New Prime Ministers have dazzled the people with bold promises and pledges of a new beginning in their first 100 days in office.
Both the two previous Prime Ministers, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, took full advantage of the power and magic of their first 100 days in office, leveraging them into stunning general election victories in their first year in office – the unprecedented sweep of 91% parliamentary seats for Abdullah in the 2004 general election and the resounding victory for Mahathir in the 1982 general election.
For Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who will be the sixth Prime Minister after the Umno general assembly next month, his first 100 days would be overshadowed by his infamous pre-100 days, and featuring high on his pre-100 days list is undoubtedly the disgraceful and outrageous grab for Perak power, completely in disregard of the proper constitutional process and respect for the people’s mandate in the 2008 general election.
Malaysia has in the past 24 hours become an international laughing stock because of the constitutional crisis in Perak producing two Mentris Besar – the Pakatan Rakyat Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin who has never vacated office, and the usurper UMNO Mentri Besar Datuk Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir.
In orchestrating the coup de’tat in Perak with the illegal and unconstitutional grab for power, when Nizar is still the legitimate, effective and functioning Mentri Besar, Najib has caused great harm and damage to the system of democracy, the monarchy and the rule of law in Malaysia.
Unlike his five predecessors, Najib will be assuming the mantle of Prime Minister with the greatest public doubts about his credibility and legitimacy, with so many serious and unanswered allegations hounding him to the highest office in Putrajaya.
Now he has piled up for himself another infamy – the trampling of the constitutional process and democratic rights of the people of Perak with the illegal and unconstitutional grab for power resulting in Perak becoming a state with two Mentris Besar.
In doing so, Najib has aligned himself against democracy, national integrity, constitutional propriety and the will of the people of Perak.
There is nothing he could do in his first 100 days as Prime Minister which could mitigate the grave wrongs he had committed against democracy, national integrity and public confidence in the system of governance in Malaysia in his pre-100 days as Prime Minister – particularly his disgraceful role as the subverter of democracy in Perak.
#1 by bennylohstocks on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:15 pm
BUSY PRE-FIRST 100 DAYS ACTIVITIES”>
#2 by Loh on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:18 pm
The court case regarding the change of government if taken would only ask the court to decide whether the apointment of the new MB was legal. If not, then the Legislative Assembly of Perak will have to be dissolved. There would be no judgement against His Highness, even if the change was not upheld by court.
Actions of constitutional monarch in running affairs of the state I suppose are subject to review by court. Only UMNO leaders incite their ignorant members to get emotional on the matter.
#3 by alberttye on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:22 pm
IPOH, Feb 8 – Smiling and waving to onlookers, Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, his eyes red and looking tired, would have been encouraged by the warm reception he got as he walked today from the old Tokyo Hotel off Anderson Road here to the nearby Kallumalai Sri Subramaniam temple opposite the city’s YMCA building.
Devotees on their way to attend Thaipusam festivities and members of the public cheered and called out to the man, the legitimate mentri besar of Perak.
Compared to the reception received by Zambry, Obviously, Nizar had beaten Zambry in popularity hands down
#4 by alberttye on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:33 pm
Mohd Azmir, 32, said PR government had brought progress to Ipoh during their 11 months in power.
The security guard said he hoped the new BN government was going to be just as effective but added that most people were not optimistic.
Hasnul Razak , 23, from Kuala Kangsar said: “Dissolving the state assembly is the best option so that peace can return.
“BN is afraid of elections because the mood of the people is with the Pakatan Rakyat. We, the people, are with one heart asking the Sultan for his permission to dissolve the state assembly so that we can have elections.
BN is also trying to play with public sentiment by saying that we are defying the Sultan. That is not true becuse what we really want is just to follow the law.”
The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter
#5 by alberttye on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:37 pm
IPOH, Feb 8 – Barisan National (BN) may have the mandate of the Ruler to govern Perak but obtaining the confidence of the people is another matter.
The majority of people who spoke to The Malaysian Insider today, expressed despair over the manner BN recaptured the state and doubted the new state government could live up to the popularity of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin and his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government.
To Abdul Kadir Abu Baytha, 44, Nizar was a good man who had helped many people.
“What has happened has left us with a lot of uncertainty,” said the rojak seller from Ipoh town.
Tan Kim Soon, 67, hit out at Jelapang Assemblyman Hee Yit Fong for betraying her voters.
Hawker K.C. Chow said he was happy with Nizar and his administration.
The 35-year-old popiah seller from Ipoh operates a mobile stall from a motorcycle and said the PR government was accommodating to people trying to “cari makan (earn a living)”.
“During the past 11 months, I have not received a single fine for operating my stall, unlike the previous administration.”
Chow said he was not sure how hawkers like him were going to survive under the new BN state government.
Fong Sau Keng, 50, said most people are angry with the takeover.
“This is a government which was not chosen by the people,”said the chee cheog fun seller.
Tea stall operator G. Jeya, 50, said the previous BN administration made life difficult for her.
“For 15 years, I could not get a licence but under Nizar this all changed. “We are not happy about what happened.”
#6 by shah pinang on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:39 pm
alberttye Says:
February 8th, 2009 at 17: 08.42
More trouble for PR and Nizar ?
Adding to that would be this :
Karpal asks Anwar to step down as Pakatan leader (updated)
By MANJIT KAUR
GEORGE TOWN: Cracks appeared again in the Pakatan Rakyat with DAP chairman Karpal Singh calling on Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to step down as head of the alliance.
Blaming Anwar, also PKR advisor and de facto leader, for creating trouble in the opposition alliance, he said Pakatan needed a new leader.
——————————————————————-
As I have said previously, as part of the ‘rethinking’/consolidating process, Pakatan will need to move beyond Dato’ Seri Anwar. They need to have an alternative leader waiting in the wings, ready to be at the helm when and if necessary to ensure Pakatan remain steadfast on their principal and values. So technically- I do agree with him.
However, on the same token, YB Lim with all due respect to the ‘old geezer’ -YB Karpal is definitely ‘loosing it’. His ‘random’/unpredictable outburst is doing more harm than good. The irony is, like Dato Seri Anwar, he himself is fast becoming a liability to DAP and Pakatan. YB Karpal, please either ‘back off’ and have some respect for the consensual decision making of all Pakatan leaders or …..DAP will need to look hard for possible alternatives to keep their ‘house in order’. YB Karpal , you are after all my representative of Bukit Gelugor-please get over yourself and help Pakatan to regain the ‘momentum’ at this critical moment in time.
#7 by alberttye on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:45 pm
Even Marina Mahathir also said the way BN/Umno went about grabing power is not proper.
BN/Umno are now desperate and may resort to Malay racial sentiments, by hook or by crook. Beware !!!!
#8 by OrangRojak on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 5:50 pm
OnPol, thanks for your informative post. The releases I was thinking of were the 17 released around the same time as RPK. Searching Google for “released from kamunting” gets plenty of relevant pages, none of which appear to hold good news, but some are very interesting! Those released seemed to have been detained on the off-chance they were terrorists or, in one case, was alleged to be a blogger, an offence I wasn’t previously familiar with.
I think I knew before that it wasn’t very many people, but I was of the belief that Kamunting was nearly empty – is it not? What is the capacity of Kamunting?
#9 by alberttye on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 6:06 pm
State MCA Youth chief Dr Mah Hang Soon assured the chinese that he would ask the BN government to continue the good policies of Nizar.
Even Dr Mah agreed, unconciously, that YAB Nizar’s policies are good.
Then, why Dr Mah support the plot to overthrow him ???
#10 by Onlooker Politics on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 7:37 pm
“I never did try to joke about tanks again, but I heard similar opinions expressed many times by younger Chinese students in the UK.” (OrangRojak)
OrangRojak’s words refer to the comment of younger Chinese students in the UK on the brutality of Chinese Armed Forces imposed on the boycotting university students in Tiananmen Incident (June 4, 1989).
Human perception varies according to individual’s living environment, personal experience and the interaction between individual and the society. In 1989, the government of Mainland China imposed strict restrictions on the freedom of speech. The university students of China in 1989 had the strong aspiration of wanting to have more says in every aspect of their life because Premier Zhao was so kind to permit the students to voice out their opinions and grievances openly and publicly.
The post Chairman Jiang Mainland China had seen some tremendous transformation from a basically agro-based nation into a highly industrialised nation which opened up more of its domestic markets to foreign source of consumer products as well as capitals. With the advent of internet technology, Mainland Chinese has much better access to information from the outside world. The internet chat rooms also provides opportunities for the computer literate university students of Mainland China to share their opinions, without having to hold a massive assembly in a physical hall or in an open square which may cause some nervous situation to the Public Security Forces or the Police Forces. When the fast economic development in Mainland China has caused some serious traffic congestion problems in the big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, the people of Mainland China would tend to focus their attention on this aspect of everyday life nuance. Therefore, who wants the road-side boycott which may cause serious traffic congestion problems in big city in 2009?
It is only when the authority has done some dictatorial behaviours which have flared up the fury and anger of the people that some political activitists will be urged to call up people for a boycott gathering in order to protest against the authority concerned. The students of Tiananmen Incident wanted to have compassion from the Top Politicians of Cummunist China but Deng Xiao Peng and General Yang Shang Kun found that the authority should not give in to the rebellious behaviour of the students as it might set a very bad precedence for Sinkiang subversives and Tibetan subversive to follow suit. The bloody crack-down was bound to happen with General Yang Shang Kun’s family ambition of attempting to grasp military power in the Mainland China during 1989.
How do we relate the above explanation to the recent boycott behaviour of the Perakian people in Kuala Kangsar? If we are able to find out what the first aspiration of Perakian people is at the present moment, then it will not be difficult for us to understand why the people chose to boycott BN without even caring much about the consequence of possibly causing the Sultan to be displeased. If there is anything a Malay will choose to do last in politics, it will definitely be the direct contempt of the Sultan with unseeming impoliteness causing to His Royal Highness. But recently why did the Perakian Malays not think of the consequence of possibly causing themselves to be embarassed by their own foolishness of doing something in contempt of the Sultan in Kuala Kangsar? Something must have happened which arouse the fury and anger of the Perakian people out-of-a-sudden. And most of us know that it is the unconstitutional replacement of a PR MB with a BN MB at the decree of the Sultan which has driven many Perakian people crazy on the street.
What is the foremost aspiration of Perakian people at the moment? Some commentators left some comments in Lim Kit Siang’s Blogsite that Nizar is a good MB and they don’t want him to be replaced by anyone else at the moment.
When my mom passed away, I found it very difficult for me to accept the fact because I had just quit my job in order to find time to accompany my dad and her for the rest of her life. When Nizar was sacked by the Sultan out-of-a-sudden without a persuasive reason, the Perakian people would find it very difficult to accept the fact. This is because there is love in it. I didn’t want my mom to die too early because I loved her. The Perakian people didn’t want Nizar to be sacked from the post of MB because Nizar was loved by the people.
Nevertheless, political dispute sometimes may not be easily resolved without the same level of love being contributed by one another and to one another. If the Perakian people see that the Sultan does not love the people because HRH does not take the aspiration of the Perakian people too seriously, then the possible consequence will be that the Sultan is going to lose the love from the Perakian people! This may be the root cause of the decadence of the system of Constitutional Monarchy in the long run.
#11 by Onlooker Politics on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 7:57 pm
“I think I knew before that it wasn’t very many people, but I was of the belief that Kamunting was nearly empty – is it not? What is the capacity of Kamunting?” (OrangRojak)
I have no official data on hand since I am just an ordinary Malaysian who has no access to any official secret. YB Kit Siang may have accurate information on the number of ISA detainees and the number of Police Act detainees.
Most people are only aware of Kamunting Camp. However, there are many other ISA camps throughout the whole Malaysia. Just to name a few: one in Muar (Johor), another one in Kampung Batu, Jalan Ipoh (KL), one in Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and there may be one in Sarawak also.
Simpang Rengam Preventive Detention Camp is operated under the Police Act. It is situated along the Rengam-Simpang Rengam road in Johor.
#12 by zak_hammaad on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 10:26 pm
Looks like someone from Pakatan FINALLY voiced what I have been saying all along!
Karpal has asked Anwar to step down and that “Pakatan Rakyat needed another leader, a good leader”. He also lashed out at PKR and DAP leaders who had fallen sway to Anwar’s rhetoric in supporting crossovers of elected representatives.
As the saying goes: “so you reap, so…”
#13 by Loh on Sunday, 8 February 2009 - 10:34 pm
///And what about morality of charity begins at home, if Hee were to say, she being handicapped and instant riches could help her physical condition in the long run and her family? Don’t you agree charity begins at home, if not why are so many with financial means to relocate, protesting with their legs and migrating for future of their children instead of staying back to fight Malaysian cause against all odds?///– Jeffrey
Charity begins at home, but those who migrated did not pretend to fight with the opposition. Hee represented DAP and under DAP banner for election signified that she fought for the opposition. Having offered herself to allow the enermy of the opposition to terminate the governemnt won for the first time in 50 years, she must be considered the sinner of the century. She betrayed the party and the oppressed population just to have her own charity for her home.
I said that a new word has been coined, heeyitfoongist, and it means traitor, opportunists and prostitute. It would carry more meaning that best describe the character of the person whose action requires a new word.
The Chinese curse Hee for her action not so much as unfortunately she belongs to the race, or that she reflected badly on the race. No, race is not the matter. But the Chinese were hoping that UMNO would be made to learn lesson to become non-racist, but Hee extinguished the hope of the Chinese.
I said before that any BN componenet party will also bear the curse should it accept Hee as its member. While people may not agree with the approach of non-Malay BN component parties, they will be cursed for making possible the extension of the political life of Hee who has proven a traitor to the cause of the oppressed.
#14 by lcl832002 on Monday, 9 February 2009 - 2:56 am
I think the best way to solve this crisis is by dissolving the present Perak State Assembly and carry out a state election in Perak. It is fair to every citizen in Perak, BN and PR. If PR losses, then I think PR will accept the reality.
#15 by OrangRojak on Tuesday, 10 February 2009 - 1:21 am
zak_hammaad Says: As the saying goes: “so you reap, so…”
“so you reap, so de dum de dum de dum”?
I don’t know that one. Is that a bit like “You reap what you sow”?
Sorry, sorry, really struggling with this not-posting lark.