Archive for category 1Malaysia
Has Malaysia a Home Minister of “unsound mind” who could condone and absolve the criminal actions of people stoking racial tensions by declaring payment of RM1,200 to anyone who slaps woman MP Teresa Kok?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Corruption, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building, Teresa Kok, UMNO on Monday, 10 February 2014
This morning the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of national unity, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said those stoking racial tensions by offering a reward for slapping DAP National Vice Chairperson and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok are people of “unsound mind”.
The more relevant and pertinent question is whether Malaysia has got a Home Minister of “unsound mind” who could condone and absolve the criminal actions of the self-styled “Council of Islamic NGOs” in stoking racial tensions by declaring payment of RM1,200 to anyone who slaps woman MP Teresa Kok.
The 30-odd people from six Muslim groups involved in the “slap Teresa” demonstration and the chicken slaughter and smearing of chicken blood on a banner featuring DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders are “sick” but what is shocking is whether we have a Home Minister who is equally “sick” as to be capable of defending and championing the “sick” actions of the ‘Council of Islamic NGOs’.
Thanks to the publicity given by the extremist NGOs and their sponsors in UMNO, Teresa’s video “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” has now exceeded over 450,000 hits on YouTube. Read the rest of this entry »
Interfaith forum blames education system, national schools for racial polarisation
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Islam, nation building, Religion on Thursday, 6 February 2014
by Jennifer Gomez and Shahirah Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
February 06, 2014
National schools are the breeding ground for racial polarisation and the education system is the root cause of the problem plaguing the country now, an interfaith forum was told yesterday.
Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told an audience of about 65 at the interfaith forum titled “A dialogue for harmony”, that it was all about Malay supremacy in schools now.
PAGE was among 40 civil groups and non-governmental organisations at the forum in conjunction with World Interfaith Harmony Week, jointly organised by the Global Movement of Moderates and Promotion of Human Rights (Proham).
“The only solution is for the glory of national schools to be returned, which means we need more subjects in English in national schools, because right now, national schools are Malay schools and nothing more,” said Noor Azimah.
She said certain Muslim groups funded by Putrajaya were also the source of the problem.
Sisters in Islam executive director Ratna Osman also touched on the education system, saying her sons were told in school that they could not mix with non-Muslims.
“I was shocked when an ustazah told them they cannot be with non-Muslims because they are not like us, because we are supreme human beings.
“I am disgusted because that is not the kind of education which I received 30 years ago,” Ratna said. Read the rest of this entry »
In Nazir’s paean to dad, a call to action for all Malaysians
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 15 January 2014
NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 14, 2014
It happens all the time. Whenever someone writes or talks about the golden generation of Malaysian leaders, it is a bittersweet experience for citizens of this blessed country.
There is pride that individuals such as Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman once charted the fortunes of Malaysia.
And there is deep longing for such men of integrity, principle and fairness.
Yet, there is also numbing sadness that such men no longer exists in government, replaced long time ago by inept individuals with a ravenous appetite for self.
Make no mistake, Razak and friends were flawed men, at times drive by political interests of their parties. But they loved this land above everything else. Above enriching their family members. Above nurturing crony capitalism. Read the rest of this entry »
Let Johore DAP State elections on Sunday be healthy, constructive and fraternal contest of ideas, ideals and vision avoiding personal attacks
When online Star carried a report this morning titled “Johor DAP polls: Dr. Boo versus the raiders from the North” with regard to Sunday’s DAP Johore State elections, my first thought was the 1981 Spielberg American fantasy-adventure film classic “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. But nobody is seeking the “Lost Ark” on Sunday which can make one invincible capable of levelling all armies. In fact, what is expected after Sunday is toil, more toil and even more toil until Pakatan Rakyat reahes Putrajaya in the 14th Genefal Elections.
From 1986 I was three terms MP for Tanjong from 1986 – 1999 and two terms MP for Ipoh Timor 2004-2013 but in those 22 years as MP for a “Northern” constituency, nobody described me as a “Raider from the South” although I am a Johorean born and bred in Batu Pahat.
But suddenly, I seemed to have become a “Raider from the North”!
In my 48 years of political work, I have always regarded myself as Malaysian first and last, prepared to fight the good fight for a Malaysian Dream whether in Malacca, Selangor, Penang, Perak or back in Johore.
All DAP leaders, cadres and members must be model Malaysians, first and last, whether from north, south, east or west in Malaysia – in search of the Malaysian Dream where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second. Read the rest of this entry »
Open Letter to PM and Cabinet – the first Cabinet meeting today should send out a clear and unmistakable message to end the drift and loss of leadership and direction to create an united, harmonious, just, competitive and great Malaysian nation
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Corruption, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Police, Prices on Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Open Letter to Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers
I am taking full advantage of the Age of Information Technology which enables the instant communication of information with information travelling at the speed of light
to pen this Open Letter to the Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers just before they start this morning their first Cabinet meeting of the New Year of 2014.
I urge the Prime Minister and Ministers to send out a clear and unmistakable message in their first Cabinet meeting to end the drift and loss of leadership and direction to create an united, harmonious, just, competitive and great Malaysian nation.
The Cabinet cannot do better than start their first meeting by discussing and digesting the question eloquently posed yesterday by a Good Samaritan in Malaysia, Tan Sri Robert Phang who asked “Why are we quarrelling over God?”
From the outside looking in
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building, Religion on Tuesday, 7 January 2014
– Julian Tan
The Malaysian Insider
January 07, 2014
When it hit international news that “Malaysian Islamic authorities seized more than 300 Bibles from a Christian group in a raid last Thursday”, I found myself pegged at the centre of my lunchtime discussions with Cambridge colleagues from around the world.
“What’s happening in Malaysia?” inquired my Bengali friend, her eyebrows scrunched together in bemused curiosity.
I had just managed to peel open the plastic lid of some leftover pasta when I realised that all eyes were on me to explain the sad religious altercation that had transpired in my country – a country that spoke of moderation and unity, but in recent years, with almost meaningless banality.
“I… I don’t know,” I muttered under a debilitated sigh.
The truth was that I was tongue-tied, speechless about the raid.
The whole dispute seemed so ludicrous and absurd to the point that it felt surreal. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians entitled to know after Cabinet meeting tomorrow whether Federal Government and BN-controlled State Governments have stopped all funding to extremist , racist and Malay supremacist group Perkasa
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 7 January 2014
It was inadvertently revealed a fortnight ago that the Federal Government had been funding the extremist, racist and Malay supremacist group Perkasa through various agencies like National Security Council (MKN), the National Civics Department (BTN) and the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), allowing it to spearhead a systematic campaign to incite racial hatred and religious conflict to attack Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia signature policy.
It must be admitted that the Perkasa campaign against the 1Malaysia campaign with the support of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had been quite successful, for in the seven months after the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, Najib has yet to enunciate or reiterate his 1Malaysia signature policy in any public platform.
Najib had continued the 1Malaysia gimmicry like Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and 1Malaysia clinics, but he has studiously avoided all references to the 1Malaysia objective to create a Malaysia where Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysian first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second.
Perkasa and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s “Malay first, Malaysian second” declaration seemed to have won the day in the Umno/Barisan Nasional government, to the extent that Perkasa even dare to talk publicly about the possibility of replacing UMNO in the future at its annual general meeting two weeks ago.
This was when in the exchange between Umno and Perkasa leaders over Perkasa’s threat to replace UMNO, it was inadvertently revealed that the government had been funding Perkasa in its series of anti-Najib activities and programmes. Read the rest of this entry »
When He’s Alone, What Does Najib Think About?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 31 December 2013
by Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
31.12.2103
I wonder, when Najib Razak has his private moments, what does he think about?
Does he think about what a liability his wife, Rosmah Mansor, is turning out to be? About the bad press that has been mounting against her and her allegedly extravagant spending and her use of the government jet to go to Qatar? And now her son’s purchase of a RM110 million condo in New York City?
Lavishing that amount of money at a time when Malaysians are being compelled to pinch pennies is obscene. It also shows up the glaring contrast between the lifestyles of the ruling elite and those of the common people. While the ruling elite forces us to tighten our belts in the face of rising prices, its own family members appear to be having a whale of a time.
It may be claimed that Rosmah’s son, Riza Aziz, came to great wealth through his own talent and initiatives, like investing successfully in Hollywood movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street, and is therefore entitled to his enjoyment of luxuries, but the next question that begs to be asked is: Why, in the midst of the brain drain Malaysia is suffering, does he not come back instead to contribute his talent and wealth to developing his own country? And helping his stepfather to achieve the goal of making Malaysia a high-income nation? Read the rest of this entry »
Cat out of the bag – Perkasa is the unofficial 14th member of the Barisan Nasional coalition with greater heft and more influence than “7-11” MCA and the other 12 BN component parties combined
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 29 December 2013
The cat is out of the bag. The extremist and racist Perkasa is the unofficial 14th member of the Barisan Nasional coalition with greater heft and more influence than “7-11” MCA and the other 12 BN component parties combined.
We must thank the Perkasa President Ibrahim Ali for his hubris at the annual general meeting of Perkasa a week ago getting much too big for his shoes for this expose of this top Umno/BN secret for the past four years.
Clearly relishing the idea of being Prime Minister of Malaysia one day, Ibrahim toyed with the possibility of a political “reverse take-over” when he offered Perkasa as an alternative to UMNO, asserting that Perkasa is the “most structured political party in the country with 500,000 members”.
Claiming that Umno and BN will not be able to win in the recent general elections without Perkasa’s assistance, particularly in Perak and Kedah, Ibrahim said that although Perkasa supported BN during the last general election it is not guaranteed who it would side with in the future.
This prompted the riposte by UMNO veteran, former Minister and Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar and currently Felda Chairman Mohd Isa Abdul Samad who asked: “We protected Perkasa and it received plenty of benefits from us. How will it replace us?” Read the rest of this entry »
MCA’s reforms hollow without Umno’s, analysts say
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, MCA, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 23 December 2013
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
The Malay Mail Online
December 22, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — MCA is unlikely to succeed with planned reforms to win back the Chinese community so long as Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin Umno continues to thrive on communal politics, said two political analysts.
Despite the winds of change blowing through the party that yesterday elected a new line-up of leaders, they said Umno’s dominance over government policies meant it was difficult for MCA to shake its seemingly subservient role to the Malay nationalist party that has disenchanted its traditional support base.
Since reinforcing its position by winning 88 of the 133 federal seats the coalition managed to retain in Election 2013, Umno has also gained a stranglehold over country’s administration by controlling 17 of the 25 ministerial posts in the government.
“Reform in MCA is dependent on Umno,” Prof James Chin, a political analyst with Monash University, told The Malay Mail Online yesterday.
“The reform would only go as internal party reform and not government policies,” Chin said of MCA’s planned transformation. Read the rest of this entry »
Hope From the Eyes of a Middle-Class Malaysian
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Sunday, 22 December 2013
— Cassandra Chung
The Malaysian Insider/Loyarburok.com
December 21, 2013
DEC 21 — Just yesterday, I was speaking to my father on the phone. It had been a long time since the both of us had had a one-to-one talk ever since I came to university. Most of my Skype conversations home involved one-to-one talks with my sister, and if I was speaking to my father, it was usually in the presence of my mother, relatives or family friends. As I spoke to him, he mentioned the toll and electricity price hike. The few times in the past he told me about the petrol price hike and goods and services tax (GST) implementation, he had said it in a rather factual manner. My conversation with him over the phone seemed different this time. I could hear the stress in his voice and I must say, for him to fail at hiding his stress is a pretty big deal, because most of the time, he can effectively conceal it.
I come from a middle-class family. We live in a modest terrace house which took my father 11 years to completely pay off. We have enough money to own two imported cars but they aren’t BMWs or Mini Coopers. My family had sufficient money to send me to one of the cheaper private colleges to do my pre-university studies and to the United Kingdom to start and finish my degree, but not enough to give me an international secondary and primary education. I got a public school one with lots of tuition classes instead. My sister and I had a short stint of piano and dance lessons at some point of time in our lives. In comparison to a lot of other middle-class families, I would say we are doing alright. Some of my friends could never afford dance classes. I have a friend who had to defer his entry into one of the most prestigious universities in the world because of insufficient funds. Another one simply had to give up such an opportunity.
But I think like most other families with our financial standing, we are reaching our boiling point. Read the rest of this entry »
Ku Nan: Playing race card at BN party meets is normal
Lawrence Yong
Malaysiakini
Dec 19, 2013
At the 67th Umno general assembly, delegates had also made some controversial statements including a suggestion that the 1Malaysia slogan be replaced with the 1Melayu slogan because people from the other races did not help Umno in Penang during the 13th general election.
Tengku Adnan said that to mitigate the problem, perhaps parties should stop giving “live” coverage rights of their meetings to reporters, whom he fingered as the real troublemakers.
The MCA elections kicked off today with the 48th MCA Youth national annual assembly and election at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
The Chinese-based party had seen its support eroded during the last general election, winning only seven seats in Parliament. It has opted not to accept ministerial posts in the cabinet.
Despite Najib’s much vaunted 1Malaysia, Umno debates show otherwise, say analysts
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 8 December 2013
by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
December 08, 2013
Two facts were established during debate time at the Umno general assembly – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s much-vaunted transformation programme and his 1Malaysia dream have failed.
His party men clamoured for contracts and projects and continued to see everything through the prism of the Malay race.
From demands for government-linked companies to award public contracts to more Bumiputera firms to the re-examining of the BR1M cash handouts and calls for a 1Melayu slogan, the attitude at the Umno general assembly makes a mockery of the 1Malaysia slogan and talks of national reconciliation.
There was also nothing about inclusiveness in the debates. Nor was there any mention about corruption in the country, wastages, leakages or wrongdoings by those in power – concerns that are shared by other Malaysians.
“The tone of the debates reflected the sentiments of members on the ground and it is a sad situation,” said Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan. Read the rest of this entry »
Reform of the civil service: The NUCC is its last hope
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building, public service on Friday, 29 November 2013
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
November 29, 2013
To say that the newly established National Unity Consultative Council has been greeted with a big yawn by the public is too kind. Feedback so far especially over the uncensored internet has ranged from scepticism – “a political wayang” to the dismissive – “a waste of taxpayers’ money and time” and “expect NUCC to go the way of the 1Malaysia slogan”.
One reader has already predicted that “it will soon be known as the ‘No Use Consultative Council (NUCC)’”.
Part of the reason for the criticism is that among the group appointed to forge a new direction in national unity are some well-known apple polishers who have risen to where they are because of their prowess in flattering the Barisan Nasional.
On the bright side, those appointed could have been much worse – think of what outcome we will have if the Government had appointed Riduan Tee or Awang Selamat.
Another problem is the restricted terms of reference set up for the Council which can discuss only four subject areas – laws, the federal constitution, values and programmes. Why this limitation if not to prevent discussion of sensitive areas is the obvious conclusion to reach. Read the rest of this entry »
Racism and inequality
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Economics, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 18 November 2013
Sakmongkol AK47 | NOVEMBER 17, 2013
The Malaysian Insider
Government leaders preach inclusiveness and togetherness. At the very least they pretend to want that. The idea of togetherness and inclusiveness can be summed up in the powerful idea of unity.
Something of that nature cannot be sold like an advertising product and commoditised- it must be secured by living out that experience. It must be practised as an everyday life experience.
Something of that nature too must be formed on the basis of earning and giving trust. The government has neither earned our trust and they have never trusted the people.
PM Najib paid a lot of money to consulting firms to come up with slogans to reflect the idea. He has actually paid RM7.2 billion to a number of consultants since 2009. Over a 5 year period, the fee is like RM3.945 million a day.
We won’t know how much PM Najib paid consultants who came out with slogans and follow through plans of 1Malaysia and now Endless Possibilities. What seems truly endless is the rapacious appetite to gobble up taxpayers’ money.
Read the rest of this entry »
DAP ready to work with Sabah and Sarawak leaders to fight for rights
The Malaysian Insider
November 17, 2013
DAP today said it was willing to work together and cooperate with state government leaders in Sabah and Sarawak to ensure that they retained their equal status in the Federation of Malaysia.
Pasty secretary-general Lim Guan Eng attacked Umno’s arrogance in assuming that they were the masters and everyone else had to submit to them.
He slammed Umno’s racist and extremist ideologies, saying it had warped and twisted the minds of the party’s young leaders and left them with the wrong perception.
Lim said Umno’s young leaders had been influenced by the party’s policies to the extent that they assumed the party were the masters and others had to be subservient. Read the rest of this entry »
Education ministry’s tacit approval of racism in schools
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Education, nation building on Saturday, 9 November 2013
— Ravinder Singh
The Malay Mail Online
November 9, 2013
The stand taken by Hashim Adnan, president of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) and Datuk Mohd Ali Hassan, President of the National Parent-Teacher Association Collaborative Council that the Ministry of Education must issue circulars on racial issues to schools is correct and should be supported by all anti-racism persons.
They were responding to Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh’s defence of the racist things going on in schools by saying that school authorities should rely on their “conscience and moral realisation to know the sensitivities of other races”.
So has he let the cat out of the bag? Does he mean to say that the Education Ministry has all along been in full and tacit support of head-teachers who have been telling non-Malay students to “balik India, balik Cina”; hiding non-Malay children in toilet cafeterias during Ramadan; slaughtering cattle in school compounds in the name of Korban, etc. for these actions (and maybe more) were carried out with full “conscience and moral realisation knowing the sensitivities of other races”.
The two NGO leaders, who happen to be Malay Muslims, are rational enough to see the harm and damage that racism in schools is doing not just to the children, but to the nation itself. Instead of building good, ethnic relationships across the races, the schools that are practicing racism are building walls between the races. Is this what the government wants? Is this the much touted 1Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
Finding the lunatic fringe in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, nation building on Monday, 28 October 2013
NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
OCTOBER 28, 2013
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today spoke of the lunatic fringe holding sway in the country, saying that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was acceding to demands from extremists in the opposition.
However, he did not name the extremists or say what their demands were.
“We have a government that is weak because of weak support from the people, and with a tendency to accede to the demands of extremists in the opposition,” Dr Mahathir said in his Perdana Foundation office, across a lake from the prime minister’s office in Putrajaya.
“The worst part is that they make extreme demands to unseat the government who can’t get rid of whatever they don’t like. But if you think that they will then say ‘thanks, we will support you now’, you are mistaken,” said the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
In the past decade since Dr Mahathir stepped down, and even before that, the opposition had been asking for greater democracy, the rule of law, good governance, equity for all citizens and cutting down excesses.
Perhaps only the lunatics dream of such things in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on UMNO to end its campaign of lies and falsehoods in Sg Limau by-election
At the Pakatan Rakyat media conference in Sungai Limau Dalam close to midnight on Monday after the announcement of Mohd Azam Samat as the PAS and Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the Sungai Limau by-election, I urged all contending parties and candidates to make the by-election a model of clean, honest and decent politics by ensuring that there is no campaign of lies and falsehoods, character-assassination or the corruption of money politics.
I must express my great disappointment and disapproval that my call for clean, honest and decent by-election campaign in Sungai Limau had been violated on the very first day of the by-election campaign yesterday.
As reported today by Malaysiakini reporter Susan Loone in “UMNO bids to undermine PAS’ Islamic credentials”, in small, targeted ceramah groups last night, UMNO and Barisan Nasional campaigners sought to win the hearts of the 93 per cent Malay Muslim voters in Sg Limau by invoking the dastardly lie that the DAP plans to form a Christian State in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia should move forward to end the half-year of drift and even regression to forge national reconciliation to build a united, inclusive, competitive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat on Sunday, 20 October 2013
All eyes were on the Umno party elections yesterday for indications whether the government and country will continue to be haunted, as in the half-year since the General Elections, by the politics of hate and lies projecting the completely false image that Malays and Islam are under siege or whether the government and country will be able to set off on a new trajectory of nation building and development.
Former Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam played the race card to the hilt in the Umno party elections, continuing to indulge in Chinese-bashing for his defeat in the Malay-majority Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in Malacca, oblivious to the fact that he would not have lost in the May general elections if he had not also lost the support of the Malay voters in his constituency.
Is Ali going to blame the Chinese again for his loss in the Umno Vice President contest yesterday, where even the overwhelming majority of the Umno divisions in his Malacca state did not vote for him?
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir was equally irresponsible, ruthless and reckless in playing the race card, reiterating the preposterous allegations and lies since his failed attempt to racialise the Gelang Patah battle in the 13th General Elections that the Chinese in Malaysia were out to oust the political power of the Malays and dominate Malaysian politics.
But the Umno party elections yesterday is further confirmation that Mahathir’s aura and magic have been on an unchecked decline, not only among the Malaysian and Malay public from his 13th general elections campaigns in Gelang Patah, Shah Alam and Pasir Mas but also inside UMNO. Read the rest of this entry »
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