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| Posted: 14 Apr 2013 10:42 PM PDT
There is also an attempt to make PSM look unreasonable on its request to use its own logo in this coming GE. Let us put this now in perspective. S.Arutchelvan, Secretary General PSM In the last 24 hours, there has been lots of queries and phone calls on the seat negotiation between PSM and PR. We would like to state that the PSM would be holding a an Emergency National Committee meeting to decide on a number of issues outlined below. Besides that, there is also an attempt to make PSM look unreasonable on its request to use its own logo in this coming GE. Let us put this now in perspective. 1. PSM wanted to stand in the same seats it contested in 2008 as to maintain the status quo. The three seats stood by PSM in 2008 under PKR – Sg. Siput, Kota Damansara and Semenyih has never been contested by any PKR members before this. Therefore to claim that these are PKR seats and PSM is three cornering is totally wrong. 2. PSM has always stated that if there was a common PR logo, PSM would be willing to use it. This shows that PSM was never fussy on using only its logo but felt that it has the same democratic rights like other parties in PR to use their respective logos. 3. When we meet Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim on the 13th of April, several issues were discussed on a friendly manner. I put some critical points of dispute. i. PKR wanted PSM to stand in both the Selangor seat using the PKR logo. PSM conceded to use PKR logo in Semenyih but said that PSM members will find it very difficult to ask the top leader of PSM Dr. Nasir Hashim not to use the PSM party logo. PSM members have fought for 11 years with the BN government for this logo and they felt that the PR should allow at least the PSM national Chairperson to stand on his party flag. ii. We were also shocked to learn that previously Dr. Jeyakumar was informed that he can stand under the PSM logo in Sungai Siput but during the discussion with DSAI, we were told that if he stands under PSM logo, then DAP will field a candidate against him. iii. We were also told that even if PSM stand all three seats under PR logo, DAP will not allow PSM to stand in Jelapang. We requested that an NGO committee decide on the Jelapang seat and we will adhere to that. iv. We were also told that if we win the seat as PKR logo, we can immediately use PSM logo upon winning here after. But again here, the same principles were not applied when PSM won 2 seats in 2008 and now we are given the same deal. v. The meeting ended by us agreeing to talk to PSM members and DSAI saying that he will try to talk to other PR leaders on how to resolve this issue. Meanwhile DSAI mentioned that they may need to hold back the Selangor seat announcement until this issue is solved. vi. The meeting ended with both parties trying to find a solution and to avoid any three corner fight which will be damaging to both parties. 4. On 14th night, we were shocked to learn that DSAI has already announced the Semenyih candidate. This decision was made in spite of PSM agreeing to stand under PKR logo in Semenyih. The Kota Damansara seat was not announced pending negotiation with PSM. We also hear that PKR has also prepared a parachute candidate to stand in Sungai Siput. 5. PSM has now called for an emergency National Committee Meeting to discuss the following: i. To review our position to stand in the 4 seats using our own logo. ii. To discuss the current development where PR is three cornering PSM in all its seats and our relationship with PR. iii. To discuss and decide on the request made by non PSM members, mostly members from DAP and PKR who wants to stand using PSM logo in some areas. To date there has been 10 requests - 2 from Sabah, 1 from Perak, 3 from Negeri Sembilan and 4 from Selangor. iv. To discuss the request made by Environmental groups and PSM Cameron to field our candidate in Cameron Highlands.
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| Pitiful clowns assure Security for Sabah Posted: 14 Apr 2013 10:40 PM PDT
BN wants the people of Sabah to vote for it for better security. That was the same old excuse in 1963! Joe Fernandez This must be the joke of the century considering the fact that they looked the other way for 50 years while the illegals flooded in and swamped the electoral rolls, marginalised and disenfranchised the Orang Asal, among others, increased the crime rate, filled the jails and caused other social problems. The 200 Suluks involved in the Lahad Datu intrusion are the last group, not the first, to enter Sabah. About 800,000 of them are already here. Najib bought two small submarines and parked it at Sepanggar because he knew Sabahans would just keep quiet. The Government wants to sell them but there are no buyers. Submarines are useless in shallow waters. The Chinese are claiming the South China Sea up to 80 km off the Sabah coast. That's well within our 250 km Exclusive Economic Zone. Their ships are off our coast. What does Putrajaya do? Nothing! What can it do? Nothing! Yet BN is urging Sabahans to vote for it. They claim that only the BN can provide security for Sabah. The BN are degenerating into a bunch of pitiful clowns. They can't get away from the same old stale acts. They should think of some new ways of singing for their supper.
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| Posted: 14 Apr 2013 02:16 PM PDT
It is an irrefutable fact that the BN has the experience and the expertise in dealing with ethnic challenges. Chandra Muzaffar It is a truism that the survival and success of our nation depends upon our ability to sustain and enhance our inter-ethnic harmony. This is why the question of how the Barisan Nasional (BN) or the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will manage ethnic relations in the country in the coming years is of critical importance to the voter in the 5 May General Election. For a society whose multi-religious and multi-cultural texture is one of the most complex in the world, Malaysia has done remarkably well in preserving a degree of inter-ethnic harmony which is the envy of the rest of the human family. An objective criterion testifies to this. Over 55 years there has been a minimum of communal violence. There has been only one major riot with communal overtones that resulted in the loss of lives. That the riot of 13 May 1969 was contained within a specific city, that law and order was restored within weeks and democratic rule reinstated in 21 months, is incontrovertible proof of the Government's ability to deal with an ethnic challenge. The BN government and its predecessor, the Alliance, have proven their credentials in a number of other less significant fracases. The 1967 disturbance in Penang; the 1978 Kerling incident; and the 2001 Kampong Medan episode would be some examples. The BN has also defused ethnic tensions arising from certain issues such as the 1978 Merdeka University controversy, and the 2010 sporadic attacks on churches, mosques and a gurdawara in the wake of a Court decision on the use of the term 'Allah'. Culprits responsible for the one cow head and five pig head incidents in recent years have also been punished by the law. It is an irrefutable fact that the BN has the experience and the expertise in dealing with ethnic challenges. The PR has yet to be tested largely because when ethnic issues impinge upon security, they come within the purview of the Federal Government. Its management of four state governments has not equipped the PR with the skills and knowledge to negotiate the complex multi-ethnic terrain that is Malaysia. PR supporters sometimes point to the inter-ethnic harmony in Kelantan as proof of its ability to maintain good relations among the different communities. Inter-harmony in Kelantan has very little to do with the Pas led government per se. Even when the BN was in power in Kota Baru from 1978 to 1990, relations between the majority Malay community and the Chinese and Siamese minorities were amicable. Kelantan has a long and distinguished record of inter-ethnic conviviality which goes beyond parties and politics. The small size of the minorities--- 5% of the population --- and their readiness to integrate into the larger Malay cultural ethos, the accommodative attitude of the majority, and an indigenous structure of governance which was not totally subverted by colonial rule, have all contributed to this. In fact, current trends seem to suggest that conviviality among the communities in Kelantan may be under some strain as a result of the politics represented by PAS and its partner, the DAP. Some of the restrictions and controls imposed in the name of PAS's notion of 'Islamic morality' are beginning to create a certain degree of uneasiness among younger non-Muslim Kelantanese. Similarly, the rise of Chinese ethnocentrism at the national level, fuelled to a large extent by the DAP, is seeping into the consciousness of a segment of Chinese youths in Kelantan, and separating them from the Malay majority. This is the real danger of enthroning PAS and DAP in Putrajaya. If they rule Malaysia, their respective ideological orientations will widen even further the chasm that divides Malaysian communities. PAS's superficial approach to Muslim identity reflected in its negative outlook on the rights and roles of women; the interaction between the sexes; and what constitutes wholesome entertainment, coupled with its obsession with prohibitions and punishments, will not only drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims but also polarise Muslims themselves. The DAP, on the other hand, which is already alienated from the Malay majority because of some of its chauvinistic stances will trigger a backlash from the latter if it pursues policies on the economy or education motivated by its lopsided view of equality. It is not just their individual policies that are inimical to national unity. The DAP is vehemently opposed to PAS's Islamic state which remains the Islamic party's real goal even as it continues to flip-flop over its 'negara kebajikan'. The DAP's mission of a 'Malaysian Malaysia' which in reality demonstrates very little empathy for the defining attributes of the land and its identity --- Bahasa Melayu; Islam and the Malay Rulers --- is a quest which Pas rejects totally though it has not been vocal about it since 2008. This huge gap that separates the two parties in the Pakatan defies resolution. The third partner in the PR, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), has made no attempt to reconcile this ideological split between the two parties. This is why the PR is, for all intents and purposes, an inchoate, disparate inter-party grouping which is utterly incapable of bringing the various Malaysian communities together. Malaysians should ask themselves if it is wise to hand the reins of power to such a grouping especially at a time when religion is emerging as the fundamental fault-line in our society. This is a pertinent question to raise for while PAS remains wedded to a narrow identity based dogma, the DAP is increasingly becoming the conduit for strident Christian voices that are less than sensitive to the prevailing Muslim majority landscape. How can any sane, sensible person expect these two parties to help forge unity in the years ahead?
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yayasan 1Malaysia.
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