The IDE study that UMNO-PAS attacks have been successful in fuelling anti-DAP sentiments among Malays a wake-up call to all DAP leaders and members to take these misperceptions seriously
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malays, Pakatan Harapan on Friday, 8 January 2016, 8:49 am
The Darul Ehsan Institute (IDE) study that UMNO-PAS attacks and demonization campaigns have been successful in fuelling anti-DAP sentiments among Malays, especially in rural areas, must be a wake-up call to all DAP leaders and members to take these misperceptions seriously.
The study found that after the break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in June, the campaign to demonise the DAP as anti-Malay has become more effective with UMNO and PAS working together in the anti-DAP campaign.
In a survey by IDE between November 13 and 15 last year, involving 1,716 Malay respondents throughout Selangor, almost two-thirds of respondents (72%) agreed that DAP was a racial party and that it was only looking after the interest of the Chinese community.
Only 12% disagreed, while 16% said they were “unsure”.
More than half (64%) also agreed with the statement that “DAP was an anti-Malay and anti-Islam party”. Some 18% disagreed while 19% were unsure.
I wonder what would be the results if a survey had been conducted among Chinese respondents to the questions whether UMNO was a racial party that only looked after the interest of the Malay community and whether UMNO was anti-Chinese and anti non-Islamic religions in the country.
Be that as it may, DAP leaders, members and even supporters should be concerned about the IDE survey, for DAP was never formed to be a party for the
Chinese or any particular community but for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region – and it was totally anathema in DAP for anyone to be anti-Islam or any other religion. Read the rest of this entry »
The Disgrace of Malaysian University Education
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Education, university on Thursday, 7 January 2016, 12:46 pm
By Murray Hunter
Asia Sentinel
January 6, 2016
Mismanagement, waste, and corruption in public universities
Malaysia’s public universities have dropped completely out of the World University Rankings maintained by the Times of London. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia was ranked 87th in the top 100 Asian rankings in 2013, but has since fallen out. Not a single Malaysian university made the top 100 Asian rankings.
The collapse of higher education in Malaysia has grown so marked that World Bank economist Dr Frederico Gil Sander recently said the state of the system is more alarming than the country’s considerable public debt. The talent needed to develop the Malaysian economy is not being produced.
It isn’t just the Times survey. Malaysian public universities have also shown mixed results in other surveys like the QS rankings,where three Malaysian universities rose slightly while Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, International Islamic Universiti Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi MARA, all slipped. Not a single Malaysian university made the top 100, According to the QS ranking profiles, Malaysian universities have lost significant ground in academic reputation and tend to be weak in research, with no Malaysian university even reaching the top 400.
Public Universities Vice-Chancellor/Rector Committee chairman Kamarudin Hussin, also vice chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) claims that the ranking methodologies favor older, more established universities. Yet many universities within the top 100 Asian universities were established relatively recently. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, ranked 7th was established in 1980, Nanyang Technological University, ranked 10th was set up in 1981, and Pohang University of Science and Technology, ranked 11th, was established in 1986. Read the rest of this entry »
The 14GE is not battle between the Malays and Chinese for political power as Malays will not lose political power but whether Najib and UMNO leaders can continue to mislead Malaysians to continue their economic scandals and abuses of power
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, Parliament on Thursday, 7 January 2016, 11:44 am
I want first to thank the DAP Assemblywoman for Senai, Wong Shu Qi for a new translation and bringing out this new Chinese edition of “Time Bombs in Malaysia”, a collection of my speeches in Parliament during my first two terms as Member of Parliament from 1971 – 1978.
I am reminded of the first day of the resumed Parliament on Feb. 23, 1971, when Members of Parliament convened for the first time after a 21-month suspension of Parliament and National Operations Council (NOC) Emergency rule after the May 13 racial riots of 1969, under the grave threat that Parliament will be closed down and Members of Parliament sent home if they failed to accomplish the first task expected of them – to amend the Malaysian Constitution to entrench four issues as “sensitive” issues which could not be questioned on pain of conviction for sedition and the removal of the parliamentary immunity of MPs with regard to these entrenched “sensitive issues” even in parliamentary debates.
In fact, a few days before MPs met, the UMNO Youth leader at the time warned that UMNO Youth would surround Parliament until MPs approved the Constitution Amendment Bill.
During the debate on the Constitution Amendment Bill in Parliament, there was palpable electricity in the air, with government MPs walking around with bulges in the pocket, signifying the least pacific intentions.
However, the 13 elected DAP MPs were not so easily browbeaten and we stood up for the people’s rights and made it clear that DAP MPs were not elected into Parliament to be “yes-men” to surrender their principles or betray the trust and confidence of the electorate. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno-PAS attacks fuel anti-DAP sentiments among Malays, study finds
BY ZULKIFLI SULONG, FEATURES AND ANALYSIS EDITOR | The Malaysian Insider
Published: 7 January 2016 6:59 AM
Anger towards DAP among Malay Muslims, especially in rural areas, has increased due to Umno’s consistent campaign to demonise the Chinese-dominated party, even as it recruits more Malay members and leaders, says a think tank.
The animosity intensified after the break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition in June, when DAP parted ways with former ally PAS, the country’s second largest party of Malay Muslims.
With Umno and PAS starting to work together, the anti-DAP campaign is becoming more effective as both Malay parties use religion to attack it, said the Darul Ehsan Institute (IDE).
Read the rest of this entry »
The Education Minister should ensure that Malaysian taxpayers do not have to pay for RM3 million mistake in reprint of Year Six History textbook which showed Malacca in the east coast above Terengganu
Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid should ensure that Malaysian taxpayers do not have to pay for the RM3 million mistake in reprint of Year Six History textbook which showed Malacca in the east coast above Terengganu.
It is shocking as to how such a basic mistake, which should not be made under any circumstances, could be made despite the various levels of checks and counter-checks, from the choice of the author to the writing of the text, including the title to the diagrams and content to the last page.
Clearly, the whole system of checks and counter-checks have broken down in the education ministry, which does not reflect well on the professionalism of the Education Ministry, departments and agencies like the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) delegated with such tasks.
The DBP director general Datuk Dr. Awang Sariyan has said that reprinting the history text would cost RM3 million. Read the rest of this entry »
My experience at the Impian Edu-Camp
Posted by Kit in DAP, Impian Malaysia, Sarawak on Wednesday, 6 January 2016, 11:49 am
Helen D’Cruz
Malaysiakini
5 Jan 2016
It was a rainy afternoon as we drove into Kg Sorak Sumpong, Serian in the outskirts of Kuching. It took us about an hour and a half drive from Kuching to reach this Bidayuh village. We were the 10 volunteers and two Impian officials who were going to run a holiday education camp for the children of the village.
At first sight of the village, I was disappointed, having expected to be taken into the interiors of Sarawak and given an opportunity to live in longhouses. As it turned out this looked like one of the new villages often seen in West Malaysia.
It was soon apparent that due to some miscommunication, we were not expected at the village that week. However, this was quickly sorted out and we were placed with three host families. The only married couple in the group was given a bedroom to themselves in one home. This was considered very gracious of the host as there were 11 family members in that house.
Two of the guys were housed close to a pigsty and padi drying area. The rest of us were graciously given the living room and one bedroom in another house. Most of us slept on mats spread out on the floor. Read the rest of this entry »
Malacca DAP must continue to help lead Malaysia towards a new future – where Malaysians can regain confidence to be able to compete with the rest of the world instead of fighting among ourselves over a diminishing national economic cake
Posted by Kit in DAP, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, UMNO on Wednesday, 6 January 2016, 9:40 am
Malacca had always played a leading role in DAP’s 50-year campaign to create a new and better Malaysia – where Malaysians can regain confidence to be able to compete with the rest of the world instead of fighting among ourselves over a diminishing economic cake.
Malacca was one of the six founder DAP branches after the party was registered on March 18, 1966, the other being Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Johor Baru and Penang. The formation of the DAP branch in Ipoh made these seven branches the Magnificent Seven in the first year of the DAP’ s political struggle in 1966.
No other state could claim to have a special relationship with the 50 year struggle of the DAP, as four out of the five DAP Secretaries-General had special associations with Malacca, starting with DAP’s first Secretary-General C.V. Devan Nair (who was at the time DAP MP for Bangsar and later became President of Singapore), myself, Kerk Kim Hock and Lim Guan Eng who together served as Secretary-General of DAP for some 47 of the party’s 50-year history.
Right from the very beginning, DAP was formed as a political party with a commitment and vision for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Najib survive the RM2.6 billion fallout?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 6 January 2016, 8:35 am
Story by Khairul Khalid | Kinibiz
DECEMBER 23, 2015 8:00AM
The political purge that followed the WSJ revelations stunned the public and sent shockwaves among Umno grassroots. Can Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak survive the RM2.6 billion backlash?
________________________________________________________________________
Just a few weeks after the sensational Wall Street Journal (WSJ) expose in July, alleging that RM2.6 billion was transferred directly into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s bank accounts, major reshuffles in key government posts shocked the nation again.
The most prominent were the triple whammy dismissals of attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and federal minister Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Retribution in RM2.6 billion ‘Donorgate’
Were these casualties political retribution in the RM2.6 billion “Donorgate” scandal linked to Najib? The public seemed to think so.
Read the rest of this entry »
Iran, Emerging From Sanctions, Faces More Isolation After Embassy Attack
Posted by Kit in International, Islam, Islamic state on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 10:33 am
by Thomas Erdbrink
New York Times
Jan 4, 2016
TEHRAN — When a Saudi state executioner beheaded the prominent Shiite dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, the Shiite theocracy in Iran took it as a deliberate provocation by its regional rival and dusted off its favored playbook, unleashing hard-liner anger on the streets.
Within hours of the execution, nationalist Iranian websites were calling for demonstrations in front of the Saudi mission in Tehran and its consulate in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad.
The police, outmanned, looked the other way as angry protesters set the embassy ablaze with firebombs, climbed the fences and vandalized parts of the building.
Now, Iranian leaders are suddenly forced to reckon with whether they played into the Saudis’ hands, finding themselves mired in a new crisis at a time they had been hoping to emerge from international sanctions as an accepted global player. Iran might have capitalized on global outrage at the executions by Saudi Arabia, but instead finds itself once again characterized by adversaries as a provocateur in the region and abroad. Read the rest of this entry »
How Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State find common ground in beheadings
Posted by Kit in International, Islam, Islamic state on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 10:14 am
By Adam Taylor
Washington Post
January 4, 2016
Over the past year, Saudi Arabia has faced recurrent criticism that its ultraconservative interpretation of Islamic law is not so far off from what is practiced by the Islamic State, an extremist organization that proclaimed its “caliphate” across parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014. The criticism clearly irks some Saudi officials, who have threatened legal action against social media users who make the comparison with the Islamic State.
This weekend’s announcement that Shiite cleric Sheik Nimr Baqr al-Nimr was among 47 people executed in Saudi Arabia in a day has added considerable fuel to the fire, however. Saudi authorities have acknowledged that some of those executed were beheaded — a technique widely used and publicized by the Islamic State.
In just one sign of broader official outrage at the execution of Nimr, the website of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, released an image that contrasts the Saudi kingdom’s use of beheadings with the Islamic State’s decapitation videos. “Any differences?” it asks, showing a Saudi executioner with a sword standing over a kneeling man.
The idea that Nimr could have been beheaded will only inflame sectarian tensions in the Muslim world, with Shiites remembering the way that Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shiite imam, was beheaded by the Sunni Umayyad caliphate in the seventh century. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s RM2.6 billion ‘Donorgate’ rocks Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 10:08 am
By Khairul Khalid | Kinibiz
DECEMBER 22, 2015 8:00AM
________________________________________________________________________
The sensational expose on a RM2.6 billion transfer into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts rocked Malaysia in 2015. Will there be more twists and turns to the “Donorgate” scandal in 2016?
In 2015, “donations” took on new dimensions in the Malaysian lexicon. There are still more questions than answers about the RM2.6 billion transfer – purportedly from a mysterious Arab donor – directly to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
The shocking expose by the American newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last July is arguably the biggest bombshell ever dropped on a sitting Malaysian prime minister in recent memory.
Read the rest of this entry »
MACC’s “name and shame” website should be closed down as it only shames Malaysia when the person responsible for Malaysia to be ranked third in world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015” is not mentioned
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 8:24 am
I thank the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for its quick response to my speech at the “Mana RM2.6 billion?” kopitiam ceramah in Kulai on Sunday, explaining that only those who are convicted of corruption are placed on the MACC’s “name and shame list” on its website and not those being investigated.
This is exactly the point I was making, that the MACC’s “name and shame” data base does not make any significant contribution to the battle against corruption, especially against grand corruption, when the person responsible for Malaysia to be ranked third in the world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015” is not even mentioned.
Can MACC point out any “shark” in its “name and shame” database of over 700 names or explain how it could claim to have any successful anti-corruption campaign when it had not been able to nab, prosecute and convict any “shark” apart from “ikan bilis” with the MACC entering its eighth year of operation after taking over from its predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) with more powers, funds and personnel than ACA?
Three months have passed since the Malay Rulers made their unprecedented Oct. 4 statement expressing concern about three national issues causing the grave crisis of confidence battering Malaysia for several months – the 1MDB scandal, the rule of law and national unity in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Saudi action “resets geopolitical chessboard” in Middle East, says expert
Posted by Kit in International, Islam, Islamic state on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 6:48 am
By Anakhanum Khidayatova
Trend
4 JANUARY 2016
Saudi Arabia and Iran have been engaged in a Cold War via proxy, in its most recent manifestation, since the Arab Spring, in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and in other countries around the world through humanitarian aid and dawa (outreach), Theodore Karasik, the Middle East analyst and senior advisor to Risk Insurance Management in Dubai, told Trend Jan. 4.
“This Cold War entered a dangerous, highly confrontational phase in the past few days. The Kingdom, in mid December, prepared the steps for today, with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announcing a Sunni Muslim Alliance. With the Saudi execution of the “terrorist extremist” Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was the spiritual leader of Saudi Shiites in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, the sectarian divide grew immediate into a deep chasm”- he said.
The expert also said that Saudi Arabia’s Sunni Muslim Alliance is now fully activated with the al-Nimr execution. Read the rest of this entry »
Munshi Abdullah – Exemplar of a Free Mind
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Malays on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 6:28 am
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
Malay society has no shortage of formal leaders. First we have the hereditary leaders, from the sultan down to his various lowly chieftains including the local datuk lembaga (lord admiral). This pattern of leadership has a long history in our society.
Then came the religious leaders, of more recent vantage, introduced in the 15th Century with the coming of Islam to the Malay world. More recently and fast gaining a pivotal role, are political leaders.
With modern political institutions, especially democratic ones, we should expect a more frequent emergence of fresh leaders. This is not necessarily so. China is far from being a democratic society yet its People Congress gets more infusion of fresh talents with each party’s election. Compare that to the United States Congress, the self-declared exemplar of representative government. You are more likely to get a new member of the old Soviet Politburo than you are to get a new member of US Congress.
UMNO, the premier Malay political organization, is on par with the old Soviet Politburo in nurturing new talent.
Despite modernity, both hereditary and religious leaders still have a strong hold on Malays. Read the rest of this entry »
European Sympathies Lean Toward Iran in Conflict with Saudi Arabia
Posted by Kit in International, Islam, Islamic state on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, 6:15 am
by Sewell Chan
New York Times
JAN. 4, 2016
LONDON — In the days since Saudi Arabia inflamed tensions with Iran by executing 47 people, including a Shiite cleric, European observers have been quick to condemn the action, reflecting broader concern across the Continent about Saudi policy and its role in the tumult rolling through the Middle East.
Opposition in Europe to the death penalty — and harsh corporal punishment, including the flogging of a Saudi blogger who has become something of a cause célèbre in Europe — is just one element of the criticism of the Saudi monarchy. Even as European governments continue to view Saudi Arabia as a vital if problematic stabilizing force in the region, as well as a rich market for European arms and other products, European opinion has grown increasingly critical of Saudi support and financing for Wahhabist and Salafist preachers who have contributed to the Sunni extremist ideology that has fueled Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
In addition, the European Union and six major world powers reached a deal in Vienna over the summer to contain Iran’s nuclear program, and Iran is seen as essential to ending the five-year-old civil war in Syria, which has fueled a surge of migrants to the Continent, the highest number since World War II.
So for many Europeans, Iran — long a pariah because of its anti-Western rhetoric and its nuclear program — has suddenly become, at least in comparison with Saudi Arabia, an object of sympathy. Read the rest of this entry »
Iranian Protesters Ransack Saudi Embassy After Execution of Shiite Cleric
Posted by Kit in Islam, Islamic state on Monday, 4 January 2016, 6:17 pm
by Ben Hubbard
New York Times
JAN. 2, 2016
Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority.
The cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges, drawing condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region, and sparking fears that sectarian tensions could rise across the Middle East.
The executions coincided with increased attacks in Saudi Arabia by the jihadists of the Islamic State and an escalating rivalry between the Sunni monarchy and Shiite Iran that is playing out in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Sheikh Nimr was an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy and was adopted as a symbolic leader by Shiite protesters in several Persian Gulf countries during the Arab Spring uprisings. Read the rest of this entry »
Fifth phase of DAP – form Malaysian federal government with Pakatan Harapan in the 14th General Election
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Harapan on Monday, 4 January 2016, 2:10 pm
Young and idealistic Malaysians came together fifty years ago to form the Democratic Action Party not because of perks, position or power but because of our common beliefs in justice, freedom and national unity out of our diverse races, religions, languages and cultures in the country and out of our love and patriotism for Malaysia as we believe Malaysia can become a great nation and a show-case to the world for successful and harmonious plural nation building.
We never thought that we would be around for fifty years, but we were engaged not in a battle for a day but for ages, as we are committed in a long-term mission to realise our vision of a great nation founded on the principles of justice, freedom, democracy, integrity and good governance.
The five-decade history of DAP, which will be fully 50 on March 18, 2016, the date of our registration, can be divided into four phases: Read the rest of this entry »
Poor MCA – so irrelevant and so lost that it is even following the lead of liars to scrape the bottom of the barrel
Poor MCA, so irrelevant and so lost in the woods of Malaysians politics that it is even following the lead of liars to scrape the bottom of the barrel!
This is not only my reaction, but the response of most Malaysians who came across new report like the one headlined: “MCA Youth join in to bash DAP over alleged Israeli link”.
I do not blame the MCA and MCA Youth for feeling so irrelevant and so lost, for what else can they do when MCA has established the most unenviable record of being the first political party in Malaysia which has a majority of members who do not vote for the MCA and Barisan Nasional in a general election?
Similarly, I will not waste any more time on the so-called Pro-Barisan Nasional NGOs Coalition whose president Zulkarnain Mahdar said that DAP should sue the Penang Chief Minister’s former special officer Mohamed Razali Abdul Rahman who alleged DAP of being offered RM1.2 billion in return for an Israeli base in Port Dickson if the opposition managed to capture Putrajaya in the last general election. Read the rest of this entry »
Two questions for Najib on his twin mega scandals – what were 1MDB’s total debts before “rationalization” and why no one charged court for 1MDB’s multi-billion ringgit losses?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Good Governance, Najib Razak on Monday, 4 January 2016, 9:10 am
I have resumed my tour of parliamentary constituencies as part of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign, following my suspension from Parliament for six months on Oct. 22, in pursuit of the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”.
Kluang yesterday was the 56th and Pulai today the 57th Parliamentary constituency I am visiting in the new year of 2016, and both visits have shown that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could not be more wrong when he claimed in his New Year message that his RM2.6 billion donation and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals have been resolved and are no more issues in the country.
In fact, the opposite is the case, as both scandals remain foremost issues among Malaysians, especially as they had been responsible for the most shameful episode in the 58-year history of the nation – Malaysia’s third placing in the world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015”!
Although it will not be possible for me to visit all the 222 Parliamentary constituencies in the country during the period of my 180-day six-month suspension from Parliament, I will try to visit more than 150 Parliamentary constituencies in the country by the time I am allowed to return to Parliament – with a strong and unmistakable mandate from Malaysians from all over the country, embracing all races, religions and regions in the country, to demand that Najib must fully account for his twin mega scandals.
Najib had tried to bury “once and for all” his twin mega scandals in his New Year message, but his effort could not survive 24 hours.
He claimed that he had honoured his promise in June last year to resolve the 1MDB problem, alleging that with the latest agreement announced on 31st December for the sale of 60 per cent equity in Bandar Malaysia to a joint local and international consortium – composed of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings at 60 per cent and China Railway Engineering Corporation at 40 per cent – 1MDB will see its debts reduced by approximately RM40.4 billion, which represents the overwhelming majority of 1MDB’s debt.
Leaving aside for the moment the details of the 1MDB “rationalization programme” to reduce 1MDB debts, as they are indirect bailouts by the Federal Government, there are two questions which Najib needs to answer. Read the rest of this entry »
Ramadi: Series of IS counterattacks target Iraqi forces
Posted by Kit in Islamic state on Monday, 4 January 2016, 6:35 am
BBC
2 January 2016
Fighters from so-called Islamic State (IS) have continued to pursue counterattacks on the edges of Ramadi a week after the city was recaptured by Iraqi troops.
Most of the attacks were outside central Ramadi to the north and east, spokesman for the US-led coalition, Col Steve Warren, told the AFP news agency.
He said Iraqi government forces had so far successfully repelled every attack.
On Friday the group attacked a military base near the city.
The Iraqi government said a week ago that it had “liberated” Ramadi from IS. The jihadist group had held the city since May.
Col Warren said they had not yet seen IS “mass enough combat power to move Iraq off their positions”.
The BBC’s Thomas Fessy, who has just returned from Ramadi, says a tough fight continues in the city and government forces have been taking casualties. Read the rest of this entry »
