Can Najib’s upsurge in popularity on his 100th Day be sustained with a BN victory in Manek Urai by-election and is he confident enough to seek a motion of confidence when Parliament reconvenes on Oct 19?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Friday, 10 July 2009, 3:30 pm
Tomorrow is Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 100th Day as Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister.
Najib’s baggage as Prime Minister is vividly illustrated by the pathetic episode where Najib’s spinmeister could work up a “song and a dance” over the fact that Najib’s popularity rating in a recent poll had spiralled to 65% as compared to 45% a month after he became Prime Minister and 42 per cent just before taking over the premiership from Tun Abdullah on April 3, 2009.
Yes, it was quite a remarkable 44% recovery from 45% popularity rating in six weeks for Najib to claw back 20 percentage points in the latest Merdeka Centre opinion poll, but his spinmeisters feigned ignorance that it was really a very dismal rating when compared to the five previous Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah who would have no difficulty in securing popularity rating of 95% and over for any opinion poll in their “First 100 Days”.
Can Najib’s upsurge in popularity on his 100th day be sustained with a Barisan Nasional victory in Manek Urai by-election in Kelantan next Tuesday and is he confident enough of his national popularity to seek a motion of confidence when Parliament reconvenes on Oct 19, something he had not dared to do in the recent three-week meeting of Parliament?
Read the rest of this entry »
Cabinet next week should undo its unprofessional, political and disastrous PPSMI decision with four-point remedy in line with national aspirations to be internationally competitive to become high-income nation
Six years ago, the Cabinet under Tun Mahathir took a hasty and ill-considered decision to rush headlong to implement the PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) from Std One for all primary schools, totally without proper or adequate preparation making five million Malaysian school children in the primary schools guinea pigs of BN politicians in the past six years.
Today, the Cabinet under Datuk Seri Najib Razak in trying to undo the failures and disasters of the ill-considered Cabinet decision six years ago after wasting RM4 billion of public funds, is again committing the folly of another ill-considered decision that will victimize millions of Malaysian students by making them “guinea pigs” of BN politicians for a second time in their 11-year primary and secondary education.
It is shocking beyond belief that Cabinet Ministers and Education Ministry officials could be so irresponsible and unprofessional as to turn million of students into “guinea pigs” for their half-baked educational experiments twice in a decade.
Students in Form 1 this year will continue to be taught maths and science in English until Form 3 in 2011, having spent the past six years in primary school with English as the medium of instruction for these two subjects under PPSMI.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Talent, the Tragedy & the Triumph
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh on Thursday, 9 July 2009, 9:17 pm
By Martin Jalleh
You brought back magic into music, leaving an indelible imprint. You gave dance an indescribable grace and showed impeccable mastery of movement.
You merged music and video and brought about a MTV generation. You magnificently and incredibly blended and bridged arena rock, soul and pop.
You moved the world’s conscience with your humanitarian spirit and inspired us with your clarion call to care for the hungry, homeless, HIV/AIDS victims and those without hope.
You mesmerized peoples of all races, languages and cultures, in every country, instilling in them the message that what mattered most was love and mutual respect.
You were matchless – you were an original, creative, unique and magnetizing musician and artist. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian unity, not ketuanan Melayu please
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Najib Razak, nation building on Thursday, 9 July 2009, 6:08 pm
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life Advisor
WORLDWIDE SUPPORT BY A BILLION PEOPLE AT MICHAEL JACKSONS’S MEMORIAL SERVICES SHOWS THAT RACIALISM HAS NO PLACE IN THE NEW GLOBAL WORLD.
Michael Jackson was the ‘king of pop’ and his music and artistry won him accolades from the peoples of the world, old and young and of all races. He was a black American but to the people race was never a consideration, because of his creative art. This is a healthy development, and the lesson is that in a modern world there is no room for racialism or racial politics. The world recognises and praise the man because of the achievements and merits of the man, and not by the colour of his skin. This is a world trend.
THE WORLD TREND IS TO RECOGNISE THAT ALL RACES IN THE WORLD ARE EQUAL AND THERE SHOULD BE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLY, RULE OF LAW, SECURITY AND PEACE, FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY
The correct way for Malaysia to progress and prosper is for Malaysians to unite and strive to be competitive through merit, transparency and discipline.
Read the rest of this entry »
Unlike BN, PR is not based on “fear of the master” but partnership based on equality, mutual respect and commitment on agreed principles
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat on Thursday, 9 July 2009, 3:18 pm
In recent weeks, Barisan Nasional component parties, particularly Umno, MCA and Gerakan had tried to fan discord and engender distrust among Pakatan Rakyat component parties but so far to no avail.
One favourite gambit of Barisan Nasional component parties is to accuse the Pakatan Rakyat component of being subservient to the other parties – betraying a mindset ingrained for over three decades of the real relationship in the Barisan Nasional between Umno and the rest in BN as well as reflective of a modus operandi in the BN which could not conceive of a coalition of political parties based on equality, mutual respect and commitment on agreed principles.
In recent weeks, different language media will carry statements like Umno accusing PAS of being afraid of PKR or DAP, of DAP being afraid of PAS or PKR, as well as of PKR being afraid of DAP or PAS.
This is course the only relationship the BN component parties could understand in the Barisan Nasional – the political hegemony of Umno over the other BN component parties with Umno undergirded by the factors of “the fear of the master” and greed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cabinet decision on PPSMI – not a New Deal but a Raw Deal leaving Malaysia stranded in the march towards global educational quality, excellence and competitiveness
The Cabinet decision on the PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) yesterday was not a New Deal, as proclaimed by some newspaper headlines, but a Raw Deal leaving Malaysia stranded in the march towards global educational quality, excellence and competitiveness and doing a great disservice to millions of students currently in both the primary and secondary schools.
The Raw Deal of the PPSMI decision of the Cabinet is powerfully highlighted by the Sin Chew report of a national secondary school Form One student in Ipoh who burst into tears at the news of the Cabinet decision, feeling totally lost, worried what would be his future when he had to switch to Bahasa Malaysia for mathematics and science when entering Form 4 in 2012, after mastering both subjects being taught in English from Form 1 to 3 from this year to 2011 – and Form 4 and 5 are the most important years in a person’s education in preparing for Form 6, university and the world beyond.
Did the Cabinet Ministers discuss and envision the disastrous effect of their PPSMI decision yesterday on the half a million of students who would have been taught maths and science in the English medium from Form 1 to 3 from this year to 2011 in having suddenly to switch to Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction for these two subjects in 2012 in Form 4 – after six years of being guinea pigs of PPSMI in the primary schools?
If the Cabinet had not anticipated the cruelty and the sheer injustice of such a switch for Form 4 students in 2012, clearly the Cabinet Ministers had not thought through the whole issue thoroughly and they have failed the nation, the people and in particular the 5.5 million school-going generation under their charge!
Read the rest of this entry »
Affirmative Action Spurs Asian Debate
By JAMES HOOKWAY | The Wall Street Journal
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of Malaysia’s upstart AirAsia airline, seldom shies away from a fight.
A former executive at Time Warner Inc.’s music division, Mr. Fernandes bought the debt-laden carrier in 2001 for 27 cents and turned it into Asia’s biggest budget airline with $754 million in annual revenues. It hasn’t been easy. To expand AirAsia Bhd., he’s battled reluctant governments for landing rights and routes and has endured price wars with regional competitors.
Now, as Mr. Fernandes pushes to build a new low-cost global hub and expand into Europe, Australia and the U.S., he is running into a tenet of modern Malaysia: affirmative action. Malaysia’s political leaders prefer to see big business such as airports in the hands of the ethnic-Malay majority, and often that means government control.
“A lot of Malaysians are proud of what AirAsia has achieved,” says Mr. Fernandes, a 45-year-old Malaysian of Indian descent. But successes such as his, he believes, are outnumbered by the economic problems created by the affirmative action system. “It’s a very Jekyll-and-Hyde situation here.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Congrats to Najib for chalking up 65% popularity rating from his first month of 45% as Prime Minister but…
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 8 July 2009, 2:54 pm
Congrats to Datuk Seri Najib Razak for chalking up 65% popularity rating from his first month of 45% as Prime Minister but he must be fully conscious that he has the lowest popularity rating of all six Malaysian Prime Ministers – including his predecessors Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah – in the “First 100 Days”.
In the latest poll conducted among 1,060 registered voters by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research between June 19 and July 1, his approval rating has risen to 65 per cent as compared to 45 per cent in mid-May (a month after he became Prime Minister) and 42 per cent just before taking over the premiership from Tun Abdullah on April 3, 2009.
In the latest opinion poll, 22 per cent were dissatisfied with his performance while 13 per cent were undecided.
Seventy-four per cent of Malays polled were satisfied with his performance. The level of support among Chinese and Indians was 48 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.
Read the rest of this entry »
Hishamuddin should stop acting as Super-IGP to shield IGP Musa Hassan from public flak for police abuses of power in allowing galloping crime while channelling scarce police resources to side with BN in political cases
The new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is lately behaving like a Super-IGP instead of being a responsible Home Minister to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to end the galloping crime in the past five years to restore to Malaysians, visitors and investors their two fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime.
Yesterday, he warned the PKR Youth “not to create chaos” at the Jalan Duta court complex when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy trial begins while three days ago he warned the Johore State Assembly Opposition Leader, DAP Johore Chairman and State Assemblyman for Skudai, Dr. Boo Cheng Hau that he would be investigated for the offence of “sedition” – just as the police had lodged a report against me during the Penanti by-election for the offence of sedition during the Penanti by-election in May.
In the past several months, the police have been dragooned from its first and primary duties to reduce crime and make the country safe for citizens, visitors and investors to serve the political agenda of the Barisan Nasional government, whether at the federal or state level, and one consequence is the worsening of an already very endemic crime situation in the country.
Read the rest of this entry »
Streamyx: What is going on?
This is from Goh my blog sysadmin:
to < [deleted]@occ.vads.com>,
help
cc limkitsiang
date Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 8:53 AM
subject what is going on?
mailed-by dapmalaysia.org
Follow up message
ping to limkitsiang.com whopping 56% packet loss. if that is not
enough ping to www.adobe.com is 69% packet loss.
If you think packet loss have nothing to do with Internet, you may as
well go and DELETE the wikipedia entry here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_loss
ping -c 100 limkitsiang.com
PING limkitsiang.com (67.207.142.122) 56(84) bytes of data.
[deleted]
— limkitsiang.com ping statistics —
100 packets transmitted, 44 received, 56% packet loss, time 100301ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 292.039/304.333/361.149/15.790 ms
Gobbledegook and regurgitation galore in the two written judgments of the Court of Appeal in Zambry v Nizar Jamaluddin
By NHChan
Prologue
I shall start with an aside on the dictionary definition of the two words which feature in the title of this article.
Gobbledegook means unintelligible language.
Regurgitate means repeat information without understanding it. Regurgitation is the noun.
After you have read the article you should have an inkling of what I am trying to suggest with the words. You can then judge for yourself.
There are only two points that really matter in this appeal: Clauses (2)(a) and (6) of Article 16
Let us see if ordinary people like us can understand Clauses (2)(a) and (6) of Article 16 of the Constitution of Perak better than the judges of this Court of Appeal.
There are only two points that really matter in the appeal. They are Clauses (2)(a) and (6) of Article 16 and they read:
(2) (a) His Royal Highness shall first appoint as Menteri Besar to preside over the Executive Council a member of the Legislative Assembly who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly;
PTPTN and MARA updates
Just spoken to Chairman of Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN), Dr. Mohamad Shahrum bin Oshman, who is also MP for Lipis, on the complaint in this blog on PTPTN loan interest by Tee from Klang who just graduated from Multimedia University and wanted to begin payment for his RM66,000 PTPTN loan.
However, he was told that the old interest rate of 3% still applies although Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced that the new rate of 1% would take effect from June 2008.
Mohamad Shahrum confirmed that the PTPTN interest is 1% and those who had paid 3% from June last year would have the excess credited to their account.
Thanks Mohamad Shahrum for the instant clarification which should put the issue to rest. Read the rest of this entry »
Kong Choy should answer in the PAC the five questions I asked him in Parliament in November 2007 on the PKFZ scandal but which he had been evading for two years
Posted by Kit in Parliament, PKFZ on Tuesday, 7 July 2009, 2:14 pm
An online MCA website, malaysianmirror.com, has reported on the willingness of former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.
Like his predecessor Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, Chan should give clear-cut assurance that he will not emulate their former boss, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir in succumbing to a sudden attack of selective amnesia when appearing before the PAC in the way Mahathir succumbed to selective amnesia when appearing before the Lingam Videotape Royal Commission of Inquiry in January 2008, where he had to say “I cannot remember” or its equivalent 14 times during his 90-minute testimony.
In his appearance before the PAC, Kong Choy should answer the five questions I posed to him in Parliament in November 2007, but which he had been evading for two years, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
PPSMI – Are the shoes of an Education Minister in Malaysia too big for Muhyiddin?
Posted by Kit in Education, Good Governance on Tuesday, 7 July 2009, 1:00 pm
Umno Youth Leader, Khairy Jamaluddin admitted in an interview with Sin Chew Jit Poh yesterday that Malaysia should be a A+ country but it could only manage a C!
This is because of decades of Barisan Nasional bad governance and misguided policies which fail to fully exploit the human and natural resources of the country for the national good so as to be able to continuously upgrade our international competitiveness to better position the country to face the challenges of globalization, liberalization and information and communications technology.
A good illustration is the disastrous PPSMI (Teaching Science and Mathematics in English) decision making guinea pigs of some four million Malaysian pupils whether in the national, Chinese or Tamil primary schools in the past six years for “a cure which is worse than the disease”!
Have we got in Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin a new Education Minister who has the political will and professional competence to undo the six-year damage from these unprofessional educational experiments to lead the Malaysian education system to a new era of professionalism, excellence and global status?
Read the rest of this entry »
PTPTN issues – 1% interest rate?
Letters
SS
Let me first introduce myself, I am Tee from Klang, Selangor. I just graduate recently from Multimedia University with B.Eng(HONS) Electronics.
The PTPTN loan i had received is RM66,000. I wish to start my payment as soon as possible but i still very confuse about the current interest rate apply to all IPTA and IPTS students. From the statement i got from PTPTN, they said the old rate still applied, and when i phone them, they said that the conversion from old rate to 1% is still on progress, until then, we still have to follow the old rate.
Now the problem is, our PM announce that new rate which is 1% will start to take effect on June 2008. Why PTPTN still using the old rate? and it take so long to convert.
When i ask them when the conversion will finish, they say they cant give me exact date means we still have to wait and paying to old rate. i think that is not fair to all students in malaysia. At my opinion, PM should’nt make such announcement if it is not possible or take such long time to complete the conversion. Read the rest of this entry »
Test Scores, Meritocracy, and a Dysfunctional Education System
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa on Monday, 6 July 2009, 6:48 pm
by M. Bakri Musa
Three recent and apparently unrelated news items reflect our distorted view of merit and our dysfunctional education system. We believe that merit is measured only by test scores. As for our flawed education system, its current minister is seeking UNESCO’s help while his immediate predecessor commissioned the World Bank. As in the past, there will be an expensive and voluminous report, and that will be the end of it.
The first news item was the law lecturer who flunked over 97 percent of her students; second, the tragic death of a college dropout at UTM’s campus dormitory in Johor Baru; and third, Prime Minister Najib’s announcement of special ‘merit’ scholarships. Read the rest of this entry »
Police Escort for Wedding Car?
Letters
by Ganesh
It would be good for you to investigate an incident I saw. I was in Suabng Jaya, next to Taylor’s college roundabout this weekend, when I saw a wedding car pass by. What was ironic is that it had police escorts. They stopped traffic to let the wedding car pass by. In another car, there was a cameraman who was filming the wedding car.
I am quite shocked at this. The police got time to escort and give VIP treatment to a wedding car?
I do not know whose wedding it was but I am very sure it was not a Royal wedding, which is the only wedding that deserves a Police escort.
Here I am worried about my personal safety and my house getting robbed and suddenly I see several police outriders escorting a wedding car instead of patrolling my neighbourhood. Read the rest of this entry »
Integrity: What option for Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Monday, 6 July 2009, 1:55 pm
By Tunku Abdul Aziz
THE UPSURGE of interest in integrity and ethics is not without a good reason. People all over the world have realized that human progress is unlikely to be sustainable without all of us adopting and embracing universal human values – values that transcend cultural, religious and political barriers.
In Malaysia we have the best legal framework, rules, regulations and procedures, but corrupt practices continue unchecked because those entrusted to serve the community are themselves morally and ethically deficient and devoid of ethical values and high standards of personal and public behaviour.
If we lose our competitive position because we are corrupt and lack integrity, we are putting our future as a nation at risk. Corruption kills competition, breeds inefficiency, distorts our decision making processes and promotes social and political instability in the long run. I believe that in societies where integrity is firmly entrenched, corruption can be kept firmly under control.
We have to refocus our vision and reshape our views and ideas on what can be done to fight unethical public behaviour, not only on our own turf, but equally important, on the international front because cross-border corruption represents a major source of social, economic and political instability and distortion, if not dealt with decisively.
Read the rest of this entry »
Reforms must be liberal, must promote a competitive and meritocratic society
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, Najib Razak, NEP on Sunday, 5 July 2009, 8:54 pm
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life Advisor
REFORMS BY PRIME MINISTER NAJIB RAZAK ARE NOT LIBERAL OR MODERN ENOUGH TO PROPEL MALAYSIA TO BE COMPETITIVE TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF A GLOBAL WORLD
PM NAJIB RAZAK have introduced a series of reforms in an attempt to transform Malaysia to a high income country. He has slimmed down the NEP by reducing the 30% bumiputra equity quota to 12.5%. He has also curbed the powers of the Foreign Investment Committee and substituted it with a smaller committee.
To reassure the bumiputras, he has retained the 30% bumiputra equity target, but will use different modes to achieve the objective.
It is a pity that the PM has not understood why the 40 year old NEP has failed to help poor Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese or Indians. The average poor Malay household only earn about RM3,000 per household or only RM500 per person (in a family of 5). Admittedly, the NEP enriched Umno cronies who became obscenely rich, while the Malays in rural areas are still mired in poverty.
PM NAJIB SHOULD LEARN FROM THE NEP EXPERIENCE
The 40 year old NEP slowed down economic growth since it was implemented in 1971. In 1957 at independence, Malaysia had the second highest per capita income (PCI) in Asia, after Japan. The World Bank has statistics that showed the per capita income slowed down since 1971, and has fallen behind S Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2008, Malaysia has a PCI of US$6,000, while S Korea has US$19,000, Taiwan US$17,000, Hong Kong US$30,000 and Singapore US$34,000.
Read the rest of this entry »
3-point formula to resolve the Kedah Pakatan Rakyat crisis – resolution of outstanding complaints by Kedahans, a committee headed by Dr. Goh Cheng Teik to resolve abbatoir problem and a PR trouble-shooting state mechanism
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat on Sunday, 5 July 2009, 2:18 pm
Yesterday, I had a 90-minute meeting with the Kedah DAP State Committee followed by a two-hour dialogue with the people of Kedah in the Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall, with overflowing capacity crowd, over the Kedah DAP State Committee’s decision on Wednesday to pull out of the Pakatan Rakyat Kedah state government.
I had my hands full in Parliament on Wednesday, with a host of burning issues such as the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal; the urgent need to have a new Inspector-General of Police to provide new police leadership and vision to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service which is regarded as friend and protector of the people and capable of performing the three core functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights; and Parliament becoming a kangaroo court to punish eight Pakatan Rakyat MPs when the subject is the punishment of Umno Youth leaders who had obstructed and threatened wheelchair-bound DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh from discharging his parliamentary duties in the precincts of Parliament on February 26, 2009.
I was shocked when I heard the news about the Kedah DAP State Committee decision to pull out of the Pakatan Rakyat Kedah state government, subject to the final decision of the DAP Central Executive Committee. Read the rest of this entry »
