Lessons From The Past
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, History, Malays on Monday, 2 November 2015, 4:38 pm
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
October 20 2016
The coming of Islam, European colonization, and the pursuit of independence – these were transformational events in our culture that resulted in the toppling of the Malay collective coconut shell. In all three instances our culture had served us well in guiding us through uncharted waters.
Yet, and this seems perverse, in our current tribulations we are far too inclined to blame our culture. I suggest that instead of forever berating and blaming the presumed inadequacies of our culture, it would be far more meaningful and productive if we were to analyze and learn how our culture had dealt with the major events of the past, and apply those insights to our current challenges.
If I were to grade the performance of our culture to the three transformational events in our history, I would give an exemplary A-plus for the path we chose towards independence, an A-minus for our reception to the coming of Islam, and a respectable B for our performance during colonization. Read the rest of this entry »
The Peaceful Path We Chose Towards Independence
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, History, Malays on Monday, 2 November 2015, 4:19 pm
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
13th October 2015
The third defining moment in Malay culture was the peaceful path we chose towards independence. The Malay world was turned upside down with colonization; it altered the physical as well as social landscape. The latter was even more profound and threatening.
Despite that, and defying the trend of the time, we opted for this peaceful path through negotiations and collaborations in pursuit of our independence.
If one were to stroll along the countryside of pre-colonial Malaysia, there would of course be no paved roads. One would have to literally cut a swath through the thick jungle. The only practical route for travel was by rivers and waterways.
The British built roads and replaced the thick jungle with neat rows of identical, boring but highly productive rubber trees. As for the rivers, once teeming with fish, they were now like kopi susu (cafe au lait) from the contamination of brown sediments from the ubiquitous tin mines. Read the rest of this entry »
No “Lazy Malays” During The Japanese Occupation
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Constitution, Malays on Monday, 2 November 2015, 4:00 pm
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
Oct. 6, 2015
The Japanese Occupation briefly interrupted British colonial rule. Japanese troops landed in Kota Baru in the early morning of December 8, 1941, and surrendered some 43 months later. That was only a blink in our history but to those who suffered through that terrible period, it was eternity. As brutal as it was, Malays as a culture and community survived.
There was one significant but not widely noted disruption and humiliation of Malay culture during that period. The Japanese, despite their reverence for their own Sun God Emperor, had little use or respect for Malay sultans. At least the British maintained the facade of respect even though those sultans were essentially colonial puppets.
The colonials saw in the institution of Malay sultans an effective means of indirect rule. The British knew full well the reverence Malays had for our sultans. The British must have learned a thing or two from observing kampong boys herding their kerbaus (water buffaloes). Pierce a ring through the lead buffalo’s nose and then even a toddler could effectively control the herd by pulling on the rope tied to that lead beast’s ring.
That essentially was the British approach to controlling the Malay herd; pierce a ring through their sultan’s nose. The rope may be of silk and the ring of gold, but the underlying dynamics are the same. Read the rest of this entry »
The infusion of the cream of Dayak community into DAP a major and historic development in DAP’s 50 year mission to be an inclusive all-Malaysian political party representing all ethnic groups and regions in Malaysia
The infusion of the cream of Dayak community into DAP at the signing of the DAP Dayak Blueprint ceremony at the Sarawak DAP headquarters in Kuching yesterday marked a major and historic development in DAP’s 50-year mission to be an inclusive all-Malaysian political party representing all ethnic groups and regions in Malaysia.
Right from beginning from our formation half a century ago, DAP founding members and leaders have dedicated themselves to the fulfilment of the Malaysian Dream.
DAP founding leaders and members had pledged to transcend ethnic, religious, cultural, linguistic and socio-economic differences among Malaysians to build a Malaysia where democracy, good governance and socio-economic justice could flourish allowing every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion or region to achieve his or her fullest potential for the collective good and greatness of the nation.
This was why from the beginning of the first DAP general election contest in 1969, DAP had fielded a multi-racial slate of candidates for parliamentary and state assembly seats in Peninsular Malaysia, with Chinese, Malay and Indians elected as Members of Parliament or State Assembly representatives in Peninsula Malaysia.
The DAP is also the first Pan-Malaysian political party, with branches and members not only in Peninsular Malaysia also in Sarawak and Sabah.
In the 2013 General Election, the first DAP Kadazan elected representative was elected to the Sabah State Assembly, and it is our hope that the first DAP Dayak elected representative will be elected to the Sarawak State Assembly in the forthcoming Sarawak state general elections expected to held in the first quarter of next year. Read the rest of this entry »
Once docile Sarawak native villagers turning anti-BN activists
by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
2 November 2015
Iban farmer Jimmy Saban did not care much about politics until the day government men, some of them armed with guns, came to take away the land that’s been in his clan and family for generations.
Saban is one of the growing numbers of unassuming farmers, foragers and peasants who are now anti-Barisan Nasional activists, and whose fervent talks against the Sarawak government could be a factor in the coming state elections.
What distinguishes 61-year-old Saban from the middle-class, urbanised opposition activist is that he is a farmer, just like those he speaks to.
Most importantly, he has seen first-hand how tribes people lose their lands in shady deals by private companies who are often backed by the state authorities.
Saban’s story of how tribal lands are still being unscrupulously taken away counters the narrative that is being churned out by chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s administration and that of the federal BN. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP winning hearts and minds in Sarawak’s remotest areas
by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
31 October 2015
In the villages of Peninsular Malaysia, the DAP still gets a bad rap, but in an increasing number of out-of-the-way places in Sarawak, the opposition party has been received with open arms.
On September 27, it completed a water supply project for Kampung Long Luping in Lawas, a little Orang Ulu hamlet close to the Indonesian border in central Kalimantan.
This comes just months before the Sarawak state elections, which have to be held on or before September 20, 2016. Read the rest of this entry »
As 2020 deadline looms, Malaysian students fail to shine in science
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Education, university on Monday, 2 November 2015, 7:49 am
by Boo Su-Lyn
The Malay Mail Online
November 2, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 ― Less than 13 per cent of those who sat for the Form 3 PT3 examination last year scored at least a C in both science and mathematics, Putrajaya has revealed, despite Malaysia’s aim to achieve developed nation status in less than five years.
The Education Ministry also said that the average percentage of secondary school students who qualified for the science stream, based on their results of the previous Form 3 PMR examination, only hovered around 30 per cent over the past 10 years, though Malaysia has been aiming for a 60:40 ratio of science/ technical/vocational and arts students since 1970.
“The most probable reason for this could be the new format for the PT3 science and maths papers,” Education director-general Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof told Malay Mail Online in a recent email interview, in explaining the PT3 science and maths results.
“There were very few multiple choice questions which most students are very familiar with; and the test items demand a lot of thinking on the part of the students to gauge their understanding of the subject matter rather than regurgitating rote-learned concepts.
“It does not encourage teaching to the test and teachers need to engage the students in the learning process by asking more higher-order thinking questions. It is hoped that this kind of format will encourage the students to learn meaningfully and in future, the PT3 results will become better,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
Mr Speaker, Sir: Nobody buys your story
Posted by Kit in DAP, Parliament on Sunday, 1 November 2015, 9:03 pm
P. Ramakrishnan
Aliran
1st Nov 2015
On 22 October 2015, the Speaker of Parliament, Pandikar Amin Mulia, claimed that he did not suspend Kit Siang – MPs did. Thinking Malaysians did not believe him. He must have been aware of it. As a result, he returned to the same topic to explain himself further and differently. Nobody believed him in the first instance and therefore there was a need to explain this unconvincing tale twice.
Exactly a week later, on 29 October 2015, he claimed that Parliament punished Kit Siang – not him. This time around he fared no better. Nobody bought his story. He was not only confusing he was also unconvincing!
He can come up with any number of versions to this shameful episode but he will not be absolved from the fact that he played a central role to Kit Siang’s suspension. Read the rest of this entry »
Barisan Nasional MPs in the PAC who have been beneficiaries in the RM2.6 billion Najib “donation” scandal should declare their pecuniary interests and withdraw from participation in any PAC discussion, decision or investigation into the twin mega scandals on 1MDB and RM2.6 billion ‘donation”
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Sunday, 1 November 2015, 8:54 pm
Former MCA President, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek has made startling revelations about the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in his personal banking accounts before the 13th General Election.
Malaysiakini yesterday reported the former MCA President as throwing some light on where some of the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank accounts had gone to.
Chua recollected how Najib had in a BN Supreme Council meeting before the 13th general election made an “unprecedented pledge to fund BN component parties”. Read the rest of this entry »
What makes Lim Kit Siang run?
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
30 Oct 2015
‘Defying the Odds’ is an odd book. It can’t seem to decide whether to be a biography of Opposition powerhouse Lim Kit Siang, a showcase for his key speeches and letters or a view of Malaysian politics through Kit Siang’s lenses and from two vantage points, i.e. May 13, 1969, and March 8, 2008, two of the watershed moments of the country’s political history.
In the middle of it is an interview with Kit Siang done by the book’s author, Ooi Kee Beng, but it’s not one that is done specially for this book, which makes its appearance all the more odd. It has been culled from another, an earlier book titled ‘The Right to Differ: A Biographical Sketch of Lim Kit Siang’ (published in 2011), which is a lengthy interview Ooi did with Kit Siang, interspersed with the Kit Siang’s letters, statements and speeches and the same photos as those of the current book.
In the original context, the interview explored and revealed a bit of Kit Siang’s life and much of his political struggle, which would have been apt there, but in ‘Defying the Odds’, it merely repeats many of the facts and issues already presented in this book’s earlier chapters. It makes ‘Defying the Odds’ appear chheong hei (Cantonese, meaning long-winded) saying again what has been said a few times before.
On the whole, the book might have worked better if presented throughout in the narrative mode, which is what Ooi (photo) employs nicely in the first chapter, ‘Heading for Jail’. Read the rest of this entry »
Support for the call by G25 Group of Eminent Malays for the separation of the powers of the Attorney-General as legal adviser to the government and that of Public Prosecutor to ensure that political influence is not brought to bear on prosecutorial decisions
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 1 November 2015, 10:57 am
The call by the G25 Group of Eminent Malays for the transfer of the prosecutorial powers of the Attorney-General to an independent office of the Director of Public Prosecutions deserves support and action by Parliament.
The G25 Group statement said:
“There is a fundamental conflict of interest in the functions and powers of the AG, which enables him to take action against national interests.
“It is poor governance that the AG is the legal adviser for the government of Malaysia and also the final arbiter on decisions to prosecute.”
The conflict-of-interest and the subordination of national interest to sectional and political interests that can arise as the result of the Attorney-General being vested with these two functions and powers has been most vividly and dramatically highlighted by investigations into the two mega-scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts – resulting in the shocking sacking of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail on July 28 amidst controversy that the Attorney-General’s Chambers was preparing to charge the Prime Minister Najib for corruption in connection with the 1MDB scandal, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force into the 1MDB scandal and the three-month stoppage of Public Accounts Committee from continuing its 1MDB investigations. Read the rest of this entry »
The status and honour of the offices of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister had been tainted and besmirched when Najib answered on behalf of two “fugitives from justice” from a fully-owned government company SRC International who have absconded from the arms of the law for the past four months
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 31 October 2015, 2:50 pm
The status and honour of the offices of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister had been tainted and besmirched when Datuk Seri Najib Razak answered in Parliament on behalf of two “fugitives from justice” from a fully-owned government company, SRC International, who have absconded from the arms of the law for the past four months.
On Oct 21, in his capacity as Finance Minister, Najib answered the DAP MP for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching, that based on information provided by SRC International, its managing director Nik Faisal Airiff Nik Othmann Kamil and director Datuk Suboh Mohd Yassin “are making preparations to be interviewed by MACC soonest to help in the investigations”.
This is most ludicrous and outrageous – not only as pointed out by Nie Ching, as if Nik Faisal and Suboh needed four months to prepare for the interview with MACC.
For some four months, both Nik Faisal and Subah had been “fugitives from justice”, absconding from the arms of the law in Malaysia, as since early July, the multi-agency Special Task Force into the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” mega scandals had not been able to locate both for purposes of investigation. Read the rest of this entry »
As Najib’s Prime Minister popularity rating among Malay voters have fallen below 30%, the three million UMNO members must decide whether UMNO’s survival in the next general election will lie in having a new UMNO head and Prime Minister
Posted by Kit in Elections, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, Parliament, UMNO on Saturday, 31 October 2015, 8:08 am
It is reported today that at least 154 out of 191 UMNO division chiefs want the party’s supreme council to take against errant party leaders, referring to former Deputy Prime Minister and still Deputy UMNO President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister and UMNO Vice President, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, and even former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir and former Cabinet Minister and former UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Sanusi Junid.
This is the result of an internal poll in UMNO conducted among 170 UMNO division leaders in an exclusive WhatsApp programme.
However, the result may be different if a poll is conducted among the three million UMNO members as it is becoming quite clear that for the first time since Merdeka, UMNO has never been so fragmented and fractured between the 300 UMNO chieftains versus the three million UMNO members.
The 300 UMNO chieftains are primarily Umno Supreme Council members and Umno division chiefs who are mostly in the pockets of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak the majority of whom will toe the Najib line, as compared to the three million Umno members most of whom must be very embarrassed by the two Najib mega-scandals of the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation”, and the lack of political will to resolve these two scandals until they mushroom to become international scandals, and the move to penalise UMNO leaders for speaking up against these two scandals.
All over the country, the question that is commonly asked is how long Najib can survive as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, whether he would suffer the fate of his predecessor, Tun Abdullah in having to give up the Prime Ministership before the end of his term. Read the rest of this entry »
What has the Najib government done in the past fortnight of parliamentary meetings to address the concern of Malay Rulers and Malaysian citizenry that IMBD investigations be completed “as soon as possible”?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Friday, 30 October 2015, 8:18 am
Some three weeks ago, the Malay Rulers issued an unprecedented statement urging the government to complete the 1MDB investigations “as soon as possible” and to take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.
Such crisis of confidence, among other things, have caused “the plunge in the value of the Malaysian Ringgit, impacting the country’s financial market and economic climate negatively and at the same time adversely affecting the world’s view of Malaysia” – and if not “wisely handled”, could “jeopardize the country’s economy and the livelihood of the people”.
The Malay Rulers wanted the findings of the investigations to be reported “comprehensively and in a transparent manner” so that the people will be convinced of the government’s sincerity not to conceal “facts and truth”, as such failure to give “convincing clarifications and answers…is feared to have resulted in a crisis of confidence”.
Although the language is somewhat convoluted, it is the result of trying to diplomatically convey the messages (i) that the Malay Rulers were very concerned at the worsening crisis of confidence caused by the two mega scandals in the nation’s history, the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts, which had brought together a conjunction of political, economic, good governance and nation-building crises which threaten to produce the first “perfect storm” to hit Malaysia for six decades; and (ii) that the government had not conducted itself in a frank and transparent matter it should have done in these two mega-scandals.
What has the Najib government done in the 24 days since the Oct. 6 statement of the Malay Rulers, or in the past fortnight of parliamentary meetings, to address the concern of Malay Rulers and Malaysian citizenry that IMBD investigations be completed “as soon as possible”?
Absolutely nothing! Read the rest of this entry »
Najib government too “economical with the truth” when it would not clarify after two weeks of Parliament whether Muhyiddin was right in his last speech as DPM three months ago that 1MDB scandal had mushroomed from RM42 billion to over RM50 billion
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Thursday, 29 October 2015, 8:09 am
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government were too “economical with the truth” when it would not clarify after two weeks of Parliament whether Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was right in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister to the Cheras UMNO Division three months ago that the 1MDB scandal had mushroomed from RM42 billion to over RM50 billion.
There was not a single reference whatsoever to the two mega scandals which had been dominating international headlines about Malaysia for the past few months, the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election, in Najib’s much-awaited 2016 Budget – fully justifying Opposition MPs resorting to the unorthodox but very creative ploy of collectively displaying the placard “Mana RM2.6 billion” (Where is the RM2.6 billion) after Najib’s budget speech.
This action of Opposition MPs resonated in the hearts and minds of 30 million Malaysians, including the majority of the three million UMNO members, although there are those who excoriated such a creative ploy as “uncivilized”, as if they more Umno than Umno! Read the rest of this entry »
Najib set a bad, undesirable and unacceptable parliamentary precedent of choosing the date to answer parliamentary questions about 1MDB which will be followed by other Ministers undermining Parliamentary control over the Executive
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Parliament on Wednesday, 28 October 2015, 4:56 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has set a bad, undesirable and unacceptable parliamentary precedent of choosing the date to answer parliamentary questions about the twin mega scandals of RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal bank accounts for the 13th General Election, undermining the important principle of parliamentary control over the Executive.
On the first day of the present parliamentary meeting on Monday, October 19, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said, in her replies to Members of Parliament including DAP MP for Bagan Lim Guan Eng and the DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng, said the government will answer questions about the RM2.6 billion donation received by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and other related queries during the current sitting of Parliament.
She said the government will also answer questions related to the alleged missing US$993 million payment from 1MDB to International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) but the exact date for this would be determined later.
She said in written replies that answers to similar questions would be made at a date to be determined later, during this parliamentary session. Read the rest of this entry »
In debate on 2016 Budget, I would have urged PAC to summon Gani Patail and Hamid Bador to testify whether there was a draft corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib related to 1MDB
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Parliament, Police on Wednesday, 28 October 2015, 12:35 pm
The announcement by the new Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Datuk Hassan Arifin yesterday that the PAC will meet for the first time on Monday after a three-month interregnum is welcome, although parliamentary and public expectations of the PAC would not be as high as previously.
If I am taking part in the 2016 Budget debate, I would urge the PAC to do two things when it meets on Monday:
Firstly, for the PAC to set an example to Parliament with every PAC member declaring whether he or she has any pecuniary interest in the twin mega-scandals of RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election, and those who have pecuniary interest in these two mega scandals should excuse themselves from participating in any PAC hearings on them.
Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 35(6) stipulates that “A Member shall not speak on any matter in which he has a direct personal pecuniary interest (other than the matter of remuneration under any provision of the Constitution) without disclosing the extent of that interest.”
If it is a breach of Parliamentary Standing Orders for an MP to speak on any matter without disclosing the extent of his or her pecuniary interest on the subject, it is all the more a violation of parliamentary privilege for a PAC member to be involved in any investigation into the twin mega scandals of RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” for the 13th General Election if he or she has any pecuniary interest in the two financial scandals. Read the rest of this entry »
#Merah169 youths say stung by toll rates hiked by government they defended
by Syed Jaymal Zahiid
Malay Mail Online
October 28, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 ― After genuine belief that their lives could be improved by joining the controversial #Merah169 rally, the sense of pride and optimism among the many poor urban Malay youths who took part in that movement is now fading.
Less than two months after the controversial gathering here in the capital city, ostensibly to uphold Malay dignity in the face of Chinese insults, the angst that drove them to proudly don the movement’s colours has found a new and ironic source ― #Merah169’s own backer, Umno.
“My family was upset about the toll hike. My mom only sells kuih and my dad has little income. Can you imagine what the increase will do to our expenses?
“And who did this? It’s the Umno government… it’s a Malay party,” Alif Fikri, who was interviewed by Malay Mail Online in a special report on urban Malay racism, said when met last week. Read the rest of this entry »
So, where did the RM2.6 billion go? Tell us, Najib
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Wednesday, 28 October 2015, 9:00 am
Phlip Rodrigues
Malaysiakini
25 Oct 2015
COMMENT When a sea of placards washed over the face of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on Budget Day, it created huge waves in the annals of Malaysian politics. Never before in the history of parliamentary democracy had a prime minister had to face the ignominy of seeing his role flashed in loud, clear and bold message across the national stage.
For Parliament is the time-hallowed podium where the actions and thoughts of the elected representatives are in full play for all to see. What the opposition lawmakers did on that memorable day is an act of patriotism: they do not want to see the country destroyed by a prime minister whose every action is a tight slap on democracy.
Parliament is a fitting place to debate with intelligence and vigour the problems and ills of the country – be they social, economic, political. More importantly, it is the ideal arena to drill the prime minister on his deeds as the head of government.
But Najib chooses not to engage in the cut and thrust of political life, which is the hallmark of a healthy and vibrant democracy. Instead, he treats Parliament with contempt when he ignores the existence of the opposition and cares only for his own skewed views.
His words have become his laws and as a result, justice and truth have taken a terrible beating. He comes and goes as he wishes and most of the time, his seat, given by the people to serve the people, is left cold and empty. Read the rest of this entry »
Time to take stock of Malaysia, change mindsets, says Rafidah
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream on Wednesday, 28 October 2015, 7:17 am
by Jennifer Gomez
The Malaysian Insider
28 October 2015
Malaysia must identify what has made it fall behind and determine whether such factors were reality or people’s perceptions, outspoken former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said today.
She said the country must take stock of what areas needed to be transformed, adding that transformation could not take place in conferences, seminars or laboratories.
“You must have a developed country that is matched by a society that can think forward, that is not lagging behind in terms of expectations of a developed country,” she told reporters after speaking at a conference by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants in Kuala Lumpur. Read the rest of this entry »
