Bung Moktar’s tips will make UMNO an eternal opposition, never to return to the corridors of power
I am tickled no end by the tips given by UMNO Supreme Council member Bung Karno Radin on how to be an effective opposition.
He said Umno should adopt the mindset and modus operandi of Pakatan Harapan when the latter was still the federal opposition, “walloping” and throwing apparent allegations around with no fear of legal consequences.
He said: “They fight the (then-BN) government non-stop, they kept throwing speculation and as a result, many of them were charged in courts. They just walloped Umno and BN, they don’t care.
“So, we want to work out like that. Or better than the previous opposition.”
Bung Karno’s tips will make UMNO an eternal opposition, never to return to the corridors of power. Read the rest of this entry »
“Mahathir and Anwar are changed men, don’t expect a repeat of 1998, says Kit Siang” – TMI
Posted by Kit in Impian Malaysia, nation building, PH Government on Sunday, 10 June 2018, 10:08 am
The Malaysian Insight | Interview 2|10.6.2018
BOTH men are ambitious and both carry scars of past battles.
Both are surrounded by impatient and suspicious supporters.
The last time one of them was the prime minister and the other the prime minister-in-waiting, it ended in the nastiest scrap in Malaysian political history.
Critics believe it will just be a matter of time before Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim clash again, a development that will send the new government into a tailspin and the country into a period of tumult.
Lim Kit Siang has heard the chatter but he is betting on a different outcome this time.
The DAP veteran said both men and other senior leaders within PH are changed individuals and the coalition is more stable than it appears.
Time and the circumstances of the country in the years leading up to the historic 14th general election have changed both Mahathir and Anwar, said Lim.
‘I think we have all changed. Mahathir, Anwar and all the leading players in Pakatan Harapan have learnt the lessons of life to be better persons and to be more sensitive, more sensible and better Malaysian leaders, ” he told The Malaysian Insight. Read the rest of this entry »
“Time to dream big, Kit Siang tells Malaysians” – TMI
Posted by Kit in Impian Malaysia, nation building, PH Government on Sunday, 10 June 2018, 9:55 am
The Malaysian Insight | Interview |10.6.2018
LIM Kit Siang does not want Malaysians to manage their expectations.
He does not want them to think in terms of small changes and piecemeal improvement in governance or to be limited by communal sentiments.
“Malaysians can dare to dream again – and dream big. Many had given up hope, as witnessed by the mass migration of the best and brightest.
“Even worse, for the past few years, Malaysians whether in the country or part of the diaspora were ashamed to admit that they were Malaysians because of the infamy of the kleptocracy.
“Malaysia and Malaysians are coming in from the cold,” Lim told the Malaysian Insight.
For a start, the Pakatan Harapan government wants to build a country where people treat each other as fellow Malaysians.
This nation can then be beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world, he said.
His words will offer comfort to Malaysians who after having witnesses so many false dawns in the country are a cynical lot.
They believe that the euphoria of a new Malaysia following May 9 will die off shortly and it will be a return to the days when race and religious dominate discourse and decision-making.
In an interview with The Malaysian Insight, Lim shared his feelings about the historic GE14 especially for a politician who spent close to five decades on the losing side.
Below are excerpts of the interview. Read the rest of this entry »
A month of strange politicking in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in PH Government, UMNO on Saturday, 9 June 2018, 7:26 pm
While Malaysians breathe a new air of freedom and re-birth on May 9, 2018, taking tentative steps in the making of a New Malaysia, it was also a month of strange politicking by certain political forces whether of the previous incumbency or those who had hoped to be “kingmaker” to prop up the previous incumbents.
This is best illustrated by the news that the fallen Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was setting up court as an alternative UMNO power centre by establishing an office because of a deluge of visitors from supporters, friends, UMNO members and UMNO leaders from across the country “to convey their good wishes, show support and ask for opinions on current affairs”.
There was not an ounce of compunction or penitence for the wrong he had wrought to Malaysia or the destruction he had done to UMNO/Barisan Nasional, unlike his cousin who announced yesterday that he was fully aware that the GE14 results signaled the need for drastic reforms in UMNO and that he will not be offering himself as a candidate for any position at the UMNO national elections at the end of this month or the more apocalyptic scenario of middle-rung UMNO leaders likening UMNO’s present situation as like a “sunken ship” that sorely needed a new captain to salvage it and chart a new course. Read the rest of this entry »
Md Raus Sharif and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin should gracefully resign as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively to bring constitutional crisis over the two top judicial posts to an end
Posted by Kit in Law & Order, PH Government on Friday, 8 June 2018, 12:51 pm
Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin should gracefully resign as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively to bring the constituional crisis over the two top judicial posts to an end.
When Raus was controversailly re-appointed as Chief Justice, he said his reappointment as Chief Justice was “unprecedented” but constitutional, that there was always a first time for everything, and that when something happens for the first time, there is bound to be many differences in opinion.
What is incontrovertible however is that re-appointment of Raus and Zulkefli to the two top judicial posts in the land had met with criticism and opposition – with the weight of juristic, legal and informed public opinion arrayed against them at the time of the re-appointments involving a former Chief Justice, a former Federal Court judge, a former Attorney-General, a former de facto Law Minister and the Malaysian Bar.
The graceful resignation of Raus as Chief Justice and Zulkefli as Court of Appeal President will allow a good start to much-needed judicial and legal reforms in the country.
(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 8th June 2018)
With top UMNO leaders in deep denial, refusing to admit to the national infamy of a global kleptocracy and kakistocracy, and continuing with the politics of race, lies, fear and hate, unlikely UMNO General Assembly at end of the month will see any redemption, salvation, reform or renewal
With top UMNO leaders in deep denial, refusing to admit to the national infamy of a global kleptocracy and kakistocracy which they had brought to Malaysia before the 14th General Election, and continuing with the politics of lies and fear by falsely blaming the new Pakatan Harapan government of practising the politics of hate, it is unlikely that the UMNO General Assembly at the end of the month will witness any redemption or salvation as a step to UMNO reform and renewal.
The Acting UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi was right when he said after the UMNO Supreme Council on May 22 that Barisan Nasional can look to other countries where long-time parties were defeated but managed to make a comeback, but very wrong when he said that BN will be able to make a comeback against a government that was built on “hatred”.
This was because Pakatan Harapan prevailed in the 14th General Election despite the worst case of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies unleashed by UMNO/BN in the 14th General Elections and the peaceful and democratic transition of power for first time in Malaysian history was an affirmation of the capability of Malaysians for national correction, renewal and salvation.
The Pakatan Harapan Government formed after the 14th General Election is the very anti-thesis of the politics of lies, fear and hatred fanning primordial sentiments of race and religion practised by the previous UMNO/BN Government, as the values which guided the new government are transparency, harmony, freedom and justice to leverage the contribution from the best of the diverse races, religions, langugages and cultures of plural Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians must never again allow corruption to permeate all levels in the government
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Wednesday, 6 June 2018, 8:30 pm
The Chairman of the Council of Elders, Tun Daim Zainuddin, said in an interview two days ago:
“Corruption has permeated all levels in the government. We are now at a crossroad. Our only way forward is to cleanse the system and get rid of this malady that is afflicting this nation. In order to do that, political willpower will be the main criterion for success. And I am confident that this new Pakatan Harapan Government has the gumption to do just that.”
Daim is right and this is borne out by the annual Transparency Interntional (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the past 23 years.
Malaysia reached its lowest-point in 23 years in TI CPI ranking when it was ranked No. 62 out of 180 countries in the TI CPI 2017, and garnering the lowest TI CPI score of any Prime Minister since the annual TI CPI was started in 1995.
Read the rest of this entry »
Khairy’s post-14GE mea culpa that 1MDB scandal was the cause of UMNO/BN’s “catastrophic” downfall in the 14GE too little and too late
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Tuesday, 5 June 2018, 9:03 am
UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin’s mea culpa in the South China Morning Post that the 1MDB scandal was the cause of UMNO/BN’s “catastrophic” downfall in the 14th General Election is too little and too late.
It however validated the indictments and condemnations that I had made of the various national leaders and institutions both in the run-up to and during the short 11-day campaign of the 14th General Elections.
When the 13th Parliament was dissolved on 7th April 2018, I said in Ayer Hitam that I had not felt so ashamed as a MP in the 13th Parliament although I had been a Member of Parliament for 10 terms from 1969 to 2018, except for the tenth Parliament from 1999 to 2004, spanning 45 years from 1969. Read the rest of this entry »
Apandi’s refusal to resign honourably and with dignity has highlighted the refusal of other UMNO/BN political appointees to resign honourably and with dignity
Posted by Kit in Good Governance on Monday, 4 June 2018, 2:42 pm
The refusal of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali in the past month to resign honourably and with dignity as Attorney-General has highlighted the refusal of other
UMNO/Barisan Nasional political appointees to resign honourably and with dignity their political appointments although there a change of Federal government for the first time in the nation’s history.
It would appear that there is honour among thieves but not among UMNO/BN politicians.
How many of the UMNO/BN Senators have resigned from the Senate since the historic and watershed development on May 9, 2018 which saw the peaceful and democratic transition of power after 61 years of independence.
Read the rest of this entry »
Apandi’s refusal to resign as Attorney-General setting bad example to other political appointees, particularly UMNO/BN Senators
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Law & Order on Sunday, 3 June 2018, 11:51 pm
The refusal of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali to submit an honourable and dignified resignation as Attorney-General despite the watershed and historic political change in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 with the first democratic and peaceful transition of power in Malaysia has set the worst possible example to all UMNO/BN political appointees.
Although he knows that he enjoys zero confidence in the new Pakatan Harapan government of Malaysia, Apandi’s hanging on to his office is being used by other UMNO/BN political appointees to hang on to their posts, although they know they have no moral claim or authority any more to these political appointments.
This is best seen among the political appointees in the Dewan Negara, as it is some four weeks since the fall of the UMNO/BN government on May 9, 2018, but not a single UMNO/BN appointed Senator has resigned from their Senate appointment. Read the rest of this entry »
Rafidah’s advocacy of “ketuanan Malaysia” as a more inclusive concept for all Malaysians should be welcomed by Malaysians who want Malaysia to fulfill her destiny as “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Sunday, 3 June 2018, 11:11 am
Former Wanita UMNO Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz’s advocacy of “ketuanan Malaysia” as a more inclusive concept for all Malaysians should be welcomed by Malaysians to want Malaysia to fulfill her destiny as “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”.
These were the founding ideals when our nation achieved Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia was formed in 1963, to be “an independent and sovereign democratic State founded upon liberty and justice, ever seeking to defend and uphold peace and harmony among its people and to perpetuate peace among nations”, where all citizens dedicate themselves “to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty – a beacon of light in disturbed and distracted world”.
It is no exaggeration to say that never before in previous thirteen general elections since 1959 had the country seen such intensity and viciousness in the politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion as in the 14th General Election. Read the rest of this entry »
Tunku Abdul Rahman’s behest to all Malaysians 61 years ago to create a new nation inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty and be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” should be the motto for all Pakatan Harapan Federal and State Governments
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 2 June 2018, 12:35 pm
Malaysia was reborn on 9th May 2018.
History was made on that day, but the rebirth of Malaysia is only at the beginning.
There is a formidable catalogue of work that must be done to ensure that a New Malaysia is born, that we continue to make history and do not become history!
During the eleven days of the 14th General Election, we can feel the energy, spirit, hope and dream that is the very essence of being a Malaysian – where we forgot our differences, whether racial, religious, regional or socio-economic and worked for the common goal for the fulfilment of the Malaysian Dream where Malaysia will be a better country and all Malaysians can feel proud as a Malaysian. Read the rest of this entry »
Apandi will be assured of a place in the 1MDB rogues’ gallery with Najib, Jho Low and Arul Kanda if he continues to defy national and international opinion and refuses to resign as Attorney-General
Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali will be assured of a place in the 1MDB rogues’ gallery with Najib Razak, Jho Low and Arul Kanda if he continues to defy national and international opinion and refuses to resign as Attorney-General.
When the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on June 15, 2017 filed additional civil forfeiture proceedings to recover a total of US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets, making it the largest action brought under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali came out with a statement within hours to declare that there was nothing new and to express his regret about “insinuations” against the Prime Minister in the DOJ’s latest 1MDB forfeiture suit.
Apandi was telling a lie to claim that “there was nothing new” in the additional litigation proceedings of the US DOJ, and this was why I issued a statement on June 16, 2017 asking whether Apandi had read the ten “killer paragraphs” in US DOJ’s latest 1MDB kleptocratic suit to forfeit 1MDB-assets which directly linked Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation to 1MDB, and if so, how could he suggest that there was nothing new? Read the rest of this entry »
Something very wrong with constitutional check-and balance when Attorney-General can hold the country to hostage refusing to resign when there is a change of government and when he enjoys zero public confidence
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Law & Order on Friday, 1 June 2018, 6:01 pm
Something is very wrong with the constitutional check-and-balance system when the Attorney-General can hold the country to hostage refusing to resign when there is a change of government and when he enjoys zero public confidence.
This is why New Malaysia is entering the fourth week without one of the most important officials – the Attorney-General – especially at a time when there must be far-reaching structural and institutional reforms in the country to reset nation-building policies and directions.
The Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, is right that the power accorded to the attorney-general to determine not to initiate criminal proceedings cannot protect the latter if he is found to have abused that discretion in order to protect criminals.
Whether Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali is liable to criminal prosecution for misusing his discretionary powers as Attorney-General is however a very different question from the issue of his resignation as Attorney-General when there is a change of Government in a general election, especially when it is clear that apart from the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Attorney-General himself had been given a thumping vote of no confidence by the electorate.
The recent revelation by the new Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Mohd Shukri Abdull that the MACC and the United States’ Department of Justice’ (DOJ) investigations into the 1MDB scandal are “almost similar” has restored the relevance, legitimacy and soundness of the US DOJ litigation on the 1MDB international money-laundering scam and further undermined Apandi Ali’s position and credibility. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians are entitled to know how many of the heads of tens of thousands of GLCs in the country are paid millionaire or near millionaire salaries
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Thursday, 31 May 2018, 6:35 pm
The Transport Minister, Anthony Loke shocked Malaysians with his revelation that the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mycom) executive chairman Abdullah Ahmad earns a monthly salary of RM85,000, which is more than four times the basic salary of the Prime Minister.
Malaysians are entltled to know how many of the heads of the tens of thousands of government-linked companies (GLCs) in the country are paid millionaire or near-millionaire salaries.
Let there be transparency and public accountability in the wages of the GLC heads. There should be a website where the salaries and remuneration of all GLC heads and members are easily available to the public.
Out of the tens of thousands of the GLCs in the country, how many of them are filled with political appointees and how many of these UMNO/BN political appointees have resigned since the historic watershed development on May 9, 2018 which saw the first peaceful and democratic transition of power at the federal level in the nation’s history. Read the rest of this entry »
New Malaysia needs a National Integrity Plan which will transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity within 10 years
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Thursday, 31 May 2018, 8:09 am
New Malaysia needs a National Integrity Plan which will transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity within 10 years.
This National Integrity Plan for a New Malaysia should be debated and adopted by Parliament.
We should see results in the National Integrity Plan for a New Malaysia hopefully in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2018 but steady and solid improvements in the from TI CPI 2019 without any turning back or the MACC Chief Commissioner and the members of the various anti-corruption monitoring bodies must assume personal responsibility to Parliament and the nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Apandi Ali going to create dubious history by denying Malaysia with an Attorney-General for more than a month in a most crucial period in the nation’s history?
Posted by Kit in Law & Order on Wednesday, 30 May 2018, 3:28 pm
I said two days ago that Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali must be prepared to face the sack if he continues to stall from resigning honourably and with dignity as Attorney-General.
Is Apandi Ali going to create dubious history by denying Malaysia with an Attorney-General for more than a moth in a most crucial period in the nation’s history?
Today marks the full three weeks since the watershed day on May 9 when Malaysians surprised the world that they are capable of national self-correction and self-renewal by effecting a peaceful and democratic transition of power, placing Malaysia firmly on the path of a normal democracy.
It was not only a vote for no confidence for the Prime Minister and the UMNO/BN government, but more specifically, against the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali because of the AG’s central and extraordinary role in one of the primary issues of the 14th General Election – the 1MDB interntional money-laundering scandal resulting in Malaysia being stained worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
I fully agree with the Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, that the power accorded to the attorney-general to determine not to initiate criminal proceedings cannot protect the latter if he is found to have abused that discretion in order to protect criminals. Read the rest of this entry »
The desperado politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion of UMNO/BN in the 14GE was the culmination of years of indoctrination of racism, bigotry, intolerance and extremism by National Civics Bureau (BTN) and why BTN has no place in a New Malaysia
Posted by Kit in nation building on Wednesday, 30 May 2018, 2:27 pm
The desperado politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion of UMNO/BN in the 14th General Election is the culmination of years of indoctrination of racism, bigotry, intolerance and extremism by the National Civics Bureau (BTN) and why BTN has no place in a New Malaysia.
It is no exaggeration to say that never before in previous thirteen general elections since 1959 had the country seen such intensity and viciousness in the politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion as in the 14th General Election, reflecting the racism, bigotry, intolerance and extremism which had been the staple diet of BTN, to pit race against race and religion against religion instead of promoting the Malaysian Dream of a plural nation of diverse races, religions, cultures and languages.
From a bureau which should be dedicated to promote national civic consciousness in a plural society, the BTN degenerated over time into a propaganda outfit to brainwash civil servants and youngsters into mindless defenders of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional regime – even to the extent of supporting a kleptocratic regime!
It would appear that those responsible for BTN were blissfully unaware of the five principles of the Rukunegara and were the greatest opponents of Rukunegara, resulting in the BTN becoming the greatest obstacle to national unity. Read the rest of this entry »
New Malaysia must not only purge the epithet of “global kleptocracy” but we must be recognized by the world as a leading nation of integrity
Posted by Kit in Corruption, nation building on Tuesday, 29 May 2018, 4:16 pm
Malaysia was reborn on 9th May 2018.
History was not only made on that day, the Pakatan Harapan PACAs (Polling Agent/Counting Agent) volunteers throughout the country became history-makers.
But work for the rebirth of Malaysia is not done, but only at the beginning. I invite the some 100,000 PACA volunteers who helped make history on May 9 to take a greater part in shaping national events to ensure that with the historic and watershed event on May 9, we continue to make history and do not become history!
From the moving, touching and unforgettable accounts of the representatives of various sections of the Pakatan Harapan Segambut campaign of the historic eleven days from Nomination Day on April 28 to Polling Day on May 9; the story of the blood, sweat and tears of Malaysians in the 14th General Election; we can feel the energy, spirit, hope and dream that is the very essence of being a Malaysian – where we forgot our differences, whether racial, religious, regional or socio-economic and worked for the common goal for the fulfillment of the Malaysian Dream where Malaysia will be a better country and all Malaysians can feel proud as a Malaysian. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib is right for first time for a long while – it will not only not benefit him at all but will be a great detriment to him to engage in a public discourse on the 1MDB scandal – the greatest global scam of recent times
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 29 May 2018, 10:49 am
Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he does not see any benefit in engaging in a public discourse on the 1MDB and that he had been advised that it would be inappropriate to respond to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s questions regarding 1MDB.
Najib is right for the first time for a long while – it will not only not benefit him at all but will be a great detriment to him to engage in a public discourse with Guan Eng or anyone on the 1MDB scandal, undoubtedly the greatest global scam in recent times.
Najib’s survival instinct seems to have kicked in as he had been living in a bubble of his own and that of his highly-paid advisers’ creation, completely divorced from reality.
It is not that Najib is unaware that the 1MDB is his Achilles’ heel but his greatest failure in life is to believe in the fairy tales of his highly-funded advisers that it is possible to bamboozle the country about the 1MDB scandal and that he could prove Hans Christian Anderson wrong and could get away with immunity and impunity by being a modern-day Emperor without clothes! Read the rest of this entry »
