Archive for December, 2015
The Umno Circus has begun…
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 10 December 2015
By Martin Jalleh
The AGM of UMNO also known as 1MDB is here to entertain you!
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 10 December 2015
By Martin Jalleh
DAP will mark the universal 2015 Human Rights Day by challenging the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill every step of the way – from Dewan Rakyat to Dewan Negara, Royal Assent, the courts and the bar of public opinion
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Najib Razak, Parliament on Thursday, 10 December 2015
Tomorrow, Dec. 10, is the universal Human Rights Day observed every year the commemorate the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year’s Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16th December 1966.
The two Covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights, setting out the civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights that are the birth right of all human beings.
The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day – “Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always.” – aims to promote and raise awareness of the two Covenants on their 50th anniversary.
The year-long campaign revolves around the theme of rights and freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear — which underpin the International Bill of Human Rights and are as relevant today as they were when the Covenants were adopted 50 years ago.
Thirty-eight years ago, in October 1977, I moved a motion in Parliament for Malaysia’s ratification of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights 1966.
I asked in Parliament during the two-day debate on my motion why the Malaysian Government was prepared to vote for its adoption in the UN General Assembly but not prepared after eleven years, to ratify the Covenant after it was opened for signature since Dec. 19, 1966. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Muhyiddin be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be expelled by UMNO?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 9 December 2015
All eyes will be focused on the UMNO Supreme Council special meeting today, as to whether Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be sacked from UMNO, whether today or later shortly.
The Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech tomorrow will establish a record of sorts as attracting the least national anticipation, as nobody expects the UMNO President, apart from excelling himself in the past in breathing fire and brimstone on racial and religious rhetoric, to really address the important issues not only to the three million UMNO members but also to the 30 million Malaysians – Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals and his policy disasters like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the midst of of the people’s economic woes of rising inflation and falling incomes.
UMNO Baru has indeed come a long way since the formation of original UMNO in 1946.
In 1950, the founder UMNO President, Datuk Onn Jaafar was too ahead of his time when he tried to open up UMNO to “non-Malays” to create a united nation and left UMNO in disgust.
Today, 65 years later, the present UMNO has become very regressive and exclusivist while at the same time become more corrupt and repressive, and one proof was the barring of non-Muslim journalists from covering the Puteri Umno launch of its programme “Daulatkan Islam Agama Negara” (DIAN) by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday.
From a “national” party, the present UMNO is not even a party for the Malays or of the three million UMNO members but has been reduced to a party of Najib’s cronies and UMNO chieftains who dominated the UMNO Supreme Council and the various UMNO divisional leadership positions. Read the rest of this entry »
Can Najib explain why he dared to explain the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Last night, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak broke his silence on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal which had been dogging him and his government for the past five months in an exclusive interview with UMNO media, conducted by Media Prima Bhd group managing editor of news and current affairs Mohd Ashraf Abdullah, the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd group managing editor Abdul Jalil Hamid and Utusan Group editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak.
Najib said that the donation of RM2.6 billion deposited into his account is neither from a public fund nor the government’s strategic investment company, 1MDB, that it was the donor’s wish that the funds were deposited into his account and that the donation was made in a personal capacity.
Najib’s explanation on the twin mega scandals leaves open a thousand-and-one other questions, but the most important issue is why Najib dared to explain about the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?
Why did Najib run away from Parliament on the last day of the budget Parliamentary meeting last Thursday, after fobbing off some 90 questions from Pakatan Harapan MPs in the 25-day parliamentary session with the promise right from the very first day of Parliament on Oct. 19 that all the questions about the twin mega scandals would be answered in “one go” on the last day of the Parliamentary meeting? Read the rest of this entry »
Retraining Ustazs into Global Communicators
Posted by Kit in Islam, Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi on Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Professor Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
UCSI University
8th December 2015
In my previous article, I had suggested that most Muslims have a disturbing attitude that the only civilization that they are concerned with is only the 1500 years of Islam in the Muslim world. Muslims seem to look down and even reject the sum total of human civilization as ‘jahili’ or ignorant.
I think this is the wrong attitude to take and my reading of the Qur’an and hadiths does not conclude such a stand. The problem with most Muslims is simply that they let their thoughts and ideas be formed by the religious scholars trained in the limited mindset of the Madrasa.
Muslims are either too lazy to read and understand the Qur’an and hadith on their own or they are being frightened by the clerics that studying these sources without the ‘proper’ guide of ustazs will make them go astray and incur the wrath of Allah The Most High.
I have therefore called many times in my writings to reeducate the ustazs or religious teachers by exposing them to the greater awareness of the rich thoughts and ideas of humanity. Muslims, in brief, must be brought back into the fold of humanity.
It does not mean that Islam is being ‘compromised’ but I have enough experience as an academic that the interpretation of an event or an idea is more meaningful and richer when a larger context is used rather than a small one.
If ustazs were trained in the USA or Britain or Europe, they might have different views and interpretation of the sources of Islam then those trained in the so called Muslim countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia or India or Iran.
Read the rest of this entry »
Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill
Posted by Kit in Law & Order, Najib Razak, Parliament on Tuesday, 8 December 2015
In his pre-UMNO General Assembly interview with Media Prima and Utusan groups, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended the newly-passed National Security Council (NSC) bill, suggesting that it was enacted to keep the country safe from terrorist attacks.
If the NSC Bill was in fact intended to deal with terrorist attacks and armed insurrection ala-Islamic State or the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datuk two years ago, then the drafters of the NSC Bill should be sacked for their gross incompetence and inefficiency in drafting such an atrocious Bill and the 107 Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament deplored for voting for such a Bill, which went far beyond the intention to empower the state with the resources and capability to deal with modern terrorist threats.
In actual fact, there was not a single reference to the threat of terrorism or terrorist attacks in the monstrous NSC Bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat which defined “national security” in so wide and catch-all a fashion that it could be interpreted to cover all situations, even those which would not normally be associated with national security issues arising from political, economic and nation-building factors and circumstances. Read the rest of this entry »
Full support for Muhyiddin’s proposal to Najib to “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Just as over a thousand people are gathered here in Batu Uban in Penang tonight to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”, over a thousand people are gathered at the Kelab Sultan Suleiman in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur to support Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had been sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and may be sacked as UMNO Deputy President for basically asking the same question to Najib – “Mana RM2.6 billion?”
In his speech at Kelab Sultan Suleiman, which had just been completed, Muhyiddin proposed that Najib should take leave as Prime Minister pending investigations into 1MDB, as there should be no perception that the Prime Minister is meddling in the investigations.
Muhyiddin said that if Najib is not involved, he can come back to serve as Prime Minister again.
I fully support Muhyiddin’s proposal that Najib “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe.
Will Najib announce in his UMNO Presidential Address on Thursday that he would take leave as Prime Minister until the completion of investigations into 1MDB? Read the rest of this entry »
Most-watched political event in Malaysia
Straits Times
DEC 7, 2015
Umno’s general assembly is the most closely watched political event in Malaysia annually, except when there is a general election.
In the past, the issues raised at the five-day congress, attended by party members from all over the country, have resulted in new or tweaked government policies. Key speeches are broadcast live on radio and TV, with Umno the only political body to be given this privilege.
Love or loathe it, the reason for Umno’s power is its outsized position in Malaysian politics. Read the rest of this entry »
A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Abdul Rahman as Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Human Rights, Parliament on Monday, 7 December 2015
A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as a Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill.
Responding to tweets criticizing the NSC bill, which was passed “like a thief at night” at the late-night session last Thursday on Dec 3, the final day of the 25-day budget parliamentary meeting, and which conferred on the Prime Minister such absolute executive powers as to usurp the constitutional prerogative of the Yang di Pertuan Agong to declare an emergency under Article 150 of the Malaysian Constitution, as well as to oust the powers of the Cabinet and to undermine the autonomy powers of Sarawak and Sabah, Rahman had tweeted:
“If a bomb exploded in KL then perhaps you guys would have a different view. But sadly that would be too late.”
Rahman’s tweet is not only frighteningly insensitive but also outrageously illogical. Read the rest of this entry »
Let Najib clarify in his UMNO Presidential Address at the UMNO General Assembly whether he is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the FBI as to whether he is a ‘kleptocrat’
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament, UMNO on Monday, 7 December 2015
Should Pakatan Harapan MPs from DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara who have been in the forefront demanding full and satisfactory accountability from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his twin mega scandals on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB go on their bended knees and thank their lucky stars that the Prime Minister was so merciful and spared them the agony and shame of an expose on the last day of the 25-day parliamentary meeting last Thursday (Dec. 3)?
This is because Najib said last night that the opposition spews nothing but “lies” on 1MDB (auta bukan fakta), declaring: “It they (the opposition) attack us using logic, rational thinking and facts, they will lose. It’s now the battle of the minds.”
If Najib is right, and the Prime Minister had appeared in Parliament on the last day of the budget parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 to lay down the facts of the two scandals, all the Pakatan Harapan MPs who had been harping them would have been mercilessly exposed not only as opportunists, charlatans and even ignoramus.
However, before deciding whether the Pakatan Harapan MPs should be thankful for such little mercies from Najib, they must ask why the Prime Minister was so kind to them, if it was true that it would be so easy for him to squash the Opposition MPs who had been raising a storm particularly since March about the 1MDB scandal? Read the rest of this entry »
Tun Razak – A Leader With A Free Mind
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, UMNO on Monday, 7 December 2015
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
7th December 2015
Notwithstanding their common aristocratic background, obvious brilliance, and genuine nationalism, plus their overlapping leadership in UMNO, Tun Razak had little in common with Datuk Onn Jaafar. To start with, there was their obvious age and thus generational difference, Onn being about 30 years older. The critical differentiating feature separating the two however was their personalities.
Like Onn, there is as yet no authoritative biography of Tun Razak. There is William Shaw’s, published in 1976, sympathetic bordering on the hagiographical. Razak had many contemporaries, some very erudite, but none had sought to pen an account of this great man. Likewise his sons (he had no daughters) who are all well educated, including one who is a Cambridge graduate, yet none has seen fit to write an account of their great father, apart from the anecdotal recollections in responses to interviews.
The contrasting personalities between Onn and Razak could not be more obvious then when they were campaigning or otherwise engaging the common people. To be sure, both were atypical politicians; neither exhibited the usual politician’s backslapping or feigned familiarity and affability. They both seemed aloof and uncomfortable with crowds. While Onn had the imperious look of an aristocrat who is forced to be with the peasants, Razak had that of a policy wonk embarrassed at being unable to articulate more simply his complex ideas. Both however, had great intellect and more importantly, were remarkably free-minded although expressed in very different ways. Read the rest of this entry »
Why was the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Human Rights, Najib Razak on Monday, 7 December 2015
Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid owe Parliament and the nation a full and satisfactory explanation as to why the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill was passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?
Najib’s kitchen Cabinet of trusted Ministers and top government officers and advisers must be congratulated for pulling off one of the most remarkable feats in Malaysian government history, keeping the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill completely under wraps without any one knowing about it, and even the snooping journalists with the most trained noses to sniff out the goings-on in the corridors of powers, have been completely bamboozled this time.
But this adds to the mystery – why was the NSC Bill kept under such tight lock-and-key that when it was first tabled in Parliament for first reading on Tuesday, 1st December 2015, it did not attract widespread attention and alert that it was such a monstrous and pernicious bill which not only usurped the powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the powers of autonomy of the Sarawak and Sabah state, but would set the country off on the long dark road to a dictatorship? Read the rest of this entry »
So you think sexist jokes are funny?
Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
4 December 2015
Jokes are meant to make us laugh. Plain and simple, right?
By definition, a joke is made up of words within a particular and “well-defined narrative structure” designed to make people crack a smile and express some level of amusement.
Jokes can be simple or even complex. It can be a story, a one-liner, a pun, slapstick or utter nonsense. However, there are jokes that have the opposite effect; some jokes are tasteless, crude, offensive and lewd. These are the type of jokes that joke tellers ought to think twice before articulating. Read the rest of this entry »
3 reasons you should be worried about the National Security Council Bill
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Human Rights, Parliament on Monday, 7 December 2015
Julia Yeow
The Malaysian Insider
6 December 2015
Just before the stroke of midnight last Thursday, December 3, Parliament passed the National Security Council Bill that nobody, not even the hawk-eyed opposition or the wide network of civil society groups, had any premonition of before it was tabled a mere two days earlier.
All peace-loving Malaysians regardless of your political affiliations, or even if you really couldn’t give two teh tariks for politics, have good reason to be concerned when this security law comes into force.
The manner in which it was bulldozed in Parliament, the ease with which it was passed and the ramifications of the vast executive powers it confers to members of the National Security Council (NSC) have left little to the imagination as to the sinister undertones of this Bill. Read the rest of this entry »
Islam in a Constitutional Democracy
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam on Monday, 7 December 2015
— G25 Forum
Malay Mail Online
December 6, 2015
DECEMBER 6 — We, members of G25, at the conclusion of the Forum on Islam in a Constitutional Democracy at PAUM in Kuala Lumpur on December 5 and 6, 2015, agree on the following statement of reaffirmation:
Having discussed the role of Islam in a Constitutional Democracy under four themes namely;
i) The Federal Constitution and Shariah Law.
ii) Issues of Conflict between Shariah law and Civil law, and impact on the Federal /State division of powers in Malaysia’s legal system.
iii) Islamisation and its Consequences.
iv) Islam and Politics.:
Reaffirming our commitment to upholding the Federal Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Nation;
Reaffirming our commitment to upholding the Rukun Negara which articulates the principles and goals that should guide the Nation;
Reaffirming our belief that political stability and economic progress in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation like Malaysia can only be achieved when there is racial harmony, tolerance, understanding and co-operation amongst the various communities; Read the rest of this entry »
Paris and California Shootings: What Are Muslims Teaching Their Children?
Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
7th Dec 2015
In the wake of the horrific events in Paris and California the so called ‘middle ground’ Muslims are quick to denounce them as the work of an ‘extreme’ faction. Well, I have got news for the world. In my thesis, it is these so called ‘middle ground’ Muslims that ultimately give birth to these extremist factions they fear so much.
Perhaps many are in disagreement and in shock to my statement. I will elucidate.
Firstly, what do I mean by ‘middle ground Muslims’? Read the rest of this entry »
Pandikar is not enhancing public respect for the Speakership or the institution of Parliament with his tantrum and threat through the BNBBC to pursue a vendetta to blackball DAP MPs for Segambut and Tanjong
Posted by Kit in Parliament on Sunday, 6 December 2015
Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is not enhancing public respect for the Speakership or the institution of Parliament with his latest tantrum and threat through the BN Backbencher’s Club (BNBBC) to pursue a vendetta with DAP Members of Parliament, Lim Lip Eng (Segambut) and Ng Wei Aik (Tanjong) by blackballing them from speaking in Parliament.
Pandikar challenged the two DAP MPs to resign if parliamentary reforms were implemented in the early sessions next year.
“I want them to resign or clear their seats if the first phase of the reforms are done early next year in the Parliament session.
“If they do not resign, even if they stand up a hundred times to speak or debate, I will not invite them to speak under Standing Order 35.
“They will not get my respect as a speaker”.
Challenge to Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home Minister Zahid Hamidi to public debate on the National Security Council Bill as it paves the way for a dictatorship and does not safeguard public and national security
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Parliament, Zahid on Sunday, 6 December 2015
Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has denied that the National Security Council (NSC) Bill which was passed in indecent haste by Dewan Rakyat 107 to 74 votes in a late-night sitting on Thursday had any political motive or gave absolute power to the Prime Minister.
Zahid claimed that the NSC bill was to strengthen enforcement in comprehensively looking after the security of the people in the country and the full executive power is not with the Prime Minister but with the National Security Council as had been done before with Poca and Pota, namely, the crime prevention law and terrorism prevention law.
He further claims that overall, the NSC Bill is aimed at safeguarding public and national security.
I challenge all these claims by Zahid and I further challenge Zahid to a public debate on the NSC Bill as it paves the way for a dictatorship and does not safeguard public and national security.
The public debate could be held in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Johor Baru and I leave it to Zahid to decide on anyone or even at all of these five venues. Read the rest of this entry »
What is the use of having seven Ministers and 25 Members of Parliament from Sarawak Barisan Nasional if they cannot even defend the basic rights for Sarawak autonomy which faced the greatest threat since formation of Malaysia in the form of the National Security Council Bill
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 5 December 2015
The seven Ministers and 25 Members of Parliament from Sarawak Barisan Nasional would have made a great difference and stopped the National Security Council Bill – the greatest threat to the basic rights of Sarawak autonomy since the formation of Malaysia 52 years ago – in its tracks if they had spoken out against the Bill.
The National Security Council Bill is the most monstrous piece of legislation that I have seen since my election to Parliament 46 years ago in 1969, for it would confer the Prime Minister with dictatorial powers, and in areas which are declared as “security areas”, the Prime Minister’s National Security Council would be able to do whatever it deems necessary (which is completely unheard-of in modern democratic governance) but also confers immunity for whatever violations and atrocities against human rights, even involving deaths, committed under the auspices of the National Security Council.
This is because the National Security Council Bill specifically provides that there would be no accountability whatsoever (everything will be protected under the Official Secrets Act) and there is even no need for post mortems in cases of mysterious deaths in security areas. Read the rest of this entry »
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