Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Karpal: Explain comment
- Pakatan pledges to shelve Petronas’ RM60b Pengerang project after GE13 win
- Koh: Malay and Indian folk streaming back to Barisan
- Dr M: World will not listen to me
- Sins of Their Founders
| Posted: 29 Sep 2012 03:39 PM PDT
(NST) - DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has asked Datuk Mansor Othman to give a better explanation for his "cocky, arrogant tokong" comment. He said a video recording of Mansor, who is also Penang deputy chief minister, making the comment when talking about Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, had revealed more than what he had previously explained. However, even though he had called on Mansor to clear the air, Karpal played down the effects of the remark that many had been speculating had driven a wedge between Mansor and Lim. "This is a matter that can be resolved between the two individuals internally. I am confident that it will be resolved before the general election. "This is not a serious matter that constitutes serious concern," the Bukit Gelugor member of parliament said after his visit to the Farlim market here yesterday. When asked to comment on Lim being described even before this as arrogant by other Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including former state Parti Keadilan Rakyat chief Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim and Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, Karpal said the DAP secretary-general was no such character. Karpal said he had known Lim for a long time, since the latter was 8 years old. "We were even locked up together in Kamunting. I was also his lawyer for many years. As far as I know, he is not arrogant. Perception can be misleading sometimes and it is so in this case." |
| Pakatan pledges to shelve Petronas’ RM60b Pengerang project after GE13 win Posted: 29 Sep 2012 03:14 PM PDT
"If we do not win this case in court, this is Anwar's message to you — when PR wins the Malaysian government, and we are sure to win... when he becomes the prime minister, he will stop this RAPID project," he thundered to the crowd. Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider Pakatan Rakyat (PR) today promised to stop the Petronas RM60 billion petrochemical project should it wrest federal power in the coming polls, an electoral pledge likely aimed at capitalising on an emotive issue that could mark the start of Umno's weakening grasp over Johor. Johor PKR chief Datuk Chua Jui Meng speaking on behalf of PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Himpunan Hijau Pengerang Lestari rally here, made the announcement to a crowd of thousands who whooped at his words. "If we do not win this case in court, this is Anwar's message to you — when PR wins the Malaysian government, and we are sure to win... when he becomes the prime minister, he will stop this RAPID project," he thundered to the crowd. "That is our pledge to you today... and we will help you restore your lives here." Earlier this morning, the sleepy hollow of Kampung Sungai Rengit came alive with animated chants and blares from portable air horns as green-clad protesters streamed in by the bus loads to rally against Petronas' RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemicals Development (RAPID) project that will see thousands of villagers lose their homes and livelihoods. The highly-anticipated Himpunan Hijau Pengerang Lestari protest kicked off peacefully to a bright and early start despite earlier fears of possible police blockades to prevent protesters from attending the mass rally. From 25 different locations across the country, including the east Malaysian state of Sabah, rally participants arrived from 9am onwards, all dressed in Himpunan Hijau's signature neon green T-shirts and bearing banners that detailed the rally's three protests — to protest the land grab, to protest the loss of livelihood, and to protest environmental destruction. As at 10am, the small village square where the township's landmark steel lobster structure is located was flooded by nearly a thousand protesters. Banners and placards condemning RAPID, which will see the relocation of over 3,000 people from seven villages girdling the shore of Pengerang, have also been erected across the small Chinese-majority Kampung Sungai Rengit, the only village that has escaped the government's relocation plans thus far. According to rally organisers, the government has refused to acquire land from Kampung Sungai Rengit residents due to the high value of the commercial property here. But a Pengerang PKR leader Taufik Jahir claimed the objective was to "force the villagers from their homes" as Kampung Sungai Rengit will turn into an island once all phases of the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) is completed in the years ahead.
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| Koh: Malay and Indian folk streaming back to Barisan Posted: 29 Sep 2012 02:53 PM PDT
(The Star) - THERE is a shift in the mood among Penang voters, Gerakan leaders said. They said Malay and Indian voters were streaming back to Barisan while the Chinese were questioning the state government's policies. Party president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Penang voters were warming up to the Barisan. He said the urban voters were also questioning the actions of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. "For the past four-and-a-half years, he had built up a cult-like phenomenon. Now, people are beginning to question him ... that's the feedback we received," he said after opening Gerakan Life Member Council delegates conference yesterday held concurrently with the party's Youth and Wanita delegates conferences. Dr Koh urged party members not to rest on their laurels despite the positive indications. "We have to work hard and have the right strategies. It's a psychological war, a war on perception that is not easy to win," he said. Gerakan vice-president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said his conversations with the man in the street over the past few months also indicated a shift in the mood. "They told me they liked the positive moves made by the state Barisan as well as the Prime Minister's transformation plans," he said. Penang Barisan chairman Teng Chang Yeow said he had also received the same feedback. "We are optimistic about our chances in two or three seats," he said but declined to name them. He thanked Dr Koh and Mah for their confidence, adding that it boosted efforts by state party leaders to regain the people's confidence.
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| Dr M: World will not listen to me Posted: 29 Sep 2012 02:33 PM PDT The former premier rules out international mediator's role like those taken up by Tony Blair or Jimmy Carter, saying in jest that the world will not listen to him. (Bernama) - NEW YORK: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has ruled out taking up the role of an international mediator similar to the ones performed by former British prime minister Tony Blair or United States (US) President Jimmy Carter. He said this during an informal meeting with Malaysian students on Saturday at the Malaysian United Nations (UN) mission in New York. After the conferring of the Rafik Hariri United Nations Habitat Memorial Award on Mahathir Friday night, some guests were privately asking if he would not make a good mediator for resolving international disputes, given his wide-ranging international experience and his elder statesman status. "No, I don't think I am qualified for such a role," he told Bernama, adding in a lighter vein that the "world will not listen to me and people will do what they like…so, I would discount such a role." Mahathir looked relaxed as he fielded questions from the students on issues ranging from the political situation in Malaysia and Malaysia's transition to a developed nation, to the China-Japan conflict. "You need a strong government to manage a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious country like Malaysia," Mahathir noted. Return home, students told "We begin to change in terms of our values and culture after staying in developed countries. Some may even say that we (in Malaysia) are not as progressive as in the countries where you have studied. "When you compare something good with something better, then your own country doesn't look so good. But when you compare your country with something not so good, then even the bad things begin to look good," he told the students. He also urged Malaysian students to return home after completing their studies and offer their expertise for nation-building. "Help Malaysia realise its goal of becoming a developed country by 2020," Mahathir said, pointing out that Malaysia, despite the global downturn, was still growing and "defying gravity", as the Financial Times recently put it. Looking mentally sharp and alert for his age, 87-year-old Mahathir recalled that at the time of independence from British colonial rule, Malaysia seemed to have been written off, with critics saying that the country would not survive because of its multi-ethnic and multi-racial composition. "We decided to share our wealth between our communities –- Malay, Chinese and Indian. It's better to have a smaller slice of the cake than the full cake. "By sharing the cake, we offered opportunities to the other communities as well," he said, explaining that Malaysia had thus ensured economic growth and prosperity. Striking a balance Mahathir also spoke against corruption, saying that the person giving bribe was as guilty as the person taking it. On the recent riots in several Muslim countries over an anti-Islam film made by an individual in the US, he said that he favoured freedom of expression but there were limitations to it, particularly when it hurt the feelings of others. On the escalating China-Japan tensions and the US role in the conflict, he said: "…You have to be willing to compromise and strike a balance." He cited Malaysia's examples in reaching deals with its neighbours by taking a 'reasonable stand' when conflicts or issues arose. Mahathir and his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali were welcomed at the mission by Malaysian ambassador in Washington, Othman Hashim. Muhammad Afiq Hassan, a student at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, read out a welcome address on behalf of the students.
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| Posted: 29 Sep 2012 11:28 AM PDT
Where Singapore would set out to make the most of all its people on its path to prosperity, Sri Lanka chose petty ethnic chauvinism. This powerful book is a haunting reminder of the price countries in the developing world pay for the flawed choices of their founders. Few places conjure up such contrasting images as Sri Lanka, the island nation of 21 million people off the southern tip of India. For the tourist in search of an exotic getaway—off the well-worn path of Bali or Phuket—Sri Lanka brings to mind pristine beaches, elephant safaris and therapeutic ayurvedic spas. But for much of the international community, the country stands for perhaps Asia's single most egregious human-rights violation in this century. The United Nations estimates that between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians were killed in the closing stages of a 26-year civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that ended with the terrorist group's annihilation in 2009. In "The Cage," Gordon Weiss, an Australian journalist and former United Nations official in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, sets out to chronicle the conflict, with a particular focus on its gruesome dying stages. Tens of thousands of civilians found themselves crushed between one of the world's most brutal terrorist outfits—best known for perfecting suicide bombings in the 1990s—and an army willing to flout the laws of war by shelling hospitals, executing prisoners and blocking medical supplies. Mr. Weiss lays most of the blame for the carnage at the door of the Sri Lankan government, which tends to dismiss virtually all criticism as propaganda by the country's enemies. He takes exception to Colombo's "insistence on cloaking its victory in a Potemkin-like pretense at bloodlessness." Instead he wants Sri Lanka to look its violent past "full in the face" in order to achieve a lasting peace. Mr. Weiss deplores the crude ethnic chauvinism of the ruling Sinhalese Buddhist majority government over the vanquished, and largely Hindu, Tamil minority, who constitute about a fifth of the country's population. Most observers date the formal start of the Sri Lankan civil war to 1983, when, in response to a Tiger ambush that killed 13 government troops, Sinhalese mobs lynched between 1,000 and 3,000 Tamil civilians in Colombo. "Black July" spurred a large-scale emigration of frightened Tamils to the West, where the diaspora now numbers about a million people. Another 60 million ethnic Tamils live across the narrow Palk Strait in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But the roots of Sri Lanka's troubles go back to the country's independence. In 1948, Sri Lanka arguably had better prospects than the British Empire's only other multiethnic colony with a large Tamil minority: Singapore. Sri Lanka was blessed with an educated population, a history of limited self-government and a strategic location. Of the two countries, however, it is Singapore that has thrived while Sri Lanka has yet to live up to its founding promise. Instead of embracing an inclusive view of citizenship—like Singapore or neighboring India—Sri Lanka marginalized its Tamil minority. Many Sinhalese chose to view their country primarily as the lone remaining outpost of South Asian Buddhism, once the region's dominant faith but long since extinguished by a combination of Hindu resurgence and Islamic conquest. Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB30000872396390443921504577643610405522508.html
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