Ganesan’s presence caused and contributed to State Assembly ruckus
Posted by Kit in Perak, Police, State Assembly, UMNO on Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 10:46 am
By P Ramakrishnan | President Aliran
18 May 2009
The claim by self-proclaimed Speaker of the Perak State Assembly, R Ganesan, that he had no choice but to summon the police into the House at the height of the ruckus during the May 7 sitting, is dubious and deceiving (Sunday Star 17 May 2009). There is no merit in his claim.
In the first instance, his entry into and his very presence in the Assembly is questionable. How on earth did Ganesan get into the Assembly? The Assembly building was out of bounds to all except the elected members of the Assembly.
There was a police cordon to prevent all the others from entering the Assembly. A 500 metre no-access zone was declared and anyone found anywhere near this perimeter were either chased away or were arrested when they resisted the police orders.
Even Perak Members of Parliament were denied access to the Assembly. Veteran MP Lim Kit Siang was refused entry into the building in spite of the fact that he had come with the invitation letter from the Speaker to attend the Assembly sitting.
Read the rest of this entry »
JPA s’ships – can Najib Cabinet end the “oppression, injustice” suffered by the nation’s top scorers or is it even worse than the “half-past six” Abdullah Cabinet?
Posted by Kit in Education, Parliament on Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 7:04 am
I have been on the twitter for a week and earlier today, I sent out this tweet: “6A1s get PSD eng s’ship – 13, 14 A1s no s’ships: why our Cabinet Ministers allow such nonsense yr in yr out. Sack the whole useless lot!”
This follows the latest revelation by the Deputy Education Minister, Wee Ka Siong, about the PSD scholarships scandal this year – of the case of a student with 6A1 and 4A2 who obtained a scholarship to study engineering while students with 13A1s and 14A1s are given places to do matriculation instead of being awarded with scholarships.
The PSD scholarship uproar this year is all the more inexcusable, for three reasons:
- It is a tragedy for nation-building after 52 years of nationhood;
- It has torn to shreds the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s motto of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.
- It is a breach of the solemn promise made by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in Parliament in March this year about the end of the annual national travail at this period of the year of the nation’s top SPM scorers being victims of an unfair and discriminatory PSD scholarship selection system.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial – “Grave concern” by Thailand, ASEAN Chair welcome but grossly inadequate
The statement of “grave concern” by Thailand, as the ASEAN Chair, about the fragile health and perilous personal safety and freedom of Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is welcome but grossly inadequate.
While the reminder to the Myanmar military junta about the call of ASEAN leaders for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi is appropriate, it is meaingless unless ASEAN leaders are prepared to take concrete measures to address the first crisis faced by the ASEAN Charter which had committed the member ASEAN nations to protect and promote human rights in their respective countries. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you know why the Federal Court is not giving a written judgment in the Perak debacle?
by N H Chan
The answer can be simply put. It is because Article 72 (1) of the Federal Constitution is written in unambiguous language which even a child can understand. As I have said before in an earlier article that the words, “The validity of any proceedings in the Legislative Assembly of any State shall not be questioned in any court”, mean what they say. Nothing can be plainer than that. No one in his right senses would try to interpret the obvious meaning of the words in Article 72, unless he wants to say the words mean something else. But the Federal Court was not prepared to do that. And the reason is because they do not want to be known as Humpty Dumpty judges.
Remember Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carrol‘s, Through the looking Glass?:
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
6As get PSD scholarship for engineering but 13, 14As no scholarships – whole Cabinet should be sacked for allowing such nonsense year in year out
Posted by Kit in Education, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 3:25 pm
This is simply outrageous – a student with 6A1s getting a Public Services Department (PSD) scholarship to study engineering while students with 13A1s and 14A1s not getting any scholarships!
The whole Cabinet should be sacked for allowing such nonsense, year in year out!
It is none other than the Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong, who revealed this shocking example of the gross injustices and sheer perversity of the PSD scholarship scheme, which makes Malaysians wonder about the quality of the political and civil service leadership in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Najib prepared to emulate his father Razak and order Zambry to vacate and stop squatting in the Perak MB Office?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Perak on Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 1:23 pm
The reasons given by the Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak why the Barisan Nasional is not contesting the Penanti state assembly by-election in Penang on May 31 does not bear scrutiny.
Najib said the Penanti by-election is not an election provided for by the Constitution but a political game being played by the Opposition and the BN did not want to play to their tune.
He declared: “Barisan’s priority is to serve the people and work to revive the country’s economy.”
What political gobbledegook! Read the rest of this entry »
Public Forum : JPA Scholarships – Seeking A Fair & Equitable Policy
Posted by Kit in Announcement on Monday, 18 May 2009, 2:13 pm
Watch live video from DAP Malaysia on Justin.tv
JPA Scholarships – Seeking A Fair & Equitable Policy
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (MAP)
Date: 19th May 2009 (Tuesday)
Time: 8.00 pm
Live webcast : http://tv.dapmalaysia.org
The panellists will include:
- Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor,
- Anthony Loke Siew Fook, MP for Rasah and DAPSY Chief,
- Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara,
- Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad, PAS Research Centre Director and MP for Kuala Selangor
- Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Selangor ADUN for Seri Setia
Dr Goh Cheng Teik, eminent academic, former deputy minister and interviewer for Harvard University admission programme in Malaysia will also be a special guest for the evening.
In addition, for students and scholars who are not able to make it for the forum (e.g., if you are overseas or if you live outstation, you are welcome to submit written submissions to the panel. Please write to: dapscholarship (at) rocketmail (dot) com.
Anifah broke new ground as Foreign Minister – admit internationally Najib’s credibility problem because of Mongolian C4 murder case
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Monday, 18 May 2009, 11:23 am
New Foreign Minister, Datuk Anifah Aman broke new ground when he admitted internationally the credibility problem faced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak because of the Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu C4 murder case but he failed to bring it to a closure.
It was remarkable that Anifah raised the subject although he was not specifically asked about the Mongolian murder case in his joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Friday, as the question posed to him was for his comment on Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim facing another sodomy trial, starting from July 1 and fixed for 24 days, which the US State Department in the annual human rights report described as “politically motivated”.
Apart from declaring “utmost faith in our judicial system”, Anifah launched into a political attack on Anwar. Anwar had responded to it through his lawyers.
What interests me is that without being asked specifically, Anifah raised the Altantuya Shaariibuu C4 murder case, yet failing to address the host of serious questions and allegations haunting and hounding Najib about his involvement in the murder case.
Read the rest of this entry »
PSD scholarship awards – noon meeting with Ismail Adam scheduled
A noon meeting with the Public Services Department Director-General Tan Sri Ismail Adam in Putrajaya has been scheduled on the subject of another round of injustices in the PSD scholarship awards, out of line with the “1Malaysia” slogan of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The subject has provoked national debate and soul-searching. I reproduce three emails below: Read the rest of this entry »
Enhance, Not Review the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 18 May 2009, 9:22 am
by M. Bakri Musa
Minister of Education Muhyuddin Yassin is doing our nation a great disservice in further delaying the critical decision on the of teaching science and mathematics in English (TSME, or its Malay acronym, PPSMI –Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris) in our schools. His indecision merely compounds the uncertainty, especially among educators, parents and students.
What he should be doing instead is to explore ways of enhancing the implementation of the policy, not review it. He should be focusing on finding ways to get more competent teachers, explore innovative teaching techniques, and provide inexpensive textbooks. He should also be busy eliminating such expensive but ineffective teaching gimmicks as the “computerized teaching modules” with their laptops and LCDs that our teachers are unable to handle. Those machines are now either stolen or crashed because of viruses and dust.
The conditions of our students today have not changed from 2003 when the policy was first introduced. If any they are worse. Whatever the rationale was for adopting the policy back in 2003, it is still very much valid today.
Today’s many critics of the policy are latecomers. Where were they when the policy was first mooted six years ago? These critics have yet to answer the basic question on whether the policy itself is flawed or that the deficiencies are with its implementation. They are unable to answer this important question as they are entirely confused over the issue. Their opposition is based more on emotions rather than rational thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
Why is Zambry getting ‘special treatment’?
(When I spoke at the public forum “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building” at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre on Wednesday, 13th May 2009, I had posed two questions, viz:
1. Why the Court of Appeal could fast-track to hear within three hours Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir’s application for “stay” of Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim’s landmark judgment delivered on 11th May that Nizar was the lawful Perak Mentri Besar and grant it in another hour; while it was snail-pace in needing five days to hear Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin’s application to discharge Zambry’s “stay”; and
2. Whether Malaysians can expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?
This proved to be an understatement, as last Friday, it was announced that Nizar’s application to set aside the stay order, filed on 13th May, was postponed from May 18 to May 21 – the hearing date for Zambry’s appeal.
Zambry required less than three hours after filing his application to get a single-judge Court of Appeal to hear his “stay” request, while Nazry requires eight (from the earlier five) days to get his application to discharge the “stay” order heard.
Is this justice.
No wonder Leong Cheok Keng, Nizar’s solicitors, raised a very pertinent question in his six-point statement below, framed by Malaysiakini as “Why is Zambry getting ‘special treatment’?”: Read the rest of this entry »
Aung San Suu Kyi’s Monday trial – Malaysian Cabinet should condemn Myanmar junta on Wednesday
Posted by Kit in ASEAN, Burma, Human Rights on Sunday, 17 May 2009, 4:34 pm
ASEAN should condemn the Myanmar military junta if its proceeds tomorrow with the arbitrary trial of Nobel Peace Prize Laureatee and Burmese pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi despite world-wide protests and release her from the notorious Insein Prison.
The revocation of the licence of a top lawyer, Aung Thien, barring him from defending Suu Kyi is ominous sign of the length the Myanmese military junta is prepared to go ensure that she remains in detention despite the expected expiry of her six-year house arrest on May 27 and to keep her sidelined ahead of the junta’s promised elections in 2010 as part of its sham seven-step “roadmap to democracy”.
Malaysia should take the lead in such ASEAN condemnation which should be formally decided by the Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »
BN SC tomorrow – dare UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders speak the truth to Najib to cut losses in Perak and face state general election?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Perak on Sunday, 17 May 2009, 12:32 pm
Tomorrow is the first Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and it is shaping up to be an acid test whether the BN Supreme Council is going to be a new meeting of equals or of just like the past, between the Umno hegemon with subservient characters from the other Barisan Nasional component parties.
The May 31 Penanti state assembly by-election in Penang will be on the agenda, but even more important is the three-and-a-half-month-long Perak political and constitutional crisis which have brought one national institution after another into disrepute as well as undermined Malaysia’s international image and competitiveness.
Not only Pakatan Rakyat parties of DAP, PKR and PAS, but also independent organisations and NGOs like Suhakam, Bar Council, Council of Churches, Chinese guilds and associations, but also individual leaders from BN component parties have spoken up for the only viable solution to the Perak constitutional and political impasse – dissolution of the Perak State Assembly to return the mandate to Perakians in state wide general elections.
The question is whether Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC top leaders dare to speak the truth to Najib at the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting tomorrow that Najib should put national interests above party and personal interests, cut losses in Perak and face Perak state general elections to allow the people of Perak to decide their own political future. Read the rest of this entry »
I will be fair to PSD director-general but he must be fair to all PSD scholarship applicants
I have replied to the email from the Public Services Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam asking that I be fair to him, inviting him to the DAP forum on JPA scholarships in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday to explain another year of JPA scholarship injustices to aggrieved students, parents and the public.
This is Ismail’s email which I received yesterday:
“When I have the permission and opportunity, I’ll explain the whole story. Until then please be fair to me.
“Perception without having an understanding and perspective of the issue can bring about conclusion that may not be right or fair. I understand the unfortunate ones can be emotional. But be fair in your comments.
“Just ponder. Over 8000 students are qualified to be considered for 2000 scholarships which are allocated for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, bio tech and other sciences, social sciences, law, acturial science and other subjects critical for the country.
“We want well rounded students to go overseas. So co-curriculum and interviews are also important. Interviews are done by professionals in the govt service not by JPA officers.
“Then we have to provide for students from Sabah, Sarawak and from poor families. Some schools do not allow students to take more than 10 subjects. Are they inferior to students who could take 15 subjects? Then there is the appeal period. take all these into perspective first .
“Have a nice day.
“Ismail”
In my email reply to Ismail today, I said that I am always prepared to be fair to him, but why is the PSD under his charge not prepared to fair to the students, their parents and the Malaysian public in again putting them through the agony of another “annual begging season” when Malaysians have to beg for scholarships from the PSD although they are entitled to them because of their excellent academic results and meritocracy. Read the rest of this entry »
Is JJ the best choice for the plum appointment of Malaysian Ambassador to the US?
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Najib Razak on Sunday, 17 May 2009, 9:21 am
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should explain whether Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis is the best choice for the plum appointment of Malaysian Ambassador to the United States.
Would Jamaludin be representing the interests of Malaysia or just Najib Razak, which are two completely different agendas.
The Malaysian Insider reported early this month that Jamaludin’s appointment has been submitted to the Obama administration and is being vetted by the US State Department.
News of Jamaludin’s appointment as Malaysian Ambassador to the United States has created not only general public concern but raised the eyebrows of many in the establishment, whether political or the civil service.
The first question is how a politician who was finally dropped from the first Najib Cabinet because of his highly controversial record could be deemed to be appropriate and suitable for the choice overseas appointment as the nation’s Ambassador to the US? Read the rest of this entry »
Najib improperly intefering with Court of Appeal hearing on Nizar vs Zambry case
Posted by Kit in Court, Judiciary, Najib Razak, Perak on Saturday, 16 May 2009, 4:04 pm
It is most improper and irresponsible for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to try to influence the Court of Appeal hearing on Thursday on the Nizar-Zambry case, undermining judicial independence and integrity.
This is the first time in my memory in the past 43 years that a Prime Minister had made a public pronouncement on a matter which is the very subject of litigation before an appellate court, as if the Executive is sending out a clear, unmistakable and even threatening message to the Judiciary of the executive interests in a case pending before the Appellate court.
And if such impropriety had not happened in the past 43 years, it would not have happened in the first nine years of the nation’s independence, as Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman would have been very careful and meticulous in ensuring that there could not be any speck of suspicion that the Executive was interfering with the judiciary.
Hasn’t Najib heard the doctrine of the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary and the principle of the independence of the judiciary and the need for the Executive not only to respect, but also to be seen to respect, the integrity of the judiciary?
None of the previous five Prime Ministers had gone so far as to openly dictate to the judiciary how to it should adjudicate cases involving the Executive – despite the judicial darkness of the past two decades.
Why is Najib prepared to commit such a flagrant and blatant act of Executive disrespect and contempt for the Judiciary in such public and international manner?
Read the rest of this entry »
The unfair PSD scholarship awards
Letters
by Lye Hoke Tan
The unfair PSD scholarship awards issue, it happens all the times. I graduated from Chung Ling High School in Penang at 2004. Before 2004, I didn’t notice much about this problem, I just heard it from my high school teachers complaint it to us, I didn’t know it was so serious until it happened to my friends around.
Well, I can see this happens every year. Every year, to the same victims (Chinese Top Students), at the same time(after SPM results released), the same thing happen continuously in our country. Every year, I see the problems occur non-stop, it seems like unsolved cases even though those ministers, parties promised it could be solved. I have lost my confidence over their creditability, how can you give scholarship to someone, who his/her result is poorer than the others, just because of the skin colour.
Is PSD blind? They failed to see As every where every year, PSD prefer B and C? Maybe, as our government always has funny and “incredible” systems to rule this country. The funniest thing is, they DARE to repeat this “carelessness” every year, non stop. The media reported the same issue every year, what a shame!
The same thing happened during 2004, I have a friend, she got 13A1, she was also one of the top student had lunch with our ex-PM, Pak Lah, but the point is she failed to get JPA. When she told us she failed to get it, we got shocked. If top student like her by having 13A1 failed to get JPA, then we wonder how are we going to get it? Maybe we have to blame for our parents aren’t Datuk & Datin.
The next day, she went to the press, same stories like what it happens today. So, the next few days, she got the JPA. This is how our PSD works, OMG! Read the rest of this entry »
English can be fun
Spotted in a toilet of a London office:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW.
In a London Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES:
PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT
Outside a London second-hand shop:
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING – BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC.
WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?
Spotted in a safari park:
ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR
Seen during a London conference:
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN’T KNOW IT,
THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR
Notice in a field:
THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE,
BUT THE BULL CHARGES Read the rest of this entry »
In God’s name, do the honourable thing, Najib
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Saturday, 16 May 2009, 6:34 am
by Tunku Abdul Aziz
Malaysian Insider
14.5.09
The last three months have seen a flurry of activity on the Perak political front. All of this was without any doubt occasioned by Najib’s blatantly cynical, barefaced manipulation of human greed. Najib is no novice when it comes to money matters. He succeeded spectacularly in seducing the three most unremarkable and positively unpleasant Pakatan Rakyat characters to declare themselves independent supporters of the Barisan Nasional.
They have, as to be expected, denied most vehemently that they had succumbed to any such unworthy and degrading temptation as money. Conventional wisdom, on the other hand, says that Malaysian politicians will only transfer their party allegiance for cash, and not principle. I leave you to draw your own conclusion in this particular case.
Najib’s single act of subterfuge has been remarkable for the damage, and repercussions, to the Malaysian body politic, quite apart from damaging further his own already seriously bruised reputation. If he thought what he had done was an example of cutting edge political sophistication, I suggest he should think again. He has by his reckless adventure only succeeded in portraying himself as nothing more than a common garden variety, and not the statesman that we thought he would become given his father’s honoured place in our history and his family credentials. Read the rest of this entry »
Unfair award of PSD scholarships – suspend PSD DG for insurbordination or Ong Tee Keat should resign as Minister for failure to implement Cabinet policy decided in March
Yesterday, MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat announced that the Government will review the selection criteria for Public Services Department scholarships and that a meeting the same day would be held among Barisan Nasional component party leaders, the PSD director-general and the Chief Secretary to the Government to discuss the matter and reconsider rejected cases.
However, the most senior MCA Minister was contradicted yesterday itself by the Public Service Department director-general, Tan Sri Ismail Adam, as reported in today’s New Straits Times, which carried the headline “’No review of PSD scholarship selection criteria’”, viz:
PUTRAJAYA: There will be no review of the selection criteria for Public Service Department scholarships, PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said yesterday.
He said he had not received any directive to reconsider the criteria.
Unsuccessful applicants for scholarships had until Monday to appeal, he added.
MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said on Wednesday there would be a review of the PSD criteria for giving out scholarships.
Ismail denied there was a meeting among Barisan Nasional component party leaders, the chief secretary to the government and himself, as claimed by Ong.
Ismail also denied Ong’s claims on the current selection criteria.
Who is lying? The MCA President or the PSD DG?
Read the rest of this entry »
