blocks for 12 years. The privately-built project had stalled; now with government funds it had been finished. Continue reading the main story The prime minister's arrival was accompanied by plenty of fanfare, patriotic songs, and lots of food laid out under tents. Mr Najib appeared tired, and his speech lacked the passion of opposition rallies. But its message was clear, and consistent with Barisan's campaign theme. We have finished this project for you, he said, before handing out keys to the residents. The state government, he said - which has been in the hands of Pakatan since the last election - did not. Time and again, Barisan TV ads have reminded Malaysians of what the governing coalition has done for them. Cheap rice, cheap petrol, and reliable drinking water, all thanks to generous subsidies. This has been backed by a whole raft of government hand-outs over the past year, ranging from bonuses for civil servants to vouchers for schoolbooks. Separating normal welfare spending from pre-election freebies is difficult, but one academic, Bridget Welsh from the Singapore Management University, estimates Barisan has spent an extra $1,500 (£960) per voter. Read more and watch what first-time voters think at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22365485 |
Voter fraud hounds Malaysia's ruling party Posted: 01 May 2013 02:38 PM PDT
(Al Jazeera) - Ruling party accused of giving out citizenship to illegal immigrants in order to secure votes and win elections. Watch the video at: http://l3-aljazeera01.cds1.yospace.com/u/pass~drmnone/1/f/~video_mp4~6102-2/1/m/a/v/q/k/d2nt/aljazeera01 Malaysia votes in a general election on Sunday and one of the main battlegrounds is Sabah. Sabah was once considered a swing state, but has been a stronghold for the governing coalition for almost twenty years. But now, allegations have been made that previous administrations gave citizenship to illegal immigrants in exchange for votes. Al Jazeera's Florence Looi reports from Sandakan. |
Posted: 01 May 2013 02:36 PM PDT Malaysia's pro-democracy activists might not win Sunday's election. But they could win the battle against electoral fraud. Deborah Loh, Foreign Policy Muhamad Nur Jihad is a 25-year-old man with Down syndrome who lives with his father in the Malaysian city of Shah Alam. He's never registered as a voter. So imagine his father's surprise when Muhamad Nur recently received a letter in the mail informing him that he's set to vote in the approaching general election on May 5. Who, precisely, added him to the electoral roll without his knowledge? "This may just be the tip of the iceberg," Muhamad's father, Ruslan Abdul Razak, told the press. Weirder things have happened in Malaysian elections. Since 1959, voters here have consistently returned to power the ruling coalition, known today as Barisan Nasional (BN). Decades of single-party rule have hindered Malaysia from pursuing the sorts of reforms (including reform of the electoral system) that could have fostered healthy political competition and democratic maturity. And that, in turn, has fostered a long and convoluted history of election fraud -- including a phenomenon that civil society watchdog groups refer to as "dubious voters." The ranks of the dubious include eligible persons who appear more than once on the electoral roll, who cannot be traced because their home addresses are missing or incomplete, who are listed as residents at addresses where they don't actually live, whose genders in the roll conflict with what's recorded in their identity documents, or who have died from old age but have remained on the roll nonetheless. Some, like Ruslan's son, are people who have never registered but suddenly find themselves mysteriously added to the list of eligible voters. In Malaysia's Bornean state of Sabah, a good many were illegal immigrants, who were given citizenship documents and registered as voters in an elaborate scheme by government officials dubbed "Project IC." In return for the gift of citizenship, it's said, these newly enfranchised voters could be counted on to express their loyalty to the government at the ballot box. The scheme is the subject of an ongoing commission of inquiry. Part of the problem begins with the way voters are registered. The law here doesn't grant Malaysians automatic voting status. (Voting itself is not compulsory.) Citizens aged 21 and older must register with the Election Commission if they want to vote. But the registration process is a mess. Only paper applications are accepted, and half a dozen different agencies are in charge of processing them. Besides the Election Commission itself, political parties, the armed forces, post offices, and two other units under the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Rural Development have the power to add voters to the rolls. For this election, 13.3 million people are registered to vote (some 2.4 million of them since the last general election in 2008). Until recently, educating the public on the intricacies of election fraud was hard. Few laypeople could be bothered to comb through the roll looking for discrepancies, and the technical intricacy of the subject involved made it difficult for many citizens to get interested. One of the earliest groups, Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), which was set up in 2003, struggled to reach a broader audience due to its lack of resources. But awareness took a quantum leap forward in the run-up to the 2008 election. That was when popular anger began to mount over other election-related problems, like the lack of media access for opposition parties and the perceived subservience of the Election Commission to the executive (even if hard data on alleged electoral fraud wasn't readily available). When all the votes were finally counted, it turned out that the opposition People's Pact, led by Anwar Ibrahim, had stripped BN of its customary two-thirds majority in the national parliament (though the ruling coalition still retained enough support to keep its control over the government). That remarkable result coincided with the rise of the Bersih ("Clean") reform movement. Bersih held its first street rally in November 2007, followed by two others in July 2011 and April 2012. Demonstrators called for electoral reforms, including a clean-up of the electoral roll and automatic voter registration (viewed as less susceptible to politically motivated tampering). Some also believe that the People's Pact could have scored more seats in parliament in 2008 if not for gerrymandering as well. Read more at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/30/ghostbusters?page=0,1&wp_login_redirect=0
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Mayra Nazarbayev has applied for Malaysian citizenship? Posted: 01 May 2013 02:02 PM PDT
Daniyar Muratov It's been a while since the last time we communicated. I wanted to update you with some interesting developments on Prime Minister Najib's Kazakhstani relatives-to-be Daniyar Nazarbayev (who is engaged to be married to Mr. Najib's daughter) and Mayra Nazarbayev, his mother. --Reliable sources tell us that Mayra Nazarbayev has applied for Malaysian citizenship and that the Commonwealth headquarters have recommended against granting her citizenship; --While enrolled at Sandhurst last summer, Daniyar, since he would otherwise have been unable to do so being a Kazakh national, graduated as a Malaysian citizen/resident. (Please see the list HERE with his name near the bottom of page 5, as well as a photo from the graduation ceremony); ![]() --Columbia University is apparently continuing to investigate credible allegations that Daniyar enrolled using fabricated documents; --Lawsuits against Mayra and Daniyar accusing them of stealing from her former husband several multi-million-dollar properties are continuing in Manhattan's Supreme Court. It seems that Mr. Najib has gone to great lengths to cover up for and otherwise help his crooked Kazakh relatives-to-be.
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Posted: 01 May 2013 01:57 PM PDT
Now it is almost 5 years later. Can anyone say that this JANJI has been DITEPATI? Krishna M Singh There is one BN candidate who escapes our notice because we keep gunning for the Big Guns in UMNO. He is Datuk Ir Mohamad Zin now the caretaker Works Minister. In a recent interview with the Mole, he is reported to have said that Pakatan had failed to keep its promises made during the 12th GE. He said that the DAP has not removed the Sungei Nyior toll as promised in GE12 as an example.. You can read the story here: http://mole.my/content/bn-leaders-remind-pakatan-fulfil-old-promises I have one question for this dishonest man. Is it within the powers to the state government to remove tolls? In May 2008, this same man as minister said that a toll reduction is under study and the report will be ready in 3 months. You can read this story here: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/Toll-rates-may-be-reduced-says-Mohd-Zin Then in July the same year he said that the study has been done and now the report will be studied by a committee on the implications of toll reductions. And you can read that story here: There was a promise that the toll contracts would be renegotiated so that all sides will benefit. Looks like the terms of the contract do not permit any review. Hence the matter went into complete silence and no one even remembers. Now it is almost 5 years later. Can anyone say that this JANJI has been DITEPATI? I have gone to the Facebook page of Datuk Ir Mohamad Zin, Works Minister, and commented "Pembohong". That is the best I can do to discredit this man. If I was voting in his constituency, he will not get my vote. Krishna M Singh
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Perutusan khas PM Najib kepada semua pengundi masyarakat India Posted: 01 May 2013 01:40 PM PDT
Dalam perutusannya, Najib meminta maaf atas kelemahan pimpinan lepas. Tetapi, Najib gagal menyatakan dengan jelas pimpinan yang mana satu? Persatuan Progresif India Malaysia (MIPAS) Persatuan Progresif India Malaysia (MIPAS) berpendapat ketua kerajaan sementara Barisan Nasional, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak cukup terdesak dengan menghantar perutusan khas sempena Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 kepada semua pengundi masyarakat India, diseru menyokong calon BN dan memberi mandat kepada Barisan Nasional pada PRU-13 nanti. Dalam perutusannya, beliau memohon maaf kepada pengundi masyarakat India di atas kelemahan dan kesilapan pimpinan lepas dan meminta diberi satu peluang. Perutusan ini menimbulkan lima persoalan penting. Persoalan Pertama : Mengapa mesej ini dipanggil perutusan? Biasanya Perutusan hanya diberikan kepada sambutan-sambutan yang penting. Apakah Najib anggap PRU13 sebagai satu sambutan yang rakyat akan tari-menari dan meriah? Tetapi, PRU 13 adalah merupakan satu peristiwa penting dan serius yang mana rakyat akan menentukan masa depan negara yang cemerlang. Persoalan Kedua : Mengapa perutusan ini hanya ditujukan kepada masyarakat India? Kenapa masyarakat Melayu dan Cina tidak menerima perutusan ini? Atau, apakah mereka akan menerima perutusan lain yang kandungannya mungkin lain? Tapi, apa yang hairan ialah Bapa 1Malaysia yang setiap hari melaung-laungkan slogan 1Malaysia bertindak rasis. Kalau nak hantar, biar lah hantar mesej yang sama kepada semua rakyat. Mengapa perlu ada 'double standard'. Ia nampak seolah-olah ada sesuatu yang tidak kena. Persoalan Ketiga : Dalam perutusannya, Najib meminta maaf atas kelemahan pimpinan lepas. Tetapi, Najib gagal menyatakan dengan jelas pimpinan yang mana satu? Adakah pimpinan Abdullah Ahmad Badwi atau Mahatir Mohamad? Jika Najib kata Abdullah, maka dia adalah penderhaka. Abdullah cuba membawa perubahan dalam sistem pemerintahan. Ianya tidak disukai oleh pimpinan UMNO yang lain termasuk Najib yang merasakan kedudukan UMNO akan tergugat. Maka, Abdullah diberikan tekanan demi tekanan sehingga terpaksa letak jawatan dan serahkan kepada Najib yang memang tunggu-tunggu. Jika pimpinan lepas itu merujuk kepada Mahathir, maka sekurang-kurangnaya jujur sedikit dalam perutusannnya. Memang tidak dapat dinafikan, segala kebinasaan yang berlaku adalah disebabkan Mahathir. Selama 22 tahun Mahathir dengan pentadbiran kuku besinya memecah-belahkan perpaduan kaum. Dasar pecah dan perintah amalan British yang satu ketika ditentang hebat oleh Mahathir, telah digunakan dengan sebaik-baiknya. Masa inilah, ramai warga asing menjadi warganegara Malaysia, satu pengkhianatan yang tidak dapat dimaafkan. Ianya dilakukan demi survival politik Mahathir and UMNO. Maka, Najib perlu menjelaskan pimpinan yang mana satu? Persoalan Keempat : Andaikan pimpinan lepas yang Najib maksudkan adalah pimpinan Mahathir, maka jelas Najib mengakui bahawa pimpinan mentornya itu mempunyai banyak kelemahan dan kesilapan yang membawa negara kita ke tahap ini. Ia juga membawa keadaan sehingga Najib terpaksa memohon maaf. Jika sudah mengakui, mengapa Mahathir masih diberi ruang yang cukup besar dalam pentadbiran sekarang. Mahathir bermaharajalela dengan komen-komennya yang jelas memjejaskan perpaduan kaum. Mempunyai pengaruh dalam menentukan calon-calon rasis yang memang ditolak oleh semua lapisan masyarakat. Gambaran berlaku di mana Perdana Menteri sekarang ialah Mahathir dan bukannya Najib. Maka, apakah ikhlas Najib memohon maaf di satu sudut, di sudut lain pula memberi pengiktirafan sepenuhnya kepada pimpinan lepas yang menolak sehingga keadaan terdesak sekarang. Najib perlu memperjelaskan ini sebelum menghantar perutusan. Persoalan Kelima : Jika benar Najib memohan maaf secara jujur berhubung "Kesilapan" pimpinan lepas, adakah Najib sudah lupa bahawa dia juga adalah sebahagian daripada pimpinan lepas yang membawa kepada keadaan teruk. Najib telah berama lama dalam kerajaan sejak Mahathir, memegang jawatan-jawatan penting seperti Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Menteri Pelajaran, Menteri Pertahanan dan jawatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri dalam kerajaan Abdullah. Maka, mana perginya rasa tanggungjawab Najib kepada masyarakat India? Sekolah-sekolah Tamil tidak diberikan perhatian langsung oleh Menteri Pelajaran Najib. Belia-belia India diabaikan Menteri Belia dan Sukan Najib. Mengapa Najib yang sama sekarang beria-ia hantar perutusan minta maaf, beri itu dan beri ini. Ada yang mengatakan Najib sekarang sudah berubah? Kalau itu soalnya, mengapa Najib menuduh Anwar Ibrahim dengan mengatakan Anwar Ibrahim tidak membuat apa-apa untuk masyarakat India semasa dalam kerajaan dan menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri. Mengapa isu Anwar yang mengatakan tidak akan benarkan bunyi loceng di kuil-kuil Hindu ditimbulkan? Najib pernah mengeluarkan keris dan menciumnya dan mengatakan kerisnya tidak akan diletakkan selagi tidak melihat darah dalam perhimpunan Pemuda semasa menjadi Ketua Pemuda UMNO. Siapa yang lebih bahaya, Najib atau Anwar? Jika Najib dikatakan sudah berubah sekarang dengan slogannya 1Malaysia, apakah salah jika Anwar juga di beri peluang dan boleh dianggap sebagai sudah berubah juga dengan slogan "Harapan Rakyat"? Kesimpulannya, Najib bukan berubah. Najib yang kita lihat dulu, masih ada dan wujud. Najib hanya memakai "TOPENG 1MALAYSIA" yang akan dibuangnya sebaik sahaja Barisan Nasional menang dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13. Maka, Najib yang asal muncul kembali. Jika BN kalah pun, Najib yang asal akan kembali dengan unsur rasisnya. Jika ditanya mana satu Najib yang bahaya kepada masyarakat dan negara, jawapannya sudah tentu Najib yang menang. Jika menang sudah tentu negara akan kembali kepada zaman Mahathir. Jika Najib kalah, maka negara akan mendapat satu pentadbiran baru yang sekian lama rakyat menanti-nantikan. Ia akan membawa satu "Puthiya Nambikei" (Harapan Baru) kepada rakyat Malaysia. Tapi, kita tidak akan tinggalkan Najib begitu sahaja atau tidak menghormati pengorbanan yang sekian lama. Maka itu, kita akan menjadikan Ketua Pembangkang yang digeruni kerajaan Pakatan sepertimana kini Ketua Pembangkang Anwar digeruni oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional. Najib dengan pengalaman yang begitu lama dalam kerajaan pasti akan menjadi Ketua Pembangkang yang sangat kuat dan disegani oleh semua. Jika rakyat berjaya melakukan ini, maka yang pasti menang adalah bukan Najib atau Anwar, tetapi RAKYAT, Ini lah yang perlu menjadi BALASAN PERUTUSAN RAKYAT YANG PENTING KEPADA NAJIB.
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You Don’t Have to be Loyal to BN Posted: 01 May 2013 01:34 PM PDT
It is because the Opposition has been strong since 2008 that the BN Government has been giving out BR1M; so the stronger the Opposition is, the more BR1M there will be. Kee Thuan Chye I have a niece who is a government doctor, and recently she asked me a question that was most alarming: "Can we government servants vote against Barisan Nasional (BN)?" "Of course!" I replied. Her fear was that if she did not vote for BN, she would be deemed disloyal to the Government. But this is not so. BN is only the government of the day. It is the officer in charge that takes care of the affairs of the country because they were voted in to do so. They do not represent "the Government" in its eternal sense. Neither do they represent "the country". BN and the country are not one and the same. If BN is perceived to be doing a poor job of running the affairs of the country, it can be replaced by another coalition with the hope that the latter can do a better job. Also, if BN is perceived to have been corrupt and making money for its own officers rather than taking care of the interests of the country, it should be replaced. There is therefore no such thing as disloyalty to the Government. In fact, by not voting against a government that is corrupt, the voter shows disloyalty to the country. And that is far, far worse. To quote the American political activist and author Thomas Paine: "The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government." We should do this on a daily basis, as part of civil society, if we want to be responsible for ensuring that the administration of our country is properly maintained, and many of us do. And apart from that, once every five years, we get to do it through voting. In this regard, I would like to address what a Facebook friend has asked me to – the issue of his fellow Indians who are now saying they cannot vote against BN because they have received the BR1M money of RM500. He said they feel they have to remain loyal to the coalition because they have benefitted from its handout. To this, I have to say that the Indians – and any Malaysians of any race, for that matter – need not feel that way. This is simply because the BR1M money does not come from BN. It comes from the taxes paid by the rakyat. It is the rakyat's money. The Indian beneficiaries of BR1M, who must also be tax-payers in one form or another, are getting back their own money. I hope they will not be fooled by BN's ploy to make it look like the coalition is being generous and helpful and considerate of the less fortunate. Read more at: http://my.news.yahoo.com/blogs/bull-bashing/don-t-loyal-bn-080621548.html |
Different highways to the Malaysian dream Posted: 01 May 2013 01:26 PM PDT
(Today Online) - It is apparent that the demand for change galvanises young Malaysians to chase the Malaysian dream. Unfortunately, this is not good enough. The young are deeply divided on how to get there. There is little doubt among political observers that the outcome of Malaysia's 13th general election could well rest on how young Malaysians cast their vote. The last few years have seen young Malaysians aggressively using social media and news portals to pitch their views on politics. It is good to see the young taking ownership of Malaysia's political future, but the big question is, what do the young want? There are common themes that run through the seemingly chaotic online conversations. To start with, Malaysians, young and old, want better governance. They no longer want to be bogged down by issues of corruption and nepotism. The online conversations see Malaysians desiring a more transparent and accountable government. They want institutions that help strengthen the democratic process; institutions that can accommodate an increasingly critical public. So far, the government has responded by abolishing the Internal Security Act and replacing it with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act. More is needed. Young Malaysians are highly impatient — and rightly so. They want quick results; this generation has little appetite for incremental or prosaic policies. This highly-networked generation, born and raised in a new Malaysia, wants instant information, instant results and instant gratification.
NEP BENEFICIARIES
These grievances may seem coherent but the truth is there is little coherence among the young on how to get there. Malaysians, particularly the young, are more divided now than ever before. To start, there is an ever growing number of young bumiputras — whom we shall call group A — who are beneficiaries or whose parents are beneficiaries of Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP). Having been brought up in at least a middle-class environment, these young bumiputras do not see ethnicity as a major issue. Some are lending their voices to calls for change in this election — personalities like Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Karim Raslan, Azmi Shahrom, Salahuddin Ayub and Azmin Ali. Some, like Fuziah Salleh, a government scholar picked by the state to do her A Levels and university studies in the United Kingdom, remain staunch supporters of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat. Members of group A may still be uneasy with the idea of a complete rollback of Malay dominance, but they largely agree that Malaysia needs to recalibrate its race-based policies.
ISLAMIC LEANINGS
There is yet another group of bumiputras — group B — who lean more towards Islam. They are usually graduates of Malaysia's religious institutions or local higher institutions who are persuaded by the idea of a more Islamic Malaysia. Some have secular education but remain bent on the Islamic solution to Malaysia's state-building. They include the likes of Dr Zulkefly Ahmad, Dr Hasan Ali, Nasruddin Mat Isa and Dr Asri Zainul Abidin. Members of this group are usually concentrated in rural Malaysia, but increasingly, urban Malaysians whose parents were born and raised in the Malay heartlands of Kelantan, Trengganu and Kedah, are attracted to the idea of a more Islamic Malaysia. They give a romantic portrayal of an Islamic Malaysia, one that views religion, not politics or ethnicity, as the best arbiter in distributing resources. Read more at: http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/different-highways-malaysian-dream |
Malaysian Elections: Preserving Najib’s Gains Posted: 01 May 2013 12:43 PM PDT
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has called national elections for May 5. This date is perilously close to the statutory deadline to hold the elections, suggesting he is concerned that the results may lead to his departure from office. Malaysia, the United States, and much of the world have a stake in the outcome. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The traditionally dominant party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), and its partners in the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition have experienced internal divisions. Ethnic preferences for Malays in government and the economy have alienated many Chinese, who are a minority (roughly 40 percent of Malaysia's population) but economically dominant. Najib's efforts at internal reform have threatened traditionalists associated with former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Younger, urban voters seem itching for change. There is a strong challenge from an opposition coalition headed by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. His Pakatan Rakyat coalition includes Chinese and Islamic parties and is close enough in some polls to win outright.
But many longtime observers believe the real election is within UMNO, between old warhorses associated with Mahathir and the reformists surrounding Najib. The argument is that if Najib cannot bring in a result that preserves UMNO's two-thirds majority and capacity to rewrite the constitution, old-line leaders, possibly current Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, would displace Najib and stem reforms. This is where the stakes need to be clearly stated. Under Mahathir, opposition to perceived residual Western colonialism was a rallying cry and a frequent and increasingly anachronistic theme. His successor, Abdullah Badawi, was less shrill but did not move significantly away from Mahathir's policies. Najib has fundamentally repositioned Malaysia internationally. He has moved away from the old UMNO policy seeking to divide Asia from the United States and has seen the United States as an important partner for Malaysia and ASEAN. Najib and his top officials have been forthright in speaking about democratic values in international forums such as the ASEAN Regional Forum. They have been critical of states such as North Korea and even Myanmar before reforms commenced there, something that would not have been countenanced in an earlier period when criticism was aimed solely at the West. Najib has done all this as part of a strategy to retain domestic (Chinese) investment and attract foreign investment in order to accelerate Malaysia's development. As a demonstration of his commitment to a more open Malaysian economy, he has joined the discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with ten other nations. After economic contraction in 2009, Malaysia's GDP growth has rebounded to a robust 5 percent, led by double-digit export growth in 2010 and large FDI inflows in 2010 and 2011. Gross investment for 2012 was up 9 percent over the last year, with the fastest growth in private and domestic investment (up 22 percent and 55 percent, respectively). The current account surplus is expected to narrow in the near term, and employment growth is expected mostly in domestic-oriented sectors such as services, in line with Najib's New Economic Model that aims to create more sustainable, equitable, high-income growth. The Asian Development Bank forecasts that Malaysia's GDP will grow by 5.3 percent in 2013, accelerating a little to 5.5 percent next year. Malaysia's strong performance under Najib stands in marked contrast to the ethnic preferences and frequent allegations of corruption and cronyism under Mahathir. Domestically, Malaysia remains an impressive Muslim-majority nation with a democratic system, pluralism, and generally good standards for human rights protection. Najib has given a number of speeches in international settings denouncing terrorism in the Islamic world and indeed has preached formation of a league of moderate nations to fight terrorism. Under Najib, Malaysia also has moved to significantly tighten its previously porous export-control system, which had made the country a transit point for shipment and financing of dual-use products going to Iran. Defense cooperation with the United States and others has been normalized, and it has not remained a forum for grandstanding against the West. Najib has moved to dismantle one of the instruments of repression, the Internal Security Act inherited from the British when Malaysia became independent. Under his guidance the legislature has replaced the law, which provided the basis for lengthy detention without trial. These are not just achievements for Najib's leadership, but they are gains for Malaysia, the region, and the world. Read more at: http://m.ceip.org/publications/?fa=51678
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