Archive for category Pakatan Rakyat
Govt must respond to Musa’s call on hudud
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Monday, 23 March 2015
Ramon Navaratnam
Free Malaysia Today
March 23, 2015
Umno’s near silence on whether it supports hudud or not is causing grave uncertainty as to the future of Malaysia.
COMMENT
Former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam probably reflected the deep concerns of Malaysians when he said he was “disappointed with Umno for not making its stand on hudud clear”.
A significant number – perhaps even a majority – of thinking Malaysians have long been expecting the Umno-led government to come out unequivocally on this vital issue. Its near silence is causing national anxiety and grave uncertainty as to the future of our country.
As Musa correctly pointed out, this is a national issue “with far reaching implications to the country, both domestically and internationally”.
Confidence at home and abroad can dramatically decline as Malaysians see themselves at the crossroads of their destiny. We all ask whether we will continue to adopt secular ways to go forward or take the hudud highway and perhaps go backwards?
These uncertainties will also probably cause a further weakening of the ringgit, an increase in capital outflows, a worsening of the brain drain and even a rise in inflation. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian politics in no man’s land – may be time for a new “Save Malaysia” coalition federal government comprising MPs from both sides of the political divide who defend constitutionalism and rule of law
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat on Sunday, 22 March 2015
Suddenly, Malaysian politics on both sides of the political divide seems to be in no man’s land.
The Barisan Nasional coalition Federal Government, which is in Putrajaya on a minority 47% of the popular vote in the 13th General Elections in May 2013, continues to be rudderless.
The government has lost its sense of direction, with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s major initiatives, whether 1Malaysia Policy, the New Economic Model, National Transformation Programme or the Global Movement of Moderates, discredited and all in tatters.
But Najib had personified a paradox of a Malaysian Prime Minister – one of the weakest Prime Ministers in Malaysia but a strong UMNO President.
As a result, the host of problems dogging and haunting Najib, whether the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal; the nine-year-old Altantunya Shaariibuu murder which has returned to haunt Malaysian politics with Sirul at large in Australia ; the fourth-incarceration and five -year jailing of Anwar Ibrahim which has made Malaysia again an international “bad boy”; the embarrssing controversy over Tun Razak’s “inheritance” which has seen public differences between the Prime Minister and his four brothers, as well as former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir joining the ranks of those who want Najib to step down as Prime Minister, have seemed like water over a duck’s back.
But Najib’s woes have worsened in recent weeks, with the escalation of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, new financial scandals like the RM29 billion Pembinaan PFI Sdn Bhd scandal, the new jet for the Prime Minister, the lavish spending on the wedding of Najib’s daughter and the latest, the warning by former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam that UMNO could “self-destruct” if Najib continued with his political games with PAS as to support the private member’s bill moved by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang on hudud implementation. Read the rest of this entry »
Musa Hitam is both right and wrong when he said that opposition parties in PR should not pretend they are surprised with PAS’ hudud bill
I welcome the open and forthright position taken by former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam that UMNO should make a stand that hudud is not suitable for a country like Malaysia, that it should not try to out-PAS PAS.
He said: “As a former Umno leader, I strongly believe in my heart that since its establishment until today, Umno’s stance too has been that hudud is not suitable for a multi-religious, multi-racial country like Malaysia.”
Warning that UMNO could set on a course of “self-destruct”, Musa said that if he was wrong about UMNO’s stand on hudud, Umno should make a decision on its stance immediately and not brush off the matter.
Musa said opposition parties in Pakatan Rakyat should not pretend that that they are not aware and surprised with PAS’ hudud bill as the party had been championing the issue consistently for a long time.
Musa is both right and wrong when he said that DAP and PKR should not pretend that we are surprised with PAS’ hudud bill.
The Joint Statement of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council of 28th September 2011 acknowledged that the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment 1993 and the Terengganu Syariah Criminal Enactment 2003 were passed before the formation of Pakatan Rakyat, but took the clear position that while it was unreasonable to require PAS to abandon the agenda, the three PR component parties would give priority to the PR Common Policy Framework and that all policies involving PR and their implementation must have the agreement of all three parties. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Umno cave in to PAS’ hudud?
Posted by Kit in Islam, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 21 March 2015
By P Ramasamy
Malaysiakini
Mar 21, 2015
ADUN SPEAKS Whether the BN component parties have reached a consensus or not to support PAS’ private member’s hudud bill later in Parliament remains to be seen.
Prime Minister Najib Razak might have said that hudud law might contravene the constitution, but then in politics, with shifting alliances and double-deals, anything is possible.
Just like the way PAS has backstabbed DAP and PKR, even though hudud was not within the framework of Pakatan’s common policy.
Even if the private member’s bill does not get the support of the BN component parties including Umno, fact remains that PAS has already successfully passed the amendments at the Kelantan state assembly with the support of 12 Umno members and one from PKR. How PKR is going to deal with this “sore thumb” remains to be seen. Read the rest of this entry »
Mastermind of UMNO’s “UG”conspiracy achieved an unexpected coup within a year when the Kelantan hudud enactment question completely drowned out all issues currently haunting UMNO and Najib
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 21 March 2015
The mastermind of UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) conspiracy achieved an unexpected coup within a year when the Kelantan hudud enactment question completely drowned out all the issues currently haunting UMNO and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – the 1MDB scandal; Anwar Ibrahim’s five-year jailing; Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu’s 2006 murder and conviction of two former police commandos Azila Hadri and Sirul Azhar with motives neither established nor pursued; the new jet for PM; the lavish spending on wedding of Najib’s daughter and above all, Najib’s survival as Prime Minister and UMNO President.
The latest bait in the UMNO UG conspiracy was unveiled only on March 27 last year when the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, surprised even PAS leaders with his completely unanticipated overture in Parliament that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional federal government was ready to work with the PAS Kelantan state government to implement the hudud law in Kelantan.
The first fruit of the latest gambit in the UMNO UG conspiracy was the re-enactment of the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code as the 2015 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code with slight amendments on 19th March 2015 and the second fruit, the notification by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to Parliament on March 18 to move a private member’s bill to implement hudud law in Kelantan.
As orchestrated by the deep plot of the UMNO UG conspirators, these two fruits were achieved in furtherance of their real objective to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat because PAS had to break ranks not only with Pakatan Rakyat parties but also betrayed its commitments to Pakatan Rakyat, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s folly – awareness and containment
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 21 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Mar 20, 2015
COMMENT In the introduction of the Kelantan hudud bill its architect declared that those who question whether the legislation would bring in equal justice are “liars and immoral”.
This unbecoming language is what one expects of a fanatic dictator, rather than a genuine democratic leader. It speaks to the decay in the political fabric of Malaysia that is coming from leaders, who have lost the plot in having a national consciousness and the broader decline taking place in democratic governance. Given the passage of the Kelantan hudud bill, what are the likely political implications that will evolve from this measure?
Some political parties will begin the politics of containment, while others will fan division and will continue to use hudud for political gains. As of now, it is important to remember that no hudud measure will take effect. They are all measures on paper.
With respect to those who favour these measures, on many levels hudud does not holistically reflect the ideas of justice embodied in Islam or any faith for that matter and brings to light serious questions about fairness and administration of the rule of law for all of Malaysia’s citizens.
The stoning, chopping and whipping urged in the enactments are now threats over the public without adequate protections; they make up the politics of fear that has been deeply engrained in the Malaysian political landscape.
No implementation does not mean that there measures are not unimportant. Quite the contrary. The people of Kelantan in particular will be hurt economically by the bill, as its leaders across the political divide failed them in thinking holistically about their development. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s hudud folly – it’s not chosen by all
Posted by Kit in Bridget Welsh, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Friday, 20 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh | 2:56PM Mar 18, 2015
Malaysiakini
The introduction of the hudud amendments today in Kelantan have yet another origin beyond democratic dynamics within the party. They are based on a calculated effort to win votes, namely to strengthen the support of PAS’s core supporters and to strengthen the position of PAS vis-à-vis the coalition partners inside Pakatan.
Ironically, the hudud measures do neither, and potentially undermine the party’s standing as a national party and within its own electoral base. In this second piece, I lay out how misguided the revitalized hudud initiative is for a political party whose stated aim is to hold national power.
Over-reacting to Umno pressure
In the defensive mode of the PAS party leadership, the party have been responding to others rather than setting its own course. The most effective actor influencing PAS has been Umno. Opting for offensive attacks, Umno has successfully convinced PAS that is it losing ground among Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s hudud folly – a political putsch
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Thursday, 19 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Mar 17, 2015
COMMENT Tomorrow the Islamist party PAS is scheduled to introduce ‘minor’ amendments to the hudud legislation it introduced in Kelantan in 1993.
The bill cannot be implemented as the constitution currently prevents the legislation from having effect. Although limited in scope, the move nevertheless will have significant consequences as it brings to the fore political dynamics within the party and showcases how the PAS would govern.
At its core, the amendment introduction is a political exercise aimed at shoring up a Kelantan PAS state government that has lost its moral authority with the passing of respected leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and in the wake of devastating floods where the state government proved to be completely ineffectual.
This process of introducing the amendments and the political implications signal that the current conservative ulama leadership of PAS is apparently no longer meaningfully interested in democratic principles and holding national power.
This action of moving to strengthen hudud if fully realised will have negative electoral implications even within Kelantan itself.
To say that this a folly is perhaps an understatement, as it potentially marks a turning point for PAS as a trusted and viable party in national government. This is the first article of a three part series that looks at this issue. Read the rest of this entry »
IGP’s misguided war against PR leaders/NGO activists when he should declare war on IS
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, Police, Zahid on Thursday, 19 March 2015
Secondly, the IGP’s misguided war against PR leaders and NGO activists when he should have declared war on Islamic State, which is misleading Malaysian Muslims to join them Iraq and Syria to commit atrocities like beheadings, public stonings and mass massacres.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal in its opinion piece titled “Malaysia’s Creeping Authoritarianism” following more police crackdown marked by the arrest of two MPs, referred to 19 Islamic State supporters who had been arrested for plotting attacks around Kuala Lumpur last year.
Up to now, Malaysians have not been told the full story of the 19 Islamic State supporters who had been arrested for plotting attacks around Kuala Lumpur last year, but the twitter trigger-happy IGP seemed to be more pre-occupied with his “war” against PR leaders and NGO activists, who only wanted to expand the democratic space for Malaysians to qualify as a fully developed nation in 2020. than the serious war waged by Islamic State in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud sebagai tukul
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 17 March 2015
oleh Liew Chin Tong
Roketkini
17 Mac 2015
Kisah sebenar di sebalik langkah hudud Kelantan
Tukul dihayun untuk menimbulkan retak antara dua parti. Di Malaysia, pelaksanaan undang-undang jenayah Islam atau hudud adalah tukul yang dicipta untuk memecah-belahkan Pakatan Rakyat dan sekaligus mengukuhkan kedudukan anasir pro-UMNO dalam PAS serta melemahkan para pemimpin parti itu yang pro-Pakatan Rakyat.
Saya sememangnya seorang pemimpin DAP, namun makalah ini saya tulis sebagai seorang mantan ahli akademik yang telah mengabdikan masa empat tahun daripada usia muda untuk memahami dinamika dalaman PAS sedekad setengah yang lalu. Sejak itu saya telah menerbitkan beberapa karya akademik berkenaan subjek ini. Read the rest of this entry »
Tiada siapa menentang kepimpinan ulama
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 17 March 2015
A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
17 March 2015
Muktamar PAS ke-61 pada Jun ini akan menentukan segalanya, sama ada parti itu mampu melakukan perubahan atau terus menjadi parti yang terbuka.
Ini perlu difikirkan semua pihak, terutamanya perwakilan yang menentukan pemimpin yang akan menerajui PAS pada masa depan. Adakah pemimpin dipilih itu mahu melakukan perubahan dan terus menjadi parti yang terbuka atau mungkin berundur ke belakang dan menjadi tertutup?
Dalam pada itu, orang di luar PAS – terutama dalam kalangan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) iaitu PKR dan DAP – akan memerhatikan keputusan muktamar Jun ini, sama ada PAS akan terus mengeratkan hubungan dengan Pakatan Rakyat atau semakin menjauhkan diri.
Sesungguhnya tidak dapat dinafikan, di dalam PAS sudah terbahagi kepada 2 golongan, iaitu golongan konservatif yang tidak bersedia melakukan perubahan dan golongan progresif dan mahukan perubahan. Read the rest of this entry »
The die seems to be cast – the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Common Policy Framework (CPF) will be broken by PAS Kelantan and no one in the national PAS leadership is prepared, capable or has the power to remind PAS Kelantan State Government to honour the PR CPF
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 16 March 2015
The die seems to be cast, with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Common Policy Framework (CPF) set to be broken by PAS Kelantan in the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday.
The Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah has reiterated almost everyday that against the decision of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council on March 12, the PAS Kelantan State Government is going ahead with the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment.
It is would appear that no one in the national PAS leadership is prepared, capable or have the power to remind the PAS Kelantan State Government that it should honour the PR Common Policy Framework.
If hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13th General Election on May 5, 2013, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition would not only have regained its two-thirds parliamentary majority, Pakatan Rakyat would have lost Selangor apart from Kedah, and Johore would have reverted as an invincible UMNO/Barisan Nasional “fixed-deposit” state. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS, MCA, Gerakan all falling into UMNO trap to use “UG” to divide, destabilize and destroy Pakatan Rakyat as well as to save UMNO from being voted out office in Putrajaya in the 14GE
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Sunday, 15 March 2015
The reiteration of the PAS Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah that PAS would table the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Bill “without any amendment, regardless of DAP’s view” in the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday, 18th March 2015, would be pushing the seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat to breaking point.
It is not just the DAP views, but if the decisions made at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council, represented by the top leaders of DAP, PKR and PAS, including the latest PR Leadership Council meeting of March 12, 2015, are repeatedly disregarded or violated, then the present format of Pakatan Rakyat cannot function or continue.
This will be a great pity, for it will mark the triumph of UMNO conspirators who have been trying their utmost in the past seven years to use the bait of “UG” (unity government between UMNO and PAS) and in the past year the additional bait of “hudud implementation in Kelantan” to achieve their objective to divide, destabilize and destroy the most formidable coalition challenge to be faced by UMNO/BN – the Pakatan Rakyat of DAP, PKR and PAS – as well as to save UMNO from being voted out of office in Putrajaya in the 14GE.
The writing on the wall is unmistakable. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO’s “Unity Government” plotters now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year-old conspiracy in four days’ time
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Saturday, 14 March 2015
UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) plotters are now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year conspiracy in four days’ time.
Although UMNO’s “UG” conspirators hatched their plot immediately after the 12th General Elections in 2008, they could not make any headway, although over the years, the UMNO “UG” plotters have refined their game and overcome one obstacle after another.
The UMNO “UG” plot had right from the beginning involved the highest UMNO levels – like the present and former UMNO Presidents and Prime Ministers – and a very high-level meeting was held in the first few months after the 12th General Elections but plotters came away empty-handed.
The “UG” plotters found the obstacles quite impregnable, especially in the steely, principled and consistent opposition of the late Mursyidul Am PAS, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
In fact, when the “UG” concept was revived again over the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis in the third quarter of last year, there was an article in The Malaysian Insider entitled: “Jangan cakap soal gabung PAS – UMNO selagi Nik Aziz ada, kata penganalisis”, quoting a political analyst who said it was better not to discuss it as it was impossible so long Nik Aziz was still alive. Read the rest of this entry »
Moving forward – a simple formula for Pakatan
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat on Saturday, 14 March 2015
By Stephen Ng
Malaysiakini
Mar 13, 2015
COMMENT With the current stalemate within the Pakatan Rakyat coalition as a result of having to deal with PAS president Hadi Awang and the ulama faction of PAS, there is only one way forward for Pakatan.
The solution may be found in a simple formula, which can work only when it is agreed upon by all Pakatan supporters.
After all, faced with the possibility of a split in the near future, Pakatan Rakyat may not have too many options to choose from if it seeks to offer a united front to go for the final push in the next general election.
History teaches us that the moment the three component parties parted ways in Barisan Alternatif, there is no way for the opposition to offer a strong challenge against Umno/Barisan Nasional in the elections.
BN strategists have been working doubly hard at splitting the Pakatan votes. By now, Pakatan leaders should have realised that whenever there is a three-cornered fight, Umno’s odds to win the seat become 2:1.
Given that scenario, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim would have gone to jail in vain, and for a nation in birthpangs, all hopes for a better Malaysia that Pakatan sought to offer would be dashed against the rocks.
Every Malaysian’s dream to have a two-party system would be dissipated by the next general election. Before that happens, Pakatan leaders would do well to discuss their strategies and forge ahead amidst the current challenges. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 6 March 2015
Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes.
The responsibility of UMNO/BN agent provocateurs for the recent assaults on PAS leaders, like PAS MP Dr. Hatta Ramli and Dr. Dzukefly Ahmad have not and cannot be ruled out – which is why Pakatan Raykat leaders should be very careful about what they say and do in public.
It is very unfortunate that the Kelantan PAS Deputy Mentri Besar and Deputy Commissioner (I) Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah had adopted such a negative attitude as to say that the door was closed to DAP in its bid to stop PAS from bringing its hudud Bill to the Kelantan State Assembly, and that there will be no more talk with DAP, claiming that he had explained the reasons behind the Kelantan hudud amendment to DAP’s top leaders at least four times.
He even asked: “What more do they want?”
Read the rest of this entry »
As amendment bill to the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code has not yet been presented to Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council for study, suggest deferment of any presentation to Kelantan State Assembly this month
Posted by Kit in Islam, Kelantan, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Overnight, the political position of Datuk Seri Najib Razak seemed to have undergone a sea-change for the worse, particularly with the London Sunday Times report on Sunday, March 1, 2015 that its joint in-depth investigations into the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal with Sarawak Report website had been completed and they had obtained access to thousands of documents and emails relating to 1MDB, including its initial joint venture with the little known oil company PetroSaudi International from 2009.
As the news portal Asian Sentinel as aptly headlined its report, “Emails Blow Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Wide Open”, the joint investigations by Sunday Times London and Sarawak Report had foiled abrupt attempts by 1MDB at the end last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of all emails.
This evening, in an email interview with Malaysiakini, Sarawak Report editor and founder Clare Rewcastle Brown confirmed that she is in possession of “thousands documents” on the dealings of 1MDB and businessman Taek Jho Low’s role in the 1MDB which were neither “forged nor hacked” material.
Although these are body blows to Najib politically, he remains a paradox of being a very weak Prime Minister whose major policy initiatives had all been dismal failures but a strong UMNO President largely because no strong UMNO contender has emerged to threaten his position – unlike his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi who was both a weak Prime Minister as well as a weak UMNO President, setting the stage for his easy replacement.
However, the political dynamics and disequilibrium both inside UMNO and outside will increase in intensity, focusing immediate attention not only on the forthcoming national UMNO Divisional Meeting on March 8 but also on the Kelantan State Assembly scheduled to meet on March 18.
The greater the political pressures on Najib arising from a host of political, economic, financial and family scandals, the more Machiavellian UMNO leaders and strategists will be to distract public attention from their political woes, which means the doubling up of plots and conspiracies to try to destabilize, divide and destroy PAS and Pakatan Rakyat as promoting “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) and the false lure of Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen offering support to Kelantan PAS for hudud implementation in the Kelantan State Assembly this month. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud: Umno has trapped and shackled Pas
— P Ramakrishnan
The Malay Mail Online
March 2, 2015
MARCH 2 — No one dreamt that Pas would be easily enticed to cooperate with Umno. But Umno has its hidden agenda to break up Pakatan Rakyat in order to weaken the opposition.
It has promised to support Pas when the hudud bill is tabled on 18 March in the Kelantan state assembly. This is being taken as support for hudud — which is utterly fallacious.
What choice has Umno in this issue? Can it vote against the Pas hudud bill? It cannot! It has to prove to the Malays that it is for hudud. It would be suicidal for Umno not to vote with Pas. There are no two ways about it for Umno.
It is merely hoodwinking Pas into thinking that it is helping the Islamist party to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Umno’s strategy is meant not only to weaken Pakatan Rakyat by successfully creating dissension within the coalition, it has an ulterior motive as well. It is also to drive away non-Malay support for Pas, which was given freely on the basis of Pakatan’s agreed common platform. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS-Umno unity: A bait and a bullet
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 2 March 2015
Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
March 1, 2015
MARCH 1 — Last week, Umno decided to not contest in the Chempaka by-election for the sake of “Muslim unity.” The seat fell vacant after the death of PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
Deservedly, the suggestion was lauded by PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar not only with open arms, but with a cynical suggestion for Umno to just abstain from any future elections to end politicking and social schism, insisting that Malaysia would end up “more peaceful” afterwards.
Since when has Umno cared about “unity” in any sense? In the decades it has ruled the country, Umno has unashamedly leaned on divisive racial politics and policies.
Increasingly in recent years, Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) have even condoned divisive and incendiary remarks and actions of people friendly to them, doing nothing to quell racial and religious schisms but instead perpetuating them.
Umno is only showing its true colours. It has little interest in “national unity”, caring more about just “Muslim unity.” Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat’s disintegration would mean Umno rules by default
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Saturday, 28 February 2015
― Liew Chin Tong
The Malay Mail Online
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
FEBRUARY 27 ― The potential disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat would mean Umno can continue its 60-year rule without challenge from a credible alternative or replacement. Umno has ruled the country since the first Federal Election on July 27, 1955.
The 2008 and 2013 elections have clearly shown that Malaysia is now in a 50-50 two-coalition competition, as far as elections are concerned. Yet the ruling coalition led by Umno is trying very hard to turn the clock back to a time when it was the sole power holder.
To turn the clock back, redelineation of electoral boundaries is high on the agenda of Umno leaders and the Election Commission. A constitutional amendment with two-thirds majority approval is required to increase the number of parliamentary seats. But Barisan Nasional has only 134 seats, which is 14 seats away from the two-thirds threshold.
So how can Umno do this? Read the rest of this entry »
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