Moving past the issue of race
Posted by Kit in Elections, nation building on Friday, 19 April 2013, 7:55 am
— Ong Kar Jin (loyarburok)
The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013
APRIL 18 — Sixty-two years ago, Datuk Onn Jaafar took a bold political step forward and proposed that Umno open itself to members of other ethnicities. The United Malays National Organisation was to become the United Malayans National Organisation. Sadly, his vision was far ahead of his time and was rejected.
Since the inception of Malaya in 1957 and the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, the political narrative of our country has been one of race. Campaigns, parties, social movements rely on appealing to ethnocentric sentiments to remain relevant.
Post-1969, this narrative hardened and played on fears of ethnic violence. To a large extent, it has reinforced barriers between Malaysians, and created a siege mentality of “us versus them”.
The issue of race has puzzled, haunted and fascinated me my entire life. As a child growing up in a Chinese vernacular school, I was shocked to see how some students treated Malays and Indians. “Babi”, “Keling” and other callous words were thrown about by children as young as 10.
All Malaysians have witnessed this kind of blatant racism, whether by eyewitness, hearsay or personal experience. And many of us are guilty of it. As a collective, we certainly are: stereotypes are perpetrated by parents complaining of racism while being guilty of it all the same, careless comments or dark thoughts in our heart of hearts, generalizing or signing off people based on their race. No one race can blame the other and absolve itself of its own complicity.
We cannot wash away our sins in these matters. Race-based political parties like Umno, MCA and MIC survive because of simple economics: where there is a demand, there will be a supply. These parties are both the cause and effect of our divisions: they are borne out of our own tendencies to divide ourselves and exploit them by emphasising how we are different.
Race-based parties imply that only Chinese can help Chinese best, only Malays will properly serve the interests of Malays, ad infinitum. By being explicitly race-based parties, they state they are their race first and Malaysian second. Read the rest of this entry »
The story of Zul and Khalid
— The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013
APRIL 18 — Oh dear, how the roles are being reversed?
The political party that gave us the voices of reason and moderation of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Dr Ismail is now succumbing to more shrill tones and providing cover for divisive characters.
And on the flip side, the political party that once struck fear in the hearts of non-Malays for its fire and brimstone tone and narrow world view is now being increasingly seen as the centrist party, home to some of the country’s most inclusive politicians.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Shah Alam, where incumbent Khalid Samad of PAS is pitted against Zulkifli Noordin of Barisan Nasional.
Nowhere is this change of scenario clearer than on the campaign trail from Masai in Johor to Baling in Kedah where PAS politicians talk about non-Muslims as brothers and not ungrateful, demanding Malaysians.
Nowhere was this more evident than when Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently played the race card and raised the possibility of racial clashes if Lim Kit Siang won in Gelang Patah, and PAS’s Mahfuz Omar offered Malaysians the protection of his party if violence erupted. Read the rest of this entry »
RoS move pushing DAP to ditch rocket logo, affect Chinese votes
By Jahabar Sadiq
The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 – The Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) decision not to recognise the DAP’s office bearers means one thing, no one can authorise its candidates to use the party’s recognisable Rocket logo and force them to run under allies PAS’s full moon or PKR’s eye logos.
This ruling is likely to affect DAP candidates’ chances in the 49 federal seats and slightly more than 100 state seats in the May 5 general elections as most of the contests are in Chinese-majority areas where the Rocket is popular but not the other logos.
“The RoS decisions means that no party officials is recognised as officials by the authorities. So, they can’t authorise the candidates to use party symbols,” a DAP official told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP says will use PAS, PKR logos if RoS letter not revoked
By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
April 18, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 – The DAP demanded the Registrar of Societies (ROS) today to retract its letter by tomorrow on not recognising the party’s office-bearers, failing which the opposition party would run under PKR and PAS logos in Election 2013.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the Bernama report, which quoted ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman today as saying that the DAP could still use its Rocket symbol for the May 5 polls, was “not good enough”.
“The DAP CEC in its meeting tonight decided that RoS must revoke its letter not recognising the office-bearers in the CEC by 3pm tomorrow on Friday,” Lim told reporters at the DAP headquarters here today, referring to the party’s central executive committee.
“Failure to do so will result in the DAP directing its 53 parliamentary candidates and 103 state candidates throughout the country to contest in the next general elections under the PAS symbol in peninsular Malaysia and the PKR symbol in Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.
Lim lambasted the ROS’ move in issuing the letter dated April 17, 2013, just two days before nomination day, saying it intended to “kill off DAP’s electoral prospects by forcing all DAP candidates to be independent.” Read the rest of this entry »
17-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day – Najib’s T-Team of 222 Parliamentary and 505 State Assembly candidates for the 13GE is as “transformational” as his T-Cabinet in the past four years which have been dismissed as “half-past six” by Mahathir and “deadwood” by Daim
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Najib Razak on Thursday, 18 April 2013, 1:06 pm
Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “T-Team” of 222 Parliamentary and 505 State Assembly candidates for the 13GE is as “transformational” as his T-Cabinet in the past four years which have been dismissed by Tun Dr. Mahathir as “half-past six” and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin as “deadwood”.
What is the Report Card for Najib’s Transformation Agenda in the past four years?
It is a report card of red marks and failures, especially in Najib’s signature 1Malaysia Policy and National Key Result Areas (NKRA) objectives particularly in fighting corruption, reducing crime, uplifting educational standards and spur economic growth to build a competitive, prosperous and progressive future.
The biggest Najib “T-failure” is of course the utter hollowness and insincerity of Najib’s signature 1Malaysia policy to build a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as a Malaysian first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second.
Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had openly repudiated Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy from the very beginning, declaring that he is “Malay first, Malaysian second”. Read the rest of this entry »
Why we must vote for change: An open letter
by Dr Ariffin Omar
Aliran
In an open letter, Ariffin Omar lists down the numerous problems plaguing the country and urges Malaysians to vote for change.
We are now at the crossroads of our destiny. The 13th General Elections that is slated to be held on 5 May will decide once and for all what future we are going to bequeath to our children and grandchildren.
We have lived for more than half a century under a regime which practices the politics of ethnic discrimination. In its wake this politics of apartheid has brought about corruption, mismanagement, cronyism and nepotism on a scale not seen in many countries. I have been told that as many as 3m Malaysians have left this nation for other countries in despair. Can we afford such a loss?
The Barisan Nasional, which had its origins as the Alliance Party, which then comprised of the United Malays National Organization, the Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress, has brought this country to the brink of disaster. Read the rest of this entry »
Battle royale brewing in Gelang Patah, Putrajaya hot seats
The Sun Daily
Posted on 17 April 2013
KUALA LUMPUR (April 17, 2013): As political parties tie up the loose ends to their candidate line-ups for the 13th general election on May 5, the political battle taking shape in hot seats — Gelang Patah, Putrajaya and Lembah Pantai — are being keenly watched.
Billed the “battle royale” or “clash of the Titans”, the tussle for Gelang Patah (broken bracelet) parliamentary seat is a battle between political bigwigs — Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang –who is out to create a “political tsunami” in Johor, an Umno bastion.
Kit Siang, a political veteran, was reported to have said in Penang recently that he would not withdraw from contesting in Gelang Patah as he wanted the “political tsunami” created in the 2008 general election to be felt nationwide.
Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, who heads the Political, Security and International Affairs Cluster of the National Council of Professors, says Ghani’s service track record as the menteri besar and the people’s elected representative is a “good benchmark” to gauge the “best choice” for the rapidly-developing suburban seat.
“Ghani is the supremo and the architect of Johor’s impressive progress. He is also very popular among the electorate vis-a-vis Kit Siang, a relatively newcomer to Johor’s political scene.
“By far and large, the voters, including the Chinese community, appreciate what Ghani has done for Johor. Ghani is instrumental in developing Nusajaya and the Iskandar Malaysia economic corridor, besides being the person very familiar with Johor’s “nooks and corners” as opposed to Kit Siang,” he told Bernama.
Nusajaya, the Johor state government’s new administrative centre, encompasses the Southern Industrial and Logistics Clusters, medical hub and EduCity.
The BN’s Tan Ah Heng from MCA won the Gelang Patah seat in the 2008 general election by a comfortable 8,851-vote majority, trouncing Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) aspirant Zaliha Mustafa.
Mohamed Mustafa says Ghani’s prospects of retaining Gelang Patah for BN was bright albeit the keen tussle for the predominantly Chinese-majority seat. Fifty-four per cent of the electorate are Chinese. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Election Commission to convene an all-party roundtable conference for all political parties to forswear the politics of fear and blackmail in 13GE and to accept any peaceful and democratic change of government
I call the Election Commission to convene an all-party roundtable conference for all political parties to forswear the politics of fear and blackmail in the 13th General Elections and to accept any peaceful and democratic change of government, whether at the Federal or state level, if this is the verdict of the electorate.
This is most urgent and imperative for two reasons: firstly, the increasing incidents of the politics of fear, blackmail, gangsterism and violence in the run-up to the 13GE; secondly, the possibility that the 13GE will herald the first change of federal government in 56 years through the ballot box, namely the formation of a Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government in Putrajaya following the ousting of the Barisan Nasional Federal Government through the democratic process.
I have received information that the Bukit Aman and Defence Ministry intelligence do not rule out the defeat of Barisan Nasional in the 13GE. According to one Bukit Aman intelligence estimate, which I cannot verify whether it is from the police or not, the possible outcome of the 13GE for parliamentary elections is as follows:
| State | PR | BN |
|---|---|---|
| Perlis | 1 | 2 |
| Kedah | 13 | 2 |
| Kelantan | 13 | 1 |
| Terengganu | 4 | 4 |
| Penang | 12 | 1 |
| Perak | 18 | 6 |
| Pahang | 5 | 9 |
| Selangor | 20 | 2 |
| Wilayah Per. | 10 | 1 |
| Putrajaya | 0 | 1 |
| Negri Sembilan | 6 | 2 |
| Melaka | 2 | 4 |
| Johor | 12 | 14 |
| Labuan | 1 | 0 |
| Sabah | 12 | 13 |
| Sarawak | 16 | 15 |
| Total | 145 | 77 |
According to this estimate, PR will win 145 parliamentary seats compared to 77 for Barisan Nasional – or a majority of 68 seats.
Read the rest of this entry »
18-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: Invitation to Ghani Othman to a series of seven public debates in Gelang Patah on the importance of the 13th GE to Johore and Malaysia – the first one to be held before Nomination Day on April 20
A week ago, I challenged former and longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who has become the most powerful person in UMNO/BN and the person whom the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak fears most, to a series of seven public debates on his 22 years as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
This is because of the very clear and systematic attempt to revive Mahathirism, a campaign led by none other than Mahathir himself.
This series of seven public debates with Mahathir will cover an entire spectrum of achievements and failures, in fact national disasters, of the 22-year Mahathir premiership with its host of human rights violations, mega-financial scandals, rampant corruption, collapse of educational standards and the across-the-board subversion of independent national institutions like the judiciary, the police and the civil service in the country during the long night of the 22-year Mahathir premiership.
But Mahathir has declined the invitation to the series of seven public debates in Gelang Patah to examine his legacy and the baneful effect of Mahathirism on Malaysian nation-building although he has no qualms whatsoever to continue to pump racist poison, lies and falsehoods into the mainstream of Malaysian public discourse, including his seditious, inflammatory and baseless accusation against me for wanting to create a racial confrontation by contesting in Gelang Patah and his open call to the people of Johore to make Gelang Patah my “political graveyard”. Read the rest of this entry »
Blunt Facts about BN’s gerrymandering and the EC’s pandering
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh on Wednesday, 17 April 2013, 9:41 am
by Martin Jalleh
Azmi Sharom’s Amazing Analysis!
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh on Wednesday, 17 April 2013, 9:37 am
by Martin Jalleh
Ghani Othman’s candidature in Gelang Patah – implementation of Mahathir’s first directive in the 13GE: “End Kit Siang’s political career”
The announcement of Datuk Ghani Othman, the Johor Mentri Besar, as the candidate of the Barisan Nasional parliamentary constituency of Gelang Patah in the 13th General Election has not created any surprises as this has been an open secret for the past fortnight.
This was both the request of the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek who was even prepared to unilaterally surrender the Gelang Patah seat, traditional fortress of MCA, as well as the directive of the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir who came to Johore on April 1 and called on the people of Johor in the 13GE to end my political career.
Ghani’s candidature is the implementation by the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of Mahathir’s first directive in the 13GE, “End Kit Siang’s political career”.
Nobody doubts that the most powerful man in UMNO and Barisan Nasional today is not the Prime Minister and BN Chairman but Mahathir, the de facto power behind the throne in UMNO and BN. Read the rest of this entry »
19-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: Vision 2050 – A Thriving Democratic Nation
Posted by Kit in Elections, nation building on Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 2:18 pm
On April 11, 2013, I unveiled my Vision 2050 for Malaysia to replace Vision 2020.
I believe that Malaysians need a new vision for a bolder, brighter and better Malaysia especially since the aspirations of Vision 2020 has been tarnished, perhaps irrevocably so, by the actions and words of the very person who outlined this vision, Dr. Mahathir.
I unveiled 10 points for my Vision 2050 which I very much hope can start a national conversation about new aspirations for the country and the course which we must chart in order to achieve these aspirations.
The mother of all election battles which is the Battle of Gelang Patah, where I will face off against the popular Johor Menteri Besar, Abdul Ghani Othman, is more than just a contest to determine the results in one seat.
It is more than just a contest for Johor. And it is most definitely more than just a contest for Putrajaya. It is a contest for the heart, soul and mind of Malaysia.
As such, as part of the 24 day countdown to polling day on May 5, 2013, I want to share my thoughts on each one of these points.
While I most likely will not live to see 2050, I sincerely hope that I will be able to witness our beloved country moving in the right direction. Win or lose, this battle to achieve Vision 2050 must go on. Read the rest of this entry »
Invitation to Ghani Othman to make Gelang Patah the model constituency of clean, free and fair elections in whole country in the 13GE which is expected to be dirtiest in election history in Malaysia
Firstly let me deplore and condemn in the strongest possible terms the uncivilised and inhuman two explosions at the Boston Marathon which have killed three persons and injured some 30 people in one of the world’s best known marathons.
The Boston Marathon was held on Patriot Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897 and attracted an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants.
Although the criminal incident happened far-way in Boston, the people of Gelang Patah, Johore and Malaysia, like all human beings throughout the world, are shocked and revolted by such inhumanity and utter disregard for human lives.
The world has become a global village and what happens in one part of the world attracts the concern and attention of people in other parts of the world, like the two explosions of the Boston Marathon.
The Boston Marathon explosions is particularly pertinent to Malaysians, facing the 13th General Elections, as Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders have been warning about chaos and bloodshed ala-Arab Spring.
Let all political leaders, whether BN or PR, stand as one to condemn the violence and inhumanity of the Boston Marathon as well as to reaffirm that what we want to witness in the 13GE is not the bloodshed and chaos of Arab Spring but the peaceful and democratic transition of power like the South Korean Spring in 1997 if the verdict of the 13.3 million voters on May 5 is for a change of government in Putrajaya, with Pakatan Rakyat replacing Barisan Nasional as the new Federal Government of Malaysia.
The four-term Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Ghani Othman is as good as the BN candidate for Gelang Patah with the MCA surrendering the MCA/BN fortress to UMNO.
If this is the case, I invite Ghani Othman to join me in making Gelang Patah the model constituency of clean, free and fair elections out of 222 parliamentary and 505 state assembly constituencies in the country in the 13GE as it is expected to be dirtiest in election history in Malaysia.
Already, the most unscrupulous and unprincipled “dirty tricks” have been used coupled with unspeakable lies and falsehoods that is spread anonymously.
I invite Ghani to join me in reaching an accord to make Gelang Patah the most gentlemanly contest where: Read the rest of this entry »
Who is the Leader, Who the Follower?
Posted by Kit in Articles, Kee Thuan Chye on Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 9:35 am
by Kee Thuan Chye
MSN Malaysia
If voters fall for the promise of more BR1M, it will show they are willing bribe-takers, that they are people who are prone to being dependent.
To woo Indian voters, BN pledges RM500 million in seed funding towards raising the equity of the Indian community to at least 3 per cent. Pakatan, however, does not pander to any ethnic community, preferring to take a broad multi-racial approach in its plans for the country’s future without favouring any particular race. This augurs well for a better Malaysia and shows up once again BN’s attempt at blatant vote-buying.
On the whole, the BN manifesto is nothing new. As a veteran economist who has served in the civil service notes, it is structurally the same BN manifesto that has been used in past general elections for decades. It is superficial and short-term, particularly in its focus on cash handouts. He would have wanted BN to tackle the key issues of improving education, for instance, and removing the fixation on the NEP and the accompanying idea of Ketuanan Melayu. Both of these are comprehensively addressed in the Pakatan manifesto. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s zombie apocalypse
Posted by Kit in Articles, Elections, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 16 April 2013, 9:30 am
by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
11:51AM Apr 15, 2013
In keeping with the unhealthy obsession with cerita hantu (ghost stories) and the supernatural, which is displayed by the rakyat – especially the Malays – caretaker Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should be applauded for converting some Malaysians into zombies.
The living dead are characterised by their lack of self-awareness and the inability to think for themselves. Najib’s zombies may not crave human flesh, but they do feast on cash handouts and freebies. In the zombie culture, human brains are considered a delicacy. Perhaps Umno has seized on the rakyat’s minds as a means to spread their evil. They have mentally enslaved us and used this exploitation to satisfy their greed for material goods, and hunger for power.
Six decades ago, Malayans had to decide – either continue to be ruled by the British, or accept change and take charge of running the country. The operative word was change. Read the rest of this entry »
Is party polls behind MCA’s revamped GE13 slate?
By Jahabar Sadiq
The Malaysian Insider
April 16, 2013
ANALYSIS, April 16 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s move to drop two senior MCA leaders and put his own men is already causing waves in his party, but will it help Barisan Nasional (BN) in Election 2013 or just the party president in internal polls this year?
And are veterans like former party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat not viewed as a “winnable candidate” in his Pandan stronghold which is will be contested by PKR’s “expose man” Rafizi Ramli in the May 5 general election?
Ong’s former cohort, party vice-president Senator Gan Peng Siu, has also been omitted from the list announced by Dr Chua yesterday, leading credence to whispers that only the president’s men are contesting the national polls.
Another vice-president, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, is also not contesting the polls, but the controversial tourism minister said she has asked for the break although there were concerns that her performance has affected BN in the past few years.
“Basically, Chua Soi Lek is preparing for the MCA elections after the GE. Hence, he is dropping all contenders and their supporters,” an MCA source told The Malaysian Insider.
“It is all the president’s men for GE13,” he said, adding the candidates list will strengthen Dr Chua’s hand in the next party polls due this year rather than BN’s defence of Putrajaya. Read the rest of this entry »
Shame on you, EPF!
by P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
6:16PM Apr 12, 2013
Whatever possessed the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to throw in the towel way before the fight had finished, leaving other minority shareholders aghast at its surrender even before the battle had started in earnest? Shame on you, EPF!
We are referring of course to the national provident fund’s meek capitulation by accepting national oil company Petronas’ revised offer of RM5.50 per MISC Bhd share yesterday, eight days before the offer was due to close.
By accepting the offer it has made it that much easier for Petronas to reach its target of acquiring 90 percent of MISC shares, a condition for Petronas’ takeover offer for MISC, and the level at which the oil company can delist MISC from Bursa Malaysia. Petronas has just under 80 percent of the shares now after EPF’s acceptance, 10 percent short of the offer becoming unconditional. Read the rest of this entry »
Mission almost impossible for Kit Siang
Free Malaysia Today
April 15, 2013
JOHOR BARU: For DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang to win the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in Barisan Nasional’s fortress in Johor, he not only needs to win the “hearts and minds” of the Chinese electorate, who are the majority voters in the suburban seat, he must also work hard to woo votes from the Malay electorate.
A substantial 54% of the eligible voters in Gelang Patah are Chinese while the Malays account for 33% and Indians make up 12%.
Judging from the electoral composition, it is clear that to win the rapidly-developing Gelang Patah seat, the candidate, either from BN or DAP, must romp home with the support of the Chinese and Malays, the bulk of the electorate in the constituency, adjacent to Pulai and Johor Baru parliamentary seats.
But with the irremovable stigma that Kit Siang and DAP are “anti-Malays” and “anti-Islam, it is a big question mark whether the Malay voters in the constituency will accept or welcome the veteran DAP politician. Read the rest of this entry »
A very ‘American’ election
Posted by Kit in Articles, Elections, Najib Razak on Monday, 15 April 2013, 3:26 pm
by Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
APRIL 15 — So far it has been, as a friend remarked the other day, “a very American election”.
With its mobilising and symbolic focus on PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the GE13 “pre-campaign” has been nothing if not “presidential”.
“Presidential” campaigning: PM Najib and BR1M
If Umno/BN is now a brand, Najib is its face. Its trademark.
Not unlike a certain avuncular colonel and his own certain brand of fried chicken.
And if Umno/Bn now has a strategic approach, it is Najib’s own iconic BR1M.
Umno/Bn now relies upon communicating an irresistible sense of party and government largesse that, in a very personal way, the prime minister distributes and also symbolises. Read the rest of this entry »
