Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Contact your MP now!
- BREAKING NEWS: Two Black Eyes for AG and MACC!
- Going Shopping: Lawyers on the march
- Government Screwing Up Durians As Well
- Malaysia – Defending the Constitution
- Tengku Razaleigh As Interim Prime Minister
| Posted: 24 Nov 2011 07:10 PM PST This Bill is scheduled to for its second reading and debates in Parliament this coming Tuesday (29 Nov) and it only requires a simple majority of votes from the MPs who are present, before it is passed. Out of the 222 MPs in the Dewan, there are 137 from BN, 75 from PR and 10 others.
2) Visit the Parlimen website to get your MP's name and contact details.
3) Now you know who your MP is! You can: a. Email (cc us: hellomp.2011[at]gmail.com) or Fax the following text:
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| BREAKING NEWS: Two Black Eyes for AG and MACC! Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:50 PM PST At that time, Dato Ramli was about to expose the connection of then IGP Musa Hassan with the loan shark Along syndicates in the case of Goh Cheng Poh @ Tengku Goh whom Dato Ramli had arrested when the country was facing the Along menace. Goh had specifically named Musa Hassan in his affidavits. To cover up for Musa Hassan, AG Gani Patail refused to prepare affidavits for the Police. In the end, the CCID asked for help from lawyer Rosli Dahlan. That landed the poor lawyer into trouble.  Goh had specifically named Musa Hassan in his affidavits At the same time, Dato Ramli had also recommended to then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli should be charged for various offences in regard to the MAS Scandal. The MAS Scandal came to the surface recently when Minister Dato Seri Nazri Aziz tried to force several GLCs to accept a Global Settlement that would allow Tajudin to be freee from all civil liabilities and indebtedness. Nazri has since said that was just an advice to settle.  Dato Ramli had also recommended to then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli should be charged for various offences in regard to the MAS Scandal. In the end, Goh Cheng Poh was released and Tajudin remained a free rich man, but Dato Ramli Yusuff and Lawyer Rosli Dahlan were charged for doing their jobs in preventing abuses, corruption and crimes amongst the highest echelons of the country. The Courts have since acquitted both of them from all the charges. But AG Gani Patail was not satisfied and directed the MACC to appeal against all these acquittals. So, this morning two of the AG/MACC appeals came up before two different High Courts. AG Gani Patail's oppresiveness can be seen in the manner that both the cases are being called at the same time. This was what AG Gani Patail did when he charged Dato Ramli in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu both at the same. How did he expect Dato Ramli to be in two different courts more than 1623 km apart separated by the South China Sea?!  AG Gani Patail's oppresiveness can be seen in the manner that both the cases are being called at the same time. This was what AG Gani Patail did when he charged Dato Ramli in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu both at the same. How did he expect Dato Ramli to be in two different courts more than 1623 km apart separated by the South China Sea?! That was what AG Gani Patail did to Dato Ramli Yusuff. That was how cruel he behaved. Rosli Dahlan was not spared and was given an even more as cruel treatment. He was assaulted, dragged from his office and paraded in the courts' corridors [see previous posting] At 10 am this morning, the first case was that called . This was the MACC'S appeal aganst the acquittal by Sessions Judge M Komathy. High Court Judge Dato Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah was very clear when he said that there was no basis to charge Dato Ramli and to then appeal against the acquittal granted by Judge M Komathy. He chided DPP Ahmad Bache for the appeal.
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| Going Shopping: Lawyers on the march Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:32 PM PST Shopping promotion
In order to meet the statutory requirement — to uphold the cause of justice without fear or favour — lawyers have decided a peaceful assembly to challenge the Peaceful Assembly Bill brought before Parliament this week, which is scheduled for speedy passage through the house. Malaysia's lawyers will thus "Go Shopping", an activity first popularised by journalist and wildlife activist Sabry Zain in the late 1990s, when enthusiastic crowds thronged Batu Road, the old shopping district of Kuala Lumpur, in a spontaneous procession filling up the streets for hundreds of metres, playing hide-and-seek with happy blue-uniformed government supporters earning double time with batons, truncheons and tear gas. Go Shopping with Aunty at KLCCOther civil society organisations are also rallying support for the right of the people to "Go Shopping". Auntie Bersih (Annie Ooi), a recognised expert in the art of taking long walks through the city centre in a yellow T-shirt, has promised to turn up at Kuala Lumpur City Centre on Saturday for a public protest organised by academic activist Wong Chin Huat. Chin Huat, a political scientist, is one of many people dissatisfied with amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act under the federal government's reform programme, in which simple-minded university students unable to think for themselves will be protected from thinking about politics and encouraged to concentrate on studies that do not require any thinking. Freedom Not To Think BillFederal government officials, compliant university academics and the mass media are united in seeing the virtues of reforms that do not require thinking on the part of university administrations or their students. Academics such as Wong Chin Huat, however, firmly believe that students who practise some thinking by doing so may protect federal government officials from thinking about sex and other acts. Freedom From Your Politics on Campus BillThe Universities and University Colleges Act (often shortened to UUCA) may now be cited as the Freedom From Your Kind of Politics in Campus Act. It may also be shortened to the U Just Don't C Act. Freedom of Shopping (Tourism) (Non-Traffic Jams) BillThe draft legislation on peaceful non-public non-protests may now also be cited as the Freedom To Keep Shops Open Bill, or alternatively the Freedom Of Foreign Tourists Frightened By Coloured People Bill, and also as the Freedom Of Retired Army Generals Not To Get Stuck In Traffic Jams After Golf Bill. The federal government's frantic race to reform, however, suffered a minor setback in public relations when Malaysia was beaten to it by Burma, the military-run leper state of Asean which has not had a Parliament in 50 years let alone the right to protest.
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| Government Screwing Up Durians As Well Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:18 PM PST First of all, a little recap. As we all know, many stage bus operators in the smaller towns have stopped their services or are stoppinmg their services. They have been running at losses and they cannot survive anymore. Is that so? Is that really the case? What happened to Sri Jaya Bus, Uttam Singh Bus, Yellow Bus, Patt Hup Bus, Len Seng Bus, Foh Hup Bus, Selangor Omnibus, and so on? These are well known stage bus operators who operated stage buses in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Tampin, Selangor and other places. But most importantly, for decades, they had been providing fairly good services to the rural people. People could go from A to B. What happened to all these bus operators? Many of them are coming to a stop. The bottom line is, you can think you are being very clever, but if you mess with the market, this is what will happen - the bus services come to a stop. You think you are being clever, you mess with the fish wholesalers and what happens? You make their operating costs too high. They make losses. So they will not sell fish anymore. Fish prices skyrocket, siapa jadi miskin dulu? Takkan kita nak makan babi? So the Government flip flopped. The fish wholesalers went back to work. Dont impose ridiculous rules on the fish wholesalers. You mess with the Hire Purchase Act (HPA), the used car dealers' cost of doing business went up. The risk borne by the used car dealers also went up. Then what happened? The used car dealers stopped buying used cars. If people cannot sell their old cars to the used car dealers, the people will not buy a new car. So new car sales died. This happened just a few months ago. Dah lupa ke. Then the Government flip flopped, amended or did not implement the HPA amendments - and things have returned back to normal. And it goes on and on. Yes 30 year old school buses must get off the road. But give them enough licenses, give them cheaper buses (without AP). Only then you can put a gun to their head and say 'Change your buses'. But when nothing much has been done to improve their cost structure, and you still put a gun to their head and say 'change your buses' the guy simply will not run his school bus anymore. He does not have money to change his bus according to your timetable. So he has to pull his bus off the road. Bottom line : no school buses. The school children and their parents suffer. Parents have to become chaueffeurs. Menyusahkan orang saja. So the Government flip flopped. The Government postponed the requirement to change the 30 year buses. It will not make any difference. There are reasons (in this country many of them are artificial) that determine the cost of running any bus. As long as these costs are artificially high, the bus operators will operate at very thin margins. Putting more pressure on their margins will result in buses being pulled off the road. Bas tak ada. Siapa jadi miskin dulu? SPAD has become quite a spud over the stage buses. They dont know what to do. (Read on - the solution is simple). SPAD is gearing itself up to oversee the RM26.0 billion MRT project instead. Not drive down to some local bus station in Tampin or Alor Gajah and sort out the problems being faced by the stage bus operators. Someone came up with an idea that teachers should work 9 am - 5am. Why? Sakit hati ke tengok cikgu sekolah balik rumah pukul 1 tengah hari? I guess the cikgu threatened to vote for the Opposition. This idea too was dropped. Another flip flop. To solve the stage bus operators' problem first of all it is important to just understand this part - Bas dah tak jalan dah. Boleh faham ke?
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| Malaysia – Defending the Constitution Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:47 AM PST The Prime Minister announced that the ruling coalition will abolish the Internal Security Act. This has been met with cynicism by many – understandably. In the months since the announcement, there has been much backtracking. But the announcement itself was remarkable. A Prime Minister from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party which has held power since Independence, announced the repeal of the ISA. And this was a direct result of public pressure – a public that overwhelmingly supported the law and its use less than a decade ago. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had also announced that he will be ending the numerous states of emergency in force in Malaysia for over three decades. This will automatically signal the end of the other major piece of legislation that allows for detention without trial, the Emergency Ordinance. There should have been mass jubilation on the part of those who participated in the Bersih rallies, those who have been pushing for the repeal of this legislation for decades, but there wasn't. The government acted just as the cynics predicted. The repeal of the ISA, the ending of the emergencies, are now being supplemented by a raft of legislation that will ironically strip Malaysians further of their fundamental liberties enshrined in the Constitution. And the Government has also promised that it will be drafting and putting before Parliament new 'anti-terror' legislation that will bring back detention without trial. The Orwellian titled Peaceful Assembly Bill is a bill that bans street protests – marching from one place to another in support of (or objecting to) a cause. So the Terry Fox run is out. It also bans non-citizens and children from taking part in any assemblies. Children are allowed to take part in four types of assembly – religious, funerals, assemblies related to custom or those approved by the Minister. Nature walks, trips to a science museum, even a school assembly must all fall under one of these categories, or the organisers, children and parents face hefty fines or other legal action. Organisers of an assembly must be over the age of 21. I would have been in big trouble – as a child I organised activities to raise money for various charities. Some of these included assemblies of various kinds. Non-citizens are not allowed to organise or participate in assemblies – and given that around twenty five percent of Malaysian workforce is estimated to comprise migrant workers, this has huge implications for labour relations. The Third Schedule of the Bill outlines the type of activities that do not require notification. It includes wedding parties, but not birthday parties, anniversary celebrations or other private functions. It includes family days held by employers for their employees, but not trainings, talks or lectures. The Bill outlines the role of the police, which says nothing about respecting the rights of citizens to gather – it says the policy may arrest, may detain, and must be listened to.
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| Tengku Razaleigh As Interim Prime Minister Posted: 24 Nov 2011 12:34 AM PST Yesterday evening I attended a seminar where the closing session discussed Malaysia's politics in 2012. Upon request by the organiser (a dear friend) I cannot say which seminar. Some of you folks were there as well - I am sure. The topic was the 13th General Elections. When will the 13th General Elections be held? One speaker pointed out that the GE is not due until 28 April 2013. And Constitutionally it can even be postponed by another two months. Lim Guan Eng has said that if the GE is called before June 2012, then the Pakatan held States will not dissolve their State assemblies. Karpal Singh is not in agreement. Some other folks I met say that the 13th GE will be held about six months after that Parliamentary subcommittee to study the Electoral reforms has been appointed. The subcommittee has just been appointed in November. Six months hence is therefore April 2012 - still a year before the full term ends. My view is it depends on whether the Crown Prince of Sungei Buloh is sent back to sit on his throne in Sungei Buloh. If he is sentenced to sing-sing, there will be some outcry and some sympathy. It will take about six months before the sympathy dies down. His backaches will also start again within about six months of being put in sing-sing. I can already imagine all those pictures of him - wearing braces and sitting in a wheel chair - being smuggled out of sing-sing. (All this is based on whether he is found guilty or not ok). Anyway one of the speakers said (to my surprise) that he had spoken to the Crown Prince's lawyers who do not feel confident that their client will be found innocent. In other words they also feel he will be found guilty of the charges. So six months from a guilty verdict will be about just right to have the Elections. My own view is that lets have the elections in 2013. We need more time to put things right. The time is not right yet. And the PM needs to really revamp the Cabinet. No revamp - can get mauled in the General Elections. Two other things were mentioned yesterday. One speaker said that possibly 70% of voters have already made up their minds who they want to vote. It will be very difficult to change their minds. The battle is actually (or always has been) for that remaining 30% fence sitters. I think there is some truth in this. At the last General Elections, many people decided to vote for the Opposition - no matter what you said or did, they were going to vote Opposition. Post 2008, I once embarrased (just pulling their leg) a group of hard core UMNO supporters at a dinner by asking 'Whoever DID NOT vote for the Opposition please raise your hands'. No one raised their hands. I think had voted for the Opposition in 2008. Everyone just wanted to be rid of Slumberjack and the corrupt SIL. Anyway, the clever lady who spoke yesterday said something else which I feel is extremely important. And for this round, the Prime Minister better take note of this point extremely very well. She said that the last 10 - 14 days before the General Elections are very crucial to help people make up their minds. Since most General Elections only have about two weeks campaigning period, this means a sizeable number of people (possibly that 30% of undecided voters) will actually make up their minds within 10 - 14 days before Polling Day. By that time, all the candidates representing all the parties will be known to everyone. This time around if folks like the "Lembu Condo" people appear on the ballot, there will be a price to pay. If the Mat Rempit fellow appears on the ballot, or the SIL, there will be a price to pay. Times have changed.
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