Archive for category UMNO

Umno parti rasuah

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 31, 2012

31 JAN — Kawan kawan saya dalam Umno bercakap mengenai rasa cemas bila kerajaan yang di pimpin oleh Umno menabur wang begitu banyak kepada rakyat. Bayaran RM100, RM200, dan sekarang ini RM500 sedang rancak di jalankan. Tapi apa yang hendak di risaukan? Bukankah ini hasil pejuangan Umno dan bukti Umno dan BN amat perihatin kepada rakyat?

Mereka bertanya kepada saya, bayaran2 ini, adakah ianya meningkatkan peluang Umno dan kerajaan BN menang? Saya cakap sudah tentu ia meningkat peluang- peluang untuk rakyat merasa sakit hati. Bila rakyat sakit hati, bertambah ramailah musuh2 Umno.

Hah? Macam mana itu berlaku? Saya menyatakan bahawa dalam hal beri memberi ini, Umno selalu menghadapi masaalah. Siapa yang menentukan siapa dapat RM100, RM200 dan RM500? Selalunya yang menentukan ialah ketua kampung.

Ketua kampung punya keutamaan ialah menyenaraikan adik beradik, saudara-saudara terdekat, dan geng-geng yang sebulu dengan mereka. Golongan yang terpinggir ramai daripada yang dapat imbuhan. Ini memang resam sesetangah ketua kampong. Semasa saya jadi ADUN dahulu, saya mempunyai masaalah dengan ketua-ketua kampung yang seperti inilah juga — yang jadi pagar yang memakan padi.

Kalau buka kawasan pembesaran kampung, lot-lot tanah di sapu mereka dan keluarga mereka sendiri. Kalau ada rumah rakyat, rumah PPRT, sanak saudara di dahulukan. Bahkan lot-lot tanah di beri kepada suku-sakat mereka yang tidak pun tinggal dalam kawasan pemberian tanah.

Apabila saham Felcra di beri oleh kerajaan, yang sepatutnya di beri kepada kepala keluarga, pemimpin kampung mendesak di beri kepada anggota isi rumah. Kalau keluarganya ada lima orang, mereka mahu saham Felcra di beri kepada ke lima-lima ahli keluarganya. Apa akan jadi bila perkara seperti ini di biarkan? Ianya bermakna lima ketua keluarga yang lain di nafikan peluang untuk dapat saham Felcra.

Nah, sekarang perkara yang serupa berlaku apabila pentadbiran Najib Razak membayar wang kepada rakyat. Ramai orang menerima wang tersebut tapi bilangan yang di nafikan hak untuk menikmati rezeki dari Najib Razak juga kian bertambah. Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Malays have no qualms about joining DAP: Only Umno says they have

by Moaz Nair
Malaysia Chronicle
30 January 2012

Some UMNO leaders and the nuisance-to-society Perkasa apparently still belong to the old school of thoughts that race and religion can be used to gain votes from the Malays. More often than not, they prefer to sow hatred among races in the country to achieve their selfish goals.

The new educated or enlightened Malay race – New Malays (Melayu Baru) do not auspiciously subscribe to this divisive politics or racial and religious rhetoric of UMNO or Perkasa anymore. The New Malays see race, religion and the country as a whole from an entirely different political perspective. They seem to spurn politics based on shallow discourse relating to race and religion. They have a bigger ambition for the country to see it develop with people of all races having a fair share of the economic pie.

Some irrelevant Malay politicians belonging to the old school of thoughts are wasting their precious time organising public speeches trying to delude the Malays into thinking that non-Malays are a threat to them or that Christianity is a threat to the Malays and the religion of Islam in this country. When these bigots sense that they are not getting the crowd to their numb sermons – as the people are not interested in their story telling – they resort to their friendly media to pad the events. They fail to realise that the majority of Malays are at ease living together with other races and seeing the many religions being practised in peace. There are many more Malays working, studying in Christian countries without fear that they will be converted to Christianity. Many Malays have even left this country for good after having hatred for UMNO’s approach to politics.

In truth, the New Malays in the country will not fall to UMNO’s bilk that DAP is a threat to the Malay race, Islam and the royalty. The country and its political parties have evolved for many years. DAP is today perceived by the New Malays as a party for all Malaysians. Never in the history of DAP’s party manifesto has it shown any predisposition towards the Malays, Islam or the royalty. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Comments

Dissecting Mahathir’s grand design

by Liew Chin Tong
The Rocket
30 January, 2012

Not many of us remembered that Barisan Nasional survived and thrived electorally for an extended period from 1991 to 2005 as a result of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s grand compromise in the form of Vision 2020.

Coercive tools and undemocratic means like security power to arrest legitimate political opponents without trial, legal and financial controls over mass media, and a distorted electoral system, have helped BN to remain in power, becoming the current longest serving elected government in the world.
The Alliance formula and the beginning of “Malay First” hegemony

BN’s predecessor the Alliance’s formula was to win half of the votes of all ethnic groups. Being the sole coalition with multi-ethnic representation at all levels, the strategy paid off well in 1959 and 1964.

But the Alliance also pursued a small-government-do-very-little approach, resulting in rising inequality. It eventually resulted in an increased support for the opposition among members of all ethnic groups, including Malays, in 1969.

Contrary to the popular belief that only Chinese supported the opposition in the 1969 election, the Malays played their part too. Dr. Mahathir lost his Kota Setar Selatan seat as well as the defeats of other UMNO bigwigs demonstrated that there were substantial Malay swing against the Alliance.

Post-1969, Tun Razak’s formula strived to achieve a 70 percent Malay electoral support for BN. Non-Malay support was considered non-essential in such formula. All policies under the new arrangement, symbolised by the New Economic Policy, were geared towards that goal.

The “Malay first” strategy served UMNO well until the 1990 general election when the Malay votes were split after the formation of Semangat 46, led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and other former senior UMNO leaders. Read the rest of this entry »

7 Comments

The fracturing of the Malay community (2)

S Thayaparan | Jan 30, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

Umno’s interaction with “multiracial parties” has so far been with Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR – ostensibly a multiracial party but for the most part, an organisation filled with ship-jumping Umno rejects – and the Islamic PAS, often used as a bogeyman by Umno to keep the non-Muslims in line.

That Umno considers PKR a threat to its power has more to do with the fact that it was always perceived to be the third moderate way of the Malay polity and not for any multiracial reasons.

Umno is fighting a battle on two fronts, against vocal liberal Malay voices of PKR and the more religious tones from PAS.

In both these cases, the fight for the Malay soul is confined within the Malay community and the non-Malays have been collateral damage in the ongoing shadow war that will determine the fate of this country.

So it should come as no surprise that Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (left) is concerned over the possible influx of moderate Malay voices into the routinely demonised DAP.

If more Malays enter this political party, the Malay vote will be further fractured into a diverse range of political aspirations that don’t neatly fit in the bigoted ethnocentric agenda of the ruling Umno regime.

If the point of the Umno game is to limit the choices of the Malay population then any attempt to provide avenues for different forms of political expressions is a threat to the natural order of their reality.

There can be no plurality of voices when it comes to expressing Islam. Anything which is a threat to Malay unity, which should be read as Umno hegemony, should be shot down in a hail of racial, religious or cultural bullets. Read the rest of this entry »

9 Comments

Mahal sungguh nak ‘maintain’ Umno ini

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 30, 2012

30 JAN — Masalah yang dihadapi oleh parti pemerintah sekarang ini ialah perpecahan dalaman yang berlaku dari atas sehingga ke bawah. Perpecahan yang sangat serius ini bukan kepalang besarnya. Beberapa minggu lalu di Shah Alam Dr Mahathir Mohamad telah menyeru ahli-ahli Umno supaya menyokong calon Umno walaupun yang diturunkan oleh parti itu bukannya seorang ahli Umno.

Seruan Dr Mahathir ini sangat besar maknanya kepada seseorang yang berpolitik. Ia bermakna Umno memang sedang berada di dalam keadaan tenat sehinggakan ada tempat-tempat dan kawasan yang tidak ada seorang pun ahli Umno yang layak untuk diturunkan sebagai calon yang mendapat sokongan yang menyeluruh.

Dr Mahathir pula nampaknya sudah berubah lagi. Kali ini beliau menyokong parti, tidak seperti dalam PRU yang lalu di mana beliau meyokong calon dan tidak parti. Tetapi itu adalah tindakan yang tidak mengejutkan ramai sebab Dr Mahathir adalah seorang yang sentiasa “flip-flop” dalam perjuangan beliau.

Jadi benarlah pandangan saya selama ini yang Umno memang tidak ada kepimpinan di kalangan ahli-ahlinya. Jika seorang pemimpin yang digelar sebagai negarawan oleh penyokong-penyokong setianya itu, boleh menzahirkan kata-kata seruan seperti itu maka sah Umno memang sedang menghadapi masalah yang bertindih-tindih yang tidak dapat diselesaikan walaupun PRU akan diadakan tidak lama lagi. Read the rest of this entry »

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Umno’s in trouble in Selangor

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 30, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Contrary to survey ratings, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is not as popular as people are made to believe, says Daim Zainuddin.

COMMENT

In the pre-2008 general election days, Umno leaders castigated and demeaned former economic adviser Daim Zainuddin, claiming he was senile and past his shelf life, and that he was way-off with his political predictions.

Then came the shocking loss. As prophesied by Daim, Barisan Nasional lost five states and barely managed to retain its two-thirds majority.

Now every Umno leader regards Daim as the Oracle of Delphi. More so, if they can persuade him to give encouraging, if not forced, optimism of Umno’s prospects in the 13th general election.

Sadly they are not going to get that.

Two Saturdays ago, I sat down with Daim’s alter ego, whom I call the Oracle of Syed Putra.

Although I directed my questions to the Oracle and he gave answers, readers must assume they are directed to and answered by Daim himself.

I asked the Oracle his assessment of the current political situation and of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

His response was somewhat startling, to say the least.

He said Najib “has simply lost the plot” on how to run and manage this country.

What about those polls and ratings about Najib being popular?

The Oracle said, “Surveyors and those surveyed can be paid to elicit the politically correct statements. No big deal.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Utusan Malaysia or Chua Soi Lek – which of them lied? Answer: Both lied!

Yesterday, when Utusan Malaysia accused DAP of being the world’s most racist political party, I did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

To laugh at the poverty of ideas and bankruptcy of journalistic principles of the Utusan editors or to cry at the lack of loyalty and patriotism of Utusan editors to an united, harmonious and successful multi-racial Malaysia!

What came to me immediately was the Greek saying: “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad!”

The Utusan Malaysia charge was so ridiculous that I put the Utusan Malaysia item on my blog in verbatim, to let more people see the depths Utusan had sunk to from its early days when it was a great newspaper.

Only few days earlier, the MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek was in his stentorian best, spinning the tune that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and a victory for DAP in the next general elections is paving the road for PAS’ “days of glory”.

If Utusan Malaysia is right that DAP is the world’s most racist party, then Chua is wrong. If Chua is right, then Utusan must be wrong.
Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Malay matters in the nation’s future

S Thayaparan | Jan 29, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s challenge to the DAP to provide figures on the number of Malays joining the ranks of this centre-left party, not to mention Professor Khoo Kay Kim’s rather jaundiced view of Malay leftist as “non-freedom fighters”, is further evidence of the party’s desperate need to define what it means to be Malay, both historically and in the present.

Umno’s continuing efforts at creating the perception of a monolithic Malay polity has veered from the insidiously sophisticated to the downright crude.

Every facet of Malay life as projected by the state’s media propaganda organs has been to present the image of the Malays as a unified voting block raging against the liberal foreign ideas of the DAP, the eroding Islamic ideals of PAS or the immorality of Anwar Ibrahim.

There is a reason why there is a state-sanctioned method of practicing Islam. There is a reason for the morality police. There is a reason for apostasy laws. There is a reason for marriage laws.

There is a reason why other religions are demonised. There is a reason why the Malay population has been indoctrinated to fear their fellow Malaysians. And the reason for this is simple.

What Umno desires, and has received for so many years, is total submission from the sizeable majority of the Malay population. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

DAP world’s most racist party, says Utusan

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 29, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Utusan Malaysia has accused DAP of being the world’s most racist party following Lim Kit Siang’s recent call for Chinese voters to unite and ensure a change of government.

The DAP parliamentary leader had in a Chinese New Year message said that the Chinese community had managed to attain economic prosperity despite the failings of the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government, which has been mired in “corruption” and “abuses of power.”

“It is evident that Kit Siang cannot hide DAP’s true agenda in inciting the Chinese community ahead of the 13th general election. It shows the truth that DAP is not only the most racist party in Malaysia, it is the most racist party in the world,” said a Mingguan Malaysia editorial under the Awang Selamat pseudonym.

Lim’s remarks were in response to a statement made by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who had called on Chinese voters not to “experiment” in the next general election, as Barisan Nasional’s leadership has continually allowed the nation to prosper. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib is made Optimus Prime by Michael’s Decepticons

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 27, 2012

JAN 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak was crowned the “Father of Moderation and Transformation” by the World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF), which said the prime minister’s “fair and just leadership” had benefited the Chinese community “tremendously”. WCEF chairman Datuk Michael Yeoh said in his speech at the conferment ceremony today.

This was the major news item of the day. WCEF is a gathering of Chinese hongs and towkays eager to seek business favours from the PM. How does Michael Yeoh come by his assessment?

Among others, Yeoh praised Najib’s 1 Malaysia platform, his administration’s decision to increase allocation to Chinese schools and the introduction of tax exemptions for churches and temples, saying the initiatives were proof of the prime minister’s commitment to “fairness and justice”.

Fuyoh! I had to pinch myself. Never have I heard such outpouring of boot-licking averments which Michael sought to prove by stating the material I placed in italics above.

Let me steal the thunder from Michael’s shameless sycophantic offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

7 Comments

Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 26, 2012

26 JAN — Khairy Jamaluddin, Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia, telah meminta DAP mengeluarkan senarai ahli-ahlinya dari kaum Melayu jika benar DAP sekarang sedang mendapat sokongan dari kaum Melayu. Khairy berkata setakat tiga orang Melayu yang menyertai DAP itu tidak melambangkan yang parti itu sudah diterima oleh orang Melayu. Saya tidak yakin kenapa penyertaan orang Melayu di akhir-akhir ini menjadi isu dari Sabah hingga ke Perlis.

Saya hanya hendak memberikan komen yang pendek terhadap cabaran Khairy ini dan saya rasa boleh memberikan jawapan kepada kenyataan Khairy itu kerana saya adalah salah seorang dari orang Melayu yang telah menyertai DAP baru-baru ini.

Untuk pengetahuan Khairy DAP tidak membuat pengasingan ahli-ahlinya mengikut bangsa dan agama. Di dalam borang permohonan menjadi ahli, tidak ada petak yang bertanyakan dari kaum apa pemohon-pemohon tersebut kerana sebagai sebuah parti yang memperjuangkan untuk semua tanpa mengira kaum dan budaya bangsa dan ethnik ahli-ahli tidak menjadi perkara penting. Read the rest of this entry »

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One Saturday with The Oracle of Syed Putera

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 25, 2012

JAN 25 — We are going to ignore the doomsday statements from Perkasa about Islam being threatened with Khalid in charge of Islam. How is Islam threatened? Khalid is a closet Christian evangelist? He is not Islamic enough? He can’t manage properly? It is more reasonable to assume Khalid can do a better job since he has managed Selangor financially better than previous BN MBs.

Islam is threatened simply because the majority of Umno members shy away from mosques and suraus. They don’t ‘prosper’ the masjids and suraus. They want positions as chairmen of suraus and masjid for the prestige but are sorely deficient and wanting when it comes to evangelical programmes.

But then that is the basic leadership philosophy of the majority of Umno people — positions without accountability and responsibility. Kedudukan mau, kerja tak mau.

They want to become boss of suraus or mosques, they want to become chairman of PTA even though they themselves are elementary educated. So on so forth. So when things go afoul, the answers are not difficult to identify and can immediately be found. They somehow originate from Umno.

The DAP people whom the majority are not Christians want to proselytise on Islam? This is the biggest gobbledygook thus far pedalled by Perkasa. Islam is under threat precisely because Umno has carried out ruinous business policies and economic predation that so impoverished the Malays leaving them vulnerable and seeking help from the inefficient Islamic bodies. If Malays convert then the fault lies firstly with the institutions charged with keeping the faith. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

‘Elite Malay leadership cheating community’

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 22, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

The majority of grassroots successful Malays have succeed on their own account, with no Umno help.

COMMENT

Many have realised that the struggle to preserve the 30% quota of privileges has never expanded into the universal struggle for the economic emancipation of Malays.

I want to repeat this observation. The penury of the majority Malays is not the result of greedy others (read non-Malays) taking a larger share of the economic pie.

We have been taken for a ride believing in this.

The causes for the continued misdevelopment of Malays are likely to be found in the actions and behaviour of the Malay leadership.

The Malay leadership at all levels have not acted in the interest of Malays actually. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

UMNO fears DAP beachhead

KTemoc Konsiders ……..
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lim Guan Eng and his Penang government, and not Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor government, represent the greatest threat to Najib and UMNO, and therefore every attempt must be launched to destroy it, impossible as this task may seem.

In the immortal words of Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman, “Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed).

Thus, to UMNO, in similar thinking, DAP in Penang must be destroyed …….. well, as much as is practically possible, given that an overwhelming majority of Penangites has rejected Gerakan and MCA parties as their political representatives.

Hence we have witnessed the relentless waves of terrible fabrications against Lim’s government in general, and Lim GE in particular, even down to the shameful sleazy salacious lies about his teenage son. Those fabricators surely threw their religious God-fearing beliefs and values out of the windows.

It has been anti-DAP carpet bombing all the way by both UMNO apparatus and affiliated bloggers (either sympathizing with UMNO or just being anti-DAP).

They have used not C4 but ‘C3’, namely, the alleged evils of Lim GE’s Christianity, Chinese ethnicity and Charborkooi (devil women) DAP colleagues, where the lies cover: Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments

DAP, please pay no mind to flip-flop KJ

by Haris Ibrahim
The People’s Parliament
January 24, 2012

From the time I was in secondary school until about 2 years ago, if ever I was to join a political party, it would have been the Democratic Action Party.

Yes, the DAP.

Guan Eng well knows this.

Since 2010, though, I am pleased to say that my options have increased.

Today, besides DAP, if ever I was inclined to join a political party, I would have no reservations in filling a membership application form and submitting the same to the Parti Sosialis Malaysia or the Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

These parties are not multiracial. In my view, the term ‘multiracial’ still places emphasis on ‘race’.

They are non-race based.

They champion issues, are advocates of meritocracy and champion the lot of the downtrodden. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 23, 2012

23 JAN — Ada sesuatu perkara yang saya mesti kongsi dengan rakan-rakan yang mengikuti blog saya. Sejak saya menyertai parti berbagai kaum DAP baru-baru ini, saya telah mendapat kutukan dari beberapa orang termasuk seorang dua rakan blog saya yang saya kenali, dan itu memang telah saya jangkakan dari awal lagi.

Tetapi sebagai empunyai blog kecil ini saya telah mendapat lebih galakan dari yang mengkritik saya. Yang mengkritik saya itu pun adalah kebanyakannya dari mereka yang masih baru dalam Umno itu atau hanya sebagai penyokong pemimpin dan “warlords” dalam parti itu. Yang mengatakan saya seorang yang bangkerap politik itu merupakan budak hingusan belum merasakan pengalaman bergiat di dalam Umno itu.

Tetapi yang paling saya seronok ialah sokongan dari orang-orang biasa dan menzahirkan sokongan mereka melalu ribuan teks pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang datang bertalu-talu serta sokongan melalui e-mail dan sebagainya. Sembilan puluh peratus yang memberikan sokongan itu adalah dari kaum Melayu yang saya kenali dan yang saya tidak pernah mengenali mereka.

Apa yang saya seronokkan bukannya kerana saya mendapat sokongan secara peribadi, tetapi kerana mereka sudah faham sebenarnya yang DAP itu bukanlah seperti yang dimomokan oleh Umno dan media masa perdana sejak berdekad-dekad dahulu. Saya merasa sedikit bangga kerana mampu membuatkan mereka menilai secara ilmiah yang mendalam serta sudah mengetahui yang parti DAP ini telah secara deras mendapat sokongan orang Melayu akhir-akhir ini. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments

Chapter 12: A Prescription For Malaysia

by Bakri Musa
Malaysia in the Era of Globalizat​ion #97

In 1969, shortly after the traumatic race riot that nearly ripped Malaysia apart, an angry and impatient young politician wrote a most unusual letter to the prime minister at the time, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Written in Malay, the letter used the most polite and deferential language, tone, and form that characterized communications between a peasant and his ruler. It was classic of a feudal Malay society, as Malaysia was at that time. Despite that, the petition could not hide its blunt and trenchant message: The Tunku must go.

Such a frontal challenge to a leader was unprecedented in polite and highly structured traditional Malay society. Malay society prides itself in an orderly and predictable succession. That gauntlet could only have been thrown by someone either unbelievably stupid and reckless or very sure of himself and his assessment of the citizens’ mood.

What galled the Tunku was that the challenger was a low-level politician who had lost his parliamentary seat in the elections that took place just before the riot. Most losers in combat would quietly withdraw to lick their wounds, not come out swinging looking for new adversaries, at least not so soon afterwards! Yet there it was, the impudence and impertinence of a hitherto obscure political backbencher challenging the nation’s revered leader amidst a national crisis! Incensed, the Tunku saw to it that the politician was expelled from the party. Thus was how Mahathir bin Mohamad was stripped of his UMNO’s membership. Read the rest of this entry »

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On changing horses midstream and the man who can walk on water

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 21, 2012

JAN 21 — The prime minister told the people not to change horses midstream. So we asked, don’t we change even if the horse is limping and is running on three legs? In endurance races, riders change horses in order to arrive at the destination. Malaysians should be pragmatic when it comes to deciding their future.

Midstream for Barisan Nasional and Umno is already over 50 years. Since 1955, when the first elections took place until now, from Perikatan to BN, we have had more than 50 years of BN rule. What do we have?

We have development, for sure, but are also damaged by rampant corruption, utter disregard for the rule of law, abuses of all kinds, political manipulations, deception and lies and gross mismanagement of the economy. To all that, the PM says, we don’t change? If we don’t, we shall have another 50 years of unchecked corruption, emasculation of the judiciary, thugs running the legal institutions, abuses and gross mismanagement.

At another point in his speech, the PM says we don’t know whether the opposition knows what to do if they come into power. We don’t know whether, under Pakatan Rakyatwe, we can achieve developed status by 2020 with the fabled per capita income of US$15,000.

Of course Pakatan knows what to do. In the short years since they came into power, direct investments have been highest in Pakatan led states of Penang, Selangor and Kedah. These states have achieved balanced budgets without doing arithmetic tricks.

In Penang, which is led by a non-Muslim, grants to Islamic religious institutions have reached RM30 million a year. Compare that to Negri Sembilan, which is led by a good Muslim, where the grant is only RM 12 million a year. How is that possible? Because the state coffers have been managed better in one state than in the other managed by BN and Umno. Read the rest of this entry »

16 Comments

Dalam diam DAP melakukan transformasi

by Amin Iskander
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 20, 2012

20 JAN — Pada ketika Umno masih belum selesai dengan isu Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, memperbesarkan isu pemecatan Datuk Dr Hasan Ali dan memanipulasi isu pengambilan portfolio agama Islam oleh MB Selangor, dalam diam DAP memperkukuhkan partinya.

Hari ini Umno dikejutkan lagi dengan berita penyertaan Hata Wahari, bekas wartawan Utusan Malaysia dan mantan Presiden NUJ kedalam parti tersebut.

Sebelum ini dua orang blogger, Aspan Alias dan Datuk Mohd Arif Sabri — juga veteran Umno —menyertai parti yang digambarkan oleh Utusan Malaysia sebagai “chauvinis Cina”.

Ironinya, Hata Wahari memilih untuk menyertai DAP walaupun majikan lamanya, Utusan Malaysia paling kuat menghentam parti yang menguasai Pulau Pinang itu.

Apakah yang bakal dikatakan oleh lidah pengarang Utusan Malaysia untuk menjawab penyertaan Hata Wahari ke dalam DAP?

Apatah lagi pada ketika Setiausaha Agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng yang baru sahaja memenangi saman fitnah terhadap Utusan Malaysia. Utusan Malaysia di-ibarat “sudahlah jatuh ditimpa tangga pula”.

Dikala ramai yang menyangka Hata Wahari akan menyertai PKR, mantan Presiden NUJ itu mengejutkan ramai pihak. Hata mungkin nampak perubahan besar yang telah berlaku dalam “mindset” DAP. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment

Can Umno Change or Cows Fly?

By Kee Thuan Chye

UMNO is beyond redemption. At its general assembly in December, the message it sent out was suspicion of others and hatred for them, and a desperate desire to win the next general election.

Its president, Najib Razak, once again proved what many of us have long suspected – that he is a dissembler. He exposed the ultimate lie behind his 1Malaysia slogan by saying things that would divide the races rather than bring them together. He set the trend for delegates at the assembly to harp on the threats to Umno from other races. It was disgraceful coming from the prime minister of the country. It was supremely irresponsible.

Worse, two days after the assembly ended, he appealed to the right-wing NGO Pertubuhan Kebajikan dan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Pekida) for support. This has to be the final nail in the 1Malaysia coffin.

To cap it all, Umno showed its partiality to cronyism by defending Wanita leader Shahrizat Abdul Jalil over the scandal surrounding her family’s business, the National Feedlot Corporation. One or two colleagues called for her to step down, but the overwhelming majority stood by her and castigated the Opposition for exposing the scandal.

This begs the question: Can Umno change? As the major party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, can it truly stand up for other races as well, and work for their well-being? Can it stay clear of corrupt practices? Can it stop dishing out favours and projects to party leaders and their cronies? Can it save Malaysia from financial meltdown or will it rather bleed our coffers dry? Read the rest of this entry »

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