Archive for category Pakatan Rakyat

My forecast that Pakatan Rakyat might not be around in two weeks’ time seems to have come true and what is left are the funeral rites

A fortnight ago, I gave my most pessimistic forecast that in two weeks’ time, there may not be a Pakatan Rakyat left.

It would appear that my worst-scene forecast for Pakatan Rakyat has come to pass and all that is left are the funeral rites.

Today, the PAS 61st annual congress passed a motion to sever ties with the DAP and yet remain in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) without debate.

With this PAS Muktamar motion, Malaysian politics has entered into unchartered waters with immediate consequences.

In Penang for instance, the PAS Muktamar motion will make it impossible for PAS representatives to continue at the various levels of Penang State Government.

In Selangor, the worst scenario will include a Selangor state general elections. Read the rest of this entry »

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What’s at stake in the PAS election?

– Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
2 June 2015

The fault lines in PAS election this Thursday (June 4) are very stark. Incumbent president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang has asked members to choose between his loyalists and what his camp dubbed as “DAP sympathisers”, and in reply, former Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin has said in jest that the choice was actually between DAP sympathisers and Umno puppets.

Last Saturday, I was speaking at a forum with Nik Omar Nik Aziz, the eldest son of Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat. It just struck me that even within the family of the former PAS spiritual leader there are some different views: Nik Abduh claimed that his father was never against working with Umno while Nik Omar held a contrasting view.

The lines are drawn between those who aspire to win Putrajaya and those who only want to keep Kota Baru; between those who are prepared to work with other opposition parties to topple an already corrupt and monolithic Umno in the next general election for broader reforms and those who want to work with Umno for immediate implementation of hudud; and between those who see Malaysia as a multiethnic/multi-religious project and those who think of Malaysia as a single ethnic/religious entity.

The party poll is unlikely to end the conflict as it is too deep-seated, at least dating back to events unfolded in 1998. This Thursday could be a fresh beginning for PAS, for better or worse. Read the rest of this entry »

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What my proposal for a post-BN, post-PR “Save Malaysia” grand coalition is and is not

As my proposal for a post-BN, post-PR “Save Malaysia” grand coalition continues to be the subject of controversy and misunderstanding, deliberate or otherwise, let me clarify what the proposal “is” and “is not”, and the background for such a proposal.

Firstly, I had said that the proposal for a post-BN, post-PR “Save Malaysia” grand coalition is based on the premise that the two existing political coalitions in the country, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, have lost all public trust, credibility and legitimacy, in which case, Malaysians must think the unthinkable and move beyond the present political scenario dominated by two political coalitions in a post-BN, post-PR phase of Malaysian politics.

We need not tarry here as to why and how the two political coalitions, BN and PR, could lose all public trust, credibility and legitimacy.

Clearly, if anyone of the two political coalitions, BN or PR, can continue to command public trust, credibility, legitimacy and support of Malaysians, then we have not arrived at the post-BN, post-PR phase of Malaysian politics. Read the rest of this entry »

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Nik Aziz percaya Pakatan wadah terbaik mencapai objektif politik PAS

– Zairil Khir Johari
The Malaysian Insider
2 June 2015

Pada Sabtu, 30 Mei 2015, Penang Institute menganjurkan forum peringatan bagi mengenang jasa dan legasi seorang tokoh besar dalam politik Malaysia, Allahyarham Datuk Bentara Setia Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, atau lebih dikenali dengan panggilan Tok Guru.

Forum yang bertempat di The Light Hotel, Seberang Jaya ini menghadirkan tiga orang ahli panel, iaitu ahli Parlimen Kluang Liew Chin Tong, ahli Parlimen Parit Buntar Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusoff Rawa dan Ustaz Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz, pengetua Maahad Darul Anuar dan juga anakanda kepada Tok Guru. Forum dikendalikan saya selaku moderator.

Topik yang diwacanakan dalam forum adalah “Islam dan Kepelbagaian,” dan perbincangan malam itu mengupas dengan lebih mendalam keperibadian Tok Guru, khususnya berkenaan persoalan hubungan kaum dan agama serta hubungan parti-parti politik dalam dan luar Pakatan Rakyat. Read the rest of this entry »

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The PR Common Policy Framework, repudiated by PAS President, should form the basis of a Grand Coalition, post-BN, post-PR to “Save Malaysia”

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has said that the PAS party elections at the 2015 Muktamar beginning on 4th June is the choice between PAS loyalists and DAP sympathisers.

This attracted a rejoinder from the Perak PAS Deputy Commissioner and former PAS Perak Mentri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin whether the PAS delegates are being asked to choose “UMNO puppets” instead.

The DAP has firmly and steadfastly refused to be drawn into the PAS party elections as we do not want to interfere or to get dragged into what is essentially PAS internal affairs to decide on the PAS leadership and its future directions.

Yes, the DAP is concerned about the outcome of the PAS party elections next Thursday but DAP will not interfere or meddle in PAS party elections. Read the rest of this entry »

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Malaysians should seriously consider the possibility of a new political configuration to “Save Malaysia” which is post-BN and post-PR, based on principles and national interests and not opportunism or self-interests

More than two months ago have passed since I first broached the idea of a new political alignment in the country to form a new coalition Federal Government which is post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to “Save Malaysia” to resolve the debilitating multiple political, economic, educational, social and nation-building crisis plaguing the country.

Since mid-March, the crisis in both political coalitions, UMNO/Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have worsened with no light at the end of the tunnel.

The war between the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the former longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, whether directly or through proxies, has reached a new pitch.

Today, I read of a new NGO threatening to sue Mahathir for RM100 billion losses as a result of the numerous financial scandals during Mahathir’s 22-year premiership from 1981 to 2003. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is fighting for his political life, with the former longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir leading the charge in the campaign for Najib to step down as Prime Minister to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) from defeat in the next general elections.

Lines are being drawn in Najib’s titanic life-and-death battle as the sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President, but there is no reason for Pakatan Rakyat to take sides whether to throw Najib a life-line or to support Mahathir’s campaign to save UMNO/BN as Pakatan Rakyat’s objective must surely, firmly and unswervingly remain on the larger objective to save Malaysia and Malaysians and not to save any one political party or even one person!

This is UMNO/BN’s weakest moment in the federal government coalition’s history. In fact, the UMNO/BN had already lost majority support of the Malaysian voters in the recent 13th general elections as it is Pakatan Rakyat and not Barisan Nasional which had secured the majority support of the electorate in the national polls two years ago and the Malaysian Prime Minister of the day should have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Unfortunately, Pakatan Rakyat is itself at its weakest in its 7-year history, and it is unable to take advantage, let alone full advantage, of the turmoils in UMNO/BN. Read the rest of this entry »

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An Eight-Year “Save PR” Roadmap by reaffirming PR Common Policy Framework which had won support of 52% of the electorate

(Scroll down for English text)

Pelan tindakan lapan tahun ‘Selamatkan Pakatan Rakyat’ dengan memperkukuh Dasar Bersama yang telah berjaya mendapat sokongan 52% daripada jumlah pengundi

Pakatan Rakyat sudah tidak ada masa. Dalam masa dua minggu lagi, Pakatan Rakyat mungkin sahaja tidak wujud lagi.

Ini suatu perkembangan politik yang sangat lucu.

Umno dan Barisan Nasional (BN) sedang berada pada tahap paling lemah dalam sejarah, berpaut kepada kuasa sebagai kerajaan minoriti pertama dalam sejarah Malaysia.

Perdana Menteri yang juga Presiden Umno, Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah terpaksa menjelajah ke seluruh negara untuk meraih sokongan orang ramai lantaran skandal kewangan dan pecah belah di dalam Umno yang semakin menjadi-jadi, serta demi melengahkan kempen dahagi yang sedang dikepalai oleh mantan Perdana Menteri dan Presiden Umno yang paling lama, untuk mendesak Perdana Menteri meletakkan jawatan. Sementara itu Ahli-ahli Parlimen BN dari Sabah dan Sarawak serta parti-parti komponen mereka (yang bertanggungjawab meletakkan Najib di kerusi Perdana Menteri) sedang memantau dengan sangat teliti sama ada Najib akan mengkhianati kontrak sosial dan Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 hanya demi memastikan survival politiknya sendiri. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is anger towards Hadi under Islam and any of the religions of the world permitted because he has been untruthful, insincere and dishonest in repeatedly violating PR Common Policy Framework and PR consensus operational principle?

(Scroll down for BM version of this statement / Terjemahan BM di bawah)

I am surprised and shocked that PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang has invoked religion to say that it is an obligation for Muslims to vent their anger at DAP for opposing the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

This is a very dangerous, divisive and retrograde step which can only undermine the process of Malaysian nation-building to create an united and harmonious multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysian citizenry.

Is anger towards Hadi permitted not only under Islam but any of the religions in the world for being untruthful, insincere and dishonest in repeatedly violating Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework and Pakatan Rakyat consensus operational principle – which is why the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council is in a crisis and has not met for more than three months as Hadi had unilaterally and arbitrarily disregarded the decisions of the PR Leadership Council or overruled PAS leaders who had attended in his absence, arrogating to himself a veto power over the PR Leadership Council?

Hadi first acted with utter dishonesty and insincerity during the May 2013 General Elections when he authorized PAS candidature to contest in six state assembly seats in the country which were allotted to PKR, resulting in three-cornered fights and the loss of PR in these seats. Read the rest of this entry »

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If anybody should apologise, it should be those who are destroying PR in unilaterally and arbitrarily violating the PR Common Policy Framework and the operational PR principle of consensus, offering up to UMNO and Barisan Nasional a route to salvation

It is a week since my speech at the “Kukuhkan Pakatan, Hancurkan Barisan” Ceramah Perdana organized by PAS Kota Baru last Sunday, and I have still to be shown where I had “hina Islam, hina hudud, hina Muslim, hina PAS” in my speech although both the transcript and the video of my speech in Kota Baru are available on the Internet.

Instead, some PAS leaders have continued their heavy artillery over my speech in Kota Baru, culminating in the demand by the PAS Syura Council secretary demanding that I apologise to PAS members for my speech questioning the proposed implementation of hudud law in Kelantan.

I have been wondering in the past week why my speech at the “Kukukhan Pakatan, Hancurkan Barisan” ceramah had elicited such irrational, emotional and even panicky reactions especially by certain Kelantan PAS leaders.

May be some Kelantan PAS leaders believe that the issue of hudud implementation in Kelantan is the only trump card they have to save PAS from losing Kelantan after being power for six terms from the 1990 general elections, but it does not speak much for their democratic credentials and commitment for them to take the position that any decision taken by the Kelantan State Assembly is sacrosanct and cannot be debated or questioned.

Do they want me to be untruthful and even hypocritical in pretending that the hudud issue would be the saviour not only of PAS but also of Pakatan Rakyat – in Kelantan and in all other states as well as nationally in the next general election? Read the rest of this entry »

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I have been waiting for three days for proof that in my speech in Kota Bahru on Sunday, I had “hina Islam, hina hudud, hina Muslim, hina PAS” and none has been forthcoming, but I am prepared to wait for another 48 hours

(Scroll down for BM version of this statement / Terjemahan BM di bawah)

I have been waiting for three days for proof that in my speech at the “Kukuhkan Pakatan, Hancurkan Barisan“ Ceramah Perdana organised by PAS Kota Baru on Sunday, I had “hina Islam, hina hudud, hina Muslim, hina PAS”, but none had been forthcoming.

But I am prepared to wait for another 48 hours for such proof to be furnished.

In fact, the transcript of my speech in Kota Baru is available on the Internet, on blog, tweet and FaceBook, and it should not be too difficult to point out where I had “hina Islam, hina hudud, hina Muslim, hina PAS” if I had in fact done so.

I thank Malaysians who have encouraged me with their comments that it was clear from the transcript that I had not been guilty of anyone of these three misdemeanours in my speech in Kota Bahru, for instance, the following comments on the DAP Facebook: Read the rest of this entry »

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“Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to topple UMNO/BN as Federal Government and seven State Governments in Terengganu, Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor may be lost if Pakatan Rakyat cannot even survive next month

The biggest news headlines in the past two days have been the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal and its latest edition, the RM188 million 1MDB-Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) bailout with LTH paying 1MDB for 1.56 acres of Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land at RM2,773 per square foot, which is 43 times more than 1MDB had acquired from the Federal Government four years ago at less than RM64 per square foot.

Events are unfolding at rapid pace in UMNO over the ability of Datuk Seri Najib Razak to survive as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President.

Just before coming on stage, for instance, I read on the Internet of the blog by former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim about a top secret meeting in Milan between Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and several UMNO bigwigs to discuss his possible takeover as Prime Minister, but Zaid admitted that this information was unverified and he did not know how reliable was his source.

But what is certain is that Najib has declared war on former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir who had asked Najib to resign as Prime Minister on the ground that UMNO/BN will lose the next polls under Najib, as the Prime Minister had for the first time made a fighting speech in Tawau in Sabah vis-à-vis Mahathir’s attacks on him.

All this raises the question, whether UMNO/BN could be toppled in the next 14th General Elections. Read the rest of this entry »

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Azizah’s solid and impressive win in Permatang Pauh by-election paves the way for her to be re-elected as Parliamentary Opposition Leader

Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s solid and impressive win in the Permatang Pauh by-election paves the way for her to be re-elected as Parliamentary Opposition Leader.

UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders had belaboured under the mirage that the Permatang Pauh by-election was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to wrest back the seat which for the past 17 years had been the command-and-communications centre for political change and the concept of Ketuanan Rakyat.

Despite UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s promise of “shock and awe” at the beginning of the by-election, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional campaign, which was one of the dirtiest and dishonest in Malaysian election history exploiting and abusing the social media with lies and falsehoods, fizzled out and did not even materially improve on UMNO/BN’s share of the total votes cast.

UMNO/BN had the Election Commission to be grateful and thank, for if the polling had been held on a weekend, allowing more voters from outstation to return to vote, and the voter turnout had reached 80% and not just 74% recorded yesterday, Azizah would have no problem securing a bigger majority than the 11,721-vote majority won by Anwar Ibrahim in the 2013 general election (when voter turnout was as high as 88.2%). Read the rest of this entry »

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Is divorce looming in Pakatan?

– Tajuddin Rosli
The Malaysian Insider
6 May 2015

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition was formed on April 1, 2008 consisting of PKR, DAP and PAS, having previously formed the Barisan Alternatif in the 10th general election.

Working independently, PKR, PAS and DAP knew it would be a mammoth task to uproot Barisan Nasional (BN). Hence, the mutual marriage among the three parties. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Cross” episode testimony of failure of over half-century of Malaysian nation-building

This is the sixth of my kopitiam ceramahs in five Johor State Assembly constituencies in the past three days to take the political pulse in the country by sharing with the people the latest political events in the country and to learn about their concerns about what is happening in the country.

Undoubtedly, the top issues of the day jostling for pole position include the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal; the 6% GST tax; the revolt of Dr. Mahathir calling for Najib’s resignation as PM; the two scandals in the administration of justice – the unanswered question as to who was the mastermind of the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu and the second jailing of Anwar Ibrahim; the Permatang Pauh by-election; the worst racial and religious polarization in the country as highlighted by the protest of a group of Malay residents at a sight of a cross in a Christian church in Taman Medan, Selangor and the future of Pakatan Rakyat.

The protest by a group of Malay residents at the sight of a cross on the ground that it was a threat to Malays and Islam is testimony of the failure of over half a century of Malaysian nation-building.

Such a reaction and protest would be quite unheard-of and even unthinkable in the first five decades of our nation-hood from Merdeka in 1957, but it seems to become quite commonplace and the norm in the country in the past five years, which is most ironical as it coincides with the period when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is going the world as a globe-trotting salesman of his “Global Movement of Moderates”! Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Rakyat voters in five Johor state assembly constituencies have one common message – they would not support Pakatan Rakyat in 14GE if PAS reneges on PR Common Policy Framework and unilaterally pushes for hudud implementation

In the past three days, I visited five state assembly constituencies in Johore – Skudai, Nusajaya, Pengkalan Rinting, Johor Jaya and Stulang – and I received one common message from the voters who had voted for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th General Elections in May 2013: that they would not support Pakatan Rakyat in the 14th General Election if PAS reneges on the PR Common Policy Framework and unilaterally pushes for hudud implementation.

One of the greatest electoral breakthroughs in the 13th General Election in 2013 was the end of Johor as the Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit” state, as Pakatan Rakyat won five Parliamentary and 18 State Assembly seats – which nobody, whether in BN or PR, would have expected before the May 5, 2013 general election.

In fact, Pakatan Rakyat won 45.8% of the total votes cast in Johor in the 13th General Election, an if the redelineation of the electoral constituencies had been fair and democratic, Pakatan Rakyat would have denied the Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in the Johor State Assembly with at least 25 and not just 18 State Assembly seats. Read the rest of this entry »

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My answer is “No” to PAS VP Tuan Ibrahim’s question whether I consider PAS worse than UMNO but Tuan Ibrahim is wrong in thinking I am wooing UMNO

My answer is “No” to PAS Vice President Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s question whether I consider PAS worse than UMNO but Tuan Ibrahim is wrong in thinking that I am wooing UMNO.

DAP would not have formed Pakatan Rakyat with PAS together with PKR if we in the DAP had regarded PAS as worse than UMNO, and I am still hoping that Pakatan Rakyat can remain as a political force to be reckoned with provided all the Pakatan Rakyat component parties remain true, sincere and faithful to the PR Common Policy Framework as well as the PR consensus operational principle that no one political leader or single political party can make or veto any decision arrived collectively by consensus of all three PR parties.

The Pakatan Rakyat stalemate and crisis have arisen because of PAS’ failure to abide by the PR Common Policy Framework and the PR consensus operational principle, and unless both these principles can be restored, it is impossible for PR to continue to be a political alternative to Barisan Nasional and a political force to be reckoned with, as both the credibility and legitimacy of Pakatan Rakyat would have been destroyed by the own doings of PR component parties.

I have just returned from a week-long study tour of Jordan and Egypt with four DAP Members of Parliament, Teresa Kok (Seputeh), Liew Chin Tong (Kluang), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) meeting local intellectuals and activists and with Malaysian students in Amman, Mafraq, Karak, Alexandria and Cairo where we learned not only about the political developments in these two countries but also the concerns and aspirations of Malaysian students in the Middle East.

As I have told Malaysian students in Alexandria and Cairo, it is a disservice to Islam to lump those who have differences of view with regard to hudud and its implementation as anti-Islam, as this will not only be lumping the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, but also UMNO as “anti-Islam”, and even those who had co-operated with UMNO as “anti-Islam” – which would include PAS which had formed a coalition government with UMNO for four years from 1973 to 1977. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Save Malaysia” , “Save UMNO” and “Save Najib” are three entirely different concepts but they provide another example of the poor comprehension levels and declining educational standards in Malaysia

Although Barisan Nasonal Ministers continue to claim, without batting an eyelid, that Malaysia has one of the best educational systems in the world which is comparable if not better than the best in the world, there is no lack of example of the poor comprehension levels and declining educational standards in Malaysia.

These are not just from the results of international assessment tests like PISA (Programme for International Students Assessments) or TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies) where Malaysian students scored consistently in the world’s lowest one-third bracket, four or even five years behind their peers in the world’s top achieving countries like Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea and Japan or the various world top university rankings where Malaysia seemed to have slipped into the zone of oblivion.

Malaysian are often regaled by frequent bloopers like the recent case of the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who sent the police into a frenzy of action because he thought that a tweet by an Opposition Member of Parliament “Royal my foot” was a blatant and seditious attack on the institution of constitutional monarchy or the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi who believed that his infamous letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States vouching for the character and integrity of an international gambling kingpin was merely to confirm that the “14K triad” did not exist in the country.

Of course these bloopers were nothing compared to the one made collectively by Najib’s 35-member Cabinet which created history and a record of sorts when they completely misunderstood the call by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob to Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses as not targetting Chinese traders alone but aimed at all traders.

But the biggest howler must be those who cannot differentiate the complexities of three entirely different concepts – “Save Malaysia”, “Save UMNO” and “Save Najib”, thinking that they are one and the same. Read the rest of this entry »

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PAS does not have the numbers for Hadi’s private member ’s bill motion in May Parliament

I do not believe that PAS has the numbers for PAS President and MP for Marang Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation in the May meeting of Parliament.

As Hadi was reported by Malaysiakini today, he had previously presented a similar private member’s bill in Parliament in 1996, but it had remained on the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper and never went to the stage of being presented to Parliament for debate let alone for a vote.

I believe the same will happen in the May meeting of Parliament where Hadi’s hudud private member’s bill motion will appear and remain in the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper but will not reach the stage of being presented to Parliament for debate and vote. Read the rest of this entry »

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Freeing Anwar Ibrahim from Sungai Buloh prison must be top agenda of the “Save Malaysia” Grand Coalition post-BN and post-PR

Seven weeks ago, at the Bukit Bintang DAP anniversary dinner, I threw up the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR to “Save Malaysia” as Malaysia seemed suddenly in “no man’s land” in over half-a-century of independent nation after Merdeka in 1957 and formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The events of the past 26 days have fortified the need for new thinking, even thinking the unthinkable, about the unprecedented political landscape evolving in the country, for not only are the two political coalition in the country, the ruling Barisan Nasional and the Federal Opposition Pakatan Rakyat, in serious trouble, the very existence of the Malaysian federation has been called into question for the first time since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The past seven weeks have seen the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak coming under even greater challenge, with the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad leading the attack, raising issues which Pakatan Rakyat leaders have kept in the national forefront all this while, in particular the RM42 billion 1MDB financial scandal, the unanswered question of motive in the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial, amidst a host of questions about nation-building, good governance, the rule of law; the independence and professionalism of the judiciary, Police and the Anti-Corruption Commission; respect for democracy, human rights and freedom of expression and the press in Malaysia.

Never before has the ruling coalition in Malaysia come under such intense attack – at a time when the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which had created history in winning the majority of the electorate in the 13th General Elections but denied the majority of the parliamentary seats and therefore the Putrajaya seat of Federal power because of unfair and undemocratic gerrymandering of electoral constituencies, is itself facing an unprecedented crisis!

It is no exaggeration to say that both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are facing a ‘life-and-death crisis, which has mushroomed into a life-and-death crisis for the Malaysian Federation formed in 1963. Read the rest of this entry »

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