Archive for category Sarawak
Three Challenges to three Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit states” of Sarawak, Sabah and Johore on their catalytic role to take Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in 13GE
The coming 13th GE is the most historic and significant one in the 56-year history of the nation as Malaysians will decide if the change of Federal government in Putrajaya will come about on Polling Day on May 5, 2013.
The battle of the 13GE is the battle between the politics of the future represented by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition versus the politics of the past as practised by the Barisan Nasional in the past few decades.
The politics of the past is the politics of race and the politics of rampant corruption, cronyism, massive abuses of power, gross violation of democratic and human rights, injustices, unsustainable development because of despoilation of the environment, lack of transparency, accountability and good governance.
The politics of the future transcends racial politics where Malaysians unite not because they are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans but because they are Malaysian patriots who dare the dream the Malaysian Dream to create a more harmonious, just, free, progressive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians.
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24-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – Vision 2050 for Malaysians
Yesterday I completed the series of 100-day countdown of daily statements to the 13GE which I started on 1st January 2013, not expecting to have to complete it as it was then generally expected that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have dissolved Parliament after the Chinese New year holidays in February for the long-awaited 13th General Elections to be held.
The 100th-Day Countdown to 13GE statement yesterday, in which I challenged Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to a series of seven public debates on his 22-year premiership as Mahathir has made the 13GE a double referendum on both the Najib and Mahathir premierships, coincided with the announcement by the Election Commission of 20th April as Nomination Day and 5th May as Polling Day for the historic 13GE.
I am therefore beginning today a new series of 24-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day statements.
I have said that the Battle of Gelang Patah is to kick off the Battle of Johore and the larger Battle of Malaysia for two reasons:
Firstly, to launch off a political tsunami from the south in the 13GE to complete the partial 2008 political tsunami, including winning over one-third of the total of 83 parliamentary seats in the three fixed deposit states of Johor, Sabah and Sarawak (ideally, 33 seats from Johor, Sabah and Sarawak) to complete the partial 2008 political tsunami towards the establishment of a Pakatan Rakyat federal government in Putrajaya.
Read the rest of this entry »
From fixed deposits to kingmakers
By Oh Ei Sun | APRIL 09, 2013
The Malaysian Insider
APRIL 9 — Malaysia’s coming general election, widely characterised as a potential “watershed” event, will see many first-time voters play a decisive role in determining which way the country will go. Will they vote to retain the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition or opt for the opposition alliance, Pakatan Rakyat?
Carrying a critical weight in the outcome will be the east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Out of the 222 seats in Parliament, more than a quarter are in Sabah (with 25 seats) and Sarawak (31), leading some to label these states as kingmakers in the polls that are expected to be closely contested.
In Peninsular Malaysia, any potential loss by BN of its predominantly non-Bumiputera seats can be counterbalanced by gains in predominantly Bumiputera seats. This would give a net election result in Peninsular Malaysia like that in 2008, when BN only narrowly surpassed Pakatan. Had Sabah and Sarawak not brought in the 56 seats then, there could have been a change of government in Putrajaya.
THE SWING PHENOMENON
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Battle of Gelang Patah to fulfil the Malaysian Dream of an united multiracial Malaysian people rising above race which was envisioned by the great Johore Malay leader and founding UMNO President Datuk Onn Jaffar six decades ago
The battle of Gelang Patah is not just a battle for Lim Kit Siang, DAP or Pakatan Rakyat.
It is a battle for all Malaysians, the nation as well as future generations, with two portentous, unprecedented and far-reaching meaning and significance.
Firstly, the battle of Gelang Patah is to launch off a political tsunami in the 13th general elections from the south spreading all over the country, crossing the South China Sea to Sabah and Sarawak, to complete the unfinished business of the “political tsunami” of the 2008 general elections which saw the fall of Umno/Barisan Nasional in five states and the deprivation of the UMNO/BN two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time in Malaysian history.
The 2008 “political tsunami” emanated from the north in Penang, Kedah and Kelantan coming down south to Perak (although in less than a year there was an undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional “power grab” orchestrated by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and which await a restoration of Pakatan Rakyat Perak State government in the 13GE) and Selangor, fizzling out in Negri Sembilan and leaving the three fixed deposit states of Johore, Sabah and Sarawak virtually untouched.
However, the 2008 “political tsunami” has brought about a tectonic shift in the political landscape, as only five years ago it was completely unthinkable and impossible for anyone to hope or dream that there could be a change of federal government through the ballot box.
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Malaysia’s independent radios jammed, sites hit by cyberattacks
The Malaysian Insider | APRIL 07, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 – Two independent radios, Radio Free Sarawak and Radio Free Malaysia, have been jammed in Malaysia and their web sites inaccessible due to cyberattacks, says its founder.
The two stations broadcast from London on short-wave frequencies and are available online through their websites and online database Soundcloud.
“There have been attempts at broadcast interference on both radio stations by jamming from different parts of the world over the past few days. These have had limited success so far and we have been working on tracing the perpetrators,” founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.
Coordinated cyberattacks on their respective web sites were recorded all yesterday; they “came from all over, it appears, but mainly from the US and Malaysia, and our servers had to close down”, she added.
The Sarawak Report web site, the first launched by Rewcastle-Brown, similarly came under attack but was holding out.
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Taib has delivered a coup de grace to Najib’s pretensions of elevating “fighting corruption” as top agenda of his transformation programme when Taib is not only mightier than MACC but also the Prime Minister
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Friday, 5 April 2013
The photograph of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak flamboyantly signing the Transparency International-Malaysia (TIM) “Election Integrity Pledge” on February 20 flanked by UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, with the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, the bete’ noire of international anti-corruption campaigns, glaring malevolently from the back and the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek in a somnabulant pose, will go down as one of the most unforgettable pics of the 13th General Elections.
This is because nobody, including the TIM President Paul Low, seated importantly on Najib’s left and who could not suppress a cynical sneer, really believed Najib and his Umno/BN Ministers and colleagues have even an ounce of sincerity in wanting to eradicate grand corruption and gross abuses of power in the country.
It was just a meaningless public relations exercise scripted by Najib’s political consultants and image-builders to score political points in the 13GE, destroying in the process all credibility and legitimacy of TIM’s Election Integrity Pledge.
How can Najib for instance convince Malaysians that he is now a “convert” in the fight against corruption and abuses of power when Malaysia in the past four years is most corrupt in the nation’s 56-year history when compared to the previous five Prime Ministers, whether Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir or Tun Abdullah – as testified by the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) since 1995 well as by the perceptions of all Malaysians down the 56 years of the nation’s history.
In fact, Najib proceeded to violate one item after another of the TI-M Election Integrity Pledge (EIP) before the ink of his signature was dry, chalking quite a catalogue of violations in the 44 days since his signature of the TI-M Election Integrity Pledge which made a total mockery of the four principles of the TI-M EIP, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Might as well dissolve MACC after Taib snub
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Friday, 5 April 2013
– The Malaysian Insider
April 04, 2013
APRIL 4 – Naughty seems to be the byword in Sarawak.
The long-serving state chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud used that word today to describe the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) for its investigations into alleged graft in timber land awards.
“They don’t deserve my cooperation because they have been naughty… and they have not been honest,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Read the rest of this entry »
Taib says Global Witness video expose was ‘sneaky’
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sarawak on Friday, 5 April 2013
By Zurairi AR
The Malaysian Insider
April 05, 2013
KUCHING, April 5 — Tan Sri Taib Mahmud has challenged Global Witness to debate him on the issue of illegal land deals in Sarawak, and accused the international environmental activist group of having a hidden agenda by visiting Malaysia’s biggest state in a “sneaky way”.
He has also suggested links between Global Witness and opposition parties.
“The timing is too much to ignore … I think there is a link between them and the opposition,” said the long-serving Sarawak chief minister, who noted the release of a video showing how illegal land deals are allegedly brokered in the state happened just before with Election 2013 which will be held soon.
Global Witness’ accusations against him were also the result of second-hand information obtained from the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), Taib said in a video interview uploaded online yesterday.
He invited the international activists to observe the real situation in Sarawak themselves as he trumpeted the state’s many achievements in preserving its forests.
“Global Witness should … not (be) hiding behind some picked up second-hand tales from a fellow NGO,” Taib told the Malaysian Observer (MobTV) channel, referring to environmental and human rights group BMF. Read the rest of this entry »
12-Day Countdown to 13GE: Third Objective of Battle of Gelang Patah – BN’s fixed deposit states of Johore, Sabah and Sarawak “Going, Going, Gone!” by targeting to win 33 out of the 83 Parliamentary seats in the three states
In the last two days, I had discussed the first two objectives of the Battle of Gelang Patah:
Objective One: to target the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in south Johore to pave the way for Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections. The six Parliamentary seats are Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Gelang Patah, Kulai and Pulai. The 13 State Assembly seats are: Stulang, Tanjong Puteri, Johore Jaya, Permas, Puteri Wangsa, Tiram, Skudai, Nusajaya, Pengkalan Rinting, Kempas, Senai, Bukit Batu and Bukit Permai.
Objective Two: to target a total of 19 Parliamentary seats and 30 State Assembly seats in the state of Johor, including the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in South Johore which I had already mentioned. The additional 13 Parliamentary seats in the rest of Johore are Tanjong Piai, Kluang, Batu Pahat, Bakri, Labis, Segamat, Sekijang, Ledang, Muar, Ayer Hitam, Sri Gading, Simpang Rengam and Sembrong. The additional 17 State Assemby seats are Pekan Nenas, Mengkibol, Penggaram, Bentayam, Sungai Abong, Bekok, Jementah, Tangkak, Paloh, Yong Peng, Mahkota, Layang-Layang, Parit Yaani, Maharani, Gambir, Tenang and Pemanis.
I am not claiming that Pakatan Rakyat can score a bullseye and win all the 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore mentioned. In fact, if Pakatan Rakyat can achieve 50 per cent of this target, it is already a “phenomenal political revolution” in Johor, bearing in mind the arrogant boasts of Barisan Nasional leaders just five years ago before the 2008 general elections that they would ensure that Johore would become a “zero Opposition” state!
I am of course expecting hitting a more than 50% success for the PR target of 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore the 13GE. Read the rest of this entry »
17-Day Countdown to 13GE – People of Sabah and Sarawak can make history by making this 50th Golden Jubilee year of the creation of Malaysia, the year when Malaysia joins the ranks of democratic countries in the world
This year is a year of tremendous historical importance to our young nation.
Fifty years ago, in 1963, the nation of Malaysia was created with the merging of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.
This year, 2013, is the 50th anniversary for the creation of Malaysia.
And in this year of our Golden Jubilee, Malaysians have a golden opportunity to create yet another historical moment in our country’s history by ushering in a new era of democracy and freedom for our nation by voting for a peaceful transition to a new government that is clean, competent, transparent and fully accountable to the citizens of Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Sarawak’s shame
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Indigenous people, Land, Law & Order, Sarawak on Saturday, 23 March 2013
by P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
3:05PM Mar 22, 2013
QUESTION TIME It is a common thing in Malaysia for many politicians to live way beyond their means. And although there are ways and means to check anyone’s wealth simply by tracking down their assets, these people live in relative peace being troubled neither by the police nor by their conscience.
The anecdotal evidence has been there that corruption is a great problem, especially grand corruption of which virtually nothing has been done. And this has been greatest in Sabah and Sarawak where those in power live with fabulous riches and are associated with other rich, but often infamous people.
Even for someone who expects that all these corruptions routinely take place, the recent graphic revelations about Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family members and the ease with which NGO Global Witness was able to obtain video recordings damning them was shocking to me.
If you have not seen the video yet, go here to look at it. It is a case of such blatant complacency, arrogance and cockiness showing that the perpetrators were super confident that they could get away with such things. Read the rest of this entry »
Walk your talk on corruption, Najib
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Saturday, 23 March 2013
Joseph Tawie | March 22, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is under tremendous pressure to act against Sarawak’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s alleged abuses and corruption.
KUCHING: Sarawak opposition DAP has called on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to “walk his talk” in fighting corruption which was one of his national key result areas (NKRA) launched in 2010.
Reminding Najib, party secretary Chong Chieng Jen said: “It is time for Najib to prove that he walks the talk when it comes to fighting corruption as one of his NKRA.
“If Najib is serious about fighting corruption as one of his NKRAs, he should immediately do the following:
(1) arrest all the personalities mentioned in the Global Witness video clip for investigation;
(2) obtain a full disclosure of the amount of state land being alienated to Taib’s family members’ companies at fractions or even as low as 10% of market prices; and,
3) freeze all bank accounts and assist personalities mentioned in the video clip. Read the rest of this entry »
23-Day Countdown to 13GE – Will Najib make a mockery of his signing of the Transparency International’s Integrity Pledge by not taking any action against Taib Mahmud and his family on the explosive video evidence produced by Global Witness?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Sarawak on Wednesday, 20 March 2013
On 20th February, 2013, almost a month ago, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak signed the Transparency International Malaysia’s Election Integrity Pledge with much aplomb in the presence of many BN leaders including the Chief Minister of Sarawak and leader of PBB, Taib Mahmud.
Today, international NGO, Global Witness released a shocking video involving a nexus of prominent figures all of whom connected to Taib Mahmud. These individuals included Norlia and Fatima Abdul Rahman, daughters of former Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Rahman Ya’akub and cousins of Taib Mahmud. Fatima was caught on camera admitting that she could ‘speak to the CM very easily’ in order to obtain the necessary approvals for a land sale to a Global Witness representative, land which Fatima said was given to them by Taib. This land sale would involve a company, Ample Agro Sdn Bhd, whose first six shareholders are all daughters of former Sarawak CM, Rahman Ya’akub which includes not only Norlia and Fatima but also Tanjong Manis MP Nora Abdul Rahman as well as Najib’s sister in law Khadijah Abdul Rahman.
Norlia is also caught on tape asking the potential ‘buyer’ from Global Witness to undergo an illegal transaction whereby only 10% of the sale price of the land would be booked in Malaysia while the rest would be booked in Singapore in order to avoid Reals Property Gains Tax (RPGT). Norlia also said that these sorts of deals ‘have been done before’ in order to assurance the buyer that this is a standard operating procedure. The lawyer for Ample Agro, Alvin Chong, also confirmed the nature of this transaction in the Global Witness video who also proposed ways for the potential buyer to evade the 49% foreign shareholding limitation by appointing nominees based in Singapore. Alvin was caught on video saying that “I’ve put this to use many a time”. Read the rest of this entry »
49-Day Countdown to 13GE: Najib has presented me with a dilemma – is the Election Integrity Pledge worth signing when the Prime Minister can sign it with such aplomb, contempt and cynicism?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, Sabah, Sarawak on Thursday, 21 February 2013
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has presented me with a dilemma – is the Election Integrity Pledge proposed by Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) worth signing when Najib could sign it with such aplomb, contempt and cynicism after his four-year premiership witnessed corruption in Malaysia plunging to its worst depths in the nation’s 56-year history.
In Najib’s four years as Prime Minister, Malaysia’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) plunged to its lowest rankings in the past 18 years, i.e. No. 56 in 2009 and 2010, No. 60 in 2011 and No. 54 in 2012, as compared to Malaysia’s No. 23rd ranking in the first TI CPI in 1995, No. 37th placing in 2003 when Tun Dr. Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister after 22 years of authoritarian and corrupt rule and No. 47 ranking in 2008 after five years of Tun Abdullah’s “Mr. Clean” premiership.
It is incontrovertible and undeniable that corruption under Najib’s four-year premiership is the worst under any Prime Minister in the nation’s 56-year history, as apart from being worse than the Mahathir and Abdullah eras, no one has ever suggested that corruption under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were ever more serious than under their successors.
What makes a meaningful signing of the TI-M’s Election Integrity Pledge even more questionable is the presence of the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who had put Malaysia on the international radar of anti-corruption campaigns after the allegations in the ground-breaking and explosive report by the Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) last September which estimated the assets of Taib Mahmud’s family at US$21 billion (RM64 billion), with the wealth of Taib himself put at a whopping US$15 billion (RM46 billion) making him Malaysia’s richest man outstripping tycoon Robert Kuok who has US$12.5 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
Pengiraan Detik 72 Hari ke PRU13 – Politik Bersih Kebenaran dan Keadilanlawan Politik Kotor Penipuan dan Pembohongan
Hari demi hari yang meresahkan menjelang pilihan raya umum ke-13 telah menyebabkan bukan sahaja perlunya tindakan segera tetapi juga rasa terdesak di kalangan propagandis UMNO/BN kerana kurangnya kewibawaan propaganda mereka.
Sementara jabatan kerajaan seperti Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas (JASA) Kementerian Penerangan dibawa masuk ke gelanggang untuk menyebarkan ayat-ayat propaganda bahawa UMNO/BN boleh memenangi PRU13 dengan majoriti dua pertiga, yang tiada siapa – tiada juga di kalangan pemimpin UMNO/BN- yang percaya akan keputusan begitu dalam PRU13.
Demokrasi berparlimen Malaysia akan lebih sihat dan matang sekiranya majoriti dua pertiga menjadi mustahil untuk mana-mana perikatan, kerana itu merupakan perisai untuk memastikan tidak akan berulangnya penguasaan merosakkan politik UMNO yang mengenakan budaya politik “Listen, listen, listen” terhadap parti politik lain di dalam Barisan Nasional.
Malah, Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan kepimpinan tertinggi UMNO/BN memberikan bukti terbaik bahawa mereka tidak yakin mereka akan memperbaiki pencapaian mereka dalam pilihan raya umum 2008, jika mereka yakin pastinya PRU13 sudah lama diadakan.
Sebaliknya Najib kini telah mencatat nama di dalam buku sejarah menjadi Perdana Menteri paling lama di Malaysia tanpa mandat pilihan raya sendiri.
Tetapi Najib mahu mengelakkan daripada mencipta satu lagi sejarah hitam, menjadi Perdana Menteri pertama yang diundi keluar daripada pejabatnya dalam PRU13 atau menjadi seperti Tun Abdullah yang ditendang keluar oleh Mahathir daripada jawatan Perdana Menteri selepas PRU13 kerana tidak dapat memperbaiki pencapaian UMNO/BN pada 2008 dan memperoleh majoriti dua pertiga. Read the rest of this entry »
72-Day Countdown to 13GE – Clean Politics of Truth and Justice versus Dirty Politics of Lies and Falsehoods
The relentless day-by-day approach of the 13th general elections has injected not only increasing urgency but also sparked a growing sense of desperation among UMNO/BN propagandists because of the lack of credibility of their propaganda.
While government departments like Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) of the Ministry of Information are being roped in to pump the UMNO/BN propaganda line that UMNO/BN can win the 13GE with a two-thirds parliamentary majority, nobody – not even UMNO/BN leaders – really believe that such an outcome is on the cards in the 13GE.
Malaysian parliamentary democracy will be healthier and more mature if a two-thirds parliamentary majority becomes a virtually impossible goal for any coalition, for this will be the surest safeguard to ensure that there can be no repetition of the bane of UMNO political hegemony imposing the “Listen, listen, listen” political culture on the other political parties in the Barisan Nasional.
In fact, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the top UMNO/BN leadership provide the best proof that they have no confidence that they could improve on their performance in the 2008 general elections, or the 13GE would have long been held already.
Instead Najib has now gone into the history books for being the longest Prime Minister in Malaysia without an elected mandate of his own.
But Najib wants to avoid making another dubious history, of being the first Prime Minister to be voted out of office in the 13GE or even to be another Tun Abdullah of being forced out by Mahathir as Prime Minister after the 13GE because he could not improve on the UMNO/BN results in 2008 and regain two-thirds parliamentary majority. Read the rest of this entry »
Pengiraan Detik 79 Hari ke PRU13 – Ke dasar tanpa etika dan lubang mana lagi yang pemimpin UMNO/BN dan media perdana mereka akan gali sebelum PRU13?
Semalam, saya telah meminta agar diakhiri politik penipuan dan pembohongan menjelang Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13, yang akan diadakan paling lewat sekitar 156 hari lagi pada 27 Jun, akan tetapi dijangkakan akan berlangsung kurang daripada 70 hari.
Saya merujuk kepada kalahnya lidah rasmi UMNO, Utusan Malaysia di dalam saman fitnah, kali ini kepada Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, mendapat teguran daripada Hakim V.T. Singham yang mendapati Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd dan ketua editornya Abdul Aziz Ishak bersalah merosakkan reputasi Anwar dan mendedahkan dirinya kepada cemuhan.
Di dalam penghakimannya, Singham menekankan bahawa wartawan dan editor perlu berhati-hati dengana apa yang mereka tulis supaya tidak memasukkan komen yang mungkin menimbulkan keraguan kepada seseorang.
Hakim berkata: “Akhbar sepatutnya tidak mempunyai kuasa yang lebih besar dalam menarik perhatian atau mengelirukan fikiran rakyat apabila dibandingkan dengan reputasi individu.
“Adalah penting bagi wartawan, editor dan penerbit mengambil langkah berhati-hati sebelum sebarang artikel yang cenderung merosakkan reputasi individu diterbitkan. Rencana sebarangan yang mengandungi sindiran atau tohmahan tanpa pengesahan hendaklah dielakkan.”
Akan tetapi nasihat hakim tidak mempunyai sebarang kesan kepada media perdana UMNO/BN dan begitu juga permintaan saya agar diakhiri segala politik penipuan dan pembohongan , terutamanya media perdana UMNO/Barisan Nasional sepatutnya memelihara peraturan dan etika kewartawanan dan berhenti menjadi “Akhbar Tipu”.
Ini ditunjukkan oleh satu lagi penipuan dan pembohongan melampau media perdana UMNO/BN hari ini – kali ini New Straits Times dan laporan palsunya bertajuk “Wife of ailing MP angry at DAP” (ms. 6) yang tidak lain hanyalah penipuan tanpa secubit pun kebenaran.
Memetik daripada satu lagi portal berita yang jahat, NST mendakwa Irene Chang, isteri kepada Ahli Parlimen DAP Sibu dan Pengerusi DAP Sarawak Wong Ho Leng, “dikatakan mengkritik parti kerana gagal memberikan bantuan kewangan kepada suaminya, yang menghidap tumor otak” malahan memetiknya sebagai berkata “kepimpinan parti tidak berhati perut” dan memarahi Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng. Read the rest of this entry »
79-Day Countdown to 13GE – What unethical depths and bottomless pits are going to be plumbed by UMNO/BN leaders and their mainstream media (MSM) before the 13GE?
Yesterday, I made a plea for an end to the politics of lies and falsehoods in the run-up to the 13th General Elections, which must be held latest in 156 days by June 27, but is expected to be held in less than 70 days.
I was referring to the latest defamation suit lost by UMNO mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, this time to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, earning a rebuke by the judge, Justice V.T. Singham who found Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd and its chief editor Abdul Aziz Ishak as guilty of damaging Anwar’s reputation and exposing him to ridicule and scorn.
In his judgment, Singham stressed that journalists and editors should be careful with what they write so as not to include comment, which may impugn somebody.
The judge said: “The press should have no greater power in impressing or misleading the minds of the people when compared to the reputation of an individual.
“It is essential that journalists, editors and publishers should take great care before any article which tends to harm the reputation of an individual is published. Reckless articles that contain insinuation or imputation without verification are to be avoided.”
But the judge’s advice had no effect whatsoever on the UMNO/BN mainstream media and neither my plea for an end to the dishonest politics of lies and falsehoods, and in particular that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional mainstream media (MSM) should observe the most rudimentary canons of journalistic ethics and to stop being ‘Lies-Papers”.
This was shown by another egregious lie and falsehood by the UMNO/BN mainstream media today – this time by New Straits Times in its false report headlined “Wife of ailing MP angry at DAP”, (p.6) which was nothing but a pack of lies without an ounce of truth. Read the rest of this entry »
BN will recapture all Pakatan states, win two-thirds majority, say Umno leaders
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Dec 01, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — Umno is confident of wresting back all four Pakatan Rakyat-led (PR) states and even recapturing its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the coming polls, buoyed by a strong belief that the Najib government’s reformist measures have successfully impressed the Malaysian electorate.
Several leaders told The Malaysian Insider that Umno is now fully prepared to march to the battle lines, having struggled through four years of heavy transformation from the party’s administration to the mindsets of its over three million members.
Emerging fully charged after the second day of the party’s assembly here yesterday, the leaders wasted no breath in declaring that achieving two-thirds is no longer an aspiration for Umno but a comfortable reality.
“Of course,” Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said, when asked if the party was confident it would once again occupy two-thirds of Parliament’s 222 seats after the polls.
“I believe that we will win back two-thirds and we will get back at least all the four Pakatan states… including Kelantan and Penang,” he added. Kelantan has been in PAS’s hands since 1990. Read the rest of this entry »
UNODC clarification that it was not passing judgment about corruption in Malaysia welcome especially as MACC’s credibility at lowest ebb after pre-IAACA and post-IAACA blows
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sabah, Sarawak on Wednesday, 17 October 2012
I welcome the clarification by the chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s corruption and economic crime branch, Dmitra Vlassis to dispel perceptions that at the recent 6th International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) Conference and General Meeting, he was commending and passing judgment about the Malaysian government’s efforts to fight corruption.
I had issued a statement last week questioning news reports about his commending the Malaysian Government for its “serious efforts” in fighting corruption.
I had pointed out at the time that anti-corruption campaigners in Malaysia had been horrified by such a commendation as “they regard this as a major blow by the United Nations anti-corruption agency undermining their efforts to get the Najib government to have the political will to really walk the talk to fight corruption, in particular ‘Grand Corruption’ involving VVIPs, especially top political and public personalities”.
I had also said:
“Furthermore, they are mystified as to how the Malaysian government could merit praise for its anti-corruption efforts when from the 17-year history of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Malaysia’s ranking and score for 2011 on both counts is lowest on record – ranking No. 60 and score of 4.3 when in 1995 Malaysia was ranked No. 23 and attained a score of 5.32 in 1996.
“In simple terms, TI CPI 2011 underlined the brutal fact that corruption in Malaysia under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is worse and more intractable than at any time under his predecessors, whether the five years under Tun Abdullah or the 22 years under Tun Mahathir.” Read the rest of this entry »
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