Jumaat, 26 April 2013

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Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News


Najib’s Little Red Riding Hood

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:31 PM PDT

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/images/uploads/2012/july2012/17/m_najib1.jpg 

Too bad, this 'girl' will pay her karma of not listening to mother's advice: "never to stop at the woods, never talk to strangers".  No amount of fasting to gain sympathy will resolve issues. 

Always Victory

Mark 18th April in the Hindu calander as a sacrilege worse than a dead cow head, of Najib's presence in the sacred sanctuary of the Vivekananda who stands proudly for uncompromising Truth.   

Najib, a ravenous wolf, had waited his time to take revenge for 2008 on Little Red Riding Hood. It's registered grandmother by the name Maakal Shakti, is already digested and turned to shit, how pathetic. That he can disguise himself to swallow her as well, is beyond Waytha's imagination. We imagine how their dialogue goes: - What big arms you have, grandma?; The better to hug you, Sweety. Ooooh how sexy!


Too bad, this 'girl' will pay her karma of not listening to mother's advice: "never to stop at the woods, never talk to strangers".  No amount of fasting to gain sympathy will resolve issues.


Najib's visit is with no other intention than to be a spoiler of spoilers amid Hindus. Perhaps UMNO Muslims may laud him for such skills. The dishonorable PM knows the game only too well. It is the nature of war, let us not condemn anyone, not even Waytha, Najib or Anwar.


It is good that Waytha leeches on to Najib and sucks his blood, or was it Samy who gave the blood? Poor guy, he really needs it. But why should Najib have parasites clinging to him? It's a flash in the pan; after GE it is all over. Where is Waytha to hide with the money, in Tamilnadu? Better he dash his pride, ego and rebellion upon the rocks now than to face the same trauma in the next life.


Another unresolved question is, do UMNO Muslims condone such filth of unprincipled bribery, second only in magnitude to the Perak fiasco? Answer me! By cosmic law, Silence is Consent. Not only is a criminal condemned, but the one who is silent about it is equally condemned. All supporters of BN are likewise guilty for the corrupt deeds of their leaders.


"Satan rules the world" so it is said. "Get thee behind me, Najib" would be the appropriate approbation to his overtures. This is the only safe method by which Indians can make a turnaround and not be condemned for the follies of just one woman, Waytha.


Do Muslims realize they have a specific duty when Satan stands in their midst? Is Satan only in some place in Mecca where they go to throw stones when old and feeble. The wolf leader of UMNO can be very seductive and wear a permanent smiling mask that we dread if it still remains after elections.  


It is crucial, not purely for the sake of elections, that Indians are equally empowered, not by BN way of concessions, but first and foremost to restore honor and dignity. Not being given a voice, it is natural to express their frustration. To ignore their needs in the same manner that was dished out to them in Sri Lanka is suicidal. A chain in the Opposition is as strong as its weakest link.


Since Hindraf has now come clean with the exorcism of the Waytha's ghost, whom no decent Indian would want to associate with, the path is cleared. Let bygones be. To forgive and give due recognition as an expression of gratitude is all they are asking for. Our fates are intertwined.


Uthaya must understand it is not a two party fight, but towards a full Independence. In a holocaust of spiritual warfare between Light and Darkness, no one is spared. Unlike a street fight, where there is full scale robbery and theft in broad daylight. Unwillingness to help, whichever way disguised, is conceit. Only a fool will decide not to vote. No wet sponge can douse the fury of battle.


A supreme effort to break the yoke of Tyranny, Despotism and Feudalism inherited from Mahatir is required of every citizen. We cannot afford Indians to be leaderless, like slaughtered chicken with no heads. Indians en block if they are uncomfortable with Lim Guan Eng's leadership must be allowed their own party after elections. They would like to see their own skins on the panel. Neither BN nor Pakatan should rule over them when self-rule is the maxim of Democracy.


Mad as they may be, Indians are ready. Step aside, Malaysians for the raging bull charging a China shop can surely bring about destruction of old structures not worth the prop.


Mark again on your calendar, with steely hands, you ancient children of Murugan, this date 5th May 13, as a day of victory (or a day of shame if you so choose) reserved for you. How can you deny yourself this glorious heritage and the opportunity to raise your head high.


May you pass every test,

 

 

What is the real threat to Hinduism?

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:22 PM PDT

http://dinmerican.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/anwar-with-hadi-and-kit-siang.jpg?w=545 

The real threat to Hinduism, and indeed to Christianity, Buddhism etc. is the FACT that PAS is adamant about implementing Hudud. They have said that the DAP disagrees but will NOT oppose it. God only knows what that means. 

 

P.M. Sivalingam 

 

Much noise has been made by the Opposition about BN's choice for Shah Alam, Zulkifli Noordin. When he was a PAS member, he undeniably made some ignorant and disrespectful remarks about Hindus. After becoming a BN friendly candidate, he has finally (and long overdue!) apologized for it, twice.

 

He never apologized when he was a PAS member all those years ago.

 

He never apologized when he stood on a PKR ticket for the 2008 elections and won in a seat with more 20% of the voters are Hindus!

 

He never apologized when he was Anwar Ibrahim's personal family lawyer.

 

Furthermore, the leaders of PAS and PKR never told him what he did was wrong. For 10 years, Anwar and Hadi never bothered about Zul's remarks. Their cries of anger against Zulkifli now are clearly motivated purely by political considerations. Even a child can tell that they are only using this politics and don't really care about what he did.

 

On the other hand, MIC leaders immediately criticized him for saying what he did and, have since accepted his apologies. BN has made a clear stand that any racist statements from any BN representative that is disrespectful to the culture and beliefs of any group will be dealt with severely by a joint disciplinary group.

 

So what is the real threat to Hinduism behind this smokescreen of anger about 10-year old remarks by a former PAS member?

 

The real threat to Hinduism, and indeed to Christianity, Buddhism etc. is the FACT that PAS is adamant about implementing Hudud. They have said that the DAP disagrees but will NOT oppose it. God only knows what that means. The latest Anwar has said on this is; "for now, in general, in principle, I believe this (Hudud) can be implemented". Again, good luck interpreting what Anwar means. Meanwhile, Karpal Singh remains the only consistent figure on this, saying that DAP will never allow Hudud. But Karpal does not control the Lim dynasty-run DAP. The father-son Lims are keeping silent hoping to avoid answering difficult questions about their commitment to non-Muslim Malaysians and indeed to Muslim Malaysians to keep Hudud out of Malaysia.

 

This lack of agreement amongst Pakatan's top leaders have led to confusion on the ground in terms of their execution. From bans on women hairdressers for men to the demolition of 7 Hindu temples and shrines by PR State Government's, the consequence of the lack of agreement on Hudud and the rights of non-Muslims is tangible and clear to see.

 

So to recap, again I ask; which is the real threat to Hinduism;

 

1) The stupid ignorant remarks a BN candidate said 10 years ago while he was a PAS member about Hindus,

 

OR

 

2) The implementation of Hudud which will affect every aspect of a Hindu's right to worship as he or she sees fit and threaten the very existence of Hindu temples all across the country?

 

Zulkifli, for all his obvious faults has apologized. All of us were taught by our parents and our priests et al. and our teachers to forgive when someone apologises for their mistake, to give the person a second chance if he or she comes clean about what they have done wrong.

 

Anwar, Hadi and Kit Siang have not come clean about their real intentions on forcing Hudud on the Malaysian people. Apologies don't come easy to this trio who still have not apologized for the 7 Hindu temples and shrines demolished by 3 Pakatan Rakyat state Governments since 2008.

 

So finally; what is the real threat to Hinduism in this General Election and going forward?

 

BR1M brings misery

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:15 PM PDT

http://i1.wp.com/aliran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/brim.jpg?resize=565%2C389 

The joy of receiving RM500 has been fleeting. Now, the coffee shops, market traders, hawkers and food courts have all increased their prices, and the pain will not go away, observes P Ramakrishnan.

The Barisan Nasional is feeding opium to the people through BR1M. The people then become deluded into believing that a lot of money is being given out. Indeed they feel elated and happy clutching the RM500 that is dished out to them.

At that moment – after waiting in long queues and sweating in an uncomfortable environment – when they finally receive the RM500, they feel that they are suddenly rich. For the poor people this has a big impact.

But what is the consequence of this hand-out? Unfortunately, this is what the people don't seem to realise. Their momentary joy has clouded the long term effect that is felt by every Malaysian.

Have you noticed that things have suddenly shot up in price?! The coffee shops have increased their prices – all the prices of drinks have gone up. The cost of food at hawker stalls and food courts have gone up. Every food item costs more now. The goods in the market – vegetables, fish, meat, fruit etc – and every item in the grocery shops have all suddenly gone up in price.

Read more at: http://aliran.com/13276.html 

New Malay dilemma: Stay with Umno or not?

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:11 PM PDT

http://www.stasiareport.com/sites/straitstimes.com/files/imagecache/story-gallery-featured/ST_20130427_RADILEMMA27_3633059e.jpg 

(ST) - But now that BN seems weakened, the Malays are getting cold feet

IN the 1999 general election, many Malays were upset with Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) over the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

But Chinese voters backed BN, arguing against changing a stable government that had grown the economy, never mind the perceived corruption in parts of the government.

Thirteen years later, the roles are reversed.

The issue of corruption is finding more resonance now with Chinese voters, many of whom are swinging towards Datuk Seri Anwar. That has given the opposition its best chance to topple the long-serving BN.

But now that BN seems weakened, the Malays are getting cold feet, some analysts say.

Indeed, many who had misgivings about BN earlier now seem to be rooting for it, according to several private pollsters and surveys by government agencies.

There are sound reasons for this.

Under BN, the Malay community's wealth and educational levels have risen sharply over the decades. Some Malays are also concerned that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance, if it won power, would dilute Malay and Muslim rights.

"There is a long, deep-seated relationship between the Malay community and Umno," says Malaysian writer Karim Raslan.

Malays form 63 per cent of the country's population of 28.3 million.

In a poll by the Merdeka Centre conducted in January and February, 72 per cent of Malays said the country was headed in the right direction, versus just 20 per cent of Chinese who felt that way. Asked if they were happy with the government, 63 per cent of Malays polled said they were, compared with 20 per cent of Chinese.

Umno leaders have long been a steady presence in towns and villages, attending to community needs and winning the loyalty of Malay voters.

But this could be changing, Mr Raslan said, with younger Malays not as anchored to Umno.

Indeed, you might call this the New Malay Dilemma.

Read more at: http://www.stasiareport.com/the-big-story/asia-report/malaysia-elections/features/story/new-malay-dilemma-stay-umno-or-not-20130 

Immediate response to grievances

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:09 PM PDT

http://cdn.theborneopost.com/newsimages/2013/04/kch-bp260413-jv-tengah.jpg 

(Borneo Post) - He reiterated that the true defenders of NCR land was Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who fought against the abolishment of NCR land status in 1965.

Issues on compensation for acquired land and issuance of NCR titles affecting villagers at Kampung Rayang in Serian will be solved soon.

 

This assurance was given by Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan when told of the plight of the villagers by Kampung Rayang community leader Jim Bujang during a leaders-meet-the-people session at the village on Thursday.

 

The grouses concerned delay by the government in compensating 17 villagers whose land were acquired for the building of access roads into Kampung Rayang, located in Mambong parliamentary constituency.

 

Another complaint brought up by Jim was that Native Customary Rights land titles had not been issued to seven villagers.

 

"I was actually blown away by the courageous yet honest speech (by Jim).

 

"My ministry will look into the issue and the Land and Survey Department will be roped in to conduct perimeter survey on the affected land immediately," Awang Tengah promised.

 

He stressed to those present that the state government would never acquire the people's land without paying compensation.

 

He said the Land and Survey department had conducted perimeter survey on more than 380,000 hectares of NCR land in the state since 2010.

 

On a related matter, Awang Tengah said it was important for the Bumiputera community to defend their special right to NCR land.

 

"If Pakatan Rakyat becomes the government, their policy would be to introduce the `Malaysian Malaysia' concept, which abolishes the right to NCR ownership.

 

"Right now they (opposition) are merely fanning NCR issues for political mileage."

 

He reiterated that the true defenders of NCR land was Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who fought against the abolishment of NCR land status in 1965.

 

On Mambong constituency, he said the government pumped in RM751.7 million for development there.

 

"Under the Rural Electricity Supply programme, an allocation of RM85.6 million was allocated, while for Rural Water Supply the allocation was RM500 million."

 

For roads, he added, an allocation of RM120 million was given.

 

"Some of these projects have been completed and others still on-going."

 

BN candidate for Mambong Datuk Seri Dr James Dawos Mamit, who was also present, advised the Bidayuhs in the area to tap the tourism industry.

 

"The tourism industry is the second biggest industry in Malaysia. It generated RM60 billion for the nation's coffers last year," said Dawos, who is also Deputy Minister of Tourism.

 

He suggested that the villagers pursue home-stay initiatives or become tour guides to earn more income.

"We have many eco-tourism products in Mambong, and they should not go to waste."

 

He said another attractive feature of Mambong for tourists was that it is only an hour's drive from here. #myvotes13 #ge13


 

Online petition grows against agency behind BN ads

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:03 PM PDT

http://www.kinibiz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/mca-newspaper-ad-3.0.jpg?407204 

(KiniBiz) - Rapp, a communications company owned by Foetus International, has come under fire for creating a series of incisive political advertisements for Barisan Nasional (BN). The ads have irked netizens to start a petition after it ran extensively in mainstream newspaper, The Star, and other newspapers from last Sunday and was shared on Facebook.

mca-newspaper-ad-1.0Quoting unidentified sources, trade magazine Campaign Asia-Pacific reported that Kuala Lumpur-based Rapp was said to be the agency which created the ads which insinuate that a vote for Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the 13th Malaysian General Elections would be the same as endorsing the Pan-Islamic Malaysian Party (PAS). This drew much flak from the Malaysian online community with 648 so far signing an online petition calling for advertisers to stop using racial and religious tactics against Malaysians.

The petition also urged Naga DDB, the parent of Rapp to stop the ad campaign. David Mitchell, Naga DDB's Chief operating officer (COO) however told KiniBiz that Rapp was a separate company from Naga DDB, related only by their common parent Foetus International.

Lim Wai Yee, Rapp's COO did not respond to queries at publication time.

mca-newspaper-ad-2.0

Rapp KL is owned by Foetus International, a leading communications company headed by Vincent Lee. Lee is also the executive deputy chairman of Star Publications (M) Bhd.

Read more at: http://www.kinibiz.com/story/corporate/17427/online-petition-grows-against-agency-behind-bn-ads.html 

 

 

GE13: Chua blames violence on politics of hatred by opposition

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:02 PM PDT

http://starstorage.blob.core.windows.net/archives/2013/4/27/nation/ge13-election-Chua-blames-violence-n06.jpg 

(The Star) - MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the incidents of arson, explosions and political violence nationwide were due to the politics of hatred by the opposition against the Barisan Nasional.

He feared if the opposition parties do not control and reel in their supporters, Barisan supporters may become angry and retaliate and this could result in chaos.

"If they (the opposition) continue to practise political hatred, they would not be able to control their members.

"Our (Barisan) members, seeing all this, may become emotional and not be able to control themselves. That could lead to chaos," he warned.

Dr Chua was speaking to reporters ahead of lunch with over 20 non-governmental organisations at the Seng Kee restaurant in Jementah, near here, yesterday.

He said, however, that despite the attacks at Barisan operations centres, he had not given any instructions to increase security at the MCA centres nationwide.

Dr Chua said the politics practised by the Barisan continues to be relevant, adding that in the past three days several PAS leaders had issued statements that the party will implement hudud should the opposition front come into power.

"For Johor, this must not happen. Or else, it will destroy the economy and racial harmony that had long been seen among the different races here."

Dr Chua said Johor has seen the most development among all states, with more than 250,000 jobs created over the past five years.

The figure, he added, was higher than in Penang and Selangor.

He said the opposition was full of lies and their biggest lie was telling the country (in 2008) that 30 Barisan MPs were jumping ship and joining the Pakatan coalition to form a new Federal Government.

On PKR, led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, he said 34 founding members of the party had since left because they were fed up with the lies of its leaders. 

GE13: More incidents of violence reported

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 12:00 PM PDT

http://elections.thestar.com.my/archives/2013/4/27/nation/ge13-lembah-pantai-police-patrol-n4.jpg 

(The Star) - Incidents of violence are increasing in tandem with the rising political temperature, with an assault with a steel rod, torching of a party base and threatening of party workers with a parang among the latest cases.

Three suspects arrested in connection with an explosion near the Barisan Nasional ceramah in Nibong Tebal, Penang on Tuesday, have been remanded for four days.

The Inspector-General of Police Secretariat's assistant head Asst Comm Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said 1,166 cases of polls-related violence and intimidation had been reported since nomination day on April 20, with 43 people arrested so far.

He said police were also investigating a death threat allegedly received by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng on Monday.

"He lodged a report on Thursday and we are taking this very seriously," he said, adding that police were also probing an SMS sent to the Hulu Selangor OCPD claiming that a candidate was being blackmailed by party workers for RM30,000.

He said a total of 20 reports of violence and threats were made in six states on Thursday.

"In Rembau, Negri Sembilan, a party worker was beaten with a steel rod, suffering injuries on his head, neck and body," he said.

In Perak, three men threw molotov cocktails at the Barisan Nasional command base at Taman Rishah Indah, Jelapang, at about 5.30am, causing a fire.

"They drove off in a car but the driver lost control of the car and crashed it on a curb near Taman Emas, Farlim.

"The men then fled on foot," he said, adding that police found several molotov cocktails and parang in the car.

In Grik, Perak, a party worker was attacked by a group of men who tore down banners and burned one of them before kicking a table, which hit a worker.

ACP Ramli said in Tenang, Johor, a man was arrested for using a parang and threatening party workers from putting up flags near a restaurant.

In Klang, Selangor, a car belonging to a candidate's daughter was torched.

Two days earlier, a 37-year-old man in Bandar Putra Klang threatened to kill his friend over differences in political views.

In Sabah, a man was assaulted by several people for asking a question related to politics.

ACP Ramli said in Besut, Terengganu, a group of party workers were stopped from entering a village by two men and threatened with a golok (a short parang).

Among the victims in Kedah was an 11-year-old boy in Felda Teloi Timur, in Sik, who was kicked in the groin for supporting Barisan Nasional on Monday.

Kedah Barisan chairman Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah said the assault on Mohamad Ismadinel Ar Samsudin was "shameful and uncivilised".

In Kuching, a scuffle nearly broke out between DAP members and workers of a contractor over a party billboard near the OneTJ commercial centre located in the Stampin constituency.

The billboard, one of the three erected yesterday afternoon, was the last one standing after two others were said to have been dismantled by the Kuching City South Council. 

Malaysian leader hits out at Australia's lack of support

Posted: 26 Apr 2013 01:57 AM PDT

Mark Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald

The man who could be Malaysia's next prime minister has attacked Julia Gillard and other Labor leaders for failing to support the country's democracy movement.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim says he has been shocked by the refusal of Ms Gillard, former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Bob Carr to meet him during their official visits to Malaysia in recent years.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax, Mr Anwar said the Labor government seemed to be more interested in courting trade and asylum-seeker deals than in defending democratic principles.

''You come from a tradition that gives respect and recognition to the opposition, so why can't I meet the Prime Minister of Australia?'' he said. ''I go to India, I meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In Indonesia, I meet the President. What is so different about Australia?''

Mr Anwar's three-party coalition poses a serious threat to the 56-year dominance of Malaysian politics by the United Malays National Organisation in next weekend's national elections.

If he wins power, Mr Anwar has promised to end the endemic corruption within Malaysia's ruling elite, lift all restrictions on the government-controlled media and restore the independence of the judiciary and bureaucracy.

He was Malaysia's deputy leader and finance minister before being abruptly sacked by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and then jailed for six years on discredited sex and corruption charges.

Mr Anwar said that if countries such as Australia believed in democratic values they had to be prepared to support those same values in countries where they were abused.

He said Mr Rudd had refused to meet him when he visited Malaysia as prime minister in 2008, Ms Gillard had avoided meeting him when she came to Malaysia in late 2010 on her first overseas trip as Prime Minister and Senator Carr had not met him when he was in Kuala Lumpur last November.

During his 2008 visit to Malaysia, Mr Rudd is reported to have said: ''Democracy is not just alive and well in Malaysia, it is flourishing.''

Mr Anwar said he later contacted Mr Rudd and challenged him on the remarks: ''I said, Kevin, you're not serious … you can say you are happy to have good bilateral relations but you can't go further.''

He criticised Senator Carr for not meeting him on his visit to Malaysia in November: ''Even when Bob Carr was here he didn't see me. Then he quietly called me on the phone later.''

Mr Anwar said he had good personal relationships with a number of Australian politicians but they needed to stand up for what they claimed to believe in.

 

Dr. Asri kini sudah jadi anjing UMNO

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 09:31 PM PDT

(Free Malaysiakini) - SELEPAS Dr. Juanda Jaya, seorang lagi pengikut Wahabbi yang terang-terangan menjadi perkakas politik UMNO ialah Datuk Dr. Asri Zainul Abidin (MAZA).  Kelibat Asri sekarang boleh dilihat disetiap ceramah-ceramah UMNO yang diadakan hampir setiap malam di beberapa kawasan.

Terutama di sekitar Selangor dan Putrajaya.

Asri yang dulunya begitu pandai berlakon seolah-olah menjadi penyokong Pakatan Rakyat, termasuk pada satu ketika pernah mengecam secara terbuka isteri Perdana Menteri Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor dalam isu barang kemas, kini seolah-olah bertukar badan dengan orang lain, orang UMNO.

Entah kemana hilang semangat reformasi yang begitu kuat dalam dirinya dulu, entahlah, kita sendiri pun tidak pasti.  Yang nyata, Asri kini bukan Asri yang dulu, dia sudah jadi totok UMNO.

Perubahan ketara pada Asri sekarang ini menyokong pendapat kami bahawa golongan ulama Islam di negara ini adalah jenis yang pandai berpura-pura dan mereka-reka cerita.  Sekejap boleh jadi penyokong reformasi yang tegar, sekejap itu juga mereka boleh berubah menjadi penyokong transformasi yang tidak kurang hebatnya.

Ironinya, kedua-dua mereka (Juanda dan Maza) sedang/pernah menjadi Mufti negeri Perlis dan pernah juga dikaitkan sebagai calon Pakatan Rakyat bagi Parlimen Arau dan DUN Penanti (Pulau Pinang).  Tapi atas sebab tertentu, nama kedua mereka digugurkan di saat akhir dan tidak hairanlah kenapa mereka kini berpaling pada UMNO sebagai tempat bergantung yang baru.

Memang banyak yang tidak kena dengan ulama dari Perlis sekarang ini.  Baru-baru ini juga, seorang ulama dari Perlis, Dr. Haron Din tiba-tiba membuat kejutan bodoh apabila mengumumkan Pakatan Rakyat akan melaksanakan hudud jika berjaya menguasai kerajaan persekutuan.

Dengan itu laman ini meminta agar semua penyokong Pakatan Rakyat lebih berhati-hati bila salah seorang dari 2 orang ini berceramah ditempat masing-masing.  Takut ada yang  tersilap ingat mereka datang untuk bercakap tentang Islam!!  Sekarang ini mereka sudah jadi anjing politik UMNO, agama sudah jadi perkara nombor 2 bagi mereka.

Politik dan wang itulah yang lebih utama.  Kalau boleh tambah satu lagi, sakit hati sebab tidak dapat jadi calon.

 

Hindraf chief denies being sacked

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 09:25 PM PDT

Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy denies an SMS being circulated that he has been sacked by the Indian rights group's supreme council. 

(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy denies an SMS being circulated that he has been sacked by the Indian rights group's supreme council.

The SMS also claims that Mr Waythamoorthy's brother P. Uthayakumar was now Hindraf's de facto leader and would continue to champion an "anti-Barisan Hindraf crusade".

When contacted, Mr Waythamoorthy said there was no truth in the SMS, adding that a Hindraf Supreme Council did not exist and that Mr Uthayakumar had no say on the matter as he was no longer a Hindraf member.

"He left Hindraf to form his own human rights group. He's always been a one-man show. He disagrees with us, so he got a few people and now he is saying that I've been sacked and he's the de facto leader," Mr Waythamoorthy said.

He said that Mr Uthayakumar was opposed to Hindraf's endorsement of Barisan Nasional for GE13, following a memorandum of understanding signed last week.

Barisan had also endorsed Hindraf's blueprint for improved conditions for Malaysian Indians.

On March 8, the Registrar of Societies approved the registration of Hindraf as Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia, a non-governmental organisation, with the pro-tem committee headed by Mr Waythamoorthy.

He said the deputy chairman was W. Sumbalingan and adviser was N Ganesan.

"Uthayakumar's name does not appear in the registered organisation," he said.

He reiterated that the organisation would support Barisan in the upcoming elections but acknowledged that the tussle with his brother could lead to confusion among Hindarf supporters.

 

Coalitions running neck and neck, survey shows

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 09:18 PM PDT

"It's very close, not more than 5 per cent. No party can say it will win," said the centre's director Mohammad Redzuan Othman, declining to say who was ahead or provide precise numbers.

Carolyn Hong, ST

THE ruling Barisan Nasional and opposition Pakatan Rakyat are running neck and neck in the lead up to Malaysia's May 5 polls, a survey by Malaysia's oldest university showed, as both sides raised their campaign tempo with nine days to go to the election.

The survey by University of Malaya's Centre for Democracy and Elections found both coalitions to have over 40 per cent support, with a slight margin.

"It's very close, not more than 5 per cent. No party can say it will win," said the centre's director Mohammad Redzuan Othman, declining to say who was ahead or provide precise numbers.

"There is a long way to go."

Besides, he added, things change too fast in an election to state with any certainty.

The survey, which polled 1,047 voters in Peninsular Malaysia from April 3 to last Saturday, found that 9 per cent said they were still undecided. They were mostly Malay civil servants and teachers who are first-time voters.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Razak and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim criss-crossed Malaysia as the campaign intensified. Mr Najib was in his home constituency of Pekan in Pahang for the second day while Mr Anwar headed to Bentong in the same state to campaign for environmentalist Wong Tack, who is up against Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai.

Since Nomination Day on April 20, there has been a spate of violent incidents.

In George Town, Penang, police picked up three suspects in connection with a minor blast at a BN rally on Tuesday. The men were between 21 and 45 years of age.

In the Tuesday incident, a home-made bomb planted in a pile of garbage behind the main stage at a Gerakan event went off and injured a man.

In Perak yesterday, a molotov cocktail was hurled into a BN operations centre near Buntong.

Although both coalitions were neck and neck in the University of Malaya survey conducted a week ago, Professor Redzuan said things can change very rapidly.

In 2008, he said, it was only in the last three to four days - after a mega-opposition rally took place in Penang, that the PR gained the momentum that propelled it to unprecedented gains.

"Things are still very dynamic. A five percentage point swing can make a lot of difference," Prof Redzuan said.

More than 13 million people are eligible to vote in the May 5 polls.

 

Just die, Anwar tells Dr Mahathir

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 08:09 PM PDT

(Malaysian Digest) - Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday called on former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to "just die" instead of campaigning for Barisan Nasional.

"Sudah mau mati, dah 83 tahun. Berapa la lama lagi? Kalau dah nak mati, mati saja lah (It's almost time for him to die, at 83 years old. How long more? If you are going to die, just die)," he said at a ceramah in Kampung Abdullah here.

(Dr Mahathir is actually 87 years old.)

Anwar (pic) was Dr Mahathir's deputy when the latter was prime minister but was sacked following allegations of abuse of power and sexual misconduct.

Anwar added in a sarcastic tone that he had forgiven Dr Mahathir, as he knew the latter would not survive a prison term and that there were no prisons wanting to accept him as he was too old.

He also called for the premature death of BN, and its component parties, the MCA and MIC.

Earlier, he had accused BN of trying to prevent DAP from using the party's "Rocket" symbol for the election.

"When Pakatan said fine, we will use the moon (PAS's logo) nationwide, BN panicked and pushed to say DAP can use their rocket logo," claimed Anwar.

He also took a swipe at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Present were other opposition coalition candidates, including Johor PKR chief Datuk Chua Jui Meng, who is contesting the Segamat parliamentary seat and PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub who is contesting the Pulai parliamentary and Nusajaya state seats.

Salahuddin had also taken up the "premature death" theme, saying BN was irrelevant and its leaders were "almost dying".

He said the Gelang Patah BN candidate, outgoing Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, was a reluctant candidate and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang would bury him there.

Dr Mahathir, when asked to comment on Anwar's remarks, said he was merely exercising his rights of freedom of speech.

"The opposition leaders have yet to form the government, but they have asked the people to shut up.

"People had used vulgar words against me when I was the prime minister.

"Some of them had even labeled me as firaun (pharaoh), a racist and an ultra-Malay but I never asked the authorities to arrest them.

"So now, why are they trying to deny my right to speak up?"

 

Reveal stand on Islamic state: Karpal to Anwar

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 07:55 PM PDT

Regretting that PAS has raised the issue now, the DAP chairman wants the PKR supremo to state his stand.

Athi Snankar, FTM

DAP chairman Karpal Singh today demanded PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim to publicly declare his party's official stand on PAS' Islamist agenda.

Karpal said he was clueless as to why Anwar and PKR were playing dumb in this issue which had cropped up following statements by various PAS leaders, including president Abdul Hadi Awang.

"I don't know why Anwar and PKR are quiet about the issue. Anwar should publicly declare his and his party's stand on this issue. I think the public expects it.

"You got to ask him. I can only speak on the behalf of DAP," Karpal, who is defending his Bukit Gelugor parliamentary seat, told a press conference here today.

Karpal regretted that PAS had raised the issue of hudud and Islamic state halfway through the election campaign despite the agenda not mentioned in Pakatan Rakyat's common manifesto

He said he was taken aback by Hadi's statement that DAP disagreed but did not oppose hudud and Islamic state.

"It's contradiction in terms. When we disagree, it's true that we oppose it. Otherwise there won't be a disagreement. DAP's stand on hudud is very clear.

"I've time and again said that hudud ought not be and should not be brought into the country," he added.

Karpal insisted that his statements on PAS Islamic state reflected the official stand of DAP.

He said MCA was making an issue of it that the Lim father and son – Kit Siang and Guan Eng – were quiet about the issue and therefore they did not oppose hudud.

"I don't state my personal stand. I speak on behalf of DAP. It becomes the stand of DAP," he added.

Besides Hadi, PAS ulama council chief Harun Taib, deputy spiritual leader Dr Haron Din, Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah have all issued statements stressing that PAS would implement the hudud law and its Islamist policies if Pakatan Rakyat takes over the federal government.

Pointing out that Barisan Nasional's had exploited the issue, he called on PAS leaders to cease bringing up the issue.

He agreed that Pakatan had not reached a consensus on the PAS Islamic agenda.

But he said all Pakatan allies have reached a common understanding on other larger issues that the electorates would consider.

He said PAS leaders should rather highlight larger issues of public interest like the price of petrol, essential commodities, human rights and other economic issues.

READ MORE HERE

 

Malaysian Chinese may drop Najib as fear of riot repeat ebbs

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 07:45 PM PDT

Chinese, who make up about a quarter of Malaysia's population, are growing intolerant of affirmative-action programs for Malays propagated by Najib's alliance of parties, the most recent national poll indicates. Any mass defection by Chinese voters raises the risk of the ruling coalition's first election loss since it was formed after 1969 race riots. 

Daniel Ten Kate, Bloomberg

Malaysian businessman Stanley Thai says he's joining thousands of fellow ethnic Chinese citizens in abandoning support for Prime Minister Najib Razak and voting for the opposition for the first time in elections next month.

"Why are the Chinese against the government -- it's simple," Thai, 53, owner of medical glove-maker Supermax Corp. (SUCB), said in an interview last month. "We don't want our children to suffer what we suffered, deprived from education, from career opportunities, from business opportunities."

Chinese, who make up about a quarter of Malaysia's population, are growing intolerant of affirmative-action programs for Malays propagated by Najib's alliance of parties, the most recent national poll indicates. Any mass defection by Chinese voters raises the risk of the ruling coalition's first election loss since it was formed after 1969 race riots.

The violence of 1969 helped persuade many Chinese to back Barisan Nasional, which Najib has led since 2009, as they accepted racial preferences for Malays as the cost of peace. Thai said thinking changed when the government's electoral take sank in 2008 with little sign of renewed social unrest. "Everyone said, 'Wow, the time has come,'" he said.

Now, the opposition, led by Anwar Ibrahim, sees the end of race-based policies that have hindered companies such as Supermax as key to long-term economic growth. Najib counters that his gradual reform of the affirmative-action programs will assure stability and avert a slide in stocks and the ringgit that would accompany any opposition victory.

Vision Contest

"It's a contest ultimately about visions -- do you believe the country is Malay-centered or a state of all its citizens?" said Clive Kessler, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, who has studied Malaysian politics for half a century. "Najib no longer has adequate non-Malay support," said Kessler, who estimates the ruling coalition must win about two-thirds of Malay votes to stay in power.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index (FTSEMIB), which has lagged other Southeast Asian benchmarks this year, gained 0.3 percent today to close at a record high. The ringgit advanced for a third day, the longest rally in three weeks, on speculation further monetary easing in Japan and Europe will boost demand for emerging-market assets.

Anwar's Group

About half of Malaysia's 29 million people are Malays, while roughly a quarter have Chinese roots and the rest are mostly ethnic Indians or indigenous groups. One in five ethnic Chinese think the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 75 percent of Malays, according to a February survey by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, the most recent available.

In 2008, the ruling 13-party Barisan Nasional coalition won by its slimmest margin since it was formed, with three Chinese parties losing half their parliamentary seats. Anwar's own multi-racial coalition, which includes a Chinese-majority party and a mostly Malay party that advocates Shariah law in criminal matters, has pledged to eliminate race-based policies to fight corruption.

"What we're seeing with the implementation of the policy is enormous rent-seeking and patronage and corruption," said Edmund Terence Gomez, a professor at University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur who edited a book on the affirmative-action program. "The electoral trends clearly indicate that Malaysians are saying they've had enough of race-based politics."

Malay Preferences

In 1969, Malaysia suspended parliament for more than a year after race riots in the wake of a close election killed hundreds of people. Abdul Razak, Najib's father, then initiated the racial preferences in 1971 as the country's second prime minister.

The New Economic Policy sought to raise the share of national wealth to at least 30 percent for Malays and indigenous groups known as Bumiputera, or "sons of the soil," that make up about 60 percent of the population. They got cheaper housing and quotas for college places, government contracts and shares of listed companies.

While Najib has tweaked the policy for publicly traded firms and extended benefits to poorer members of all races, many other elements remain intact. Malaysia favors Bumiputera companies in awarding contracts from the government and state- owned enterprises, the U.S. Trade Representative wrote in a March report.

"We don't play the racial card -- we play a moderate Malaysia, an inclusive Malaysia and we're talking about power sharing," Najib said in an April 17 interview. "That's the kind of storyboard that we are trying to convince the Malaysian Chinese."

College Rejection

Thai, whose father fled China in 1949 during the Communist takeover, is dubious. After growing up on a farm with 13 siblings in Johor, which borders Singapore, he failed to gain entry to a university where Malays received priority and moved to Canada to get a college degree. On his return, he built a business aimed at exporting rubber gloves to avoid restrictions on selling within Malaysia.

Supermax, the nation's third-largest medical glove-maker, now exports 24 billion gloves a year, said Thai, whose holdings in the company are worth about $93 million. For years he and other Chinese entrepreneurs were wary of publicly speaking out about corruption in the 42-year-old affirmative action program due to concerns of reprisals.

Fear Factor

"We have been brainwashed from Day 1," Thai said. "We were born and bred with fear and threats by our own government."

Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled from 1981 to 2003 and was Malaysia's longest-serving leader, alluded to those fears in a blog post this month urging Chinese voters in Johor to back the government. An opposition win would undermine the racial balance the Barisan Nasional aimed to achieve, he wrote.

"An unhealthy racial confrontation would replace Sino- Malay cooperation which has made Malaysia stable and prosperous," Mahathir wrote.

Najib said in last week's interview that his pursuit of gradual change would avoid the upheaval that engulfed the Middle East after longstanding governments collapsed. An opposition win could trigger "catastrophic ruin" that would cause stocks and the currency to plunge, he warned.

'Still Complaining'

Chinese parties in Barisan Nasional are urging voters to stick with the government to promote social justice and warning that the Malay parties in the opposition will seek to impose Islamic laws. Malays and other indigenous groups owned 22 percent of share capital at limited companies in 2008, compared with 35 percent for Chinese, according to the most recent government statistics.

"The Chinese feel that the government has not done enough for them, but the same can be said of the Indians and the Malays," said Wilfred Yap, an official with the Chinese- majority Sarawak United People's Party, which is part of Najib's coalition. "They are still complaining that the Chinese still control a big chunk of the economy," he said, referring to the Malay and Indian populations.

Meantime, Anwar's alliance is emulating Barisan Nasional's original formula by promoting policies that seek to unite races and religions, according to Liew Chin Tong, a lawmaker with the Chinese-majority Democratic Action Party, one of three in the opposition coalition.

"They are suffering now because they are now only focusing on the Malay votes," Liew said in an interview last month, referring to the government. "With Mahathir playing the racist card, they are speaking to only the Malay audience in the hope to push the Malay vote up to 65 percent."

 

In this Game of Thrones (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 06:01 PM PDT

I am no longer looking at the 13th General Election. I am looking at the post-GE period and the 14th General Election. And I am worrying about how the game in this Game of Thrones is going to be played in the period between the 13th and the 14th General Elections. The 13th General Election is not the end of our problems. It is only the beginning.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Many of you are still entry-level 'politicians'. From your comments it can be seen that you are political novices, and armchair political 'analysts' on top of that. Many of you probably became politically active or politically conscious only in 2007 or 2008.

Many of you look at the 13th General Election on 5th May 2013 as a contest between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional or a contest to choose the next Prime Minister -- Najib Tun Razak or Anwar Ibrahim.

You probably never even heard of the names of the various game-changers in this Game of Thrones. And, yes, this is what it is: a Game of Thrones. And the game-changers may not necessarily be those 2,000 or so candidates who are contesting the general election.

For example, Abraham Lincoln was definitely a game-changer but John Wilkes Booth was an even bigger game-changer. John F. Kennedy was yet another game-changer but Lee Harvey Oswald was an even bigger game-changer (unless the conspiracy theorists are correct).

How many of you novices know or remember names such as Daud Samad, Lorrain Esme Osman, Jalil Ibrahim, Ibrahim Fikri, Asri Muda, Rahim Bakar, Onn Jaafar, Ghazali Shafie, Hussein Ahmad, Mohamed Yaacob, Nik Hassan Abdul Rahman, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, and many more? (You probably would have heard of Onn Jaafar and Tengku Razaleigh).

Who is Nik Hassan and what is so significant about him and why is he a game-changer? Nik Hassan was the Menteri Besar of Terengganu who went into conflict with the Terengganu Sultan and was eventually forced to retire and hand the 'throne' to Wan Mokhtar Ahmad. And Wan Mokhtar was the Menteri Besar who agreed to the 5% oil royalty for Terengganu and eventually Sabah and Sarawak too were subjected to the same terms.

Hence Nik Hassan 'created' Wan Mokhtar. In fact, Wan Mokhtar was Nik Hassan's handpicked successor who eventually 'betrayed' the state by agreeing to the 5% royalty. Therefore, Nik Hassan was the game-changer and if he had not gone into conflict with the Sultan and was not forced to hand over the reins of the state, Tun Razak Hussein could not have twisted Terengganu's arm to accept 5% (mainly because Nik Hassan was a fighter and if you dare challenge the Sultan then you are definitely a fighter).

Okay, many of you may disagree with me about Tengku Razaleigh. You may not think of him as a game-changer. But I do. And I think so not because I think he is Prime Minister material but because he was the man who pressured Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad into accepting Anwar Ibrahim into Umno.

Dr Mahathir did not agree to this but eventually, because of Tengku Razaleigh's persistence, he relented. Hence, if not because of Tengku Razaleigh, Anwar would have become the President of PAS, as what Fadzil Noor had wanted, instead of the Deputy President of Umno. And, today, PKR plus Pakatan Rakyat would not exist and PAS and DAP would be two separate opposition parties of no threat to Barisan Nasional (because there would not have been any political crisis in 1998 where Anwar was ousted from Umno).

Lorrain Esme Osman was the man in the centre of the BMF controversy that implicated Tengku Razaleigh. The BMF crisis more or less messed up Tengku Razaleigh's chances of taking over the Presidency of Umno in 1987. Many of the Umno delegates believed that Tengku Razaleigh was somehow involved in the BMF affair. And Jalil Ibrahim's murder in Hong Kong angered enough Malays to vote against Tengku Razaleigh (although there were allegations of fraud as well).

Anyway, those are just some examples of how fate decides who becomes the game-changer and the game-changers are not necessarily those who sit on the throne but those who decide or influence who gets to sit on the throne.

The 13th General Election on 5th May 2013 is more or a less already a fait accompli or foregone conclusion. Those in the corridors of power already know who is going to form the government on 6th May 2013 and who is going to be the Prime Minister.

What we are currently seeing are the games they are playing -- a show of strength to con the voters and, hopefully, sway the last few stragglers or fence sitters. To most of us, the committed, we have already made up our minds and there is very little they can say or do to change that.

MCA, MIC and Gerakan, who collectively won 20 seats in 2008, are going to get wiped out. MCA may be down to six or seven seats with zero for MIC and Gerakan. East Malaysia, which saw 54 seats going to Barisan Nasional in 2008, may see only 35-40 seats going to the ruling party this time around.

Hence Umno needs to grab some 'Malay' seats from PKR and PAS if they want to remain in power. And to do this Umno has to increase the Malay popular vote from 51% in the last election to as close to 60% as it can get this time around, maybe 54-56%. If not then Umno and Barisan Nasional are doomed.

Anwar cannot form the federal government just by winning seats in the general election. Anwar can only do it if he can convince 15 to 25 Barisan Nasional (and/or independent) Members of Parliament to cross over AFTER the general election.

There are four states that are critical to whoever wants to win the general election. These states will give you the federal government and these states are Perak, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak. These four states control 106 of the 222 seats in Parliament, almost half.  Hence Barisan Nasional needs to retain these four states, and at a large majority on top of that, if they want to stay in power.

So that is Umno's and Barisan Nasional's 'Waterloo' -- Perak, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.

Most of you are still focused on winning the general election or concerned about who is going to win the general election in slightly over a week's time. That is the novice's way of looking at things. It is actually too late to worry about that. That should have been our worry up to last year.

What we need to worry about now is post-GE. What is going to happen post-GE? In other words, how is the Game of Thrones going to be played? And how will this determine the outcome of the 14th General Election in four or five years from now?

I am no longer looking at the 13th General Election. I am looking at the post-GE period and the 14th General Election. And I am worrying about how the game in this Game of Thrones is going to be played in the period between the 13th and the 14th General Elections. The 13th General Election is not the end of our problems. It is only the beginning.

Remember one thing: Malaysian politics is the politics of winner takes all and loser loses all. What we need to know is not who the winners and losers are going to be on 5th May 2013 but in what way we, the voters/rakyat, are going to win or lose post-GE.

We can't change the present. But we can change the future. And the future is the post-GE period and how this period is going to determine what happens in the 14th General Election. After all, we are not a player in this Game of Thrones. But we can certainly be the game-changer.

Remember one more thing. There is no such thing as a good government, never mind which government you choose. All governments are bad. And the longer they remain in power the worse they become (as Barisan Nasional and many other governments all over the world that have been in power for too long have proven). The only thing is how do we prevent the bad government from being bad?

That is what you and I must now concentrate on.

***************************************

在这个王位争夺游戏里

我不再为第13届大选来伤脑筋了。我注重的是大选后会发生的事情和第14届大选。我为第14届大选前王位争夺游戏的新玩法感到担心。第13届大选并不是问题的终结而是问题的开始。

原文:Raja Petra Kamarudin

译文:方宙

你们当中很多都是刚入门的'政客'。从你们的留言中就看得出来,而你们那站着说话不腰疼的'政治分析'更出卖了你们的身份。你们都是在2007/08年才开始接触政治的。

你们有很多人都认为5月5的大选就是民联-国阵之争,或者是安华和纳吉的首相之争。

你们很有可能听都没听过以下这些王位争夺游戏的'游戏更改者'。是的,这是一场王位争夺游戏,而那些游戏更改者并不一定是那2000个大选候选人。

打个比方,林肯是个游戏更改者,但约翰·威尔克斯·布斯是个更大的游戏更改者。肯尼迪也是另一个游戏更改者,但李·哈維·奧斯瓦爾德才是另一是个更大的游戏更改者(除非那些阴谋论支持者都是对的)。

你们这些新手有多少人知道或认识Daud Samad, Lorrain Esme Osman, Jalil Ibrahim, Ibrahim Fikri, Asri Muda, Rahim Bakar, Onn Jaafar, Ghazali Shafie, Hussein Ahmad, Mohamed Yaacob, Nik Hassan Abdul Rahman, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah呢? (你很有可能听说过Onn Jaafar翁嘉化和Tengku Razaleigh东姑拉沙里)
谁是Nik Hassan,他做过什么很有影响力的事情和为什么他是个游戏更改人呢?Nik Hassan是登嘉楼前州务大臣,他因违抗登州苏丹而被迫退休和把他的'王位'传给Wan Mokhtar Ahmad。Wan Mokhtar过后答应了只接受联邦政府5%的石油税而最终沙巴和砂劳越也跟随同样的条款。

所以说Nik Hassan'制造了'Wan Mokhtar。事实上,Wan Mokhtar是Nik Hassan亲选的接班人,而这个接班人最终'背叛'了整个州属。故此,Nik Hassan是个游戏更改人,如果他没有跑去对抗苏丹而被迫离职的话,那敦拉萨将会很难要求登嘉楼接受5%的石油税(那是因为Nik Hassan本身是个斗争者,如果一个人胆敢和苏丹对着干的话,那他必定是个斗争者)。

好了,你们可能不同意我对东姑拉沙里的看法,你们不认为他是个游戏更改人,但我确实是这样认为的。我并不是因为他是个当首相的材料才这样想,我是因为他成功地说服敦马接受安华才这样讲的。

马哈迪一开始并不同意,但在东姑的坚持下,他最终妥协了。所以说,如果没有了拉沙里,安华现在将会如 Fadzil Noor希望般成为伊斯兰党主席而不是巫统副主席。再者,公正党和民联将不会出现,而伊党和行动党将不会联盟来威胁国阵(安华在1998年被踢出巫统的事情根本就不会发生,所以就会毫无政治危机可言)。

Lorrain Esme Osman是BMF(Bumiputera Malaysia Finance,此译马来西亚土著金融)丑闻的中心人物。BMF或多或少影响了东姑拉沙里在1987年接管巫统主席一职的机会。许多巫统代表都认为东姑拉沙里有份参与在内。而Jalil Ibrahim在香港被谋杀一事更触怒了马来人来推翻东姑拉沙里(虽然说那些指控都是不正确的)。

这些都是一小撮的例子来显示命运是如何决定谁是游戏更改人。很多时候游戏更改人并不是那些掌权的人,而是那些决定或有份影响谁会上位掌权的人。

5月5的大选或多或少已经成为了'fait accompli'(既成事实)。那些走在权力走廊上的都已经知道谁会在5月6号组织政府和谁会成为首相了。

我们现在看到的只是他们玩的游戏----一个玩弄选民和忽悠中间选民的游戏。我们当中大多数人都是已经作出决定的了,他们那些人很难能改变我们的想法。

上届大选马华,国大党和民政一共赢得20个席位,但此届大选他们将死得很惨。马华很有可能输剩6,7席,国大党民政将会一席也没有。而东马原有的54个国阵议席将会降到35-40席。

所以说巫统必须从公正党和伊党手中夺得一些'马来'议席才能继任。从2008年的51%马来票,他们这次必须取得60%,而如今他们只取得了大约54-56%。如果他们拿不到60%的话,那么国阵就'玩完'了。

而安华单靠大选赢得的议席是不足以组成政府的。他必须得说服15-25个国阵(和独立)议员在大选后跳槽。

有四个州属是此次大选的重要关键,它们就是霹雳,柔佛,沙巴和砂劳越。这四个州属控制了国会里222个席位的106个,大约有一半之多。所以说如果国阵想要继续执政的话他们必须要保有这4个州属的多数席位。

而这就是巫统和国阵的滑铁炉----霹雳,柔佛,沙巴和砂劳越。

你们很多人还在为谁在一个星期以后会胜出而担心;这是新手们才担心的东西,其实早在1年前你们就该开始担心这个了,而不是到了现在才这样做。

我们现在应该担心的是大选后的事情。大选后会发生什么事呢?换个说法,这个王位争夺游戏会怎样地玩下去呢?而这对4,5年后的第14届大选又有怎样的影响呢?

我不再为第13届大选来伤脑筋了。我注重的是大选后会发生的事情和第14届大选。我为第14届大选前王位争夺游戏的新玩法感到担心。第13届大选并不是问题的终结而是问题的开始。

记住一件事:马来西亚的政治是个胜者为王,败者为寇的政治。我们需要知道的是我们,这个国家的人民,是大选后的输家或赢家,而不是那个政党是大选里的输家或赢家。

我们改变不了现在,但我们改变得了未来。未来是指大选后和第14届大选前所发生的事情。我们不是这个王位争夺游戏的玩家,但我们绝对能够成为这个游戏的游戏更改人。

麻烦你再记住一件事:无论你的选择是什么,这世界里没有所谓的'好政府'。所有的政府都是烂透的。他们在位越久就烂的越严重(国阵就是个很好的例子)。我们应该怎样做才能确保一个烂政府不变烂呢?

这就是你和我现在必须专注的。
 

Exodus from Sabah PKR?

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 03:31 PM PDT

Resigning Sabah PKR division chief claimed Anwar Ibrahim told them that Lajim Ukin and Bumburing would only get 'one seat' each in Beaufort and Tuaran. 

(FMT) - KOTA KINABALU: Is the resignation of several Sabah PKR division leaders and grassroots members and their crossover to Umno, a sign that the long since rumoured exodus from the party has begun in time for the May 5 polls?

Resigning division leaders yesterday said their reason for quiting was because PKR de factor leader Anwar Ibrahim had "lied" about Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing's inclusion in Sabah PKR.

Following the entry of Barisan Nasional defectors Lajim and Bumburing as Anwar-PKR allies in Sabah, rumours have been rife that an exodus was imminent.

Lajim and Bumburing are current incumbents in Beaufort and Tuaran parliamentary divisions.

In July last year, they formally announced that they and their respective platforms – Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) and Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS) – were aligned to Anwar. Neither was willing to become PKR members.

Over the months ground reports of scuffles and disagreements between PKR "originals" and "copies" (referring to Lajim and Bumburing's people) have been dismissed as "rumours" or "not a serious issue" by the central leadership.

The simmering anger appeared to peak when Tuaran PKR division chief Ansari Abdullah pre-empted PKR announcement of the Sabah candidates by releasing its own list of seven individuals purportedly endorsed by seven divisions.

Deputy PKR president Azmin Ali dismissed this and toeing the line was Sabah chief Thamrin Jaini.

But Anwar's pre-nomination announcement that APS and PPPS had been allocated five parliamentary seats each and collectively 23 state constituencies – just over a third of Sabah 60 seats – to contest has cut deeply through the party.

At a press conference here yesterday, four division chiefs and a deputy division head announced their resignation and their move to Umno.

Anwar 'lied'

Ansari was not on the list but he reportedly said that Bumburing who is contesting in Tuaran will not get the support of the division's 6,000 members.

Ansari claimed Bumburing "betrayed" him.

Those who quit were Sandakan, Batu Sapi, Kota Belud and Kalabakan division chiefs: Mazhry Nasir, Zainuddin Hassa, Saidil Simoi and Irianshah Yunus respectively.

Putatan PKR division's acting chief Abdul Zainal Atin also announced his resignation at the Umno headquarters here in the presence of caretaker Deputy Chief Minister Yahya Husin and Sabah BN secretary Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Rumoured to be joining Umno any day now are some1,500 PKR members from Beaufort where Lajim is the incumbent MP. Former Beaufort PKR division chief Abdul Jarih @ Ramli Ukin had earlier quit the party.

Anwar is scheduled to visit the state over the weekend.

Speaking to reporters here, Mazhry said their decision to resign from the party was made after taking into considerations that Anwar had "lied" about Bumburing and Lajim's role and their inclusion into Sabah Pakatan Rakyat and the central leadership dismissal of state-level decisions.

Said Mazhry, who was until his resignation yesterday Sabah PKR's deputy election chief: "I have been in PKR since 1999, and I made the decision to leave the party because of unavoidable reasons. Sabah PKR is no longer reflecting what the people want.

"All decisions are made by the central leadership without consultation with state leaders.

READ MORE HERE

 

Mat Taib – a prize that comes at a price

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:50 PM PDT

Not all in PAS liked the idea of the controversial Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib joining the party but he has helped a lot of people during his time as Selangor Mentri Besar and he wins votes for PAS in rural seats.

The positive way of looking at it is that PAS is willing to forgive and accept its enemies. The negative take is that PAS is an opportunist and will do anything in its quest for power. But it is always good to look on the light side of things Mat Taib is the flavour of the month for PAS. The party will parade him around Selangor like a prized trophy from now until May 4 never mind if the trophy is somewhat chipped.

Joceline Tan, The Star

"MIKE Tyson" or Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib made his first appearance on the PAS stage in Shah Alam earlier this week.

The former Umno leader drew quite a big crowd because many people are curious about this once most powerful man in Selangor joining PAS.

His joining forces with PAS at this crucial political juncture has not been the knockout punch that PAS had hoped it would be, but it has been the talk of Selangor and it will have some impact.

Mat Taib, as the former Selangor Mentri Besar is also known, has appeared at PAS ceramah in several places in Selangor. Tonight, he is scheduled to speak in Tanjung Karang.

But those hoping to understand his actions will be disappointed. His speaking appearances at PAS ceramah have been bland, to say the least. At each of these ceramah, he spoke for barely 20 minutes and seemed anxious to make a quick getaway.

He has yet to subscribe to the PAS dress code of jubah and kopiah, but the once immaculately groomed man now looks a little out of sorts.

He turned up for a press conference at the PAS headquarters on Tuesday unshaven and looking a little uncomfortable because he is in unfamiliar territory. His hair has turned completely silver but he is still in good shape.

Journalists had flocked to the press conference hoping for answers. Mat Taib arrived with another former Umno politician Tamrin Ghafar and said that he had to leave immediately because he had an "emergency meeting" and quickly left. Tamrin was left to read out a press statement urging more Umno members to follow Mat Taib in joining PAS.

Until today, no one can quite explain why he is doing this. Had he been younger, it would have been explained as mid-life crisis or an attempt to reinvent himself.

But he is 65, extremely wealthy and has lived a life that most people could only dream of. His friends in Umno see it as the behaviour of a bitter old man.

In an exclusive interview with Sinar Harian on Wednesday, he came across as disjointed, unsure and lacking conviction about why he had quit one party for another.

But piecing together bits and pieces gathered from his ceramah and public statements, his action could be roughly summed up as wanting to unite and strengthen the Muslims and to be a beacon in Islam.

He is also unhappy about the liberal lifestyle he sees around him especially in Selangor. He is not interested in returning to politics or political posts and he wants to follow the right path in Islam.

Mat Taib dropped out of the political scene after losing in the contest for the Umno deputy president's post in 2009. His friends said he felt let down by the party and had decided to devote his time to religion, spending time in the surau.

He has certainly made a grand return into the public eye. News of his recruitment was timed to give PAS a much needed edge in Selangor.

It was PAS' way of telling Selangoreans that even this former Umno big gun regards PAS as the better party.

He has helped many people in the state and PAS is hoping these people would remember what he has done for them and give their vote to PAS. They believe Mat Taib can make a difference in marginal seats where PAS is struggling for the Malay vote.

"People in Tanjung Karang have been talking about him speaking there. There will be impact," said a Selangor PAS member.

Mat Taib was a popular Mentri Besar and also a controversial one. He eloped with a Selangor princess and his career crashed when he was detained in Australia's Gold Coast for not declaring a large amount of cash that he was carrying.

PAS and DAP had targeted him throughout his career, accusing him of everything from alleged corruption to cronyism. Not everyone in PAS is comfortable about their new friend.

Many in PAS have not forgotten the bad things their party leaders used to say about Mat Taib.

They think the party should be more discriminating and that recruiting him is a contradiction of what the party stands for. The more cynical said they would not be surprised if the party tries to recruit Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo next.

The positive way of looking at it is that PAS is willing to forgive and accept its enemies. The negative take is that PAS is an opportunist and will do anything in its quest for power.

But it is always good to look on the light side of things Mat Taib is the flavour of the month for PAS. The party will parade him around Selangor like a prized trophy from now until May 4 never mind if the trophy is somewhat chipped.

 

A valley divided

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:46 PM PDT

There are two clear sections in the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency where the approach taken by the candidates can either be appealing or inconsequential.

Lembah Pantai is a valley divided, just like the nation, as we begin the countdown to the big day. The fight is close and intense, and this is best illustrated at Kampung Kerinchi where the operations centres of both sides are just next to each other.

Wong Chun Wai. The Star

WARUNG Nasi Ayam Pak Ayub is a well-known stall at the Kampung Kerinchi low-cost flats. It is here that many of the flat dwellers, mostly working-class Malays, come to have their meals, especially at night.

The conversation these days is all about elections. In urban settings, it is generally acknowledged that the voters are more likely to side the Pakatan Rakyat.

But here at these low-cost flats, which are but a short distance from many high-end apartments that have come up over the years, Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin is the hero to the lower income group.

Kampung Kerinchi is the poor section of Lembah Pantai while the urbane, affluent and fashionable is on the other side of the constituency, Bangsar.

Many speak fondly of how the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister has been able to help them buy the low-cost flats at only RM35,000 per unit.

In the past, many had to rent the units from the City Hall but through a rental-ownership scheme, the poor have now become proud owners.

Despatch clerk Mohamed Yusuf made it clear he would vote Barisan Nasional, saying that Raja Nong Chik had cleaned up the flats, tarred the roads, made the lifts work, and has a well-run service centre to help the people.

Puffing on a kretek cigarette, he said it was not easy to survive in Kuala Lumpur with its high cost of living, and he never imagined he could own a flat.

"Raja Nong Chik made it possible, so he is the hero. My friends ask me why I won't vote Nurul Izzah. Yes, she can speak well but I have never seen her face here once ... except her face on the big billboard along the Federal Highway," he said.

Ironically, Raja Nong Chik, in fact, is ridiculed by his opponent as the "Lembah Pantai MP" for spending his time in this constituency.

PKR supporters claimed that his high-handed supporters had stopped Nurul Izzah, the incumbent MP, from entering the flats.

"There is no level playing field here. The flats are filled with BN flags because many of us cannot even get past the gates," said a worker.

There are 72,533 voters in Lembah Pantai with the Malays in the majority at 55.3%. The Chinese (22.8%), Indians (20%) and others make up the rest.

This is one constituency that has shown a sharp increase of voters in the 2008 polls, the number of voters was 56,650, and Nurul Izzah won with a 2,895-vote majority, beating Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

In an interview with Malaysian Insider, political analyst Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said bread-and-butter issues were more important to the working class than "hot air" issues like human rights, freedom and democracy that only appealed to middle-class and affluent Bangsar voters.

"It is the working and lower middle-class of Lembah Pantai who shall deliver him the seat," Dr Shamsul Amri told the portal.

"In the last five years, Nurul Izzah has been a fantastic good listener, but can't give or deliver anything. Raja Nong Chik wasn't the MP, but minister; he doesn't need to make any promise, just deliver. He has delivered," added the founding director of Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

It will be in this part of town, where the bulk of the votes reside, that the outcome of this hotly-contested constituency will be decided. Raja Nong Chik is now seen as a serious challenger and many think that an upset could take place here.

It will be a tough fight and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been making regular appearances at ceramah to help his eldest daughter shore up support.

But over at the upmarket eateries and pubs in Jalan Telawi, Bangsar, it is a different story altogether with BN-bashing being the order of the day.

Paul Michael, who lives in the vicinity, said he does not even need to ponder who he shall vote for come May 5.

He said his mind had been made up long ago, and that he just wanted to see the present government changed.

"Nurul Izzah is pleasant, clever and articulate. It helps that she looks good, so my choice is clear," he said, over a mug of cold beer.

His friends, all professionals including lawyers and accountants, said they were eager to punish BN for what they termed as all the wrongs in this country.

Asked if he was bothered by PAS pushing for hudud law, Michael said he did not care as he was staying in Kuala Lumpur.

"I don't care what PAS wants to do in Kelantan but over here in KL, I am just going to party and have my beer here," the 35-year-old bachelor said.

His concerns are issues like corruption, human rights, democracy, justice and freedom, which he is passionate about.

His businessman friend, however, was more guarded, saying he was worried about the outcome of the polls.

"Look, I am a businessman. I need the economy to be smooth, I don't want to see people out in the streets after polling day because some people are not happy with the results.

"If this happens, my cash flow will be hit and I will need to use my savings to pay for the wages and bills," he said.

But his friends think it is a small price to pay for change.

Lembah Pantai is a valley divided, just like the nation, as we begin the countdown to the big day. The fight is close and intense, and this is best illustrated at Kampung Kerinchi where the operations centres of both sides are just next to each other.

 

Hudud is a must, say PAS leaders

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:42 PM PDT

From left: Datuk Harun Taib, PAS Ulama council chief, Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner II and Datuk Dr Haron Din, PAS deputy spiritual leader.

(The Star) - MORE PAS leaders have come out in support of the implementation of the hudud law should Pakatan Rakyat capture Putrajaya.

They expressed their support for party deputy spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din who had said that hudud would be implemented in a Pakatan government even if the DAP opposed it.

Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner II Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said the willingness of the DAP to use the PAS symbol (when it faced deregistration) showed that it no longer feared the implementation of hudud.

Nik Mohd Amar, who is contesting the Pasir Puteh parliamentary seat, said it was incumbent on PAS to implement hudud if Pakatan took over Putrajaya.

"Everyone should welcome hudud of their own free will. But if one is a Muslim, it is considered a must to embrace hudud," he said in an interview. "It is fine if some of you do not want to embrace the (hudud) law, but do remember that there is a path to heaven and another to hell. One can choose."

The hudud issue had resurfaced in the run-up to the May 5 polls, with PAS adamant on imposing punishment for crimes according to Syariah law.

On Tuesday, Dr Haron said: "I am confident that the DAP will accept hudud because of its willingness to contest under the PAS symbol.

"Pakatan must take over the federal government. Only then can we amend the Constitution to implement hudud."

Party Dewan Ulama chief Datuk Harun Taib said the objections of the DAP would then not matter as it would be up to the new Parliament to decide on the implementation of hudud.

However, PAS Supporters Congress chairman Hu Phang Chaw said the party leaders should not be talking about hudud at the moment.

"Now is not the time to discuss hudud. We can talk about it another time, not during the elections," said Hu, the PAS candidate in a straight fight for the Air Hitam parliamentary seat in Johor against MCA Youth chief Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong,

"PAS and its allies in the opposition front should be talking about their desire for a new Malaysia."

In Petaling Jaya, observers noted the serious implications of implementing hudud, referring to cases when Islamic law was imposed on non-Muslims as well in Kelantan.

In December last year, four non-Muslims two men on a plane-spotting outing and a couple in a park were issued with summonses for "indecent behaviour".

The incidents followed a nationwide uproar when fines were imposed on salon operators who allowed their stylists to cut the hair of customers of a different gender, regardless of whether they were Muslims or not.

In Kedah, the PAS-controlled government laid down guidelines for public celebrations of the Chinese New Year, which infuriated the community.

 

Chua: PR can’t take six states

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:38 PM PDT

(The Star) - Pakatan Rakyat will not be able to capture six states, including Perak, in the May 5 polls, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said.

He said PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who claimed this in an interview with Singapore's Channel News Asia, could continue to dream or "hallucinate" but the fact was his party was crumbling.

"Only two of PKR's 34 founding members are still with the party.

"Eleven of Pakatan's elected representatives in the last general election have also left the coalition," Dr Chua said after a ground-breaking ceremony for SJK (C) Lawan Kuda Baru's basketball court here yesterday.

He said Anwar had also claimed that 30 Barisan MPs would leave to join Pakatan on Sept 16 shortly after the 2008 elections but it turned out to be a hoax.

Dr Chua, also Perak MCA chairman, said Pakatan would not be able to repeat its feat in Perak this elections.

Apart from Perak, the other states captured by Pakatan in 2008 were Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan.

In the last elections, DAP won 18 state seats while PAS and PKR won a combined 13 state seats, against Barisan's 28, resulting in Pakatan capturing the state.

However, three Pakatan assemblymen declared themselves as independents and Barisan-friendly in 2009, resulting in a new state government being formed by Barisan.

Dr Chua said DAP not only failed to service the people after its victory, but also deserted them to chart its entry to Johor this round.

The Opposition, he added, had always taken the people's support for granted.

Dr Chua said he was confident that Barisan would be able to wrest back the Gopeng parliamentary seat and its two state seats - Teja and Simpang Pulai - this round.

On PAS' agenda to implement its brand of hudud, he said this could happen when Pakatan wrested Putrajaya.

"Of the 222 MPs in the country, 145 are Muslims.

"It only takes PAS to propose the amendments to the Federal Constitution in Parliament, and all Muslim MPs would have to support it out of religious obligations," he explained, expressing his concern that many Chinese and non-Muslims were still not clear about this.

As such, he said a vote for DAP was a vote for PAS and its Islamist state.

On the blast near a Barisan operations centre in Nibong Tebal on Wednesday, Dr Chua said there was no need to resort to violence.

He also lamented that DAP had been practising politics of hatred since last elections and this had affected some young people.

Dr Chua said DAP would condemn anyone who did not support the Opposition or its agenda.

 

Stop making hudud statements, Boo tells PAS

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:34 PM PDT

(The Star) - PAS deputy spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din should not have made statements on behalf of the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat on the issue of hudud implementation, said Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau.

Such statements, he said, would only lead to backlash from the public and Pakatan members.

He said Dr Haron should have instead consulted DAP chairman Karpal Singh, adviser Lim Kit Siang or secretary-general Lim Guan Eng before making such comments, adding that as a senior leader in PAS, he should have been more tactful.

"He is entitled to his own views and has the right to do so but he needs to take into consideration the effect his words will have," he told reporters here yesterday.

Dr Haron was quoted as saying in Arau on Tuesday that hudud would be implemented if Pakatan took over the federal government even if its Pakatan partner DAP opposed the move. He had also said the DAP would accept hudud because of its willingness to contest under the PAS symbol.

Dr Boo said the comments by Dr Haron did not represent the views of the DAP. "All three parties under Pakatan have a common platform and manifesto, which were agreed upon, and Dr Haron must respect that."

 

Lahad Datu: 3 Opposition leaders linked to Sabah incursion, says Zahid

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 02:17 PM PDT

(The Star) - The Defence Ministry has identified three opposition leaders in connection with the Feb 12 incursion of Sulu gunmen in Sabah.

Defence Ministry Datuk Seri Abdul Zahid Hamidi said on Friday the ministry had enough evidence that link the three - two from Peninsular Malaysia and one from Sabah - to the incident.

He said the evidence would submit to the Attorney General office for further action after this general election.

 

Lahad Datu: Sambung tempur selepas PRU13?

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 01:59 PM PDT

http://www.sinarharian.com.my/polopoly_fs/1.136526.1362397104!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_400/image.jpg 

(Sinar Harian) - Menurutnya, pertempuran akan disambung semula selepas kira-kira 1,000 ahli Barisan Pembebasan Kebangsaan Moro (MNLF) tiba di Sabah untuk mengukuhkan kuasa kesultanan di Lahad Datu.

Kumpulan pengganas Sulu mendakwa tindakan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak meredakan pertempuran di Sabah sebagai 'langkah sementara' kerana tidak mahu menyinggung perasaan penduduk bangsa Suluk menjelang Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13 (PRU13).

Media Philippines Daily melaporkan sebagai memetik jurucakap kumpulan itu, Abraham Idjirani berkata, bagaimanapun kumpulan itu percayai pertempuran akan bersambung semula selepas PRU13.

Menurutnya, pertempuran akan disambung semula selepas kira-kira 1,000 ahli Barisan Pembebasan Kebangsaan Moro (MNLF) tiba di Sabah untuk mengukuhkan kuasa kesultanan di Lahad Datu.

"Pada masa ini, rakyat Malaysia sibuk dengan pilihan raya dan mereka tidak mahu mengganggu Sabah di mana terdapat lebih daripada 600,000 bangsa Suluk berdaftar sebagai pengundi," katanya.

Idjirani berkata, bangsa Suluk di Sabah telah memelihara hubungan baik dan kuat dengan orang-orang Sulu.

"Datuk Seri Najib (Razak) takut menyinggung perasaan mereka kerana ia adalah undi penting buat beliau," katanya.

Idjirani menambah, Komander Sulu di Lahad Datu, Agbimuddin Kiram mengesahkan, kehadiran pejuang MNLF pada kali ini lengkap membawa senjata seperti anti-kereta kebal dan bergerak secara bersembunyi bagi mengelakkan dikesan pasukan keselamatan Malaysia.

"Mereka mengambil kedudukan dari Kampung Tanduo dan Tanjung Batu," katanya. 

Support for both BN and Pakatan within 5% difference

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 01:55 PM PDT

Twenty-two percent of those polled in a UMcedel survey are still uncertain about which coalition's manifesto will be able to fulfil the rakyat's hopes.

Alyaa Azhar, FMT

With just 10 days to go, anything can happen in the 13th general elections, said the  University of Malaya Centre for Election and Democracy (Umcedel) director Mohammad Redzuan Othman today.

Umcedel had conducted a survey on voting trends ahead of the GE on May 5.

Redzuan said that unlike in the 2008 general election, in the May 5 polls both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat will contest on the same footing.

"Support for both BN and Pakatan is very close. The difference is not more than five percent.

"Everything will depend on the campaigning done by both sides in these last 10 days," he said.

Redzuan also said that in Malaysian politics, no one can predict what will happen.

"You have to understand the dynamics of Malaysian election, anything can happen in the last 10 days before election.

"The political tsunami in 2008 started during the last four days prior to the general election," he said.

He said according to the survey, the rakyat was more accepting of Pakatan's manifesto as opposed to Barisan Nasional's (BN).

When asked which manifesto will be able to fulfil the rakyat's hopes, he said 42% of those polled gave the nod for Pakatan, 36%  for BN while 22 percent remained undecided.

However he stressed that acceptance of a particular party's manifesto did not mean that the individual would vote for the opposition pact in the coming general election.

"What I can say is that there is a general acceptance of Pakatan Rakyat's manifesto.

"But both Pakatan and BN have to show that they will be able to implement whatever stated in the manifesto.

"Pakatan's intention to bring down the price of oil and cars and abolish tolls were probably factors which attracted voters to be more accepting of its manifesto," he said.

Redzuan however declined to disclose who the respondents felt would win in the coming election.

"We are not a body which conducts research on who is going to win or lose the general election, because everything is based on academic data," he said.

READ MORE HERE

 

Instant Media's Got Malaysia

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 01:22 PM PDT

(Asia Sentinel) - "Watching the Watchdog," a study released this week by Malaysia's Center for Independent Journalism in conjunction with the UK-based University of Nottingham, found just how biased the mainstream media can be. 

The current campaign bypasses the biased mainstream

Online media, already a major factor in Malaysia's 2008 general election, has exploded this time around with newer platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others transforming electioneering for both the opposition and the government..

In a country where virtually all mainstream media outlets are owned by pro-government political parties, the rapid growth of social media outlets is not just a social phenomenon but also a key part of the political process.

According to statistics, there are 2 million Twitter users in the country, compared with only 3,000 in 2008. Any large political event is amplified by millions of tweets and posts as dramatic pictures are passed around showing tens of thousands of supporters attending opposition rallies. Who cares about the front page of a newspaper? If violence threatens, as it often has, witnesses record the action, posting it immediately on Facebook, which has 13 million user accounts in Malaysia, and YouTube, where 67 percent of all online videos end up.

The online media is crucial to the opposition, which is nearly frozen out of traditional print and broadcast outlets. "Watching the Watchdog," a study released this week by Malaysia's Center for Independent Journalism in conjunction with the UK-based University of Nottingham, found just how biased the mainstream media can be. Drawing from data gathered the week of April 7-15, the chart below shows the ruling Barisan Nasional, or BN, getting 97.5 percent favorable or neutral coverage in the mainstream media, against less than 20 percent for the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Read more at: http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5365&Itemid=178 

 

Megatrends of madness, Part II

Posted: 25 Apr 2013 01:08 PM PDT

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Jw5SLqvcBDOkGXeMyoI78O4rP2c34zRCaAm2dt2RW-c5LZ2M8XWgzharWstM9cKHrw0HEYVWv5yslK1FQSF2gAcDS79PJQ52oMGfM7D07cwNE6sfBTTgSD9UHZ9R18kso5bkhnCLxYny/s1600/IMG_1193.jpg 

I wonder why there is a disjuncture in the moral make-up of societies. We have more houses of worship built, more religionisation of programmes engineered, more models of religious life architectured, yet politics remain as primitive, predatory, pathetic and animalistic as ever. 

Azly Rahman

I have often been asked what I think of the concept of '1Malaysia' of which I have written a column-long thought on this when it was first propagandised.

What lies behind the slogan is a rotting culture of political socialisation, enculturalisation, and participation on a post-colonial ideology of maintaining a false sense of pluralism so that exploitation can be engineered via the divide-and-conquer strategy and the people can be given circuses, funfairs, and goodies.

The pathos lies in education as social reproduction and a conveyor belt of racist formation - that schools and institutions are to maintain the ideology of ethnic separation by de jure' or de facto, via formal, informal, or hidden curriculum so that the leaders of the 'apartheid regime of the modernist mould' can be sure to sustain power via neo-feudalistic strategies of control, containment, and co-habitation.

And thus, we have the continued existence of schools and institutions that are used as breeding grounds of racist ideology detrimental to the aspirations of this nation in need of education for peace, cultural understanding, and social justice.

Must we not dismantle this ideology, and with immediate effect, integrate all schools and now allow the ideology of "one race, one school" to prevail? Should we have done that before Mahathirism took power and charted the direction of command and control to promote this 'maddening multiculturalism' to take root?

Why are many highly-educated Malay professionals of this generation essentially seem to be parading this sense of sophisticated racism they carry as a badge of honour to design and implement policies detrimental to the evolution and realisation of 'truly sensible and human sense of multiculturalism'?

Wherein lies the problem in multicultural education? How do we rectify this?

This brings us to my last thought on what a maddening megatrend of ours constitute - religion as an instrument of irreligiosity in our politics of race and ethnicity. (I wrote about this in my forthcoming book "The 'Allah' Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity" which will be available soon.) 

READ MORE HERE: http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/ 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net
 

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