Archive for category UMNO
Embattled PM wins by-elections in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Sunday, 19 June 2016
AFP
Bangkok Post
19 Jun 2016
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s ruling party won two parliamentary by-elections Saturday that were closely watched for indications of whether graft allegations hounding Prime Minister Najib Razak were affecting his governing coalition’s support.
The results in two mainly rural constituencies were largely expected, as support typically runs strong in such areas for the dominant United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
The UMNO-led ruling coalition also enjoys huge advantages in money and machinery over a splintered opposition.
UMNO candidate Budiman Mohamad Zohdi won the parliamentary seat of Sungai Besar of west-central Malaysia, while Mastura Mohamad Yazid won the Kuala Kangsar constituency seat in the country’s north, the election commission announced.
Both candidates also pulled off a thumping victory as predicted. Read the rest of this entry »
Twin Malaysia By-Elections to Reveal Level of Support for Najib
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Saturday, 18 June 2016
by Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
June 18, 2016
Voters in two Malaysian districts head to the polls Saturday in by-elections that will indicate the extent of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s hold on his party.
More than 42,600 people in Sungai Besar in Selangor state and 33,000 in Kuala Kangsar in the northern Perak region will pick new lawmakers after a helicopter crash last month killed incumbents from Najib’s United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO.
The vote is the first test of public support for Najib on peninsular Malaysia after a year of political turmoil over funding scandals. Losses or narrower victories could spur concern in UMNO about his ability to steer it to another win in a national election due by 2018. Equally, a strong win for seats already held by UMNO would bolster his grip.
Former leader Mahathir Mohamad has recently lost traction in his bid to convince party officials that Najib is a liability and will cost them a reign unbroken since 1957. Most UMNO divisional chiefs back the premier, even amid concerns about slowing growth and its impact on ethnic Malays, the cornerstone of the party. Convincing wins would help Najib silence the Mahathir-led murmurings about his leadership. Read the rest of this entry »
Ismail Sabri reminded of my three tweets to him that I am prepared to forgive him but he must apologise for his nefarious lies about me or I will pursue the matter and not let matter rest
Earlier today, I sent three tweets to the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakub, as follows:
1. @IsmailSabri60 You can run, you cannot hide. Where are your examples to substantiate your allegation that I had been anti-Malay anti-Islam?
2. Most shocking in this holy month of Ramadam @IsmailSabri60 can still tell such nefarious lies. Am prepared to forgive you if you apologise.
3. If @IsmailSabri60 does not apologise, I will pursue the issue whether in Parliament or the courts. Ball in your court. Over to you.
There has been thunderous silence from Ismail who had pretensions that he is one of the most Internet-savvy Cabinet Ministers in the country.
Ismail had said that he can compile a whole book to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam and I had told him that the book can wait, but to cite an instance a day up to the by-election polling day on Saturday 18th June 2016 that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics.
Three days have passed and Ismail already owed me three examples. Will he come up with one example a day today and tomorrow, to produce a total of five examples in time for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections – which should be “chicken-feed” since he claimed that he could compile a book, which should have at least 100 examples.
I had hoped to make some money from Ismail but he seemed to have realised that he is on a slippery slope which would be very costly for him. If Ismail has now realised that he had wrongly defamed me, he should have the honesty and decency to publicly apologise for telling baseless lies and falsehoods about me – especially in this holy month of Ramadan. Read the rest of this entry »
Ismail Sabri, a book can wait, but let’s have one example a day until polling day – or five examples that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics
Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday accepted my challenge to cite an example in my 50 years in politics to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam, and said that he can compile a whole book on the anti-Malay and anti-Islam speeches that I had made.
But he did not cite a single instance to back up his allegation.
Let me tell Ismail – a book can wait, but let’s have one example a day until polling day for the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections on June 18 or five examples that I had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam in my 50 years in politics.
He should have given one example yesterday. As he did not, he owes me one example. I await his one example a day until Friday i.e. five examples in all, which is not too much to ask, since he is talking about a book, presumably at least 100 examples!
I have been tickled to no end reading the fulmination of another UMNO Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who said that Tun Dr. Mahathir was just the DAP’s latest “warhorse”. Read the rest of this entry »
Pluralism remains critical to Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 13 June 2016
Opinion
Straits Times
JUN 10, 2016
Those fearing a creeping Islamisation of Malaysia reacted sharply when the government, led by the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), allowed Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) to table a Bill on hudud – the controversial Islamic criminal code. The debate over its widespread application, if legislated, has divided Malaysia’s multi-religious landscape.
That PAS should push for hudud is hardly surprising. The party’s insistence on Malaysia becoming an Islamic state governed by syariah law, including hudud, has constituted its core political mission for decades. What is noteworthy about the hudud Bill being on the parliamentary agenda is the signal of a possible convergence of interests between Umno and PAS – two Malay-based parties whose erstwhile electoral rivalry expanded space for multi-religious politics. Nominally, the Bill seeks to only enhance the present powers of syariah courts. The larger purpose behind it is the Islamisation of the country through the induction of hudud into the body politic. Read the rest of this entry »
Would voters who vote for UMNO’s Mastura in Kuala Kangsar or Budiman in Sungai Besar “sinned and be damned by Allah”?
Apart from refusal to be loyal to the Common Policy Programme of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and his insistence to exercise a veto power overriding the decisions of other PAS leaders reached at the PR Leadership Council, there is another powerful reason why the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang wanted to cause the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat – his refusal to accept Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister as he himself wanted to be Prime Minister.
When Hadi found that the other two parties in Pakatan Rakyat would not endorse him as Prime Minister of Malaysia, he had no use for the Pakatan Rakyat and decided on a new political course for PAS led by him, acting as “adviser” to the UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – even when this required him to be blind to Najib’s two global scandals, the RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega financial scandals.
Under the circumstances, it did not come as a surprise that Hadi was unmoved and not interested to rock Najib’s boat although former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir met him three months ago to explain about Najib’s “wrongdoings”.
What Mahathir revealed at the Second Colloquium on the RM55 billion 1MDB global scandal in Kuala Kangsar yesterday was news to the whole country, that he had taken pains to meet the PAS President to explain to him about the 1MDB scandal and other “wrongdoings” of the Prime Minister, but although Hadi admitted that there was some truth in what Mahathir had told him, the PAS President decided to side with Najib.
Hadi’s reply to Mahathir was most revealing. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP and Pakatan Harapan are not enemies of ordinary UMNO and PAS members and we invite UMNO and PAS members to join in the “Save Malaysia” campaign to stop the country from sliding down the slippery slope of corruption and abuses of power to become a failed state
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Saturday, 11 June 2016
We are almost at the half-way mark of the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-election campaign.
At the beginning, the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidates in these two by-elections were the true underdogs.
When I first went to campaign in Kuala Kangsar, I was asked by the press whether the AMANAH/Pakatan Rakyat candidate, nuclear physicist Professor Dr. Ahmad Termizi Ramli would lose his deposit in the by-election.
The situation in both by-elections is now clearer, that in both places, it is a contest between UMNO/BN and AMANAH/PH candidates, as a vote for the PAS candidate in both constituencies would be a wasted vote with no chance whatsoever that the PAS candidate can win in either one of the two constituencies.
In fact, I had said publicly that I expect the PAS candidate in Sungai Besar to lose by some 10,000 votes and in Kuala Kangsar to lose by some 5,000 votes as compared to the votes polled by the PAS candidates in these two constituencies in the 13th General Election in 2013, and no one in the PAS leadership has come forward to contradict me.
I want to make four points tonight:
Firstly, the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections are capable of creating political earthquakes in Malaysia. If Azhar Shukor is elected MP for Sungai Besar and Prof Termizi the MP for Kuala Kangsar on June 18, winning in traditional UMNO strongholds which no UMNO candidate had ever lost in six decades, the message is clear – either Datuk Seri Najib Razak steps down as Prime Minister or UMNO/BN will be defeated in the next 14th General Election. Read the rest of this entry »
If AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidates can win in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, it will be an important signal that Malaysia is ready to become a normal democratic country where voters can change government through the ballot box like other developed countries
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 10 June 2016
Sungai Besar is the most marginal and most unsafe parliamentary seat in the Peninsular Malaysia won by UMNO in the 13th General Election while Kuala Kangsar is eighth on the list of UMNO’s most marginal and unsafe seats in Peninsular Malaysia.
If the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidates can win in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary by-elections, it will be a major signal that Malaysia is ready to become a normal democratic country where voters can change the government through the ballot box like other developed countries.
It will also mean that the AMANAH or Pakatan Harapan candidates stand a good chance to win the 10 most marginal and most unsafe parliamentary seats won by UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia, namely:
1. Sungai Besar
2. Kuala Selangor
3. Pasir Gudang
4. Bagan Serai
5. Ketereh
6. Machang
7. Jerai
8. Kuala Kangsar
9. Arau
10. Bera
Many people look at this list and conclude that these seats are not winnable, but I belong to those who look at the list and think of the ways Pakatan Amanah can win in these ten seats. Read the rest of this entry »
Mah Hang Soon should not have used Wan Mohammad Khair-il’s name in vain or has he got the permission from Mastura’s approval to use her late husband’s name?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Harapan, Parliament, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Thursday, 9 June 2016
Since Nomination Day on Sunday, I have just made a tour of the Sungai Besar and the Kuala Kangsar constituencies where parliamentary by-elections are underway caused by the tragic helicopter crash during the Sarawak state general elections.
In both constituencies, the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidate started as the underdog in the three-cornered fight in Sungai Besar and the four-cornered fight in the Kuala Kangsar by-elections, but after four days of the by-election campaigns, it is clear that the contest is between UMNO/BN and AMANAH/PH candidates, as a vote for the PAS candidate in both constituencies would be a wasted vote with no chance whatsoever for the PAS candidate to win in either one of the two constituencies.
In fact, I had said publicly that I expect the PAS candidate in Sungai Besar to lose by some 10,000 votes and in Kuala Kangsar to lose by some 5,000 votes as compared to the votes polled by the PAS candidates in these two constituencies in the 13th General Election in 2013.
To defeat the UMNO/BN candidate in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar in the by-elections would cause quite a political earthquake as both constituencies had been UMNO strongholds, never won by any Opposition candidate in the past six decades.
But this political earthquake could only achieved by the AMANAH candidate and NOT the PAS candidate because of the demographic composition of the constituencies and from the voters’ reactions in the past four days. Read the rest of this entry »
Hadi-led PAS is more and more like UMNO, sometimes even out-UMNO UMNO
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, MCA, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Wednesday, 8 June 2016
I am surprised by the attacks on the DAP launched by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang since the run-up to the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar parliamentary by-elections, as if Hadi’s political caliber and leadership have to be judged by the intensity of his attacks on the DAP, regardless of their truth or falsity.
PAS led by Hadi is more and more like UMNO, sometimes even out-UMNO UMNO, and I can hardly recognize the “open-minded” PAS of Tok Guru Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who was Kelantan Mentri Besar for 23 years or the PAS of the previous PAS Presidents Fadzil Nor and Yusuf Rawa for some two decades before Hadi’s presidency.
Hadi had talked about being the adviser to UMNO and Najib, but sometimes I wonder whether it is Najib who is actually advising Hadi!
Recently, there had been a few instances of PAS under Hadi which is more and more like UMNO, sometimes even out-UMNO UMNO.
PAS had accused UMNO of communalism in advocating “ketuanan Melayu” but it has now followed the UMNO footsteps as illustrated by the PAS adoption of Malay warrior garb and other traditional Malay attire and customs at the recent PAS Muktamar – which even caused an UMNO Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to observe sardonically that UMNO’s formula had proved to be so successful that PAS was mimicking them.
But this was not the extent of PAS mimicry of UMNO – when Hadi wielded a long keris at the PAS Muktamar, longer than the short keris that Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had wielded three times at the UMNO Youth General Assembly when he was UMNO Youth Leader, with such awful consequences for plural Malaysia!
Even former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir was moved to chide PAS for trying to be more nationalist than UMNO – as if the longer the keris, the more nationalist the party, using the length of the keris to measure nationalism!
Read the rest of this entry »
A new political scenario would surface if the UMNO and PAS members in the Kuala Kangsar by-election rise above petty party politics and vote as patriotic Malaysian voters for AMANAH candidate to save Malaysia from corruption and injustices
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Harapan, Pakatan Rakyat, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Wednesday, 8 June 2016
A new political scenario will emerge in Malaysia if the UMNO and PAS members in the Kuala Kangsar by-election on June 18 can rise above petty party politics and vote as patriotic Malaysian voters in support of the AMANAH candidate, Professor Ahmad Termizi to save Malaysia from widespread corruption and rank injustices in the country.
Although the Kuala Kangsar by-election is a four-cornered contest, the real battle is between the UMNO/Barisan Nasional and the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidates.
It is true that the PAS candidate had achieved the best results in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency since Merdeka in 1957 in the 13th General Election three years ago – losing by only 1,082 votes.
In the 13th GE, PAS secured 13,136 votes against UMNO’s 14,218 votes, with PAS securing 46.6% of the votes cast.
But the 13,136 votes won by the PAS candidate in 2013 were not just PAS votes, but votes for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) comprising DAP, PKR and PAS.
Now, as Pakatan Rakyat is no more because of the refusal of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to honour the PR Common Policy Framework and be a PR team-player, it is impossible for the PAS candidate to poll more votes than the 13,136 votes three years ago.
In fact, PAS is likely to lose more than five thousand votes as compared to the 2013 General Election result, bearing in mind that PAS won 9,277 votes in the 2008 GE and 5,748 votes in the 2004 General Election.
Only the AMANAH/PH candidate can defeat the juggernaut election machinery of UMNO/BN in the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections, although the Kuala Kangsar by-election will be an even more uphill and difficult battle than the Sungai Besar by-election. Read the rest of this entry »
A three-prong strategy for AMANAH candidate, Azhar Shukor, to achieve the political “miracle” to win the Sungai Besar by-election on June 18
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 7 June 2016
As I confessed at the Sungai Besar by-election ceramah in Sekinchan last night, I have been troubled by the question whether I am wasting my time in Sungai Besar by-election after my 50 years in Malaysian politics, fighting a losing electoral battle which seems a sure-winner for the UMNO/BN candidate.
My internal agony has deepened with the visit of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to Sungai Besar today, as what he said has doubly confirmed that there is no way PAS could defeat UMNO/BN in the Sungai Besar by-election.
It is true that the PAS candidate nearly won the Sungai Besar parliamentary contest in the 13th General Election three years ago, winning 18,296 votes or 48.6% of the total votes cast, missing victory by a wafer-thin majority of 399 votes.
But the 2013 result was the best ever achieved by the PAS candidate in the history of Sungai Besar parliamentary elections, as in the 13th General Election, the PAS candidate was representing not just PAS but also Pakatan Rakyat (PR) comprising DAP, PKR and PAS.
The by-election on June 18 will be a completely different ball-game from the 13th General Election, as Pakatan Rakyat had been destroyed by the refusal of the PAS President to honour the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework, and there is a three-cornered instead of a one-to-one contest in the constituency.
There is no way the PAS candidate can win in Sungai Besar on June 18 – as the battle is between the UMNO/BN candidate and the AMANAH/Pakatan Harapan candidate.
In fact, the question for PAS in the Sungai Besar by-election is whether they will lose some 10,000 of the 18,296 votes the PAS candidate secured in the 2013 General Election. Read the rest of this entry »
48-hour ultimatum to Liew and Mah to requisition for emergency BN Supreme Council meeting to resolve week-long spat over Azalina’s Ministerial motion in Parliament to fast-track Hadi’s bill or Malaysians have to conclude that the MCA and Gerakan Presidents were privy to Najib-Hadi plot
I am giving the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and the Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong a 48-hour ultimatum to requisition for an emergency Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting to resolve the week-long spat caused by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Said Othman for her Ministerial motion in Parliament last Thursday to fast-track the Hadi’s Hudud Bill or Malaysians have to conclude that both the MCA and Gerakan Presidents were privy to the Najib-Hadi plot.
There can be no other reason for Liow or Mak not to requisition for an emergency BN Supreme Council meeting to resolve the BN spat over Azalina’s Ministerial motion, when Azalina had acted in violation of the consensus reached by all Barisan Nasional leaders on the same issue in March 2015 as well as the reaffirmation by Cabinet at its meeting on 20th May 2015 of a fundamental Barisan Nasional stand, whether through formal or informal discussion by Cabinet Ministers.
Furthermore, a BN Supreme Council meeting emergency meeting to reaffirm the Barisan Nasional stand not only of the BN leaders in March 15 last year, but of all UMNO Prime Ministers in Malaysia since Merdeka on the secular basis of the Malaysian Constitution, would have ended the BN spat on the Hadi bill without creating any artificial national crisis in polarizing Malaysians into Muslims and non-Muslims and distract the country from the real national issues in the country – whether Malaysia’s social and economic crisis over the nation’s first global financial crisis like the RM55 billion 1MDB and Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega crisis, losing economic competitiveness, fall in educational excellence in our educational institutions or growing economic inequality and injustices in the country.
If the agenda is not to resolve the Barisan Nasional spat over Azalina’s Ministerial motion but to allow the artificial national crisis over Hadi’s hudud bill to fester and ferment in particular during the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, seeking in the process to make hudud the main issue in the two by-elections, then I can understand Liow and Mak’s refusal to requisition an emergency meeting of Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to end the controversy. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Hadi’s bill about hudud punishments?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Parliament, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 30 May 2016
Wong Chin Huat
Malaysiakini
Published 28 May 2016, 3:11 pm
To save BN’s non-Malay components from the embarrassment of letting Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill on syariah court’s criminal justification to complete its first reading, Prime Minister Najib Razak reportedly denied that bill was about hudud law.
“I would like to clarify that the amendment (bill) is not hudud law, it is just to enhance the punishment from six times (of the rotan) to a few times, depending on the offences,” he said.
He also said, “It also involves the syariah courts and only involves Muslims. It has nothing to do with non-Muslims.”
Najib could be right about the second point as this bill now seems to be governing offences involving only Muslims.
But is this not about hudud?
No hudud law, only hudud punishments and offences
There is no such thing as hudud law. Hudud refers to punishments and offences.
Read the rest of this entry »
Barisan Nasional’s overwhelming victory in May 7 Sarawak GE was reason why Najib could give green light to Hadi to prioritise his hudud private member’s bill motion in Parliament on Thursday
Barisan Nasional’s overwhelming victory in the May 7 Sarawak state general election was the reason why the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, could give the green light to the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to prioritise his hudud private member’s bill motion in Parliament on Thursday.
Najib could act in disregard of the views of the other Barisan Nasional component parties and leaders apart from UMNO because Najib believes that there is a a swing-back of support of the Chinese voters to Barisan Nasional in the Sarawak state general election.
The hue-and-cry by leaders of other Barisan Nasional parties apart from UMNO, whether MCA, MIC, Gerakan or the Sabah and Sarawak parties, protesting their opposition to Hadi’s motion pales into insignificance against the backdrop of three factors: Read the rest of this entry »
The greater winner for the unprecedented hudud motion in Parliament yesterday was Najib and not Hadi
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 27 May 2016
It is generally thought that the winner for the unprecedented hudud motion in Parliament yesterday was the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang when in fact the greater winner was the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who never appeared in Parliament House for the past two weeks.
When the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said stood up in Parliament after lunch to move a Minister’s motion to give priority to Hadi’s private member bill motion on hudud, she was not doing Hadi’s bidding but carrying out Najib’s directive.
Although PAS leaders are gloating at their political “coup” to get Hadi’s hudud motion presented to the House, it came to nought, for Hadi backed off from a debate and a vote, and the result is that Parliament had not given leave to Hadi to present a private member’s bill to amend Act 355 to amend the syariah court’s jurisdiction.
This means that Hadi’s private member’s bill motion lapses unless two things happen in the October meeting of Parliament: firstly, Hadi resubmits his private member’s bill motion; and secondly, Parliament again vote to give priority to Hadi’s private member’s bill as against official government business.
Let us see whether the Barisan Nasional MPs will in October again vote in support of a Minister’s motion to allow Hadi’s private member’s bill motion to get leave from Parliament to amend Act 355 to be debated and voted upon.
Why is Najib the greater winner in the unprecedented hudud motion in Parliament yesterday? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian PM Najib Razak strengthens hold on power
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 27 May 2016
Greg Lopez
The Interpreter
26 May 2016
Najib Razak’s term as prime minister of Malaysia is now in its seventh year and there is every reason to believe he will continue to lead Malaysia for a long while yet.
Given his scandal-ridden tenure, this is a remarkable outlook, one enabled by the sidelining of opponents, an illiberal electoral system, a divided opposition, and civil leadership that took a wrong turn.
As unlikely as it seemed when the The Wall Street Journal reported investigations of corruption and malfeasance on a massive scale related to investment fund 1MDB, Najib, through the power of incumbency, has gone from strength to strength while his detractors have lost momentum.
Even if Najib wanted to resign he could not. Unlike former prime ministers, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Mahathir Mohamed, who were forced to quit by their party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the corruption allegations and supporting evidence against Najib are too serious, substantive and too public (everyone knows about them). A face-saving exit strategy could not be designed without compromising its designers. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia Whispers Sow Doubts on Najib’s Ability to Win Votes
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 26 May 2016
Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
May 26, 2016
At the 70th anniversary gala for Malaysia’s ruling party this month, Prime Minister Najib Razak raised the party flag on stage as senior leaders cheered him and sang the group’s anthem of unity and loyalty. In the halls outside the venue, the chatter was less upbeat.
Even as party leaders publicly pledge support, some have privately expressed frustration over the scandal-hit premier — and concern that if they say too much they could be ostracized. In the past year, Najib has removed his most vocal opponents from the party and government machinery. While that means he is unlikely to face a challenge soon, the risk may grow as the next election, due by end-2018, draws near.
At stake is the unbroken rule since independence in 1957 of the United Malays National Organisation, the biggest actor in one of the longest-ruling coalitions in the world. Ethnic Malays are the bulwark of that coalition, and Najib needs to keep them onside. UMNO leaders are also keeping a close eye on rank and file supporters for signs of disquiet, even as opposition parties remain weak and in some cases fractured. Read the rest of this entry »
Guan Eng’s bungalow, Taman Manggis deal: BN, you are hollow and hypocritical!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, DAP, Penang, UMNO on Wednesday, 30 March 2016
by P Ramakrishnan
Aliran
29 Mar 2016
A person can choose to sell his property at whatever price he wants to sell. It is his prerogative.
It can be way below market value or far above the market price. It is his property and it is his decision. That is not criminal in nature and he has not committed any crime in doing so.
However, if his property was sold below market value in order to receive kickbacks in return, then it is something else. Whatever kickback he gets out of this deal not only will make good what he had lost in the sale, but he will also reap a greater profit from it. That would involve corruption.
The MP for Tasek Glugor, Shabudin Yahya, had implied an element of corruption in the purchase of a house allegedly bought at below market price by the chief minister of Penang. Shabudin had claimed that the purchase of the house in 2015 had links to the 2012 sale of a piece of state government land in Taman Manggis to the private company Kuala Lumpur International Dental Centre Sdn Bhd (KLIDC).
In other words, it was imputed that that piece of land in Taman Manggis was sold below market price in 2012 so that Guan Eng could get his bungalow below market price – three years later – in 2015 as a favour for selling the land cheaply. If that indeed was the case – and if it could be proven conclusively – then there is no question that a corrupt act had taken place.
But is that the case? Mere speculation does not become a fact. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Mahathir and Anwar’s uneasy alliance unseat Najib?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 30 March 2016
Yang Razali Kassim
East Asia Forum
RSIS
22 March 2016
The unthinkable is happening in Malaysian politics. Former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad and his jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim have joined hands in a seemingly impossible alliance to unseat Prime Minister Najib Razak. Never before in Malaysian history have such sworn enemies buried their hatchets for a common cause.
By launching his rainbow ‘core group’ of concerned citizens of various political stripes and leanings to ‘Save Malaysia’, Mahathir has once again thrust himself into the eye of the political storm. With Anwar still in jail, the disparate forces that opposed Najib over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investment fund scandal have finally found someone of stature to rally around in a marriage of convenience. It is ironic that the man who crushed the opposition while in power has reinvented himself in retirement as the de facto leader of what in essence is a citizens’ revolt.
Mahathir himself described this as a ‘very strange group of people’, brought together by a common goal of ousting the scandal-hit prime minister. By calling it a ‘core group’, Mahathir is indicating that this is only the beginning of more moves to come. What could emerge down the road is still hazy. But it is safe to say that a new era in Malaysian politics is unfolding with the key players jostling for a place in the shifting ground. Read the rest of this entry »
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