Archive for category Najib Razak
#BBCtrending: Be careful what you say about spinach
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 15 January 2014
BBC Trending
What’s popular and why
14 January 2014
Hundreds of joke images are being shared on social media in Malaysia
Malaysia’s prime minister is being widely lampooned on social media for a comment he made about the price of kangkung, or water spinach.
Food is a faux pas minefield for politicians, especially when it’s perceived as being used in a get-down-with-the-people kind of way – think of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s pasty moment or Chancellor George Osborne’s “posh burger” tweet. The almost inevitable response seems to be ridicule. That’s where the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak finds himself right now. With the government under fire because of price hikes in basics like fuel and electricity, he choose to push back by highlighting a reduction in the cost of the leafy green vegetable kangkung. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s kangkung index
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 15 January 2014
– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2014
Ungku Aziz had his sarong index. To those not old enough to remember, Ungku Aziz was once the vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya and is the father of the present governor of Bank Negara. He has always been a keen social and political observer and his views can be rapier sharp as they are acerbic. To the establishment that is.
On the recent Kagkung-gate faux pas committed by an insensitive PM, Ungku Aziz penned down the following verses:
Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
tak sedar akar terendam air parit,
rakyat mengeluh lelah dan sakit,
sedikit diberi banyak diungkit..Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
Tak sedar akar diair parit,
Bagaikan melepas anjing tersepit,
Dah jadi pemimpin , rakyat digigit.
When researching into the issue of poverty, Ungku Aziz came up with sarong index – a measure of the level of poverty. The level of poverty can be measured by the number of sarongs a person has. When Ungku Aziz did his poverty study in Kuala Kemaman many years ago, many people there had only one sarong. People were very poor. Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective – Part 2
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak, Religion on Wednesday, 15 January 2014
By Kee Thuan Chye
news.malaysia.msn.com
14 Jan 2014
Yesterday, I looked at the ‘Allah’ issue from the time it started to what it has become today, and how we are now trapped in a web of confusion spun from diverse interpretations of the Court of Appeal’s decision on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by The Herald, as well as the “one-policy, two-countries” implication arising from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 10-point solution.
In the midst of such confusion, how do we judge who is right – those who claim that ‘Allah’ is exclusive to Muslims or those who insist that it is their constitutional right to practise their religion the way they have been doing it for ages, including referring to God as ‘Allah’?
How do we deal with the rising fervour on both sides, Muslim and Christian, as they seek to defend what they think is right? With Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of The Herald, who said on December 27 that Christians would continue to use ‘Allah’ in all Selangor churches, and with the Solidariti Umat Islam Klang members who protested in public against his statement?
How do we deal with Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria’s demand for the arrest of the Malays who turned up at a church in Klang to show solidarity with Christians? Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective — Part 1
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Kee Thuan Chye, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Religion on Wednesday, 15 January 2014
By Kee Thuan Chye
news.Malaysia.msn.com
Jan 13 2014
As the ‘Allah’ issue rages on, particularly after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized 300-plus copies of the Bible in Malay and Iban on January 2, let’s take a moment and look at it in perspective.
How did it start?
Not, as falsely claimed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, because Malaysia has become more liberal and Malaysians are testing the limits of their “new-found freedom”. Not, as he says, because some groups “purposely come up with something to annoy people” or that they want to run down other religions.
That is the usual kind of poppycock for which he has of late been fond of spinning.
The whole mess started in 2009 with Syed Hamid Albar, who was home minister then, banning the Catholic weekly The Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section. Prior to that, there had been no issue. Christians in Sabah and Sarawak had been using it for ages, long before they joined the Federation of Malaysia. No one had raised a hue and cry. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Najib Faces Party, Public Protest
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Written by Our Correspondent
Asia Sentinel
13 JANUARY 2014
Subsidy cuts play into UMNO rebellion
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak enters 2014 beset by growing hostility from both the public and within his own political party, the United Malays National Organization, characterized by a deluge of New Year messages across cyberspace celebrating the “year of barang naik,” Malay language for rising prices of items.
That is a play on the initials BN, for Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition. It has become an opposition battle cry to the point where Najib mentioned it himself in a recent speech
Najib is making an astute move now, after national and intraparty elections have been completed, taking on the necessary but unappetizing task of dismantling decades of subsidies that have driven government debt close to the statutory limit of 55 percent of gross domestic product. In the wake of both sets of elections, he is temporarily invulnerable to both opposition and intraparty assaults.
However, electricity tariffs have risen by 15 percent, sugar subsidies have been cut. Last September, Petronas, the national energy company, cut fuel subsidies in a move that it said would save the government RMB1 billion annually. Public anger at the cutting of the subsidies is substantial and growing
In addition, many in the party rank and file are still furious over widespread spending to keep the current leadership in place in the September intraparty elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Lee Kuan Yew
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jan 13, 2014
The rivalry between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and current PM Najib Abdul Razak has assumed ludicrous proportions. With a legacy to protect, a son to manoeuvre into position, his cronies to look after, and a country to run, Mahathir is in overdrive. He may be approaching 90, but he retains much of his vigour to annoy.
Yesterday, a former minister, Zainuddin Maidin, urged Mahathir to return to Putrajaya. Having Mahathir back in Putrajaya would be as bad as having a hole in the head.
Much to Najib’s annoyance, Mahathir refuses to shut up, but Najib has only himself to blame. Najib is busy clocking-up air-miles in his new jets. Mahathir says in one sitting, what Najib mumbles in one month.
The current ‘Allah’ side-show is meant to trick ignorant Malays, and weak-willed Muslims, into believing that Umno Baru is the only party that will protect their race and religion.
The real issue is the economy of Malaysia. Umno Baru, Najib and Mahathir are trying to mask this fact behind the ‘Allah’ charade. The rakyat is being out-manoeuvred by Umno Baru.
Last August, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew launched his book, ‘One Man’s View of the World’, in which he described Malaysia as an underperforming nation disadvantaged by its pro-Malay economic policies. Read the rest of this entry »
Bersyukurlah kangkung turun harga!
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
– Izmil Amri
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014
‘Orang Melaka suka makan kangkung yang tidak dikerat-kerat’. Ini helah Tun Perpatih Putih ketika rombongannya sangat teringin melihat wajah Maharaja China.
Tun Perpatih Putih adalah adinda kepada Tun Perak dan dilantik jadi bendahara menggantikan abangnya itu setelah beliau meninggal dunia. Sebelum jadi bendahara, Tun Perpatih Putih yang dihantar Sultan Mansur Shah ketika mahu dijalinkan hubungan diplomatik dengan China. Delegasi itu begitu berjaya sekali sehinggakan maharaja China menghadiahkan Melaka puterinya, Hang Li Po.
Alkisahnya di zaman itu, adatnya ialah orang kebanyakan di China dalam zaman pemerintahan dinasti itu tidak boleh melihat wajahnya sang Maharaja. Kalau tandu maharaja lalu, jalan harus dikosongkan, dan kalau ada yang masih tersisa berdiri, mesti tunduk sujud di hadapan baginda. Read the rest of this entry »
From McKangkung to World Kangkung Day
Posted by Kit in Media, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
K Pragalath| January 14, 2014
Free Malaysia Today
Netizens make fun of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for water spinach.
PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for the fall in the prices of water spinach (kangkung) continues to prompt Malaysian netizens to join the fray to “support” the premier’s endorsement.
A page called Hari Kangkung Sedunia has been created on social networking website, Facebook while Jan 13 is now officially declared World Kangkung Day.
Among others the page speculated that major fast food outlets would have to rebrand some of the popuar selling products, citing as examples Kangkung Fried Chicken, Burger Kangkung and McKangkung.
The endorsement for kangkung have gone viral via a 1:24 minute on YouTube. The video with 44,235 hits is a result of combining two video clips. Read the rest of this entry »
Moderates in Malaysia, Unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, Religion, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
I call on moderates in Malaysia to unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past.
The axis of reactionary and anti-democratic forces in government, politics and media (printed and social) have been flexing their muscles in the past eight months for the restoration of Mahathirish policies and hankering for the return of Mahathir to the helm of Putrajaya, whether as Prime Minister or de facto Prime Minister.
It has reached the stage where one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, has surfaced publicly to test the waters with the outrageous suggestion on Sunday for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues”.
Zainuddin went public two days after Mahathir floated the idea of the restoration of the Internal Security Act, which immediately received a troika of support from the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar; UMNO (not necessarily Najib’s) mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia and the Umno “savior”, Perkasa – which represented a triple slap-on-the-face for the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
For the past eight months, the country has been plunged into the worst racial, religious and national polarization to create the conditions and perceptions of unrest and instability to justify a putsch by the reactionary and anti-democratic conspirators. Read the rest of this entry »
Giving right-wingers free rein will backfire, analysts warn Umno
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion, Sarawak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 ― Umno’s continued silence as the voices of Malay right-wing groups grow louder by the day could end up being misconstrued as Putrajaya’s endorsement of extremism and racism, analysts have warned.
By staying passive to appease its supporters in Malay-Muslim Malaysia, Umno also risks having its own grip on power weakened in the event such groups later decide to enter the political arena as opponents, the analysts added.
Director of independent pollster Merdeka Center Ibrahim Suffian acknowledged the strategy, saying the easiest, tried and tested way to shore up support from a particular group, is to use emotive issues.
“Certainly by not curbing this, by not doing anything, (it) actually condones these kinds of statements.
“It also has a counter-reaction, not only espousing more extreme and conservative views by allowing more leeway for them to do whatever they want, but it might also increase the politicising among religious groups, the Christians for example, could be more politicised and resort to being extreme as well,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted. Read the rest of this entry »
Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 13 January 2014
Yesterday, I titled my blog piece “The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya”.
The online Star today carried an interesting item which is not unrelated to the tale of “The Empire strikes back”.
The online Star report by Martin Carvalho titled “Hasan Malek denies again rumours of resignation” states: Read the rest of this entry »
The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 12 January 2014
The Empire strikes back – and the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to Putrajaya.
The blog by former Information Minister and one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues” is not only a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak but marks a new stage in the conspiracy and plot by reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch.
Recent signs and developments that the plot and conspiracy of the reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch, whose objective seems to be still fluid ranging from a minimum programme for a halt and change of the various transformation programmes launched under the Najib administration regardless of the extent of their implementation to a maximum programme for a change of Prime Minister, include the following:
Read the rest of this entry »
Ironical and ludicrous that Utusan is clamouring for restoration of draconian laws like ISA when it is the most guilty of being most insensitive on race and religious issues like the baseless allegation about non-existent DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Saturday, 11 January 2014
It is most ironical and ludicrous that Utusan Malaysia has joined the chorus clamouring for a restoration of draconian laws like infamous Internal Security Act when it is the most guilty of being most utterly insensitive on race and religious issues like its baseless allegation about a non-existent DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia and the lies that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.
The call for the restoration of the ISA was started by none other than the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who said that such a detention-without-trial law would be most useful to control the actions of the “extremist minority” which he said has undermined the country’s stability.
Mahathir said the group was immature and willing to make statements that touched on the sensitivities of other races as well as disrupted harmony in the country.
But the former Prime Minister has been most biased and selective in his public pronouncement like the infamous catalogue of selective prosecution and persecutions during his 22-year premiership and his infamous selective amnesia on major events during the decades he was Prime Minister after he stepped down from the highest office in the land. Read the rest of this entry »
A Face to Launch a Million Hardships
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Saturday, 11 January 2014
By Kee Thuan Chye
msn.com
10 Jan 2014
Are Prime Minister Najib Razak’s consultants conspiring to escalate his downfall? The latest idea of having his picture appear on limited edition ang-pow (red packets) for Chinese New Year (CNY) to be distributed through his Chinese Facebook page is making him look increasingly like an egomaniac hankering for cult status. Did he dream it up himself or did they?
Unfortunately for him, the very community he is reaching out to has already come to hate him all the more. Its members are more likely to stamp on the face on the ang-pow than put money in it to give to their family members during the festive period. So, instead of improving Najib’s public relations image, this ang-pow move will only make it worse.
Apparently, Najib’s consultants have not learned from the beating Najib took when his picture appeared on 100Plus cans in June 2102. On that occasion, netizens lambasted him and the company that produces the isotonic drink, some calling for a boycott of the product. Read the rest of this entry »
First Cabinet meeting of the year is the farce of the decade – decision not to have a decision!
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, Najib Razak, Religion on Thursday, 9 January 2014
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak disappeared for ten days just before 2013 and the start of 2014, leaving behind a government which seems not only clueless but rudderless about the clutch of five national crises which came to a head during this period – nation-building, economic, educational, security and on good governance.
When Najib resurfaced to chair the first Cabinet meeting of the year after a disappearance of 10 days – will the Prime Minister’s Office please inform Malaysians where he went to as no one knows where was our Prime Minister between Dec. 25 to January 5! – Malaysians heaved a sigh of relief, expecting that there would at last be leadership and direction to end the drift and lack of leadership and vision in the critical 10-day transition from 2013 to 2014.
But a great disappointment was in store for Malaysians for there was only deafening silence from the Cabinet the whole of yesterday. 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?”
Some New Year pointers for Najib
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Tuesday, 7 January 2014
BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 07, 2014
Today is January 7, 2014. A week has gone by and it still seems like 2013 in Malaysia. Same old arguments, same old issues and same old solutions. No endless possibilities here.
It would appear that there is a pressing need to either change or widen the point of view from Putrajaya.
So here are some pointers for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as he takes on 2014, months after he won Election 2013 and the Umno presidency uncontested. 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 »
All pain, no gain
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Law & Order, Najib Razak, Police on Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Dean Johns
Malaysiakini
Jan 3, 2014
Far from the analgesic or even anaesthetic effect he intended, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s claim in his New-Year message that he “feels the rakyat’s pain” served only to reinforce for most of us the fact that he is the rakyat’s pain.
In other words, Najib is the present-day prime example, principal promoter and very personification of the chronically painful BN regime.
And since the moment BN demonstrated the true depth of its contempt for the Malaysian people by presenting this pompous hypocrite with the nation’s premiership, he’s proven nothing but a pain and produced not a grain of gain.
Except, of course, to himself, his relatives, accomplices, cronies and others that his reign has kept aboard the BN gravy-train, while the rest of the country has been going steadily down the drain.
‘Drain’ being the operative word when it comes to Najib’s ‘management’ of Malaysia’s finances, of which untold billions have been stolen and illegally smuggled overseas, and further countless billions squandered on bribery, vote-buying and sundry other forms of corruption.
And ‘brain-drain’ being the most appropriate term for how Najib and his operatives have otherwise continued to prove the bane of ‘ordinary’ Malaysians, considering the steady decline in public education over which they have so preposterously presided, and their continued efforts to keep the people ignorant by denying them their constitutional right to a free and informative press.
In short, so far from feeling the people’s pain as he so piously feigns, Najib appears positively sadistic in his intent to inflict more of the same. Read the rest of this entry »
The preacher and the part-time PM
Posted by Kit in Islam, Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak, Religion, UMNO on Tuesday, 7 January 2014
by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jan 6, 2014
Najib Abdul Razak: Entrepreneur. String-puller. Property speculator. Globe-trotter. Magician and part-time prime minister. Being the Malaysian PM is without doubt, a dream job.
Pampered while crossing the globe in luxury, dining at the finest restaurants, lounging in the best hotels and bedecking his spouse in the finest jewels.
The nation is on the cusp of another racial and religious conflict, but Najib is nowhere to be seen, or heard; a testimony to his expertise in performing the disappearing trick, he is the poor-man’s Tommy Cooper.
Be warned! Competition is fierce for this dream job. Although the job seems to be up for grabs every five years, just like a crooked race, the fix is in and the outsider always seems to win.
Today, when community tensions are simmering, and pro-Umno Baru NGOs are threatening Christians, Najib has again failed to censure the extremists. His head is stuck firmly in the sand, his lips are sealed together and he is hiding behind the extremist NGOs.
The recent troubles may appear to be a steep escalation in religious extremism, but they aren’t. The timing of the assault on the Christian community is critical. The Perak mufti’s intervention is revealing.
What we see is Umno Baru’s dirty politics at play. What appears to be a radical rise in extremism is an illusion being staged by pro-Umno Baru NGOs, and given excessive publicity by the mainstream media. Read the rest of this entry »
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