Archive for category UMNO
Budget 2011 : Najib must explain his “crushed bodies, lives lost” “ethnic cleansing” speech in Parliament
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 28 October 2010
2011 Budget not a child of New Economic Model but bears all the marks of old discredited Mahathirish policies (Part 3 of 5)
Any doubts about the lack of political will and leadership of the Najib administration to spearhead political, economic, social and government transformation which must be the pillars for Malaysia’s economic and national salvation are banished by the recent Umno General Assembly and Najib’s Presidential Address and Closing Speech.
What reaction does Najib expect to elicit when he used the language of “crushed bodies, lives lost” for Umno to defend power at any cost in Putrajaya and even talked about “ethnic cleansing”?
How can the Malaysian Chronicle editor Wong Choon Mei be harassed and victitmised of publishing a report using these terms, when this was exactly what Najib said, regardless of the English translation issued by Bernama?
This was what Najib said in his Umno Presidential Address last Thursday:
“Walau berkecai tulang dan juga badan, walau bercerai jasad dari nyawa. Saudara dan saudari, walau apa pun yang gerjadi, Putrajaya mesti kita pertahankan!”
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The ‘social contract’ — Concerned Scholars
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 27 October 2010
by Dr Lim Teck Ghee, Dr Mavis Puthucheary, Dr Azmi Sharom, Dr Toh Kin Woon and Dr Wan Zawawi Ibrahim
October 27, 2010
We would like to provide some feedback to the speech made by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 21 October 2010 to the Umno general assembly in which he gave the impression that there is a ‘social contract’ whose terms are set in stone. He also told the delegates that no Malaysian should question it.
It is necessary to note that there is a range of views amongst us on the social contract issue and on how to respond to the Prime Minister’s advice.
One colleague has argued that it is not yet time for an “organized effort” of civil society to make such a statement as it may provoke negative reactions that may be harmful to our common pursuit of a fair and united nation.
Another has expressed concern that we must not play into the hands of politicians who will mobilize Malay support by trying to show that the non-Malays have reneged on their so-called promise to accept Malay political superiority in exchange for citizenship.
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Umno and PM declaring war against the rakyat?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Saturday, 23 October 2010
Richard Loh
Malaysia Chronicle
October 23, 2010
Is our country at war? Is our country being attacked by outsiders? It looks that way when we heard the Prime Minister declaring “Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya.” I would be the first to stand by the PM and sacrifice my life to defend Putrajaya and the country if we are at war with outsiders. When an enemy attacked a country they will go for the capital city, trying to capture it, and if they succeed, the country will be theirs and they win the war.
This morning when I woke up, I hear no gun fire nor any bombing, just the normal sound of vehicles passing by and a beautiful sunny day.
So, what is the PM declaration all about? After reading it more closely I realized that it was umno and it’s president that is declaring war against the rakyat. They have taken control of Putrajaya and that Putrajaya belongs to umno, no one else has the right to it and they will protect it at all cost. Read the rest of this entry »
Sanitary Pads and their relevance to intelligence
By Dina Zaman
I like giving our politicians a break. Doesn’t matter which side they swing. Like many Malaysians, I too laugh at some of the pearls that dance out of their mouths. When this happens, it makes for a sunnier day, and then we all get on with our lives.
However, today’s gem which came out from Johor delegate Azura Mohd Afandi, who wanted the Information Ministry to curb television shows and commercials that could lead people astray from the right religious paths, really made me think that time around, (1) nothing can ever beat this statement and (2) that’s it. The people who are involved in politics have four screws loose.
“For example, commercials on sanitary pads are openly shown on TV and this could influence the young to get involved in social ills,” said Johor Bahru Puteri Umno member, urging the ministry to increase shows that teach good values and religious practices.
As a still menstruating woman, I have yet to witness how sanitary pads and their ads could lead one to sin. I have always thought that sanitary pads are a bane to women and frighten the hell out of men, especially bloody and wet ones.
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What’s Worse Than Corruption?
Stealing money from the poor. Seriously.
I have refrained from making direct comments about the mindless cacophony UMNO has been trumpeting about the alleged use of gambling-derived income for state-sponsored aid programmes for senior citizens and the poor in Penang.
In my previous post, I made a passing observation on the issue, which I felt at the time was merely the latest in a long line of ‘baseless allegations of the week’, and that the matter would soon meet its natural demise. In any case, how many times can you tell the same lie and hope to get away with it?
Quite a few times, as it turns out. One, two, three sessions have so far been organized to steal money from the poor.
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Get a backbone, Kit Siang tells MCA
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, MCA, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 13 October 2010
by Joseph Sipalan
Malaysiakini
13.10.2010
DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang today challenged MCA’s ministers to take a clear stand and demand for action to be taken against two headmasters charged for racism and the closure of the National Civics Bureau (BTN).
He said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had already given them the green light to make their position known, when the latter said that MCA should be given “space” within the BN coalition when officiating at their annual general meeting last weekend.
“Here you have the prime minister saying ‘give space to MCA’, and although he said that, you don’t see any MCA minister daring to stand up to make a clear stand to demand that action must be taken against the two headmasters,” Kit Siang (right) said at a press conference in the Parliament lobby.
“Even after Umno gave space to MCA, they don’t use the space. I call on MCA ministers to demand that action be taken against the headmasters and close down the BTN, which is a poisonous anti-Malaysia organisation.” Read the rest of this entry »
Why after more than half a year, not a single Cabinet Minister dare to rebut the communal extremists and state that the New Economic Model is not against Article 153 of Constitution?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, NEM, Parliament, UMNO on Tuesday, 12 October 2010
I walked out of Dewan Rakyat in disgust this morning.
I had stood up to ask a supplementary question for the first oral question which was on the New Economic Model, but the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Ronald Kiandee, who was in the chair, refused to call me.
The question on the New Economic Model was posed by the UMNO MP for Maran, Datuk Haji Ismail bin Hj Abdul Muttalib who asked the Prime Minister “to state the guarantee that in carrying out the New Economic Model it is effective and will achieve the objective set out to make Malaysia a high income nation and at the same time spur the economy and the programmes planned for implementation”.
The answer was given by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk S. K. Devamany.
If I had the opportunity to pose the supplementary question, I would have observed that on the second day of the 34-day of the budget Parliament, the absence of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak or anyone of the many Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department to answer this question shows that the Barisan Nasional government is neither really seriously nor fully committed whether to Najib’s 1Malaysia concept, New Economic Model or Parliament.
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Will Ku Li’s words get in the way in Galas?
Posted by Kit in Election, Razaleigh Hamzah, UMNO on Saturday, 9 October 2010
By Yow Hong ChiehThe Malaysian Insider
ANALYSIS
Oct 9, 2010
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah will lead the Barisan Nasional (BN) bid to recapture the Galas state seat in the November 4 by-election, campaigning for a party that has sidelined him over the years.
The Kelantan prince has not minced his words with Umno, with his latest battle centred on oil royalty payments for his home state.
The PAS state government has taken the matter to court and Tengku Razaleigh said today it would be sub-judice to mention it, when he accepted the task of leading the BN election campaign.
He will finalise the campaign details on Monday with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his opponent for the Umno presidency.
In campaigning for Umno, the politician popularly known as Ku Li will have to live down his various speeches and quotes on issues that are at odds with the party. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Muhyiddin return to Treasury his salaries and allowances as Federal Minister for past 15 years so as not to be associated with forbidden money?
Posted by Kit in Finance, Muhyiddin Yassin, Penang Government, UMNO on Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno Ministers should decide at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow whether they will return their salaries and allowances to Treasury as they do not want to be associated with gambling money.
Ten days ago on September 25, Bernama carried the following report:
MUAR, Saturday 25 September 2010 (Bernama) — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has called on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to answer allegations made by Umno Youth on the state government’s financial source to fund its poverty eradication programmes.
Muhyiddin said Muslims would not want to be associated should gambling money were used for the programmes.
“We want an answer from Lim. If the money is from a forbidden source, Muslims will have no part in it,” he told reporters after launching a Pagoh education excellence programme at the Dewan Sri Pekembar, here.
Muhyiddin was asked on a news report today quoting Umno Youth as claiming that funds from gambling activities were used to finance poverty eradication programmes in Penang.
The Tengku Razaleigh factor
Posted by Kit in Election, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 4 October 2010
by Jema Khan
The Malaysian Insider
October 04, 2010
OCT 4 — The upcoming Galas state seat by-election is interesting on many fronts. It was a seat won by PAS in the last general election though Umno won the Gua Musang parliamentary seat which encompasses Galas.
By many accounts winning the Gua Musang parliamentary seat has nothing to do with Umno but more due to it being the stronghold of its long-standing MP, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Who is this man known colloquially as Ku Li?
Well, if you read “Malaysian Maverick” written by Barry Wain which is actually about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you would know. Ku Li is an elder statesman in Malaysia who also, by many accounts, could have been PM of Malaysia.
A jovial, effervescent and decent man who has within him the institutional memory of this country, he really personifies all that was good in our founding fathers. Ask him about any of them, be it Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, you name it, he was there at the time and can still give you a decent recollection of what they stood for.
He has a very Malay way of putting his objections to all the bad things that are happening to our nation. See him on YouTube under Mycitizen and you will get a flavour of the man. Our founding fathers were the generation that really sacrificed their wealth and wellbeing for this country and their views would be very similar to that of Ku Li’s today.
In fact, the irony of it all is although Ku Li sacrificed so much personally for Umno, it is the opposition that today have a greater appreciation for his integrity and intellect. They accept him as an elder statesman that they would love to have on their side. Read the rest of this entry »
Key political risks to watch in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, Corruption, Economics, Elections, Islam, Najib Razak, nation building, NEM, Sarawak, UMNO on Sunday, 3 October 2010
Oct 1, 10
Reuters/Malaysiakini
Malaysia has unveiled ambitious plans to boost its economy by mobilising hundreds of billions of dollars of private investment, although questions remain over whether the money will materialise.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s cut in fuel, gas and sugar subsidies in August triggered a political backlash that may see him holding off more reforms ahead of the next general elections due by 2013.
Najib has pledged to reform the country’s subsidy bill to tackle the budget deficit. But he is wary of upsetting the country’s majority ethnic Malays, a critical votebank whose support will be vital as he tries to revive his ruling coalition which was hit by record losses in general elections in 2008.
Following is a summary of key Malaysia risks to watch:
Political conflict
Political tensions spiked after the 2008 general election when unprecedented opposition gains transformed the political landscape. BN coalition’s 52-year grip on the country was dented when it ceded control of five states and lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority to an opposition led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The political uncertainty has weighed on foreign investment with net portfolio and direct investment outflows reaching US$61 billion (RM188 million) in 2008 and 2009 according to official data. Money has since flowed into the bond market according to central bank statistics, but little has flowed into equities.
What to watch:
• Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial. Anwar says the case is a political conspiracy, and a contentious verdict would anger his supporters. Any marked increase in political tensions could see more foreign money pulled from stocks, bonds and the ringgit. But with limited foreign portfolio investment still in the country, the impact will be muted.
• Elections in the Borneo state of Sarawak, expected by the end of this year. The state’s chief minister has directed the ruling coalition to ready itself for state-wide polls, and analysts say nationwide elections could follow soon after. BN’s shock defeat in a May by-election in Sarawak raised doubts over its support levels in the state. Read the rest of this entry »
Ethnic outbidding and red herrings
By Mavis Puthucheary
October 01, 2010
Ethnic outbidding is a favourite pastime among Umno politicians and they have become very good at some “innovative” ideas. We have been treated to “Ketuanan Melayu” and the declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state.
Now we are told that as the Malaysian Constitution does not state that the prime minister should be a Malay, there is a chance that of this happening if the opposition coalition captures power at the federal level in the next election.
What are we to make of this “warning”?
First of all, we must distinguish the legal or constitutional aspects from political realities. In all democratic constitutions the person who becomes the prime minister is either directly elected by the people (in a presidential system) or is the leader of the party that has won the majority of seats in the elected house of parliament.
The Malaysian Constitution does not deviate from this basic democratic principle.
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Don’t turn cash aid matter into a religious issue
Posted by Kit in Penang Government, Religion, UMNO on Friday, 1 October 2010
By Thomas Lee
More than 40 Muslim senior citizens have returned cash aid from the Penang state government due to suspicion and uneasiness over the sources of the funding.
Bernama quoted an imam from Pulau Mertajam, Saidin Chik, 72, as saying that he decided to return the money as he learned that it was from non-halal activities.
“I received a RM100 aid sometime this year, but I heard over television and read in the newspapers that the money was from gambling activities. We have been praying everyday and suddenly we get a cash aid from non-halal sources and spent it. What is going to happen to our prayers?” he said.
Saidin told reporters this after handing over the money to Penang Umno secretary Azhar Ibrahim on Wednesday 29 September 2010.
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Kit Siang calls Dr M ‘No 1 racist in Malaysia’
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Saturday, 25 September 2010
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
September 35, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest play at racial politics has earned him the wrath of his parliamentary foe Lim Kit Siang, who has now christened the former premier with a new nickname — “the number one racist in Malaysia”.
The DAP advisor slammed Dr Mahathir for playing the race card yet again when he claimed the Malays would lose power if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) defeats the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.
“Our beloved former Prime Ministrer Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that in the next general election, the Malays would lose power if the PR forms the government.
“Imagine, a former Prime Minister, who ruled us for 22 long years, returning to politics as the number one racist in Malaysia,” he boomed to a crowd of over 1,000 people at a fundraising dinner in Bandar Menjalara here last night, organised by the Segambut DAP division. Lim’s rhetoric earned him thunderous applause from the crowd, who yelled in disagreement at Dr Mahathir’s latest assertion.
He also accused Dr Mahathir of appearing on the stump for Umno by trying to frighten off the Malay voters from voting PR.
“He is trying to instil fear in the Malays by playing the race card on them. This is the height of Dr Mahathir’s irresponsibility. He is becoming an ultra again,” Lim said. Read the rest of this entry »
Who is the second UMNO/BN Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Tuesday, 21 September 2010
I am surprised that in the past 24 hours, the other Ministers have not rallied behind the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who had courageously declared that he is Malaysian first and Malay second.
Who is the second UMNO/Barisan Nasional Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?
It has taken Nazri more than six months to respond to my challenge in Parliament in March this year to all Cabinet Ministers to declare that they are Malaysian first and race second.
Surely, Malaysians do not have to wait for another six months before another Minister plucks up sufficient courage to follow Nazri to declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second.
I have given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak a specific question on the commitment and loyalty of Ministers and top civil servants to his 1Malaysia concept when Parliament reconvenes for the 2011 Budget meeting beginning on Oct. 11.
My question to Najib in the first week of the Parliamentary meeting next month read:
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Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Thursday, 16 September 2010
In his Malaysia Day message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed strong opposition at the rise of extremism which is a stumbling block in the nation’s progress.
He said he is “saddened” that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation, there are still those who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a diverse society and reject the 1Malaysia concept and policy propounded by him since becoming Prime Minister in April last year.
Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at the rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups.
There can be no question that the rhetoric of race and religion had reached an unprecedented level in the past 17 months since he took over the helm of federal government, and what compounded the problem was that the racial bigotry and religious extremism were all coming from one direction – UMNO and its allied or outsourced groups, raising the fundamental question whether Najib has the political will and leadership to stand up and be counted to stamp out extremism coming from his own camps.
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Umno and the average Malay
By Cheong Suk-Wai, Senior Writer
The Straits Times, June 1, 2010
TABLE TALK WITH MAZNAH MOHAMAD
IT USED to be that whenever it came to election time in Malaysia, the country’s ruling party Umno would gets its community development workers to fan out to all the hamlets on bicycles and on foot to take the political temperature and assure villagers that Umno was the best doctor for them, taking care of their births, deaths and everything in between. But then village youth began migrating en masse to towns from the 1980s and Umno lost these rural forts.
Malaysian sociologist Maznah Mohamad recalls Umno’s women telling her how urban folk would shoo them away and even hurl insults at them if they tried to woo them. Dr Maznah, 54, notes wryly: ‘You can’t go knocking on doors in, say, Subang Jaya. People will just chase you away. There’s no community spirit in such neighbourhoods. Anyway, they’re urbanised, so why would they need you to help them?’
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Is Najib prepared to put his 1Malaysia policy to the test by leading a nation-wide “Say No to Racism” campaign starting with errant Umno leaders, government officials and Utusan Malaysia?
Although the Director-General of Education Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom has issued a circular dated August 26 to all school principals and teachers warning of action to be taken for racist remarks in schools, the absence of action against the two school principals in Johore and Kedah who had made racist remarks stands out like a sore thumb.
More than three weeks have passed and both principals had not yet been referred to the police, let alone the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
This is totally at variance with the “Zero tolerance for racism” belatedly made by the Prime Minister two weeks after the deplorable incidents involving the two school principals.
The Prime Minister should realize that the escalation of the rhetoric of race and religion makes a total mockery of his 1Malaysia slogan, one reason why there is so little national enthusiasm for the Natioal Month theme of “1Malaysia – Transforming the Nation”.
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Before Khairy demands that Wee Meng Chee be taught a lesson, will he surrender himself to the police for criminal charges to be preferred against him for his previous racist statements?
I had said that Wee Meng Chee can be faulted for being crude, vulgar, abusive and even obscene at the disgust and fury of his 3-minute rap video directed at the school principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, Hajah Siti Inshah binti Mansor, for making racist, derogatory and seditious remarks like: “Pelajar-pelajar Cina tidak diperlukan dan boleh balik ke China ataupun Sekolah Foon Yew. Bagi pelajar India, tali sembahyang yang diikat di pergelangan tangan dan leher pelajar nampak seakan anjing dan hanya anjing akan mengikat seperti itu.”
However, the police has still to explain why they are investigating Wee for sedition when there is nothing seditious in his rap video against the Kulai and Bukit Selambau school principals for making racist slurs against students especially when the school principals concerned are still scot-free for their seditious statements.
I had myself been arrested and investigated for sedition and DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh had been arrested, charged and acquitted of sedition – just two examples of the gross abuse of powers and double-standards in the country.
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Traitors – A Trademark & Tradition of Umno!
Posted by Kit in Defence, Martin Jalleh, UMNO on Tuesday, 31 August 2010
By Martin Jalleh
The Umno-dominated government stubbornly sticks to the same old tricks to try to sink the Opposition. One such stale attempt is to label as “traitors” those who refuse to suck up to its spent elite leaders.
And so Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid (AZ) who apparently ran out of steam to shut the Opposition up on the Scorpene submarines scandal, resorted to calling Nurul Izzah a “traitor”.
It seems that the Member of Parliament (MP) has stained the nation’s image by revealing on 4 Aug. 2010 in an interview with Kompas, a newspaper in Indonesia, that the country’s first submarine cannot dive.
Below are his comments (in bold) followed by a response which when added up points to the ironic conclusion that it is the Defence Minister and Umno who could be the real traitors after all!
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