Archive for March 19th, 2011

High turnout in Egyptian constitutional poll

Voters to decide on a package of constitutional reforms in the first election since Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow.

Aljazeera
19 Mar 2011

Millions of Egyptians have turned out for today’s constitutional referendum, the first vote following the overthrow last month of Hosni Mubarak, the country’s long-serving president.

Voters are deciding on a package of nine amendments, about half of which deal with the conduct of elections. One would make it easier for independent candidates to run for president; another would re-establish judicial oversight of elections.

The amendments were drafted by an eight-man constitutional committee, which was appointed by the ruling military junta. They must be approved or rejected as a bloc.

There were early reports of high turnout, with voters in some districts predicting an hours-long wait before they would be able to cast their ballots.

“This is an historic day for Egypt,” said Yahya al-Gamal, the country’s prime minister, after casting his vote in Cairo. “I have never seen such large numbers of voters in Egypt. Finally, the people of Egypt have come to realise that their vote counts.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Taib not stepping down as Sarawak Chief Minister any time soon

Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is not stepping down as Sarawak Chief Minister any time soon.

This is obvious from his latest very elaborate political dance which he had choreographed over his intended resignation as Sarawak Chief Minister.

Cutting through all the verbiage and verbosity indulged by Taib yesterday, the message is very clear: Taib will lead the Barisan Nasional into the state general election expected next month and he will continue as Sarawak Chief Minister after the polls!

Reason? Taib has not yet been able to groom a successor! Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib should give full report to Parliament on the previous “bad experience” with nuclear power which former PM Mahathir had mentioned

The Cabinet meeting yesterday was a great letdown and disappointment.

In the wake of the Japanese nuclear meltdown crisis triggered by the double calamity of 9.0 earthquake and tsunami last week, the failure of the Cabinet Ministers yesterday to discuss widespread concerns in the country about Malaysia’s nuclear power plans is the height of irresponsibility and negligence.

The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Dr. Maximus Ongkili did not tell anything new when he said after the Cabinet meeting that the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation would proceed with accepting tenders for companies to conduct a feasibility study on the government’s plans to build two 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plants by 2022.

What really shocked Malaysians is his revelation that the Cabinet had not discussed this matter at its meeting yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

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