Archive for category UMNO
Which is in worse shape: BN or opposition?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Saturday, 27 June 2015
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
26 June 2015
Although it is a long way to the next general election, the current developments we are seeing will, in my opinion, be decisive in shaping the outcome and winner of the next elections. Firstly, we have seen a lot of adverse publicity given the break up of opposition pact, Pakatan Rakyat.
Pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) observers and also some disillusioned opposition supporters are claiming this is dealing a death blow to the opposition’s election hopes. But is this so? I beg to differ from them.
What is happening to the Pakatan is actually a blessing in disguise for them. In fact, it is a big blessing. This is because if we look at the political configuration closely, it is not that the opposition coalition is breaking up. It is the hard line faction of Pas that is splitting from the rest of the Pakatan. This faction wants to chart a future for the country based on Islamic law and a more rigid Islamic state. But can they succeed?
Well, despite the conservative candidates sweeping all the leadership positions in the recent Pas elections, deep down I am sure that they realise that they represent only a minority of the Malay Muslim population. My reading is that the majority of Muslims do not want a more fundamentalist Islamic society. They may have concerns about some aspects of modern life and western values. But even the less educated among them know what has been happening in fundamentalist Islamic nations. Read the rest of this entry »
Malays won’t fare better or worse if BN falls, says veteran newsman
The Malaysian Insider
19 June 2015
The Malays “won’t be better off” if opposition parties take over Malaysia in the next general election, said veteran journalist Datuk A Kadir Jasin, but neither will they be “worse off”.
But those who knew how to take advantage of opportunities would benefit from a new non-Barisan Nasional government, said Kadir, the former group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times.
“The opposition pact cannot sideline Malays and Muslims if in the long term they want to govern fairly and preserve national peace,” Kadir wrote in his latest blog posting.
Kadir said that he had written this assessment as a response to the numerous questions he received over what will become of the Malays if the Barisan government was to fall in the next general election. Read the rest of this entry »
First signs of “threatened with death to born anew” 置之死地而后生 – PR’s “cease to exist” situation elicited neither joy nor celebration from UMNO/BN
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Wednesday, 17 June 2015
PAS MP for Parit Buntar Mujahid Yusuf Rawa gave an interesting description of the present political scenario in his interview with Malaysiakini yesterday when he quipped: “We need to die to be reborn, to live anew.”
Mujahid cannot be more apt when he said in his interview: “Pakatan is just a name. What is more important is the substance.”
Mujahid is referring to a situation which is also described in Sun Tzu’s Art of War and expressed in the Chinese saying, 置之死地而后生zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu sheng – “threatened with death to born anew”.
We can already see the first signs of this “置之死地而后生zhì zhī sǐ dì ér hòu sheng” effect, as it has elicited neither joy nor celebration from UMNO/BN quarters, apart from half-hearted “I told you so” reactions. Read the rest of this entry »
Mat Sabu: Pietistic PAS chooses to work with evil and corrupt Muslims in Umno
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 16 June 2015
By Martin Jalleh
Why is Najib, as final approving authority for 1MDB, in law and in fact, prepared to brief UMNO division representatives but not Parliament on 1MDB controversy?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament, UMNO on Sunday, 14 June 2015
The Sunday Star reported that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will brief UMNO division information chiefs today on the 1MDB controversy as he steps up efforts to counter mounting attacks against him on the issue.
The question that immediately comes to mind is why Najib, who is the final approving authority for all 1MDB decisions, in law and in fact, prepared to brief UMNO division representatives but not Parliament on the 1MDB controversy?
Najib is the final approving authority for all 1MDB decisions in law and in fact because Najib is responsible in law as 1MDB is a government company and as the Prime Minister as well as Finance Minister he must accept full and final responsibility for all of 1MDB actions although he may not be responsible for its day-to-day operations; and responsible in fact, because under Clause 117 of the 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association Agreement (M&A), the Prime Minister must give his written approval for any of 1MDB deals, including the firm’s investments or any bid for restructuring. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 28 May 2015
The statement by UMNO Vice President and Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal raised eyebrows all round.
It is not just his repudiating the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility, but even more significant, his striking a posture which is tantamount to Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others.
This is the only interpretation of Shafie’s protest against claims that the entire Cabinet should be held responsible for the 1MDB scandal, saying that it would be unfair to do so when he and his colleagues were just as unclear as the public over the firm’s controversial and opaque deals.
It is shock enough that a senior three-term Cabinet Minister does not understand the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility but it boggles the minds of Malaysians that Shafie could assert both ignorance and innocence about the enormity of the 1MDB scandal, claiming that he was in the position of the ordinary aggrieved Malaysian on the ground that he was as unclear as the public about the 1MDB scandal.
How could this be when the Cabinet at its meeting on 4th March this year cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing, making all the 35 Ministers individually and collectively for the 1MDB scandal! Read the rest of this entry »
View from the Umno grassroots
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, UMNO on Sunday, 24 May 2015
– Muhammad Azaham Wahab
The Malaysian Insider
24 May 2015
I am a member of Umno who had served the party for a good 40 years and was a Branch Chairman for 23 years.
I also served for a few years at the division level and consider myself a grassroots leader of Umno and am qualified to say that I embody the sentiments of members at the grassroots level.
As a branch leader for more than 20 years, we have always obeyed the higher ups in Umno and slogged at every election to ensure the success of Umno-Barisan.
I was proud of Umno and my MCA and MIC friends because for whatever weakness Barisan had we were brothers in arms to develop the country.
I trusted the leaders and they did not betray my trust because the country was peaceful and development in all sectors was satisfactory although it could be much better.
However things have changed and corruption and misuse of power had reared its ugly head. The Barisan leadership condoned corruption and used their power to cover up their corrupt practises on the economic and business sector. Corruption is now so embedded in society we seem to accept it as a normal practice. Read the rest of this entry »
11th Malaysia Plan made dubious history in being the first 5-year plan which could not even enjoy one-hour wonder as it was immediately overwhelmed and overshadowed by Muhyiddin’s call for heads to roll in the 1MDB scandal
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 22 May 2015
The R260 billion 11th Malaysia Plan made dubious history yesterday in being the first five-year plan in the past half-century spanning six Prime Ministers which could not even enjoy one-hour wonder as it was immediately overwhelmed and overshadowed by the recording of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s call for heads to roll in the 1MDB scandal.
The glossiest five-year plan document in the nation’s history, which would have involved the greatest expenditures in packaging than in its content, was not able to bathe in the unchallenged plaudits of a “seven-day wonder” or even “24-hour wonder” as was the case with the unveiling of previous five-year plans.
Parliamentary and national attention was affixed not on the 11th Malaysia Plan but on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reaction to Muhyiddin’s call for heads to roll in the 1MDB scandal – and the implication whether Najib’s head will also have to roll in the process.
In just ten days, all the false camaraderie after the UMNO Supreme Council meeting on May 11 have been torn asunder by the uploading of the recording of Muhyiddin’s speech at an UMNO meeting on Saturday, where Muhyiddin’s warning that the 1MDB scandal would cause the downfall of the UMNO/BN government was greeted with loud applause and even “Sack the President” calls.
Muhyiddin’s “the last straw to break the camel’s back” speech has now become the hottest property on You Tube. Read the rest of this entry »
The Umno-BN battle royal
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 12 May 2015
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
12 May 2015
A titanic power struggle is currently taking place in the country. In one corner of the ring is former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his mainly Umno supporters who have decided to kick the Prime Minister out of power for a variety of reasons, including the 1MDB fiasco and for personal wrong doings and unresolved scandals of which the Altantuya one tops the list.
In the other corner stands Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with the Umno and Barisan Nasional establishment behind him. Read the rest of this entry »
“Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to topple UMNO/BN as Federal Government and seven State Governments in Terengganu, Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor may be lost if Pakatan Rakyat cannot even survive next month
Posted by Kit in Islam, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Political Islam, UMNO on Monday, 11 May 2015
The biggest news headlines in the past two days have been the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal and its latest edition, the RM188 million 1MDB-Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) bailout with LTH paying 1MDB for 1.56 acres of Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land at RM2,773 per square foot, which is 43 times more than 1MDB had acquired from the Federal Government four years ago at less than RM64 per square foot.
Events are unfolding at rapid pace in UMNO over the ability of Datuk Seri Najib Razak to survive as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President.
Just before coming on stage, for instance, I read on the Internet of the blog by former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim about a top secret meeting in Milan between Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and several UMNO bigwigs to discuss his possible takeover as Prime Minister, but Zaid admitted that this information was unverified and he did not know how reliable was his source.
But what is certain is that Najib has declared war on former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir who had asked Najib to resign as Prime Minister on the ground that UMNO/BN will lose the next polls under Najib, as the Prime Minister had for the first time made a fighting speech in Tawau in Sabah vis-à-vis Mahathir’s attacks on him.
All this raises the question, whether UMNO/BN could be toppled in the next 14th General Elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Two speeches by UMNO Ministers in Permatang Pauh yesterday highlighted the urgent need for UMNO to get a real education in democracy by being sent to Opposition benches with the end of its national monopoly of power since Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia in 1963
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Elections, Hishammuddin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Saturday, 2 May 2015
Two speeches by UMNO Ministers in the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign yesterday highlighted the urgent need for UMNO to get a real education in democracy by being sent to Opposition benches with the end of its national monopoly of power since Merdeka in 1957 and formation of Malaysia in 1963.
The first was the haughty, arrogant and insufferable statement by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who said that applications for agricultural funds and projects in Permatang Pauh will not be approved if Pakatan Rakyat wins the by-election again.
Speaking at the Kuala Mengkuang polling district, Ismail said:
“This is an agricultural area. I will surely approve if it is Suhaimi Sabudin (BN candidate) who is making the applications.
“If it is (PKR’s president and candidate Datuk Seri Dr) Wan Azizah (Wan Ismail), she will not even get past my office lobby.
“There is no reason for me to see her. She is from the opposition.”
Ismail, of the “call to Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses” notoriety, who not only highlighted the ingrained racist thinking of certain UMNO Ministers but also the double standards in the “administration of justice” by the Police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, clearly had no notion that his Ministerial responsibility is to 30 million Malaysians regardless of race, religion, territory or political affiliation; that he is not paid by UMNO funds but by public funds by all taxpayers and his duty is to be a Minister for all Malaysians, and not just to UMNO (which, eventually, ends up in only UMNO cronies)!
In a truly democratic administration, a Minister who make such petty-minded, anti-people and undemocratic sentiments would be immediately hauled up by the Prime Minister and made to retract his statement, even facing the risk of being sacked from the Cabinet, with or without such a retraction. Read the rest of this entry »
Excerpt #4: The Future: From Blue Chip To Penny Stock
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Bakri Musa, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 27 April 2015
by Bakri Musa
Malaysia’s Wasted Decade 2004-2014. The Toxic Triad of Abdullah, Najib and UMNO Leadership.#4
April 26, 2015
Long before the twin tragedies of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 (shot down in eastern Ukraine in March 2014) and MH370 (disappeared literally from thin air over the South China Sea less than four months earlier), the company’s shares were already languishing at the bottom floor of the KLSE at around 22 sen. Yes, that is sen, as in cents, or pennies. Even bottom feeders were shunning MAS shares.
To think that less than two decades earlier the Mahathir Administration paid RM8.00 for those same shares! Factoring in for inflation and devaluation, it should be about RM32.00 in today’s devalued ringgit. If you add in the expected appreciation as per the KLSE Index, the shares should be trading at around RM100 today.
From RM100 to 22 sen! Formerly blue chip MAS now a penny stock! It would be cheaper to use MAS shares to wallpaper your bathroom; they are useless for toilet paper. Read the rest of this entry »
The Malay leadership vacuum
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 24 April 2015
– Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
24 April 2015
If both Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang remain as the presidents of Umno and PAS respectively, the sense of being leaderless will continue in the Malay community.
The status quo is therefore not a stable situation, and we are bound to see new contenders coming into the field to fill the painful vacuum. This will open up new possibilities for Malaysian politics.
It would be foolish to assume that Umno will not stay in power for too long. After all, if it, still led by Najib, with help from certain segments of PAS, still led by Hadi, manages to amend the constitution to increase the number of seats in ways that will benefit it, then it would be very difficult to defeat.
We must not underestimate the power of incumbency and the incumbent’s use of government machineries to win elections. Read the rest of this entry »
“Save Malaysia” , “Save UMNO” and “Save Najib” are three entirely different concepts but they provide another example of the poor comprehension levels and declining educational standards in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Monday, 20 April 2015
Although Barisan Nasonal Ministers continue to claim, without batting an eyelid, that Malaysia has one of the best educational systems in the world which is comparable if not better than the best in the world, there is no lack of example of the poor comprehension levels and declining educational standards in Malaysia.
These are not just from the results of international assessment tests like PISA (Programme for International Students Assessments) or TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies) where Malaysian students scored consistently in the world’s lowest one-third bracket, four or even five years behind their peers in the world’s top achieving countries like Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea and Japan or the various world top university rankings where Malaysia seemed to have slipped into the zone of oblivion.
Malaysian are often regaled by frequent bloopers like the recent case of the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who sent the police into a frenzy of action because he thought that a tweet by an Opposition Member of Parliament “Royal my foot” was a blatant and seditious attack on the institution of constitutional monarchy or the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi who believed that his infamous letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States vouching for the character and integrity of an international gambling kingpin was merely to confirm that the “14K triad” did not exist in the country.
Of course these bloopers were nothing compared to the one made collectively by Najib’s 35-member Cabinet which created history and a record of sorts when they completely misunderstood the call by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob to Malay consumers to boycott Chinese businesses as not targetting Chinese traders alone but aimed at all traders.
But the biggest howler must be those who cannot differentiate the complexities of three entirely different concepts – “Save Malaysia”, “Save UMNO” and “Save Najib”, thinking that they are one and the same. Read the rest of this entry »
Freeing Anwar Ibrahim from Sungai Buloh prison must be top agenda of the “Save Malaysia” Grand Coalition post-BN and post-PR
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Saturday, 18 April 2015
Seven weeks ago, at the Bukit Bintang DAP anniversary dinner, I threw up the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR to “Save Malaysia” as Malaysia seemed suddenly in “no man’s land” in over half-a-century of independent nation after Merdeka in 1957 and formation of Malaysia in 1963.
The events of the past 26 days have fortified the need for new thinking, even thinking the unthinkable, about the unprecedented political landscape evolving in the country, for not only are the two political coalition in the country, the ruling Barisan Nasional and the Federal Opposition Pakatan Rakyat, in serious trouble, the very existence of the Malaysian federation has been called into question for the first time since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
The past seven weeks have seen the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak coming under even greater challenge, with the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad leading the attack, raising issues which Pakatan Rakyat leaders have kept in the national forefront all this while, in particular the RM42 billion 1MDB financial scandal, the unanswered question of motive in the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial, amidst a host of questions about nation-building, good governance, the rule of law; the independence and professionalism of the judiciary, Police and the Anti-Corruption Commission; respect for democracy, human rights and freedom of expression and the press in Malaysia.
Never before has the ruling coalition in Malaysia come under such intense attack – at a time when the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which had created history in winning the majority of the electorate in the 13th General Elections but denied the majority of the parliamentary seats and therefore the Putrajaya seat of Federal power because of unfair and undemocratic gerrymandering of electoral constituencies, is itself facing an unprecedented crisis!
It is no exaggeration to say that both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are facing a ‘life-and-death crisis, which has mushroomed into a life-and-death crisis for the Malaysian Federation formed in 1963. Read the rest of this entry »
Kerjasama PAS-Umno umpama pelanduk melupakan jerat, tetapi jerat tidak melupakan pelanduk
– Zairil Khir Johari
The Malaysian Insider
14 April 2015
Menurut laporan Mingguan Malaysia, Presiden PAS, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang berkata PAS wajib berunding dengan Umno apabila diajak parti tersebut demi memastikan pelaksanaan hukum hudud di Kelantan.
Katanya lagi, pemimpin dan ahli PAS tidak sewajarnya mempersoalkan keikhlasan Umno menyokong pelaksanaan hukum itu, khususnya apabila rang undang-undang persendirian berkaitan hudud dibentangkan di Dewan Rakyat kelak. Read the rest of this entry »
Hadi is propounding a political creed where the end justifies the means which seems to be at odds with the essence of Islam on the universal values of justice and trust (adil dan amanah)
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Sunday, 12 April 2015
I am shocked at the justification by the PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang for violating the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Leadership Council decision on Feb. 8, 2015 that any amendment to the 1995 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment and any private member’s bill in Parliament on hudud implementation should first be presented at the PR Leadership Council.
Both these consensus decisions of the PR Leadership Council meeting of Feb. 8, which was attended by Hadi personally, were violated as the 2015 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment and Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in Parliament were never presented first to the PR Leadership Council.
From Hadi’s justification, he is in fact propounding a political creed where the end justifies the means which seems to be at odds with the essence of Islam on the universal values of justice and trust (adil dan amanah).
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia facing not only crisis of identity but crisis of survival for first time since formation of federation in 1963
Malaysia is facing not only a crisis of identity but a crisis of survival for the first time since the formation of the Malaysian federation in 1963.
The month of April has not been a good month for Malaysia, starting with the GST implementation on April 1, which has caused hardships all-round to Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region; followed by a week of infamy when Parliament “stopped the clock” twice in four days to rush through the passage of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Sedition Amendment Act, both of which attracted universal international condemnation for Malaysia becoming the human rights “black hole” as well as opening the Pandora’s Box of undemocratic, arbitrary and repressive powers and laws.
But looming in the background, there was an even bigger crisis – the crisis of survival for Malaysia as it is intimately concerned with the question as to whether the Malaysian federation, as conceived by the Malaysia Agreement 1963, could survive and flourish or whether it would perish and fail. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib forewarned that the UMNO “UG” conspirators should not be allowed to continue to play with fire as it could lead not only to the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat, but also Barisan Nasional and even the Malaysian Federation
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, Sabah, Sarawak, UMNO on Saturday, 11 April 2015
The month-long Parliamentary meeting starting on March 9 and adjourning in the early hours of April 10 has gravely undermined and damaged both the political coalitions in the country, the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.
It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction.
While the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak may rejoice that the “hudud” plot of the UMNO’s “UG” conspirators has succeeded in causing grave damage to Pakatan Rakyat, he should rue its threat not only to Barisan Nasional but the Malaysian federation as well.
Najib had not realised that the “hudud” weapon of UMNO “UG” plotters’ is a double-edged sword, which could not only damage the unity and solidarity of Pakatan Rakyat with its success to entice PAS support with purported UMNO endorsement for PAS Kelantan State Government hudud implementation, it also threatens the unity and even survival of Barisan Nasional and the Malaysian Federation as well.
In fact, the “hudud” plot of the UMNO “UG” conspirators has the potential not only to destroy both coalitions, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, but also the nation or bring about a realignment of political forces in the country.
The warning signals are clear for all who have eyes to see.
Read the rest of this entry »
Umno playing politics with hudud push, Saifuddin tells students in Australia
by Shaun Tan
Malay Mail Online
April 10, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Support for hudud exists only on the fringes despite the high-profile coverage on the controversy over the Islamic penal law in Malaysia, said Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Speaking during a summit organised by the Malaysian Students Council of Australia (MASCA) in Brisbane, Australia yesterday, the Umno leader also said his party’s apparent support for hudud was “just politics”.
“Hudud isn’t mainstream. The mainstream is moderation and democracy,” he said.
During discussions on the topic, he said while the Quran uses the word “hudud” 14 times, none of the mentions involves a fixed punishment, but instead appears in relation to marriage, divorce and kindness to orphans. Read the rest of this entry »
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