Archive for April, 2010
Who won Hulu Selangor? (1)
By Bridget Welsh
Despite the BN victory, the geography and ethnic breakdown of the victory does not suggest that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and BN are out of the woods. Quite the opposite is the case; the close Hulu Selangor by-election win of 2.7% shows that the BN is far indeed from regaining national and state power.
The main finding from the by-election results is that the electorate remains deeply polarised. The results show that there is no major national swing across races or generations.
Let me take you through my analysis of the results. Let’s begin with a bit of basics about this constituency. It is huge – with isolated communities, many with little connection to each other. The Chinese communities are comprised of 13 new villages and Chinese in the main town of Kuala Kubu Bahru. The Indian communities are concentrated in estates, with considerable number living throughout the constituency especially in the south.
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Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by Tun Haniff Omar to investigate into the death of 14-year-old student Aminulrasyid and all cases of police shooting deaths since 2005
The Parliamentary Roundtable on 28th July last year on “A new IGP for a Safe Malaysia” which was endorsed by responsible and conscientious MPs and key pillars of civil society have been vindicated – that instead of becoming safer, the people of Shah Alam had to exclaim in pain, sorrow and anger “This is not Manchester or Los Angeles, this is bloody Malaysia” following the heinous police killing of 14-year-old Form III student Aminulrasyid Hamzah.
Last July, the two main reasons I had given why Tan Sri Musa Hassan should go without renewal of his tenure and a new IGP appointed have come back to haunt the country and people because of their prescience and validity, viz:
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Failure of Musa in Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as IGP in the past three years, in all the three core police functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that under Musa, Malaysians are even more unsafe from street crimes now than when he became IGP in September 5, 2006.
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The re-appointment of Musa for another term of IGP cast an adverse aspersion on all the senior police officers, as if there is not a single one out of the eight top police officers occupying key police positions below the post of IGP who are qualified or competent enough to become the new IGP to provide a new police leadership and culture to roll back the tide of crime in the past five years.
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Abdullah should explain whether he had signed off US$100 billion (RM320 billion) worth of oil rights to resolve Brunei’s claims to Limbang a month before he stepped down as Prime Minister and why
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Oil on Friday, 30 April 2010
Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah should explain whether he had signed off US$100 billion (RM320 billion) worth of oil rights to resolve Brunei’s claims to Limbang a month before he stepped down as Prime Minister in March last year and why.
The disclosure by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir that there had been such a deal is most shocking and even outrageous, demonstrating how gravely good governance had deteriorated after Merdeka in 1957, as this is something Abdullah’s predecessors as Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein and even Tun Mahathir himself, would not have done without proper consent of Cabinet, Parliament and the Malaysian people.
Malaysians would have continued to be kept in the dark of this deal if not for Mahathir’s latest blog entry “Malaysia’s Generosity” yesterday where he disclosed that Malaysia had lost a substantial oil producing offshore area in the South China Sea, namely Block L and Block M. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia needs a new IGP now after Musa Hassan committed gross insurbodination for the second time with threats to call police off the streets and not to enforce the law
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan has committed gross insurbodination for the second time when he threatened to call police off the streets and not to enforce the law in retaliation against the firestorm of public outrage at the trigger-happy police killing of 14-year old Form III student Aminulrasyid Hamzah some 100 metres from his Shah Alam house in the early hours of Monday.
Star online today under the headline “IGP hits out at critics over shooting of teenager” reported:
KUALA LUMPUR: Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan has hit out at those criticising the force over the death of 15-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, saying he could call his men off the streets if that was what the people wanted.
“If you do not want the police to enforce the law, then say so,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Cry “This is not Manchester or Los Angeles, this is bloody Malaysia” finds resonance in the country and reflects gravity of crisis of public confidence in police professionalism
“Hisham: We’ll be fair – Home Minister promises a thorough investigation” and “No cover-up in probe, says IGP” are two headlines in the Star today on the trigger-happy “shoot-to-kill” police killing of 14-year-old student Aminulrasyid Hamzah in the early hours of Monday morning, some 100 metres from his Shah Alam Section 11 house to assure the Malaysian public of the action being taken by the authorities.
Both the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan can shout from the rooftops but the duo will not be able to inspire confidence whether the aggrieved family or the outraged Malaysian public that there would be a thorough, independent and professional investigation into the heinous incident causing the death of a 14-year-old Form III student in Shah Alam.
The ham-fisted and unwarranted “stern warning” by the Selangor Police Chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar to politicians and the public not to make statements or to speculate on the incident has the unintended effect of further undermining public confidence in police integrity and professionalism.
Khalid is clearly behind-times as he does not realize that we are in the era of democratic and accountable policing, and not living in a police state where no questions should be asked about the police!
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Praises for Najib for honouring RM3 million pledge to SRJKC Rasa and Rasa voters for being pioneers of New Politics towards a New Malaysia of justice, freedom, excellence and prosperity while insisting on their rights as citizens and taxpayers
Posted by Kit in Election, Najib Razak on Thursday, 29 April 2010
I commend the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for honouring his RM3 million pledge to SRJKC Rasa for the construction of a new building for the 81-year-old dilapidated school which was made on Hulu Selangor by-election polling eve on Saturday.
I will not quibble that the RM3 million cheque was only handed over to the Chairman of the SRJKC Rasa Ng Tek Kui yesterday when it should have been on Monday as pledged.
Greater praises are in order to the voters of Rasa who have demonstrated that they are worthy pioneers of New Politics in Malaysia to usher in a New Malaysia of justice, freedom, excellence and prosperity for all, regardless of race, religion or region, while insisting on their rights to development as citizens and taxpayers.
In the March 8 “political tsunami” of the 2008 general elections, the successful PKR candidate Datuk Zainal Abidin secured 56.74% of the Chinese votes in Rasa.
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My friend Aminul
Itzmir reels from the tragic death of his best buddy
ALFIAN TAHIR
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 14:12:00 | Malay Mail
SHAH ALAM: The loss of his best friend, Aminul Rashid Amzah, 15, who was shot dead by police on Monday morning after allegedly trying to flee upon colliding with another car, is something Wan Iztmir Izzat Wan Abdul Rahim, also 15, can’t come to terms with. Recalling how Aminul died some five metres away from his best friend’s house, Iztmir said he was at home when he heard a loud bang.
Thinking it was just another accident, he ignored it until he realised there was a commotion outside.
“When I saw patrol cars and many people, I went out and saw a car with a youngster in it. I recognised my friend’s T-shirt and thought Aminul had one just like it,” said Itzmir “I got closer for a better look and I couldn’t believe what I saw. My best friend was slumped in the car.
“I asked the policeman what had happened but he told me to get back inside my house. When I asked again, the policeman just kept quiet.
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #12
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Thursday, 29 April 2010
By M. Bakri Musa
Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress
Culture As Society’s Genes
Culture is to society what genes are to an individual. Culture forms the framework for development for a society, both under normal circumstances but also more importantly, under differing and stressful conditions. Likewise, our genes predict our eye and skin colors, as well as our reactions to specific environmental conditions, as for example, our propensity to develop specific diseases under certain conditions. Culture does that for a society, as exemplified by the response of the Marioris to the invasion by the Maoris. Just like genes, culture is transmitted from one generation to the next, and it remains remarkably stable with each generation transmitting its values to the next through the process of acculturation. In traditional societies, such acculturations take place informally in the family and other social settings; in modern societies, at schools and similar institutions.
Changes in genes, or more accurately the distribution of the changed gene in a population, do occur through natural selection, but very slowly. Likewise with culture, changes do occur but very slowly as evidenced by the subsequent divergent cultural transformations of the Marioris and the Maoris conditioned by their particular environment.
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Neighbours’ anger over trigger-happy cops
By Neville Spykerman
The Malaysian Insider
SHAH ALAM, April 28 — Neighbours who knew Aminulrasyid Amzah today could not contain their emotions as they expressed outrage over his shooting by police.
The Form Three student was driving his sister’s Proton Iswara and is alleged to have attempted to ram a police road-block in Section 11 here, before the fatal shooting occurred early Monday morning.
“This is not Manchester or Los Angeles, this is bloody Malaysia,” said Nadzimuddin Pip, who added the police should have been better trained to differentiate between criminals and boys. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian Submarine Scandal Continues
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Defence, Najib Razak on Thursday, 29 April 2010
Asia Sentinel
by Hamish McKenzie
28 April 2010
French Lawyer Looks for Answers for Scandal in Kuala Lumpur
Joseph Breham, one of a team of lawyers looking into allegations of corruption in a Malaysian submarine purchase from a French defense conglomerate, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday that he had filed a 10-page inquiry with the French courts that calls into question the actions of a company with close ties to the Malaysian Prime Minister’s best friend and aide, Abdul Razak Baginda.
Breham is also expected to question several witnesses in Kuala Lumpur about the case, which has broken into the open after years of silence in Malaysia. The inquiry, which now rests with independent French prosecutors, is directed at a €114 million (US$151.1 million) commission paid to a company called Perimekar, which Breham’s legal team suggests was established in 2001 purely for the purpose of receiving the kickback. Najib Tun Razak, then Malaysia’s defense minister, led the negotiations with the French government to buy the two Scorpene-class submarines, build by Armaris, a subsidary of the French defense giant DCN, and to lease a third a few months later, in 2002.
Political reformers in Malaysia say they are placing their hopes on the French investigation to get to the bottom of the payment to Perimekar and its implications because, they say, there is little hope that the Malaysian justice system will bring the truth to light. Despite repeated requests for information by opposition leaders in Malaysia’s parliament, Najib and other top members of the government have refused to answer. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should make personal visit to family of Aminulrasyid latest fatal victim of trigger-happy police shooting and set up public inquiry headed by credible independent Commissioners
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Police on Wednesday, 28 April 2010
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should make a personal visit to the family of the latest fatal victim of trigger-happy police shooting and set up a public inquiry headed by credible and independent Commissioners into the killing of 14-year-old Form III student Aminulrasyid Hamzah by trigger-happy police in the early hours of Monday near his house at Section 11 in Shah Alam.
This morning, together with Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, I visited the bereaved mother, Norsiah Mohamad and his family immediately on our return from Sibu and extended our condolences and shared the outrage and anger at the unacceptable police killing of a 14-year-old student.
The official police version of the shooting/killing of Aminul as given by the Selangor Chief Police Officer Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar had been challenged on the most important facets by the family and eye-witness account.
Firstly, Khalid alleged that Aminul, who was driving, had suddenly reversed the car and tried to ram into the police personnel while his companion “had exited and was able to escape”.
The family said it was not true that Aminul tried to reverse the car to jam the police personnel. Aminul had died when he was shot in the head and the friend who was with him came out to surrender himself but was kicked and punched but he managed to escape. Read the rest of this entry »
Open Tweet to Cabinet on police killing of 15 year old Aminul Rasyid
OPEN TWEET TO CABINET Suspend all police invlvd in police killing of 15yr Aminul ShahAlam Order public inquiry 2assuage public anger/outrage
04/28/2010 08:21 AM
Will visit Aminulrasyid’s aggrieved mother ShahAlam w Penang Chief Minister when we return from Sibu 2express sympathy support solidarity
04/28/2010 08:36 AM
#Aminulrasyid Let Msian Twitterjaya raise firestorm protest anger @ police killing 15yr teen n demand no more indiscriminate police shooting
04/28/2010 09:09 AM
When and why has MCA fallen so low with Chinese voter support for Barisan Nasional in Hulu Selangor plunging to 15% with Umno Secretary-General Tengku Adnan estimating that BN only secured the support of 22% of Chinese voters in the by-election?
The immediate reaction of the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek to the Barisan Nasional’s win but MCA’s loss in the Hulu Selangor by-election on Sunday was that it should be a wake-up call for MCA leaders that the Chinese community is no longer just concerned with basic needs but about also national issues.
He said that the MCA would also be more vocal from now on.
But this pledge of a wake-up call for the MCA leadership and to be “more vocal from now on” was broken in the next 24 hours, when the MCA leadership failed to speak up on the imperative need that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must honour his by-election eve pledge to sign in the next 24 hours of a by-election victory a RM3 million allocation to the school board’s account for the new building of the 81-year-old SRJK© Rasa.
Monday yesterday had come and gone but there had been no honouring of the signing of the approval of the RM3 million for the SRJK © Rasa.
In fact, I had a twitter exchange with the MCA Deputy Education Minister and MCA Youth leader Datuk Wee Ka Siong yesterday, as follows:
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Pakatan still on track to Putrajaya after Hulu Selangor
Posted by Kit in Election, Pakatan Rakyat on Tuesday, 27 April 2010
By Kenny Gan
It was an intense hard fought by-election in a traditional Umno stronghold which many said was too close to call. BN’s Hulu Selangor campaign was as dirty and nasty as any other by-election and dirtier than most with the stakes seen as a referendum on Najib’s administration. BN fought mostly with character assassinations and money. Both sides also released strategically timed policies, land titles and grants although naturally PR could not match BN’s largess.
The campaign was fierce and furious with both sides throwing in their biggest guns with PR bringing in revered Tok Guru Nik Aziz to shore up Zaid’s Islamic credibility among the conservative Malays. The normally ignored Orang Asli were wooed by BN with parties, booze and cash and Felda settlers who were nursing grievances for decades suddenly found the sky raining with money and promises. Even Maika shareholders were buoyed by the strategically timed news that a buyout of their troubled investment is in the works.
In an uncharacteristic move for an incumbent prime minister which underscored how important this by-election is, Najib Razak himself joined the fray. The Election Commission also got into the act with a dubious transfer of 14,000 voters between polling stations, seen as a calculated move to cause confusion. Several hundred pro-opposition voters were also transferred outside the constituency and denied their right to vote.
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So why did PKR lose in Hulu Selangor?
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid | The Malaysian Insider
APRIL 26 — It was rather anticipated that Barisan Nasional would snatch the Hulu Selangor seat yesterday from right under Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) nose and without giving too much credit to the former, two factors contributed to this somewhat predestined outcome.
First, the notoriously poor and inefficient machinery. The second is the candidate factor itself.
PKR’s Datuk Zaid Ibrahim lost to MIC information chief P. Kamalananthan by a 1,725-vote majority. The former law minister garnered 23,272 votes while his opponent, a public relations practitioner whose qualifications were subject to tactical scrutiny by Zaid and Co, bagged 24,997 votes.
Yes, there were strong intrinsic statistical factors that led to Zaid’s loss as reflected by past voting patterns. After all, the sizeable constituency of 64,500 eligible voters has been opposition-proof up until the unpopular Datuk G. Palanivel, a four-term incumbent, was dethroned in Election 2008.
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Umno outsourcing extremism to Perkasa, says Kit Siang
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang today accused Umno of outsourcing its “extremist demands” to Perkasa after the right-wing Malay group demanded Barisan Nasional (BN) review its aid for the Chinese in Hulu Selangor.
The group had demanded the government reconsider its election pledges to the Chinese in Hulu Selangor because of the community’s poor support for the ruling coalition in yesterday’s by-election.
“It is very clear that Umno has outsourced its extremist demands to Perkasa. The voice of Perkasa represents (the views) of the Umno extremists,” Lim told The Malaysian Insider.
The veteran politician claimed this was a test for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on whether his 1 Malaysia concept of unity was actually practised or a mere farce.
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Twitter spat on Najib’s HS RM3m pledge to SRJKC Rasa
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Election, Najib Razak, Twitter on Monday, 26 April 2010
weekasiongmp:
RT @NajibRazak: Honoured the ppl of HS have given us their vote. Our work has just begun. focus now is on delivering on what we promised.
04/26/2010 03:39 PM
limkitsiang:
Well if Najib can spend RM77 million 2wangle a Najib-Obama meet, what is RM200 million 2wangle byelection victory though pyrrhic victory
04/26/2010 03:39 PM
limkitsiang:
Pyrrhic victory – a victory with such devastating cost 2victor; carries implication anthr such will ultmtly cause defeat http://bit.ly/X4MMf
04/26/2010 03:44 PM
limkitsiang:
Based on 24,997 BN votes will work out 2RM6,666 per head RT @Maobi72: @limkitsiang Sdr. you can only divide based on voter turn out..
04/26/2010 03:56 PM
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BN’s pyrrhic victory in Hulu Selangor
by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Far from being a resounding victory for the BN and a devastating loss for Pakatan Rakyat, the Hulu Selangor election result is another clear indicator that Malaysians do not see a secure future for themselves in a continuation of the BN government.
The BN leadership may be happy about the outcome and the official media may spin about the vote of confidence for Najib’s leadership but the extremely large opposition vote – against all odds – shows that many in Hulu Selangor and throughout the country (as the string of recent by-elections demonstrates) continue to embrace the “reformasi” programme of change for the country.
From the moment, Zaid was nominated to stand in Hulu Selangor, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Paktan. This was no ordinary opponent that the PR was bringing into the fray. Thus, Zaid was a candidate that the BN had to kill off – whether by hook or by crook.
Zaid had been a Minster brought into the last Badawi cabinet to give the electorate some hope that Umno was capable of implementing a programme of change for the good of the country. He was not the usual leader who had risen to power through the opportunistic use of race and religion, and whose main agenda was aggrandizement of self and family under the guise of “untuk agama dan bangsa”.
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Would MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers resign if Najib does not honour his Hulu Selangor by-election promise to issue RM3 million cheque today for building of new Rasa Chinese primary school?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Election, Najib Razak on Monday, 26 April 2010
The 1,725-vote majority victory of the Barisan Nasional in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election yesterday is a pyrrhic victory for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – so devastatingly costly both in political and monetary terms that they lay the seeds for the forthcoming defeat of the Barisan Nasional.
The Barisan Nasional has a bill of over RM100 million for its Hulu Selangor by-election campaign – RM60 million for various infrastructure projects and easily more than RM40 million for the Barisan Nasional election campaigners and the many rent-a-crowd outings for the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers.
After such outpourings of money politics, the 1,725-vote majority is actually more a defeat than a victory for Najib and the Barisan Nasional.
The UMNO target was to win Hulu Selangor with at least 6,000-vote majority and the Umno leadership was so confident of this huge victory that the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin went public on this Umno objective mid-day during Hulu Selangor polling yesterday.
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