Archive for category Mahathir
Mahathir should end his game of mischief in trying to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict
The Malaysian Insider today reported a column in Utusan Malaysia by Tun Dr. Mahathir showing that the former Prime Minister is still up to his game of mischief to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict in the country.
Mahathir said PAS will never lead Malaysia and even if Pakatan Rakyat captures Putrajaya it will be a junior partner and a DAP puppet.
Before the 13GE, DAP was accused of being a PAS puppet among the Chinese and non-Malay voters while PAS was accused of being a DAP puppet among Malay voters.
It would appear that UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists want Malaysian voters to believe that DAP is puppet to PAS, while PAS is puppet to DAP – thinking that Malaysians can be easily fooled into believing that DAP could be puppet to PAS and PAS puppet to DAP!
This is of course utter nonsense, for DAP is no puppet of PAS just as PAS is no puppet of DAP. Just because UMNO can make the other Barisan Nasional parties its puppet does not mean that this is the operating principle in Pakatan Rakyat as well.
Read the rest of this entry »
Rashid has virtually confirmed that previous constituency redelineation exercises violated the “one man, one vote, one value” principle and establishing that the Election Commission totally lacks transparency, credibility, integrity and professionalism
The nation must thank Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, the one man with the most experience as Secretary and Chairman of the Election Commission who managed not only six of 13 general elections but responsible for three of the four constituency redelineations in Malaysia, for admitting that the Election Commission has never lived up to its constitutional responsibility of being an independent and non-partisan body but was only an appendage of UMNO/Barisan Nasional to ensure their perpetual hold to political power.
Rashid’s joining of Perkasa is shocking enough, but this is nothing compared to his virtual confession that he had been responsible for the gerrymandering of the parliamentary and state assembly constituencies in three of the four constituency redelineations in the nation’s history.
Justifying his joining Perkasa, Rashid said that power was a numbers game and he could ensure that the Malays remain in power as this was the agenda of three constituency redelineation exercises conducted during his time with the Election Commission.
Rashid has not only confirmed, but become the most notable witness, of the fact that previous constituency redelineations were gerrymandering exercises which violated the “one man, one vote, one value” principle and establishing that the Election Commission totally lacks transparency, credibility, integrity and professionalism.
But these “gerrymandering” exercises were not to ensure that the Malays remain in power but to ensure that UMNO/BN remain in power as they were also directed against Malays not in Umno.
Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t Talk Big, Mahathir, You Brought Down Our English
Posted by Kit in Education, English, Kee Thuan Chye, Mahathir on Friday, 15 November 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
15.11.2013
Not that I want to knock Mahathir Mohamad, you know, I’ve knocked him so many times before, but I cannot tahan laa when he tries to act innocent and say things should be like this or that now when he never did anything when he was prime minister to do the right things himself. In fact, for some things, he did the opposite.
Take what he now says about our graduates not being able to get jobs because they fail at interviews – because their English is poor. Now, let me ask him, when he was PM, did he do anything to make Malaysian students learn the language seriously other than learning Maths and Science in English? No, he didn’t!
He didn’t have the guts to go one step further and give more emphasis to learning English in schools. He floated the idea of bringing back English-medium schools but that petered out. He was only testing the idea. When it didn’t work, he pulled back, like a tortoise head into its shell.
He didn’t even make passing English at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam compulsory. In fact, English ceased to be a must-pass subject in 1974, when he was education minister. He said Malay students might fail the whole SPM if English was a must-pass. Instead of spurring them on to master the language so that they would pass it and SPM as well, he gave them the easy way out. After that, succeeding generations of students couldn’t be bothered with English. He was responsible for that mistake. The National Union of Teachers protested, but did he care? Read the rest of this entry »
Sworn statement on Gani’s alleged misdeeds out due to Putrajaya inaction, says former top cop
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Crime, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Police on Tuesday, 12 November 2013
by Lionel Morais
The Malaysian Insider
November 12, 2013
Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim has revealed the alleged wrongdoings of Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail after Putrajaya failed to act on the retired senior police officer’s statutory declaration which contained a litany of complaints against the Attorney General.
Mat Zain’s initial revelation about the meeting with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on Gani’s failings only amounted to two pages of his 31-page sworn statement.
He promised more disclosures soon and said he was also mulling the possibility of having the statutory declaration (SD) tendered in court.
“Since my SD was made in accordance with the Statutory Declaration Act 1960 it can be used in any judicial proceeding, civil or criminal. In that manner the SD will be considered a public document,” the former Kuala Lumpur CID chief told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir vs Kit Siang – no penance for old men
Malaysiakini
Nov 10, 2013
YOURSAY ‘This is a classic case of David vs Goliath. Mahathir had everything at his disposal to get rid of Lim.’
‘Mahathir wants me dead, but I want him to live’
Slumdog: DAP leader Lim Kit Siang, you are a true statesman and you always conduct yourself with dignity and decency, qualities that former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not possess.
Your eloquence in rebutting whatever Mahathir dishes out to you is said with decorum and intelligence. This is in contrast to Mahathir’s usual vile and sarcastic manner in which he attacks his political foes.
The legacy that Mahathir leaves behind with not be cherished by the majority of the rakyat but he will be remembered with much disdain.
Swipenter: This is a classic case of David vs Goliath. Mahathir had everything at his disposal to get rid of Lim. He tried but did not succeed just like he tried to kill off his then deputy Anwar Ibrahim.
Slowly but surely Lim is getting the respect and admiration of Malaysians for standing up to Mahathir and Mahathirism whereas the latter is receiving the opposite from Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir mahu saya mati tetapi saya berdoa Mahathir akan hidup sehingga 100 tahun untuk menyaksikan kemerosotan dan berakhirnya Mahathirisme
Mahathir mahu saya mati, kerana itu beliau menjalankan misinya dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-13 dengan berkempen di Gelang Patah untuk menjadikan kawasan itu “kubur” politik saya.
Sebelum pilihanraya umum ke-13, Mahathir menyeru rakyat Johor untuk mengerah tenaga bagi memastikan negeri Johor menjadi “kubur” saya. Seruan beliau itu diberi sambutan hangat oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yang mengisytiharkan bahawa saya “terperangkap” di Gelang Patah dan kerjaya politik saya telah “tamat”.
Persaingan di Gelang Patah dalam PRU13 adalah pertempuran politik “hidup dan mati” bagi saya kerana saya berdepan bukan saja dengan Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman yang telah menjadi Menteri Besar selama empat penggal, tetapi juga kerana saya terpaksa berdepan dengan tiga lagi orang kuat Umno – Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Timbalan Perdana Menteri Muhyiddin dan Perdana Menteri yang paling lama memegang jawatan di Malaysia, iaitu Tun Mahathir sendiri.
Tetapi saya bersedia mempertaruhkan nasib, meninggalkan kerusi parlimen selamat bagi saya, iaitu Ipoh Timur, yang telah saya menangi pada tahun 2008 dengan majoriti lebih dari 21,000 undi, untuk bertanding di Gelang Patah di mana MCA/BN telah menang hampir 9,000 undi majoriti pada tahun 2008 dan 21,666 undi majoriti pada tahun 2004.
Read the rest of this entry »
In Dr M vs Lim it’s advantage, Kit Siang
Terence Netto
Malaysiakini
Nov 9, 2013
COMMENT The latest round of skirmishing between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Lim Kt Siang testify to the enduring nature of some political vendettas.
It appears ageing politicians don’t easily forget their resentment of some opponents; they just nurse it to higher degrees of virulence.
Former prime minister Mahathir has often displayed a visceral antagonism towards DAP adviser Kit Siang, one that goes beyond the usual bounds of political rivalry and contention.
From the time they first jousted in Parliament in the 1970s, through the 22 years of Mahathir’s premiership (1981-2003), and continuing into the post-Mahathir era, the Umno stalwart and the DAP strongman have traded blows in one of Malaysian politics’ more enduring examples of loathing.
An examination of this antagonism would find that Mahathir had more often than not been the initiator of hostilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir wants me dead but I pray that Mahathir will live to 100 years to see the decline and end of Mahathirism
Mahathir wants me dead and that is why he embarked on his mission in the 13th General Election to campaign in Gelang Patah to turn it into my political “burial ground”.
Before the 13th general election, Mahathir called on the people of Johore to pool their energy to ensure that the state of Johore will be my “kubur”, which elicited rapturous response from the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who declared that I was “trapped” in Gelang Patah and that I was “finished” politically.
Gelang Patah in the 13GE was my “life-and-death” political battle as I fought not just the popular four-term Johore Mentri Besar, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, but another three UMNO stalwarts – Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin and Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister Tun Mahathir himself.
But I was prepared to put my head on the chopping block, leaving the safe parliamentary seat of Ipoh Timor which I had won in 2008 with more than 21,000-vote majority to a high-risk Gelang Patah where the MCA/BN had won with nearly 9,000-vote majority in 2008 and a humongous majority of 21,666-vote in 2004.
I want to thank members, supporters and well-wishers for their support and prayers on the night of May 5, 2013, as I have learnt from my travels throughout the country in the past half-year that they were very worried about the outcome of the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat as, just like me that night, I have no idea of the outcome and I left my political fate completely in the hands of the voters of Gelang Patah.
On that night of May 5, 2013, Mahathir lost and I won. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M: Will Kit Siang only retire when he’s dead?
By Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
November 8, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Age has not dulled his acerbic tongue as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad continued to trade barbs with political foe Lim Kit Siang, asking the DAP adviser if he was still fearful of the shadow of a man who had retired from government a decade ago.
The former prime minister, who has repeatedly crossed swords with Lim in Parliament between 1981 and 2003, hit out at the opposition leader in his latest entry on his Chedet.cc blog yesterday, in exchange for the blows rained upon him in the run-up to the Sungai Limau by-election on Monday and immediately after the results were announced.
“Kit Siang also campaigned but it was as if DAP is still afraid of my shadows. The focus of Kit Siang was to run me down, as if I was the one contesting. Kit Siang was uncomfortable that I am still active even after my retirement,” Dr Mahathir said.
In his blog rebuttal, Dr Mahathir said he had not planned to campaign for the BN in Sungai Limau, but had decided to hit the ground for certain reasons—which he did not elaborate—and that the state seat had been part of the Kota Setar Selatan parliamentary constituency that he had represented as an MP between 1964 and 1969.
The 88-year-old Kedah-born said both he and Lim had cut their teeth on politics in 1964 but while he had passed on the government’s reins to another 10 years ago, his former parliamentary opponent chose to stay on the political battlefield.
“When will Kit Siang retire? When he is dead? Even if he retires, will he remain the DAP’s Senior Leader?” Dr Mahathir asked. Read the rest of this entry »
Sungai Limau: Winners and losers
by Zulkifli Sulong, Features and Analysis Editor
The Malaysian Insider
November 05, 2013
Datuk Mahfuz Omar must have been the happiest man in Kedah last night. Yesterday’s by-election which saw PAS retaining the Sungai Limau state seat was Mahfuz’s first since being appointed the Kedah PAS commissioner. On the other hand, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir is a man in grief. He led the Barisan Nasional charge and lost, the second blow for him after losing the Umno vice-presidential race weeks earlier.
The following are the winners and losers of the Sungai Limau by-election.
Winners
1. PAS
PAS leaders and supporters in the country are certainly delighted with the win. It goes without saying that numerous parties and functions will be held to celebrate the win. The win may have helped alleviate tensions within the PAS leadership ahead of the upcoming PAS Muktamar from November 22 to 24, 2013.
2. Datuk Mahfuz Omar
The newly-minted state commissioner is a big winner. He had just taken over the position after the 13th general election when the late Tan Sri Azizan Razak was undergoing treatment in Penang.
The win will cement his role in Kedah and also boost his chances at the PAS Muktamar as he defends his vice-presidency. Despite earlier talks that Mahfuz was in danger of losing, Mahfuz’s win at the party polls looks like a sure bet. Read the rest of this entry »
Sungai Limau by-election results: Is this the end of Mahathirism?
by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
November 05, 2013
Analysts say he might have played a role in swaying voters who were still undecided on voting day. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, November 5, 2013.
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad descended on Sungai Limau during the last hours of campaigning on November 3, one longtime PAS activist from Alor Star described it as a “relief”.
“Many people in Sungai Limau come from a religious education background,” said the activist, referring to the community of teachers, students and parents involved in the area’s clutch of private and public Islamic schools, which are nationally renowned.
“They still remember how Mahathir used to run down PAS and our Islamic state concept,” said the activist of the former prime minister’s endless tirades against PAS in the few years before he resigned in 2003.
PAS and its Islamist credentials were a regular target of Dr Mahathir’s biting criticism especially after the party gained control of the Terengganu government and made major inroads into Kedah in the 1999 general election.
So it was almost like poetic justice when Dr Mahathir came down to canvass votes for Barisan Nasional from the people he had once slighted. Read the rest of this entry »
BN loss in Sungai Limau signals Dr M’s waning influence, says DAP
By Opalyn Mok
The Malay Mail Online
November 5, 2013
YAN, Nov 5 — PAS’s reduced majority in yesterday’s Sungai Limau by-election took no skin off the Islamist party but spells a setback for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) that had been banking on Kedah-born Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s name and his scion to sail through the polls, DAP leaders have said.
DAP Kedah interim chief Zairil Khir Johari and the opposition party’s adviser Lim Kit Siang insisted that PAS’s success in keeping the Kedah state seat was a major blow to the BN’s mighty machinery under the leadership of its Mentri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, son of Malaysia’s longest-serving former prime minister, whom they claimed had followed his father’s style and pulled out all the stops in his bid to wrest Sungai Limau.
“It is clear that Mahathir’s influence has receded with this win,” Zairil, the son of a former Umno minister, told The Malay Mail Online last night after the official results announced a PAS victory by a lowered 1,084-vote margin. Read the rest of this entry »
Tweets on Sg Limau by-election
Nov 04, 6:05pm
85.5 per cent voter turnout in Sg Limau (23,249 voters) goo.gl/LpNMeR Sg Limau: Polling centres closed, high voter turnout (FMT)
Nov 04, 7:57pm
Latest report: PAS has won hard-fought Sungai Limau. Zairil said Counting Centre full of PR/PAS ppl with none from BN. Best indication
Nov 04, 8:04pm
Indications are PAS has won with reduced majority but more than the 500-vote majority Mahfuz had estimated. Significant victory nonetheless.
Nov 04, 8:17pm
Unofficial 1,201-vote PAS majority in Sungai Limau by-election
Nov 04, 8:32pm
Final off majority may be slightly less. Congrats 2all PAS/PR leaders 4the victory, in particular Hadi/Sabu/Mahfuz/Hatta n new SA Mohd Azam
Nov 04, 8:55pm
Zairil reports official results of Sungai Limau by-election – PAS wins with 1,084 majority. PAS secures 12,069 votes. BN gets 10,985 votes.
Nov 04, 9:03pm
Phoned Mahfuz 2congratulate PAS 4significant PR victory in Sg Limau by-election. Must be 1st PAS by-election win hailed by all races in Msia
Nov 04, 9:07pm
PAS/PR victory agnst might of BN Fed/State govt machinery n money politics great inspiration 4″From Sg Limau to Putrajaya” campaign in 14GE
Nov 04, 9:16pm
But person who suffered greatest blow in by-election is none other than Dr Mahathir – 3rd setback in 6 mths after 13GE and UMNO party polls.
Apakah Mahathir dan Mahathirisme akan menghadapi kegagalan ketiga atau terakhir sejak enam bulan lalu dalam pilihanraya kecil esok?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Mahathir, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Monday, 4 November 2013
Pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau esok akan menjawab persoalan: Apakah Mahathir dan Mahathirisme akan menghadapi kegagalan ketiga atau terakhir sejak enam bulan lalu?
Minggu lalu, bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Mahathir berkata kumpulan pelampau sedang menguasai Malaysia pada ketika Barisan Nasional sedang bergelut untuk menangani masalah kemerosotan sokongan orang ramai terhadap pakatan parti pemerintah itu walaupun ia masih menguasai kerajaan.
Benar dakwaan Mahathir bahawa kerajaan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak lemah dan ia merasa perlu untuk melayan “tuntutan-tuntutan tidak munasabah” daripada puak pelampau untuk mengekalkan sokongan orang ramai. Tetapi beliau melakukan kesilapan dengan mendakwa puak pelampau itu terdiri daripada anggota Pakatan Rakyat.
Hakikatnya, Mahathir sendiri boleh dianggap mewakili puak pelampau berkenaan yang menjadikan “kumpulan majoriti yang moderat” sebagai tebusan dengan segala pembohongan mereka sehingga menjejaskan usaha pembinaan dan pembangunan negara serta penyatuan warga.
Dalam majlis pengumuman calon Pakatan Rakyat di Sungai Limau 21 Oktober lalu, saya telah menyatakan harapan agar pilihanraya kecil itu menjadi model bagi politik bersi, jujur, dan bermaruah dengan memastikan pembohongan dan kepalsuan tidak disebarkan dan taktik serangan peribadi atau politik wang tidak digunakan.
Read the rest of this entry »
Will Mahathir and Mahathirism suffer a third and probably final set-back in six months in the Sungai Limau by-election tomorrow?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Mahathir, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Sunday, 3 November 2013
The Sungai Limau by-election tomorrow will answer the question: Will Mahathir and Mahathirism suffer a third and probably final set-back in six months?
Last week, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir said that the “lunatic fringe” have taken a hold of Malaysia as the ruling Barisan Nasional struggles to deal with diminished public support despite retaining its hold on government.
Mahathir is right when he claimed that the administration of current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is weak and feels it needs to entertain “unreasonable demands” from extremist groups to remain relevant to the public but wrong when he identified such extremist groups as coming from Pakatan Rakyat.
In fact, Mahathir has himself become the very personification of the extremist “lunatic fringe” holding the “moderate majority” to ransom with their “lunatic” lies and falsehoods, undermining and even sabotaging the country’s nation-building, national unity and national development. Read the rest of this entry »
Ten years after exiting, Dr M remains on stage
by Opalyn Mok, Joseph Sipalan, Ida Lim & Boo Su-Lyn
Malay Mail Online
October 31, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad retired on Oct 31, 2003 after 22 tumultuous years in power, he was the only prime minister many Malaysians ever knew. A decade later, his critics and supporters alike would not be faulted for wondering if he ever intended to leave the political scene.
Or is he even capable of letting go?
The evidence suggests not. After all he was a significant factor in the downfall of his immediate successor and a major reason why the country’s current prime minister came to power.
The man, now a sprightly 88-year-old, has spent a notable number of years in his 10-year retirement making splashes in the media, headlining events and even taking on the political stage for Barisan Nasional (BN) during the just-concluded May 5 general election.
Despite being retired, observers still accuse Dr Mahathir of leading a faction in the ruling Umno through his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, even if the latter’s loss in the vice-presidential race recently led to the conclusion that Team Mahathir’s influence has waned.
His former protege and all-time bitter rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim too has agreed that Dr Mahathir still commands a significant following in Umno, if not in Malaysian politics in general
But he blamed this on Dr Mahathir’s successors, saying they had allowed his former boss to remain “in power”. Read the rest of this entry »
An open letter to Dr Mahathir
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, nation building on Wednesday, 30 October 2013
– Wenger Khairy
The Malaysian Insider
October 30, 2013
Dear Tun,
In 1995, I remember that Malaysia was a land of hope, and the envy of many. Even the great Lee Kuan Yew was casting glances at the great hope that lay ahead – an international port which would suck up the entrepôt trade that had made Singapore so successful and the great Multimedia Super Corridor that would propel Malaysia as the premier hub for Information, Communication Technology.
Alas, almost 20 years later, this is now a pipe dream. Singapore has forged miles ahead whilst Malaysia is still languishing behind, their people divided on the most irrelevant of issues such as whether cows can be slaughtered in public schools and whether non-Muslims can profess belief in Allah.
That is the issues that seem to be on the lips of everybody. Some take one position, others take another. 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 »
Bebalisma in Malaysian society
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Education, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Aerie Rahman
The Malaysian Insider
October 21, 2013
OCT 21 — The Malaysia that I know of, which has forever been under the Barisan Nasional power structure, is akin to a poorly written play.
Those in power are actors onstage while the rakyat are members of the audience.
Lights out, please!
The play would begin with members of parliament squabbling and haranguing each other. Grandstanding is the game here, gents.
Suddenly, things would come to a halt with the Auditor-General bursting into Parliament. The mood is intense. He subsequently submits his annual report. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno polls show that what goes around comes around
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Oct 20, 2013
COMMENT The results are in. Despite the last-minute swing to Mukhriz Mahathir due to the sympathy factor associated with the false reporting of vote-buying and buoyed by his father’s support, the count clearly shows that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s personal influence in Umno has waned.
In fact, when one looks at the election of the 25 spots for the Supreme Council, Mahathir loyalists have lost badly. The question arises whether this party election indeed spells the end of an era, a changing of the guard of sorts within Umno.
While personal loyalties may have moved on and Mahathir’s influence has been checked, his legacy persists within the party and given the competitiveness of the results, Mahathir’s own role will continue to shadow Najib’s premiership. Read the rest of this entry »
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