Archive for category Mahathir
Was Rahim Noor’s Perkasa speech warning of “a human rights wave” an open proxy shot in a battle of three Malaysian Prime Ministers?
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Friday, 28 October 2011
Was the former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Rahim Noor’s Perkasa speech warning of “a human rights wave” which would be like “a new religion” and threaten and erode the basis on which the nation was founded an open proxy shot in a battle of three Malaysian Prime Ministers about democracy, human rights and the rule of law not only in Malaysia but in the Commonwealth and the world?
It can be no coincidence that Rahim Noor’s speech was immediately given endorsement by his former boss and the fourth Malaysian Prime Minister of 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who warned that “Opposition politicians are using human rights issues for their political benefit”.
It can also be no coincidence that the two warnings by Mahathir and Rahim, made in a matter of 24 hours, came on the eve of the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, which is to consider the scathing report of the 11-member Eminent Persons Group (EPG) with wide-ranging and far-reaching reform proposals to end its organizational “decay” and to avoid the Commonwealth being condemned by history as “hypocritical” allowing rogue member states to violate human rights and democratic conventions.
It has been reported that the 220-page report of the EPG, which has not been made public despite the EPG’s request that it be released before the CHOGM opening this morning, contained “a wide ranging and at times unexpectedly radical road map for change, outlined in 106 detailed recommendations aimed at hauling the organization into the 21st century” – including the appointment of an independent Commonwealth Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights commissioner empowered to monitor violations and propose action against them. Read the rest of this entry »
Beware of false prophets
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, NEP on Tuesday, 27 September 2011
— Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
SEPT 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak certainly talks a good game. It is election season and he needs to win big so everything goes.
Today he talks about how Bumiputera quotas need to go, eventually. No one knows when this eventually will be because as we all know the Umno-hijacked New Economic Policy was extended under pressure from the Umno beneficiaries.
Najib is not the first Umno president to talk about removing quotas or taking away the crutches from Bumiputeras.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Badawi both mentioned this when they wanted to show Malaysians that they were enlightened leaders and when they were fishing for support from non-Malays before elections.
Needless to say all their “good intentions” never materialised. Once they got the votes, they promptly forgot about taking away the quotas and instead fortified the distortions in the system. Read the rest of this entry »
Pak Lah and Najib: Same old, same old
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 21 September 2011
— The Malaysian Insider
Sep 21, 2011
SEPT 21 — It is really amusing how former leaders labour to protect a legacy or image, many times even more strenuously than when they were occupying the hot seat at Putrajaya.
Look at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad; when he was in power for 22 years, he did not care if Malaysians and his critics called him a dictator or autocrat or “Mahafiraun”.
But since yielding the reins, he has attempted to rewrite history by suggesting that it was the police who ordered the arrests of over 100 people under Ops Lalang and that he was tolerant, open-minded, transparent, etc.
Now comes the turn of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He has come “alive” since his replacement Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on Thursday plans to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other laws enacted, propped up or abused by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Evidence fabricated in Anwar’s corruption trial’
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Court, Judiciary, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Police on Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Malaysiakini
Sep 12, 11
Anwar Ibrahim’s 1999 conviction for abuse of power was wrong as the prosecution had concocted evidence and cheated through the actions of then investigating officer Musa Hassan and then lead prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail.
This was revealed in another open letter, sent to Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar today, by former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim.
Mat Zain states that Musa and Gani had done this for their joint benefit. Both had risen in ranks, with Musa becoming the police chief and Gani, the attorney-general. Musa retired recently.
“It is not wrong to say the jail term Anwar faced is an injustice to him as a result of both their (Musa’s and Gani’s) actions. I am basing this argument on documentary evidence and statements that I have and are within my knowledge,” he said in the letter.
“I am also saying this because there are important statements made by (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Chapter 53 of his memoirs ‘Doctor in the House’ on the black eye incident, and the actions by the public prosecutor are different from what I have in the official case files of 1998.
“I believe that Mahathir was given a wrong briefing and he had been manipulated.” Read the rest of this entry »
Toying with history again in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, History, Mahathir on Monday, 12 September 2011
-Farish A. Noor
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2011
SEPT 12 — In all honesty, I really have many other things to do than waste my time commenting on what has to be one of the most inane and counter-productive debates in Malaysian politics today. Yet as the tide of silliness gains strength all around us, I feel it necessary to add my two-sen’s worth to this debate before I get back to my real work which happens to be teaching and research, so here it goes…
It appears that some academics in Malaysia now claim that Malaya (as it was then called) was never colonised by the British after all — or at least that the Malay kingdoms were never colonies in the fullest sense of the word, but rather protectorates. This is, literally, correct and it has to be said that the legal-political status of these states was precisely that: protectorates rather than colonies. But we need to raise some crucial questions at this point in order to flesh out the debate a little further, and try to understand how and why such an arrangement came about in the first place.
Firstly, it ought to be noted that the use of the term “protectorate” rather than “colony” offered (then, in the 19th century) a fig-leaf of respectability to what can only be described as a mad scramble for power and domination by the British who were not satisfied with the acquisition of their outright colonies in Penang, Dindings, Malacca and Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »
Mat Zain: Musa, Gani duped Dr M into sacking Anwar
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Court, Mahathir, Police on Monday, 12 September 2011
By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysia Insider
Sep 12, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — A former senior police officer today claimed that Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had fabricated evidence against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, leading to his sacking from government by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998.
Former city criminal investigation chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim claimed in an open letter to the Inspector-General of Police today that Musa, who was then Bukit Aman’s assistant criminal investigation chief, had stolen Anwar’s DNA to ensure that the sacked deputy prime minister would be convicted of sodomy.
“I believe this happened because Tun was given information or a briefing that was manipulated and misleading,” said the policeman who led the 1998 probe into the black eye inflicted on Anwar by then police chief Tan Sri Rahim Noor.
Mat Zain based his claim on “documentary evidence and statements that I have and are within my knowledge” as well as Dr Mahathir’s memoirs that were released earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M and sovereignty
— Ronald Benjamin
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 20, 2011
AUG 20 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s speech that the Malay community has been split into three groups and that this could create a scenario for foreign intervention is another type of opinion that does not understand the nature of politics and what makes a nation vulnerable to foreign intervention.
This type of view has been used by authoritarian leaders around the world on the pretext of safeguarding national sovereignty but who contradict themselves by building political barriers for their own people with laws and economic systems that infringe on human dignity.
This in turn gives opportunities to foreign powers to manipulate shortcomings in these nations with larger agendas in mind.
The question is how could a nation call itself sovereign when it denies its own people the right to express themselves? Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir’s grand contribution to decline in political morality
Posted by Kit in Hussein Hamid, Mahathir on Saturday, 30 July 2011
Written by Hussein Hamid
Friday, 29 July 2011
CPI
Since the early 1980s, the ‘indiscretions’ of elected officials and those in the civil service have become the hallmark of all things Malaysian. This is to the extent that the people now accept corruption, greed and furthering vested interests as colouring all government transactions.
How did this scheme of things come about?
The turning point was 1981. After Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister, compassion for the people and respect for their rights was extinguished. With Mahathir too came the decline of political morality and a corresponding decline in the moral fibre of the civil service. Read the rest of this entry »
Resign Or Snap Election For Najib, Here’re The Reasons
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Corruption, Crime, Defence, Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, Razaleigh Hamzah, UMNO on Thursday, 28 July 2011
As much as I would like to stop writing about PM Najib administration, the plot just got interesting and I think he may just hit the bull’s eye as far as my prediction that his downfall may be faster than his predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, is concerned. Compared with Najib, Badawi now seems like a cute adorable little kitten, who merely likes to sleep (on the job). Malaysians tend to be more forgiving on lazy prime minister but not a prime minister who lies, cheats, brutal, dirty (allegation on Mongolian Altantuya’s murder), hypocrite but above all stupid yet arrogant.
One cannot help but fell off the chair laughing after read that Najib said he cancels a family vacation because he wants to spend more time with Malaysians. This was perhaps the best joke ever by premier Najib since he took over from Abdullah Badawi. This joke actually worth a thousand “Like” on his facebook page. Forget about Bersih 2.0 because this guy may quit under pressure – not from opposition parties or Bersih 2.0 but from his internal UMNO party. Boy, if it was true that the US$24 million controversial diamond ring indeed belongs to his wife Rosmah Mansor, that ring is cursed.
Read the rest of this entry »
The ghosts of Mahathirism
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 27 July 2011
By Stanley Koh | July 27, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
Is Mahathirism back with a vengeance?
Recent events do make it seem like the Najib regime has decided to adopt the former prime minister’s authoritarian style in saving its flagging political fortunes. It has resorted to using draconian laws and shameless propaganda in the face of an awakening electorate and increasing exposures of its misdeeds.
The government seems to have ignored the strong signal given by the 2008 election result that Malaysians want more democratic space. And what was Bersih 2.0’s July 9 rally if not a reaffirmation of that demand?
But instead of using the occasion to promote his much-vaunted liberalist image, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak seemed to have done what Dr Mahathir Mohamad would have done—crush them and damn what the world says.
Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M blames press for worsening race relations
By Shannon Teoh | June 23, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad blamed press freedom today for poor race relations which, he claimed, had worsened since he stepped down as prime minister in 2003.
He said that this was because press freedom has allowed racial and religious tension to ferment in Malaysia.
“Those days we didn’t talk so much about race, showing disrespect to others. Today we talk about race and religion, putting a wedge between the different races.
“Race relations today are not as good as when ‘a dictator of 22 years’ was leading the country,” the former prime minister told a forum of chief executives today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Menolak pentadbiran Islam, Dr M lebih berjaya dari Karpal — Aspan Alias
Posted by Kit in Islamic state, Mahathir, PAS on Friday, 10 June 2011
9 JUN — Dr Mahathir Mohamad masih lagi hendak bercakap terlalu banyak dalam mempertahankan Umno. Niat beliau mungkin ikhlas untuk mempertahankan Umno kerana beliau adalah ahli Umno. Tetapi kata-kata beliau mungkin membantutkan usaha Umno untuk kembali mendapat penghormatan rakyat. Beliau sudah agak pelupa orangnya dan banyak kali apa yang beliau kata terhadap musuh politiknya, itulah yang beliau lazim lakukan.
Dalam isu PAS dengan pembaharuannya selepas muktamar parti itu hujung minggu lepas Dr Mahathir telah mengatakan yang Karpal Singh-lah yang berjaya mempengaruhi PAS supaya menolak perjuangan Islam parti itu sedangkan parti itu hanya hendak memberikan tumpuan yang lebih kepada negara kebajikan jika diberi mandat untuk memerintah. Itu adalah sebahagain besar dari pimpinan ciri Islam.
Read the rest of this entry »
Will we vote for Ibrahim Ali?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building, Perkasa, UMNO on Friday, 3 June 2011
– Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2011
JUNE 2 — This is a serious question. Will we vote for Ibrahim Ali?
I believe this is a relevant question for Malaysians to ponder because with each passing day this Perkasa mouthpiece seems to have pushed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other Cabinet ministers from the mainstage of decision-making and politics.
After watching the local political scene for a few months, we can conclude a few things: Ibrahim is Umno and Umno loves Ibrahim.
Najib is scared of upsetting Ibrahim and Perkasa, probably out of some fear that the right-wing group can influence the outcome of how Malays vote and/or concern that not bowing to Ibrahim’s wishes will upset Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, supporter and patron of Perkasa. Read the rest of this entry »
Kalau ada ‘fulus’ apa pun boleh lulus
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Corruption, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 1 June 2011
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 29, 2011
29 MEI — Ramai juga yang tidak selesa dengan komen saya dalam banyak isu yang berkaitan dengan ‘intution’ saya yang tidak begitu sedap dalam menghadapi pilihanraya yang akan datang. Kadangkala saya berfikir juga kenapa saya perlu sibuk untuk menulis tentang isu-isu itu kerana ianya hanya memungkinkan saya di rembat dengan hebatnya oleh pihak yang tidak gemar dengan pandangan saya.
Kadangkala ada juga penyesalan kerana saya terlibat mengambil tahu tentang politik ini. Walaupun tidak bergiat secara fisikal lagi benak saya tetap berfikir tentang politik ini. Saya tetap juga memberikan pandangan secara terbuka kerana saya tidak pernah berusaha untuk menaiki tangga kejayaan politik dan saya tidak pernah menyesal dengan keadaan itu.
Oleh itu saya tetap dengan pendirian untuk bercakap dan menulis ketika ada ruang untuk berbuat demikian kerana saya tidak dapat mengelak dari melihat dan mendengar apa yang berlaku di sekeliling saya. Saya bukan seorang ‘social climber’ dan apa yang saya perkatakan itu adalah pemikiran yang sejati tanpa dikotori oleh kepentingan peribadi. Justru saya tidak ada perasaan gentar dan takut untuk memberikan buah fikiran dan pandangan saya secara terbuka. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno — self-induced rigor mortis
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 30, 2011
MAY 30 — I have written so many essays critical of Umno in the past.
Friends asked me why am I still in Umno? How can I write many nasty things about Umno and seemed to get away with it — why haven’t I been hauled up by the Umno disciplinary committee or something and not ticked off? Isn’t there anything good that Umno has done.
Let’s clear one thing first. This is the source of many of Umno’s problems. Some people assigned to themselves the right to determine who should or shouldn’t be in Umno. They then judge others in terms of their thinking and criteria. Pak Lah or any others can’t measure up to Mahathir in many aspects. But they are not necessarily inferior to Mahathir. They are different. They must be judged on objective terms, not the subjective standards of one Mahathir.
Najib doesn’t seem to do things anything right according to Mahathir. The old man is so stressed up and suffers physical debilitations. Read the rest of this entry »
Longing For A Free Mind (Part 12 of 14)
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Mahathir, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Thursday, 26 May 2011
Q& A (Cont’d): Pakatan, UMNO, and Mahathir
Q4: Pakatan declared that it will take away Malay special privileges. Why should I vote for that coalition?
A4: Your greatest fear, and reason for not voting Pakatan, is the possible loss of your special privileges. Thanks to the agitations of leaders from the increasingly shrill Mahathir down to the ever-frothing Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali, affirmative action is now an existential issue for Malays.
Read the rest of this entry »
BN must respect next GE result
by John Inbaraj
The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2011
MAY 21 — Great Men talk of Ideas, Average Men talk of Things, and Small Men talk of other Men. If I choose to be kind, I can best rate the Malaysian government as average.
In the days of old, our leaders were visionaries, people who talked of great plans and ideas for the country. They had quality — the likes of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn.
Whether or not their visions and policies achieved their desired goals, they were genuine Malaysians with a heart for the nation. There were others on the sidelines who stood strong to ideals and contributed unselfishly to nation building.
However, the prime minister after that, the great Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, began the systematic dismantling of the principles of democracy and the downward slide of an entire nation. He is widely seen as the man who almost single-handedly destroyed the basic instruments of parliamentary democracy. Read the rest of this entry »
Ibrahim Ali is Umno
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 15 May 2011
Shamsuddin Ghani
The Malaysian Insider
May 15, 2011
MAY 15 — I think it is time we stop this charade. Ibrahim Ali says he is an Independent MP and that Perkasa has nothing to do with Umno.
But we know better than to accept this nonsense from the King of Nonsense.
He is allowed by the Najib administration to plant seditious ideas everywhere, to brandish his thuggish behaviour on the national stage and insult everything decent about being Malaysian.
The police give him a free pass even though everytime he speaks he breaks a slew of laws. How can an intellectually-disadvantaged politician with supposedly no affialiation be so privileged?
Because he has the support of Najib Razak and Umno and the protection of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Perkasa is Umno’s alter ego and was set up to give Umno the luxury of playing the chauvinist and right wing card and yet have the luxury of deniability. So Umno could assure its BN component party members that it was middle of the road while twin Perkasa targetted the vote of the Malays. Read the rest of this entry »
Are we Umno’s prisoners of irrational fear
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 13 May 2011
Mariam Mokhtar | May 13, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
Umno is bereft of conviction and hampered by weak leaders and their only course of action is to remind us of the possibility of another May 13.
COMMENT
Utusan Malaysia’s headline, ‘Malaysia Negara Kristian?’ (Malaysia a Christian state?), was a subtle Umno plot to warn us, that the consequences of voting for the Opposition might trigger another ‘May 13’.
The Utusan article bears all the tell-tale signs– sowing the seeds of discord and exaggerating our fears. Ever since the May 13 riots of 1969, Umno has relied on scaremongering and threats, to make Malaysians prisoners of irrational fear.
It is in Umno’s character to employ cynical tactics because it faces defeat in the 13th General Election. The opposition has captivated the electorate as seen by its successes in Sarawak and to make matters worse, PAS has rejected Umno’s overtures. Umno has run out of ideas and vision. It lacks momentum and motivation. It has reached the end of the road. Read the rest of this entry »
New urban thinking led to BN losses in Sarawak towns
by Ronald Benjamin
The Malaysian Insider
April 25, 2011
APRIL 25 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s comments that the racist politics of DAP has been exported to Sarawak clearly reveal his ethnic prejudice and insecurity.
His simplistic comments fail to consider the current political and cultural trends among the urban population whose political sense and approach to issues is increasingly rooted in universal justice, equality and pragmatism.
Ethnic issues are minimal in this paradigm of thinking.
The Barisan National coalition of ethnic-based parties is still finding it difficult to come to terms with this new political paradigm that goes beyond mere ethnic accommodation. The urban middle-class is basically connected to a global world, where a sense of equality, meritocracy and democratic expression is the norm in any enlightened civil society. Read the rest of this entry »
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