Twenty-five years later, camaraderie in adversity
Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 27, 2012
OCT 27 — The collective adversity suffered by the DAP, PAS and civil society leaders in 1987 ironically built the steely resolve for change and the deep camaraderie to see it through.
This day 25 years ago, October 27, 1987, was one of the darkest days in Malaysian history when 106 politicians and social activists were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Operation Lalang. Printing permits for three newspapers, namely The Star, Sinchew and Watan, were withdrawn.
The security crackdown that shocked the nation and marked the end of the boisterous, often mistaken as democratic, first phase of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership that began in 1981. Dr Mahathir succeeded Tun Hussein Oon with a weak base in Umno and virtually no one to trust.
By pitting Musa Hitam against Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in Umno’s deputy presidential elections of 1981 and 1984, Dr Mahathir bought himself time and space. But the chickens came home to roost by 1987 when Tengku Razaleigh teamed up with Musa to challenge the Dr Mahathir-Ghafar Baba ticket.
The election on April 24 saw Tengku Razaleigh losing to Dr Mahathir by a mere 43 votes, allegedly after a suspicious blackout at the vote-counting centre. Read the rest of this entry »
Ops Lalang
Posted by Kit in ISA, Martin Jalleh on Sunday, 28 October 2012, 10:53 am
By Martin Jalleh
The lust for power sustained through the ISA
by P Ramakrishnan
Aliran
27 October 2012
Twenty five years ago, Malaysia witnessed what one person could do to sustain his lust for power. His unabated lust for power unleashed the worst traits in the Barisan Nasional to imprison 106 innocent Malaysians to keep the BN in power.
The man behind this dark episode in our history was none other than Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
On 27 October 1987 the rule of law was discarded, natural justice was ignored, the role of the judiciary was overridden, parliamentary democracy was sidelined so that he could cling on to power at all costs and by all means.
As Prime Minister, Home Minister and Justice Minister, Mahathir rode roughshod so that his position would remain safe and sound and that there would be no one to challenge him.
Today, more than ever, we must remember this shameful part of our history and wonder whether this will be repeated when the results of the 13th general election are announced. Read the rest of this entry »
Jaclyn Victor’s ‘Harapan’ is my ‘Harapan’ too
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion on Saturday, 27 October 2012, 4:47 pm
— Terence Martin
The Malaysian Insider
October 27, 2012
OCT 27 — Jaclyn Victor sang “Harapan Bangsa”.
Jaclyn Victor’s a Christian.
It’s a Christian song of praise and worship.
No one ever pretended it was not.
Perkasa is now out with pitchforks and torches to lynch somebody, anybody; but preferably Jaclyn Victor.
Whatever is next?
No worship services for Christians in Malay in this country?
Or perhaps a government official will make audio, video and photographic recordings of each and every service in Malay in this country? Just to find evidence of conversion, conspiracy and the like? Read the rest of this entry »
Change of government needed to undo all the adverse effects of 25-year Operation Lalang on democracy, human rights and national institutions
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Human Rights, Judiciary, Parliament on Friday, 26 October 2012, 4:04 pm
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of Operation Lalang which brought about the darkest days for democracy and human rights in the nation’s history.
There was not only the arrest of 106 Malaysians, including opposition leaders – 16 of whom were from the DAP, including MPs and State Assemblymen – trade unionists, social activists, environmentalists, Chinese educationists and religious workers, there was also the wholesale attacks on press freedom with the closure of three newspapers, the merciless attacks on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law resulting in the sacking of the Lord President and two Supreme Court judges and the series of undemocratic legislation which caused a tectonic shift in the Malaysian political landscape, subordinating the legislative and judicial branches to the Executive or to be more exact to the fiat of one person, the Prime Minister of the day.
The Government Transformation Programme of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has promised to make Malaysia “the best democracy of the world”, but after more than 42 months of his premiership, Malaysia falls far short of the conditions to be a “normal democracy” let alone the “world’s best democracy”, as illustrated by the refusal by the Prime Minister and the ruling UMNO/BN coalition to make a public commitment that they would fully accept the verdict of the voters in the 13th General Election and would peacefully and smoothly transfer Federal power to Pakatan Rakyat if this is the verdict of the Malaysian electorate in the ballot box. Read the rest of this entry »
A punch-drunk party?
Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Oct 25, 2012
If the reports are to believed, after a weekend of coming up with absolutely nothing in terms of policy strategies and directions for the country and incessantly bashing PAS, DAP and hudud instead, the MCA annual general meeting, clearly in need of sustenance, resorted to Malaysia’s favourite pastime, sex.
Or, rather, talking about sex.
Or, even more accurately, talking about other people having sex.
Indeed, leading up to the two-day, weekend meeting, the MCA’s mouthpiece, The Star, chose to relegate whatever build-up there might have been to the inside pages, and stormed ahead with its expose of these two naughty Malaysian souls, Alvin and Vivian.
For three whole days, their photographs – individually or together – were prominently featured on the cover page of the paper. Fully clothed, fortunately.
Together with the voyeurism, there was so much predictable tut-tutting by all and sundry. These ranged from the paper’s ‘agonising’ aunty, to quickly-interviewed shocked and appalled Malaysians, including parents, to even ‘experts’, psychiatrists dispensing their wisdom from kilometres away without the need of their couches. Or the need to talk to these two ‘celebrities’.
And at the MCA weekend retreat, too, their frolicking did not go unnoticed. Both the MCA Youth and Wanita meetings were spiced up with condemnations of the couple’s very-public performances.
And the wholesome twosome simply basked in all that attention they received.
Then, almost abruptly, the coverage stopped. Read the rest of this entry »
Before meddling with subsidies, ask why we need subsidies
Posted by Kit in Economics, Finance, Public policy on Friday, 26 October 2012, 11:34 am
by Pak Sako
26th Oct 2012
Two groups, CPI and REFSA-IDEAS, are debating government subsidies.
This debate is critical because politicians are taking their cues from it.
It is important that good judgement prevails. Much is at stake.
But first, what is a subsidy? Why do we need it?
Some believe subsidies are government money spent on primary healthcare, infrastructure, culture or the environment.
But these are not subsidies. These are fundamental public provisions that a decent society would collectively provide for all its members in most ordinary circumstances.
A subsidy is different. It is a special kind of public expenditure.
A subsidy is designed to support a disadvantaged group that cannot secure the needs and necessities for survival because an underlying condition is persistently preventing their fulfillment. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud will not impact non-Muslims, minister says
Posted by Kit in Islamic state, MCA, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 26 October 2012, 11:01 am
by Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 24, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Hudud will not have an impact on non-Muslims in Malaysia, Umno minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom has said, disputing the repeated warnings by political ally MCA to the Chinese community on the controversial Islamic penal code.
In a written reply to Tan Tee Beng (IND-Nibong Tebal), the minister for Islamic affairs, explained that hudud, which prescribes the amputation of hands for theft, could only be applied to those who come under the jurisdiction of the Syariah court — Muslims.
“Therefore, hudud law will not impact non-Muslims,” he concluded.
MCA has been using the hudud issue to warn the non-Muslim community away from voting for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the coming polls, insisting that the pact’s “dominant” partner PAS would insist on its implementation despite its ties with secular DAP and PKR.
Hudud has remained a sensitive touch point in Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, which has a 60 per cent Muslim population, with political parties continuing to spar over the subject in the run-up to the 13th general election.
The idea of an Islamic criminal code has been used to either scare the minority Chinese voters, or shore up support among the majority Malay-Muslim community. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Indian gangsters’ or just lost souls?
— Choo Sing Chye
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 25, 2012
OCT 25 — The other day, at a dinner, I met a former PPP supporter who, upon recognising me, came over to my table for a chat.
But before saying anything, he quickly declared that he had switched parties, from PPP to a full-fledged MIC member.
I asked him: “What’s the difference?”
He did not answer, but switched subject to talk about the good old days. Then suddenly at one juncture he asked me whether I had admitted any Indian gangsters during my watch as Perak DAP organising secretary.
“No!” I replied.
“Hey, don’t ‘ali-utart’ (bluff) me lah, just admit it bro,” he reacted.
I looked at him and responded, “I never come across any Indians who had filled the little dotted line under “Occupation” with the word “Gangster”, when joining the DAP.
“So, to you when you see an Indian beating another, you call him a gangster and when a rich man or top politician’s son bashing another, you just say, boys will be boys, right?” I retorted. “Is this the way MIC solves the Indian problem?”
This is a true story that happened a very long time ago. Read the rest of this entry »
10 Qualities of A Great Nation
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 26 October 2012, 10:49 am
By Thomas Fann
October 26, 2012
With an upcoming General Election that is expected to be the most hotly contested one ever since independence and the formation of our relatively young nation, Malaysia is at a crossroad. Perhaps for the first time the prospect of a change in government is realistic and both coalitions sense it.
Hearing the empty rhetorics of some leaders of the current coalition, one can only come to the conclusion that they are bankrupt. Certainly not of material wealth but of ideas.
What if there is a change in government and we have a chance to rebuild and reshape this nation? What kind of a nation would we want to build? What are the qualities that would make Malaysia a great nation?
Let me state clearly that I for one do not believe that change for the better will come overnight for two reasons. You can’t undo a political, administrative and social mindset that has been skewed towards a regime overnight. It will be a slow uphill task that requires perseverance. Secondly, the new government does not necessarily be different in ability and even integrity from the old or have all the answers. The difference is that there is a chance for real reform and for the voices and aspirations of the people to be heard, and that is, if we choose to actively and constructively engage the new administration.
I would like to suggest 10 qualities that would make Malaysia a great nation, a place that we would be proud to call home and where we would see a reversal of the brain drain?. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Hari Raya Haji
Wishing Malaysian Muslims a happy and meaningful Hari Raya Haji!
Dr M: ‘Weak’ Najib won’t heed Malay concerns
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir, Najib Razak, NEP, Razaleigh Hamzah on Thursday, 25 October 2012, 5:14 pm
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | October 24, 2012 Free Malaysia Today
The former premier said this is because the Malays are no longer the kingmakers and are now reduced to being ‘beggars’ in their own land.
KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad today called the Najib administration “weak” and said it will not entertain the concerns of the Malays, especially its business community, as they are no longer the country’s kingmakers.
The former premier said the division among the country’s majority electorate has made them fragile and forced the present government to depend on the support of “others” in an apparent reference to the non-Malays.
This is the second time Mahathir had openly called Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s government “frail”, saying it is forced to make key concessions to non-Malay demands in the hope of winning their support in the upcoming national polls.
“I do not believe this government will take your demands seriously,” he told the 2012 Malay Economic Congress held here.
“This is because we [the Malays] no longer hold anymore political power… we have become a beggar in our own country,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
Has Chua Soi Lek turned MCA into Malaysian Charlatans Party by keeping quiet on Jamil’s parliamentary answer on hudud?
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islamic state, Mahathir, MCA on Thursday, 25 October 2012, 4:02 pm
Has the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek turned MCA into “Malaysian Charlatans Party” by keeping quiet on the hudud answer given by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom in Parliament on Tuesday, exposing the utter hypocrisy of the MCA campaign on hudud in the past two years?
Yesterday, in my media statement “UMNO/MCA’s ‘Devil’s Compact’ confirmed by Mahathir within 24 hours”, I had posed the question to Chua and the MCA leadership whether Jamil’s parliamentary reply “if hudud laws are implemented in Malaysia, they will not have any implications on non-Muslims” represented the stand of MCA in Cabinet and BN, “and if not, what are they going to do about it”.
There has been no answer but only thunderous silence!
How can this be the case when in the past two years, Chua had been leading his coterie of MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers up and down the country with only one campaign theme – that it is a “lie” that hudud laws will not affect non-Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
Has MCA’s soul searching taken it full circle?
by Nigel Aw & Lu Wei Hoong
Malaysiakini
Oct 21, 2012
Over four years after MCA suffered its worst electoral debacle since the formation of BN, the party at its annual general assembly meeting today appeared to have confidently settled on its agenda ahead of the national polls that must be called by early next year.
Following the charged anti-Pakatan and particularly anti-DAP rhetoric of its Youth and Women wings’ AGMs yesterday, the main AGM today was carefully crafted from beginning to end as a rallying cry before a general election described as the party’s “life and death” battle.
From breaking its decade-long tradition of white uniforms in favour of BN’s blue tees, to political banners decorating the MCA headquarters, the message in the words of MCA president Chua Soi Lek was simple: “We are ready for war.”
Chua during his closing remarks said, “In the over 20 years of AGMs that I have attended, this is the first time I have seen so many people remaining in this hall.”
The lucky draw and souvenirs for those who stayed back and the pouring rain outside may have helped to retain over 1,000 delegates of the 1,689 who attended today, but it was still a commendable achievement for any political party’s AGM and reflects the careful planning behind the gathering. Read the rest of this entry »
Ministerial moral insight: A brief comment
— Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 25, 2012
OCT 25 — The infliction of the hudud punishments will not affect, or have any impact upon, non-Muslims, the minister has sought to assure everybody ( “Hudud will not impact non-Muslims, minister says”, The Malaysian Insider, October 24).
Just consider for a moment.
The state will inflict the hudud punishments on some of its citizens. On their bodies, and brutally.
Since it will be acting as the state, and not as some instrument of private punishment or vengeful enforcement, it will be doing so in the name of all of its citizens. That is what, by definition, modern states are.
So all of the state’s citizens, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, will be complicit in, and will share moral responsibility for, the infliction of those punishments.
And, as a result, their nature as “moral agents” will be transformed by that complicity, by their dragooned participation in and shared authorship of those mandatory stonings, amputations and the like.
Yet the minister says that these non-Muslim citizens will be in no way affected, or “impacted.”
It is an assurance that is entirely unconvincing. One that is patently inadequate, ill-founded and wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin’s boys target Nov 30
Posted by Kit in Elections, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 25 October 2012, 10:00 am
Toffee Rodrigo | October 25, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
According to Muhyiddin Yassin’s camp, campaigning in December will give BN a strategic advantage, given that the middle-class and Christians will be distracted.
COMMENT
Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin’s boys want the general election this year. They are pushing Muhyiddin to pressure Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to dissolve Parliament by Nov 30.
Muhyiddin’s supporters feel Nov 30 should be the latest date, or else Umno and Barisan Nasional will be in trouble.
According to them, campaigning in December will give BN a strategic advantage.
The strategic advantage they are talking about is in East Malaysia. A December poll, they believe, will give the Christians (read opposition) less time to campaign, they will be busy with Christmas and have little time to dwell on politics.
And this will be good for the BN as far as Sarawak is concerned as the natives will be also too busy with the festivities to seek out the alternative media. They will thus depend on the propaganda dished out by the government-controlled mass media especially the radio and TV.
In West Malaysia, the middle class, which is seen to be anti-establishment, will be busy taking holidays. Many of them may not be around even to vote if the election is called in December.
And this is what BN needs to win back states like Selangor and Penang. Read the rest of this entry »
MCA’s long day’s journey into night
S Thayaparan
Malaysiakini
Oct 24, 2012
“Sometimes… it’s better for a man just to walk away.
But if you can’t walk away?
I guess that’s when it’s tough.” – Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman)
COMMENT
MCA president Chua Soi Lek may think that everyone has a role to play in this coming “war”, which is the upcoming general election, but the only role the MCA is going to play is that of cannon fodder in the ultimate showdown between Umno and their arch nemesis Anwar Ibrahim.
I get it. I really do. Malaysians are constantly being told to be grateful. Each community has been brainwashed into thinking they should be grateful for different reasons but above all their gratitude should be directed at Barisan National.
The opposition thinks that non-Malay Malaysians have woken up but the reality is that the MIC and MCA fell asleep on the job. Dereliction of duty when it came to the communal interests of the non-Malays at the expense of Umno hegemony is what has caused the downfall of these component parties. That and of course the infighting, corruption and hubris of being the only game in town.
What is really destroying the MCA is not the propaganda of the DAP but the acceptance by a large voting demographic of the Chinese community that no representation in the government is better than MCA representation. Read the rest of this entry »
Refsa on subsidies: Still off the mark
Posted by Kit in Economics, Finance, Lim Teck Ghee on Thursday, 25 October 2012, 12:20 am
Dr Lim Teck Ghee
CPI
The response by Research for Social Advancement (Refsa) institute to my note is disappointing. It provides little value added to the current knowledge on subsidies in Malaysia; repeats various motherhood statements about the need to rein in subsidies and selectively focuses on so-called various ivory tower statements that they have detected in my note to triumphantly declare victory.
The major contention in my note is necessary to repeat:
It is necessary to remind the REFSA-IDEAS team that subsidies have an important role to play in providing a safety net for vulnerable groups. They help bring down the cost of living as well as enable access to health, education, transport and other necessities.
They are a necessary burden in a highly skewed capitalist economy such as Malaysia’s where the lower classes of labour do not get the fair remuneration that they are entitled to or deserve. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO/MCA “Devil’s Compact” confirmed by Mahathir within 24 hours
Yesterday, I publicly said that MCA and UMNO leaders have reached a “Devil’s Compact” for each side to tell the most blatant lies and falsehoods to frighten Chinese and Malay voters respectively in their desperate belief that such politics of hate and duplicity is the only way to stampede Chinese and Malay voters to vote for Barisan Nasional in the 13th General Election.
I had expected MCA and UMNO leaders and their propagandists to embark on prolonged polemics to deny the existence of such an unholy compact and to throw up all sorts of “red herrings” to distract attention from the “Devil’s Compact”.
What I least expected was for my expose of UMNO/MCA’s “Devil’s Compact” to be confirmed within 24 hours in a most authoritative fashion and in a manner completely disarming and stripping the MCA and UMNO leaders and propagandists bare of their wiles and hypocrisies.
There is only one person who could perform such a feat – Tun Dr. Mahathir and this was exactly what he did yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »
The final nail to its coffin?
Posted by Kit in Elections, MCA, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 24 October 2012, 1:40 pm
by Dr Chris Anthony
23rd October 2012
MCA’s 59th annual general assembly began with high spirits and hopes. Adopting the motto “MCA can deliver” and “Battle without fear”, the delegates tried their best to put up a brave front and display great confidence of victory in the coming most crucial and decisive 13GE. But to many Malaysians who are following the political developments in the country, it was nothing but a great ‘sandiwara’ to try and regain MCA’s rapidly losing support among the Chinese.
There were three excesses that we witnessed at the just concluded MCA General Assembly which goes to show how desperate and jittery the party is with the approaching 13GE which many believe could give a fatal blow to the 63 year old second largest component in the BN,resulting in its demise.These were :
1.Excessive praise for Najib to the extent of idolizing him as though he is the de facto MCA president and savior of the party in the coming crucial 13GE.
2. Excessive attacks on the Pakatan Rakyat for its alledged “failures” in the states under its rule which showed the deep- seated fear for the opposition. People on the ground, including MCA members themselves, especially in Penang and to a certain extent Selangor know the ability of the Pakatan governments in administering the states under their care.
3.Excessive anti-Hudud and anti-Islamic state rhetoric to create fear among Chinese in particular and the non-Muslims in general. The MCA president went to the extent of saying that under the Hudud laws imposed in the Islamic state set up by Pakatan, the Muslims will be permitted to rape non-Muslim women.
