Isnin, 28 November 2011

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MOVE in Defense of Aziz Bari

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 09:12 PM PST

The Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE) once again reiterates our concern with respect to the continuing persecution and possible prosecution of Professor Abdul Aziz Bari of the International Islamic University Malaysia by the powers that be. We urge the parties concerned to stop and revoke all investigations and disciplinary proceedings that aim to intimidate students and academics from addressing their immediate concerns.

Professor Abdul Aziz is a highly regarded scholar of Malaysian constitutional law and society. While he has written many scholarly books over the years on Malaysian Constitution, he continues to be persecuted by the police, politicians and his own university (IIUM) for his scholarship. Advocates of public debates and nonviolent approaches like Professor Abdul Aziz are silenced by state power and its apparatus.

Professor Abdul Aziz is becoming the symbol against a long history of academic repression and harsh censorship in Malaysia. Unfortunately, the problem of intellectual freedom and free speech in Malaysia has had a poor record. In 2011, the World Press Freedom Index placed Malaysia in 143th place in a list of 196 countries, whereas Malaysia was in 124th position when the current leadership came to power in 2008. Moreover, constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press, expression and assembly are undermined by other provisions, and in practice they are only partially upheld.

Professor Abdul Aziz Bari's prosecution for exercising his right to freedom of expression conflicts with Malaysia's obligations to recognize the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to freedom of expression; and the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of association as delineated by the Constitution of Malaysia. Thus, threatening and intimidating students and professors for exercising their right to free expression and assembly violates international and Malaysian law.

Punishing dissenting comments and ideas undermines academic freedom, which is all about the right to free expression and freedom of opinion. The International Islamic University Malaysia should rescind all investigation and disciplinary proceedings against Professor Abdul Aziz Bari.

We believe that institutions of higher learning must resolutely uphold and defend the principles of academic freedom, and must also be sanctuaries for the free expression of ideas and opinions. This means that universities must also be a haven for controversial speech. We commend our national and international colleagues for your clear and vigorous defense of academic freedom and free speech in this case, and we continue to stand firm in defense of Professor Aziz Bari.

On behalf of MOVE,

Prof Wan Abdul Manan Wan Muda
Chariperson
Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE)

Malaysia urged to reject bill clamping down on peaceful protest

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 08:58 PM PST

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE 

The Malaysian government has introduced a law which would further tighten the country's excessive restrictions on peaceful protest ahead of next year's expected general elections, Amnesty International said today.

If enacted, the Peaceful Assembly Bill would effectively prohibit street protests and fine demonstrators who fail to comply up to 20,000 Malaysian ringgit (US$6,000). The Malaysian Parliament is to consider the bill on Tuesday.

"This bill is a legislative attack on Malaysians' right to peaceful protest," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director at Amnesty International.  "The Malaysian parliament should firmly reject this legislation."

Last July, the authorities launched a brutal crackdown on freedom of peaceful assembly when the Coalition for Clean Elections, known as Bersih, held a march for electoral reforms in Kuala Lumpur. Police beat peaceful protesters, fired tear gas canisters into the crowd, and arrested at least 1,667 demonstrators.

In the bill street protest is broadly defined as "open-air assembly which begins with a meeting at a specified place and consists of walking in a mass march or rally for the purpose of objecting to or advancing a particular cause or causes."

This goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which endorses the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association (article 20).

The bill restricts demonstrations to enclosed locations, such as stadiums, and requires protest organizers to obtain police permission in advance. Under public pressure, the Cabinet on Friday reduced from 30 days to 10 days the advance requirement for organizers of a public assembly to notify the police.

Nonetheless, police are given wide discretionary powers to impose restrictions on public assembly. Organizers of the July march known as Bersih 2.0 were denied permits for assembly, both in the street and at a stadium.

This bill would put Malaysia in violation of many of its international treaty obligations. For example, it restricts children below the age of 15 from participating in peaceful public assembly. Under the Convention of the Rights of the Child, to which Malaysia is a party, children have "the freedom to have their say, and the right to form associations and assemble peacefully" (article 15).

"If the Malaysian government is serious about holding free and fair elections, it needs to end this assault on the right to peaceful protest," said Sam Zarifi. 

 

BERSIH 3.0: a warning to Najib

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 05:48 PM PST

Najib forewarned he is heading for another political disaster after July 9 Bersih 2.0 misjudgment if rejects proposal for a Parliamentary Select Committee and forces the Peaceful Assembly Bill through all readings in Dewan Rakyat tomorrow

Lim Kit Siang

The Police Royal Commission Report 2005 listed the complaints against bias, unreasonableness and discrimination in the exercise of police powers under Section 27 of the Police Act 1967 which vests police with the power to regulate assemblies, meetings and processions through the granting of a permit, including the following:

  • Permits granted to opposition political parties or NGOs perceived to be critical of the government or aligned with opposition parties always have a number of conditions which are considered ridiculous and difficult to implement and tantamount to an indirect refusal of permission.

  • There are complaints that the police do not seem to be neutral and impartial in the granting of permits, as would appear to be the case from their alleged numerous refusals of permits to opposition political parties and organisations perceived to be linked to them. There were also allegations that those attending the events were arrested and questioned as to why they did so and why they expressed opposition towards the government.

  • According to some complaints, a peaceful demonstration that turned into rioting was not caused by the action of demonstrators but on the provocation of the police.

There is nothing to demonstrate that in the six years after the publication of the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission Report and its 125 recommendations, the Malaysian Police has won public confidence as it has transformed itself into an independent, incorruptible and professional police force, discarding the outmoded colonial police concept of "regime protection" and replacing it with the modern principles and concept of "democratic policing".

As a result, the rampant complaints against the lack of police independence and professionalism under Section 27 of the Police Act will continue to remain as major grievances under the Peaceful Assembly Bill unless there is a total change of police mentality and mindset that the police serve the people and the laws of the land and not the political masters of the day.

To end all politicking and bias, and suspicion that the police are serving the agenda of their political masters, the role of the Home Minister as the final arbiter in the Peaceful Assembly Bill should be removed and replaced by the courts.

The Australian Home Minister and the various Australian State Police Ministers have no role whatsoever in the decision-making process on freedom of assembly in Australia.

Under the Queensland Peaceful Assembly Act, which is one of the models adopted by the Barisan Nasional government for the Peaceful Assembly Bill, only five days' notice to the relevant authorities is required for the holding of a public assembly and the courts are the final appellate authorities over any police decision to prohibit any assembly.

Is the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak prepared to make amendment to Clause 16 of the Peaceful Assembly Bill which gives the Home Minister the powers as the final arbiter whether a peaceful assembly could be held and to vest these powers in the courts as in the Queensland Peaceful Assembly Act 1992 so as to eliminate all possibilities of political bias and politicking in the decision-making process?

The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is very fond of telling other people not to "politicise" issues when he as Home Minister had been most guilty of such politicking – as in the notorious cow-head stamping sacrilege in Shah Alam in September 2009 and the seditious lie by Utusan Malaysia earlier this year that DAP wants to create a Christian Malaysia.

The Home Minister's powers as final arbiter under the Peaceful Assembly Bill on whether assemblies could be held is only one of the objections to the Bill and this is why more time must be given not only to MPs but to the civil society, human rights groups and all concerned Malaysians to study the implications of the very badly drafted Peaceful Assembly Bill by referring it to a Parliamentary Select Committee.

I call on Najib to reconsider the decision to force the Peaceful Assembly Bill through all three readings in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow as it will be proof that he has not learnt the lessons of his massive misjudgement and mishandling of the July 9 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for free,fair and clean elections in Malaysia.

Najib should be forewarned that he is heading for another political disaster after his July 9 Bersih 2.0 misjudgement if he rejects the proposal for a Parliamentary Select Committee on the Peaceful Assembly Bill.

 

The Najib flip-flop

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 04:57 PM PST

Najib's "clarification" is proof that Peaceful Assembly Bill is the worst and most slipshod bill in 54-year parliamentary history raising questions about the Prime Minister's bona fides in political reforms

Lim Kit Siang

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak's last-minute clarification today of the Peaceful Assembly Bill (PAB) is testimony that the PAB is the worst and most slipshod bill ever drafted in the 54-year history of Malaysian Parliament as well as raising questions about Najib's bona fides in political reforms and transformation.

Najib blamed Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for "confusing" the public with regard to the 30-day notification requirement.

He said: "Actually the wording is within 30 days, it can be within five or 10 days but that word led to so much confusion so we decided that 10 days to be specific, so that there will be no doubts." (The Malaysian Insider)

Najib said the previous 30 days' notification did not mean a month's notice was needed.

Najib's "clarification" is utterly ridiculous. In fact, Najib is presenting a sorry public spectacle of a Prime Minister who does not know what he is talking about, and even worse does not understand the content of the Bill he introduced in Parliament on Thursday though he described it as "revolutionary".

It is a terrible reflection of the quality of leadership and governance in Malaysia that the Prime Minister can be so badly advised as to the Bill he presented in Parliament as to cause the Prime Minister to totally mislead Parliament and the country about its import and implications.

I do not believe that Najib has deliberately told a lie about the PAB, but clearly he had been told a lie by his advisers causing him to spread a lie!

I challenge Najib to explain how he could claim that under the PAB, before the proposed amendment tomorrow to reduce the 30-day notice requirement to 10 days, it would be possible to organise an assembly "within five or 10 days"?

Let us take a hypothetical case. Say an organiser wants to hold an assembly on 30th December 2011.

Clause 9 (1) of the PAB on "Notification of assembly" provides: "An organizer shall, within thirty days before the date of an assembly, notify the Officer in Charge of the Police District (OCPD) in which the assembly is to be held".

Can Najib explain how the organiser could comply with the PAB if he gives notice to the police "within five or 10 days", i.e. from 20th December or 25th December?

This is clearly impossible because Clause 12 requires the OCPD concerned to inform "persons who have interests" within 48 hours of the assembly notification and who have five days to communicate to the Police their "concerns or objections to the assembly". This would have taken up seven days - exceeding the five-day claim by Najib that a proposed assembly could be held.

Under Clause 14, the OCPD has to respond to the notification of assembly within 12 days. Clause 16 provides four days for the right of appeal of the organiser to restrictions and conditions imposed by the police to the Home Minister, who has six days to give his decision.

This means that the quickest an organiser will know about the outcome of his notification of an assembly on Dec. 30 is 12 days after submission of notification, provided the police does not impose restrictions and conditions.

If there are police restrictions and conditions followed by appeal to the Home Minister, the quickest an organiser can clear the bureaucratic notification process is 22 days.

This means that an organiser must give notification at least 22 days before the proposed assembly date or he may not be able to complete the maximum of 22-day bureaucratic notification process.

The words "within thirty days before the date of an assembly" in Clause 9(1) is utterly misleading and meaningless and is no help to Najib to explain how an assembly under the PAB could be held "within five to 10 days".

Najib should not blame the Pakatan Rakyat for the atrocious PAB drafting but the parliamentary draftsmen, the Attorney-General and his legal officers, as well as the entire Cabinet who have proven to be sleeping on their jobs.

Najib said that under the PAB: "The Peaceful Assembly Act is divided into two categories, for designated areas, they only need to inform the police and there will be people to supervise even if it's on a short notice."

"For non-designated areas, then it will require a 10-day period so the police can negotiate with the local community to get their views." (Malaysiakini)

Here is further testimony of the atrocious drafting of the PAB. Where does the PAB say that the police must be informed for assemblies to be held in designated areas? The PAB is silent on the matter.

Najib is offended at the comparison with Myanmar but can he explain why Myanmar can pass a law on freedom of assembly requiring only five days' notice but Malaysia needs 10 days' notice?

In actual fact, if Article 10 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of assembly as one of the fundamental rights of Malaysians is to have real meaning, the government should not be designating permissible places of assembly, as all areas should be open to Malaysians to exercise their right to freedom of assembly – except for certain designated areas declared/gazetted "out of bounds" for security and other considerations.

The "designated areas" should be places where freedom of assembly is not allowed rather than where freedom of assembly is permitted.

Najib has only provided more grounds why there should be no indecent haste to force through the passage of PAB in Dewan Rakyat tomorrow and that it should be referred to a Parliamentary Select Committee for full, meaningful and mature consultation, consideration and consensus.

 

BERSIH 3.0

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 01:12 AM PST

By the total control of all legal and political apparatus, a presiding government is capable of restructuring everything to suit its needs.

By Hakim Joe

Winning at general elections are never ever about obtaining a simple majority of votes as garnering slightly more than 50 percent of all votes do not consequently signify being able to form the next government, especially against an incumbent government.

This is particularly accurate in a democratic country that possesses one single government administrating over it since independence and for more than half a century. Additionally the fact that the citizens of such a country have never experienced an alternative government
adds credence to this fact.

A government in place always has a winning formula to improve the chances of retaining its position and it is mostly by racial means especially in a multiracial nation. Even in the United States where any of its American born citizens can become the President, the two American political parties do the same. Would you field a White candidate in a majority Blacks constituency? The racial game is however played differently here whereby previous PMs declare an outright brutal war whereupon a Non-Bumiputra winning a seat would spell fire and brimstones to the Bumiputras and that all their privileges will be revoked. The question is not such an event occurring but why these privileges are accorded in the first place but no one seem to be answering that question.

A long-standing government in place enhances their probability of winning even more by manipulating the electoral structure and legal framework to befit its likelihood of victory in any general election and when the voters award not only a simple majority to them but more than two thirds of the allocated parliamentary seats, this allows the winning political party to rewrite any legislations they fancy and to appoint any individuals they deem suitable to positions of power in order to secure the outcome of the following general elections in advance. With a two-thirds majority in Parliament, any new bill will sail smoothly through regardless of whether the entire world's population opposes it or not and after being enacted as law, everything becomes legal.

By the total control of all legal and political apparatus, a presiding government is capable of restructuring everything to suit its needs.

In many a democratic country, politicians are forbidden by law to own or even to possess shares in any mass media companies. An individual seeking a political future would have to resign his position and to sell off all his shareholdings before being applicable to be nominated as a candidate in a general election. In Malaysia, the ruling political parties own the majority of the mass media and the fact remains that we, the voters, have permitted them to doing so by conferring to them the mandate to reshape any laws they desire. By controlling nearly all mass media forms, it allows them to propagandize to the people exactly what they want the people to know and withholding any news they do not want anybody to know.

The power of the media lies however in the way they tell the news. A 100,000 and more strong BERSIH 2.0 rally was reported as a group of about 5,000 unruly protestors. Without a doubt the Internet has lessened the impact of these propaganda, the truth remains that many of the rural areas remain outside the (paying) broadband coverage and the inhabitants there are dependant on both the (free) radio and the television for their daily ration of the Malaysian news.

Gerrymandering is yet another subtle but extremely effective form of legally tilting the playing field to be advantageous to particularly one political party only. Take for example the DAP "sure-win" constituency of Seputeh. In any parliamentary election for the past decade, this election results will be amongst the first to be confirmed as a landslide win for the Opposition, way before all the ballot boxes has been counted. To neutralize this phenomenon, all the EC needs to do is to redraw the boundaries and to form yet another parliamentary constituency inside Seputeh's boundaries. This does not automatically signify a win for the government as this new constituency might actually vote Opposition but with the government setting up an army camp inside it, the probability of a sure-win for
the government is almost certainly guaranteed. When this comes to pass, Teresa Kok's parliamentary seat is effectively neutralized.

Postal votes are yet another form of voting that can be manipulated even though there is no evidence to point towards it as being compromised. However the fact that more than 90 percent of all postal votes are for the same political party in every general election since independence seem doubtful even to the most liberal onlooker. The number of postal votes might not seem noteworthy but the results of many significant seats have been decided purely on these postal votes.

Inaccurate electoral rolls are a fact of life in any elections anywhere in the free world but appears consistently prevalent here. Are these the EC's unintentional mistakes due to short staffing and an insufficient budget, or otherwise? The fact that nothing has been done, or
seemed to have been done to it looks, feels and smells suspicious.

Electoral reforms to ensure fairplay and to exhibit the true intentions of the voters must be called for immediately, and subsequently be established before the next general elections. That is what BERSIH represents but with the introduction of the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 into Parliament last week to seriously curb BERSIH, its organizers and participants, the government is sending a loud message that it will no longer tolerate such actions by the people who put them there and significant measures are now undertaken to punish those
involved, bar none.

The urgent need for us all to become a single voice is mandated now unless we desire the same coalition of political parties to rule over us for yet another half a century. Will you be there on the streets when BERSIH 3.0 comes around?

 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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Foreigners, shut up: Assembly bill outlaws protests by exiles, dissidents and migrant workers

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 09:17 PM PST

For make benefit glorious nation

So if you're a political exile or dissident from another country (Burma, Mongolia, Tibet, Falun Gong, Timor, Papua, Mindanao, etc), this Bill is for your repressive government and Malaysian politicians' noted friendliness with tyrants and dictators. (Kazakhstan, anyone?).

 

Cultural Learnings of Malaysia For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of… fill in the blanks.

Mahathir's good friend. Oh shut up

This bill should be also known as the Freedom of Foreign Dictators (Tell Malaysia To Shut Up) Bill. Or maybe we should name it the Peaceful Assembly (Keep Robert Mugabe Free) Bill.

So, get the message, political exiles and dissidents from Iran, Burma, Tibet, China, Timor, Papua, Zimbabwe… this Bill is keep your horrible governments in power.

 

  • Foreigners are not allowed to protest or carry out demonstrations.
  • "The right to organise or participate in a peaceful assembly shall not extend to non-citizens". Section 4.1.a
  • That means:
    • No to political exiles and dissidents from elsewhere.
      Burmese exiles, Iranian exiles, angry Mongolian parents, Arab dissidents, Timorese exiles, Papuan exiles, China dissidents, Falun Gong, Tibetan dissidents, even Singaporean dissidents if any — find some other country.
    • No to foreign factory workers or coffeeshop workers.
      Don't protest or demonstrate about being cheated by bosses, don't protest or demonstrate about dirty labour agents, or Rela goons or crooked police or immigration officers. The Malaysian government will protect Malaysian crooks in government and business.
    • Angry foreign students, go home
      Or protest somewhere else (like Tahrir Square perhaps). Don't get angry in Malaysia. You'll be an illegal student in no time. If your college has cheated you, don't demonstrate or protest. If a crooked college agent cheated you don't demonstrate or protest. The Malaysian government protects crooked colleges.

Foreigners shut up. Just give us your money

Read more at: https://uppercaise.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/foreigners-shut-up-malaysia-says-keep-your-arab-spring-at-home/

 

Najib has taken the rakyat for a ride!

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 11:56 AM PST

We were promised that the ISA would be revoked – and the rakyat rejoiced prematurely. The joy was short-lived when it was revealed that two other laws would replace the ISA, retaining the obnoxious detention without trial. The same undemocratic features of the ISA will now come under a new name, gravely disappointing the rakyat.

We were promised easier democratic freedom of assembly without the need for police permit. The rakyat applauded this sensible approach, which seemed to guarantee the right of assembly as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. With the presentation of the Peaceful Assembly Bill, now they realise that they have been deluded once again.

The Barisan Nasional is not capable of respecting the peoples' human rights or honouring its solemn word. The BN is only used to restricting our rights, denying our freedom, controlling our space, destroying our faith in the electoral process, trampling upon our judiciary and completing ignoring what is fair and just.

Old habits die hard and that is the reason it is unwilling to surrender those rights that are justly due to the rakyat. It may proclaim that it is prepared to revoke restrictive laws but in reality it is incapable of returning these rights to the people. It can only rule forcefully; it cannot govern according to the rule of law.

We cannot and should not expect the BN to return our rights. It is not a realistic expectation. We have to take possession of our rights. We have to claim our democratic space; we have to defend our freedom.

It is in this spirit that the lawyers have decided to march on Tuesday, 29 November 2011 from the Lake Gardens to the Parliament in protest against the sham Peaceful Assembly Bill, which has made a mockery of our right to assemble peacefully and spontaneously.

This Bill imposes many unjust restrictions and conditions and subjects organisers and all participants to heavy penalties. It is clearly meant to discourage and stop peaceful protests from ever taking place. We cannot tolerate this. We cannot condone this undemocratic Bill.

READ MORE HERE.

Menyokong UMNO : ibarat menanam pohon yang condong

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 06:03 AM PST

Cerita momokan dari UMNO sahaja yang gila-gila menggunakan isu yang jika PR memerintah dan jika PR di domonasi oleh DAP maka ditakuti jawatan PM itu akan menjadi milik orang cina DAP. Momokan ini telah menjadi kempen orang-orang UMNO sekarang ini di bawah-bawah dengan tujuan menakut-nakutkan orang Melayu supaya tidak menyokong DAP.

MCA pun telah membuat kenyataan yang MCA tidak pernah terniat untuk meletakan wakilnya di Parlimen untuk menjadi PM negara ini. Kedua-dua MCA yang seratus peratus dari orang cina dan DAP sebuah parti berbilang kaum yang kini masih di dominasi oleh kaum cina telah menyatakan dengan jelas dan terang yang apa yang di cadangkan oleh setengah pihak supaya perlembagaan kita dipinda untuk memberi kepastian yang jawatan PM itu di pegang oleh orang Melayu itu di berikan kepastian mengikut perlembagaan.

Saya telah menulis tentang hal ini, tetapi tidak pernah mendapat ulasan yang baik selain dari membabikan dan menyumpah seranah saya dan sesiapa juga yang menulis tentang isu ini. Apa yang diperlukan oleh orang cina ialah untuk mempunyai sebuah kerajaan yang 'descent' dan kerajaan yang mengikut 'rule of law' serta tidak rasuah dan rasis serta melakukan penyalahan gunaan kuasa seperti yang dilakukan oleh BN terutamanya UMNO dan MCA.

Itulah sebabnya kita nampak jelas yang orang cina sudah mengambil keputusan untuk menarik balik sokongan terhadap MCA dan memberikan keyakinan kepada DAP sekarang ini.Oleh kerana kefahaman tentang isu ini sudah mulai ada di kalangan orang Melayu, maka sudah wujud kecenderungan orang Melayu memberikan sokongan terhadap DAP sebagai jalan keluar untuk memberitahu pimpinan UMNO yang UMNO sudah terlalu jauh tersasar dari perjuangan kebangsaannya.

Orang Melayu sudah hilang kesabaran melihatkan partinya UMNO itu telah menggunakan kesempatan di atas sokongan secara otomatik selama ini untuk menyalah gunaan wang rakyat dan telah membantutkan perjuangan parti itu sebagai parti untuk semua rakyat tanpa mengira kaum.

Akhir-akhir ini UMNO sudah jelas menunjukan yang parti itu sudah hilang 'magnanimitynya' kerana dalam keadaan terdesak penyokong-penyokongnya beserta dengan pemimpinnya telah meniupkan sentimen perkauman untuk mengekalkan sokongan orang Melayu. UMNO telah memainkan sentimen perkauman ini dengan menakut-nakutkan orang Melayu bahawa jika UMNO hilang kuasa, ianya bermakna orang Melayu akan tidak mempunyai harga diri dalam negaranya sendiri lagi.

Masih ada yang termakan dengan isu yang dimainkan oleh UMNO itu tetapi ianya terdiri dari penyokong-penyokong membuta tuli yang tidak berfikir secara serius dalam usaha membenteras kemungkaran politik dan ekonmi negara yang telah di lakukan oleh UMNO sejak 3 dekad yang lalu.

Orang UMNO di mana-mana berfikir yang sokongan mereka terhadap UMNO itu ibarat menanam pokok yang condong; pohonnya tumbuh di halaman sendiri tetapi buahnya jatuh di laman orang. Yang untung hanyalah kroni-kroni yang mengambil kesempatan di atas hubungan rapat dengan pemimpin-pemimpin yang didukong orang Melayu itu.

Orang Melayu telah memberikan sokongan secara total selama ini tetapi apabila rakyat sudah mulai celek mereka tetah membuat keputusan untuk berjuang bersama dengan secara aktif melakukan pembaharuan minda dan telah mula menolak UMNO secara beransur-ansur sejak tiga pilihan raya yang lalu (tidak termasuk pru 2004) dan mula memberikan tumpuan kepada parti-parti alternatif.

Apabila UMNO sudah mula terhakis sokongan orang Melayu maka secara direct ianya telah menjejaskan sokongan orang cina terhadap MCA yang juga mempunyai kelemahan yang sama seperti UMNO; iaitu menyalah gunakan kuasa sewenang-wenangnya. Kalau tidak takkanlah isu rasuah yang melibatkan RM12 billion PKFZ telah melibatkan Menteri-Menteri MCA dengan sokongan pemimpin-pemimpin UMNO di Selangor.

READ MORE HERE

 

Muhyiddin's uphill battle. the UMNO vice presidents say no

Posted: 26 Nov 2011 04:41 PM PST

I have written an earlier article giving out what I thought some warnings to UMNO and BN.  This time I didn't write on how I think UMNO and BN can lose. I wrote instead the other way round - how Pakatan can win.

As expected, it didn't go down well with UMNO people. That's of no importance to me. UMNO thinks it can corner the rural votes. Maybe they can and do, but every time Anwar Ibrahim who is bombarded with sexual allegations at every waking hour wants to hold a ceramah umum in rural areas, UMNO goes on super panic mode. It uses all the repressive instruments of the state- the police, army, Rela people to prevent Anwar speaking.

Apa pasal? I say, let the damaged good do his thing. People are intelligent enough- they read newspapers and other media instruments to be able to make proper judgment. And you have all the UMNO cybertroopers around to make sure Anwar is crucified with new information about his sexual trysts and China doll and what not. And you have Quiet Despair to anchor a more cerebral and spirited rendition of Anwar's persecution. Don't worry; we will give him as much space as possible here.

I think Muhyidin this time around speaks with a touch of realism. Maybe he refuses to be bamboozled with over optimistic JASA reports – I saw some of them especially on Pahang and I was laughing. Were they written while drinking kopi tiam or eating keropok lekor? Or were they written while sitting on the bed at home? Those suckers at HQ won't be able to tell the difference.

Muhyidin must be thinking about his home state too. Ong Kah Ting is not going to contest. His seat may go. Hishamudin is retreating to Kota Tinggi. That means Syed Hamid Albar isn't contesting anymore as he is no longer winnable. Sembrong is gone. Bakri seat is another area that's losable. Subramaniam can say bye bye to Segamat. Pasir Gudang is another parliamentary seat that looks shaky. Johore will remain a bastion for UMNO still, but a few more parliamentary seats are gone. The labis seat, Pulai seat, Gelang Patah seat, are all at risks. If Shahrir does not stand in JB, that seat will migrate too. These may not all go to PKR but DAP is set to take over some of these seats. The opposition may increase their parliamentary presence from the current 1 to 7 seats.

There's one commentator (Quiet Despair) who thinks PKR cannot win any parliamentary sets in Sarawak. The SUPP seats will all go to DAP.  As to PKR, allow me to cite one observation passed to me by the Oracle of Syed Putera. He was commenting on the Sarawak state elections then. The victory of 100% by PBB candidates (its record is thus anytime better than UMNO's) wasn't unexpected. The Oracle wasn't interested to speak on what the mainstream newspapers were screaming haughtily regarding the victory. He was more concerned about the victory by PKR in the Sarawak state elections. Anwar Ibrahim with all the assassinations carried out on a daily basis, managed to assist Baru Bian get 3 seats! What do the wins represent? Unless UMNO people are sleeping or are busy shashaying in the lobby of Concorde Hotel and cockily holding fort in the coffee house, the wins tell us, the opposition can win. PKR made inroads in Dayak grounds. And Oracle must be mimicking Daim Zainudin.

Then the news about the sacking of one ADUN from SPDP came. SPDP has 4 parliamentary seats. The sacking shows there are dissension with the SPDP and may result in election losses. With the SUPP gone, PBB is banking on SPDP and PRS which has 6 seats. The two have 10 seats between them; a number of these will fall to PKR. The Oracle was even saying, at this moment, Daim thinks, the Opposition has 16 seats in the bag from Sarawak.

This thing about saying that someone is over the hill and past the time, is haunting the UMNO people. Yet they forget repeatedly to shut their mouth. Before 2008 Daim Zainudin was saying that BN will lose 5 states. Everyone was saying he's past his prime and over the hill and other unmentionables. This time he's more or less saying the same thing.

That's why the Oracle says, the UMNO people are sleeping when they dismissed the few seats won by Baru Bian in the Sarawak state elections. That's just a precursor of worse things to come.

That's how I see the GE13.

Now, let's get back to what Rahim Tamby Chik said in an UMNO forum. Rahim Tamby Chik (RTC) has now achieved political significance that he couldn't achieved before- being mentioned in the same bandwidth as Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Otherwise, as we know, hehe, Rahim is mentioned and associated more with less than regal extra-political pursuits. He is deep and down you know.

We now come to the most interesting bit about Rahim's political imagination- Tengku Razaleigh being invited to become the PM.

In order for that to take place, TRH must have standing. He has standing by the following manner;

(1)        He heads a political party. That party then can become the negotiating entity sought after by the people who want to form a government. He has none at the moment. AMANAH is an NGO which he heads is not a political party and so, he has no standing to be called in should there be a hung parliament. 

(2)        He could have a standing on the other hand, if he heads a faction in UMNO with enough numbers to go along with him should he decide to part ways with mother ship UMNO. Right now, I don't see any number of MPs being with Tengku Razaleigh. Some may agree with his stand and ideas but are always mindful to stay on the side on which the bread is buttered. None are brave enough to be with him while serving as UMNO MPs. Just look as some of the erstwhile comrades who were with Razaleigh before- Shabery Chik for example- who served as TRH's personal assistant and speech writer sometimes is touching TRH with a 10 foot pole. The minister of Information who used to be the number 2 man in Semangat 46 and who burnt his bridges to cinders is working overtime to make sure everyone knows he has nothing to do with Tengku.

So we can rule out the formation of another political party by Tengku Razaleigh or Tengku having the standing by heading a faction within UMNO.

So why should Tengku Razaleigh be invited at all? In what capacity?

The answer is the hard realities of Malaysian politics.

Let us assume a hung parliament. It can take place when not one single party has the majority in parliament. Any one party can have the largest number of seats which if it less than 112, can never go on to form the government. Let's say UMNO comes out with the most seats- 70 from its current 79. It is the party with the largest number.

What happens when the results of the elections come out? The first person or persons to see the Agong will be the chief secretary and possibly the AG because of the constitutional implications. He will look around and inform the Agong, the party that has the largest number is UMNO. The Agong then summons UMNO to inquire whether it can form the government. UMNO looks around; it sees its traditional partners decimated.

It casts its eyes, and sees possibly PBB which probably retains 12 seats. But what if 16 seats are won by the opposition there? PBB has only 3 more seats friendly to offer. Taib Mahmud says, boss I can only offer 15 seats. The other 16 have gone to DAP and PKR and to those who don't want BN anymore. I can't gawai and ngajat anymore. It makes me dizzy.

UMNO plus the Sarawak party now has 85 seats. If we are kind enough, let's say MCA managed to wriggle through with 3 seats- UMNO/BN has 88. MIC delivers 1 seat. Now it has 89.

Out of the 25 seats in Sabah, after excluding UMNO, BN takes another 8. In total now, UMNO and BN have 97 seats. Still not enough ma….

READ MORE HERE

 

More On Daya Syukra – The Samling Connection!

Posted: 26 Nov 2011 03:37 PM PST

The first thing it shows is how dangerous he knows such questions are.  To sell a huge area of valuable state land worth RM225 million to a company owned by his own kids for just RM2 million is plain, dirty corruption for all to see. 

This is exactly what YB Wong King Wei most recently revealed in the State Assembly with his question about the scandal of Shoreline Development Sdn Bhd. 

As we know, there have been plenty of similar thefts linked to other scandals, such as Monarda Sd Bhd and the land round Kuching airport; the handouts to Naim Cendara; the World Heritage site of Borsamulu given to his sister and of course the scandal of the contracts and plantation licences given to Taib's son Abu Bekir's Titanium Management, which YB Chong also drew attention to in a series of separate parliamentary questions last week.

The Chief Minister is already suffering the indignity of a public investigation by the MACC, as well as questions over money laundering in Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Canada. Those investigators are not going to have to work very hard with such evidence as the Shoreline Development deal revealed in broad daylight! 

Voter power

I voted BN and all they ever gave me was this lousy t-shirt!

And what are voters to think with an election just round the corner?  Remember, it has just been announced that Taib's administration has only been able to allocate a tiny RM3.47 million to help alleviate the hard core rural poverty that afflicts so many Dayaks in Malaysia's richest state. 

It is now easy to see why there is no money to help the starving poor, since Taib has just stolen land that could have raised RM222 million and given it to his own mega-rich children instead! 

The second great weakness that Taib's behaviour reveals is that he clearly has not realised how times have changed. He now faces a real and strong opposition in the State Assembly and in his appearances there he is looking increasingly like an old man in the dock!

He can no longer control the opposition by simply trying to silence it.  Furthermore, his old tactics for suppressing embarrassing information can no longer work. Because, whatever the tame Speaker tries to do in the way of altering parliamentary records and shutting up speakers, the Chief Minister and his cronies can not wipe this information off the internet!

The Samling connection

YB Wong pointed out that the lucky owners of Shoreline Development Sdn Bhd, who were able to walk off with a RM 225 million plot of 90 acres for just RM 2 million, were two companies, Plieran Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Land Sdn Bhd.

Behind closed doors. Deals involving State Lands should be open and everyone should be allowed to bid. Then it would not end up going cheap to Taib's family!

Company information plainly shows that Plieran Sdn Bhd is fully owned by KBE Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which is 60% owned by Daya Syukra Sdn Bhd, which in turn is owned by Taib's kids Jamilah, Abu Bekir, Sulaiman and Hanifah! 

So, who are the other shareholders of KBE Malaysia Sdn Bhd?  They turn out to be the logging tycoon Yaw Teck Seng of Samling and Wan Morshidi bin Tuanku Abdul Rahman, a close proxy for Taib's own uncle and predecessor, Abdul Rahman Ya'kub.  

READ MORE HERE

 

Sabahans gather to say “No to the Peaceful Assembly Act”

Posted: 26 Nov 2011 03:34 PM PST

Date : 29th November, 2011

Time  : 11.30am

Venue : The square behind the Long Mall, around the monument, in Doggongon.

Wear yellow if you can. If you don't have yellow, just be there.

Good people of Sabah, will you allow UMNO and BN to continue to rob you of your rights and your dignity?

Is it not enough that they have taken your land and your wealth?

READ MORE HERE

 

What now Anwar?

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 04:16 PM PST

No it is not me going PKR bashing again! Be rest assured that my bashing of UMNO and Barisan Nasional is  more relentless and sustained. What I do not want PKR to be are the debris of history  - leaving nothing tangible that could help our people and our nation to survive UMNO and Barisan Nasional.

This is what I wrote of Anwar on the 22nd of February in 2009 – almost three years ago. Nothing much has change – not Anwar and certainly not my opinion of him!

But what will haunt Anwar will be this: Too many friends and allies have now become his nemesis. Anwar listens but does not hear. He looks but does not see. What now Anwar?  

READ MORE HERE

 

Politics - play safe, play the race

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:12 PM PST

For a start, I am troubled by many factors – UMNO's advantage of incumbency, our remarkable EC and other state apparatus (which performance had been amply demonstrated in Perak, Selangor and during the earlier days of the Pakatan-governed Penang), increasingly royal political activitism, the judiciary, etc.

But the most worrying factor has been the centrifugal policies and behaviour of Pakatan itself.

We witnessed a sampling of this in the period of campaigning leading to the last Sarawak state election and its sour-grapes aftermath, PAS increasing reversion to its intrinsic hudud-inclined stripes, as well as in recent remarks by PKR leaders.

The new PKR ethnic hero is Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, its Youth Chief, who has borrowed (or inherited) a leaf from his mother organization, UMNO Youth, by selling his and his party's appeal on a Malaysian sure-fire best-selling platform, definitely one to warm the cockles of the heartland, namely, Ketuanan Melayu or Malay-supremacy.

While UMNO Youth under KJ has quietened down a wee bit (perhaps because KJ wants to present himself as a less crude and more cosmopolitan politician, or because UMNO Youth has already farmed out its brown-shirts and steel jackboots to Perkasa), PKR Youth has instead eagerly adopted its ethno-centric tactics.

The acorn sure as hell doesn't fall far from the oak tree.

According to Malaysiakini Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin called for a constitutional amendment to state that only a Malay can be appointed prime minister.

Jettisoning his party's mantra of (wakakaka) reformasi, he justified his ethnocentric persuasion, stating: "The lack of such a constitutional provision allows irresponsible quarters to manipulate Malay anxieties about their future (should a non-Malay be appointed PM). This is because of the suspicions they have of those from other ethnic backgrounds. Such manipulation can cause them to feel unsafe and create tensions. This way, the Malays will always pin their hopes on these so-called Malay champions, who turn out to be the real enemies."

And he comes even complemented with a very supportive BN-type lapdog in the person of his deputy Chan Ming Kai, who stoutly defended his Taikoh's siren call to the heartland.

READ MORE HERE

 

Dissolution of Parliament in March

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:08 PM PST

There will be a motion to repeal the ISA in March and depending on the outcome of the elections the new government if it is led by the BN will reinstate the ISA if they win with  a clear majority, or the bill may be held in ambiance as it will then be awaiting Royal consent and accordingly it will either receive or not receive Royal consent.

This is  the game being played and a plan of this government, fearing that they might be ousted in the next General Elections they are taking all measures to protect themselves. They fear that the armed forces and the police may break ranks and follow the orders of the government of the day, and so in order to ensure that they can use whatever means within their power they may try and retake Parliament by foul means, and if they fail take flight from the country, to do this safely they'll have to revoke the  ISA lest they become victims of their own folly.

An UMNO source says this was the brain child of the Attorney General who himself is afraid of being held accountable should the Barisan lose the next General Elections. It has received the tacit approval of Mahathir and Najib and the possibility of the formation of another National Operations Council (NOC) is very real, the irony is it is being put in place by Najib Tun Razak – like father like son.

The NOC idea is to be the first option should they lose the General Elections.

Huge sums of money are being transferred out of Malaysia on a daily basis, it is worst than the Indian Black market, and the only person capable of making such transactions is none other than an Indian who masquerades as a Malay, he has a an entire brigade of money changers working for him, he does not need sophisticated banking systems to take that money out.

The situation is rife the man who said what is happening in Syria, and  Egypt cannot happen in Malaysia is now rather quiet, he sees the possibility that it will happen here, the people are fed up, and they want their dignity back. 

The people of Malaysia want their country back and in that process there will be assemblies, peaceful or otherwise, no Malaysian rally has been violent,  it only became violent because the government made it violent by use of brutal police force, and the people who participated in those rallies were victims of violence. It has been proven  in the Tung Shin Hospital incident.  It happened time and time again in Malaysia.

Malaysian football crowds were never violent, they shouted they jeered, they cheered but they were never violent, violence is not our way of life and many a foreigner will attest to that. But his government in pursuit of its own agenda are and have proven to be capable of turning rallies violent if it suits them, safety and human life seems to take a back seat when their own interests are involved.

Elections are due after the March sitting of Parliament, a lot of issues need to be ironed out and as Mahathir put it, Najib has done nothing since he came to office, he has been more preoccupied with his foreign travel, his shopping trips for Rosmah, his promotion of Rosmah to first lady and the immense importance he has given her in Malaysian politics that she is sometimes made to look as the defacto minister of foreign affairs.

Whilst Rosmah basks in her popularity, and her ability to appear daily in the press, more often than the Deputy PM and even the PM, in fact more often than any minister and members of Parliament, the Malaysian community and more particularly the Malays are angry at her arrogance, and her lavishness and though many may not be familiar with the famed Maria Antoinette, they are with Imelda Marcos and have drawn a parallel between the two.

 
 

Untuk mengelak Bill Perhimpunan Aman terus dilaksanakan - jangan beri lagi mandat kepada UMNO

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 06:59 AM PST

Cadangan ini adalah bercanggah dengan kehendak perlembagaan yang membenarkan rakyat menyuarakan pandangan dan pendapat mereka melalui perhimpunan secara aman. Demokrasi hanyalah dalam bentuk packagingnya sahaja tetapi sebenarnya di alam packaging itu penuh dengan elemen dictatorship dan jika BN mengambil kesempatan untuk mendapatkan kelulusan dengan sokongan 'simple majority' di parlimen ia tidak lain dari tindakan menekan terhadap gerakan fikiran rakyat untuk melakukan perubahan.

Bagi pendapat saya secara peribadi, BN akan teruskan membentangkan bill ini dan akan mendapat kelulusan 'simple majority' di dewan parlimen. Tidak ada siapa yang boleh menyangkalnya jika BN masih mahukan akta yang menekan ini untuk dikenakan kepada rakyat.

Perhimpunan tidak dibenarkan di semua tempat dan ini adalah cara BN untuk mengelakan insiden seperti Bersih 2.0 untuk berlaku sekali lagi. Tentunya bill ini merupakan tanda-tanda yang kerajaan BN tidak akan melaksanakan pilihanraya secara adil dan bill ini penting untuk mengelakan reaksi marah rakyat yang ramai.

Saya tidak mahu komen banyak tentang isu ini. Hanya saya hendak bersama dalam isu menentang bill ini kerana ianya akan menjadikan negara ini sebagai apa yang dikatakan sebagai 'police state' dan ianya tidak ada bezanya dengan sebuah negara yang berkepimpinan diktator yang bersalutkan demokrasi.

Saya telah sebutkan beberapa kali yang demokrasi di negara ini telah beransur-ansur mati. Jika pilihanraya di adakan kali ini saya berkeyakinan yang isu ini akan dapat di atasi jika semua rakyat bersatu; tidak kira apa bangsa sekali pun untuk pergi ke peti undi dengan aman dan terus sahaja memberikan undi kepada mana-mana parti selain dari UMNO dan BN.

Dengan cara ini tidak payah lagi kita hendak bertengkar dan berbahas. Bagi saya masa untuk berbahas sudah tidak ada lagi kerana UMNO dan BN tidak akan dapat mengubati penyakit rendah diri itu lagi. Penyakit itu sudah menjadi kanser tahap empat. UMNO tidak akan berubah lagi.

Kita sepatutnya tidak merasa bersalah lagi untuk meninggalkan UMNO itu kerana ianya lebih membawa penyakit dari membawa yang baik untuk rakyat. Rakyat tidak di berikan kebebasan untuk berfikir. Kita hanya dibenarkan untuk menganggok sahaja dan tidak dibenarkan mengeleng.

Jika ini cara UMNO memimpin dan membina pembangunan rakyat, kita akan menjadi rakyat yang tolol dan tidak boleh berbeza fikiran lagi.

READ MORE HERE

 

Contact your MP now!

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 07:10 PM PST

This Bill is scheduled to for its second reading and debates in Parliament this coming Tuesday (29 Nov) and it only requires a simple majority of votes from the MPs who are present, before it is passed. Out of the 222 MPs in the Dewan, there are 137 from BN, 75 from PR and 10 others. 

Hence, it is crucial for us to get each of our MPs to voice our rejection of this Bill!

Let's contact our MP now! Here's 4-easy-steps to do it:


 1)    Know which constituency / area you are in Visit the  SPR/EC (Election Commission) website,

  • key in IC # 
  • and get the code for your Parliament ( e.g. P010 - Kuala Kedah)


2)    Visit the Parlimen website to get your MP's name and contact details.
  • Go to Dewan Rakyat > Ahli Dewan > Select Negeri

3)    Now you know who your MP is! You can:

a.    Email (cc us: hellomp.2011[at]gmail.com) or Fax the following text:

READ MORE HERE

 

BREAKING NEWS: Two Black Eyes for AG and MACC!

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:50 PM PST

At that time, Dato Ramli was about to expose the connection of then IGP Musa Hassan with the loan shark Along syndicates in the case of Goh Cheng Poh @ Tengku Goh whom Dato Ramli had arrested when the country was facing the Along menace. Goh had specifically named Musa Hassan in his affidavits. To cover up for Musa Hassan, AG Gani Patail refused to prepare affidavits for the Police. In the end, the CCID asked for help from lawyer Rosli Dahlan. That landed the poor lawyer into trouble.

Goh had specifically named Musa Hassan in his affidavits

At the same time, Dato Ramli had also recommended to then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli should be charged for various offences in regard to the MAS Scandal. The MAS Scandal came to the surface recently when Minister Dato Seri Nazri Aziz tried to force several GLCs to accept  a Global Settlement that would allow Tajudin to be freee from all civil liabilities and indebtedness. Nazri has since said that was just an advice to settle.

Dato Ramli had also recommended to then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi that Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli should be charged for various offences in regard to the MAS Scandal.

In the end, Goh Cheng Poh was released and Tajudin remained a free rich man, but Dato Ramli Yusuff and Lawyer Rosli Dahlan were charged for doing their jobs in preventing abuses, corruption and crimes amongst the highest echelons of the country. The Courts have since acquitted both of them from all the charges. But AG Gani Patail was not satisfied and directed the MACC to appeal against all these acquittals.

So, this morning two of the AG/MACC appeals came up before two different High Courts. AG Gani Patail's oppresiveness can be seen in the manner that both the cases are  being called at the same time. This was what AG Gani Patail did when he charged Dato Ramli in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu both at the same. How did he expect Dato Ramli to be in two different courts more than 1623 km apart separated by the South China Sea?!

AG Gani Patail's oppresiveness can be seen in the manner that both the cases are being called at the same time. This was what AG Gani Patail did when he charged Dato Ramli in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu both at the same. How did he expect Dato Ramli to be in two different courts more than 1623 km apart separated by the South China Sea?!

That was what AG Gani Patail did to Dato Ramli Yusuff. That was how cruel he behaved. Rosli Dahlan was not spared and was given an even more as cruel treatment. He was assaulted, dragged from his office and paraded in the courts' corridors [see previous posting]

At 10 am this morning, the first case was that called . This was the MACC'S appeal aganst the acquittal by Sessions Judge M Komathy. High Court Judge Dato Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah was very clear when he said that there was no basis to charge Dato Ramli and to then appeal against the acquittal granted by Judge M Komathy. He chided DPP Ahmad Bache for the appeal.

READ MORE HERE

 

Going Shopping: Lawyers on the march

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:32 PM PST

Shopping promotion

  • 7.30pm today
    Candlelight vigil
    Bar Council
    15 Lebuh Pasar, Kuala Lumpur
    MAP: http://is.gd/BSW9hw
  • 2pm-3pm tomorrow
    KLCC Walkabout
    KLCC Park near the Water Fountain
    Details: http://is.gd/JiGhib
  • 11.30am Tuesday Nov 29
    Bar Council's Walk For Freedom
    from Lake Club to Parliament House
    MAP: http://is.gd/BSW9hw

In order to meet the statutory requirement — to uphold the cause of justice without fear or favour — lawyers have decided a peaceful assembly to challenge the Peaceful Assembly Bill brought before Parliament this week, which is scheduled for speedy passage through the house.

Malaysia's lawyers will thus "Go Shopping", an activity first popularised by journalist and wildlife activist Sabry Zain in the late 1990s, when enthusiastic crowds thronged Batu Road, the old shopping district of Kuala Lumpur, in a spontaneous procession filling up the streets for hundreds of metres, playing hide-and-seek with happy blue-uniformed government supporters earning double time with batons, truncheons and tear gas.

Go Shopping with Aunty at KLCC

Other civil society organisations are also rallying support for the right of the people to "Go Shopping". Auntie Bersih (Annie Ooi), a recognised expert in the art of taking long walks through the city centre in a yellow T-shirt, has promised to turn up at Kuala Lumpur City Centre on Saturday for a public protest organised by academic activist Wong Chin Huat.

Chin Huat, a political scientist, is one of many people dissatisfied with amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act under the federal government's reform programme, in which simple-minded university students unable to think for themselves will be protected from thinking about politics and encouraged to concentrate on studies that do not require any thinking.

Freedom Not To Think Bill

Federal government officials, compliant university academics and the mass media are united in seeing the virtues of reforms that do not require thinking on the part of university administrations or their students. Academics such as Wong Chin Huat, however, firmly believe that students who practise some thinking by doing so may protect federal government officials from thinking about sex and other acts.

Freedom From Your Politics on Campus Bill

The Universities and University Colleges Act (often shortened to UUCA) may now be cited as the Freedom From Your Kind of Politics in Campus Act. It may also be shortened to the U Just Don't C Act.

Freedom of Shopping (Tourism) (Non-Traffic Jams) Bill

The draft legislation on peaceful non-public non-protests may now also be cited as the Freedom To Keep Shops Open Bill, or alternatively the Freedom Of Foreign Tourists Frightened By Coloured People Bill, and also as the Freedom Of Retired Army Generals Not To Get Stuck In Traffic Jams After Golf Bill.

The federal government's frantic race to reform, however, suffered a minor setback in public relations when Malaysia was beaten to it by Burma, the military-run leper state of Asean which has not had a Parliament in 50 years let alone the right to protest.

READ MORE HERE

 

Government Screwing Up Durians As Well

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:18 PM PST

First of all, a little recap. As we all know, many stage bus operators in the smaller towns have stopped their services or are stoppinmg their services. They have been running at losses and they cannot survive anymore. Is that so? Is that really the case?

What happened to Sri Jaya Bus, Uttam Singh Bus, Yellow Bus, Patt Hup Bus, Len Seng Bus, Foh Hup Bus, Selangor Omnibus, and so on? These are well known stage bus operators who operated stage buses in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Tampin, Selangor and other places. But most importantly, for decades, they had been providing fairly good services to the rural people. People could go from A to B. What happened to all these bus operators? Many of them are coming to a stop.

The bottom line is, you can think you are being very clever, but if you mess with the market, this is what will happen - the bus services come to a stop.

You think you are being clever, you mess with the fish wholesalers and what happens? You make their operating costs too high. They make losses. So they will not sell fish anymore. Fish prices skyrocket, siapa jadi miskin dulu? Takkan kita nak makan babi? So the Government flip flopped. The fish wholesalers went back to work. Dont impose ridiculous rules on the fish wholesalers.

You mess with the Hire Purchase Act (HPA), the used car dealers' cost of doing business went up. The risk borne by the used car dealers also went up. Then what happened? The used car dealers stopped buying used cars. If people cannot sell their old cars to the used car dealers, the people will not buy a new car.

So new car sales died. This happened just a few months ago. Dah lupa ke. Then the Government flip flopped, amended or did not implement the HPA amendments - and things have returned back to normal.

And it goes on and on. Yes 30 year old school buses must get off the road. But give them enough licenses, give them cheaper buses (without AP). Only then you can put a gun to their head and say 'Change your buses'.

But when nothing much has been done to improve their cost structure, and you still put a gun to their head and say 'change your buses' the guy simply will not run his school bus anymore. He does not have money to change his bus according to your timetable. So he has to pull his bus off the road. Bottom line : no school buses. The school children and their parents suffer. Parents have to become chaueffeurs. Menyusahkan orang saja.

So the Government flip flopped. The Government postponed the requirement to change the 30 year buses. It will not make any difference. There are reasons (in this country many of them are artificial) that determine the cost of running any bus. As long as these costs are artificially high, the bus operators will operate at very thin margins. Putting more pressure on their margins will result in buses being pulled off the road. Bas tak ada. Siapa jadi miskin dulu?

SPAD has become quite a spud over the stage buses. They dont know what to do. (Read on - the solution is simple). SPAD is gearing itself up to oversee the RM26.0 billion MRT project instead. Not drive down to some local bus station in Tampin or Alor Gajah and sort out the problems being faced by the stage bus operators.

Someone came up with an idea that teachers should work 9 am - 5am. Why? Sakit hati ke tengok cikgu sekolah balik rumah pukul 1 tengah hari? I guess the cikgu threatened to vote for the Opposition. This idea too was dropped. Another flip flop.

To solve the stage bus operators' problem first of all it is important to just understand this part - Bas dah tak jalan dah. Boleh faham ke?

READ MORE HERE

 

Malaysia – Defending the Constitution

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:47 AM PST

The Prime Minister announced that the ruling coalition will abolish the Internal Security Act. This has been met with cynicism by many – understandably. In the months since the announcement, there has been much backtracking. But the announcement itself was remarkable. A Prime Minister from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party which has held power since Independence, announced the repeal of the ISA. And this was a direct result of public pressure – a public that overwhelmingly supported the law and its use less than a decade ago.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had also announced that he will be ending the numerous states of emergency in force in Malaysia for over three decades. This will automatically signal the end of the other major piece of legislation that allows for detention without trial, the Emergency Ordinance. There should have been mass jubilation on the part of those who participated in the Bersih rallies, those who have been pushing for the repeal of this legislation for decades, but there wasn't.

The government acted just as the cynics predicted. The repeal of the ISA, the ending of the emergencies, are now being supplemented by a raft of legislation that will ironically strip Malaysians further of their fundamental liberties enshrined in the Constitution. And the Government has also promised that it will be drafting and putting before Parliament new 'anti-terror' legislation that will bring back detention without trial.

The Orwellian titled Peaceful Assembly Bill is a bill that bans street protests – marching from one place to another in support of (or objecting to) a cause. So the Terry Fox run is out. It also bans non-citizens and children from taking part in any assemblies. Children are allowed to take part in four types of assembly – religious, funerals, assemblies related to custom or those approved by the Minister. Nature walks, trips to a science museum, even a school assembly must all fall under one of these categories, or the organisers, children and parents face hefty fines or other legal action.

Organisers of an assembly must be over the age of 21. I would have been in big trouble – as a child I organised activities to raise money for various charities. Some of these included assemblies of various kinds. Non-citizens are not allowed to organise or participate in assemblies – and given that around twenty five percent of Malaysian workforce is estimated to comprise migrant workers, this has huge implications for labour relations.

The Third Schedule of the Bill outlines the type of activities that do not require notification. It includes wedding parties, but not birthday parties, anniversary celebrations or other private functions. It includes family days held by employers for their employees, but not trainings, talks or lectures.

The Bill outlines the role of the police, which says nothing about respecting the rights of citizens to gather – it says the policy may arrest, may detain, and must be listened to.

READ MORE HERE

 

Tengku Razaleigh As Interim Prime Minister

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 12:34 AM PST

Yesterday evening I attended a seminar where the closing session discussed Malaysia's politics in 2012. Upon request by the organiser (a dear friend) I cannot say which seminar. Some of you folks were there as well - I am sure. The topic was the 13th General Elections.

When will the 13th General Elections be held? One speaker pointed out that the GE is not due until 28 April 2013. And Constitutionally it can even be postponed by another two months. Lim Guan Eng has said that if the GE is called before June 2012, then the Pakatan held States will not dissolve their State assemblies. Karpal Singh is not in agreement.

Some other folks I met say that the 13th GE will be held about six months after that Parliamentary subcommittee to study the Electoral reforms has been appointed. The subcommittee has just been appointed in November. Six months hence is therefore April 2012 - still a year before the full term ends.

My view is it depends on whether the Crown Prince of Sungei Buloh is sent back to sit on his throne in Sungei Buloh. If he is sentenced to sing-sing, there will be some outcry and some sympathy. It will take about six months before the sympathy dies down. His backaches will also start again within about six months of being put in sing-sing. I can already imagine all those pictures of him - wearing braces and sitting in a wheel chair - being smuggled out of sing-sing. (All this is based on whether he is found guilty or not ok).

Anyway one of the speakers said (to my surprise) that he had spoken to the Crown Prince's lawyers who do not feel confident that their client will be found innocent. In other words they also feel he will be found guilty of the charges.

So six months from a guilty verdict will be about just right to have the Elections. My own view is that lets have the elections in 2013. We need more time to put things right. The time is not right yet.

And the PM needs to really revamp the Cabinet. No revamp - can get mauled in the General Elections. Two other things were mentioned yesterday. One speaker said that possibly 70% of voters have already made up their minds who they want to vote. It will be very difficult to change their minds. The battle is actually (or always has been) for that remaining 30% fence sitters. I think there is some truth in this. At the last General Elections, many people decided to vote for the Opposition - no matter what you said or did, they were going to vote Opposition.

Post 2008, I once embarrased (just pulling their leg) a group of hard core UMNO supporters at a dinner by asking 'Whoever DID NOT vote for the Opposition please raise your hands'. No one raised their hands. I think had voted for the Opposition in 2008. Everyone just wanted to be rid of Slumberjack and the corrupt SIL.

Anyway, the clever lady who spoke yesterday said something else which I feel is extremely important. And for this round, the Prime Minister better take note of this point extremely very well.

She said that the last 10 - 14 days before the General Elections are very crucial to help people make up their minds. Since most General Elections only have about two weeks campaigning period, this means a sizeable number of people (possibly that 30% of undecided voters) will actually make up their minds within 10 - 14 days before Polling Day.

By that time, all the candidates representing all the parties will be known to everyone. This time around if folks like the "Lembu Condo" people appear on the ballot, there will be a price to pay. If the Mat Rempit fellow appears on the ballot, or the SIL, there will be a price to pay. Times have changed.

READ MORE HERE

 

The 13th GE: Its an open field

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:56 PM PST

Those were the observations and musings by (RTC) on the political possibilities after the GE13. What is intriguing was his warning that a hung parliament will create instability. I hope we will not be in such a situation. Malaysians would prefer a clear cut victory one way or the other.

I am not going to respond to his nervous prognosis; being more interested on how such a scenario can possibly happen and what are the implications if it does. I don't think we are going to have a hung parliament. It will be clear cut either way. I am also bemused at his attempt to involve Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in such a scenario. To qualify as a participant in any future negotiations should a hung parliament comes into being, TRH must be head of a political party. Right now, TRH is in UMNO and doesn't head a party nor is he a leader of any faction in UMNO. Could Rahim's advice be another attempt to isolate TRH from UMNO?

TRH is far too principled to agree being appointed as leader of government on a personal to holder basis. He will be a figurehead.  Oh, because Tengku has never disowned the ambitions to become PM, comes the answer from UMNO people. So my answer is- why should he not have that ambition? He was cheated to becoming one before. He has all the credentials to become one.

Here is an interesting piece of information. When certain UMNO people wanted to kick out Abdullah Badawi , they approached Tengku Razaleigh for a solution. Their agenda was only one- because of Najib's hesitation they went to see Razaleigh asking him to stand as UMNO president and Muhyidin as Deputy President. This group was made up of powerful people, united at that time, by their intense disapproval and loathing of Dollah Badawi. My point is this- at that time, they didn't think it was inappropriate for Tengku Razaleigh to become UMNO president and if he had won, go on to become PM. Tengku's ambition wasn't an issue. His age wasn't an issue. The fundamental objective was to remove Pak Lah.

Why should the opposition parties invite Tengku Razaleigh to become PM, if they could win the elections on their own? PAS has Haji Hadi, DAP has Lim Guan Eng and PKR has Anwar Ibrahim? This assessment presupposes that between the 3, neither one accepts the leader of each party as a future PM.  It also assumes further, that Tengku Razaleigh commands a number of elected MPs to give him standing in future negotiations. Where will he get the MPs? Rahim says 20-30 people are being lined up to stand as MPs who are aligned to Tengku Razaleigh. Where are these people? In UMNO? Within the opposition camp?

So now, let us build up a case, why a hung parliament cannot happen. Just for the moment, let's not talk about how UMNO and BN can lose. Let's talk about HOW the opposition- DAP, PAS, PKR can WIN.  Let's begin by asking, will the PR lose its current 82 seats? Possible, but very unlikely. The seats which they lost when some people jumped ship, will become theirs again. We won't see the likes of Zahrain and his types in parliament again.

READ MORE HERE

 

Isu Royalty minyak : Muhyiddin cuba memulas tangan rakyat Kelantan

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:23 PM PST

Pertamanya UMNO dan kerajaan persekutuan mengakui yang kerajaan negeri Kelantan ada hak ke atas royalty minyak seperti yang termaktub di dalam perjanjian yang ditanda tangani di antara pertronas dan rakyat negeri Kelantan pada bulan mei 1975 dahulu.

Keduanya sekarang kerajaan persekutuan mengakui yang hak itu boleh di perolehi jika PAS bersatu dengan UMNO dan isu itu diselesaikan setelah PAS bersama UMNO. Masalahnya perjanjian dalam perjanjian pada 27 hb Mei 1975 itu adalah di antara kerajaan dan rakyat Kelantan yang diwakili oleh Menteri Besar PAS semasa itu iaitu Dato Mohamad Nasir.

Saya telah menulis secara detail dalam posting saya dua tahun yang lepas dan saudara masih boleh membacanya jika saudara mengambil sedikit usaha untuk mencarinya di dalam archive blog ini. Jika kita kaji dalam, kita akan mendapat pelajaran perbezaan pemimpin dahulu dan sekarang. Muhyiddin nampaknya hendak menggunakan royalty minyak untuk mendapatkan sokongan PAS untuk membantu UMNO dalam parti itu (UMNO) sedang terdesak yang amat sangat.

Muhyiddin seorang Timbalan Perdana Menteri tidak faham atau saja-saja tidak mahu faham yang perjanjian itu adalah di antara petronas dan rakyat Kelantan, bukannya di antara UMNO dengan PAS. Semasa perjanjian itu ditanda tangani kerajaan Kelantan semasa itu adalah kerajaan pimpinan PAS yang di ketuai oleh Dato Mohamad bin Nasir sebagai MBnya.

Minyak yang di keluarkan di persisiran pantai Kelantan itu adalah kepunyaan rakyat Kelantan, tidak kira mereka ahli PAS, UMNO, MCA atau parti mana-mana sekali pun. Jelas dalam perjanjian itu yang Kelantan berhak menerima 5 peratus dari harga FOB minyak tersebut dan di bayar secara tunai dua kali setahun.; iaitu pada bulan Mac dan bulan September setiap tahun. Ini sudah ditanda tangani.

Kenyataan Muhyiddin itu membayangkan yang beliau tidak menghormati semangat persekutuan seperti yang termaktub di dalam perjanjian persekutuan pada tahun 1948 dahulu.

Walaupun Muhyiddin seorang Timbalan Perdana Menteri elok kita ingatkan bahawa Persekutuan Tanah Melayu itu wujud hanya pada tahun 1948 setelah negeri-negeri yang berdaulat termasuk Kelantan bersatu dengan negeri-negeri lain dalam satu persekutuan yang di namakan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dan selepas itu menjadi Persekutan Malaysia setelah Sabah dan Sarawak menjadi ahli-ahli baru kepada persekutuan itu.

Setiap negeri yang ada di dalam persekutuan ini adalah negeri-negeri yang berdaulat dan mempunyai Lagislatifnya sendiri. Kedaulatan negara Persekutuan Malaysia itu datangnya dari kedaulatan negeri-negeri yang berada di dalam persekutuan itu.

Di Putrajaya itu bukannya kerajaan pusat seperti negara-negara unitary, sebaliknya di Putrajaya itu adalah kerajaan Persekutuan. Takkanlah perkara yang begitu asas ini pun tidak di fahami oleh seorang Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang sedang berusaha hendak menjadi PM dalam masa yang singkat ini.

READ MORE HERE

 

The Ups and Downs of Harvest Court

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:44 AM PST

Nazifuddin is the chairman of 1Green Enviro Sdn Bhd, Magna Healthcare Sdn Bhd, Cahaya Pedoman Sdn Bhd, Tribus Sdn Bhd and Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd. He also the director of Kingtime International Ltd and Dynac Sdn Bhd.

According to The Sun:

Shares in designated counter Harvest Court Industries Bhd nose-dived yesterday in an apparent reaction to the resignation of former director Mohd Nazifuddin Mohd Najib on Monday, barely a month after his entry helped spark a massive surge in the stock.

At the close, Harvest Court's share price tumbled 43 sen, or 31% to 97 sen on volume of 251,700 shares. Its warrants declined 30% to 73 sen.

Harvest Court attracted huge speculative interest earlier this month after Nazifuddin and business partner Datuk Raymond Chan were made directors of the company on Oct 28.

Investors were apparently punting on hopes that Nazifuddin, the 28-year-old son of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, would open up new opportunities for the door maker. Within days of his appointment, shares in Harvest Court had soared from 40 sen to as high as RM2.13 on Nov 14.

The massive surge immediately drawn close scrutiny from the investing public, as well as the stock market regulator.

Bursa Malaysia Securities flagged Harvest Court as a designated counter from Nov 15 in a bid to limit what was viewed as excessive speculative activities in the stock.

Nazifuddin's decision to step down may help to take some heat off Harvest Court.

Nazifuddin, who owns 2.2% in Harvest Court, and Chan told a newspaper yesterday that they would remain as shareholders in Harvest Court. Chan controls 15.7% of Harvest Court.

The trading curb, which effectively requires investors to pay upfront to purchase the stock, continue to be in force. There was no indication how long this will remain.

READ MORE HERE

 

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net
 

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