Yen Yen claims Facebook pages free, contradicts reply in Parliament
By Shannon Teoh
June 15, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — With Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) both demanding an explanation for the tourism ministry’s RM1.8 million Facebook campaign, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen denied any wrongdoing today and accused DAP of twisting the truth.
“The opposition just goes around saying it’s for Facebook. They are twisting the issue.
“The Facebook pages do not cost a single sen. This is a social media advertising, promotions and branding campaign and also data collection,” the MCA vice president told reporters today.
However, her contention that the Facebook pages were free appeared to contradict her ministry’s detailed account of the cost for each page. Read the rest of this entry »
Mat Sabu tells cops to shield Bersih protestors
By Boo Su-Lyn
June 16, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KLANG, June 16 — PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has urged the police to protect protestors at the Bersih 2.0 rally next month instead of working to prevent them from gathering.
Mohamad pointed out that in the West authorities usually ensured the safety of protestors, unlike the recent revolts in the Middle East where demonstrators were killed by government forces.
“The police here should not imitate the police in the Middle East,” he said at a ceramah here last night.
“We acknowledge the strength of the police. They can arrest us under the ISA (Internal Security Act), launch tear gas, and kick us. [But what] do you profit by doing that to the rakyat?” asked Mohamad, more popularly known as Mat Sabu. Read the rest of this entry »
And they think we are stupid
By Othman Wahab
June 16, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 16 — Ibrahim Ali thinks he is a brilliant strategist and Umno is confident that it is onto something and Khalid Abu Bakar, the deputy inspector-general of police for Umno, performed just like a politician did.
Of course, I am referring to the moves to stop civic-minded Malaysians from gathering on July 9 and protesting about election shortcomings. The Bersih 2 rally is now not likely to happen, with police threatening tough action (they can’t nab criminals but they can bully tax payers. That is what happens when an institution becomes politicised).
As pointed out by Raja Petra Kamarudin, blogger extraordinaire, the government is worried at the prospect of huge turnout, concerned that momentum could build towards coming polls. They are also worried about the impact of Arab uprising here, despite protestations by the government that Malaysia is not like Egypt. Read the rest of this entry »
Utusan comic strip insulted Islam, say Muslim scholars
By Syed Mu’az Syed Putra and Debra Chong
June 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (PUM) has accused Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia of insulting Islam with a comic strip published today, which the society said was based on an incorrect reading of the religion’s laws.
The 4,000-strong Muslim scholars’ society demanded the authorities charge the cartoonist and the publisher for insulting Islam, saying the publication of the misleading cartoon had portrayed in a negative light the religion of the majority in multicultural Malaysia at a time when Muslims were seen to lack religious knowledge.
PUM was referring to a two-panel comic strip on page 15 of the Malay daily today titled “Kekeliruan kes rogol” [“Confusion in rape cases”] depicting a tudung-clad woman seeking advice after being raped. Read the rest of this entry »
Government portal down, 27 others defaced
By Shannon Teoh
June 16, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — Operation Malaysia launched by the international hacker group known as Anonymous has succeeded in not just bringing down the official website of the Malaysian government, but also spawned attacks on at least 27 other websites.
These include at least five other government sites such as the webpages of the information ministry, the fire and emergency services department and the land public transport commission.
As of 8.30am, malaysia.gov.my remained inaccessible, while other hackers appear to have taken it upon themselves to target sites like Sabah’s tourism website (sabahtourism.com) and the Tour Malaysia travel guide (tourmalaysia.com.my).
On the Sabah Tourism webpage, hackers claimed to have extracted the details of more than 3,400 of the site’s users and posted the particulars of 392 accounts. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawmaker sees red over his ‘pig head’
By Kuek Ser Kuang Keng
Jun 16, 11 | MalaysiaKini
A DAP assemblyperson in Selangor is seeing red after finding a photograph of him superimposed with a pig’s nose in a blog posting that also contained a fabricated ‘report’ that he had attempted sabotage his counterparts in PAS.
Sekinchan assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim submitted a printed copy of the doctored picture as well as a copy of the blog posting in his complaint filed at the Sekinchan police station yesterday.
The offending picture and posting were found on pro-Umno blog ‘Sungai Rapat Online’.
“I suspect the blog is owned by Perak exco member Hamidah Osman or her supporters, because 90 percent of the content is about her,” Ng told Malaysiakini when contacted. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Selfish’ Dayak politicians stifling community’s growth
Joseph Tawie | June 15, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
A blogger has warned Dayaks that BN’s money politics will “devour the community” and eventually make them non-existent.
KUCHING: A well known native activist has slammed Dayak politicians in Sarawak, describing them as ‘shallow and selfish’ leaders who were willing to compromise the community’s culture and intergrity.
Blogger John Brian, who is also an academician, alleged that Dayak politicians were more interested in enriching themselves than looking out for the brethrens.
“Many Dayaks prefer to be BN candidates so that they not only can win easily, but can also enrich themselves faster.
“Helping the people who have elected them is not their agenda, as they are more concerned of enriching themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
RM63.9m spent on consultants and ETP, GTP open days
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 15, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — A total of RM63.9 million was spent to hire consultants for Pemandu and to organise three open days for Government Transformation Plan (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) initiatives, the government said today.
Minister in the prime minister’s department Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said that the government had paid RM36.3 million to various consultants, while RM27.6 million was used for the open days in Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, and Kota Kinabalu last year.
In two written replies to DAP’s Liew Chin Tong, Koh said that the costs were justified as they were far lower than the allocated budget. Read the rest of this entry »
Guan Eng: RM13b bloated spending shows IPPs protected
Posted by Kit in Energy, Finance, Good Governance on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 6:10 pm
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 15, 2011
Lim: The only losers are 27 million ordinary consumers who are not IPPs.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The Najib administration’s attempt to increase its 2011 budget by RM13 billion is proof of its failure to control spending even after slashing subsidies on daily essentials, DAP’s Lim Guan Eng said today.
The Penang Chief Minister blamed Barisan Nasional’s (BN) “bad governance” for the increasing cost of living in Malaysia, adding that the public was now experiencing “the worst of both worlds”.
“By reducing subsidies, there are inflationary pressure causing prices to rise and hurting the poor. And yet, cuts do not improve efficiency and competitiveness nor cut down budget expenditure as the IPPs (independent power producers) are still allowed to enjoy gas subsidies.
“The only losers are 27 million ordinary consumers who are not IPPs,” he said in a statement today.
Putrajaya tabled a RM13,186,713,000 supplementary supply bill in Parliament yesterday, seeking additional spending in the first half of this year. The amount is an 8 per cent addition to Budget 2011’s RM162,805,323,000, which was tabled last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Yen Yen, explain ‘Curi-curi’ M’sia
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Tourism on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 6:05 pm
Tarani Palani
Free Malaysia Today
June 15, 2011
If the minister fails to provide a proper explanation for the RM1.8 million ‘splurge’, an opposition MP warns that netizens may bay for her blood.
KUALA LUMPUR: Due to the growing discontent, an opposition leader urged Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen to explain why RM1.8 million was spent on six Facebook pages to promote Malaysia.
Speaking in Parliament, DAP’s Rasah MP Anthony Loke said there was palpable discontent against the amount spent when it could have been attained at almost no cost.
Loke highlighted two Facebook pages regarding the matter, the “1 million Malaysians say no to RM1.8 million” and “Curi-curi wang Malaysia”, the latter being a twist of the ministry’s famous tagline “Cuti-cuti Malaysia”.
“These are very creative. Within 18 hours the ‘Curi-Curi wang Malaysia’ page already has 11,380 ‘likes’ – already half of the Tourism Malaysia’s Facebook site. And it is free!” he told reporters.
The Citrawarna 1Malaysia Facebook page attracted a total of 20,292 Facebook “likes” since its launch on May 21 this year.
A quick check by FMT revealed that “Curi-Curi wang Malaysia” currently had 14, 232 “likes” whereas “1 million Malaysians say no to RM1.8 million” had 749 “likes”. Read the rest of this entry »
Christian leader wants Putrajaya tested over Alkitab vows
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion, Sarawak on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 3:58 pm
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 15, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The leader of the country’s evangelical churches has asked Christians to hold the government accountable to its promises during the recent Sarawak elections by importing more Malay bibles.
“Go and import more Bibles and see if the [Home Ministry] stops us. Print the Bibles and see if the [Home Ministry] harasses us again. Being polite and positive does not mean we are naive,” National Evangelical Christian Fellowship chairman Rev Dr Eu Hong Seng wrote in the umbrella body’s quarterly newsletter published this week.
The import of the Alkitab — as the Malay-language bible is called — is among a laundry list of Christian woes that have piled up over the years
“The government has said they want to work towards the religious aspirations of all. Find out what that means. Can our Bibles be declassified as they are now considered ‘prejudicial to the security of the country’? Be proactive. Saying ‘thank you’ does not mean we have accepted the 10-point resolution in totality,” wrote Rev Eu. Read the rest of this entry »
A nation in crisis
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, nation building on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 3:47 pm
by Stanley Koh
Free Malaysia Today
June 15, 2011
Is the barometer of our nation’s social health showing critical signs of a national coma? Is our nation mentally sick?
COMMENT
Between now and the first quarter of 2012, the temperature in anticipation of the next general election is likely to heighten as Malaysians will go to the polls to elect their government.
After the shocking results of the 2008 general election which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional regime losing its two-thirds majority and its 53-year authoritarian style of governance shattered, Malaysians are gradually awakening to the fact that there is no more justification for their leaders knowing what is best for the nation.
This approach which worked well for decades due to the wisdom of the founding fathers is obviously eroding with the new generation of leaders and the one-party state system.
What aspects of society should matter to Malaysians at the coming election? Read the rest of this entry »
Why Is Perkasa Against Bersih?
By Kee Thuan Chye | 14 June 2011
Malaysian Digest
MANY people have come to regard Ibrahim Ali as a clown, including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz. One hopes Ibrahim was just talking like a clown when he recently announced that his organization, Perkasa, would oppose the planned Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 by staging a counter-demonstration. “That means,” as he himself says, “on that day, there will be confrontation.”
This is militant talk. This is a threat to cause violence. And to add fuel to it, Ibrahim has pledged that in the event of a clash, “I will fight to the end”.
But why would Perkasa want to oppose the Bersih 2.0 rally? The rally has nothing to do with race – it is not demonstrating against Malay supremacy, which Perkasa was set up to defend. The rally is calling for electoral and institutional reform. It is calling for the electoral roll to be cleaned up, postal voting to be reformed, indelible ink to be used at elections, all political parties to be given free and fair access to the media, automatic voter registration, a minimum of 21 days for the campaign period, the strengthening of public institutions, a stop to corruption, and a stop to dirty politics.
Read the rest of this entry »
From Keris to Christian
By Zunar
DAP masterminding UMNO for more than four decades?
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 12:51 pm
UMNO’s Utusan Malaysia has today concocted a new wild allegation – accusing DAP of masterminding PAS’ welfare state agenda as a cover for the DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia concept.
Based on Utusan’s latest wild accusation, I am wondering whether to confess that DAP had been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades.
Let me put it straight to Utusan Malaysia – do you want DAP to confess that we have been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades? If so, I am prepared to give Utusan the “scoop of the century” of how the DAP had been masterminding UMNO for more than four decades.
The allegation was made today by Utusan Assistant Chief Editor Datuk Zaini Hassan in his “Cuit” column: “Negara kebajikan, negara Islam dan ‘Malaysian Malaysia’”.
If Utusan’s Assistant Chief Editor is serious about his allegation that DAP has masterminded PAS’ welfare state adopted at the recent Muktamar PAS, he should have the political acumen to discern that the DAP had in fact been masterminding the UMNO for more than for decades. Read the rest of this entry »
The human face of enterprise
Posted by Kit in Articles, Public policy on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 11:59 am
By KJ John
Jun 14, 11 | The Malaysian Insider
I disagree with Pas president Abdul Hadi Awang about his welfare state idea or ideal. Socialism had the same ideal and idea; but, it is now almost dead. Cuba is its last frontier and is closing down soon. Some others have called the same type of ideal, ‘capitalism with a human face’.
That is much better but not good enough. Capitalism presumes that ‘money is the root of all motivation and life’. But the scriptures say that the love of money is the root of all such evil. I prefer to call such an idea or ideal ‘the human face of enterprise.’
Why cannot man apply enterprise or initiative towards creating good values for all of life? Such enterprise must first subscribe to good universal values, and then create a process which offers a value offering which will transform the quality of human life. When such a creative process is productised into a full value innovation, people are willing to pay money, or even barter for it, and to exchange their personal offering for the new value proposition. Read the rest of this entry »
Cyber channels for GE13
By Oon Yeoh
Jun 14, 11 | MalaysiaKini
I clicked with interest on an article on this website titled Umno needs better ‘cyber warfare unit’. I was hoping to gain some insight into cyber strategies the party has in mind for the next general election, which seems to be looming.
But alas, it was just an Umno vice-president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, saying that the party needed to create a more systematic and efficient online unit to counter the opposition’s message and to get the party’s message to its target audience.
That much is obvious. The government’s online strategy seems to be non-existent, or incoherent at best. Then again, the same can be said of the opposition.
Yet, if you ask people from either side, they will tell you, “Yes, the Internet is important. Yes, cyber-warfare plays an important role in galvanising votes. Yes, we realise the need for a sound mobile strategy.” Read the rest of this entry »
The failure of our institutions
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 11:32 am
By Art Harun
June 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 15 — When Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) opened a Twitter account some months ago, I was actually pleasantly surprised that it chose to follow my Twitter account. I promptly decided to return the compliment by following MACC on Twitter.
From then on, I could read MACC’s instant reports of the Teoh Beng Hock royal commission of inquiry (RCI) proceedings on Twitter. I must say it was a good initiative by MACC. Kudos to whoever that was in MACC who decided to utilise the social-networking facility by engaging the cyber-society through Twitter.
During the height of the Sarawak election campaign, I decided that it was about time that I had a two-way communication with MACC over Twitter. Conscious of the fact that the biggest election issue for that election was the alleged wealth — which were not rebutted and categorically denied — of Taib Mahmud and his family members, I decided to tickle MACC’s feet with a question.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sarbaini kin reject inquest, demand RCI
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sarbaini, Teoh Beng Hock on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 11:28 am
By Syed Mu’az Syed Putra
June 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The family of Selangor Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed has rejected Putrajaya’s decision to hold an inquest into his death and are insisting instead on a royal commission of inquiry (RCI).
The inquest, to be presided over by Coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani, was set for July 4 to 15 at the magistrate’s court here.
Sarbaini’s son, Shahril Ahmad, told The Malaysian Insider that his family preferred the RCI as it would be harder to determine the cause of his father’s death through an inquest and that this would delay the pursuance of justice.
“That is really the purpose of holding the inquest… we want an answer on the incident and we feel an RCI would be more accurate. Read the rest of this entry »
Where is the accountability factor?
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, IT on Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 11:25 am
By Edwin Yapp
Jun 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 15 — I had been away on a break but being the news junkie I am, I had been following various interesting news even while on vacation.
One that certainly caught my eye was the item reported in The Malaysian Insider, as well as other online news sites, about how a recently set up government price check website had been hacked into, the act of which has resulted in the loss of over 2,000 registered users’ details.
The 1 Malaysia Pengguna Bijak’s (1MPB) website launched on June 7 allows the public to check and compare the prices of consumer products sold at 1,255 retail outlets nationwide by clicking on the portal (1pengguna.com). Read the rest of this entry »
