Archive for category Perak
Polls dry run shows BN can lose Perak, Negri Sembilan
Posted by Kit in Elections, Johore, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Perak on Monday, 1 August 2011
By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 01, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) could lose Perak and Negri Sembilan in the next general elections, according to results of a recent dry run. Unless component parties put popular faces and ensure the grassroots machinery garner support from voters.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the Umno election dry run also showed that the BN fortress of Johor could see up to 15 out of the 56 state seats go to their political opponents Pakatan Rakyat (PR), something unheard before Election 2008 when the ruling coalition lost six seats. Read the rest of this entry »
Court says Hee attacked Yew with pepper spray
The Malaysian Insider
June 14, 2011
IPOH, June 14 – Aulong assemblyman Yew Tian Hoe won today a court ruling against his state lawmaker colleague Datuk Hee Yit Foong for attacking him with a pepper spray in the infamous May 7, 2009 Perak legislative assembly.
He also won a restraining order preventing her from future assaults against him.
Jelapang assemblyman Hee gained infamy after she quit the DAP and pledged loyalty to the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition leading to the fall of the then ruling Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government.
Read the rest of this entry »
Can PAS help bring about change in M’sia?
by Koon Yew Yin
Centre folr Public Initiatives
A few days ago, someone sent me an anonymous e-mail appeal addressed to voters. According to the appeal, the coming elections, more so than others, is a vital election because we are at a crossroad. If we get it right we will prosper; if we get it wrong, we will suffer as we have seen in our neighbouring countries. I cannot agree more with these sentiments. In the last three years, I have written about the socioeconomic and political crossroad that the country is at, but that has been to a general audience.
I am glad that I now have the opportunity to share my thoughts on this subject with a PAS audience. This is the first time that I am addressing PAS supporters and this is also probably the first opportunity PAS has had to interact with someone like me.
Let me begin by posing a question. The question that I and many other Malaysians want to ask PAS is how will PAS help the country and ordinary Malaysians take the right road to a brighter and harmonious future? Which is the road that PAS and its leaders want Malaysians to follow? Read the rest of this entry »
Saluting a True Malaysian Son
by Koon Yew Yin
(Speech on the occasion of Perak DAP celebration of Lim Kit Siang’s 70th birthday in Ipoh at Tropicana Grand Ballroom on 25th Feb. 2011 after presenting a RM100,000 donation to Perak DAP to restore a legitimate and popularly elected government in the state )
Let me begin by thanking the DAP for its invitation to me to celebrate the occasion of Saudara Lim Kit Siang’s 70th birthday, and for this honour to say a few words to this distinguished audience.
Firstly, it is only right that we are gathered here to pay tribute to a giant of a politician, Saudara Lim Kit Siang. In my mind, there are two key people who have been responsible for this turning point that we have reached in our country’s politics.
One is of course Saudara Anwar Ibrahim who has been the glue in bringing the DAP, PAS and PKR together in Pakatan Rakyat to challenge the political hegemony of BN and UMNO and in galvanizing the electoral vote for the opposition. The Government has launched a ridiculous campaign to harass and destroy him by a fictitious charge but I am sure Anwar will prevail and will continue his struggle for a better Malaysia.
The second hero in Malaysian politics – someone who has put his heart and soul into transforming Malaysia, and who has paid the price for standing up for the ideals of parliamentary democracy – is Saudara Lim. This is a truly towering Malaysian who has stood unwavering on behalf of justice, truth and equality for over 40 years in the public arena. Many young Malaysians may not be aware that for standing up for our basic freedoms, Saudara Lim was put in detention on two occasions under the ISA, the first time for 17 months in 1969 and the second time under Operation Lallang in 1987, when Kit Siang and his son Guan Eng were detained for another 18 months, together with five other DAP leaders. Read the rest of this entry »
The LoyarBurok Book Review: “Perak – A State Of Crisis” – An Unabashed Self-Indictment By The BN Government Of Its Undemocratic Takeover Of Perak
Posted by Kit in Constitution, NH Chan, Perak on Monday, 27 December 2010
By NH Chan
27 December, 2010
[LoyarBaca’s first publication Perak: A State of Crisis (PASOC) has been a runaway hit and will soon be in Malaysia’s major bookstores through leading indie, activist distributor, Pak Chong’s GerakBudaya. We have sold out copies at hand for the moment (2nd impressions are on the way), but you may purchase them directly from GerakBudaya here. Here, after a brief hiatus, NH Chan re-appears to pen his thoughts on PASOC. ]
On the cover of Perak: A State Of Crisis, 2010 – the book is described as “Rants, reviews and reflections on the overthrow of democracy and the rule of law in Malaysia”.
On the back cover is this apt but accurate assessment by Marina Mahathir: “The people of Perak voted in March 2008 for a new government, then woke up one day to find that they had an entirely different one in place. A must read.”
Why is this book a must read? It is so because the book is a chronicle and commentary of the events that led to the unceremonious overthrow of the PR Government in Perak. The direct involvement of the BN protagonists who engineered the treacherous takeover – whose actions in that sordid episode spoke louder than words – has demonstrated unequivocally to the people of this country and to the world that they are the unquestionable “bad guys”.
With such unyielding and nefarious mindset in the BN camp, it looks like the choice for the voters in the next elections is between “good and bad”, “right and wrong”, “democracy and oligarchy” etc. The choice is obvious for no one wants to be governed by a group of self-serving people for this is the meaning of “oligarchy”; such an attitude in the psyche of the BN mindset would inevitably lead to “resource-draining corruption and rampant inequity” – to borrow a phrase from Audrey Quay in her “Editor’s Preface & Introduction” (page v) – as the Perak debacle has brought to light. Read the rest of this entry »
A plea for sanity over Perak DAP crisis
Posted by Kit in DAP, Perak, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Sunday, 10 October 2010
Perak DAP leaders must try, if they possibly can, to subordinate their personal ambitions and put the interests of the party above all else. The unseemly internal squabbling over local leadership is already causing considerable damage to the reputation of the DAP which has earned for itself, over the years in the face of great odds, enormous goodwill and credibility. Do you think it fair to put all the hard work and personal sacrifices of thousands of party members at risk to satisfy your craving for personal glory and power?
What has happened to the declaration of high-minded devotion to duty in the public interest? DAP does not exist in isolation. It is a vital part of the nation’s social, political and economic mosaic in a vibrant tangle of races, cultures and religions. We have as a party derived legitimacy from our consistency of purpose for the greatest good of the people of Malaysia. It is the height of lunacy to jeopardise what we have achieved so far and the party’s future prospects by greed-driven, irresponsible, behaviour.
Read the rest of this entry »
Proposed Advisory Board Will Create More Bureaucracy
By Jerry Francis
Ipoh Echo
The Perak Government’s proposal to establish advisory boards in every district to hear public views from a broad spectrum in determining the state‘s direction, appears to be a good idea.
However, why is it necessary now? Is the state government admitting that what had been done in the past was not according to “public opinion and feedback” and therefore it needs to form the advisory board comprising NGOs and media representatives? Or, it is merely to satisfy those aspiring to hold official post?
This is the impression I got when state chairman for local government, Dato’ Dr. Mah Hang Soon, recently explained that the advisory board is merely to channel public opinion and feedback on issues and problems faced by the people. “Its role is only to give opinions and advice from their respective field of interest,” he stressed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Double standards on ‘illegal’ DVD charge
Perak: MB, BN Adun open to similar illegal DVD charge
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider
IPOH, Sept 7 — With a Perak DAP assemblyman facing the possibility of being charged in court for his unapproved DVD production, the authorities seem to have found themselves caught in a Catch-22 situation.
Questions now center on whether they would eventually be forced to slap similar charges on Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and MCA’s Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon for allegedly committing a similar crime.
If so, this would mean the duo would also face the possibility of losing their state seats should the courts find them guilty.
The Malaysian Insider understands that it is likely that they too had failed to obtain approval from the Film Censorship Board prior to their DVD production of the tumultuous May 7 assembly sitting.
Read the rest of this entry »
Datuk Hee? So ‘Hee-larious’!
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh, Perak on Wednesday, 21 April 2010
By Martin Jalleh
It was an historic occasion for Hee Yit Foong. She was bestowed the honorary title “Datuk” by his Highness the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, on the occasion of his 82nd birthday.
Hee must have been “hee-elated”. It was the high point of her life after having gone through the depths of great public humiliation and to contend with the hate heaped on her especially by Perakians.
Indeed, she has been hounded and abuses have been hurled on her when she did the hop-step-and-jump political dance. She hopped out of her party, stepped on the people’s will and jumped into the waiting arms of the BN as an “independent”.
During a State Assembly meeting, several DAP lawmakers gave her hell, threw RM1 notes at her and told her to resign as they said she had no honour left for selling her soul and State away!
Read the rest of this entry »
Five myopic judges in Federal Court
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Judiciary, Perak on Monday, 22 February 2010
By NH Chan
On Feb 9, the five-member Federal Court panel handed down a unanimous decision on Nizar Jamaluddin versus Zambry Abd Kadir. The judgment of the court was read by Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria.
The judgment is 40-pages long and if you have the stamina to persevere to the end of the judgment you would have realised that these judges of the highest court in the land have, under the pretext of interpretation, decided that the Perak sultan has the power to dismiss the incumbent Menteri Besar Nizar when the Laws of the Constitution of Perak does not confer any executive power on the sultan for so doing.
If the sultan has no power to dismiss Nizar then, we should ask, how could the Federal Court commit such a devastating error to their reputation as judges of the highest court in the land?
That is why the ability to pick out the one real point that matters is so important. That is why young advocates learnt how to spot it very early in their career if they are not to bore the judge, whom they are addressing, to tears.
Read the rest of this entry »
No action on Lim, Nizar
Police find no element of sedition in their comments on Federal Court ruling
G. PRAKASH | Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Malay Mail
PUTRAJAYA: Police will not take any action against DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for criticising the Federal Court’s decision on the legitimacy of the dismissal of the Pakatan Rakyat State government in February last year and the installation of the Barisan
Nasional government.
A police report lodged against the two on Feb 11 by a retired Royal Malay Regiment officer in Kuala Muda, Kedah, had been transferred to Putrajaya for further action.
Putrajaya district police chief Supt Abdul Razak Abd Majid told The Malay Mail the decision was made after going through the report.
“No further action will be taken as we found no element of sedition as alleged in the report,” he said.
He said only one police report was lodged against the two Opposition leaders for their alleged statements reported in a Malay daily and several online news portals.
Read the rest of this entry »
Justice is done in by the Federal Court
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Court, Judiciary, Martin Jalleh, Perak on Wednesday, 10 February 2010
By Martin Jalleh
Once again justice is shamelessly sacrificed on the altar of political expediency by judicial shenanigans of the highest court in Bolehland. It is a sad day indeed to see how five “blind” men of supposed legal stature strove so hard not to see and sense what was staring at them in the Federal and Perak constitutions.
The judiciary – the very portal of justice continues to be reduced to a convenient playground for the ruling elite to legitimize their power grab, persecute their opponents and promote their political agenda, through the perversion of the rule of law by certain court jesters.
The Federal and Perak Constitutions are dead, done in by those who decided to disregard, desecrate and discard constitutional provisions to treat the doctrine of separation of powers with deference. They are rigorously and rightly interpreted only when it best suits Umno.
In stark comparison to the courageous, cogent and convincing judgment of High Court judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim, the cowed five-member bench caved in and conveniently decided to take the cue from the powers that be.
It comes as no surprise that their “collective written judgement is apparently riddled with contradictions”.The five judges surely qualify for retired Justice N H Chan’s classic category of “recalcitrant” and “Humpty Dumpty” judges in the Perak conundrum.
Read the rest of this entry »
Public Forum : Whither the Constitution?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Perak, public service on Monday, 7 December 2009
Live webcast of event at http://tv.dapmalaysia.org

Whither the Constitution? Lessons to be learnt from the Perak Crisis
Date : 9th December 2009
Time : 8.00 pm
Venue : MBPJ Civic Hall (Auditorium) Map Read the rest of this entry »
Perak DAP convention doormat incident a lesson to all politicians
The Perak DAP convention doormat incident on Sunday was not the best of political judgment, taste or example.
I was taken by surprise when confronted with the doormat and tried to avoid stepping on the three pictures but not completely with success.
I fully share the apology made by the DAP leadership over the incident. In fact, I had on the very same day of the convention suggested to the Perak DAP leadership to tender a public apology over the incident.
The Perak DAP convention doormat incident is a lesson to all politicians to be particularly mindful about sensitivities of Malaysians in a plural society and the propensity of irresponsible politicians to turn a non-racial issue into a racial one.
The DAP leadership has learnt from the mistake.
But have the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaderships learnt any lessons, whether before or after? The answers to both can only be in the negative.
Pathetic Police Play Politics in Perak
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh, Perak, Police, Politics on Tuesday, 3 November 2009
By Martin Jalleh
Bolehland continues to boast of the world’s one and only State with two Chief Ministers (Menteris Besar), two Speakers, two State Governments and two State Assemblies conducted simultaneously under one roof.
The Prime Minister’s slogan of 1Malaysia is beginning to bear much fruit as the Government, Police, Judiciary and Election Commission bond and blend together as one to bury any political dissent and opposition.
The doctrine of the separation of powers is blighted by the usurpation of power by the PM and those willing to do his bidding. There are no longer any boundaries or checks and balances – only cheques waiting for those who bow in subservience to the political elite.
The only “boundaries” left are those separating the government from the people – barricades, blockades, barriers and barbed wires like those put up by the police at the Perak State Assembly building recently. Be prepared for more barbaric times.
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1Malaysia kills – “1Malaysia 2Perak 3Katak”
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Najib Razak, Parliament, Perak on Friday, 30 October 2009
Najib will be finishing his seventh month as Prime Minister which he started off with the slogan “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.
Does Najib’s 2010 Budget pass as a 1Malaysia Budget?
Two events have cast their shadows over the 2010 Budget and the 1Malaysia slogan – first, the drowning of 11 year-old Dina Devi Nathan from SJK (T) Mambang Di Awan and we have just received reports confirming the death of the other two eleven-year-olds Devadharshini Mageswaran from SJK (T) Mambang Di Awan and Divya Shree Vasudevan from SJK (T) Gopeng when the suspension bridge of the Education Ministry’s 1Malaysia motivation camp at SK Kuala Dipang collapsed on Monday night, sending some 30 pupils crossing the bridge into the Kampar River.
Like other DAP MPs including the MP for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng, MP for Beruas Ngeh Koo Ham, MP for Ipoh Barat, Kulasegaran who visited the tragic Kuala Dipang site on Tuesday, I was shocked and outraged at the utter recklessness, negligence, irresponsibility and complete disregard for the lives and safety of schoolchildren on the part of the authorities, particularly the education department and the contractor concerned, in allowing the suspension bridge to be built without adequate foundation or safety features causing its collapse in two weeks and claiming the lives of three children.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sivakumar disrobed in ‘BN conspiracy’
Humayun Kabir | Oct 28, 09 6:42pm | Malaysiakini
Barisan Nasional has been accused of orchestrating an elaborate plan to prevent ousted Pakatan Rakyat speaker V Sivakumar from exercising his duties at the state assembly sitting today.
Sivakumar, who levelled the charge at a press conference in Ipoh, said this was evident when a large group of police personnel stopped him at the car park of the state secretariat building, where the legislative assembly is located.
He said their motive was to confiscate the speaker’s robe and songkok that he was wearing.
“It was a BN conspiracy to grab the official robe from me,” he claimed, saying the police choked him in the ensuing struggle as he attempted to hold on to it.
Read the rest of this entry »
Perak State Assembly
Live updates @limkitsiang
01:45 PM
Perak State Assembly 2nd Sept at Hotel Heritage adjourned sine dine
01:44 PM
Adun Sungai debated. Motion amended 2include demand 4immediate release of 7 arrested n t contract for IGP Musa Hassan should not be renewed
01:41 PM
Emergency motion 2 condemn police highandedness hotly debated. Among speakers ADUN lubok merbau, pokok assam, teja, hutan melintang, canning
12:59 PM
One of the 7 arrested K Ananthan DAP Chairman Lok Lim Garden suffers ashmatic attack. Being sent to Ipoh GH
12:31 PM
Assembly adopted report of Public Accounts Committee. Now debating report of Privileges Committee.
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How to spot the Usurper between Ganesan and Sivakumar?
By NH Chan
News item in MalaysiaKini – July 24, 2009
I found this news item in MalaysiaKini – an online news portal:
Speaker vs. Speaker: Police report over letterhead
Humayun Kabir Jul 24, 09
Barisan Nasional state assembly speaker R Ganesan lodged a police report with the Ipoh district police headquarters accusing his Parkatan Rakyat speaker V Sivakumar of illegally using the speaker’s official letterhead twice to communicate with him.Ganesan said the ‘abuse of official letterheads’ happened twice – Sivakumar’s July 14 reply to his affidavit and summoning Ganesan to an inquiry on July 27.
Ganesan claimed that he was appointed as the legal speaker on May 7 to replace Sivakumar and thus the latter had used the letterheads ‘illegally’.
Read the rest of this entry »
Priority of Packaging Over Performance – Najib Razak’s First One Hundred Days
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Najib Razak, Perak on Monday, 20 July 2009
By M. Bakri Musa
I would have expected that the successor to the incompetent and do-nothing Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has minimal difficulty shining as the bar had been lowered substantially. Yet despite that, Prime Minister Najib Razak has failed to impress us in his first 100 days. His priority is packaging over performance.
Najib may be more poised, his voice less grating, and he stays awake in meetings (Tun Mahathir gave him top marks for that!), but in content and performance, he is of the same bottom-league kayu belukar quality as Abdullah, and far from the sturdy meranti quality we long yearn in our leaders. Abdullah lasted slightly over five years; it took time to see through his vacuity. Now sensitized, voters are less tolerant and less forgiving of incompetence. Najib will have an even briefer tenure.
Najib’s two signature and high profile initiatives in his first 100 days are his 1Malaysia.com.my website and his micromanagement of Perak’s legislative politics. The first illustrates Najib’s slick packaging; the second, the empty content and inept performance.
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