Malaysia’s kangkung index
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 15 January 2014, 9:19 am
– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2014
Ungku Aziz had his sarong index. To those not old enough to remember, Ungku Aziz was once the vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaya and is the father of the present governor of Bank Negara. He has always been a keen social and political observer and his views can be rapier sharp as they are acerbic. To the establishment that is.
On the recent Kagkung-gate faux pas committed by an insensitive PM, Ungku Aziz penned down the following verses:
Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
tak sedar akar terendam air parit,
rakyat mengeluh lelah dan sakit,
sedikit diberi banyak diungkit..Pucuknya angkuh memanjat bukit,
Tak sedar akar diair parit,
Bagaikan melepas anjing tersepit,
Dah jadi pemimpin , rakyat digigit.
When researching into the issue of poverty, Ungku Aziz came up with sarong index – a measure of the level of poverty. The level of poverty can be measured by the number of sarongs a person has. When Ungku Aziz did his poverty study in Kuala Kemaman many years ago, many people there had only one sarong. People were very poor. Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective – Part 2
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak, Religion on Wednesday, 15 January 2014, 7:36 am
By Kee Thuan Chye
news.malaysia.msn.com
14 Jan 2014
Yesterday, I looked at the ‘Allah’ issue from the time it started to what it has become today, and how we are now trapped in a web of confusion spun from diverse interpretations of the Court of Appeal’s decision on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by The Herald, as well as the “one-policy, two-countries” implication arising from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 10-point solution.
In the midst of such confusion, how do we judge who is right – those who claim that ‘Allah’ is exclusive to Muslims or those who insist that it is their constitutional right to practise their religion the way they have been doing it for ages, including referring to God as ‘Allah’?
How do we deal with the rising fervour on both sides, Muslim and Christian, as they seek to defend what they think is right? With Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of The Herald, who said on December 27 that Christians would continue to use ‘Allah’ in all Selangor churches, and with the Solidariti Umat Islam Klang members who protested in public against his statement?
How do we deal with Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria’s demand for the arrest of the Malays who turned up at a church in Klang to show solidarity with Christians? Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Allah’ Issue in Perspective — Part 1
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Kee Thuan Chye, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Religion on Wednesday, 15 January 2014, 7:09 am
By Kee Thuan Chye
news.Malaysia.msn.com
Jan 13 2014
As the ‘Allah’ issue rages on, particularly after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized 300-plus copies of the Bible in Malay and Iban on January 2, let’s take a moment and look at it in perspective.
How did it start?
Not, as falsely claimed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, because Malaysia has become more liberal and Malaysians are testing the limits of their “new-found freedom”. Not, as he says, because some groups “purposely come up with something to annoy people” or that they want to run down other religions.
That is the usual kind of poppycock for which he has of late been fond of spinning.
The whole mess started in 2009 with Syed Hamid Albar, who was home minister then, banning the Catholic weekly The Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section. Prior to that, there had been no issue. Christians in Sabah and Sarawak had been using it for ages, long before they joined the Federation of Malaysia. No one had raised a hue and cry. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Najib Faces Party, Public Protest
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 10:34 pm
Written by Our Correspondent
Asia Sentinel
13 JANUARY 2014
Subsidy cuts play into UMNO rebellion
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak enters 2014 beset by growing hostility from both the public and within his own political party, the United Malays National Organization, characterized by a deluge of New Year messages across cyberspace celebrating the “year of barang naik,” Malay language for rising prices of items.
That is a play on the initials BN, for Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition. It has become an opposition battle cry to the point where Najib mentioned it himself in a recent speech
Najib is making an astute move now, after national and intraparty elections have been completed, taking on the necessary but unappetizing task of dismantling decades of subsidies that have driven government debt close to the statutory limit of 55 percent of gross domestic product. In the wake of both sets of elections, he is temporarily invulnerable to both opposition and intraparty assaults.
However, electricity tariffs have risen by 15 percent, sugar subsidies have been cut. Last September, Petronas, the national energy company, cut fuel subsidies in a move that it said would save the government RMB1 billion annually. Public anger at the cutting of the subsidies is substantial and growing
In addition, many in the party rank and file are still furious over widespread spending to keep the current leadership in place in the September intraparty elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Show courage in ‘Allah’ row, Zaid tells Pakatan
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, Religion on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 10:02 pm
The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must stand firm in its support of non-Muslims’ use of “Allah” and not allow itself to be cowed by fears of a backlash from the Muslim community, former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today.
The former PKR member said the pact should have shown the courage to support the proposal of three Selangor DAP assemblymen to amend the state law at the centre of the current religious row, instead of criticising them for their “hastiness”.
“Pakatan can only lead the country if it is brave enough to offer solutions to the difficult religious and ethnic issues that Umno seems adept at creating.
“Pakatan can only be stronger if they can take on Umno on these issues by presenting comprehensive solutions and not shying away as they are prone to do,” he wrote on his blog today. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Lee Kuan Yew
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 8:55 pm
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jan 13, 2014
The rivalry between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and current PM Najib Abdul Razak has assumed ludicrous proportions. With a legacy to protect, a son to manoeuvre into position, his cronies to look after, and a country to run, Mahathir is in overdrive. He may be approaching 90, but he retains much of his vigour to annoy.
Yesterday, a former minister, Zainuddin Maidin, urged Mahathir to return to Putrajaya. Having Mahathir back in Putrajaya would be as bad as having a hole in the head.
Much to Najib’s annoyance, Mahathir refuses to shut up, but Najib has only himself to blame. Najib is busy clocking-up air-miles in his new jets. Mahathir says in one sitting, what Najib mumbles in one month.
The current ‘Allah’ side-show is meant to trick ignorant Malays, and weak-willed Muslims, into believing that Umno Baru is the only party that will protect their race and religion.
The real issue is the economy of Malaysia. Umno Baru, Najib and Mahathir are trying to mask this fact behind the ‘Allah’ charade. The rakyat is being out-manoeuvred by Umno Baru.
Last August, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew launched his book, ‘One Man’s View of the World’, in which he described Malaysia as an underperforming nation disadvantaged by its pro-Malay economic policies. Read the rest of this entry »
Bersyukurlah kangkung turun harga!
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 8:48 pm
– Izmil Amri
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014
‘Orang Melaka suka makan kangkung yang tidak dikerat-kerat’. Ini helah Tun Perpatih Putih ketika rombongannya sangat teringin melihat wajah Maharaja China.
Tun Perpatih Putih adalah adinda kepada Tun Perak dan dilantik jadi bendahara menggantikan abangnya itu setelah beliau meninggal dunia. Sebelum jadi bendahara, Tun Perpatih Putih yang dihantar Sultan Mansur Shah ketika mahu dijalinkan hubungan diplomatik dengan China. Delegasi itu begitu berjaya sekali sehinggakan maharaja China menghadiahkan Melaka puterinya, Hang Li Po.
Alkisahnya di zaman itu, adatnya ialah orang kebanyakan di China dalam zaman pemerintahan dinasti itu tidak boleh melihat wajahnya sang Maharaja. Kalau tandu maharaja lalu, jalan harus dikosongkan, dan kalau ada yang masih tersisa berdiri, mesti tunduk sujud di hadapan baginda. Read the rest of this entry »
From McKangkung to World Kangkung Day
Posted by Kit in Media, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 5:24 pm
K Pragalath| January 14, 2014
Free Malaysia Today
Netizens make fun of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for water spinach.
PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for the fall in the prices of water spinach (kangkung) continues to prompt Malaysian netizens to join the fray to “support” the premier’s endorsement.
A page called Hari Kangkung Sedunia has been created on social networking website, Facebook while Jan 13 is now officially declared World Kangkung Day.
Among others the page speculated that major fast food outlets would have to rebrand some of the popuar selling products, citing as examples Kangkung Fried Chicken, Burger Kangkung and McKangkung.
The endorsement for kangkung have gone viral via a 1:24 minute on YouTube. The video with 44,235 hits is a result of combining two video clips. Read the rest of this entry »
Remembering my father, Tun Razak
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 4:21 pm
by Nazir Razak
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014
Thirty-eight years ago today, on January 14, 1976, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein passed away in London from complications wreaked by leukaemia.
Malaysia lost its prime minister. I lost my father. Malaysia was 19. I was nine.
The days immediately after were shrouded in personal sorrow and national mourning.
My four brothers and I sought to comfort our mother, while the public and heartfelt outpouring of grief throughout the country served as a resounding reminder that we were not alone in our time of tragedy.
I must confess that given my age and my father’s hectic schedule, I sometimes lament the fact that he gave so much to the country, leaving too little for his family.
However, I have never wavered from being enormously proud of his selfless dedication to our young nation.
I did not get the time to know him. But imprinted in me are the values he imparted, the integrity that he insisted upon, above all. Yes, above all, including his family. Read the rest of this entry »
Moderates in Malaysia, Unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, Religion, UMNO on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 2:12 pm
I call on moderates in Malaysia to unite as patriots to save the country from the conspiracy of reactionaries and anti-democratic forces out to turn the clock back to the discredited policies of the past.
The axis of reactionary and anti-democratic forces in government, politics and media (printed and social) have been flexing their muscles in the past eight months for the restoration of Mahathirish policies and hankering for the return of Mahathir to the helm of Putrajaya, whether as Prime Minister or de facto Prime Minister.
It has reached the stage where one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, has surfaced publicly to test the waters with the outrageous suggestion on Sunday for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues”.
Zainuddin went public two days after Mahathir floated the idea of the restoration of the Internal Security Act, which immediately received a troika of support from the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar; UMNO (not necessarily Najib’s) mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia and the Umno “savior”, Perkasa – which represented a triple slap-on-the-face for the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
For the past eight months, the country has been plunged into the worst racial, religious and national polarization to create the conditions and perceptions of unrest and instability to justify a putsch by the reactionary and anti-democratic conspirators. Read the rest of this entry »
Giving right-wingers free rein will backfire, analysts warn Umno
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion, Sarawak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 9:55 am
by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 ― Umno’s continued silence as the voices of Malay right-wing groups grow louder by the day could end up being misconstrued as Putrajaya’s endorsement of extremism and racism, analysts have warned.
By staying passive to appease its supporters in Malay-Muslim Malaysia, Umno also risks having its own grip on power weakened in the event such groups later decide to enter the political arena as opponents, the analysts added.
Director of independent pollster Merdeka Center Ibrahim Suffian acknowledged the strategy, saying the easiest, tried and tested way to shore up support from a particular group, is to use emotive issues.
“Certainly by not curbing this, by not doing anything, (it) actually condones these kinds of statements.
“It also has a counter-reaction, not only espousing more extreme and conservative views by allowing more leeway for them to do whatever they want, but it might also increase the politicising among religious groups, the Christians for example, could be more politicised and resort to being extreme as well,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted. Read the rest of this entry »
The tragedy and farce that is the PKFZ
Posted by Kit in Corruption, MCA, PKFZ on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 8:59 am
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
January 13, 2014
This is a fact of Malaysian political life: apart from the government’s favourite target Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, all other ministers or former ministers have never seen the inside of a jail.
There will be a few near misses here – one that comes to mind is the 1982 murder of an Umno politician – and there but no one pays the ultimate price for whatever they did while in office.
Today, former MCA deputy president and retired minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy joined the long list of former ministers who were spared incarceration when prosecutors dropped three cheating charges against him in connection with the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project. Read the rest of this entry »
Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 13 January 2014, 4:10 pm
Yesterday, I titled my blog piece “The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya”.
The online Star today carried an interesting item which is not unrelated to the tale of “The Empire strikes back”.
The online Star report by Martin Carvalho titled “Hasan Malek denies again rumours of resignation” states: Read the rest of this entry »
Is Pakatan no different from Barisan?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Pakatan Rakyat, Penang, Selangor on Monday, 13 January 2014, 3:04 pm
– Richard Loh
The Malaysian Insider
January 13, 2014
Is this equation true:
90% positive + 10% negative = 90% negative + 10% positive
With Malaysia claiming that its education system is among the best in the world there can be no argument that many educated Malaysians would say that this is true.
The above equation is an example of Malaysians learning when they see the 10% of Pakatan Rakyat’s negative performances as equal to Umno-BN’s 10% positive performance – hence terming PR no difference from Umno-BN. The 90% positive performance against Umno-BN’s 90% negative performance is ignored.
Malaysians are using the Selangor Assembly salary hikes, the Jais raid and Penang Chief Minister’s Mercedes-Benz to justify and conclude that PR is no difference from Umno-BN. You have the right to argue that the three issues were wrong, depending on how you judge them and from whose point of view you are hearing and reading from.
There is nothing wrong with the Selangor Assembly salary hike and the Penang Chief Minister’s Mercedes-Benz which I have given my point of views in my earlier two articles here and here. Read the rest of this entry »
14 GE: Towards Putrajaya! Towards Nusajaya!
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, Johore, Pakatan Rakyat on Monday, 13 January 2014, 1:13 pm
Yesterday, the DAP Johore State Convention decided on a twin-engine turboprop Johor DAP state leadership led by Liew Chin Tong as Johore DAP State Chairman and Dr. Boo Cheng Hau as Johore DAP State Assembly Opposition Leader to continue to position Johore as the front-line state of Pakatan Rakyat in Peninsular Malaysia in the 14th General Elections to ensure Pakatan Rakyat’s victory in Putrajaya to form the federal government of Malaysia.
The immediate task of DAP’s twin-engine turboprop Johore leadership is to work out a strategy with Johore PAS and PKR to achieve the first step in Pakatan Rakyat’s Battle of Putrajaya in GE14 – to win over Barisan Nasional’s eight marginal parliamentary and eight marginal state assembly seats in Johore.
Marginal Seats are defined as seats which are won by 55% or less votes.
Based on the 2013 General Elections results and present constituency redelineations, the Barisan Nasional eight marginal parliamentary seats are Labis, Pasir Gudang, Segamat, Muar, Tebrau, Ledang, Sekijang and Pulai. Read the rest of this entry »
Will liberalism cure malaise-ism?
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Religion on Monday, 13 January 2014, 11:53 am
Dr Azly Rahman | 6:00PM Jan 11, 2014
Malaysiakini
What we are seeing in Malaysia these days is a path towards destruction unfolding as a red carpet of a Hollywood show of a movie called ‘Wolves of Putrajaya’. We are seeing hell freezing over – of our own American polar vortex of the failure of our educational, cultural, and political system to mediate dangerous contradictions which may bring us down, tsunamied by the acts of those paid to search and destroy this imagined community of peace-loving Malaysians.
Borrowing a Socrates maxim, at the core of the issue is ignorance and the will to be stubborn to remain ignorant.
We need a multi-culturalist, multi-vocalic, multi-accepting, and multi-diverse brand of liberal democracy to save us. We need the entire nation to embrace what many are fearful of: liberalism. Liberalism will remove the glass coconut shell that has become a comfort zone, especially for the Malays and particularly of the Malay Muslims.
Read the rest of this entry »
M’sia as advanced nation: Are we ready?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, nation building on Monday, 13 January 2014, 8:53 am
By Kee Thuan Chye
Free Malaysia Today
January 13, 2014
Come 2020, Najib – if he’s still PM then – might have the dubious honour of proclaiming Malaysia an advanced nation, but the reality could be far from that.
COMMENT
As we begin the new year and realise that we are only six years away from the magical 2020, when – as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has promised – we will become an advanced nation, it might be apt to speculate whether we are ready for it.
From where we stand today, it doesn’t look likely that Malaysia can meet the per capita income and GDP criteria to be considered an advanced nation by then, but if – by some miracle – we manage to, does it mean that, economics aside, we will truly meet the grade of what being an advanced nation is?
I’m looking at it from the layman’s point of view, and what I see now doesn’t convince me that we will. Where we will fail miserably is in the socio-cultural aspect.
We are too tidak apa (in the Malay sense), too chhin chhai (in the Chinese sense), too lax. And while this may be a virtue when it comes to personal relations and avoidance of bickering over trivialities, it is a failing when it comes to performance, achievement and continued success.
We also prefer to take the easy way out, also to avoid conflict. And we generally like to lepak, some even to ponteng. Read the rest of this entry »
The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 4:41 pm
The Empire strikes back – and the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to Putrajaya.
The blog by former Information Minister and one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues” is not only a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak but marks a new stage in the conspiracy and plot by reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch.
Recent signs and developments that the plot and conspiracy of the reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch, whose objective seems to be still fluid ranging from a minimum programme for a halt and change of the various transformation programmes launched under the Najib administration regardless of the extent of their implementation to a maximum programme for a change of Prime Minister, include the following:
Read the rest of this entry »
Gross governmental failure over religious issues
Posted by Kit in nation building on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 8:05 am
by Tommy Thomas
Malaysiakini
Jan 10, 2014
COMMENT Last week’s raid by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), a government agency, on the office of the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) must be condemned in the strongest terms by all right thinking people.
Apart from being unconstitutional and in violation of the rule of law, it represents the worst kind of behaviour by government bureaucrats flexing their awesome powers over minorities. Occurring in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society compounds the problem.
Twentieth century history across the globe is replete with examples where the safety of minorities is threatened by a majority abusing coercive state power; Nazi Germany being the most extreme.
Post-colonial developments since 1950 in Burma, British Guyana, Uganda, Fiji and Sri Lanka have illustrated the consequences of harsh treatment of minorities and the resultant irrevocable damage to the entire nation state when governments controlled by majorities abuse their power.
In other words, any historian will warn a plural society that it is a tinderbox insofar as ethnic and religious matters are concerned, and such issues must therefore be handled carefully, delicately and with sensitivity to minorities. One therefore cannot over-emphasise the responsibility of leaders to ensure fairness in such matters. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Allah’ row the product of concocted ‘siege’, observers say
Posted by Kit in nation building, UMNO on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 7:29 am
The Malay Mail Online
January 12, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — The religious tussle over “Allah” that threatens to rend apart Malaysia’s interfaith ties is a contrived issue, according to observers who pinpointed political motives for fomenting communal friction over the Arabic word for God.
Despite appearing to be theologically different to outside observers, chief executive of Global Movement for Moderates (GMM) Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah saw right-wing groups that were cultivating a mentality that Islam was “under siege” as the root of the “Allah” problem that is unique to Malaysia.
“Some sectors of the Malay population, they are acting as if Islam is under siege,” he said when appearing on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream news programme this week.
But his remark led host Femi Oke to prod him for examples of how the perceived siege on Islam was propagated.
“When people make the pronouncements that we should burn the bible if it is translated to Malay… or something like that,” he responded.
Although Saifuddin did not identify the group by name, president of Malay rights group Perkasa Datuk Ibrahim Ali made such a call in January last year, drawing outrage from Christian and civil society groups. Read the rest of this entry »
