2009 World Press Freedom Day this year marked in a totally different spirit from the past decade
Posted by Kit in Media, Najib Razak on Monday, 4 May 2009, 12:50 pm
Malaysian journalists marked the World Press Freedom Day yesterday in a totally different spirit from the past ten years, expecting the worst in the coming year when they had hoped for better times in the past decade.
Ten years ago, when Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was first appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, there were high hopes that he would accord priority to restore public confidence in various key government institutions by giving the Home Ministry a human face, including loosening up and removing the press controls in the country to usher in an era of free, fair and responsible press in Malaysia.
This was why on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 1999, some 600 journalists in Malaysia – which grew to over 1,000 journalists the following World Press Freedom Day 2000 – presented a memorandum to Abdullah calling for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act and other repressive laws fettering the development of a free and responsible press.
Although Abdullah had given a solemn undertaking to the Malaysian journalists at the time that he would give their memorandum serious consideration, nothing was achieved in the five years and five months of his premiership in reforming or repealing the most repressive and draconian press laws and regulations.
When Abdullah was forced out as the shortest-serving Prime Minister early last month, the repressive and draconian press laws he had inherited from the era of Mahathirism remain intact, although they were more sparingly used as to allow for some opening up of media space in the Abdullah premiership. Read the rest of this entry »
Walkabout Versus Makan Angin Management
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Najib Razak on Monday, 4 May 2009, 4:13 am
by M. Bakri Musa
It is commendable that Prime Minister Najib Razak is periodically leaving his air-conditioned office to experience first hand what ordinary citizens have to put up with in their daily lives. Last week saw him riding the Light Rail Transit; the week before, a stroll down Petaling Street. All these so he could “understand the pulse of the people.”
Najib would like us to compare him to his late father with his legendary working visits to the various “Operations Rooms” throughout the country to monitor development projects. Whether Najib would prove to be like his father or closer to Abdullah Badawi, the country’s most inept leader, remains to be seen.
Recall that Abdullah too made frequent well-publicized visits to various governmental agencies. One of those was to the Immigration Department, notorious for its less-than-stellar public service, where he announced that all its problems were miraculously solved following the impromptu visit. The tragic part was that Abdullah believed it; Malaysians of course were much wiser.
At least thus far Najib had the sense not to wear a three-piece dark suit like Abdullah did on his walkabouts. Instead Najib opted for the more casual batik look. While Abdullah appeared formal and imperious, like a sultan showing the flag, Najib was more like someone out for an evening stroll, more jalan jalan (leisurely stroll) and makan angin (lit. eat wind) than a working visit. Both Najib and Abdullah looked like they were not ready for serious work. Read the rest of this entry »
Liow Tiong Lai’s IQ is highly suspect when he could not understand simple English
The IQ of the Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who is MCA Vice President and Penang MCA State chief, is highly suspect when he could not understand simple English.
In Georgetown yesterday, Liow challenged me to clearly state my stand on the Cabinet’s recent decision that minors follow the common religion of their parents at the time of marriage when one spouse opts to convert.
He even made the statement that I am at odds with the DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh over the matter on the ground that Karpal had clearly stated his support for the Cabinet’s decision, implying that I had opposed the Cabinet decision.
I presume that before he issued such a challenge, Liow would have combed through my blog and he could not find any statement from me on the Cabinet decision, let alone support for it.
If so, then Liow must have a very low IQ as not to understand what I have blogged –to be confused by what should be crystal-clear in my statements.
I would advise Liow to return to my blog to go through the various statements and if he still could not find my expression of support for the Cabinet decision, I offer to give Liow a free tutorial to understand basic English and to take him through my statements to show him how he had committed the colossal blunder of not understanding simple English. Read the rest of this entry »
Release Manoharan, Uthayakumar, Vasanthakumar under ISA or “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” is just a joke
Posted by Kit in DAP, Hindraf, Human Rights, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 May 2009, 11:31 am
DAP Selangor State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah M. Manoharan is considering resigning his seat as he feels guilty at being unable to serve his voters from Kamunting Detention Centre, where he had been incarcerated for the past 17 months.
I can understand Manoharan’s deep frustrations, helplessness and burning sense of injustice, as he is a victim of the draconian and tyrannical Internal Security Act and deprived of his personal liberty not for any crime he had committed but for his mission to uplift the Indians from the “new underclass” in Malaysia to take their rightful and equal place under the Malaysian sun.
Furthermore, he is prevented from serving the voters of Kota Alam Shah who had elected him as their State Assemblyman in the past 14 months, although he had tried and exhausted all avenues to seek release from ISA detention, making three habeas corpus applications, barrage of letters to the powers-that-be (to former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, thrice to now Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and eigth times to former Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, two letters to the Sultan of Selangor), as well as attending the meetings of the ISA advisory board – all to no purpose. Read the rest of this entry »
Zambry – don’t rewrite history to justify his appointment as “People Last” usurper Perak MB
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Najib Razak, Perak on Sunday, 3 May 2009, 8:23 am
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has declared that “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” is the overarching philosophy of his government.
However, in less than a month there are enough instances to show that Najib’s slogan of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” is as hollow as the “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang” slogan of the Abdullah premiership or the “Amanah, Bersih, Cekap” slogan of the Mahathir administration.
The unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak, overthrowing the legal and legitimate Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and foisting on the people of Perak the usurper and illegitimate Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir violates two of the three Najib mottos of “1Malaysia. People First”.
How can there be “1Malaysia” when Najib orchestrated the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak?
How can Najib talk about “People First” when he does not respect the mandate of the people of Perak in the March general election last year in electing a Pakatan Rakyat state government helmed by Nizar as Mentri Besar?
What “People First” is Najib talking about when his unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab is based on the betrayal of the people’s hopes and trust by three “political frogs” who in the past three months dare not even visit their constituencies or show their face publicly. This is “People Last” rather than “People First”! Read the rest of this entry »
Time for IGP Musa to resign when crime rampages beyond police control until even the JB South OCPD is tied up and robbed at knife point in his house
Posted by Kit in Crime, Media, Najib Razak, Police on Saturday, 2 May 2009, 4:13 pm
It is time for the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan to resign when crime rampages on in the country beyond police control until even the Johore Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Yaakob was tied up and robbed at knife point in his house in Johore Baru on Thursday morning.
ACP Zainuddin was home alone when three men, believed to be Indonesians, tied him up and ransacked his home at about 5.45 am on Thursday, leaving later with some cash and valuables.
The tying-up and robbing at knife-point of an OCPD in his own house is not just a humiliating episode for the Malaysian police, but highlights the sheer inability of the police force to bring crime under check and control, especially in the several capitals of crime in the country.
One of the greatest failures of the Abdullah premiership is his failure to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes. Read the rest of this entry »
Zambry should stop being a “caveman” Mentri Besar of Flintstones era and wake up to the age of Internet and new media
Two online media reports on the preparations taken by the usurper Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir for the illegally-convened May 7 Perak State Assembly meeting expose the mentality not only of the Perak Barisan Nasional leaders but also of the handful of civil servants acting in cahoots with them.
The Malaysian Insider in its report “New media rules for May 7 Perak assembly”, reported that only 13 media organisations will be allowed to cover the Perak State Legislative Assembly when it is held on May 7.
The Malaysian Insider reported:
A media notice was sent out by the state Information Department to several media companies yesterday informing them of the tightened security measures.
The notice stated that only 13 media groups in the list would be allowed to cover the entire duration of the assembly from May 7 to 13.
The 13 listed are television stations RTM and BernamaTV, TV3 and newspapers The Star, New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia, China Press, Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, Tamil Namban, Tamil Nesan and national news agency Bernama.
The notice also limited the number of media workers to two people from each organisation: one reporter and the other a photographer.
The only exceptions made were to state-owned television stations RTM, BernamaTV and Umno-linked private station TV3, which are allowed to send in three people each.
Media organisations barred from covering the May 7 Perak State Assembly include Bahasa Malaysia papers like Sinar Harian, Metro, Kosmo; English daily the Sun, the Edge Financial Daily, the Malaysian Reserve; Chinese dailies like Guang Ming Daily, Kwong Wah Yit Poh, Oriental Daily; Tamil press like Makkal Osai; television stations like NTV7, NTV7 Chinese and 8TV Chinese.
All online media organisations are barred, including Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, The NutGraph, Merdeka Review, Therocknews, etc. All foreign agencies and media, whether Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Jiji Press, CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera are also barred.
And a total ban on all bloggers – the quintessence of the new media! Read the rest of this entry »
Invalid Islamic conversion of Indira’s three children – MCA/Gerakan should stop politics of opportunism/hypocrisy
MCA and Gerakan leaders have not learned the message of the March 8 “political tsunami” last year, when both parties were thrashed in the parliamentary and state general elections.
In the past 11 months, MCA and Gerakan have lost even more public confidence, which was why, according to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, the Barisan Nasional only secured 11% of the Chinese votes in the recent Bukit Gantang by-election, causing Nazri to remark that Umno must go on its own to regain the support of non-Malay voters and not depend on other Barisan Nasional component parties.
Shared with Gerakan’s by-election efforts and giving MCA the benefit of the doubt as to who wielded greater influence with the Chinese voters in Bukit Gantang, this means that MCA could only influence at most six per cent, and Gerakan five per cent, of the Chinese voters!
Why is this so?
The answer is very simple – the people can see through the continuing hypocrisy and double standards of the MCA and Gerakan leaders.
The latest example of MCA and Gerakan’s continuing unprincipled politics of opportunism and hypocrisy is the recent Cabinet decision on “common religion” for children in controversial unilateral conversion cases – that the civil marriage has to be settled by the civil court and the religion of their children be the common religion at the time their parents were married at civil law. Read the rest of this entry »
Usurper Zambry plotting 2nd unethical, undemocratic, illegal power grab to remove Perak Speaker Sivakumar
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Perak on Thursday, 30 April 2009, 11:39 am
The usurper Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir has finally admitted that his first agenda at the illegally-convened Perak State Assembly meeting on May 7 is to move a motion to remove the Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar, who has become the most famous Speaker in the Commonwealth for his great and valiant battle in the past three months to defend the Perak State Assembly from encroachments from other branches of government and to uphold the doctrine of Separation of Powers.
Zambry should realize that his usurpation of the office of Perak Mentri Besar as a result of the the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak in early February cannot gain legitimacy by another unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab, this time by breaking all parliamentary traditions, conventions and practices by removing the Speaker through the use of three renegade Assembly members and a renegade State Assembly clerk.
How can there be any legitimate government when it is founded on two unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grabs, firstly on the office of Mentri Besar and secondly, three months later, on the office of Perak Speaker – based on three renegade Assembly persons who dare not appear publicly even in their own constituencies for three months after their political defection and betrayal and one renegade State Assembly clerk who had been sacked from his position for repeated public insubordination of his immediate superior, the Speaker?
N.H. Chan: An inconvenient judge
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Court, Judiciary, Perak on Thursday, 30 April 2009, 10:07 am
by Debra Chong | The Malaysian Insider
IPOH, April 30 — Chan Nyarn Hoi lives in a modest two-storey semi-detached house in a quiet lane near the state stadium in Perak with his wife, a dog and seven large Japanese carp.
At 74 years old and with ruddy smooth cheeks under a full head of snowy white hair, few would connect him to the acerbic, no-nonsense former judge Datuk N.H. Chan, who has in the last couple of months done the unthinkable: fire away missives at judges who have trampled on the Federal Constitution in deciding issues related to the power grab in Perak. His lengthy articles have reminded Malaysians of a time gone by when towering individuals sat on the Bench and simplified the Perak constitutional crisis for the common man.
Still seething over the events that transpired in Perak and decisions of the apex court, he says that if Malaysians are upset with the state of the judiciary and think that the present crop of judges are not up to the mark, they should exercise the power of their vote to change the state of affairs in the country.
Born in Ipoh on March 27, 1935, Chan was admitted to the Bar in 1961. He was a lawyer for almost two decades before becoming a High Court judge and moving to Kuala Lumpur.
He was among the first batch of High Court judges to be elevated to the Court of Appeal, set up in 1994 to act as an intermediate court between the High Court and the apex court.
Read the rest of this entry »
What will Najib’s 100 Days Report be like?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Thursday, 30 April 2009, 9:34 am
(US President Barack Obama’s first 100 days are being evaluated not only in the United States but internationally, like the following Guardian UK piece. What will be the First 100 Days Report of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak be like?)
100 days: Obama the politician
Since entering the White House, Obama has shown himself to be a powerful and effective politician – if not a perfect one
by Lola Adesioy
guardian.co.uk,
29 April 2009
One hundred days is not enough time to make any definitive conclusions about what to expect from Obama’s presidency. As many have been quick to point out, George Bush was very popular during his first 100 days. And look where he ended up.
What we have got so far, however, is a good sense of President Obama’s political style. In that regard his first 100 days have been, on the whole, pretty good. According to a new New York Times/CBS poll, 68% of Americans believe that Obama is a “different” kind of politician.
In that poll, “different”‘ refers to the president’s personal characteristics and style rather than his policies. Being that Obama won on a platform of “change” promised, it is somewhat disappointing that people are more pleased with his personality than his policies. Ultimately, political substance has more of an effect on lives and in determining a president’s legacy than personal style. But only time will tell whether or not there will be more of a match between the two. It would be unfortunate to see President Obama go in the same direction as Tony Blair – a hugely popular leader who made some unforgivable political decisions. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib dare not even mention the word “meritocracy” – quintessence of reform – , what meaningful civil service revamp could he achieve?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, public service on Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 11:41 am
The PR worked overtime. News headlines like “Modenisasi sector awam” (Utusan Malaysia), “Civil Service Revamp” (Star), “Civil service to recruit ‘best brains’” (New Straits Times), “PM proposes civil service reforms” (The Sun) dazzled Malaysians
But whoever takes the trouble to read the contents of the first address of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the civil service yesterday will find the quintessence of meaningful civil service reform missing.
When Najib dare not even mention the word “meritocracy”, what meaningful civil service revamp could he achieve?
There is one critical difference between Malaysia and other countries which value the importance of the civil service – in those countries, the best and the most talented of each generation join the civil service while in Malaysia the best and the most talented avoid the civil service!
Najib talked about hiring “the best of the best in talent and expertise for the sake of the people” to revamp the civil service. Why should the “best of the best in talent and expertise” be attracted into the civil service when “meritocracy” continues to be a dirty word? Read the rest of this entry »
Publication of PwC report on RM8 bil PKFZ scandal – why for 6 mths OTK dare not discuss with Najib?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, PKFZ on Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 10:15 am
Why hadn’t the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat raise with Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had become Finance Minister since September last year when he was Umno Deputy President, the issue of the declassification of certain letters and correspondence in relation to the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project so that the Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) audit report on the PKFZ scandal could be made public?
Or was he just afraid to discuss the issue with Najib in the past six months until he got the nod from Najib?
This is clearly not a relationship between political equals but between a political master and an inferior!
These are the thoughts of anyone who read yesterday’s Edge Malaysia online report, headlined “Najib to hear out Tee Keat on PKFZ declassification”, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Rise of Parang Culture and fall of Rule of Law
Letters
by Bong AP
I am appalled and disgusted to witness and read the dailies of such happenings every day and the problems seem to be endless.
In spite of so much that have been written, highlighted and discussed its’ always remained forgotten.The country and cities’ public safety have declined to a very low level where lawlessness prevails to an extent where hardcore criminals can have a free hand to commit vicious crime freely anywhere .
This has come to a boiling point where the general public perceptions are criminals rule by Night and the government Rule partially by Day. Very soon we will end up like Somalia where anarchy prevails and there is no day and night creating warlords all over the country.
The public are being tyrannized by such deteriorating situations in their daily life. Even simple folks are affected like small time traders, news vendors, hawkers and delivery boys are being robbed.
We will soon become a Nation of rot and decay if nothing is being done to arrest this complacency and inaction. Read the rest of this entry »
PM Najib using peashooter measures which are not sufficient to boost Malaysian economy
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics on Tuesday, 28 April 2009, 4:44 pm
by Dr Chen Man Hin
The chief reason why PM Najib reform proposals are weak and timid is because he is unsure of getting full support from Umno. This was admitted as much when the PM speaking to Umno leaders recently called on them to change and accept liberalisation and reforms to win the support of the people.
The bulk of Umno is resistant to reforms and this was quite evident at the Umno general assembly last month, when the assemby ignored appeals to change and reform by PM Najib and ex PM Abdullah. The assembly was more interested in the debate on money politics. To have reforms meant they would have to give up cronyism and the wealth from government contracts.
Tunku Aziz, former world Transparency International leader said as much when he observed that Umno was still mired in corruption and cronyism and without their support, the vision of PM Najib’s 1Malaysia was ‘a cruel joke’ – a pipe dream of the Prime Minister, and not shared by Umno.
CAPITAL FINANCE LIBERALISATION MUST BE MEANINGFUL. Read the rest of this entry »
Cabinet must send out clear signal tomorrow that it stands by its “common religion” decision on baby Prasana Diksa case – not to be defied with impunity
Posted by Kit in Islam, nation building on Tuesday, 28 April 2009, 3:29 pm
At its first meeting last Wednesday, the Najib Cabinet commendably took a policy decision as a result of the Indira Ghandi case, where her three children Tevi Darsiny 12, Karan Dinish 11 and year-old Prasana Diksa were converted by her husband K. Pathmanathan, now known as Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah without her consent.
The Cabinet decided that the civil marriage has to be settled by the civil court and the religion of their children be the common religion at the time their parents were married at civil law.
The Cabinet also decided that the year-old baby daughter, Prasana Diksa, forcibly taken away by the father for more than a month although she was still being breastfed by Indira, should be returned to the mother.
Nazri said that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic Affairs, Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, had been tasked to resolve the Indira Ghandi case amicably and to return Prasana Diksa to the mother.
Last Friday, the Ipoh High Court also granted to Indira Ghandi an interim custody order for her three children, ordering Pathmanathan/Ridzuan to return Prasana to his wife and the police to provide assistance to Indira with regards to this.
However, a week after the Cabinet decision and 96 hours after the Ipoh High Court orders, Indira Ghandi, who had caused the Cabinet to come out with a policy decision to end controversial conversion cases which create not only gross injustices in trampling on parental rights and destroying family integrity but also cause deep divisions in our multi-racial and multi-religious nation, is still pining for her year-old baby girl as Pathmanathan/Ridzuan and Prasana seem to have disappeared altogether. Read the rest of this entry »
RM8 bil PKFZ scandal? – Cabinet tomorrow should overrule OTK’s “passing-the-buck” game and direct immediate release of PwC Report
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Economics, Finance, Financial Scandals, Good Governance, PKFZ on Tuesday, 28 April 2009, 1:08 pm
The Cabinet tomorrow should overrule Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s “passing-the-buck” game and direct the immediate and full publication of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Report on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and to respond to the Edge cover report that the cost of PKFZ had escalated fourfold from the original RM1.8 billion to RM8 billion.
Ong should not try to distract public attention from the real issues about the PKFZ scandal by threatening that he would be “checking with his legal adviser and see if the article carried in the weekly was libellous”. (Star April 27, 2009)
Let him respond fully, frankly and forthrightly to two issues:
Firstly, why as the Transport Minister he had reneged on his promise made in April last year, as reported by Star (April 8, 2008) headlined: ”Ong to tell all on Port Klang Free Zone” quoting him:
“I wish to inform the rakyat about the true situation – whether it was actually squandered, not squandered, and whether it has gone to, as well as the breakdown of the budget.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Congrats, YB Senator Tunku Aziz
Posted by Kit in Parliament, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Monday, 27 April 2009, 7:26 pm
Congratulations YB Senator Tunku Aziz.
We look forward to Tunku Aziz lending meaning, gravity and direction to the Senate with his appointment as Senator by the Penang State Assembly this evening.
Help find my one-year-old daughter, pleads mum
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion on Monday, 27 April 2009, 5:54 pm
Malaysiakini | S Pathmawathy | Apr 27, 09 5:02pm
Five thousand missing persons posters have been printed to help find Muslim convert, K Patmanathan, and his one-year-old daughter Prasana Diksa.
|
Last week, the Ipoh High Court granted M Indira Ghandi the custody of all her three children, who were converted by their father without her knowledge on April 12, pending the full custody hearing on May 12. As the older children – Tevi Darsiny, 12 and Karan Dinesh, 11 – were in the care of their mother from the beginning, the court ordered that the youngest child which is in her father’s care to be returned to the mother. However, despite the court order to return the toddler, the father, who has since the conversion assumed the name Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, has gone missing. |
1 Malaysia: A cruel joke?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak on Monday, 27 April 2009, 9:57 am
by Tunku Aziz | The Malaysian Insider
APRIL 27 – It never ceases to amaze me how simple and trusting we Malaysians are.
We have heard all these promises before. Pak Lah, the Mr Clean and Mr Nice Guy of Malaysian politics proclaimed his great mission of fighting corruption after 22 years of unprincipled and largely unaccountable governance under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
We lapped it all up, initially at any rate, and believed every word the spin doctors spewed out about Abdullah Badawi.
It was not too difficult a job for Abdullah Badawi, or anyone else for that matter, after Mahathir, to look ethically spotless, clean and pure as the driven snow.
Badawi, with his religious credentials, gave every appearance of being the reformer that this country had been praying for. Alas, his leadership proved a total let-down for Malaysia.
What began as a journey full of hope and promise turned very quickly into a national nightmare. Abdullah, who skippered the good ship MALAYSIA, was in truth an incompetent and inept rating playing at being Admiral of the Fleet.
Read the rest of this entry »
