Archive for July 28th, 2011

Talking a good game with our PM

Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
July 28, 2011

JULY 28 – Football is the people’s game. It’s simple, engaging and enjoyed by both players and supporters.

But Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s football analogy this morning urging Malaysians to move from tolerance to acceptance was none of the above.

He called our diversity the “strength of our nation. As in a football match, people from our various communities help one another for the success of our team.

“If one of us score an own goal, we will lose. This (solidarity) value is important to us all, no matter the colour of our skin or how we look,” said the prime minister. Read the rest of this entry »

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Rollbacks are threatening reform agenda, say economists

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 28, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 – The Najib administration’s reform agenda is in danger of being derailed through decisions to appease the “Bumiputera agenda” and pressure from Malay rights groups intent on preserving the status quo, economists have said.

RAM Holdings Bhd chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said the government must recognise that Malaysia is underperforming economically because the “unfounded fears” of such groups were hindering reforms.

“Their (Malay rights groups) narrow interest may undermine the country’s progress into a high-income nation,” he told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jeyakumar to go on hunger strike

By Lisa J. Ariffin
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 28, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainee and Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj will begin a hunger strike today until he and five others detained under the EO are released or charged in court.

“Dr Jeyakumar told me that he would begin a hunger strike on July 28 to get justice. When I met my husband on July 27, he was feeling very frustrated and disappointed with the police and government’s stand on the six PSM activists detained under the EO since July 2,” Dr Jeyakumar’s wife Mohanarani Rasiah said today.

“I advised him against it because of his health but he resolved to do so until the PSM6 are released or charged in court.”

Mohanarani said Dr Jeyakumar had lost faith in the police. Read the rest of this entry »

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Fed power not entirely impossible, says Kit Siang

By Joseph Sipalan and Lee Way Loon | Jul 28, 11
Malaysiakini

INTERVIEW There are very few who can claim to be an equal to Lim Kit Siang, who has spent nearly as many years as Malaysia has existed in relentlessly pursuing his beliefs as opposition leader.

Having experienced first-hand practically every pivotal moment that shaped the country into what it is today, the 45-year political veteran can be excused if he maintains a critical view of even the most promising developments.

Lim became (right) DAP’s secretary-general in 1969, at a time when racial tensions blew up into the bloody rioting of May 13, was detained for more than a year on two separate occasions under the ISA – first in 1969 and again under the controversial Ops Lalang in 1987 – and even convicted for leaking official secrets related to dodgy arms deals with a Swiss company.
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Resign Or Snap Election For Najib, Here’re The Reasons

By Finance twitter

As much as I would like to stop writing about PM Najib administration, the plot just got interesting and I think he may just hit the bull’s eye as far as my prediction that his downfall may be faster than his predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, is concerned. Compared with Najib, Badawi now seems like a cute adorable little kitten, who merely likes to sleep (on the job). Malaysians tend to be more forgiving on lazy prime minister but not a prime minister who lies, cheats, brutal, dirty (allegation on Mongolian Altantuya’s murder), hypocrite but above all stupid yet arrogant.

One cannot help but fell off the chair laughing after read that Najib said he cancels a family vacation because he wants to spend more time with Malaysians. This was perhaps the best joke ever by premier Najib since he took over from Abdullah Badawi. This joke actually worth a thousand “Like” on his facebook page. Forget about Bersih 2.0 because this guy may quit under pressure – not from opposition parties or Bersih 2.0 but from his internal UMNO party. Boy, if it was true that the US$24 million controversial diamond ring indeed belongs to his wife Rosmah Mansor, that ring is cursed.
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Najib must honour his solemn undertaking to TBH family on 28.7.09 that “no stone will be left unturned” to find out the causes and circumstances of TBH’s death

Yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he left the decision of penalising the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) trio named in the James Foong Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Teoh Beng Hock’s (TBH) death to the MACC, the police and the Attorney-General.

This is the supreme “passing-the-buck” by the Prime Minister which is as good as saying that no one would be held responsible for Beng Hock’s death.

In the first place, the TBH RCI did not just name three names but quite a list of MACC officers who not only committed a host of crimes, including perjuries at the Royal Commission of Inquiry and the TBH inquest but must be held responsible for Beng Hock’s death.

However, even for the three MACC officers concerned who have been suspended from investigations duties but not as MACC officers, namely Hishammuddin Hashim (Negri Sembilan MACC director who was at the relevant time Deputy Director Selangor MACC and “mastermind” of the massive operation based “on a mere belief and without supporting facts” from a telephone call resulting in Beng Hock’s death); Anuar Ismail the “IO” of the operation and Ashraf Mohd Yunus (described by RCI as “Ashraf the abuser” – “who was Machiavellian in his method to secure evidence”), nothing serious is expected apart from “slap on the wrist”!
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We’ll derail BN, railwaymen warn Najib

By Patrick Lee | July 28, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: In a letter to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the Railwaymen Union of Malaya (RUM) warned him of protest votes against the Barisan Nasional in the next polls.

The letter penned by union secretary-general Jaafar Alias in his capacity as the Tampin Umno information chief also panned the Najib admnistration’s tagline.

“They (KTMB staff) said the slogan of ‘people first, performance now’ does not seem to be relevant… where the views of union members and KTMB employees have been ignored,” he said.

Jaafar also reminded Najib that there were nearly 2,000 KTMB employees in the Lembah Pantai Parliamentary constituency, where PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar reigned.
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Muhyiddin pledges RM100,000 to BN MPs as economy bites

The Malaysian Insider | July 28, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — The government will approve an immediate RM100,000 grant for constituencies after Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers complained to ministers on Monday that the administration’s focus on big-ticket projects in the Klang Valley would not help the coalition in the next general election.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) had promised the MPs the RM100,000 meant for constituency projects during his meeting with 100 BN federal lawmakers on Monday night.

The sum is expected to be dispersed in time for the Hari Raya Puasa holiday.

Lawmakers had told Muhyiddin and other ministers at the dinner meeting that the government must ensure more funds trickle down to their constituencies instead of concentrating on big-ticket projects like the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction in Kuala Lumpur if the ruling coalition wants to receive a strong mandate in the next general election.
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Teoh’s death: ‘Four new leads for police’

By Teoh El Sen | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang yesterday urged police to re-open investigations into the death of former political aide Teoh Beng Hock based on four new “leads” that the recently released Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report revealed.

Lim, the Ipoh Timor MP, said police should be investigating Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers for perjury based on the report’s finding that named most of the
MACC officers as “liars”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Apocalypse begins

By Soothsayer | July 27, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 27 — Good is bad and bad is good. Those in power attempt to justify their acts of deceit, cruelty and oppression by hard-sell tactics using all the media tools at their disposal.

On Sunday, the news broadcast was filled with falsity and half-truths — one of which is that this country is rated one of the safest and most peaceful in the world. By whose measure, I wonder, in the face of so much murder, death, robbery and violence?

The credit for maintaining the peace should go to the brave “rakyat” who, unarmed, faced water cannons and tear gas on their peaceful march. The government of the day deserves nothing for sending its minions to taunt, provoke and injure the populace.
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RCI report: Gobind throws Gani a challenge

By G Vinod | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP national legal bureau chairman Gobind Singh Deo wants Attorney- General Abdul Gani Patail to explain why the three MACC officers found responsible for the death of Teoh Beng Hock cannot be charged under the Penal Code.

“If you can’t find anything under the Penal Code to charge them with, come debate with me and I will tell you how,” said Gobind.

Gobind said under the Federal Constitution, only the Attorney-General’s office has the power to prosecute anyone in a court for a criminal offence.

He was speaking at a forum attended by about 500 people at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here yesterday.
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RCI + inquest = ‘big, big mess’

By Teoh El Sen | July 28, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Teoh Beng Hock’s death, which released its findings in a report last Thursday, has created a “big legal mess” by generating more questions than answers, said prominent human rights lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

Malik, who represented the Selangor government during the inquest and RCI, said rather than serving its original function to bring a closure to the issue, there are now different conclusions by the RCI and inquest.

“What has resulted is a big, big, mess. We have now a coroner’s decision and a RCI’s, which are saying different things. In law, the coroner’s findings is the determinative one,” the National Human Rights Society president told FMT.
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The chameleon PM

By Othman Wahab | July 27, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 27 — Okay, now it is official. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has run out of ideas. After looking terribly unconvincing when handling the Bersih 2.0 rally, he is clutching at anything just to seem to have things under control.

But the sad fact is that his every act and every word uttered just shows him to be desperate ala a tikam-tikam politician, not the son of Malaysia’s second PM who showed some promise in the early days.

In the past few weeks, he has obliterated the image he was carving out as a moderate leader. He has played the religious card, calling Ambiga Sreenevasan an enemy of Islam for doing her legal duty of representing a client.

He has flip-flopped like an Olympic gymnast on the offer of a stadium to the Bersih 2.0 organisers.
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BN MPs want more funds ahead of polls

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal | July 28, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers have told coalition leaders that the government must ensure more funds trickle down to their constituencies instead of concentrating on big-ticket projects like the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction in Kuala Lumpur if the ruling coalition wants to receive a strong mandate in the next general election.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the matter was raised during a meeting on Monday night between 100 BN federal lawmakers and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The lawmakers argued that if Putrajaya could set aside funds for the MRT project, a similar amount should be given to generate economic benefits in more constituencies.
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