Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Ubah- Lagu Tema Kempen DAP Pilihanraya ke-13
ITS TIME FOR CHANGE
The time has come to make the CHANGE. GE 13 is the time. Please help to spread the message of CHANGE and distribute this video far and wide.
Time to separate govt and political party
By Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | FMT
A political party does not own the government. A political party may legislate but the implementation is carried out by civil servants who are beholden to the constitutional ruler.
We should be able to separate government and political party.
Development is not something unique to Umno. Every party that has power can carry out development.
As such, Umno can’t go around claiming only they can bring on development. The governments in Penang, Kelantan, Selangor, and Kedah also carry out development, indeed the development there has been achieved on more meritorious grounds.
These states have better reserves, operated and achieved surplus budgets and have been able to avoid wasteful spending. Those are sterling qualities of good governments.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak recently lectured the people not to repeat their mistake.
What mistake is he talking about? Is he alluding that the people’s decision in the historic elections in 2008 was a mistake?
The only mistake which people are now realising is that Umno and Barisan Nasional have fleeced the country. This is a government that subsidises its falsehoods on mounting debt.
The public debt in relation to our GDP is almost reaching the breaking point.
Yet the country’s incompetent and ignorant leaders are proclaiming it’s all right. And we have not even counted the value of guarantees given by this government to incompetent government-linked companies (GLCs) which, if they default, places all the questionable loans given to questionable people with questionable business proposals, on the shoulders of the people.
Umno has lost legitimacy
Don’t forget RM1.3 trillion of ill-gotten money has been spirited out of the country over a period of 10 years. A small percentage, RM130 billion, of which could have been injected into the national budget to finance development.
Also, we have the RM20 billion a year lost on leakages – an euphemism for corruption. Let us kick out the deceivers.
The fact is Umno has lost its legitimacy. It has forfeited all the powers it inherited since 1957 to accomplish what it set out to do, which was to uplift the Malays.
Why? Because it started on the wrong premise and that premise wasn’t adapted and evolved into the engine to uplift Malays first and then country.
This now, is the overriding fear of Umno because it can no longer defend its legitimacy and therefore its reason to continue to be in power.
The only reason why Umno is coming to its inglorious end is because its myths are no longer sustainable.
Umno has survived on several myths spun and drilled into the Malay subconscious over generations.
It has survived on the myth that Malays and Umno are inextricably linked. The myths we mean include: the fate of Malays rests on the fate of Umno; the fate of Malay rulers is linked to the fate of Umno; and the fate of Islam depends on the fate of Umno.
This is Umno’s trinity of falsehoods which formed the foundation of Umno’s legitimacy with the Malays.
A party that survives on myths and falsehoods and not sustained by principles, can never endure. And so it is that Umno has reached its end.
We can neither hasten nor postpone its demise.
The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman but joined DAP earlier this year. He is a FMT columnist.
A political party does not own the government. A political party may legislate but the implementation is carried out by civil servants who are beholden to the constitutional ruler.
We should be able to separate government and political party.
Development is not something unique to Umno. Every party that has power can carry out development.
As such, Umno can’t go around claiming only they can bring on development. The governments in Penang, Kelantan, Selangor, and Kedah also carry out development, indeed the development there has been achieved on more meritorious grounds.
These states have better reserves, operated and achieved surplus budgets and have been able to avoid wasteful spending. Those are sterling qualities of good governments.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak recently lectured the people not to repeat their mistake.
What mistake is he talking about? Is he alluding that the people’s decision in the historic elections in 2008 was a mistake?
The only mistake which people are now realising is that Umno and Barisan Nasional have fleeced the country. This is a government that subsidises its falsehoods on mounting debt.
The public debt in relation to our GDP is almost reaching the breaking point.
Yet the country’s incompetent and ignorant leaders are proclaiming it’s all right. And we have not even counted the value of guarantees given by this government to incompetent government-linked companies (GLCs) which, if they default, places all the questionable loans given to questionable people with questionable business proposals, on the shoulders of the people.
Umno has lost legitimacy
Don’t forget RM1.3 trillion of ill-gotten money has been spirited out of the country over a period of 10 years. A small percentage, RM130 billion, of which could have been injected into the national budget to finance development.
Also, we have the RM20 billion a year lost on leakages – an euphemism for corruption. Let us kick out the deceivers.
The fact is Umno has lost its legitimacy. It has forfeited all the powers it inherited since 1957 to accomplish what it set out to do, which was to uplift the Malays.
Why? Because it started on the wrong premise and that premise wasn’t adapted and evolved into the engine to uplift Malays first and then country.
This now, is the overriding fear of Umno because it can no longer defend its legitimacy and therefore its reason to continue to be in power.
The only reason why Umno is coming to its inglorious end is because its myths are no longer sustainable.
Umno has survived on several myths spun and drilled into the Malay subconscious over generations.
It has survived on the myth that Malays and Umno are inextricably linked. The myths we mean include: the fate of Malays rests on the fate of Umno; the fate of Malay rulers is linked to the fate of Umno; and the fate of Islam depends on the fate of Umno.
This is Umno’s trinity of falsehoods which formed the foundation of Umno’s legitimacy with the Malays.
A party that survives on myths and falsehoods and not sustained by principles, can never endure. And so it is that Umno has reached its end.
We can neither hasten nor postpone its demise.
The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman but joined DAP earlier this year. He is a FMT columnist.
New acronym for Najib’s alphabet soup - NTR
By Selena Tay | FMT
Before last year’s Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011, there was a tussle of words between the Bersih organisers and the government over the issue of the venue to be used. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had then said that the Bersih participants could use the stadium and so the Bersih organisers requested for the use of Stadium Merdeka.
But lo and behold! Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein then announced that Stadium Merdeka was off-limits. After the Bersih rally wherein more than 1,600 participants were arrested, Najib came out to announce that what he meant was the stadium in Shah Alam.
What sort of excuse is that? Absolute flip-flop. Not content with that, he also had a show of force at the Umno headquarters in the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) claiming that he could easily marshal millions to take over Kuala Lumpur. Such a PM. Believe it or not! Does it show his strength of character or a sign of weakness?
Now the same thing is happening with Bersih 3.0. The home minister has said that the event is okay but the venue of Dataran Merdeka cannot be used. Again the double-talk to confuse and unsettle the Bersih organisers and participants.
Will the BN government stop this nonsense once and for all? If the event is to be disallowed, please say so clearly and plainly. Otherwise, there should be no hindrances from the relevant authorities. As Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual adviser of PAS, has said, “1 say 1, 2 say 2, not 1 say 11 or 3, speak plainly and clearly”.
Another prime example of the government’s double-talk is the Jalan Sultan issue. In March this year, Najib had said that the government will not be acquiring those properties that were supposed to make way for the MRT line.
Instead, the buildings will be preserved as heritage buildings and the foundations and structures will be reinforced. Well and good. This settles the issue once and for all.
But once again the joke is on the rakyat or, in this case, the property owners for just before mid-April, they received a letter dated March 31, 2012 from the Land Office instructing them to vacate their premises by April 30 as their property will be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act.
And that is the reason why PAS Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad labelled Najib as a spineless flip-flopper.
The property owners then had a press conference on April 13 to tell everyone what Najib had said. On the wall behind where the property owners were seated were the words “Walk The Talk” written on a yellow manila card and in Bahasa Malaysia “Janji mesti dikotakan” written on a green manila card. The government must take note of the words and the colours of the manila cards.
Even the Parliamentary Select Committee for electoral reform is an eyewash.
And the same goes for the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). The Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 which was bulldozed through Parliament last year and the new Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill 2012 to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA) is not all as it seems.
Only the gullible will continue to be duped by the government whose leaders are all smooth and slippery characters speaking with forked tongues.
‘Not true really’
And what is the meaning of Umno leaders constantly telling the rural Malays that “if Pakatan Rakyat comes into power, the Malays will be under threat?”
This shows that Najib is full of double-talk and practises double-standard and his lackeys, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP and the rest are merely cowardly yes-men. It is obvious 1Malaysia is just a gimmick to woo the non-Malay voters.
In this year’s Parliament session when PAS MP Mahfuz Omar questioned the prime minister on what happened to those in the Premier division who had signed the agreement with the government in the now-defunct Civil Servants New Remuneration Scheme, Najib mocked PAS for fighting only for high-level civil servants by saying that BN fights for everyone.
This is Najib’s impudent and arrogant style of evading the question. In recent days the government’s high-handedness and bullying ways have come to the fore.
A case in point happened in Pahang when a man asked Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob about the certificate of fitness in a meet-the-people session. This man was told off by the menteri besar who replied, “Pay first then talk and tell Anwar Ibrahim to give you a house as you are a PKR supporter.”
Why should we the rakyat continue to vote for a government which continues to bully and insult us?
We must stand up for our rights and dignity as citizens. Right now, the government is trampling on our rights and robbing us of our dignity.
Not only that, it is also eroding or selling out our rights to foreign workers and illegals by giving them instant citizenship so that they can vote and drown our voice and choice.
The government is only concerned with lining its heir own pockets and the pockets of their cronies.
One has to take note that although the Cheras-Kajang toll has been halved, the concession period has been extended for another 15 years. Najib has not told us the whole story and this means that our future generation will still continue to pay the toll.
This columnist has one new acronym to add to Najib’s alphabet soup. It is NTR and it stands for Not True Really. The prime minister would do well to take note of this new acronym.
Before last year’s Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011, there was a tussle of words between the Bersih organisers and the government over the issue of the venue to be used. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had then said that the Bersih participants could use the stadium and so the Bersih organisers requested for the use of Stadium Merdeka.
But lo and behold! Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein then announced that Stadium Merdeka was off-limits. After the Bersih rally wherein more than 1,600 participants were arrested, Najib came out to announce that what he meant was the stadium in Shah Alam.
What sort of excuse is that? Absolute flip-flop. Not content with that, he also had a show of force at the Umno headquarters in the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) claiming that he could easily marshal millions to take over Kuala Lumpur. Such a PM. Believe it or not! Does it show his strength of character or a sign of weakness?
Now the same thing is happening with Bersih 3.0. The home minister has said that the event is okay but the venue of Dataran Merdeka cannot be used. Again the double-talk to confuse and unsettle the Bersih organisers and participants.
Will the BN government stop this nonsense once and for all? If the event is to be disallowed, please say so clearly and plainly. Otherwise, there should be no hindrances from the relevant authorities. As Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual adviser of PAS, has said, “1 say 1, 2 say 2, not 1 say 11 or 3, speak plainly and clearly”.
Another prime example of the government’s double-talk is the Jalan Sultan issue. In March this year, Najib had said that the government will not be acquiring those properties that were supposed to make way for the MRT line.
Instead, the buildings will be preserved as heritage buildings and the foundations and structures will be reinforced. Well and good. This settles the issue once and for all.
But once again the joke is on the rakyat or, in this case, the property owners for just before mid-April, they received a letter dated March 31, 2012 from the Land Office instructing them to vacate their premises by April 30 as their property will be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act.
And that is the reason why PAS Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad labelled Najib as a spineless flip-flopper.
The property owners then had a press conference on April 13 to tell everyone what Najib had said. On the wall behind where the property owners were seated were the words “Walk The Talk” written on a yellow manila card and in Bahasa Malaysia “Janji mesti dikotakan” written on a green manila card. The government must take note of the words and the colours of the manila cards.
Even the Parliamentary Select Committee for electoral reform is an eyewash.
And the same goes for the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). The Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 which was bulldozed through Parliament last year and the new Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill 2012 to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA) is not all as it seems.
Only the gullible will continue to be duped by the government whose leaders are all smooth and slippery characters speaking with forked tongues.
‘Not true really’
And what is the meaning of Umno leaders constantly telling the rural Malays that “if Pakatan Rakyat comes into power, the Malays will be under threat?”
This shows that Najib is full of double-talk and practises double-standard and his lackeys, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP and the rest are merely cowardly yes-men. It is obvious 1Malaysia is just a gimmick to woo the non-Malay voters.
In this year’s Parliament session when PAS MP Mahfuz Omar questioned the prime minister on what happened to those in the Premier division who had signed the agreement with the government in the now-defunct Civil Servants New Remuneration Scheme, Najib mocked PAS for fighting only for high-level civil servants by saying that BN fights for everyone.
This is Najib’s impudent and arrogant style of evading the question. In recent days the government’s high-handedness and bullying ways have come to the fore.
A case in point happened in Pahang when a man asked Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob about the certificate of fitness in a meet-the-people session. This man was told off by the menteri besar who replied, “Pay first then talk and tell Anwar Ibrahim to give you a house as you are a PKR supporter.”
Why should we the rakyat continue to vote for a government which continues to bully and insult us?
We must stand up for our rights and dignity as citizens. Right now, the government is trampling on our rights and robbing us of our dignity.
Not only that, it is also eroding or selling out our rights to foreign workers and illegals by giving them instant citizenship so that they can vote and drown our voice and choice.
The government is only concerned with lining its heir own pockets and the pockets of their cronies.
One has to take note that although the Cheras-Kajang toll has been halved, the concession period has been extended for another 15 years. Najib has not told us the whole story and this means that our future generation will still continue to pay the toll.
This columnist has one new acronym to add to Najib’s alphabet soup. It is NTR and it stands for Not True Really. The prime minister would do well to take note of this new acronym.
Friday, April 6, 2012
My Lynas concerns
By KJ John | Malaysiakini
My questions and concerns about the Lynas project to both the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is: Why is the development of this particular rare earths plant of such a strategic interest to Malaysia, in the light of the failed Bukit Merah project?
What kind of real or new high-skilled employment is actually generated by the project that it qualifies for a pioneer status of 12 years?
What really is the value add for Malaysian strategic interests, other than the obvious rent-seeking behaviour of local partners; cronies, or otherwise? Does a deputy minister’s brother really have a stake in this project? Why are the Australian owners dumping their rejected project and residuals into Malaysia?
No one really questions the demand or marketability of the final outputs; but, the most serious questions remains the waste generated; and my question is, why in Malaysia, and why in Kuantan?
When with Miti, I was in charge of industrial policy, and we developed and launched the Second Industrial Master Plan or what was labelled as the IMP2. The underlying theme of both the first and second IMPs was the growth and acceleration of the manufacturing industry through value adding clusters of industries within Malaysia.
Under the IMP1 it was low value added of labour and land, with a focus on capital investments (and technology) in the 12 subsectors of the selected industries. IMP2 consequently argued for raising the value added, “by moving up the value-chain” either on the research end of the continuum or at the marketing and distribution end. The primary focus of the manufacturing sector remained the traditional industrial and manufacturing industries.
The IMP3 is the latest strategic 15-year plan for the manufacturing sector from 2006 to 2020. It focuses on the development and growth of both the manufacturing and services sector industries in Malaysia.
The services sector is anticipated to overtake the manufacturing sector in terms of value added. Therefore and consistent with this strategic intent, the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority has even been renamed the Malaysia Investment Development Authority.
But surely this does not mean we close our eyes and take in any kind of non-quality investment, especially investments that give little or poor value added to our existing industrial clusters. Surely we do not want industries that come in still for cheap labour and land.
Therefore my many questions about the Lynas plant remain and I believe that this may become another “failed coup” between government-to-government relations between Australia and Malaysia. The refugee exchange plan was shot down under international law and requisite conditionalities.
Fear factor heightened by Fukushima
What is the real value add for the community in Kuantan; other than the insertion of fear of the possibility of some kind of potential nuclear disaster in the future? The fear factor has been further heightened by the Fukushima nuclear plants disaster caused almost entirely by a totally unanticipated tsunami factor.
Even the meticulous Japanese did not fully anticipate the recent extent of the nuclear disaster. So, why do we think we are better?
Have we really learned anything from the Look East Policy? Who then are the real and ultimate stakeholders of this risky venture, if not the local community? It is not our petrochemical cluster of industries? Neither is it our electrical and electronics (E&E) cluster and related industries? Where then in the IMP3 is the strategic nature of the Lynas-type rare earths a preferred and promoted investment? I searched and could not find it.
What is really so unique about Kuantan as a location for the plant, other than her history as a gold-mining wasteland to maybe justify the plant to be located there. But why then is the plant not located in continental Australia instead where they have plenty of wasteland?
Probably the most important but not well understood and unanswered question relates to the toxicity of the waste. How much real waste is actually generated and how poor is the quality of the particular kind of waste? Where and how is all this waste going to be stored; both temporarily and for the longer term? Why is this waste issue only being seriously addressed now; if an EIA was done?
As Derek Fernandez argued in the Malay Mail, why was the local authority not fully informed about the potential dangers of the waste matter? Why was the respective community-level stakeholders never consulted in the first place as part and parcel of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report? Was not the most critical constraint the potentially toxicity of the waste?
Furthermore, given our recorded history of the 1985 Bukit Merah case and the subsequent complete abandonment of that project; why is this sudden interest to supply rare earth processed products from Australia vide Malaysia and ultimately to Japan (I understand) of such interest to Malaysians? The Comsumers Association of Penang (CAP) has already published an entire book on the Bukit Merah Asian Rare Earth project; so, why is there a reversal of views?
We all must have heard by now about the strategic control that China has for the development, control and distribution of this rare-earths capability. Now they control 95 percent of the world market. In that context, what is Malaysia’s strategic role and intent for making a home for this plant in Malaysia? Is there such a strategic intent? If so, what is it?
Private investment interest makes it strategic?
To me, if this was a Khazanah-owned plant for the strategic supply of the requisite rare-earth minerals for the defence of our nation, I could still understand. But, all I hear is that, factual or otherwise, is that one of the children of Mahathir Mohamad has a crony stake in this plant. Does that private investment interest make it strategic enough a project for Malaysia?
The people of Kuantan (especially the children and grandchildren) have to sacrifice their certainties and quality of their life for the sake of some private crony interests of some capitalists? Is it truly so worthwhile for Malaysia and especially for Kuantan?
While I understand and appreciate the challenge of balancing between development interests with the protection, preservation and safety of private investment interests, there is no excuse whatsoever for compromising the different stakeholders’ interests and concerns before the construction of the plant.
What appears rather unfortunate is why the safety, security, and sustainability issues have been put on the back burner until now, when it is too late and the people have raised their serious objections and concerns.
The project could have been dealt with professionally and the communication managed better but it is too late now, because the real costs of unlearning, learning and relearning is too high, and while this need not become a political project; it has become one almost by poor design and incompetent execution.
Right now, the Green movement in Malaysia has been jumpstarted in Kuantan and they have been joined by the victims of the Bukit Merah accident and incident. Tomorrow this will also become an issue of “the lack of free and fair governance!” When the Green movement joins the Yellow movement under the reign of the hijau-kuning regime, we may be asking for some real trouble in Malaysia.
May God bless Malaysians to make both Bersih and Lynas national issues for this general election and help us be rational with our votes.
KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views.
My questions and concerns about the Lynas project to both the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is: Why is the development of this particular rare earths plant of such a strategic interest to Malaysia, in the light of the failed Bukit Merah project?
What kind of real or new high-skilled employment is actually generated by the project that it qualifies for a pioneer status of 12 years?
What really is the value add for Malaysian strategic interests, other than the obvious rent-seeking behaviour of local partners; cronies, or otherwise? Does a deputy minister’s brother really have a stake in this project? Why are the Australian owners dumping their rejected project and residuals into Malaysia?
No one really questions the demand or marketability of the final outputs; but, the most serious questions remains the waste generated; and my question is, why in Malaysia, and why in Kuantan?
When with Miti, I was in charge of industrial policy, and we developed and launched the Second Industrial Master Plan or what was labelled as the IMP2. The underlying theme of both the first and second IMPs was the growth and acceleration of the manufacturing industry through value adding clusters of industries within Malaysia.
Under the IMP1 it was low value added of labour and land, with a focus on capital investments (and technology) in the 12 subsectors of the selected industries. IMP2 consequently argued for raising the value added, “by moving up the value-chain” either on the research end of the continuum or at the marketing and distribution end. The primary focus of the manufacturing sector remained the traditional industrial and manufacturing industries.
The IMP3 is the latest strategic 15-year plan for the manufacturing sector from 2006 to 2020. It focuses on the development and growth of both the manufacturing and services sector industries in Malaysia.
The services sector is anticipated to overtake the manufacturing sector in terms of value added. Therefore and consistent with this strategic intent, the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority has even been renamed the Malaysia Investment Development Authority.
But surely this does not mean we close our eyes and take in any kind of non-quality investment, especially investments that give little or poor value added to our existing industrial clusters. Surely we do not want industries that come in still for cheap labour and land.
Therefore my many questions about the Lynas plant remain and I believe that this may become another “failed coup” between government-to-government relations between Australia and Malaysia. The refugee exchange plan was shot down under international law and requisite conditionalities.
Fear factor heightened by Fukushima
What is the real value add for the community in Kuantan; other than the insertion of fear of the possibility of some kind of potential nuclear disaster in the future? The fear factor has been further heightened by the Fukushima nuclear plants disaster caused almost entirely by a totally unanticipated tsunami factor.
Even the meticulous Japanese did not fully anticipate the recent extent of the nuclear disaster. So, why do we think we are better?
Have we really learned anything from the Look East Policy? Who then are the real and ultimate stakeholders of this risky venture, if not the local community? It is not our petrochemical cluster of industries? Neither is it our electrical and electronics (E&E) cluster and related industries? Where then in the IMP3 is the strategic nature of the Lynas-type rare earths a preferred and promoted investment? I searched and could not find it.
What is really so unique about Kuantan as a location for the plant, other than her history as a gold-mining wasteland to maybe justify the plant to be located there. But why then is the plant not located in continental Australia instead where they have plenty of wasteland?
Probably the most important but not well understood and unanswered question relates to the toxicity of the waste. How much real waste is actually generated and how poor is the quality of the particular kind of waste? Where and how is all this waste going to be stored; both temporarily and for the longer term? Why is this waste issue only being seriously addressed now; if an EIA was done?
As Derek Fernandez argued in the Malay Mail, why was the local authority not fully informed about the potential dangers of the waste matter? Why was the respective community-level stakeholders never consulted in the first place as part and parcel of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report? Was not the most critical constraint the potentially toxicity of the waste?
Furthermore, given our recorded history of the 1985 Bukit Merah case and the subsequent complete abandonment of that project; why is this sudden interest to supply rare earth processed products from Australia vide Malaysia and ultimately to Japan (I understand) of such interest to Malaysians? The Comsumers Association of Penang (CAP) has already published an entire book on the Bukit Merah Asian Rare Earth project; so, why is there a reversal of views?
We all must have heard by now about the strategic control that China has for the development, control and distribution of this rare-earths capability. Now they control 95 percent of the world market. In that context, what is Malaysia’s strategic role and intent for making a home for this plant in Malaysia? Is there such a strategic intent? If so, what is it?
Private investment interest makes it strategic?
To me, if this was a Khazanah-owned plant for the strategic supply of the requisite rare-earth minerals for the defence of our nation, I could still understand. But, all I hear is that, factual or otherwise, is that one of the children of Mahathir Mohamad has a crony stake in this plant. Does that private investment interest make it strategic enough a project for Malaysia?
The people of Kuantan (especially the children and grandchildren) have to sacrifice their certainties and quality of their life for the sake of some private crony interests of some capitalists? Is it truly so worthwhile for Malaysia and especially for Kuantan?
While I understand and appreciate the challenge of balancing between development interests with the protection, preservation and safety of private investment interests, there is no excuse whatsoever for compromising the different stakeholders’ interests and concerns before the construction of the plant.
What appears rather unfortunate is why the safety, security, and sustainability issues have been put on the back burner until now, when it is too late and the people have raised their serious objections and concerns.
The project could have been dealt with professionally and the communication managed better but it is too late now, because the real costs of unlearning, learning and relearning is too high, and while this need not become a political project; it has become one almost by poor design and incompetent execution.
Right now, the Green movement in Malaysia has been jumpstarted in Kuantan and they have been joined by the victims of the Bukit Merah accident and incident. Tomorrow this will also become an issue of “the lack of free and fair governance!” When the Green movement joins the Yellow movement under the reign of the hijau-kuning regime, we may be asking for some real trouble in Malaysia.
May God bless Malaysians to make both Bersih and Lynas national issues for this general election and help us be rational with our votes.
KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views.
Why the Need for Bersih 3.0?
By Kee Thuan Chye
THE call to rally has been made. There’s going to be a Bersih 3.0. Those who have been waiting for it are ecstatic.
April 28 is the day, and this time the anti-Lynas group, Himpunan Hijau, will be joining in. It looks like this is going to be more than just about electoral reform. It seems to have gone beyond that. It looks like those who are going to turn up for the rally will be declaring their stand against the Government and its administration of the country.
It’s beginning to seem like a rally to say “no” to Barisan Nasional (BN).
Hardcore anti-BN elements will be there. Those who have been declaring “ABU” (Anything But Umno) will be there. The Opposition will be there. As an ardent supporter of Bersih, I will be there.
But Bersih has mentioned an expected turnout of 500,000, and I wish it hadn’t. That’s a virtually impossible number. Even 100,000 would seem difficult to achieve, although it is planned that the rally will take place simultaneously in cities other than Kuala Lumpur.
The number of people that eventually show up will be crucial. If it is big enough, it will send a clear signal to the Government that the rakyat is not happy with its administration. It may even decide if elections should be called yet.
But if the number falls far short of expectations, it could indicate that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s recent strategy of ‘bribing’ the electorate with cash handouts has indeed worked, and he can call for elections as early as possible. He will probably laugh all the way to the polling booths.
Bersih 3.0 could indeed be a litmus test of voter sentiment.
So, will people turn up? Will the fervour be as strong as it was for Bersih 2.0, which was partly charged by the heavy-handed measures taken by the authorities to scuttle it?
This time, it is unlikely that the authorities will react the same way. They would have learned their lesson after the severe backlash they received over the Bersih 2.0 rally of July 9 last year.
However, this doesn’t mean they may not employ certain measures to discourage people from attending Bersih 3.0. Already, de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz has said that Dataran Merdeka, which Bersih has chosen as its protest venue, is not a lawful assembly point.
It’s not likely, though, that this will be of great concern, although it may create a bit of tension because the rally organisers would then have to be called to meet the police to thrash out certain conditions, as has happened in the last few big gatherings since the passing of the Peaceful Assembly Act.
Of greater concern – particularly to me – is whether the middle ground, who form a major part of the rakyat and who are not as gung-ho as the hardcore about going to rallies, will be charged up enough by the new demands of Bersih to take to the streets.
The three new demands are for the resignation of the current Election Commission members; the clean-up of the electoral rolls; and the invitation of international observers to monitor the general election.
To me, the most compelling is the one calling for the electoral rolls to be thoroughly purged of irregularities. The parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform has recommended that another such committee be set up to oversee the clean-up, but Bersih has called for an independent audit. That certainly makes good sense.
I think Bersih must focus on this as its rallying cry. This will serve well its ultimate purpose for protesting on April 28 – that of ensuring that there will be no fraudery committed by any quarters at the upcoming 13th general election. This must be its theme writ large. If it is persuasive enough to move the middle ground, the latter may come out to march.
Already, the battle to win over the middle ground has started in the mainstream media, which is making the Government look good by providing a rosy picture of the PSC’s 22 recommendations for electoral reform. The Star was quick to shout out on its front page of April 4: ‘Hooray for voters’.
People who access only the mainstream media – and many of these comprise the middle ground – may have been moved to wonder why Bersih is still kicking up a fuss. Consequently, some of them may conclude that Bersih is only trying to cari pasal (find fault).
Bersih must therefore impress on all and sundry that while many of these recommendations are positive, the PSC must clearly specify that some can and have to be implemented before the 13th general election. And unless this happens, it will not be a clean and fair general election.
Bersih must drum it into the rakyat that there is already hanky-panky going on; it must provide solid evidence through a mass awareness campaign.
In keeping with its theme, Bersih must clamour for an impartial investigation into allegations that immigrants are being offered citizenship so that they will vote for BN.
The most important thing that Bersih must make the rakyat understand is that the election process has to be made clean before they next vote. And this may not happen if pressure is not applied on the Government to undertake the clean-up.
For this important reason, we need Bersih 3.0.
Not much time is left before the next general election has to be called. The rakyat must turn up in full force on April 28 if the call for free and fair elections is to ring out clear and loud. Bersih will have to depend on its own initiatives and marketing to make this come about.
Pakatan Rakyat will of course provide support by calling on its members, but this will not give sufficient legitimacy to the cause. It’s true that Pakatan members are also Malaysian citizens and have every right to be part of the rally – and their participation does not make the rally partisan – but the non-aligned citizens are the ones who matter most.
After all, Bersih 3.0 is for them – because it is meant for them to vote for a government cleanly, fairly and properly. If they don’t come out to claim it, what hope will there be for a better Malaysia?
Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians.
THE call to rally has been made. There’s going to be a Bersih 3.0. Those who have been waiting for it are ecstatic.
April 28 is the day, and this time the anti-Lynas group, Himpunan Hijau, will be joining in. It looks like this is going to be more than just about electoral reform. It seems to have gone beyond that. It looks like those who are going to turn up for the rally will be declaring their stand against the Government and its administration of the country.
It’s beginning to seem like a rally to say “no” to Barisan Nasional (BN).
Hardcore anti-BN elements will be there. Those who have been declaring “ABU” (Anything But Umno) will be there. The Opposition will be there. As an ardent supporter of Bersih, I will be there.
But Bersih has mentioned an expected turnout of 500,000, and I wish it hadn’t. That’s a virtually impossible number. Even 100,000 would seem difficult to achieve, although it is planned that the rally will take place simultaneously in cities other than Kuala Lumpur.
The number of people that eventually show up will be crucial. If it is big enough, it will send a clear signal to the Government that the rakyat is not happy with its administration. It may even decide if elections should be called yet.
But if the number falls far short of expectations, it could indicate that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s recent strategy of ‘bribing’ the electorate with cash handouts has indeed worked, and he can call for elections as early as possible. He will probably laugh all the way to the polling booths.
Bersih 3.0 could indeed be a litmus test of voter sentiment.
So, will people turn up? Will the fervour be as strong as it was for Bersih 2.0, which was partly charged by the heavy-handed measures taken by the authorities to scuttle it?
This time, it is unlikely that the authorities will react the same way. They would have learned their lesson after the severe backlash they received over the Bersih 2.0 rally of July 9 last year.
However, this doesn’t mean they may not employ certain measures to discourage people from attending Bersih 3.0. Already, de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz has said that Dataran Merdeka, which Bersih has chosen as its protest venue, is not a lawful assembly point.
It’s not likely, though, that this will be of great concern, although it may create a bit of tension because the rally organisers would then have to be called to meet the police to thrash out certain conditions, as has happened in the last few big gatherings since the passing of the Peaceful Assembly Act.
Of greater concern – particularly to me – is whether the middle ground, who form a major part of the rakyat and who are not as gung-ho as the hardcore about going to rallies, will be charged up enough by the new demands of Bersih to take to the streets.
The three new demands are for the resignation of the current Election Commission members; the clean-up of the electoral rolls; and the invitation of international observers to monitor the general election.
To me, the most compelling is the one calling for the electoral rolls to be thoroughly purged of irregularities. The parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform has recommended that another such committee be set up to oversee the clean-up, but Bersih has called for an independent audit. That certainly makes good sense.
I think Bersih must focus on this as its rallying cry. This will serve well its ultimate purpose for protesting on April 28 – that of ensuring that there will be no fraudery committed by any quarters at the upcoming 13th general election. This must be its theme writ large. If it is persuasive enough to move the middle ground, the latter may come out to march.
Already, the battle to win over the middle ground has started in the mainstream media, which is making the Government look good by providing a rosy picture of the PSC’s 22 recommendations for electoral reform. The Star was quick to shout out on its front page of April 4: ‘Hooray for voters’.
People who access only the mainstream media – and many of these comprise the middle ground – may have been moved to wonder why Bersih is still kicking up a fuss. Consequently, some of them may conclude that Bersih is only trying to cari pasal (find fault).
Bersih must therefore impress on all and sundry that while many of these recommendations are positive, the PSC must clearly specify that some can and have to be implemented before the 13th general election. And unless this happens, it will not be a clean and fair general election.
Bersih must drum it into the rakyat that there is already hanky-panky going on; it must provide solid evidence through a mass awareness campaign.
In keeping with its theme, Bersih must clamour for an impartial investigation into allegations that immigrants are being offered citizenship so that they will vote for BN.
The most important thing that Bersih must make the rakyat understand is that the election process has to be made clean before they next vote. And this may not happen if pressure is not applied on the Government to undertake the clean-up.
For this important reason, we need Bersih 3.0.
Not much time is left before the next general election has to be called. The rakyat must turn up in full force on April 28 if the call for free and fair elections is to ring out clear and loud. Bersih will have to depend on its own initiatives and marketing to make this come about.
Pakatan Rakyat will of course provide support by calling on its members, but this will not give sufficient legitimacy to the cause. It’s true that Pakatan members are also Malaysian citizens and have every right to be part of the rally – and their participation does not make the rally partisan – but the non-aligned citizens are the ones who matter most.
After all, Bersih 3.0 is for them – because it is meant for them to vote for a government cleanly, fairly and properly. If they don’t come out to claim it, what hope will there be for a better Malaysia?
Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians.
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