Archive for July 28th, 2017

Challenge to Najib to emulate Lee Hsien Loong and have a no-holds barred debate in Parliament on the 1MDB scandal where he would answer all questions raised by MPs on the scandal

Earlier this evening, CNN carried the following news item from Islamabad:

“Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned Friday after he was disqualified from office by the country’s Supreme Court.

“The court ruled Sharif has been dishonest to parliament and to the judicial system, and is no longer deemed fit for the office of prime minister.

“The panel of five judges announced their unanimous decision Friday afternoon, with the election commission ordered to issue a disqualification notice to Sharif. With the ruling, Sharif’s cabinet has also been dissolved.”

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the same thing can happen in Malaysia, whether the Malaysian Parliament and judiciary can remove a Prime Minister from office for corruption and dishonesty to Parliament and the judiciary.

South Korea had recently provided another example of the strength of its national institutions when the South Korean Parliament passed an impeachment motion against President Park Geung-hye, followed by an unanimous decision by eight judges of the South Korean Constitution Court which dismissed Park as South Korean President for corruption – putting Park in prison during her corruption trial.

Could this happen in Malaysia if the Malaysian Prime Minister is corrupt and abused his powers? Read the rest of this entry »

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Can the BN Sabah and Sarawak Ministers and MPs be trusted to uphold Sabah and Sarawak interests when they dare not openly declare their support for Malanjum as Chief Justice of Malaysia?

The President of the Sabah Council of Datuks, Claudius Roman, said that Sabah may have to wait 100 years to produce another judge as gifted as Richard Malanjum.

He said the Council, which is made up of serving and former senior leaders of the public and private sectors, political organisations and NGOs. had unanimously agreed on Wednesday that Malanjum was the most qualified member of the Malaysian judiciary for the post of chief justice.

The question is whether the Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak dare to tell the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, that Sabah will have to wait 100 years to produce another judge as gifted as Richard Malanjum.

This is most unlikely as how can the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak be trusted to uphold Sabah and Sarawak interests when they dare not openly declare their support for Malanjum as Chief Justice of Malaysia, especially as next Thursday on August 3 will be deadline for the appointment of a new Chief Justice. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cabinet today should speak up for a moderate Malaysia for a change, suspend the ban on G25 book and form a high-level committee to hold public hearings whether the book should be banned

The reported ban on G25 book on “Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy” is so extraordinary and unbelieveable that the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi must confirm whether he had authorized such a ban and why.

This book is produced by G25, comprising former high-ranking Malay/Muslim civil servants, civic leaders and politicians first formed in December 2014 to call for a rational dialogue on the position of Islam in a constitutional democracy as they are deeply concerned over developments regarding race relations, Islam and extremist behaviour in Malaysia.

In the Open Letter in December 2014 signed originally by 25 prominent personalities, including former secretaries-general, directors-general, ambassadors, judges and prominent Malay individuals who have contributed much to Malaysian society, their spokesperson, Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, former Malaysian Ambassador to the Netherlands, said she and the others were “deeply concerned about the state of the debate on many issues of conflict on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia”.

Stressing that it was time for moderate Malays and Muslims to speak up, and that “extremist, immoderate and intolerant voices” do not speak in their name, she said:

“Given the impact of such vitriolic rhetoric on race relations and political stability of this country, we feel it is incumbent on us to take a public position and urge for an informed and rational dialogue on the ways Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in Malaysia”.

She also urged more moderate Malaysians to speak up and contribute to “a better informed and rational public discussion on the place of Islamic laws within a constitutional democracy and the urgency to address the breakdown of federal-state division of powers and finding solutions to the heart-wrenching stories of lives and relationships damaged and put in limbo because of battles over turf and identity”.

Now with the ban of G25’s book, what does it imply?

Will G25 itself, comprising former top prominent Malay/Muslim civil servants and public servants and which has since expanded to double its original number but has decided retain the name of “Group of 25” or “G25”, as this is the name that the Malaysian public is familiar with, be next to be banned, signifying a major setback for the cause of a moderate Malaysia and the triumph of extremist and intolerant forces in the country?

Does the ban of G25’s book signify a far-reaching and even seismic transformation in the nation-building directions in the country, where what had been regarded as being in the “out-boxes” for the past six decades have made a grand entrance into the “in-boxes” and what had been in the “in-boxes” under five Prime Ministers from 1957 to 2009 under Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Badawi have now been relegated to the “out-boxes”? Read the rest of this entry »

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