IGP and Home Ministry – A castle very divided
Home ministry denies Musa’s ‘interference’ claim
By Yow Hong Chieh | Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — The home ministry today denied it had meddled in police matters, as claimed by outgoing Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan yesterday.
Home ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam explained that the ministry’s involvement in weekly meetings with the police to discuss resource allocations and review case files might have given rise to such a perception.
“Sometimes the recommendations… of the Royal Malaysian Police cannot be considered by the home ministry so we are seen as interfering,” Mahmood said after witnessing Musa hand over control of the police force to Tan Sri Ismail Omar at Bukit Aman Police Headquarters here today.
Yesterday, Musa spoke out against what he saw as excessive interference by “third parties” in police business, naming the home ministry among others.
“All kinds of people interfere. People from the ministry itself, outsiders, people with vested interests like those who want to do things that are not right — they will try to interfere,” he had said.
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Patrick Teoh: A still-unfulfilled Merdeka wish
Posted by Kit in nation building on Wednesday, 8 September 2010, 3:00 pm
By Ding Jo-Ann | The Nut Graph
WHEN Malaysians hear the name Patrick Teoh, it’s a voice, and not a face, that springs to mind. Teoh had no inkling when he landed his first radio job at Redifussion 45 years ago that he would go on to become one of Malaysia’s most recognisable voices.
“People do say sometimes, ‘Patrick, your voice is still the same as I remember. I used to tune in to you and you kept me company when I was staying up late mugging for exams’,” Teoh tells The Nut Graph. “Those times are nice, being part of someone’s life when they were growing up, it’s the best part of the job.”
Other than his many years in radio broadcasting in Redifussion and Radio 4, Teoh worked as a part-time newscaster for TV3 when it first started broadcasting the news. Teoh also appeared alongside Chow Yuen-Fatt and Jodie Foster in Anna and the King in 1999, acting as a judge. He is now a full-time actor and a member of the Instant Café Theatre Company.
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Malaysia or Malaysaja? Part 2: Clarifying and reconciling the Constitution
Posted by Kit in Constitution, NEP on Tuesday, 7 September 2010, 5:56 pm
Since I wrote my 31 August 2010 article, titled “The Ultimate Malaysian Debate: Malaysia or Malaysaja?”, which called for a constructive engagement with Perkasa, and with the stated purpose to seek clarification and not challenge or repeal the constitution, my invitation to Perkasa has not only been rejected but countless accusations and police reports were made against me.
I believe as a democracy, that all opinions made related to the article — which I hope was not lost in translation — is accepted and responded to with thanks.
With that, I invite everyone to read the full article again. (see: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/44287 )
I stand by that article and will remain a Malaysian Patriot forever.
I also recommend that the Malaysian Constitution be read in conjunction with the Articles mentioned. For brevity, the fantastic MyConstitution brochures produced by the Malaysian Bar Council are also very helpful.
Read the rest of this entry »
Double standards on ‘illegal’ DVD charge
Perak: MB, BN Adun open to similar illegal DVD charge
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider
IPOH, Sept 7 — With a Perak DAP assemblyman facing the possibility of being charged in court for his unapproved DVD production, the authorities seem to have found themselves caught in a Catch-22 situation.
Questions now center on whether they would eventually be forced to slap similar charges on Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and MCA’s Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon for allegedly committing a similar crime.
If so, this would mean the duo would also face the possibility of losing their state seats should the courts find them guilty.
The Malaysian Insider understands that it is likely that they too had failed to obtain approval from the Film Censorship Board prior to their DVD production of the tumultuous May 7 assembly sitting.
Read the rest of this entry »
Forum: What Does It Mean to be Malaysian?
Posted by Kit in Announcement on Tuesday, 7 September 2010, 5:05 pm
In conjunction with celebrating both the National Day and the Malaysia Day, a forum featuring the following speakers will be held on:
Date: 8 Sept 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 8 pm
Venue: Crystal Crown Hotel, 12 Lorong Utara A (Off Jalan Utara), Petaling Jaya, SelangorSpeakers:
1) Hannah Yeoh – State Assemblyperson for Subang Jaya
2) Rafizi Ramli – Chief Executive of Selangor Economic Advisory Office
3) V Ganabathirao – Former ISA detainee
4) Azmi Sharom – UM law associate professor
5) Leon Donald – DAP Sarawak Asst Publicity Secretary
6) Tony Pua – MP for Petaling Jaya Utara
With the country and its population still seeking an identity, especially with the recent heated contradictions over race, religion and nationality, the above distinguished panel of speakers will give their thoughts on being “Malaysian”. Do come and share with us on how the country should be moving forward.
All are welcome, the forum will be conducted in English and Malay. Please forward to all friends who may be interested in attending the event. For enquiries, please call 019-2865858 or email [email protected]
Is there any Minister concerned enough about the escalating rhetoric of race and religion to propose in Cabinet tomorrow a “Say No to Racism” nation-wide campaign
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 7 September 2010, 9:07 am
The common response to my suggestion yesterday that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should propose to the Cabinet meeting tomorrow a nation-wide “Say No to Racism” campaign headed by him to give flesh to his 1Malaysia slogan and policy as well as his “Zero tolerance for Racism” declaration is one of skepticism and cynicism that Najib would do any such thing.
I admit that recent developments do not indicate that Najib is capable of rising to the occasion to prove that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians and the future of Malaysia instead of being a prisoner of Umno politics and the past.
These developments include:
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His “Zero Tolerance to Racism” declaration lack credibility and legitimacy as it was preceded by his two-week silence on the racism and seditious outbursts of the two school principals in Johore and Kedah and followed by another two weeks of further inaction against the two errant school principals. Read the rest of this entry »
Why do Finland’s schools get the best results?
By Tom Burridge
BBC World News America, Helsinki
Last year more than 100 foreign delegations and governments visited Helsinki, hoping to learn the secret of their schools’ success.
In 2006, Finland’s pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD’s exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea.
This isn’t a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top.
The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind.
A tactic used in virtually every lesson is the provision of an additional teacher who helps those who struggle in a particular subject. But the pupils are all kept in the same classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject.
Read the rest of this entry »
Burma’s poll farce
Financial Times
September 5, 2010
Burma’s elections are shaping up to be the detestable sham the dictatorship’s sternest critics have warned. Unlike those held – and then callously ignored – in 1990, no credible opposition is running. Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won the 1990 poll, is a prisoner after spending 15 of the past 21 years under arrest. She is barred from participating. Not satisfied with the quarter of parliamentary seats reserved for the military, dozens of officers retired last week so they could contest “civilian” seats. Philip Crowley, a US assistant secretary of state, accurately said of this mockery: “A dictator in civilian clothing is still a dictator.”
Sadly, if predictably, the opposition has splintered under the pressure. Ms Suu Kyi’s NLD party has boycotted the poll. The breakaway National Democratic Force has decided it is better to fight the election, however flawed. Its candidates have faced intimidation, strict censorship and a registration fee of $500, not far short of annual per capita income in the impoverished country. The two main opposition parties are expected to field only 200 candidates against the more than 1,000 standing for the junta-backed Union Solidarity Development party.
The generals must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves. They have rarely looked more secure. Read the rest of this entry »
Zero tolerance for racism or zero action?
Posted by Kit in nation building on Monday, 6 September 2010, 9:58 pm
By Thomas Lee
It is nearly a month since the controversial racist remarks allegedly made by Johor school principal Siti Inshah Mansor on 12 August 2010 was highlighted in the media, but no action has so far been taken on the case.
On the contrary, the case involving 27-year-old rapper Wee Meng Chee, popularly known as Namewee, who last week uploaded a video titled “Nah” on the YouTube criticizing Siti Inshah’s alleged racist remarks uttered against students, was investigated straight away by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which questioned him for more than seven hours.
It was reported that the police also went to Meng Chee’s house in Muar 15 minutes before midnight on the eve of the 53rd Merdeka celebration, leading him to post this message on his Facebook: “3 POLICE CARS FINALLY CAME TO MY MUAR HOME TO ARREST ME***** this happened 15 minutes before our 53rd National Day Celebration. YES, I’m still here but for how long more, I don’t know … my beloved MALAYSIA, where is our justice system?! (THIS IS NOT A JOKE)”.
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What social contract?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Constitution, nation building on Monday, 6 September 2010, 4:02 pm
by Clive Kessler
Malaysian Insider
September 06, 2010
“Najib warns against questioning ‘social contract’,” it is reported.
This claim is plain and simple “historical revisionism”.
To what “social contract” precisely is the PM referring?
In the 1980s a new political idea was created: that of “Ketuanan Melayu”, of Malay ascendancy, supremacy, domination.
Thereafter, especially from 2008 it has been ever more powerfully promoted, generally in association with the suggestion that a “social contract” had been entered into and constitutionally enshrined in the mid-1950s.
How was this manoeuvre executed? With what purpose and consequences? Read the rest of this entry »
Is Najib prepared to put his 1Malaysia policy to the test by leading a nation-wide “Say No to Racism” campaign starting with errant Umno leaders, government officials and Utusan Malaysia?
Although the Director-General of Education Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom has issued a circular dated August 26 to all school principals and teachers warning of action to be taken for racist remarks in schools, the absence of action against the two school principals in Johore and Kedah who had made racist remarks stands out like a sore thumb.
More than three weeks have passed and both principals had not yet been referred to the police, let alone the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
This is totally at variance with the “Zero tolerance for racism” belatedly made by the Prime Minister two weeks after the deplorable incidents involving the two school principals.
The Prime Minister should realize that the escalation of the rhetoric of race and religion makes a total mockery of his 1Malaysia slogan, one reason why there is so little national enthusiasm for the Natioal Month theme of “1Malaysia – Transforming the Nation”.
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Improve Our Schools, Not Tinker With Examinations
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 6 September 2010, 10:35 am
In about two weeks nearly half a million Malaysian school children will be sitting for their UPSR, the national examination taken at the end of Year Six. Today there is raging debate on abolishing this as well as the PMR (taken at Year Nine) examination. A decision is expected within weeks. There is however, minimal discussion on the timing of these examinations, administered as they are so early in the school year.
This year UPSR will be on September 20th, with PMR two weeks later. From then till the year-end holidays in late November, there will be no effective teaching or learning at these schools. With the examinations out of the way, the entire school – students and staff – will already be in holiday mode. The staff will effectively be makan gaji buta (paid but not working).
Come January when these students begin their classes, they would have already suffered through considerable attrition in their learning skills as a result of the three-month hiatus. The first few weeks if not months would be diverted to re-learning lessons of the preceding grade.
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Call for return of civility, reason and rationality in public discourse and an end to any form of racial or religious slurs in public domain particularly on the social media and Internet
Posted by Kit in IT, nation building on Sunday, 5 September 2010, 1:06 pm
The rise and frequency of instances of racial and religious slurs in the public domain particularly on the social media and the Internet must be a matter of grave concern to all Malaysians.
All right-thinking Malaysians regardless of political affiliation should join hands to call and work for a return of civility, reason and rationality in public discourse and an end to any form of racial or religious slurs particularly on the social media and Internet.
The quality of Malaysian public discourse must not be degraded and sullied by lies and falsehoods, racial bigotry and religious intolerance which can only undermine and subvert the very fabric of Malaysian society.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called for speedier action by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) against those who post racial or religious slurs and misuse the social networking websites.
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Seeing the back of Musa: An answer to a prayer
Posted by Kit in Police, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Sunday, 5 September 2010, 10:46 am
I hardly ever receive presents because, I suppose, I rarely ever give any. I do not even bother to celebrate my own birthday; it comes and goes completely unnoticed. When on the odd occasion I do receive a present for delivering an anti-corruption and ethical governance speech, I treasure it even though it is just another Royal Selangor pewter plate, to clutter my already-cluttered sitting room, collecting dust, to the annoyance of my long-suffering wife.
The present I am now writing about is infinitely more precious, a bountiful God’s munificent blessings in answer to a nation’s desperate prayer. The prayer, in short, beseeches God the Almighty to give Hishammuddin Hussein, our often “not all there” Minister of Home Affairs, the courage and wisdom to put Musa Hassan out to pasture, not so much as a normal and inevitable consequence of the ravages of time, but, in this case, his unethical baggage had grown too large for the nation to ignore. That must surely weigh heavily against his fitness for continued employment.
In an ethically more demanding society, which ours, I fear, is not, he would never have been allowed to darken the portal of Bukit Aman, let alone occupy the office of the Inspector-General of Police, a position of trust. Musa should never have been appointed the nation’s top dog in the first place, especially after his remarkable stellar performance in the infamous earlier Anwar Ibrahim trial, appearing complete with his pathetic stock in trade or prop in the shape of a decidedly grubby mattress, for the entire world to see.
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Revisiting the Bumiputera corporate equity issue
More than five years have passed since the Asli corporate study report revealed that Bumiputera ownership of corporate equity in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange had exceeded the 30 per cent target.
The study’s findings of a 45 per cent Bumiputera share were based on a different method of measurement compared with the official one. Using market value as opposed to the par value valuation official method, and allocating the equity of GLCs according to racial share, the study noted that it was time to do away with the policy which had been implemented since the 1970s.
The study’s findings raised a hue and cry not only because it challenged the official data on the share equity attained by the Malay community but more importantly because it challenged the official orthodoxy.
Strong reactions from various Umno leaders at that time indicated their fury — and perhaps fear — that the Asli study negated a long-held belief on how the Bumiputera corporate equity strategy was necessary for Bumiputera economic advancement and synonymous with the interests of the Malays.
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No place for God?
By Thomas Lee
Professor Stephen William Hawking, the author of the 1988 runaway world best seller A Brief History of Time, has declared the dreadful finality that there is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe.
Britain’s most famous theoretical physicist and cosmologist had asserted previously that a belief in a creator was not inapposite with science, but in his latest book The Grand Design, he deduces that the so-called Big Bang was an ineluctable consequence of the laws of physics.
According to wire news reports this week, Hawking says in his new book, being serialized in The Times of London, that there is no need to invoke God to set the Universe going.
“Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something,” Hawking said in the book co-written by US physicist Leonard Mlodinow, challenging Sir Isaac Newton’s conviction that the Universe must have a designer or creator as it could not simply have emerged out of nothing and chaos.
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Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em
Posted by Kit in Teoh Beng Hock, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Saturday, 4 September 2010, 7:08 pm
What a charade. And what tragic depths of professional incompetence the recent resumption of the coroner’s inquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock had demonstrated for the world to see. There is a lot to laugh at in Najib’s 1Malaysia, but sadly for all the wrong reasons.
As an observer, sometimes jaundiced, of the Malaysian scene, I thought I had seen it all, but I was totally unprepared for the complete and utter mayhem of the senses that developed when Abdul Razak Musa of the MACC’s in house legal talent began his cross examination of Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, the famous Thai pathologist. His attempt to trivialise and discredit her academic credentials was pathetic, to say the least. It backfired disastrously on him.
It showed the true measure of this sad figure of fun and ridicule who claimed to possess 24 years experience as a lawyer under the belt. I have never been impressed with experience, however long, for its own sake, not unless there is clear evidence of a string of successes to back up the claim.
Abdul Razak Musa has proved my point that years spent wallowing in the mediocrity of a professionally undemanding environment counts for naught.
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Why double standards against Namewee, questioned for over 10 hours, for his anti-racist outburst as compared to treatment for the two errant school principals?
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 4 September 2010, 4:30 pm
Four questions need to be asked in the Nameweek’s “Nah” videoclip controversy.
Firstly, is the three-minute video “Nah” uploaded on YouTube by rapper Wee Meng Chee better known as Namewee seditious? I would say no.
Secondly, is the video racist? I would also say no, unless an anti-racist response has also become “racist” in the way that former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad wants Malaysians to believe that meritocracy has become a form of racism.
Thirdly, is the video crude, vulgar, abusive and even obscene? Yes. I have said twice publicly that I do not approve of the crude, vulgar, abusive and even obscene style used by Namewee but that is different from saying that it is seditious or racist and deserves the harshest criminal action to be taken against Meng Chee.
This is also why I cannot agree with the public stand of the MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek who declared on National Day eve that MCA fully supports any action taken by the government against Meng Chee. Does this include action under the Sedition Act or other capital offences?
How can the MCA leadership with four Ministers in Cabinet take such an irresponsible position, giving a blank cheque to racists and extremists to set the agenda as to the punishment that should be meted out to Meng Chee? Isn’t this a gross abdication of responsibility in government?
The fourth question is whether Meng Chee is the victim of double standards by the authorities? Read the rest of this entry »
Teo says surau row nadir in her life
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islam, nation building on Saturday, 4 September 2010, 12:41 pm
By Debra Chong
September 04, 2010
The Malaysian Insider
PETALING JAYA, Sept 4 — Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching has revealed that she broke down over her surau visit controversy because she thought she had done something to make the Malays hate DAP and caused terrible hardship to the surau committee members.
The young first-term MP told The Malaysian Insider yesterday that the row had been the lowest point in her life.
But yesterday, she looked the epitome of confidence in her bold red dress and big toothy smile as she strode into the DAP national headquarters.
It was in stark contrast to the abject figure she cut a week ago after national Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia , front-paged a picture of her — a non-Muslim — addressing a Muslim group from inside the inner sanctum of a surau, dressed in a kebaya reminiscent of the Singapore Girl uniform and with her head uncovered.
The stunt earned her the Sultan of Selangor’s wrath, the paper reported.
“I cried,” the 29-year-old lawmaker admitted plainly to The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview, after reading the report. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Namewee is a uniting factor’
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 3 September 2010, 9:55 pm
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysian Mirror
Friday, 03 September 2010
If Namewee (Wee Meng Chee) is prosecuted for his music-video, then two mixed messages are being sent out by the government: The first is that the authorities practise double-standards. The second is that it was only because of Namewee’s ‘intervention’ that the government sat up and took racism seriously.
On Wednesday, it was reported that the rapper was being investigated by the police for sedition. Various ministers and a menteri besar also want Namewee punished for his controversial video.
In the first place, Namewee made this clip because of the government’s slow response to tackle effectively the latest racist incident. It appears that we are now united, against racism.
Far from being seditious or racist, Namewee has done the job of the government in exposing all that is ‘ugly’ about us. Read the rest of this entry »
