Archive for category Kee Thuan Chye
What Happens Now to the Opposition and Change?
Posted by Kit in Articles, Kee Thuan Chye on Friday, 17 May 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! Malaysia
Now that the 13th general election (GE13) is over and Najib Razak has been sworn in as prime minister and his Cabinet has been formed, what happens to the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat and the massive numbers of people who wanted change, as reflected in the popular vote?
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has done the right thing in not accepting the result of GE13 on grounds of fraud, and he has been going around rallying support for his cause, but where this will lead is highly uncertain.
Meanwhile, PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli has announced that Pakatan is investigating the results of 27 parliament seats which were won by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) narrowly. If he and his team are able to prove fraud or wrong tabulation of the votes, there might be a case made for them. But where? In the courts? Would they get the justice they seek? Read the rest of this entry »
This is a Democracy, You Understand?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Saturday, 11 May 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
Prime Minister Najib Razak blamed the Chinese for not voting for his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition at the 13th general election on May 5 and ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad slammed the Chinese and the Malays who voted for Pakatan Rakyat.
Others from BN and its main component party, Umno, jumped on the bandwagon and said the same thing, accusing the Chinese of being ungrateful.
They all made it sound as if it was a great sin to vote for the Opposition.
What is so wrong with voting for the Opposition? Why is an Opposition set up in the first place? Isn’t it to provide competition to the ruling party? So if people are more persuaded by the case made by the Opposition, why shouldn’t they vote for it?
Read the rest of this entry »
Hail the Comrades for Change!
Posted by Kit in Articles, Elections, Kee Thuan Chye on Saturday, 4 May 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! Malaysia
The purest and most heartwarming feature of this upcoming general election, predicted to be the dirtiest ever in Malaysian history, is the solidarity of the Malaysians who are calling for ubah (change) and proclaiming, “Ini kalilah!” (This is the time to do it!)
In the course of a year, it has swelled into a movement. Partly from the Bersih rallies that brought people closer together because they went through adverse circumstances together. Partly from the rallies organised by the Opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, that gave hope of a viable alternative to Malaysians disenchanted by 55 years of Barisan Nasional (BN) rule. Read the rest of this entry »
Opinions: The Odds, they are a-Changin’
Posted by Kit in Articles, Kee Thuan Chye on Friday, 26 April 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
MSN Malaysia
As it looks, a few days past nomination day, the odds are changing to favour Pakatan, although at the time of the dissolution of Parliament, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) seemed to have the upper hand: Kee Thuan Chye reports.
The Opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat must be very careful between now and polling day not to make any colossal mistakes that could deny it victory at the 13th general election. I’m thinking of something about the same magnitude as or greater than the faux pas made by Tengku Razaleigh in wearing the Kadazan headgear with a cross on it on the eve of the 1990 general election.
As it looks, a few days past nomination day, the odds are changing to favour Pakatan, although at the time of the dissolution of Parliament, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) seemed to have the upper hand. Read the rest of this entry »
Who is the Leader, Who the Follower?
Posted by Kit in Articles, Kee Thuan Chye on Tuesday, 16 April 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
MSN Malaysia
If voters fall for the promise of more BR1M, it will show they are willing bribe-takers, that they are people who are prone to being dependent.
To woo Indian voters, BN pledges RM500 million in seed funding towards raising the equity of the Indian community to at least 3 per cent. Pakatan, however, does not pander to any ethnic community, preferring to take a broad multi-racial approach in its plans for the country’s future without favouring any particular race. This augurs well for a better Malaysia and shows up once again BN’s attempt at blatant vote-buying.
On the whole, the BN manifesto is nothing new. As a veteran economist who has served in the civil service notes, it is structurally the same BN manifesto that has been used in past general elections for decades. It is superficial and short-term, particularly in its focus on cash handouts. He would have wanted BN to tackle the key issues of improving education, for instance, and removing the fixation on the NEP and the accompanying idea of Ketuanan Melayu. Both of these are comprehensively addressed in the Pakatan manifesto. Read the rest of this entry »
The EC Must Address These Doubts
Posted by Kit in Elections, Kee Thuan Chye on Saturday, 13 April 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye | Saturday, 13 April 2013 17:19
Malaysian Digest
WHILE announcing the date for the 13th general election, the Election Commission (EC) also said that it would make the event “the best” ever held. In pledging this, its chairman, Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, reiterated what he had said on Feb 5.
But somehow the pledge rings hollow. Many Malaysians have lost too much confidence in the EC to believe that it will be, in Abdul Aziz’s words, “transparent” and that it “will not help any party to win”. Its actions and pronouncements have too often indicated the contrary.
Besides that, NGOs that have engaged with the EC know how frustrating the experience can be. The latter is notorious for not replying to pressing questions concerning the electoral process or improper conduct at elections. Its dismissal of Bersih’s demands for electoral reform compelled the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections to take its cause to the streets in July 2011.
The EC is also noted for its apparently cavalier attitude towards calls for cleaning the electoral roll. Instead of getting down to the task of doing it, it has been giving excuses – even though a Merdeka Center survey in April 2012 revealed that 92% of Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia want the roll cleaned.
Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan and Kit Siang Take the Offensive
Posted by Kit in Articles, Elections, Kee Thuan Chye on Wednesday, 27 March 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
from Yahoo! Malaysia
It looks like Pakatan Rakyat is driving the 13th general election. As this most crucial of Malaysian elections draws near, the Opposition coalition is the more gung-ho in leading the way into battle. It is initiating the charge, taking the offensive, scoring the psychological points.
While the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is led by a leader who has been tardy in calling for the general election partly because he has been humming and hawing about wanting the rakyat to feel the effects of his transformation programmes first, Pakatan has already shown its preparedness by coming out with its manifesto a few weeks ago, way ahead of BN.
In football terms, this is like the away team, despite its disadvantageous position, taking the play to the home team and attacking its goalmouth. Sometimes, this can end in a victory for the outsiders.
DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s decision to stand in Gelang Patah – in BN’s impregnable state, Johor – is another courageous offensive. It is a risky move by the DAP veteran who has never fought shy of engaging in difficult battles.
In the most famous of his encounters, he took on Lim Chong Eu, the Chief Minister of Penang then, at Padang Kota in 1990 and won. Nonetheless, it was a huge gamble for Kit Siang, who has not always been victorious. He lost when he came out of his comfortable position as Kubu state assemblyman in 1982 to try and capture Bandar Hilir, and again when he took on the risky seat of Tanjung Bungah in 1995 against yet another chief minister, Koh Tsu Koon. In fact, throughout his political career, Kit Siang has lost five times. Read the rest of this entry »
GE13 – Make the Right Choice
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Friday, 22 March 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
from March 2013 issue of Penang Monthly
Voters, you have to decide soon. The 13th general election has to be held at the latest within two months of April 28, when the current government’s term expires. It may even be called next month if Prime Miniser Najib Razak has the gumption for it.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t decided yet which coalition – Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Rakyat (PR) – should win federal power for the next five years, consider this.
After 55 years of ruling this country, where has BN got us?
The country is more divided than ever. We have been polarised on racial and religious lines for decades, but now we are divided by political leanings as well.
What about our economic progress? Read the rest of this entry »
As the Altantuya Murder Plot Thickens
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 19 March 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
from Yahoo! Malaysia
Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam is gone, and his untimely death from a heart attack makes it all the more pressing for Malaysians to find answers to the mystery of the murder of the Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Who actually did it? Logically, it would seem unlikely that the two police personnel who have been convicted acted on their own. What would be the motive of Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar and Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri? They didn’t even know Altantuya before they whisked her away and dealt the fatal blow. It would seem they were merely hitmen.
Furthermore, according to Sirul’s cautioned statement, they were offered RM50,000 to RM100,000 to dispose of Altantuya. If this is true, who made the offer?
Other questions float in limbo like ghosts whose souls have not been put to rest. How did these two men get their hands on the C4 explosive used to blow Altantuya’s body to smithereens? It’s something that is difficult to procure. Did they have help from certain quarters? Read the rest of this entry »
Is It Part of Our Culture?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Kee Thuan Chye, Law & Order, Lynas on Sunday, 17 March 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
14th March 2013
Last week, I was speaking to students of a higher institution of learning about a play of mine that they are studying called We Could **** You, Mr Birch.
When I got to the issue of getting Malaysians to discuss so-called sensitive issues openly, one of the students commented, “It’s not part of our culture.” I asked her if she was being ironic. The bright lass nodded.
She was alluding to the favourite catchphrase of the Government that is invariably invoked when it wants to discourage Malaysians from taking part in certain activities, usually those that are adversarial or threatening to it.
One such activity is taking part in demonstrations and street protests. Many a government official has used “it’s not part of our culture” to denounce especially large gatherings that challenge the Government’s rulings and actions, like the Bersih and anti-Lynas rallies. Read the rest of this entry »
Who Knows What the Truth is These Days?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Elections, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Sunday, 17 March 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo Newsroom
Mon, Mar 11, 2013
How do you decide what is truth and what is falsehood as the build-up to Malaysia’s 13th general election hots up? So many bizarre twists and turns have emerged in recent days that Malaysians must be in a state of shock and awe.
First, businessman Deepak Jaikishan openly alleged that Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in forcing private investigator P. Balasubramaniam to make a second statutory declaration to contradict his first, which had implicated Najib in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Then Bala returned from exile earlier this year to affirm that he stood by his first statutory declaration, reinforcing the revelations made by Deepak about how the second declaration came about.
The latest twist is Azlan Mohd Lazim’s announcement that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is innocent of the charge of having sodomised Azlan’s son, Saiful, and that Anwar is the victim of a political conspiracy. Taking everyone by surprise, including apparently Saiful as well, the father attests that his son was “used by several unscrupulous individuals”, including a special officer of Najib’s, to tarnish Anwar’s image. Read the rest of this entry »
Gift or Nightmare for Najib?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak, Sabah on Saturday, 9 March 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
MSN Malaysia
7th March 2013
The ongoing Sabah crisis could turn out to be the gift Prime Minister Najib Razak was hoping for to help his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to victory at the impending general election, which he has yet to call, or a ticking bomb instead.
In rejecting the ceasefire proposed by the Sulu Sultan whose followers landed in Lahad Datu more than three weeks ago to reclaim Sabah as their ancestral homeland, Najib has scored much-needed positive points. Already, even his detractors have expressed support for his stand. They now declare that for once, he is saying something “sensible”, that they are agreeing with him “for the first time”.
Some, however, are saying this is “the only right thing” he has done during the whole crisis. Nonetheless, if he manages to pull off a decisive victory over the intruders, votes, especially from fence-sitters, might actually drop to BN.
But Najib has to do it before the general election has to be held, the absolute last date for which is June 28. If the crisis is not resolved before the general election, his ineffectiveness as prime minister would be exposed. He needs to win the conflict decisively, like Margaret Thatcher won the Falklands War in 1982 and went on to resuscitate her flagging popularity at the UK general election the following year. Read the rest of this entry »
Gross Encounters of the Zin Kind
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, UMNO on Friday, 15 February 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
I was greeted first thing this morning by an SMS from a dear old friend. It read: “Saudara XXX [my friend’s name in full], Selamat Menyambut Hari Lahir. Happy Birthday. Ikhlas dari DS Ir Mohd Zin Mohamed, Kordinator BN Selangor. Sayangi Selangor, Yakini BN.”
At first, I wondered why my friend had forwarded me this SMS. Then when I saw the four-letter word he had appended at the end of it, I understood. He was sharing with me his disgust at the greeting from Mohd Zin.
This coordinator of Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) who is campaigning to win the state from Pakatan Rakyat at the soon-to-be-held general election has been sending out many such messages to a whole lot of people ever since last year. However, they have become such an annoyance that the recipients invariably express nothing but disgust each time they receive such messages.
Some of my other friends have also been complaining to me about Mohd Zin’s barrage of not only SMSes but postcards and letters as well. And social media is full of curses against him and his unsavoury proselytising efforts to the BN cause.
Read the rest of this entry »
The PM is Demeaning Himself
Posted by Kit in Elections, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 13 February 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Feb 12, 2013
It looks like Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Najib Razak has outdone himself at self-debasement. His appearance in the now much-talked-about Chinese New Year advertisement has not only shown his desperation to win Chinese votes in the soon-to-be-held general election; it has also elicited responses from viewers full of derision and contempt.
I showed it to someone who is non-partisan, sensible, well-educated and who exercises good judgment, and these were her reactions as she watched it:
“Hak sei ngor! (Shocking)” … “Unheard of” … “Eeyer! Geli! (Makes my skin crawl)” … “Trying too hard”.
Her remarks are uncannily similar to those that have been expressed on Facebook by many other Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
No one is spared from Kee Thuan Chye’s pen
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Mahathir, UMNO on Sunday, 27 January 2013
by Daniel Anthony
Malaysiakini
Jan 26, 2013
If there is one Malaysian who can smell bullshit from a mile away, it’s him. In his latest collection of essays Ask For No Bullshit, Get Some More!, Kee Thuan Chye leaves no stone unturned.
From behind the scenes of Bersih 2.0 to the speculations of the 13th general elections, every scandal and issue in the local news has a place in this book.
Just like his previous book No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians, Kee has certainly made a name for being able to boil the tangled mess of legal jargon and deceptive semantics down to a simple English that everyone can swallow.
Kee scratches the surface of these major issues and then pulls you into the deep side to reveal all the details you never knew.
His writing unravels the stories spun by the mainstream media and lays every thread on the table, leaving you to draw your own conclusion. Read the rest of this entry »
Defiance Is Gaining Momentum
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Tuesday, 22 January 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye | Monday, 21 January 2013 14:29
Malaysian Digest
I love the new spirit of defiance among Malaysians. I think we have come of age in realizing that we must stand up for our rights. And that it’s not wrong to do so.
After all, as the American political activist Howard Zinn puts it, dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
I’m not just talking about the defiance shown by already known people like Ambiga Sreenevasen and A Samad Said, the leaders of Bersih 3.0, when they stood up and spoke up or fought against the authorities to point out that the latter were wrong. I’m also talking about the courageous acts of ordinary people who despite having no organization to back them up did what they felt needed to be done, not just for themselves but for a larger cause.
A video grab of Universiti Utara Malaysia UUM student K S Bawani (L) and Sharifah Zohra Jabeen during the controversial forum held at UUM in Dec 8The recent act of speaking up at a forum of dubious intent held at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) by the university’s student K S Bawani is such a case. Despite the attempt by the forum’s moderator to humiliate her, she stood tall.
Read the rest of this entry »
There’s No Excuse For Not Reporting The Truth
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Media on Thursday, 3 January 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
01 January 2013
What Utusan Malaysia’s lawyer reportedly told the High Court on Dec 27 is shocking.
According to The Malaysian Insider, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin said newspapers do not have the “luxury of time” to verify the truth of news reports before publishing them.
In defending Utusan Malaysia’s report that allegedly accused Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim of being a proponent of gay rights, Firoz also said, “If newspapers have to go through the full process of ascertaining the truth, the details, they wouldn’t be able to report the next day.”
If he thinks this would justify the publication of untruths by the media, he is grossly wrong. No media organization should ever publish untruths or lies. On top of that, no media organization can, after doing it, claim justification by saying it had no time to check its facts.
Not checking facts before publication is a cardinal sin in journalism. And no self-respecting journalist or media could absolve themselves by saying they did not have the “luxury of time”. Read the rest of this entry »
How Our Democracy is Damaged
Posted by Kit in Elections, Kee Thuan Chye on Monday, 17 December 2012
By Kee Thuan Chye
Penang Monthly
December 2012
We often hear of electoral fraud and unfair election practices but what do they really mean? What forms does electoral fraud usually take? What constitute unfair practices and how have they surfaced?
Beyond that, what are the measures that need to be taken to ensure that Malaysian elections are free and fair so that this vital aspect of our democracy is truly well-served and our vote for the candidate or party we support is not made a mockery of?
A new book called Democracy at Stake?: Examining 16 By-elections in Malaysia, 2008-2011, published by Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, answers our questions and collates our concerns into a handy and comprehensive compact.
Edited by Wong Chin Huat and Soon Li Tsin, it analyses the 16 by-elections that have been held since the 12th general election according to such relevant categories as how free, fair and clean they were; the freedom and quality of the campaigning; the political parties’ access to media; corrupt practices that were perpetrated; how impartial or otherwise the public institutions were; the amount of campaign money spent; the electoral roll; and the polling process. Read the rest of this entry »
Lament of a Stressed-out Minister
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Wednesday, 24 October 2012
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Oct 23, 2012
I tell you, it’s tough laa being a minister these days.
We have to take so much shit. From the media, from Facebook, from bloggers, from the Opposition. It was so different when Mahathir was PM. Nobody dared to question any minister then. Nobody wrote a word to criticise. But now …
And it’s not like we make that much money. Our salary is nothing compared to Singapore. Some more, the people don’t appreciate it. They think we are getting kickbacks left, right and centre.
This recent case over Musa Aman getting RM40 million … it’s not him, the money was for Umno. Political donation. What’s wrong with that? PM Najib already said it’s proper. But people still want to make trouble and call it money laundering. Just because Michael Chia got stopped when he was bringing the money out from Hong Kong. Read the rest of this entry »
Should Government Scholars Be Grateful?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Monday, 22 October 2012
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
Should recipients of government scholarships be grateful? Grateful to whom?
I’m asking this because former minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil mentioned recently that PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli was a Petronas scholar and yet he appeared to be going against the people who had given him the scholarship. As the Petronas scholarship is a government scholarship, she implied he was being “ungrateful”.
She even suggested that other young people of Rafizi’s generation might also be “ungrateful”.
But should Rafizi – and other Petronas scholars, indeed all government scholars, including those awarded the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarships – be beholden to the Government and eternally grateful to it?
First of all, what is “the Government”?
Read the rest of this entry »
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