Really ! Non Partisan in Malaysia Boleh?
Many NGOs, major Bodies fighting their Causes or institutions always claimed to be non partisan when making their calls for change towards their causes. This should be the way as we see it all around the globe but can it be followed in this nation whereby everything you do is one way or another tied to politics?
Non partisan: free from party affiliation
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation. wikipedia
Partisan: In politics, partisan literally means organized into political parties. The expression “partisan politics” usually refers to fervent, sometimes militant, support of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea. wikipedia
Once any party/parties are elected to form the government, elected representatives should shed their party partisanship and perform their government duties in a non partisan manner and served each and every rakyat irrespective of their political affiliation. Read the rest of this entry »
Bishop Paul decries vilification of Christians
Terence Netto | Aug 6, 11 7:36pm
Malaysiakini
Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing said today he was not surprised that “hard upon accusations by Jais of Christians proselytising Muslims comes unsubstantiated print media stories seemingly validating those claims.”
“Need we be surprised?” asked the head of the Catholic Church in the Melaka-Johor diocese, who is concurrently president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia.
“It’s depressing – this continuing trial of Malaysian Christians by innuendo and insinuation,” sighed the Jesuit-trained prelate in comments to Malaysiakini on the stories in today’s editions of the Berita Harian and Harian Metro that quote a couple of Muslims claiming that they have been targeted by Christian groups as potential converts. Read the rest of this entry »
Christian charity conversion report a ‘conspiracy’, say PAS MP, priest
By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Calling it yet another conspiracy plot, a PAS MP and a Catholic priest both spoke out today against the latest news linking church charity groups to covert conversions as a ploy to pit Muslims against Christians.
Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad suggested it was it was a political move calculated to claw back the support of Malay-Muslim voters ahead of the 13th general election, expected to be called by year-end.
Dzulkefly said it was a political move to win back the support of Malay-Muslim voters. — File pic“You see it now, they are full of plots,” the PAS central working committee (CWC) member told The Malaysian Insider in an immediate reaction to the allegations following a Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya last Wednesday night. Read the rest of this entry »
1988 state law allows Jais to act against non-Muslims
By Clara Chooi and Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 07, 2011
PETALING JAYA, Aug 7 — The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had likely acted within the law when it raided a church here, as a controversial enactment passed by a Barisan Nasional (BN) state government in 1988 allows action against non-Muslims.
Malaysian Bar Council chief Lim Chee Wee pointed out, however, their being empowered also meant the religious authorities can only act within the confines of the Islamic laws, highlighting that the words allegedly said to prove Christians were proselytising to Muslims at the event — “Quran” and “Pray” — did not fall within the religious enforcement’s context.
“Whilst Jais may have the legal power to enter the premises, it must do so on a proper legal basis that there has been an offence committed. From the presently available facts, there is no basis for its intrusion,” he told The Malaysian Insider in an email. Read the rest of this entry »
Christian groups demand proof of converting Muslims using aid
Posted by Kit in Islam, nation building, Religion, Selangor on Saturday, 6 August 2011, 9:08 pm
By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Christian groups are calling for evidence behind two Malay dailies’ allegations that they are trying to convert Muslims through welfare aid.
Berita Harian and Harian Metro reported today that certain Christian organisations were hiding behind the guise of welfare aid by offering monthly cash allowances of at least RM1,000 to hard-hit Muslims and their families in an attempt to turn them into Christians.
The pro-Barisan Nasional newspapers’ allegations came after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and the police raided a multiracial dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya last Wednesday night, based on a report that the Christian-majority crowd was allegedly proselytising to Muslim guests.
“If you’re saying that Christians give RM5,000, now you convert, show the proof,” Council of Churches of Malaysia general secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri told The Malaysian Insider today. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for CSL and MCA Ministers to declare whether they agree MACC and MACC officers must be held responsible for TBH’s death
Posted by Kit in Law & Order, Teoh Beng Hock on Saturday, 6 August 2011, 4:23 pm
The time has come for the MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek and the four MCA Ministers to end being “dumb and deaf” and declare whether they agree with the Bar Council that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and MACC officers must be held responsible for Teoh Beng Hock’s (TBH) death at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.
The Bar Council submission to the TBH Royal Commission of Inquiry made public yesterday had recommended that five MACC officers be investigated under Section 304A of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the death of TBH, viz: former Selangor MACC deputy chief and “mastermind” of the massive and unlawful 33-men MACC operation which resulted in Beng Hock’s death, Hishamuddin Hashim; Selangor MACC investigations chief Hairul Ilham Hamzah; investigation officer Mohd Anuar Ismail, interrogation officer Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus and Klang MACC assistant enforcement officer Zulkerfly Aziz.
The five should also be investigated under Section 304A of the Penal Code for causing Teoh’s death by negligence. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP raps MCA for carping about church raid
By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011
PUCHONG, Aug 6 — The MCA has no right to denounce the DAP over its purported silence on the state religious Islamic authorities’ raid on a church as the Chinese party has been powerless when non-Muslims’ rights are threatened, Teresa Kok said today.
The Selangor DAP chief pointed out that her party has expressed its “dissatisfaction” with the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) Wednesday late-night raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).
“MCA is a party that is least qualified to talk about political courage,” Kok told reporters today.
“Umno has done so much nonsense against MCA and the non-Malay community, yet MCA still sticks as Umno’s partner,” added the Seputeh MP. Read the rest of this entry »
Bersih: NRD’s Mismah-gate clarification unacceptable
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Elections, Parliament on Saturday, 6 August 2011, 12:51 pm
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng | Aug 5, 11 1:35pm
Malaysiakini
The National Registration Department (NRD)’s explanation of the ‘Mismah-gate’ is unacceptable as it fails to address the public’s concern, said Bersih 2.0 chief Ambiga Sreenevasan.
Therefore, she supported Pakatan Rakyat MPs’ call for an emergency parliamentary sitting this month in order to seek answers for the many questions the scandal’s raised.
“We haven’t actually had any meaningful answer… there has to be accountability on this issue,” Ambiga (left) told Malaysiakini during an interview yesterday.
“The answer that they have given us so far is really quite unacceptable.” Read the rest of this entry »
A morning session with The Oracle of Syed Putera
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, NEM on Saturday, 6 August 2011, 11:56 am
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
August 06, 2011
AUGUST 6 — Once again, I have the pleasure to share with readers, the current thoughts of the Oracle of Syed Putra.
To refresh the minds of readers, the Oracle is the alter ego of Tun Daim Zainudin. You can almost say what the Oracle says is what Tun Daim thinks. It seems now, whatever Tun Daim says is carefully analyzed. And Tun Daim is a dangerous seer. In 2008, he predicted the loss of BN in 5 states. The UMNO generals were up in arms. They vilified him, describing him with all sorts of disrespectful terms. Daim is a pensioner. Daim is out of touch. Daim is irrelevant. When the results came, what Daim predicted was generally true. So how does Daim see the future?
According to the Oracle, it’s a grim future for Umno and BN. the country has no leadership. Announcements were made continuously without understanding what were said. The PM reads the budget in parliament but when it comes to Q&A, Nor Yaakob does the answering. Some people prepare the text and PM who has no time to understand the context, will just read it. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno claims can win Selangor with big majority
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011
KUANG, Aug 6 — Umno is confident that Barisan Nasional (BN) will trounce Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Selangor in the coming polls with a whopping 20-seat majority, allowing the pact to form a strong government in the frontline state.
Selangor Umno infomation chief Abdul Shukor Idrus told The Malaysian Insider that this time, BN will win in at least 38 of the state’s 56 seats, in comparison to the 20 it won in the 2008 election when PR captured the country’s wealthiest state.
He attributed BN’s pre-empted victories to a significant increase in Malay voter support from about 50 per cent in 2008 to an estimated 65 per cent, saying it was fuelled by a growing disenchantment with the current PR-led state administration and feverish ground work by Umno leaders humbled by their shocking losses in 2008.
“So although we cannot say that we are extremely comfortable yet, we are confident that we can win Selangor,” he said when met at his service centre here this week before the state Islamic affairs department triggered a controversy by raiding a Petaling Jaya church. Read the rest of this entry »
The wrong worries
— Paul Krugman
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 06, 2011
AUGUST 6 — In case you had any doubts, Thursday’s more than 500-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the drop in interest rates to near-record lows confirmed it: The economy is not recovering, and Washington has been worrying about the wrong things.
It is not just that the threat of a double-dip recession has become very real. It is now impossible to deny the obvious, which is that we are currently not and have never been on the road to recovery.
For two years, officials at the Federal Reserve, international organisations and, sad to say, within the Obama administration have insisted that the economy was on the mend. Read the rest of this entry »
More ‘irregularities’ found in electoral roll in Penang
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Elections, Lim Guan Eng, Penang on Saturday, 6 August 2011, 11:25 am
Susan Loone | Aug 5, 11 4:30pm
Malaysiakini
The Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang continues to reveal “irregularities” in the supplementary electoral roll, claiming there was a sudden surge in more state seats in the first quarter of this year.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today that the surge in votes in certain areas within the three months has exceeded the increase of votes since 2008, or 33 months (two years and nine months).
He said he cannot help but be suspicious over the matter and blamed the Election Commission again for dabbling in “dirty” tricks in the voter registration process.
“Something is simply not right,” he told reporters at a press conference in Komtar today. Read the rest of this entry »
Penang voters increase by 32,000 in three months
Posted by Kit in Elections, Lim Guan Eng, Penang on Friday, 5 August 2011, 7:51 pm
Susan Loone | Aug 4, 11 4:18pm
Malaysiakini
Following the allegations that over 1,500 permanent residents were allowed to be registered in the latest supplementary electoral roll, Penang Pakatan Rakyat today claimed that the state saw a sudden surge of 32,000 voters in just three months.
A staggering 1,400 postal votes were inserted into Batu Maung state constituency, currently held by state exco member Abdul Malik Kassim from PKR.
Between 2008 to 2010, the Malay-majority seat only saw an increase of 2,200 voters.
The influx of voters was revealed today during a press conference called by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, attended by Abdul Malik and Deputy Chief Minister Mansor Othman. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang: Hasan Ali breaking ranks with Selangor
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 05, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Lim Kit Siang today accused Selangor executive councillor Datuk Hasan Ali of breaking ranks with the state government, after the latter issued a statement conflicting with Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s over Wednesday’s church raid.
The DAP party advisor said Hasan’s open defence of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) should be viewed seriously, as it came immediately after Khalid expressed regret over the incident.
“What is a matter of concern and must be viewed seriously is the public defence of the Jais action by Hasan, issued shortly after Khalid’s statement expressing regret for the raid and asking Jais to submit a full report on the incident — as it is an act of breaking ranks in the Selangor state government,” he pointed out in a statement here.
Lim added that Khalid’s response had been “timely and appropriate” as the raid was “deplorable” and detrimental to efforts to build a more open, tolerant and harmonious plural Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Bursa firms shed RM26b amid global markets bloodbath
By Lee Wei Lian
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 05, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — Today’s global market sell-off wiped an estimated RM26 billion from the KL stock exchange as investors took the cue from the regional meltdown following the rout on Wall Street yesterday.
Trader terminals were a sea of red today as losers vastly outnumbered gainers 934 to 60 while the broad-based Emas index shed 1.89 per cent to hit 10,478, a level not seen since May.
The benchmark FBMKLCI slipped 1.45 per cent to 1524, also its lowest level since May.
“If the Dow has another down day, things won’t look too good,” said Chris Eng, head of research at OSK Research. Read the rest of this entry »
The Jais raid
— Azrul Mohd Khalib
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 05, 2011
AUG 5 — The recent Selangor Religious Department (Jais) raid of the Harapan Komuniti event held at the Damanasara Utama Methodist Centre should be condemned by all Malaysians.
This dinner, which was organised to commemorate and honour the work of this non-profit organisation as well as its supporters and beneficiaries, is demonstrative of how we are united in a common concern and care for those living on the margins of society and who are less fortunate than us, regardless of their ethnicity and religion.
The high handed and overzealous manner in which the raid was conducted by the Jais officers over an unspecified complaint, and the disrespect shown towards the sanctity of a house of worship speaks volumes of the tendency towards the lack of respect for other religions, unaccountability and a culture of impunity.
Let us be clear: The embarrassing actions of the Jais officers appear to be the acts of a bully. It was bad enough that the so-called complaint was not substantiated, but the officers were not even able to produce a copy of the actual complaint. Read the rest of this entry »
Bungling Najib making opposition stronger
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Elections, Najib Razak on Friday, 5 August 2011, 12:07 pm
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | August 5, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
A former minister says the crackdown on the Bersih 2.0 rally had made the NGO into a giant and strengthened the opposition.
SERI KEMBANGAN: Former minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s poor handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally had made the polls watchdog a potent force and strengthened public support for the opposition.
Kadir, a former tourism minister during the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said Najib could have easily minimised the Bersih threat if he had engaged the NGO instead of resorting to force, which, he added, had boosted the group.
“The government had built it up to become a big giant,” he told FMT in a recent interview at his office here, agreeing with the opinions of various party leaders who believed it would have been better to engage the polls watchdog in discussions than resorting to repressive measures.
“I would have allowed the procession right from the beginning… then there will be no noise at all… Bersih would have had only two days of publicity,” said the Umno veteran who described Bersih’s demands for electoral reforms as valid. Read the rest of this entry »
Between fictitious and true unity
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Friday, 5 August 2011, 11:54 am
by Hafiz Noor Shams
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 05, 2011
AUG 5 — There is a strong emphasis on unity in Malaysia.
It is easy to rationalise why this is so. The country has been diverse from the very beginning of its modern history. Each group largely lives differently. While difference and diversity can be sources of strength, it is also a source of conflict.
Some believe that race relations nowadays are worse than they were in yesteryears, but the worst race riot of the country happened in Kuala Lumpur in May 1969. Another big race riot happened in Singapore in July 1964. Conflict between the races was part of the reason why Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965.
Those conflicts have left behind a deep scar in Malaysian society, even as many Malaysians today never witnessed a race riot first-hand. These old fears are becoming irrelevant but it is still part of what describes our society. So entrenched is the fear of history repeating itself that many are mindful of the tiniest possibility of a race riot. Read the rest of this entry »
Hassan Ali’s public defence of JAIS gatecrashing of multiracial dinner at DUMC shortly after Khalid Ibrahim’s expression of regret an act of breaking ranks
The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) gatecrashing of a multiracial dinner at the Damansara Utara Methodist Church on Wednesday night is most deplorable as it is most detrimental to efforts to build an open, tolerant and harmonious plural Malaysian society.
The Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s swift response expressing regret for the raid and his assurance that the Selangor state government fully respects freedom of religion and rights of religious groups to manage their affairs and that “the state is always open to engagement and dialogue regarding the harmonious and mutually respectful coexistence of different religious communities, and appreciates the efforts of all who seek to build a more united society” is both timely and appropriate.
What is a matter of concern and must be viewed seriously is the public defence of the JAIS action by the State Executive Councillor Datuk Hassan Ali issued shortly after Khalid’s statement expressing regret for the raid and asking JAIS to submit a full report on the incident – as it is an act of breaking ranks in the Selangor state government.
Does MIC Deserve Three Ministers?
Posted by Kit in Indians, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Thursday, 4 August 2011, 6:26 pm
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
04 Aug 2011
PRIME Minister Najib Razak is being cavalier with taxpayers’ money in making MIC president G. Palanivel a full minister. His promotion from deputy minister will incur increases in Palanivel’s salary, perks, claims and pension – and the rakyat will be paying for them. Is it justifiable?
The MIC has only four Members of Parliament, but it now has a line-up of three ministers and two deputy ministers. How is that proportionate?
If T. Murugiah had not lost his senatorship last April and thereby his deputy minister position, there would be three MIC deputy ministers now. Read the rest of this entry »
