Archive for May 11th, 2009

From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building

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Live webcast @ http://tv.dapmalaysia.org

Watch live video from DAP Malaysia on Justin.tv

Public forum: “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building”

Date : 13 May 2009
Time : 8.00 pm
Venue Civic Hall, MBPJ, Petaling Jaya, Selangor (MAP)
Enquiries: 016-323 1563/ 016-291 3453

Opening by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Speakers:

  • Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader, Ipoh Timur MP
  • YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, Menteri Besar Perak, Bukit Gantang MP
  • Tunku Abdul Aziz, DAP National Vice Chairman/Penang Senator-designate
  • Khalid Abd. Samad, Shah Alam MP
  • K. Ragunath, President of Bar Council Malaysia
  • N.H.Chan, Retired Court of Appeal Judge
  • Prof. Azmi bin Sharom, Law Professor
  • Tricia Yeoh, Research Officer to Selangor MB
  • Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad aka (Dollah Kok Lanas); Former NST Group Editor-in-Chief

52 Comments

My first twittering day

This is the twitter updates from KL High Court in Nizar vs Zambry case. From 3 – 4pm

# great judgment nizar will seek audience with sultan for dissolution

# judge rejects stay appln

# zambry counsel applying for stay of declaration

# judge declares nizar lawful mb

# judge – mb can only be dismissed by no confidence motion in assembly

# judge – assembly never had no confidence motion, material

# judge – mb can request dissolution without having lost majoritya

# judge upholds stephen ningkan judgment

# judge rejects ag’s ‘deeming’ argument – no ambiguity in constitution

# judge says perak constitution does not contemplate mb dismissal by sultan

# judge says once mb appointed by sultan, mb is answerable to assembly

# kl high court judge delivering judgment so far so good keep fingers crossed

# Will try to tweet the High Court decision later using my handphone. (1pm)

5.30 pm – Deborah Loh of TheNutGraph has given the following report of the historic High Court judgment by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim: – Read the rest of this entry »

93 Comments

Najib’s “open mind” to resolve Perak constitutional/political crisis with PR leaders “refreshing”

At a media conference in Alor Setar on Saturday, I said that the time had come for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to meet with Pakatan Rakyat leaders to resolve the three-month-long Perak constitutional and political impasse so that Malaysians in Perak and the country can focus single-mindedly on tiding the nation through the world’s worst economic crisis in a century.

This had become imperative after the May 7 Day of Infamy which brought unprecedented international shame to Malaysia as a modern and developed country not only by the trampling of human rights and the rule of law in the gross abuse of police powers in the completely unjustifiable lock-down of Ipoh but also in the flagrant violation of the doctrine of separation of powers highlighted by the photographs and video clips flashed around the world of the Perak Speaker, V. Sivakumar in Speaker robes and in Speaker Chair being bodily dragged out of the Legislative Assembly.

The image that the May 7 Day of Infamy projected to the world is that Perak and Malaysia are degenerating into failed states like Zimbabwe, Somalia and Congo in Africa rather than a nation aspiring to first-world developed-nation status.

This was why my first reaction to the scandalous spectacle not only of two Mentris Besar but also two Speakers and two Assemblies in Perak, and the physical removal of the Speaker – the most shameful episode in the history of parliamentary democracy, not only in Perak, Malaysia but also the world – was to point out that the biggest casualty of all was Najib’s “1Malaysia” slogan, which had been “shredded into smithereens” by the May 7 Day of Infamy.
Read the rest of this entry »

67 Comments

RM12 billion PKFZ scandal – stop appointing MCA lackeys as PKA Chairman

Datuk Lee Hwa Beng should have been sacked instead of being re-appointed as Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairman as he is not efficient, competent or professional about the release of the PricewaterhouseCooper report on the mega-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

The Edge weekly (April 27 – May3, 2009) which carried the cover story of “Total PKFZ bill – RM8 billion?” published a letter from Datuk Lee Hwa Beng responding to the Edge expose, saying that the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat had in early April made a statement that the release of the PKFZ report was “up to the PKA” but as his term as PKA Chairman “had technically expired on March 31 this year, I was not able to respond” to the Edge report.

This however did not prevent him from saying that he had read the PwC final report and saying that it “cannot be released while awaiting declassification by other government departments”. Read the rest of this entry »

44 Comments

The Lesson From Perak

by M. Bakri Musa

The current political paralysis in Perak reflects the major failures of our key institutions. It is a total breakdown at the palace, the legislature, and the permanent establishment. It also exposes the glaring inadequacies of the judicial system which has yet to adjudicate this critical and urgent matter of state.

It is not however, the failure of the people, as some pundits have implied by quoting the old adage that we deserve the government we get. It is the voters’ prerogative whether to grant the incumbent party a stunning victory, humble it with an unstable slim majority, or even throw it into the ranks of the opposition. Canada and Italy have a long history of minority governments, and they have managed well.

A mark of a mature democracy, or any system for that matter, is the transfer of power from one entity to another smoothly and predictably. Perak is a spectacular failure; it is also a preview for Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

15 Comments

A number 1BlackMalaysia day indeed

by Beth Yahp
Malaysiakini
May 7, 09

Yesterday I was hoping against hope that everything I know about the current political culture in Malaysia would today be proved wrong.

I’d hoped that democratic ‘due process’ would indeed take place in the Perak state assembly—and its environs—and that it would be upheld by lawmakers, police, civil servants, and the courts of justice who purportedly serve the Malaysian people who put them in office and, directly or indirectly, continue to pay their salaries.

Instead, what I’ve watched unfolding today is a scene directly from a police state: barbed wire cordoning off a democratic house of assembly; activists, lawmakers and ordinary rakyat being intimidated and arrested like criminals, because apparently it’s now a crime to wear black and have breakfast in the vicinity of the one place where your voice as a citizen is supposed to be heard. Fairly and freely. Read the rest of this entry »

6 Comments