Archive for category Hishammuddin

Has Zahid Hamidi been caught red-handed telling another lie?

I applaud the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein for his prompt response and clarification that he had never written a letter stating support for any individual to the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) now or during his time as Home Minister.

Hishammuddin was asked about this today, as I had issued a statement last Friday asking previous Home Ministers, in particular Zahid’s predecessor Hishammuddin as well as former occupants of this key post like Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Datuk Azmi Khalid to “speak up and clear themselves and to put the record straight” whether they had also written clarification letters to FBI has Zahid had done.

This was because Zahid had made the astonishing claim in his statement last Thursday when trying to exonerate himself from any wrong in his infamous letter to the FBI vouching for the character of alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua, standing trial in Las Vegas, Nevada for illegal gambling, that previous Home Ministers before him had also written such clarification letters.

Has Zahid been caught red-handed telling a lie, unfairly, unjustly and dishonourably implicating other Ministers whether of this administration or previous regimes? Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments

Najib’s Cabinet must not skirt issues raised by Dr M

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
20 August 2014

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been the Malaysian prime minister for more than five years now but going by what his Cabinet colleagues say, the Pekan MP’s only success is handling the flight MH17 incident.

His cousin, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, said as much when defending Najib against stinging criticism from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister, who stepped down in 2003.

Hishammuddin cited accomplishments, such as the handling of the remains from the MH17 incident, saying Najib succeeded where US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had failed.

But the defence minister hastened to add that he respected Dr Mahathir’s views, similar to some of his Cabinet colleagues, who straddled the fence in saying that Najib and the blunt political veteran should be equally respected. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Opposition angry Hishammuddin will not be around for MH370 briefing

by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
April 01, 2014

Pakatan Rakyat MPs are seething at Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s decision to attend the Asean Defence Ministers meeting in Hawaii, instead of briefing them tonight on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

Describing it as the “height of irresponsibility and an utter contempt of parliament”, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said they wanted Hishammuddin to brief them, and not his officers.

“This is proof that the Barisan Nasional government is not serious, especially on the roles that MPs can play on this matter,” Lim said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Failing to manage MH370 crisis exposes leadership limit

The Malay Mail Online
March 12, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Malaysia, aspiring to become a developed nation in six years, is finding that more than 50 years under one coalition and tight control over information is a mismatch for handling a rapidly growing crisis followed across the world.

China is calling on Malaysia to be more transparent as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak lets his cousin, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, be the face of the investigation into why a Malaysian Airline System Bhd. plane vanished on March 8. It was en route to Beijing with 239 people on board. Investigators from at least nine countries are trying to locate the jet.

Najib’s United Malays National Organisation leads the coalition governing the Southeast Asian nation. Only in recent years has it seen a move toward competitive elections, in some districts, that put a premium on public speaking. The government’s lack of a clear message, compounded by a series of false leads on the plane’s whereabouts and questions on coordination, risks undermining its image internationally.

“They’re handling a huge global issue as if it was domestic politics,” said Clive Kessler, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, who has analysed the nation’s politics for half a century.

“With the cause of the disappearance still unknown you can understand the need for discretion and caution but it’s being perceived in Malaysia and elsewhere in the region as a bid to hide the truth.” Read the rest of this entry »

9 Comments

Trapped in a vicious cycle

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Aug 5, 2013

“Malaysia is more dangerous than South Africa,” were the parting words of a retired couple who returned to Johannesburg after a failed attempt to live in Malaysia under the ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ (MM2H) programme. Friends of the couple said they had feared for their own and their family’s safety.

Unlike this South African couple, ordinary Malaysians are trapped in a vicious cycle of emboldened criminals, an inept police force and a government in denial. Few have access to guns like the Tan Sri who recently shot dead a thief at a clinic in Kuala Lumpur.

Owning a gun is not what Malaysians desire. We want a police force which is committed to tackling crime and not being the lapdog of Umno Baru. Cabinet ministers deny that a state of lawlessness exists. They issue statements and are then trapped by their own spin.

Former home minister Hishammuddin Hussein, more noted for his incompetence than his achievements in office, had complete disregard for the concerns of the public. He ridiculed the rakyat after they complained about rising crime levels and told them that increased crime was only a “perception”. Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments

Who will keep a watch on one of Umno’s most-recognised rabid rabble rousers?

by Martin Jalleh

Who-will-keep-a-watch-on-Hisham

14 Comments

Hisham is endorsing political violence, says Pakatan

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 26, 2013

PETALING JAYA, March 26 — Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s recent remarks that he expects more disruption of opposition events soon is tantamount to endorsing political violence, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders alleged today.

The federal opposition coalition said that since the home minister had failed to give his assurance that the authorities will do its bit to protect them, PR is bracing for more political violence prior to and during Election 2013.

“The politics of slander and violence is definitely on the rise and we the leadership of PR is bracing for this,” Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told reporters after chairing the pact’s leaders council meeting at PKR’s headquarters here.

Anwar, the de facto leader of PR’s anchor party PKR, said the anticipation comes amid the pact’s preparation to launch its polls campaign nationwide.

Speaking at the same press conference, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang blasted Hishammuddin’s statement as unbecoming of a minister tasked to protect internal security.

“This will make it the dirtiest elections. This trend must be checked and stopped. We are becoming the laughing stock of the world,” Lim said.

The Ipoh Timur lawmaker added that Hishammuddin had also indirectly supported violence against the opposition by inciting hatred among government supporters in his speech on Sunday.

Party workers had shouted “Kill Tian Chua” when the Umno vice-president urged them to rally behind Barisan Nasional (BN) and “eliminate traitors” like PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang, better known as Tian Chua, whose allies in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have been accused of instigating the Sulu invasion of Sabah. Read the rest of this entry »

18 Comments

Pointing fingers to cover up incompetence in Sabah

— The Malaysian Insider
March 24, 2013

MARCH 24 — Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein took time off from leading the war against the Kiram clan in Sabah to remind the youth to rally behind Barisan Nasional (BN).

The Umno vice-president said PKR leaders like Chua Tian Chang had insulted the country’s armed forces despite several of them losing their lives to protect Malaysia’s sovereignty.

“What is going on in Sabah should not be politicised, this is an issue on our sovereignty.

“Whose hand is it is behind the intrusion, is there a third party involved? Who is this person who would forsake his own race and nation just because he wants power?” Hishammuddin told some 1,000 party youth supporters who responded with loud shouts of “Kill Tian Chua”.

This comes from the home minister who sent a tweet on February 18 describing the Sulu gunmen as “Fact: Most of the intruders old or malnourished. Wear sarongs/slippers…a few… hv arms.”

All hell broke loose a few weeks later and eight Malaysian policemen and soldiers are now dead. Read the rest of this entry »

19 Comments

BN must be destroyed

Dean Johns
Malaysiakini
Mar 6, 2013

I’ve expressed this obvious message in so many ways over the years – in attempts to spice it up with variety – all to no apparent avail thus far, that it strikes me that I should try mindless repetition for a change.

This will be terribly tedious for us all of course, but the possible gain could be well worth our collective pain. Because repetition of the patently, blatantly obvious has worked a treat in the past.

Most famously, as history recalls, for Cato the Elder, who in the years between 175 and 146BC bored his fellow ancient Romans witless by ending his every speech in the senate with the statement that “Carthage must be destroyed”.

Four words that for years rendered Cato a figure of fun. But finally taken seriously and given force by the Roman sword, they proved to be a death sentence to the dreaded Carthage.

Thus my hopes for the similar success of my mantra for the foreseeable future, or at least until Malaysia’s endlessly-awaited 13th general election: BN must be destroyed.

Admittedly, BN is not a foreign threat to Malaysia as Carthage was to Rome. But this criminal coalition is arguably as dangerous to the future of the Malaysia and Malaysians as any external enemy might be.

For more than 50 years, and especially in the past 30, BN has been an insidious, creeping evil attacking and infesting Malaysia by stealth.

Steadily stealing as much of the nation’s land, oil, timber, corporate wealth and hard cash as it can get away with, and simultaneously robbing Malaysians of all possible forms of defence or redress.

BN may not be an invader, but it is certainly an all-pervader. It has systematically colonised and co-opted the civil services at every level from federal to local with its own relatives, cronies, sycophants and place-seekers. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Comments

Questions about Lahad Datu Crisis

By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
6.3.2013

Malaysians cannot but be shocked by what is happening in Sabah. And although our security forces are now hunting the remaining Sulu Sultanate intruders after having bombarded them in Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu, the crisis is far from over.

Meanwhile, questions abound in the minds of the lay public.

How did the intruders sneak into Lahad Datu from Feb 9 onwards, more than three weeks ago? There were reportedly as many as 300 of them, some heavily armed. How did that escape detection? Our Special Branch is highly regarded as being among the best intelligence units in the world. Did it not get wind of this incursion early enough?

Once the intruders had entered Lahad Datu, and after they had openly declared their intentions for intruding – which was to reclaim the area as their ancestral homeland – why did the Malaysian Government not react quickly enough to get them out?

A claim like that is a serious one and if it was not immediately nipped in the bud could lead to bigger implications. As it has turned out, these implications are beginning to emerge.

And yet, for two weeks, the Government humoured the intruders by engaging in, so the public was told by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, diplomatic negotiations. Political commentators called it giving them kid gloves’ treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

7 Comments

Fighter jets bomb Kg Tanduo, villagers flee area

Live Reports
Malaysiakini
8:22AM Mar 5, 2013

The operation to remove the foreign intruders from Kg Tanduo, where more than 100 gunmen have holed up for three weeks began at 7am today.

——————————————————————————–

LIVE REPORTS

10.17am: Quoting a report from ANC News Channel, InterAksyon.com reports that bombs were being dropped about a kilometer away from where Azzimudie Kiram and his men were located.

Leader Azzimudie says his group could not yet determine if the bombs were meant to target them or their followers, but they remained safe and secure and were ready to fight back.

Meanwhile in Manila, a group of protesters have arrived at the Malaysia embassy to condemn the attack.

10.15am: Azzimudie Kiram, leader of the intruders, vents his anger at the Philippine government in a radio interview with InterAksyon.com, the online news portal of Philippine TV channel TV5.

“The government is ordering the arrest of our companions even if we haven’t done anything bad,” he said. “It’s like we aren’t Filipinos.”

Meanwhile, Abraham Idjarani, spokesperson of the sultanate, tells radio station dzBB that Azzimudie had phoned to inform them of the start of the assault.

“There is nothing to be done about that now,” Idjirani said in a separate interview with AFP.

He stressed that Azzimudie’s earlier announcement that they will fight to the end remains.

“We are not intruders. They (Malaysians) are the ones occupying our ancestral land,” he says.

10.09am: Police have set up a checkpoint on the main road in Tanjung Labian, which is about 5km from the site of hostilities. No one are allowed into the area.

The sounds of bombings have stopped in the last one hour. It is unclear whether ground troops have moved in as Kampung Tanduo has been off-limit to journalists since the stand-off began.

10.05am: In Manila, a team of police and journalists are gathering outside the Malaysian embassy. They are expecting a group of protesters to arrive there.

9.55am: Azzimudie Kiram confirmed during an interview with ABS-CBN’s dzMM radio that Malaysian forces are using fighter jets in the latest attack on their position in Lahad Datu.

The royal army’s leader also expressed his disappointment over Philippine President Benigno Aquino’s position on the crisis.

He said that the governments of Malaysia and the Philippines has obviously stopped listening to their calls for a peaceful resolution of the standoff. Read the rest of this entry »

17 Comments

The worst home minister

— Willy Gomes
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 03, 2013

MARCH 3 — You are off the hook, Syed Hamid Albar. You are no longer the worst home minister Malaysia has had. And for that you can thank your fellow politician from Johor, Hishammuddin Hussein.

Syed Hamid, you will forever be remembered as the minister who ordered the arrest of a journalist under the ISA for her own protection! You also ignited the Allah debate by not allowing the Malay section of the Herald to use the word Allah.

Bravo!

But you have nothing on Hishammuddin. The man is clueless about everything. He looks like a tourist in Lahad Datu and actually thinks that it is reassuring for Malaysians to hear that he will not leave Sabah until the incursion situation has been resolved.

Can someone get him out of there and allow the police or army to handle this grave situation? His handling of the incursion has been a joke as have the portrayal of the Sulu fighters. Read the rest of this entry »

11 Comments

Two M’sians among 12 killed in Lahad Datu

From fb

Tweets:

1. Most shocking at death of 2 police cammandoes n 2 injured. http://goo.gl/YMnkq 2 M’sians among 12 killed in Lahad Datu (Mkini)

2. Death of two police commandoes unacceptable as Msian police enjoy superior security strength/logistics. Hisham also told press conference today “no deaths”

(From Malaysiakini) A spokesperson of the sultanate of Sulu claimed that 10 people were killed and four others wounded in a exchange of fire between Malaysian security forces and the Sulu sultanate intruders in Lahad Datu this morning.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that two Malaysian police commandoes were killed in a mortar attack, and that another two injured soldiers have since been airlifted to a hospital.

ABS-CBNnews reported that Sulu sultanate spokesperson Abraham Idjirani said he had just talked to the self-proclaimed Sulu sultan Jamalul Kiram’s (left) brother Azzimudie Kiram, who heads the armed group in Lahad Datu. Read the rest of this entry »

24 Comments

Bilakah Najib akan meletak ketepi dahulu kempen hariannya untuk PRU13 dan pergi melawat mereka di Lahad Datu untuk memastikan penyelesaian segera kebuntuan dengan penceroboh Sulu yang sudah masuk minggu ketiga

Saya mengalu-alukan lawatan Ketua Menteri Sabah Datuk Seri Musa Aman dan Kabinetnya ke Felda Sahabat 16 di Lahad Datu semalam bagi mendapatkan pandangan terus berkenaan kebuntuan antara pasukan keselamatan Malaysia dan yang kononnya Tentera Diraja Kesultanan Sulu.

Ini merupakan salah satu objektif lawatan saya ke Felda Sabahat 16 di Lahad Datu dua hari lalum bersama-sama dengan wakil yang dilantik DAP Sabah, termasuklah Jimmy Wong Sze Phing, Naib Pengerusi Negeri Frederick Fung, Setiausaha Negeri Dr. Edwin Bosi, Setiausaha Publisiti Negeri Chan Foong Hin, Ahli Parlimen Kota Kinabalu Hiew King Cheu, DAP Penolong Setiausaha Penganjur Kebangsaan Vincent Wu.

Lawatan kami ke Lahad Datu pada 20 Feb mempunyai objective berikut:

  • Misi mendapatkan fakta untuk menentukan keadaan sebenar di tempat kejadian berkenaan kebuntuan yang berlaku;
  • untuk memahami kebimbangan penduduk tempatan;
  • menunjukkan solidariti dengan rakyat di Lahad Datu yang terkesan dengan kejadian itu; dan
  • menghantar mesej yang jelas kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan dan kerajaan negeri Sabah, khususnya Perdana Menteri dan Ketua Menteri Sabah, untuk memberi keutamaan kepada siatuasi buntuk di sana bagi memastikan penyelesaian segera kerana semakin banyak masalah timbul kepada rakyat Sabah.

Saya gembira kerana kami telah mencapai matlamat sejauh mana melibatkan kerajaan negeri Sabah, kerana sejurus selepas lawatan kami, pada hari berikutnya Ketua Menteri Sabah dan rombongan Kabinetnya telah melawat Felda Sahabat 16 untuk mendapatkan taklimat di pos keselamatan General Operations Force (GOF) di sana. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

BN — a stable of stale, stunted, stultified, spent and short-of-intelligence politicians!

By Martin Jalleh

7 Comments

Lahad Datu stand-off with some 150 Sulu intruders getting curioser and curioser – why is Hishammuddin passing the buck to Wisma Putra and not to the Defence Ministry?

The Lahad Datu government stand-off with some 150 Sulu intruders is getting curioser and curioser.

Today, the Home Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein said that the Home Ministry has left it to Wisma Putra to decide on the Philippine government’s request of an extension on the deportation of a group of intruders in Lahad Datuk but such an extension “should not be too long, as the ministry will not compromise on matters which could potentially threaten the sovereignty of the nation”.

Clearly, the Home Minister is not on the same wavelength as the overwhelming majority of Sabahans and Malaysians who are one in feeling that the sovereignty and security of the nation had been compromised right from the beginning of the intrusion of and standoff with the 150 Sulu militias into Sabah territory at Kampong Tanduo in Felda Sahabat, Lahad Datu since February 9.

Just on the issue whether the nation’s sovereignty and security had been threatened by the intrusion and standoff with the so-called Royal Sulu Sultanate Army, the overwhelming majority of Malaysians have proven that they are more patriotic and nationalistic than the Home Minister himself.

In fact, the question more and more Malaysians are asking is why Hishammuddin is passing the buck to Wisma Putra instead of to the Defence Ministry? Read the rest of this entry »

14 Comments

Who’s taking responsibility for Lahad Datu standoff?

By Mat Zain Ibrahim | 11:29AM Feb 23, 2013
Malaysiakini

COMMENT Until today, there is not one honourable person who is prepared to take the responsibility for the lapse of security that resulted in the Lahad Datu standoff. Surely there must have been someone put in charge of the area, but has neglected his responsibilities.

If Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is serious about protecting the sovereignty, security and safety of our country and the citizens, he would have caught hold of one or two of the ground commanders and relieved them of their command.

Only then will the rakyat believe that the PM is not only in control but that he is on top of the situation and has his priorities right.

Since nothing of that sort is happening, we can only expect that, eventually, the blame will go to the lowest ranking soldiers, who will be accused of sleeping on the job and for failing to wake up their superiors. And also the constables who have failed to gather the intelligence before the intrusion for actions to be taken before the invaders landed.

This was the position taken by our Najib himself, when he was interviewed at length by reporters from on July 9, 2000, after the Sauk incident.
Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Has the Defence Minister Gone AWOL?

By Martin Jalleh

Lahad Datu Standoff 2013

15 Comments

When is Najib going to put aside his daily campaigning for 13GE and pay regular visits to meet with people in Lahad Datu to ensure quick resolution of the stand-off with Sulu intruders entering its third week

I welcome the visit of the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and his Cabinet entourage to Felda Sahabat 16 in Lahad Datu yesterday to get first-hand view of the stand-off between the Malaysian security forces and the self-proclaimed Royal Army of Sulu.

This is one of the objectives of my visit to Felda Sahabat 16 in Lahat Datuk two days ago, together with the Sabah DAP elected representatives, including DAP Sabah State Chairman and Sabah State Assemblyman for Sri Tanjong, Jimmy Wong Sze Phing, State Vice Chairman Frederick Fung, State Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosi, State Publicity Secretary Chan Foong Hin, MP for Kota Kinabalu Hiew King Cheu, DAP National Assistant Organising Secretary, Vincent Wu.

Our visit to Lahad Datu on Feb. 20 has the following objectives:

  • fact-finding mission to ascertain the actual situation on the ground with regard to the standoff;
  • to understand the concerns and anxieties of the local population;
  • show solidarity with the people in Lahad Datuk affected by the stand-off; and
  • send clear and categorical message to the Federal and Sabah state governments, in particular the Prime Minister and the Sabah Chief Minister, to give priority to the stand-off to ensure a speedy resolution because of the manifold problems it has created for the Sabah people.

I am glad that we have achieved this objective as far as the Sabah state government is concerned, for immediately on the following day of our visit, the Sabah Chief Minister and his Cabinet entourage had visited Felda Sahabat 16 to get a briefing at the General Operations Force (GOF) security post there. Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Where’s the logic, Hisham?

Calvin Kabaron | February 21, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

If the current soft ‘handling’ of the incursions by armed Filipinos into Lahad Datu is any measure, then it is clear that Sabahans’ safety is inconsequential to the federal government.

COMMENT

It’s ironical how promptly Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein ordered the arrest and deportation of Australian Senator Nick Xenophon while 100 armed Filipinos in military fatigue were being handled with kid gloves by the police and Special Branch officers because they had “links” in Sabah.

Xenophon arrived solo and unarmed but was considered a security threat. But in Lahad Datu, some 100 “soldiers” from the alleged Royal Sultanate of Sulu Army who were armed with “M-14, M-16, M203 and Armalite assault rifles” were considered friendly, “not militants” and “not a threat”.

These armed Filipino bandits landed in Sabah claiming ownership of the land on behalf of their Sulu Sultan.

In any other country, the Home or Internal Security Minister would have been at the site of the incursion the moment it was known. Read the rest of this entry »

15 Comments