EC must call for GE13 re-election

Which is more important and critical in a democratic nation, a General Election or a political party election? From what we observed in this nation, political party like Umno and its component BN parties have been postponing their party elections due to an impending GE13 hovering between last quarter of 2011 to 2013. This indicates that General Election is more important and critical that over rides any matters in a political party.

The overwhelming perception is that the laws of this nation can be manipulated, misrepresented and realigned to suit those in power. As they are only perceptions we will not take them as face value and assume that no one is above the law and those in power are acting accordingly and abide by the law.

"RoS acted on the complaints of several disgruntled members who claimed the December election was not properly conducted after the party announced that a tabulation glitch had resulted in the wrong candidate being elected to the CEC." reported by The Malaysian Insider

Accordingly, RoS must have investigated the matter and came to the conclusion that DAP must hold a re-election. Their conclusion is not transparent without providing what exactly DAP has done wrong to insist that they hold a re-election but just base on complaints from a handful of members and an unverified anonymous handbook.

We take it that RoS is a government agency with integrity and are following procedures according to the law of this country whereby party elections are deemed void when a handful of members make complaints to them without any real proof of wrong doings. We conclude that this kind of action by RoS is acceptable by the government and applies to all other agencies that deal with elections.

From this RoS/DAP episode, we must insist the Election Commission calls for GE13 re-election. The complaint of fraud, bribery, unfair playing field, bias MSM...etc from voters regarding GE13 are thousands of times bigger than the handful of party members complaining against DAP election. Coupled with that there are evidences provided, police reports being made and not to mention the just concluded 'Tribunal Rakyat' providing details that GE13 was not conducted in a clean and fair manner.

Since the General Election is more important and critical than political party election the Election Commission should follow RoS integrity and honesty of running an agency which acts decisively and call for GE13 re-election now.

Are you that naive to believe they do not know what you all are fighting for.

'Hunger Game' and 'The Colony' reflect how far human will go to kill each other in order to stay alive. The movies though made via 'creative license' are not far from reality the way we see some leaders are willing to go in order to stay in power. Let us not look far to the Middle East but at our own backyard.

We may yet to see bloodshed (thanks to rakyat tolerance) but for how long we do not know. Its up to the leaders how far they are willing to push the envelope.

Do you think that they do not know they are playing with fire?

Do you think that they do not know they are manipulating the people's mind?

Do you think that they do not know there are big time corruptions among them?

Do you think that they do not know they are playing the racial and religious cards?

Do you think that they do not know they are being unfair, suppressing the minorities?

Do you think that they do not know they are not concern over the human rights?

Do you think that they do not know our education system is in such a bad shape?

Do you think that they do not know they are protecting their own kind from prosecutions?

Do you think that they do not know they are practicing double standard in almost all matters?

Do you think that they do not know they have created imaginary controversies, lies, distortions via the MSM/NGOs?

Do you think that they do not know they are circumventing/manipulating the laws to their advantage?

Do you think that they do not know what the constitution stood for?

Do you think that they do not know they are using whatever ways/methods, legally/illegally to destroy the opposition?

Do you think that they do not know most of their elected MPs/head of government departments are half-past-six?

Do you think that they do not know exactly what the rakyat are crying about?

They know what you want and how the country's direction should be but why are they doing all the wrong things instead of the right ones? Many answers to this question but they should have a better answer than any of you.

Registrar of Societies should stop acting on the script of the Umno/BN “DDD” (Demolish/Destroy DAP) campaign but demonstrate that he is independent, impartial and professional including giving reasons why he wants DAP CEC re-elections

By Lim Kit Siang

Yesterday, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) Director-General Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman asked the DAP to stop its “battle” with the RoS in the media and to comply with procedures.

It is the RoS which is guilty of being part of a “media war” against the DAP in the past eight months, and I would call on Abdul Rahman to stop acting on the script of the Umno/BN “DDD” (Demolish/Destroy DAP) campaign and to demonstrate that he is independent, impartial and professional in carrying out his duties, including giving reasons why he wants DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) re-elections when the DAP CEC elections last December were proper, valid and conducted fully in accordance with the party Constitution.

In the Umno/BN DDD campaign in the first seven months of the year, three reasons had been floated to question the validity of the DAP CEC re-elections at the DAP Congress in Penang last December:

*Firstly, allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities arising from a computer glitch resulting in an error in the announcement of the CEC results, which had nothing to do with any error in vote counting or tabulation but a mistake in the computer posting of the results for purposes of announcement.

*Secondly, allegation that 753 delegates “mostly Indians” were not notified of the DAP Congress in Penang last December, resulting in their being unable to attend and therefore deprived of the right to vote in the CEC election.

*Thirdly, allegation that 547 “phantom delegates, mostly from Penang” were allowed to vote in the DAP CEC elections in Penang, resulting in fraudulent election results.

All these three reasons have been proven to be baseless. In fact, after the first two months, the first allegation about electoral fraud and irregularities arising from the “computer glitch” was virtually dropped, with the attacks on the DAP elections focussed on the second and third allegations about the “753 delegates” not notified about the Congress and the 547 “phantom delegates”.

In July, a mysterious booklet “The Equity Report (CEC Election Fraud)” in four languages, Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil, appeared with great fanfare being quoted liberally in the Umno/BN controlled media, as well as distributed nationally throughout the country including Sarawak, although it was written by an entirely fictitious character, a phantom “Father Augustus Chen” and was an illegal publication, as it neither carried the name of the printer or publisher as required by Malaysian law.

I had challenged this “Father Augustus Chen” to surface publicly but of course he did not appear, as he is a pure phantom who had packed some 100 lies and falsehoods against the DAP in its 12-page booklet. Never before in the nation’s history has a fictitious and unlawful publication been given such “royal treatment”, quoted in the official and Umno/BN media whether print, radio or television as if it is equivalent to official pronoucements emanating from the Prime Minister’s Department or Cabinet sources.

What is noteworthy is that this scurrillous and defamatory booklet by the phantom “Father Augustus Chen” was the final chapter of the Umno/BN “DDD” campaign to justify the UMNO/BN government (as publicly stated by Cabinet Ministers, including the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak) and RoS to demand DAP CEC re-elections, particularly over the baseless allegations about “753 delegates mostly Indians” not being notified of the Party Congress and the “547 phantom delegates, mostly from Penang” participating in the DAP CEC elections.

In the early phase of the UMNO/BN “Demolish/Destroy DAP” campaign, the RoS Director-General was fairly independent, impartial and professional, as evidenced from Abdul Rahman’s statement in January that DAP CEC re-elections “would only occur if there was concrete evidence there were discrepancies in the CEC election process”.

It is obvious that right from the beginning of the DDD campaign, there were intense pressures on the RoS to compromise its independence, impartiality and professionalism and to comply with the script of the DDD campaign to use the DAP CEC elections last December to undermine, destabilise and destroy the DAP as well as Pakatan Rakyat.

This was why the then Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein could announce on February 16, 2013 that an official probe would be launched by the RoS on the CEC elections held in Penang last December as the party had failed to submit its report within the stipulated 60 days, when in fact, DAP submitted its election reports on February 8.

But in the ensuing months, it was clear that the RoS had to act according to the script of the Umno/BN Demolish/Destroy DAP campaign, culminating in the RoS directive on DAP CEC re-elections, although the RoS Director-General was unable to comply with his own standards publicly stated in January that there must be “concrete evidence” about discrepancies in the CEC election process before there could be directive for CEC re-elections.

The Umno/BN Demolish/Destroy DAP campaign has a new agenda after the disastrous BN performance in the 13th General Elections, which is to eliminate the DAP from the political arena by all means, whether fair or foul, and by extension the Pakatan Rakyat.

Nobody is surprised by this Umno/BN agenda, but the RoS should not get involved in this nefarious Umno/BN agenda but must act as an independent, impartial and professional agency overseeing registered societies and political parties.

It is not too late for the RoS Director-General to discharge his duties lawfully and professionally, and the first step he should do is to give the reasons why he is not satisfied with the DAP CEC elections last December and wants DAP CEC re-elections.

I am also prepared to meet with Datuk Abdul Rahman to substantiate my allegation that the RoS had been acting on the script on the Umno/BN DDD campaign after the initial manifestation of independence, impartiality and professionalism of the RoS in the first weeks of the year.

Travesty of truth and distortion of history for Nazri to claim that Tanda Putera is well-researched movie and May 13, 1969 riots was caused by Chinese

By Lim Kit Siang

It is a travesty of the truth and distortion of history for the Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to claim that Tanda Putera is a well-researched movie and that the May 13, 1969 racial riots was caused by the Chinese.

No well-researched and historically-faithful movie would have succumbed to flights of wild imagination as to create the fictitious urination scene by Chinese youths at the flag-pole of the well-guarded Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence as one of causes provoking the May 13 racial riots – reckless of the racial misunderstanding, hatred and conflict that could be generated today after 44 years by this totally fictitious episode and downright lie.

Similarly, no well-researched and historically-faithful movie would have concocted a total lie, noted by Free Malaysia Today journalist K. Pragalath in his film review “Tanda Putera falls flat”, where he observed:

“Tanda Putera opens with a dramatic scene of an incident where DAP campaign workers kill an Umno campaign helper two weeks prior to the general election then.”

This is not history but pure fiction – nay, it is unadulterated evil, wicked falsehood and a treacherous and treasonous tale, for there was simply no such incident in 1969 where “DAP campaign workers kill an Umno campaign helper two weeks prior to the general election then”.

Nazri has done Malaysian nation-building a great disservice in making the baseless claim that the the May 13 riots was sparked by the Chinese, just as it would be most slanderous and most irresponsible for anyone to blame the May 13 riots on the Malays.

The May 13 riots was not caused by the Chinese or Malays but by irresponsible individuals who plunged the country into the most tragic and darkest period in the nation’s history.

Who are the culprits of the May 13, 1969 riots? This is subject of conflicting accounts.

This is why in my first speech in Parliament 42 years ago on February 23, 1971, I called for a Commission of Inquiry into the May 13, 1969 racial riots to find out their causes, assess the racial polarization in the country and to make recommendations to prevent a recurrence of the May 13, 1969 racial riots and arrest the racial polarization in the country.

My proposal for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the May 13 riots is still relevant and valid today, not so much to apportion blame or to punish the culprits as 44 years had elapsed since the occurrence of the national tragedy in 1969, but to ascertain the true causes and developments to present the historical truth to present and future generations and to heal the country’s worst racial wounds and to remove the spectre of May 13 from Malaysian history.

This would be be more worthwhile and constructive than spending public funds to allow a movie director the “creative licence” to concoct fictitious events about the May 13, 1969 riots, which could only worsen racial relations and polarisation in the country.

Born to an Umno family, but now a DAP rising star

Ahmad Fadli KC & Lee Way Loon | Malaysiakini

INTERVIEW For many years, the Aidilfitri festive period saw Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud visiting open house functions as a custom. But this year, things are a little different.

Now her visits have an official air to it, as she is a representative of Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang.

Dyana, a UiTM law graduate who hails from Ipoh, is serving full time as Lim’s political secretary since the general election in May.

She first came to prominence in early 2012, when Lim held a press conference to announce her entry into DAP.

Interestingly, one of the her reasons for joining DAP was her experience in UiTM, the sole university in the country which is exclusive to bumiputera.

“While I managed to get into UiTM, some of my (non-bumiputera) friends who had similar results were not accepted into public universities. They couldn’t get any scholarship.

“So I think that’s not fair. What would happen to my friends? Do they have to spend a lot of money to get into the private university?” she said during an interview last month.

UiTM for non-Malays

Looking back at her experience in UiTM, Dyana opined that a public higher education similar to UiTM should be established for non-Malays.

She was disappointed that some of her non-Malay friends, regardless of whether they had good results, were denied the opportunity to further their studies at public higher education institutes.

“The non-Malays should have equal opportunity as Malays. A higher education institute that accepts the enrollment of non-Malays but at the same time only charges the same amount as UiTM is necessary.”

She believes that the time is ripe for the education system in Malaysia to go beyond racial lines and instead be based on needs.

Even though she is now active in DAP, Dyana was born into a family that was very active in Umno.

“My mother is still a Umno member until today. She is also the first division secretary for the party women’s wing in Malaysia. In fact, my uncles are also involved in Umno politics.

“They would discuss politics when the family meets. I heard their stories and grew up with them,” she further said.

Dyana said that her mother was understanding and blessed her choice to become a DAP member instead.

“She said that if we believe in something, we should go ahead and do it, that sometimes it is good for us to swim against the tide in order to make a statement,” said the young lawyer who has her own law firm in Cyberjaya.

Conversation with Zairil

But what strengthened her resolve was a conversation with Zairil Khir Johari, the political secretary to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and now the Bukit Bendera MP.

“It was a multiracial meet up with about ten people that included Zairil (left) and (The Rocket’s editor-in-chief) Wan Hamidi (Hamid). I asked him why should I join DAP?

“He told me what the party fighting for. And I can see that he is very comfortable with DAP,” she recalled.

After joining DAP for more than a year, Dyana said she was indeed comfortable in the party although most of its members are Chinese.

“I felt I was welcome everywhere. When I want to perform my prayers, I can just go to the surau. It’s like me going back to the primary school days.

“I just believe in what Zairil said. Sometimes they speak a language that I don’t understand, but I just tried to understand it,” she said, with smile.

Like Dyana, Zairil too was born into a family that had active Umno members.

‘Traitor’ label

Despite facing some harsh criticisms from her members of her own race, the young girl’s spirit always remains high.

“I don’t feel hurt by the ‘penghianat’ (traitor) label,” she said, adding that she always sees herself as a Malaysian.

Dyana is also faced by challenge of handling the stigma that some Malays in Johor still have about DAP, which has been portrayed time and again as being an anti-Malay party by the ruling government.

She and two colleagues from the Gelang Patah parliamentary office were once chased away from a village in June even though they were there to gather details about the problems faced by the residents there, on behalf of Lim.

“After winning (the constituency), we received a call from some residents at the village who wanted to complain about the status of the land where they were residing.

“But when we reached there the village chief came to meet us and pulled my hand and asked me to go back. He pointed right at my face and said, ‘we have our menteri besar and we don’t need you’,” she said.

However, Dyana said she will keep going to these Malay villages “because they need me.”

“I will feel guilty of I don’t go and meet them. Their willingness to call us there in the first place is already good progress. Little by little, they will surely come forward to hold discussions with us,” she added.

The interview was conducted by Lee Way Loon, Ahmad Fadli KC and Mohd Azudin Shah Mohd Hidzir.