Hishammuddin should explain why Education Ministry condoning the racist and unprintable slurs of a history teacher
Posted by Kit in Education, nation building on Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 12:36 pm
The New Straits Times today carried the following report:
Racial abuse teacher gets ‘a better deal’
By : V. Shankar Ganesh
BANTING: It obviously pays to hurl racial abuse at students, going by what happened to the teacher who did so at a school here.
The 35-year-old history teacher from SM Telok Panglima Garang was not only transferred to a smart school but to one located nearer her house.
To add insult to injury, no disciplinary action was taken against her.
It is understood that her letter of transfer stated that she was being transferred due to concerns for her security and not because she had committed an offence. Read the rest of this entry »
The future of our interfaith dialogue
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Religion on Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 1:00 am
by Azly Rahman
Must engaging in dialogue on religion be painful? Must it be greeted with hostility? Or is it a moot question—that the answer lies in what we failed to have done through our education system, decades ago?
I have faith that we will one day be ready to appreciate interfaith dialogue. On this note, I too believe that we will one day appreciate philosophical discussions and scientific debates. My experience conducting interfaith dialogue every semester in the American classroom setting gives me the assurance that we will be ready. It would be good to one day know that our corridors of academia are filled with passionate discussions on the self, the universe, God, and fate of humanity.
The core of each religious foundation is there for us to explore and to learn from. We need to escape from being trapped in the particular and liberate ourselves into explorers of the universal. Of course this will take time given the nature of class and caste system we are in; developments that have impacted upon our consciousness. But evolve we must, if we are to see a progressive country emerging out of these ruins of communal politics, immorality of modern capitalism, and persistent religious misunderstandings. Ignorance is the greatest enemy of knowledge, as the sage Socrates once said. Read the rest of this entry »
PAC Chairman Azmi should step down in MRR2 flyover cracks inquiry – conflict of interest
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Parliament on Monday, 11 August 2008, 5:57 pm
The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid should stand down in the PAC inquiry into the new Middle Ring Road (MRR)2 flyover cracks as the decision-making on the repairs of the RM238 million MRR2 by the previous Cabinet in 2006, of which he was a member, should also be the subject of current PAC investigations as well.
Azmi had announced after the PAC meeting this morning that the PAC will visit the defective MRR2 flyover in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow morning, two weeks after clumps of concrete and carbon fibre panels fell from the highway pillar into the path of the oncoming cars below.
It is not only most invidious, improper but also a clear and flagrant conflict-of-interest for Azmi to now preside over an investigation into the two-year RM70 million repairs of the six-year RM238 MRR2, including an examination of the rationale and justification for the final Cabinet decision on its repairs when he was a member of that Cabinet – as the whole repair decision-making process at various stages of decision-making, including at the Cabinet level, raises many disturbing questions about their propriety and wisdom. Read the rest of this entry »
Storming of Bar Council forum – Had Umno plotted for the extreme reaction?
Posted by Kit in nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, Politics, Religion, UMNO on Monday, 11 August 2008, 1:24 pm
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that the Bar Council’s persistence in going ahead with a forum on conversion to Islam has triggered extreme reaction from certain quarters, which in turn would threaten the country’s harmony.
He added that he had expected the extreme reaction to occur as the council ignored advice to call off the forum.
Is this an admission that UMNO had plotted for the extreme reaction to the Bar Council forum on religious conversions in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday – including the deplorable and disgraceful police conduct in submitting to the ultimatum by demonstrators threatening to storm into the Bar Council auditorium to disrupt the forum if the half-day forum was not ended by 10 am?
This must be the first time in the history of the Malaysian police force where it had openly and publicly submitted to the threats of demonstrators to commit an offence, i.e. to storm into a private property to disrupt a lawful meeting!
Can the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan and the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar defend and justify the shocking failure of the police to uphold law and order on Saturday? Read the rest of this entry »
No, this ‘Babi’ will Not ‘Balik Cina’
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, nation building, Religion on Monday, 11 August 2008, 6:48 am
By Farish A. Noor
I have just read the reports on the internet about the goings-on that led to the disruption and early closure of the public forum organised by the Bar Council on Conversion in Malaysia over the weekend. Apart from the other rather offensive remarks that were featured in the various reports that I read, I also chanced upon a rather curious revelation: Apparently during the commotion caused when some of the so-called ‘defenders of the faith’ had entered the room where the forum was being held, there were calls for a certain ‘Babi’ to ‘Balik Cina’.
Now I have checked and double-checked all the photos that are available on the internet and have seen no image that corresponds to the ‘Babi’ in question. Therefore for the sake of academic consistency and objectivity, I am compelled to ask the Bar Council this: Was there a pig in the auditorium where the forum was held? And if so, how could the Bar Council invite a pig to attend a forum that was open primarily for Malaysian citizens (who are overwhelmingly human, as identity papers and passports have not been issued to pigs or any other non-human species as far as I know)
Furthermore I need to ask how the demonstrators knew that the pig (if one was present) was of Chinese origin? Did it carry a Chinese passport, and if so, why was it in KL when the Olympic games were being held in Beijing and the world’s attention was focused there?
(*ed. I can only assume that this was a rather anti-social pig from China who had come to Malaysia to avoid the throngs of tourists who have overtaken Beijing, which would be a sensible thing that I would have done myself, so I confess to having sympathy with this mysterious invisible pig.) Read the rest of this entry »
Permatang Pauh by-election watch – three intriguing snippets
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Sunday, 10 August 2008, 6:18 pm
Today is no different from the past 11 days – the media awash with news about the August 26 Permatang Pauh by-election battle royale since Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s resignation as Member of Parliament on July 31 to pave the way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s return to Parliament after the lapse of a decade.
There were three intriguing snippets today.
1. UMNO Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s statement that it will be a moral victory for UMNO if the Umno candidate in the Permatang Pauh by-election can keep the deposit! He was commenting on a Parti Keadilan Rakyat boast to make the Umno candidate lose his deposit in the by-election, when attending the Spell-It-Right National Challenge in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. (Sin Chew)
2. Report that Hishammuddin and his Deputy UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin may be declared “persona non grata” and banned from campaigning in the Permatang Pauh by-election so as not to drive away Chinese votes – the former because of his previous three “keris-wielding” episodes and the latter for his previous allegation that “Malays in Penang have been marginalized”. (Kwong Wah Yit Poh)
3. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir said in a forum on current challenges faced by the Malay community in Kuala Terengganu that he would rather migrate if Anwar topples the Barisan Nasional and becomes Prime Minister.
Mahathir was confident that Anwar will not become Prime Minister by September 16 although he was sure the Pakatan Rakyat leader and Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser would be victorious in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election this Aug 26. (Mingguan Malaysia)
Anwar’s Sodomy II – Is Malaysia banking on support of Myanmar/Zimbabwe/Sudan in UN?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Judiciary, Law & Order on Sunday, 10 August 2008, 3:07 pm
The Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim is taking his idea of internationalizing the Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II charge by organizing a series of information sessions by the Foreign Ministry overseas “to give a true picture so there will be no misconceptions that can hurt Malaysia’s image” one step further.
Yesterday, he announced raising the issue to the United Nations level through a letter to the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to explain Malaysia’s view on what it sees as American interference in the Anwar Sodomy II charge.
Is Rais banking on the support of rogue states like Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Sudan by taking the Anwar Sodomy II issue to the United Nations?
Instead of accusing the United States of violating international law and “meddling in Malaysia’s international affairs”, Rais should lead the charge in the Cabinet on Wednesday to demand the dropping of the Sodomy II charge against Anwar especially as a recent opinion survey has shown that only 11% of the respondents believe in the Sodomy II allegation made against Anwar. Read the rest of this entry »
Blackout in Sarawak – Why?
Star Online
Blackout in Sarawak
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: A state-wide power cut in Sarawak on Saturday evening saw the blackout affect more than two million people over a distance of 1,000km from Kuching to Miri.
Cities and towns in the state were plunged into total darkness causing massive chaos as everybody was caught by surprise.
The power failure started in Kuching at about 6.30pm Saturday and rapidly spread northward to Sibu then to Miri by 7.30pm.
Deputy chief minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam when contacted by The Star confirmed that it was a blackout that seemed to have affected the main power grid. Read the rest of this entry »
Disruption of Bar Council forum on conversion – adverse reflection on law and order/religious harmony
Posted by Kit in nation building, Police, Religion on Saturday, 9 August 2008, 2:57 pm
The police yielding to pressure to disrupt the half-day Bar Council forum on conversion to Islam at 10 am in Kuala Lumpur today is a most adverse reflection on law and order as well as religious harmony in Malaysia on the eve of the 51st Merdeka anniversary.
Malaysia has failed a major test in nation-building to demonstrate that we are shaping up to be a more civil society where sensitive issues of inter-faith problems can be discussed in a mature and responsible manner to promote national unity and religious harmony in the country.
As the Bar Council has made it clear that the forum on religious conversion is not to question the provisions of Article 121(1A) of the Constitution which conferred syariah jurisdiction over Muslims but to address the conflicts of laws facing families caught between the separate jurisdictions of civil and syariah laws, greater understanding, tolerance and sensitivity should have been shown by all Malaysians concerned.
Such understanding, tolerance and sensitivity would undoubtedly have been present in the first four decades of Malaysian nationhood and I have no doubt that if such a forum had been organised ten years ago, there would not have been the insensitive, intolerant and deplorable reaction evident today. Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar Sodomy II – challenge to MCA, Gerakan, MIC leaders to declare stand
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, MCA on Saturday, 9 August 2008, 2:38 pm
Two days ago, the MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said that instead of development and prosperity, the key issue during the Permatang Pauh by-election would be Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II charge.
He said:
“Permatang Pauh will be a battle of public confidence. The winner will be the side that most convincingly explains the situation surrounding Anwar’s charge.
“If the opposition succeeds in painting a picture that Anwar is a victim of some government conspiracy, then they win. But if the Barisan Nasional can convincingly explain to the grassroots that what’s happening to Anwar is just a criminal justice process, then we win.”
Ka Chuan should not be so fast to jump the gun. Read the rest of this entry »
Police wants half-day Bar Council forum on conversion to end by 10 am because of protests
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion on Saturday, 9 August 2008, 9:39 am
[News Flash 2 at 10.02 am: A few minutes ago, a woman participant went up to the floor mike defending the forum, but was met by shouts by protestors demanding the immediate end of the forum – forcing Bar Council President Ambiga Sreenevasan to announce its closure.]
[Flash – Just informed that police accompanied a few of the protestors into the forum to observe proceedings, five minutes before the forum is to have abrupt end at 10 am.]
The Bar Council half-day forum on conversion to Islam is going on now at its auditorium in Kuala Lumpur – in the face of a crowd of protestors outside bearing slogans and chanting Arabic verses and demanding the immediate cancellation of the forum.
It is a test whether Malaysia is shaping up to be a more civil society where sensitive issues of inter-faith problems can be discussed in a mature and responsible manner to promote national unity and religious harmony in the country.
The Police wants the forum to end by 10 am because of the protests.
As stated by the Bar Council Vice President Ragunath Kesavan, the Bar Council forum on religious conversion is to address the conflicts of laws facing families caught between the separate jurisdictions of civil and syariah laws.
It is not to question the provisions of Article 121(1a) of the Constitution, which conferred syariah jurisdiction over Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
Rais should lead the charge in Cabinet to demand dropping of Anwar’s Sodomy II charge
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Anwar Ibrahim, Judiciary, Law & Order on Friday, 8 August 2008, 2:35 pm
The 2008 Olympics opens in Beijing today but for Malaysia, we are obsessed with scaling a new Olympian height of national trauma and international infamy – the strangulation of what is left of the rule of law in Malaysia after two decades of judicial darkness in the continued political persecution of Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy II prosecution.
Thanks to this special Malaysian official obsession with sodomy, Malaysia was big news in seven continents when Anwar Ibrahim was charged under Section 377B of the Penal Code for sodomising his 23-year-old male aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Furthermore, Anwar’s Sodomy II trial and tribulation will be kept alive in the international stage because of the disgraceful, dishonourable and ignoble circumstances and motivation of the prosecution to the extent that the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim has made a most unusual and extraordinary decision to organize a series of information sessions by the Foreign Ministry overseas on Anwar’s Sodomy II “to give a true picture so there will be no misconceptions that can hurt Malaysia’s image”.
What is this “true picture” that Rais is going to tell the world in a series of information sessions overseas? Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar’s Sodomy II – let professionals in AG’s chambers rethink and drop the medieval prosecution
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Anwar Ibrahim, Law & Order on Thursday, 7 August 2008, 3:22 pm
There was not only relief but a sense of vindication all round that Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released on RM20,000 personal bond without surety after he pleaded not guilty in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court this morning to the Sodomy II charge under Section 377 B of the Penal Code.
The decision of the Sessions Court judge, S.M. Komathy and the stand of the Solicitor General Datuk Idrus Harun in not opposing bail gives hope that the system of justice is not totally condemned and irredeemable if the professionals in the legal and judicial services are fully freed of political pressures and interferences to discharge their duties to uphold the rule of law and dispense justice.
The person who had come out worst from this morning’s proceedings was not in court at all – the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Only yesterday, Abdullah was again justifying the Sodomy II prosecution of Anwar on the ground of according “justice” to the accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, making many Malaysians ask why the Prime Minister has suddenly become the leading spokesman for Anwar’s Sodomy II charge when under the Constitution, the sole prosecution discretionary power is vested in the Attorney-General and not with the Prime Minister or in the Cabinet! Read the rest of this entry »
Permatang Pauh by-election – Anwar appointed new Parliamentary Opposition Leader
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Rakyat, Parliament on Thursday, 7 August 2008, 8:28 am
Anwar Ibrahim will be the new Parliamentary Opposition Leader after he wins the Permatang Pauh by-election on August 26, 2008.
This is to take effect from August 27.
This was one of the decisions taken unanimously by Pakatan Rakyat leaders of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PAS and DAP at a meeting last night.
A joint statement by Pakatan Rakyat leaders would be made at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex before Anwar’s court appearance this morning.
PM Abdullah abdicating from good governance
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Anwar Ibrahim, Dr. Chen Man Hin on Thursday, 7 August 2008, 8:15 am
By Dr. Chen Man Hin
PM ABDULLAH SHOULD NOT ABDICATE FROM HIS DUTIES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE – REVOKE THE SODOMY II CONSPIRACY IMMEDIATELY AND INSTEAD LEAD THE COUNTRY TO UNITY, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY
MARCH 8TH – A DEFINING DAY FOR NEW MALAYSIA, A DAY OF GRIEF AND BLOW FOR BARISAN NASIONAL AND UMNO.
The latest Merdeka Center Research report found that only 28 percent of registered voters polled in July felt encouraged by the country’s direction, a severe fall from 68% in late February.
Briefly, the causes for this rapid loss of confidence in the present Barisan government, are outlined below.
UMNO SHOCK DEFEAT ON MARCH 8TH
The prime minister was deeply upset by the poor performance of Barisan Nasional at the elections, when Barisan lost its two-thirds majority in parliament and only obtained 52% of the popular vote.
It was a body blow for Umno, causing it to be embroiled in self recrimination and loss of morale.
The PM was so upset by the loss and the resulting turmoil in Umno that he forgot his duties as head of government, which was to govern and bring development for the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar’s Sodomy II charge – morality/legitimacy of Abdullah’s premiership under question
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday, 6 August 2008, 5:11 pm
I was not surprised when I received a call from Anwar Ibrahim at 11.38 am informing me that he had been asked to appear to be charged in court at 10 am tomorrow.
But the expectation did not diminish one whit the shock and dismay at hearing its confirmation.
For while like most Malaysians, who are not really surprised that Anwar is being dragged to court for the second time on a sodomy charge, we also nurse the hope and wish that sanity will prevail in our land and the country spared another traumatic political trial where Malaysia’s yet-to-be launched judicial reform to restore our international reputation two decades ago where there is just rule of law and a truly independent judiciary would not come to an abrupt end.
Just like Anwar’s Sodomy I trial, any Sodomy II trial is not going to be just about Anwar as the nation and our future will be on trial. Read the rest of this entry »
Call for RCI on MRR2 Scandal – Samy Vellu’s final folly with Malaysians again made the suckers
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, Parliament on Wednesday, 6 August 2008, 2:03 pm
In May last year, I said that the old saying “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action” could appropriately be modified to “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is systemic government collapse” in reference to the spate of government mishaps under the Abdullah premiership.
I was referring to the spate of embarrassing defects in new government offices in a matter of weeks, viz:
• the landslide in Putrajaya (Precinct 9) only inches away from three 15-storey government apartments, damaging 25 cars and evacuating more than 1,500 people from Blocks A, B and C in Phase 11 of the government housing complex on March 22, 2007;
• the closure of the Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya after water flooded the seven-floor building following a failure in plumbing, turning away and evacuating more than 1,000 people on April 11, 2007;
• the collapse of a ceiling due to a leaky sprinkler system at the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry in Putrajaya on April 28, 2007; and
• the ceiling collapse in a secretary’s room at the world’s largest court complex at the new Jalan Duta court complex in Kuala Lumpur on April 30, 2007.
This tag “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is systemic government collapse” can again be invoked over the latest government scandal – the third closure with the reappearance of cracks on the Middle Ring Road (MRR) 2 in Kepong, less than two years after an atrociously exorbitant RM70 million repair of the RM238 million project. Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar to be charged tomorrow
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday, 6 August 2008, 11:43 am
Bad news.
Anwar Ibrahim to be charged in court tomorrow.
A sad and black day for Malaysia.
FLASH 2
Permatang Pauh by-election
Nomination Day – August 16 (Saturday)
Polling Day – August 26 (Tuesday)
2-Year power transition – “headless government” in Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak, Parliament on Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 3:25 pm
A jumble of thoughts. A mish-mash of questions.
These describe my feelings when I sat in the cavernous plenary hall of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre for the official opening of the 54th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference this morning.
I made a special point to be punctual as the official invitation card asked all guests to arrive by 9.40 am, with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi scheduled to arrive at 9.50 am to officiate the opening ceremony.
But Abdullah did not turn up. It was Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who appeared instead.
Najib did apologise on behalf of the Prime Minister for being unable to attend the function but he did not explain what was the urgent business of state which had prevented Abdullah from fulfilling his long-standing engagement which would have been finalized well in advance with the Prime Minister’s Office.
One thought I could not push away at the KLCC this morning was whether we are witnessing a “headless” government in Malaysia – and whether this was the result of the two-year “power transition” plan announced by Abdullah on July 10 that he would hand over the offices of Umno President and Prime Minister to Najib in June 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Mr. Bean, Death, and Taxes
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Letters on Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 8:35 am
by G. Krishnan
I can’t help it, but on more than one occasion, it’s been difficult not to have the image of the Rowan Atkinson character, Mr. Bean, come to mind while watching, listening or reading some of the comments of Abdullah Badawi. The most recent instance of this seemed to be during his address to the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit. Apparently, he wasn’t even in tune with the title of his speech! Beyond that, the hollowness of his comments in response to the students’ questions seemed to reflect contempt for the intelligence of the students. (see Malaysiakini)
I will admit, it’s difficult for me to decide if the Badawi I am watching or listening to is the real Badawi or if he’s simply putting on an act. Either way, it’s a rather disturbing and unsettling thought. Could our prime minister really be serious about some of the public pronouncements he makes? And does he really expect that the public is so gullible as to take it all in?
He comments – with seeming naivety – on an on-going police ‘investigation’ of an alleged sodomy case and prejudices the case with bizarre public pronouncements. And despite the nakedly transparent political motivation for this pursuit of Anwar, the prime minister, with a Mr. Bean like persona of artlessness and innocence, in a not so tacit fashion gives his blessings to this seemingly legitimate police investigation. How, in the name of justice can we expect such an investigation, where the political establishment doesn’t even attempt to disguise its prejudice about the matter, to have any ounce of credibility to it? But yet the prime minster, in a Mr. Bean like haze and stupor, seemingly finds noting problematic about the process. Read the rest of this entry »
