How to ensure poor get their share of scholarships
Posted by Kit in Education, nation building, university on Monday, 12 May 2014, 9:01 pm
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
May 11, 2014
Since my retirement, I have been concerned with how we can solve the problem of the poor through educational mobility.
This has involved putting my money where my mouth is in a programme which helps needy families send their children to university through financing their first year.
Although Forbes, the media organisation has given recognition to me in its annual selection of Asian philanthropic heroes in 2011, I am the first to realise that my efforts at providing scholarships to the needy are modest and a drop in the ocean of need.
After much reflection, I would like to provide a practical and easy solution to the problem of too many deserving poor children having to chase and compete for too few scholarships.
My solution is a two-pronged one. Read the rest of this entry »
10 Questions for MCA President Liow Tiong Lai on whether MCA will compromise on the consensus principle of Barisan Nasional where UMNO cannot unilaterally decide in the name of the other 12 component parties
MCA and Barisan Nasional’s decision not to contest in the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary by-election must rank as the worst political cowardice in the 57-year electoral history of Malaysia.
This worst political cowardice of MCA and Barisan Nasional because of their fear of suffering another ignominious defeat one year after the 13GE results last May, however, camouflages a hidden and unworthy agenda for the by-election – hoping to lull the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat leaders, members, supporters and the voters of Bukit Gelugor into complacency so as to cause the lowest voter turnout in the constituency, and consequently to reduce the humongous majority of 41,778 votes won by Karpal Singh last May. Last year, the voter turnout for Bukit Gelugor was the historic high of 85.35 per cent!
Although MCA and Barisan Naisonal have “chickened” out of contesting in the Bukit Gelugor by-election, the nearly 82,000 voters of Bukit Gelugor should not succumb to the opiate of MCA and BN that the Bukit Gelugor by-election is unexciting and irrelevant when in fact, it and the Teluk Intan by-election are two important milestones in the post-13GE political struggle to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in Malaysia.
I will be developing the case about the great importance of the two by-elections, Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan, in the coming weeks.
For today, I want to ask the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai ten questions: Read the rest of this entry »
DAP and PAS have not changed their respective stands on hudud, but it is UMNO, MCA and Gerakan which have changed their stand!
Nobody would have thought that MCA go could lower than what it suffered in the 13th General Elections last May, when MCA surrendered three parliamentary seats to UMNO, namely Gelang Patah, Kuantan and Wangsa Maju and received the worst clobbering in Malaysian electoral history when it was reduced to a mosquito “7-11” party.
But everyone was wrong, for MCA has plumbed to a lower depth, when it announced that it was not contesting the Bukit Glugor parliamentary by-election, with the MCA Secretary-General Ong Ka Chuan insulting the intelligence of Malaysians by giving the most nonsensical of reasons: viz:
“MCA will not participate in the poll as the party wants to fully focus on the hudud issue to protect the federal constitution.
“If we contest, some issues might crop up and divert us from our focus, which is to stop the PAS Private Member’s Bill from being tabled in Parliament on June 9.”
The press has reported that the PAS Central Committee at its meeting in Kuala Lumour this morning decided that it will not present a private member’s bill on the implementation of hudud in Parliament in June, referring the matter to the technical committee formed jointly by the Federal Govenment and the Kelantan State governments.
Now that PAS will not be tabling a private member’s bill on hudud implementation in the June meeting of Parliament, will MCA contest in Bukit Gelugor as the very reason for not participating in the by-election has been completely demolished by the PAS Central Committee today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia blighted by two “missing” disasters threatening to plunge the country into a failed state – the missing MH 370, after 64 days with no clues or end in sight and the “missing Prime Minister” tragedy
Posted by Kit in Elections, MH 370, Najib Razak on Saturday, 10 May 2014, 3:34 pm
We gather for the announcement of the DAP/Pakatan Rakyat candidate for the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary by-election with mixed feelings – great sadness that this occurred because of the untimely death of Karpal Singh, an irreplaceable people’s champion; and enormous sense of responsibility and challenge, as the by-election is taking place at a very critical stage of the nation’s development.
At the DAP Gelang Patah 13GE Anniversary Dinner last night, I called for a people’s awakening to launch a national movement of moderates against racial and religious extremists to save Malaysia from descending to become a failed state.
Let the Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan parliamentary by-elections, to be held respectively on May 25 and May 31, be the first two test cases of a Malaysian people’s awakening for a national movement against racial and religious extremists in the country.
In the past 12 months since the 13GE last May, Malaysia had been blighted by two “missing” disasters threatening to plunge the country into a failed state – firstly, the missing MH 370, after 64 days with no clues or end in sight and secondly, the “missing Prime Minister” tragedy.
Both these two “missing” disasters had seriously highlighted the grave weaknesses and faultlines of the Malaysian nation and governance. Read the rest of this entry »
Hate groups getting louder as long as Putrajaya stays mute
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 9 May 2014, 6:45 pm
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
May 09, 2014
In the past week, groups like Isma and others in academia have amplified their hatred for a section of the Malaysian population, going as far as to distort the country’s history to make it clear that Malaysia belongs to the Malays.
It does not help that Putrajaya has remained mute, except for some parties in the ruling coalition making some noises and calling for action to curb such talk. But the dominant Umno and its president, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, remain silent.
Also, these parties are not members of the administration and their voices have been ignored and in fact, Isma has even asked them to shut up.
If the prime minister cannot find it in himself to silence these groups that appear to ignore history and harmonious interfaith ties, then he and his government should just apologise to the Chinese and Christians for their inability to do anything about the matter. Read the rest of this entry »
Tweets on PAS forum on 13th May, 1969
Posted by Kit in DAP, Mahathir, nation building on Friday, 9 May 2014, 6:14 pm
1.Spoke at interesting forum organised by PAS Shah Alam last night entitled: “13 Mei: Rekonstruksi Sejarah n Pembinaan Malaysia Pasca Rasisme”
2. Other speakers MP Mujahid Yusuf whose father Yusof Rawa defeated Mahathir in 1969, Subky Latif and Pemuda PAS leader Mohd Nasaie Ismail
3. Subky was veteran journalist I had known since 60s when he was with Utusan which had not degenerated to unethical disgrace to journalism today.
4. ’13 Mei ‘a blot in Malaysian history. It should not have happened, should not have been allowed to happen and all Msians must ensure there is no repeat.
5. 45 years after national nightmare in 1969, there is no authoritative account of what and how it happened – no Truth and Reconciliation efforts. Read the rest of this entry »
Why the Official Explanation of MH370’s Demise Doesn’t Hold Up
Ari N. Schulman
The Atlantic
May 8 2014
Outside satellite experts say investigators could be looking in the wrong ocean.
Investigators searching for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight were ebullient when they detected what sounded like signals from the plane’s black boxes. This was a month ago, and it seemed just a matter of time before the plane was finally discovered.
But now the search of 154 square miles of ocean floor around the signals has concluded with no trace of wreckage found. Pessimism is growing as to whether those signals actually had anything to do with Flight 370. If they didn’t, the search area would return to a size of tens of thousands of square miles. Read the rest of this entry »
One year after GE13, lost in sea of politicking
Posted by Kit in DAP, Najib Razak, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 9 May 2014, 6:31 am
Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
May 5, 2014
COMMENT Today marks the one year anniversary of the historic 13th general election. This election was pivotal in the country’s history as the incumbent BN coalition held onto power, with the opposition calls for ‘change’ unfulfilled.
Scholars have highlighted the fundamental shifts in the power of Umno, the imbalance of the opposition parties, the rise in influence and political awakenings of East Malaysia and the electoral irregularities, among many profound structural changes.
In other ordinary ways, Malaysian politics has also changed, with greater cynicism, insecurities and anger more prominent in public life. This is across the political divide. News reports feature troubling reports of increased racial tensions, political polarisation and continued shortcomings in governance.
This article highlights some of the ongoing dynamics in contemporary Malaysian political life, which are both worrying and offer promise ahead. Read the rest of this entry »
The geopolitics of MH370
Economist
May 10th 2014 | KUALA LUMPUR | From the print edition
Having bashed Malaysia over the missing flight, China is now making up
THERE will be no let-up in the efforts to find the missing Malaysian Airlines jet Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, vowed on May 5th. Despite his promise, however, there is growing acceptance that it will take months even years to find any trace of flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8th. Hopes that any of its passengers might still be alive must also be cast aside. The new search area in the Indian Ocean will alone cover 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 square miles)—and that is on top of the 4,600,000 square kilometres already scoured. Because the focus of the search-and-rescue mission has now moved to the west coast of Australia, Malaysians have some breathing space to reflect on a traumatic two months in the glare of the world’s attention. The country has taken a battering, but the longer-term damage is another matter. The saga has emphasised how much Malaysia matters in the geopolitics of the region: the two Pacific superpowers, America and China, have both come to play big roles in the search for the missing plane, if in very different ways. Read the rest of this entry »
In open letter, MH370 family members demand raw data be released to independent investigators
The Malay Mail Online
May 08, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Almost 350 family members of passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are demanding raw data be released for independent analysis, preferably to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the non-profit research facility responsible for finding the remains of missing Air France Flight 447 in 2009, almost two years after it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
Amid questions about how the investigation has been conducted, the family members made the demand in an open letter sent to the leaders of Malaysia, China and Australia today.
In the letter they questioned how authorities could be certain the Boeing 777 had crashed into the Indian Ocean after vanishing without a trace two months ago.
“Due to the lack of physical evidence that MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean, the families are in urgent need for the conclusion, based on [British satellite communications firm] Inmarsat data analysis, that the aircraft’s flight ended in that ocean to be reconsidered to confirm its accuracy,” they wrote. Read the rest of this entry »
MCA should requisition for an emergency BN Supreme Council meeting for a policy decision to be taken on hudud as 11 or even 12 of the 13 component BN parties would oppose any hudud implementation
Posted by Kit in Islam, MCA, Parliament, UMNO on Thursday, 8 May 2014, 3:43 pm
The Barisan Nasional BackBenchers Club (BNBBC) comprising Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament have sprung a surprise on its website, lambasting MCA and advising MCA leaders that they “should not spew nonsense or act as a hero as if trying to show the Chinese community that it fights for them” over the controversial hudud issue.
In an anonymous opinion piece on the BNBBC portal, MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong was called “rude” for suggesting yesterday that the party will consider its membership in the ruling coalition should Umno continue to support hudud.
The BNBBC stand is a surprise as the question that is inevitably asked is whether it represents the views of all 133 BN MPs, i.e. 88 from UMNO, 14 from PBB, 7 from MCA, 6 from Sarawak People’s Party (PRS), 4 each from MIC, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Parti Demokratik Progresif Sarawak (SPDB); 3 from UPKO; 1 each from Gerakan, SUPP and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) or just the views of the 88 UMNO MPs.
If the BNBBC anonymous opinion piece does not represent the consensus views of all the BN MPs, will the seven MCA MPs ask the BNBBC portal to publish an open retraction and apology? Read the rest of this entry »
Alumni: Seminar soiled alma mater’s reputation
Posted by Kit in Religion, university on Thursday, 8 May 2014, 12:57 pm
Malaysiakini
May 8, 2014
The organisers of a controversial seminar at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) have discredited the institution which is dedicated to educating underprivileged Malays since 1956.
Dyana Yusoff (left), an UiTM alumni, said the seminar which allowed Indonesian Muslim scholars to demonise Christianity before students was not only anti-unity but also alienated UiTM’s Christian staff and students.
“This incident discredits my alma mater and I, along with many of my UiTM brothers and sisters, are definitely not happy with it.
“UiTM should have organised an inter-faith seminar highlighting shared basic principles across religions to show how our differences are superficial and our similarities are deep, encouraging understanding among different religions and strengthen unity and togetherness,” she added. Read the rest of this entry »
With no hard evidence, hunt for MH370 to get deeper, broader and pricier
By Holly Yan, CNN
May 7, 2014
(CNN) — After 61 days and no tangible evidence, officials from Malaysia, China and Australia will hunker down Wednesday to plot the next steps in the hunt for MH370.
Their tasks: Review all the information gathered so far and figure out what tools will be needed in the next stage of the search — a deeper, broader probe of the Indian Ocean.
Two things are certain: This new phase will be expensive and even more difficult.
Australia estimates it will cost $60 million, with the breakdown of who’s going to pay for what yet to be determined.
But perhaps the greatest challenge now will be scouring unchartered territory. A key element of the new phase will be a detailed mapping of the ocean floor. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS MP slams UiTM event attacking Christianity, challenges ‘undercover priests’ claim
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion on Thursday, 8 May 2014, 8:18 am
by Jennifer Gomez and Desmond Davidson
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 08, 2014
A PAS lawmaker has slammed a public university over a religiously-charged seminar which attacked Christianity, and challenged a claim that Christian priests were masquerading as football coaches to proselytise to Muslims.
Parit Buntar MP Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa said the speakers should make a police report over the accusation, and warned that statements made at the seminar were mala fide and dangerous if they failed to back them with evidence.
“The speakers and the organisers of the seminar risk being hauled up for making accusations which could threaten inter-religious harmony in the country which was already fragile,” said Mujahid.
He urged them to provide evidence to the police, and cited Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution restricting the propagation of any faith to Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
In open letter, MH370 passenger’s husband asks Malaysia for transparency, apology
The Malaysian Insider
May 07, 2014
Putrajaya must be transparent about the circumstances that led to flight MH70 vanishing two months ago, and should apologise for shortcomings in the search for the missing plane, the husband of one of the passengers wrote in an open letter to the prime minister.
K. S. Narendran, whose wife Chandrika Sharma was on the Malaysia Airlines plane with 238 other people, said the families have lost their loved ones but Malaysia had lost its credibility in the search for the Boeing 777-200ER.
“Perhaps the most serious casualty second only to the loss of the plane is the severely impaired credibility of your Government and the airline’s handling of the crisis.
“The skimpy Preliminary Report released to the public this week, supposedly based on your guidelines does little to enhance your government’s commitment to transparency, and therefore only adds fuel to doubts, suspicion and speculations,” he wrote in an email to Datuk Seri Najib Razak dated May 4, 2014. Read the rest of this entry »
Liow should act on Chua’s advice, requisition a BN Supreme Council meeting where UMNO will be outvoted by 1 – 12 on implementation of hudud
Posted by Kit in Islam, MCA, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 7 May 2014, 3:13 pm
Two days ago, I gave the MCA Deputy President Datuk Dr. Wee Kee Siong a free double advice: Don’t tell a bare-faced lie and don’t be caught immediately with such downright dishonesty.
This was when Ka Siong tried to rebut my statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday that the MCA President, Liow Tiong Lai had missed a “golden opportunity” to say “No” in front of the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday that MCA cannot accept Najib’s earlier unilateral and arbitrary announcement in Alor Star that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud.
This was because what Najib said was not the original Barisan Nasional stand, and furthermore, violates an important BN principle that any change of Barisan Nasional policy must be the result of the consensus of all component parties and not unilaterally and arbitrarily by any one party, even if it is UMNO.
As I told Ka Siong, what Najib said was never the Barisan Nasional Federal Government’s stand, even going back to the UMNO, MCA and MIC founders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan as they were very clear that hudud was inconsistent with the secular 1957 constitution and would never say like Najib that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud.
Now I am offering the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai two additional free advice – don’t distort other people’s statement and to be “caught” immediately. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib must take a clear stand – whether he is with the moderates or the extremists, whether he is for 1Malaysia or the very antithesis of 1Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Law & Order, Najib Razak, Sabah on Wednesday, 7 May 2014, 1:06 pm
On 5th May 2014, the first anniversary of the 13th General Elections, Malaysians were torn by grave disillusionment with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a year of failed policies and the dire prospect of a break-up of Pakatan Rakyat over hudud law.
The next day, the beginning of the second year of Najib’s second administration as Prime Minister could not have started on a more ominous note, heralding that Malaysia is heading for a new dark age where all the grandiloquent pledges and slogans of 1Malaysia, World’s Best Democracy and Government Transformation Programme would be consigned to the dustbins of history and replaced by undemocratic, repressive, unjust and draconian rule.
In the morning, the PR/DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok was charged in Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with sedition over her Chinese New Year “Onederful Malaysia” video, a 11-minute clip lampooning and criticising various failures of government policies.
It is supreme irony that one of the five criticisms in her video alleged to be seditious was about the security situation in East Sabah especially after the abduction of the Taiwan tourist in an island resort off Semporna in November last year – as on the morning that Teresa was charged, news were received of another abduction of a Chinese national in a nearby island off Lahad Datu at about 2.45 a.m. the same day!
Teresa was telling the truth, but telling the truth has become sedition in Najib’s Malaysia as the Prime Minister has forgotten his promises to repeal the draconian and colonial Sedition Act. Read the rest of this entry »
Stopping those who spew hate in the name of religion
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Law & Order, Religion on Wednesday, 7 May 2014, 9:06 am
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
May 07, 2014
If there are any police officials still interested in being honest brokers and if the rule of law means anything anymore in Malaysia, a whole clutch of speakers at yesterday’s seminar on the Allah word and Christianity should be arrested and charged with sedition.
In some other countries, they would be charged with hate crimes because hate is what they were trying to make Malaysians do. Hate Christians and hate Malaysians of the Christian faith. Read the rest of this entry »
Karpal was anti-hudud, but never anti-Islam, says PAS lawmaker
by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 06, 2014
A PAS leader yesterday sought to heal the tension between DAP and the Islamist party over the hudud issue when he said that the late Karpal Singh, although strongly opposed to hudud, was never anti-Islam.
Speaking at a memorial service for the late Karpal at the Han Chiang High School in Penang last night, PAS lawmaker Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa said the former DAP chairman always stood by his principles in objecting to the implementation of hudud and the setting up of an Islamic state.
“But he (Karpal) was never a man who was anti-Islam,” Mujahid said. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s so hard to say good-bye, Karpal
— P Ramakrishnan
The Malay Mail Online
MAY 6, 2014
MAY 6 — The passing of Karpal had a shattering effect on me. It was, as it were, we had lost our hope. Such was the immense loss that we suffered.
On the day of Karpal’s funeral, I wanted to bid him farewell in my own personal and special way.
This is the outpouring of a grieving heart.
This was my good-bye to him:
My dear Karpal,
It is difficult to accept that you are no longer with us. For more than four decades you were part of the landscape of this nation and very much a part of our lives.
Today you are no more!
It is well-known that you were highly respected and greatly admired, but we did not know that you were also loved so deeply. It took everyone by surprise. There was no way to know this; there was no indication; there was no expression of this affection in the past.
While you were alive, there was no means or reason to measure the people’s affection for you. In your death, we discovered that there was so much undeclared love for you. The out-pouring of affection for you was simply incredible and astonishing. Their affinity for you was totally overwhelming, dear Karpal. Read the rest of this entry »
