Archive for June 19th, 2009

Muhyiddin the latest political leader to do the somersault to become the champion of “Umno-Pas unity government talks” and repudiate Najib’s 1Malaysia concept

Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is the latest political leader to perform the somersault – taking a diametrically opposite position from the one he had postured only a few days or even a few hours ago!

Speaking in Kuala Krai this morning, Muhyiddin said Umno wants talks on a unity government to be sped up and asks PAS leaders to forget past conflicts in the interest of the unity of Muslims in the country.

He said he wanted the talks to materialise because he feared that if the matter was allowed to drag on, it would create disunity among the Muslims.

He declared: “We will not impose any conditions and we accept whatever terms set by PAS. As far as I’m concerned, we have to be open.”

The Umno deputy president urged PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to forget about the conflicts between PAS and Umno in the ‘70s, when both parties cooperated to form the Kelantan state government and the national government.
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Did OTK regard the post of Transport Minister as just a postman or delivery boy for PKA without any ministerial responsibility to ensure that the RM1.2 billion variation order demanded by Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd for PKFZ was proper and legitimate?

My three questions (No.61 to No. 63 on the 21st day in the current series) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:

No. 1: Yesterday I had asked Ong to confirm authenticity of the exchange of letters which appeared on the website, http://pkfz.blogspot.com/, showing that on 10th May 2008, he had written to the Prime Minister seeking approval for RM1.2 billion payment as variation order for the PKFZ project to its turnkey developer, Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSN).

In his response from Paris in his blog, confirming the authenticity of the exchange of letters, Ong said that he was merely relaying the Port Klang Authority (PKA) board’s decision to the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Ong said: “I was then into my ministerial job for less than two months and the PKA board’s decision was made even before my time. Besides, the PricewaterhouseCoopers had not even started their position review work.”
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BN on the defensive in first week of Parliament

We have just ended the first week of Parliament and we see the Barisan Nasional in total defensive, unable to give a proper and satisfactory accounting of the many burning issues in the country resulting in the continuous erosion of public confidence in the credibility, integrity and legitimacy of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The 25-minute ruckus at the start of the first day in Parliament on 15th June following the swearing-in of the PAS MP for Bukit Gantang, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, when he shocked everyone with loud and righteous cries of “Hidup Rakyat. Bubar DUN” served one important purpose – to focus national attention on the most shameful episode in the 52-year history of Malaysian parliamentary history, the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak based on three “political frogs” who had to hide from the public for fear of popular condemnation for more than four-hand-a-half months!

I confess I was shocked when Nizar, in the podium of the House, shouted “Hidup Rakyat. Bubar DUN” with his raised fist, as I had not expected him to do that, but I was pleasantly shocked, as he had highlighted the deep-seated feelings of all Malaysians concerned about justice and democracy.
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Unity government: A case of mid-summer madness

By Tunku Abdul Aziz

It must have to do with the unusually hot weather we are experiencing that has brought about a touch of mid-summer madness among one or two senior members of PAS who have decided against their better judgment to break ranks to engage Umno in talks about the prospects of forming a national unity government. Otherwise why would reasonably sane people want to risk peer condemnation and denunciation by doing the unthinkable? This is the most charitable explanation I can offer.

We need a national unity government like we need a hole in the head. The thought of sleeping with the ethically debased and morally detestable Barisan Nasional government is simply too abhorrent to contemplate. Are we such reckless and irresponsible gluttons for punishment that in spite of having endured the Umno excesses in social, economic and political terms these last three decades, we are now asking for more of the same? That, believe it or not, is what we will get for our trouble. Umno will be more than happy to oblige.

They have nothing to lose and everything to benefit from our mindless gamble with our future. Why are some of us so eager to go to bed with a political party that has not one redeeming feature left to justify our risking our hard-earned reputation? Where are our much trumpeted principles of honesty and integrity? Are we no different, after all, from the Umno that we Read the rest of this entry »

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