By Kee Thuan Chye | Yahoo! News
The scourge is upon us. The Government is getting unreasonably authoritarian by suspending the publishing licence of the news weekly The Heat. We are seeing the beginnings of a return to Mahathirism, to the culture of fear that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad imposed on us. It’s time to nip it in the bud before it gets more grim.
I call on the media and all journalists to do their part to stop the tyranny against media freedom. Stand up and take back your right to freedom of speech and expression. Push for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) which accords power to the Home Ministry to grant and revoke licences.
A friend of mine who works in the media suggests a sympathy strike by all journalists, with media owners in tacit support. Is that doable? Or is it too much to ask?
Well, perhaps getting the cooperation of media owners will be virtually impossible – especially those of the mainstream media since most of them are affiliated to the ruling coalition – but journalists can stage the strike on their own.
So often, mainstream media journalists complain to me about having to take bullshit from their bosses, about having to do things that grate against their journalistic beliefs. So often, they say they are fed up. Now is the time for them to say, “Enough is enough!”
It’s time to refrain from being just bread-and-butter journalists or, as Sasterawan Negara A. Samad Said calls it, carma (cari makan) journalists.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) should facilitate this fight for media liberation. Once and for all, it should do what people expect it to do – represent journalists, fight for their welfare. And by fighting for their welfare, I mean not just fighting for material benefits like better pay. Far more important than that is satisfaction at work – and, certainly, the pride of being a journalist.
Reclaim that pride, journalists. The pride that you lost in the last few decades because megalomaniacs in the ruling establishment ensured that you didn’t do your job as you should, because they ensured that sycophants were promoted to become editors-in-chief. Now that megalomania is returning, it is incumbent on you, as watchdogs of society, to regain your traditional role and help our country move forward, away from the shackles of a regressive regime.
Reclaim that pride of being able to tell the truth, report the news as it should be reported and serve your reading public rightly. Instead of spinning the truth to serve the sinister agenda of the ruling coalition.
Editors-in-chief, change your stance of being a servant of the Government. Get your cojones back. Start publishing reports that expose the truth about what the Government does instead of those that seek to protect it; give equal coverage to the Opposition; be critical of both; give voice to the people in the Op-Ed pages. As long as a report is not libellous or seditious, it does not contravene the law. So what is there to fear?
If every media publication tells it like it is, would the Home Ministry suspend them all? Well, test it and see. Let the ministry suspend all and see what happens.
The Heat was doing its journalistic duty of telling it like it is. That’s why it has been stopped in its tracks. But what it did in no way broke the law. So how could the Home Ministry suspend it just like that?
The ministry gave it a show cause letter to which it must respond within two weeks. But only nine days after issuing the letter on December 10, the ministry ordered suspension on December 19. How come? Why didn’t the ministry have the courtesy to wait? Where is the fairness in that?
Most important of all, what law has The Heat broken to deserve such punishment? We don’t know. The ministry has given no reason for the suspension. Sure, it is not bound to do so – because the PPPA does not say it needs to. But this makes the PPPA an ass. It makes the PPPA unfair to the media.
Malaysiakini and theSun have speculated that the suspension could be motivated by The Heat’s article in its November 23-29 issue about Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor’s spending of public funds. If this is so, the Home Ministry has erred. This is not a valid reason for it to suspend the weekly. There is nothing in the article that breaks the law. In fact, in publishing it, The Heat was providing a public service in informing its readers about what the prime minister has been doing with our money.
If Najib and Rosmah are displeased with The Heat for exposing their extravagance, they should sue the weekly. No government agency should intervene in the matter instead and summarily inflict punishment, whether or not the couple requested it.
My lawyer friends think The Heat should contest the ministry’s action in court. I totally agree.
One says it should file for a judicial review. “It’s time to relitigate the constitutionality of the law,” he says.
First, the PPPA impinges on our right to freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution. Second, it gives too much power to the Home Ministry. Third, it does not make it mandatory for a reason to be given for the suspension or revocation of a publishing licence, and this is unfair.
The other lawyer feels The Heat should go to court precisely to force the ministry to give its reason or reasons for the suspension. If nothing else, this would show up the different treatment that the ministry accords the newspaper Utusan Malaysia, which, as we know, has got away with publishing content that bordered on sedition.
Litigation will, however, take time. Meanwhile, the media as a whole must seize the moment and fight for its freedom.
If it doesn’t do that, the ministry will read its inaction as fear and continue to bully it into submission each time the Government wants to control what readers can read. It will happen again and again, as it has over the years.
The ministry will apply the disgusting tactic of suspending the media organisation’s licence indefinitely, thereby keeping it on tenterhooks, unsure of when its licence will be restored. It may even threaten to revoke the licence. All for the purpose of teaching the media organisation a lesson. We should not tolerate this any more – unless we want to remain a backwater democracy.
Journalists should come together and with one voice shout, like the character portrayed by Peter Finch in the movie Network, “We’re as mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this any more!”
That’s the way to stand up to bullies. Once and for all.
Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the book The Elections Bullshit, available in bookstores.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Najib’s approval rating takes a plunge, Merdeka Centre survey reveals
The Malaysian Insider December 18, 2013
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's approval rating has taken the lowest dip since assuming office in 2009, declining to 52% in December, from 62% in August, a Merdeka Centre survey has found.
Two months after replacing Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister, Najib had a 65% approval rating.
The pollster said the survey was conducted between December 4 and 12, 2013, after the reduction of fuel subsidies in September 2013, and the tabling of the 2014 national budget during which the government announced the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2015.
The survey also showed that Najib’s drop in popularity cuts across all races, with the most significant decline being among the Indians, with a drop from 76% to 57%.
Among the Chinese, the approval rate stands at 21%, after a 15 percentage point loss, while a seven percentage point drop, from 73% to 66%, was recorded among the Malays.
Merdeka Centre said in a statement that concerns over the economy, particularly rising costs and inflation, rose to its highest ever level, up to 67% of all respondents.
The survey found that 55% of Peninsular Malaysia voters said that they did not quite understand how GST will affect them.
Additionally, 54% of respondents reported that they did not believe in statements by government leaders about the country’s economic situation.
The number of those expressing “happiness” with the government has also declined to 38%, compared to 50% in August 2013, showing a significant reduction in positive attitude from across major ethnic groups.
Merdeka Centre also released data from previously unreleased opinion surveys conducted in June 2013 and August 2013.
The latest survey, which coincided with the recent Umno general assembly, polled 1,005 registered voters comprising 60% Malays, 31% Chinese and 9% Indians through telephone interviews in the preferred language of the respondents.
They were selected randomly, representing Malaysians of different races and genders.
The June 2013 survey had 1006 respondents while 1008 were polled for the August 2013 survey. - December 18, 2013.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's approval rating has taken the lowest dip since assuming office in 2009, declining to 52% in December, from 62% in August, a Merdeka Centre survey has found.
Two months after replacing Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister, Najib had a 65% approval rating.
The pollster said the survey was conducted between December 4 and 12, 2013, after the reduction of fuel subsidies in September 2013, and the tabling of the 2014 national budget during which the government announced the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2015.
The survey also showed that Najib’s drop in popularity cuts across all races, with the most significant decline being among the Indians, with a drop from 76% to 57%.
Among the Chinese, the approval rate stands at 21%, after a 15 percentage point loss, while a seven percentage point drop, from 73% to 66%, was recorded among the Malays.
Merdeka Centre said in a statement that concerns over the economy, particularly rising costs and inflation, rose to its highest ever level, up to 67% of all respondents.
The survey found that 55% of Peninsular Malaysia voters said that they did not quite understand how GST will affect them.
Additionally, 54% of respondents reported that they did not believe in statements by government leaders about the country’s economic situation.
The number of those expressing “happiness” with the government has also declined to 38%, compared to 50% in August 2013, showing a significant reduction in positive attitude from across major ethnic groups.
Merdeka Centre also released data from previously unreleased opinion surveys conducted in June 2013 and August 2013.
The latest survey, which coincided with the recent Umno general assembly, polled 1,005 registered voters comprising 60% Malays, 31% Chinese and 9% Indians through telephone interviews in the preferred language of the respondents.
They were selected randomly, representing Malaysians of different races and genders.
The June 2013 survey had 1006 respondents while 1008 were polled for the August 2013 survey. - December 18, 2013.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Saluting M’sia’s Mandelas
By Dean Johns | Malaysiakini
In the wake of the death of the man who led South Africa to freedom from apartheid, many here have wondered whether there will ever be a Mandela-style leader to liberate Malaysia from the curse of Barisan Nasional.
Of course this robber-regime has already made a brazen bid to steal the spirit of Mandela for itself, with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ludicrously claiming that his Umno party’s ‘struggle’ is similar to that of South Africa’s ANC.
A claim that was neatly rebutted by US President Barack Obama in his speech in celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela, in which his statement that “there are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people” was clearly directed at the Najibs of the world.
In any event, there was never much of a struggle to free Malaysia from colonial rule, except by socialists, trade unionists and communists.
And the Alliance that finally achieved Merdeka under the benevolent and broad-minded leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman all too soon degenerated into the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional that has ever since so disgracefully re-colonised the nation for its own and its cronies’ benefit.
So that just as Mandela’s dream of a resurgent South Africa has degenerated into the current reality of a sink-hole of gross inequality, rampant crime and corruption under the unlovely Jacob Zuma, so has Tunku Abdul Rahman’s idea and ideal of Malaysia descended into today’s Najib-style nightmare.
Vastly aided and accelerated in this descent by 22 years under the prime-ministership of Mahathir Mohamad, a cynical, self-serving autocrat who modelled himself not on South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, but on his old pal Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, in his efforts to turn Malaysia into some kind of personal Zimbabi.
And he claimed to be doing it all, as his successors have similarly pretended, in ‘defence’ of the Malays and Islam. When in fact as any intelligent person, Malay, Muslim or otherwise, very well knows, the BN regime would be an absolute disgrace to any race or religion.
BN has also by implication insulted Malays by falsely patronising them as backward, ignorant and ineffectual, and, considering they compose the majority of the nation’s citizens systematically robbed them even more unmercifully than Malaysians of other races.
Stealing so many countless billions of ringgit that should otherwise be spent on health, education, public infrastructure and social services that Malaysia has for years led the world in illicit capital outflow per capita.
And otherwise misappropriating such a fortune in public funds for such purposes as buying votes, funding regime-propagandist media and supporting regime ministers, members and cronies in their preposterously profligate lifestyles that the country can no longer afford even the pretence of properly caring for the people.
Attempts to keep up the pretence
Though of course the regime makes strenuous attempts to keep up the pretence, as with Prime Minister Najib’s laughable claim that removal of the subsidy on sugar sold by BN monopolists is an anti-diabetes initiative, and increases in electricity tariffs are necessary for the continuing profitability of filthy-rich crony power companies.
However, none of Najib’s endless flow of frauds or falsehoods are as low as his attempt during the recent Umno general assembly to pass off BN’s 52 to 47 loss of the national vote as ‘proof’ that Umno is the “bravest and most popular party in Malaysia”.
Everybody is patently aware that this alleged popularity was achieved through blatant voter bribery and every other conceivable kind of electoral corruption and fraud.
And as for the claim of bravery, just how brave does a party have to be to fight elections, in blatant breach of the democratic principle of the fundamental democratic principle of the separation of powers, with the entire might of the police, judiciary, civil services, election commission and mainstream media on its side?
With such overwhelmingly superior forces ranged against the rakyat, Malay and non-Malay alike, and with the whole corrupt and criminal system illegally funded with public money, it’s no wonder so many Malaysians have taken to hoping and praying for a Mandela-style saviour.
But what’s the point of waiting for the kind of charismatic leader who arises as rarely as a Nelson Mandela? In any case, as I’m sure the great man himself in his legendary humility would have been the first to concede he was just the foremost among many.
Hundreds if not thousands of black, coloured and even white South Africans suffered, and a great many died for the anti-apartheid cause. In fact one of the common ways in which the white regime’s jailers killed anti-apartheid activists in their custody was by what they called “defenestration”: throwing them out through high windows.
A practice later allegedly adopted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in several cases, most notoriously that of the young DAP “witness”, Teoh Beng Hock, whose ‘fall’ from a 14th-floor window of the MACC building was subsequently deemed by the BN regime as “neither murder nor suicide”, and whose interrogators have never been charged with his killing.
But back to the point I’m ineptly endeavouring to make, which is that it takes more than one man or woman, even one as gifted and courageous as Nelson Mandela, to overthrow a corrupt, criminal, racist and repressive government.
And it’s clearly evident that Malaysia is blessed with countless such honest, upstanding, tolerant, truth-loving people. From many if not most of the leadership of opposition parties PAS, PKR and the DAP through unprecedented numbers of activists in opposition NGOs to countless individuals who blog, write, cartoon and otherwise fearlessly express the Malaysian Mandela spirit.
I mention no names for fear of missing some out, and in any case there’s not space here to list even a small fraction of them. But I will take a line or two to pay particular personal tribute to the Malaysian family in which I am proud to have married.
A family currently headed by my 90-year-old Chinese father-in-law and much younger Malay mother-in law, and so dedicated to the concept of racial equality as to welcome not just me, an Australian, but other members from afar afield as Botswana and Germany.
But of course Malaysians and their families don’t have to intermarry with other races to demonstrate their enlightened, egalitarian natures.
All they and the individuals of which they are composed have to do is proselytise, protest and above all vote at every opportunity in the spirit of Mandela and out of love for an honest, clean, inclusive and thus, by definition, BN-free Malaysia.
As a majority did in GE13, and as I’m willing to bet almost anything you like overwhelming numbers will do come the increasingly eagerly-awaited GE14.
DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’, ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.
In the wake of the death of the man who led South Africa to freedom from apartheid, many here have wondered whether there will ever be a Mandela-style leader to liberate Malaysia from the curse of Barisan Nasional.
Of course this robber-regime has already made a brazen bid to steal the spirit of Mandela for itself, with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ludicrously claiming that his Umno party’s ‘struggle’ is similar to that of South Africa’s ANC.
A claim that was neatly rebutted by US President Barack Obama in his speech in celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela, in which his statement that “there are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people” was clearly directed at the Najibs of the world.
In any event, there was never much of a struggle to free Malaysia from colonial rule, except by socialists, trade unionists and communists.
And the Alliance that finally achieved Merdeka under the benevolent and broad-minded leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman all too soon degenerated into the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional that has ever since so disgracefully re-colonised the nation for its own and its cronies’ benefit.
So that just as Mandela’s dream of a resurgent South Africa has degenerated into the current reality of a sink-hole of gross inequality, rampant crime and corruption under the unlovely Jacob Zuma, so has Tunku Abdul Rahman’s idea and ideal of Malaysia descended into today’s Najib-style nightmare.
Vastly aided and accelerated in this descent by 22 years under the prime-ministership of Mahathir Mohamad, a cynical, self-serving autocrat who modelled himself not on South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, but on his old pal Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, in his efforts to turn Malaysia into some kind of personal Zimbabi.
And he claimed to be doing it all, as his successors have similarly pretended, in ‘defence’ of the Malays and Islam. When in fact as any intelligent person, Malay, Muslim or otherwise, very well knows, the BN regime would be an absolute disgrace to any race or religion.
BN has also by implication insulted Malays by falsely patronising them as backward, ignorant and ineffectual, and, considering they compose the majority of the nation’s citizens systematically robbed them even more unmercifully than Malaysians of other races.
Stealing so many countless billions of ringgit that should otherwise be spent on health, education, public infrastructure and social services that Malaysia has for years led the world in illicit capital outflow per capita.
And otherwise misappropriating such a fortune in public funds for such purposes as buying votes, funding regime-propagandist media and supporting regime ministers, members and cronies in their preposterously profligate lifestyles that the country can no longer afford even the pretence of properly caring for the people.
Attempts to keep up the pretence
Though of course the regime makes strenuous attempts to keep up the pretence, as with Prime Minister Najib’s laughable claim that removal of the subsidy on sugar sold by BN monopolists is an anti-diabetes initiative, and increases in electricity tariffs are necessary for the continuing profitability of filthy-rich crony power companies.
However, none of Najib’s endless flow of frauds or falsehoods are as low as his attempt during the recent Umno general assembly to pass off BN’s 52 to 47 loss of the national vote as ‘proof’ that Umno is the “bravest and most popular party in Malaysia”.
Everybody is patently aware that this alleged popularity was achieved through blatant voter bribery and every other conceivable kind of electoral corruption and fraud.
And as for the claim of bravery, just how brave does a party have to be to fight elections, in blatant breach of the democratic principle of the fundamental democratic principle of the separation of powers, with the entire might of the police, judiciary, civil services, election commission and mainstream media on its side?
With such overwhelmingly superior forces ranged against the rakyat, Malay and non-Malay alike, and with the whole corrupt and criminal system illegally funded with public money, it’s no wonder so many Malaysians have taken to hoping and praying for a Mandela-style saviour.
But what’s the point of waiting for the kind of charismatic leader who arises as rarely as a Nelson Mandela? In any case, as I’m sure the great man himself in his legendary humility would have been the first to concede he was just the foremost among many.
Hundreds if not thousands of black, coloured and even white South Africans suffered, and a great many died for the anti-apartheid cause. In fact one of the common ways in which the white regime’s jailers killed anti-apartheid activists in their custody was by what they called “defenestration”: throwing them out through high windows.
A practice later allegedly adopted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in several cases, most notoriously that of the young DAP “witness”, Teoh Beng Hock, whose ‘fall’ from a 14th-floor window of the MACC building was subsequently deemed by the BN regime as “neither murder nor suicide”, and whose interrogators have never been charged with his killing.
But back to the point I’m ineptly endeavouring to make, which is that it takes more than one man or woman, even one as gifted and courageous as Nelson Mandela, to overthrow a corrupt, criminal, racist and repressive government.
And it’s clearly evident that Malaysia is blessed with countless such honest, upstanding, tolerant, truth-loving people. From many if not most of the leadership of opposition parties PAS, PKR and the DAP through unprecedented numbers of activists in opposition NGOs to countless individuals who blog, write, cartoon and otherwise fearlessly express the Malaysian Mandela spirit.
I mention no names for fear of missing some out, and in any case there’s not space here to list even a small fraction of them. But I will take a line or two to pay particular personal tribute to the Malaysian family in which I am proud to have married.
A family currently headed by my 90-year-old Chinese father-in-law and much younger Malay mother-in law, and so dedicated to the concept of racial equality as to welcome not just me, an Australian, but other members from afar afield as Botswana and Germany.
But of course Malaysians and their families don’t have to intermarry with other races to demonstrate their enlightened, egalitarian natures.
All they and the individuals of which they are composed have to do is proselytise, protest and above all vote at every opportunity in the spirit of Mandela and out of love for an honest, clean, inclusive and thus, by definition, BN-free Malaysia.
As a majority did in GE13, and as I’m willing to bet almost anything you like overwhelming numbers will do come the increasingly eagerly-awaited GE14.
DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’, ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
The wrath of a losing 'winner'
Malaysians should be very proud of their country, a nation where they are born into, raised and will die and buried here irrespective of what kind of government they have. But sadly many still could not differentiate between the country that they owned (belong to) and an elected government that are supposed to serve. The long serving one party (precisely 56 years) has gone overboard and arrogant to remind the rakyat that they must be grateful and be patriotic to the powers that be.
Most Malaysians are moving forward fast and are adapting well to the various changes that are ongoing together with the outside world but are pulled back or hindered by a restrictive government that are not willing to open up and face the present day reality. The results of the 12th and 13th General Elections have shown that most Malaysians wanted to move along with the rest of the world but post 308 and 505 gave you a more opaque and an intolerance government.
They are still using the old formula of divide and rule, enhancing their racism and religious intolerance including veiled threats which they thought can still work to their advantage and hold on to power. We wish them all the best except not to create chaos and 'crushed bodies and lives lost' to fulfill their wish of holding on to power.
Are Malaysians really that blind, dumb and deaf to fall yet again to all these antics? Yes, there are still 47% of the voters that believe in them. What then can we do to make the ruling government listen to us? Guess there is not much we can do individually but to lend support to a greater force that can challenged the ruling government to ensure that they served the rakyat and not the reverse and if possible a total change in GE 14. Presently we have this greater force by the name of Pakatan Rakyat.
Many would not agree that Pakatan Rakyat is the greater force. Let me just ask one question and let you decide if PR is or is not the greater force. Why is the ruling government going all out to kill-off DAP, activating their 'speculative moles' inside PKR and enticing PAS in talks? The motive is very clear for all to see, "TO BREAK UP or DESTROYED PAKATAN RAKYAT" before GE 14.
With the reintroduction of 'detention without trial', The Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, fuelling anti-Shia sentiments, no intention of removing the sedition act and the daily doses of veiled threats against anything that are challenging their stay in power comes GE 14, Pakatan Rakyat must be at their toes at all times.
The machinery "TO BREAK UP or DESTROYED PAKATAN RAKYAT" before GE 14 has gain momentum each passing day and I would like to provide PR my 2sen worth of suggestion.
Their modus operandi is very simple, to keep PR coalition parties busy fighting the fires which are thrown at them be it lies or slanders ranging from racial, religious issues to just about anything that they can think of to ensure that PR is broken or destroyed by GE 14.
PR must form a council or committee comprising members from all the three parties and on full time basis. The members should be from the younger generation that are trustworthy, with integrity and are presently not elected MPs or Adun. Elected representatives will be busy with their work functions to serve the rakyat and nation on pressing daily issues. The senior leaders can act as advisers. The council job functions are to study all the attacks from the opponent collectively, work out counter solutions and response to the attacks on PR platform. If time permit and if experienced enough, this council should also be on the look out and identify suspected moles.
No doubt there may be such a council in each party where each party will response to the attacks individually. It may work that way but at times there are conflicting responses from each other that gave more bullets to the opponent for further attacks.
The new PR council should be able to identify if the attack is very specific to a certain party but will still study together to provide solution and response. This response will be conveyed to that particular party leader before any statement is issued publicly. Most attacks are interlinked within the three parties, it would be better to study, resolve and make a final PR stand to ward of the attacks. PR must be able to work together, to help each other and resolve matters on a standard platform no matter how hard the attacks are.
Pakatan Rakyat is a coalition of three parties that are supposed to be equal partners but sometimes we still read about party members going after each others throat. Should there be any disagreement, the problems can be forwarded to the new PR council to try and find a solution before any of these go to the press. One thing PR politicians must learn is, try not to talk too much to the press (especially in this country) on personal and party issues should there be any differences among you all, one minute of fame can destroy you if not the party!
Unless there are any hidden agenda within each individual party or lack of credible members, I see no problem in forming a new PR council or committee to work in tandem and proving to Malaysians that PR is the greater force that can bring down a very much disliked present government in GE 14.
This is not the case of 'too many cooks spoil the soup' but 'united we stand, divided we fall'.
Most Malaysians are moving forward fast and are adapting well to the various changes that are ongoing together with the outside world but are pulled back or hindered by a restrictive government that are not willing to open up and face the present day reality. The results of the 12th and 13th General Elections have shown that most Malaysians wanted to move along with the rest of the world but post 308 and 505 gave you a more opaque and an intolerance government.
They are still using the old formula of divide and rule, enhancing their racism and religious intolerance including veiled threats which they thought can still work to their advantage and hold on to power. We wish them all the best except not to create chaos and 'crushed bodies and lives lost' to fulfill their wish of holding on to power.
Are Malaysians really that blind, dumb and deaf to fall yet again to all these antics? Yes, there are still 47% of the voters that believe in them. What then can we do to make the ruling government listen to us? Guess there is not much we can do individually but to lend support to a greater force that can challenged the ruling government to ensure that they served the rakyat and not the reverse and if possible a total change in GE 14. Presently we have this greater force by the name of Pakatan Rakyat.
Many would not agree that Pakatan Rakyat is the greater force. Let me just ask one question and let you decide if PR is or is not the greater force. Why is the ruling government going all out to kill-off DAP, activating their 'speculative moles' inside PKR and enticing PAS in talks? The motive is very clear for all to see, "TO BREAK UP or DESTROYED PAKATAN RAKYAT" before GE 14.
With the reintroduction of 'detention without trial', The Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, fuelling anti-Shia sentiments, no intention of removing the sedition act and the daily doses of veiled threats against anything that are challenging their stay in power comes GE 14, Pakatan Rakyat must be at their toes at all times.
The machinery "TO BREAK UP or DESTROYED PAKATAN RAKYAT" before GE 14 has gain momentum each passing day and I would like to provide PR my 2sen worth of suggestion.
Their modus operandi is very simple, to keep PR coalition parties busy fighting the fires which are thrown at them be it lies or slanders ranging from racial, religious issues to just about anything that they can think of to ensure that PR is broken or destroyed by GE 14.
PR must form a council or committee comprising members from all the three parties and on full time basis. The members should be from the younger generation that are trustworthy, with integrity and are presently not elected MPs or Adun. Elected representatives will be busy with their work functions to serve the rakyat and nation on pressing daily issues. The senior leaders can act as advisers. The council job functions are to study all the attacks from the opponent collectively, work out counter solutions and response to the attacks on PR platform. If time permit and if experienced enough, this council should also be on the look out and identify suspected moles.
No doubt there may be such a council in each party where each party will response to the attacks individually. It may work that way but at times there are conflicting responses from each other that gave more bullets to the opponent for further attacks.
The new PR council should be able to identify if the attack is very specific to a certain party but will still study together to provide solution and response. This response will be conveyed to that particular party leader before any statement is issued publicly. Most attacks are interlinked within the three parties, it would be better to study, resolve and make a final PR stand to ward of the attacks. PR must be able to work together, to help each other and resolve matters on a standard platform no matter how hard the attacks are.
Pakatan Rakyat is a coalition of three parties that are supposed to be equal partners but sometimes we still read about party members going after each others throat. Should there be any disagreement, the problems can be forwarded to the new PR council to try and find a solution before any of these go to the press. One thing PR politicians must learn is, try not to talk too much to the press (especially in this country) on personal and party issues should there be any differences among you all, one minute of fame can destroy you if not the party!
Unless there are any hidden agenda within each individual party or lack of credible members, I see no problem in forming a new PR council or committee to work in tandem and proving to Malaysians that PR is the greater force that can bring down a very much disliked present government in GE 14.
This is not the case of 'too many cooks spoil the soup' but 'united we stand, divided we fall'.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Umno Baru running scared
by Mariam Mokhtar | Malaysiakini
The 4Rs – race, royalty, religion and the rural people – have been used by UMNO Baru to divide and rule Malaysia.
When Najib asked the rhetorical question, “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, it was a cry of desperation and an admission of defeat.
UMNO Baru’s hold on the Malays is slipping. Najib and UMNO Baru are scared. Without the Malays, where would UMNO Baru be? Domination of the Malays is not about protecting their rights. It is all about power and status.
The line that UMNO Baru has used for over five decades to divide the nation is no longer relevant. Malay graduates who return to Malaysia do so because they have to fulfill the terms of their scholarship or loan. Try asking them what they really feel about Malaysia, about UMNO Baru and its leaders. Their stories will fill you with hope.
The current clampdown on dissent and the hunt for Malays who speak their minds is because the government is afraid. A thinking Malay is a threat to UMNO Baru. A thinking Malay who is prepared to question the leaders and make them accountable for their actions will erode the power of UMNO Baru. UMNO Baru knows that one thinking Malay will embolden other Malays and very soon, UMNO Baru will become irrelevant.
If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, the brain drain is no longer confined to non-Malays seeking better shores. What frightens UMNO Baru is the fact that many Malays have become disillusioned with UMNO Baru and are not just abandoning the party. They are prepared to forsake their country.
In the past, Malays used to deride the non-Malays for leaving Malaysia. Many did not know the degree of unfairness with which the government treated the non-Malays, in the areas of employment, business opportunities, education, jobs in the civil service and defence.
Today, young graduate Malays, who have been educated overseas, are telling their parents that enough is enough. They are astute enough to know that the government will make the lives of their families miserable so they leave quietly and without fuss. If the government cannot prosecute the Malay graduate who has absconded, their modus operandi is to go after their families.
In a change from the past, Malay families are now supportive of their children working and living abroad. In the age of the Internet, communication is easy and relatively cheap. Ironically, the Malays are now emulating their non-Malay peers, by turning their backs on Malaysia.
Many Malays who have found employment in the countries in which they studied are happy and glad they made the move. One Malay doctor said, “My work experience in the (Malaysian) hospital was a bitter experience. I wasn’t just overworked but when I asked the consultant for advice, I was shouted at in front of the patients and other staff. It was humiliating and degrading. In the teaching hospital in Sydney, the consultants were pleasant and eager to train me. I felt appreciated.”
When you hear stories like these you know that young Malays are not prepared to believe the lies of UMNO Baru any longer. The young Malays of today have an appetite for hard work, which is not matched by the UMNO Baru Malays or mat rempit types whom Najib is fond of praising.
Answering Najib
A Malay farmer in his sixties said, “What is Najib doing about the farmers? The youth have no interest in agriculture They are leaving the kampong in search of jobs. Many farmers are now in their 60s and 70s. Who will take over my farm when I die?
“I know that many young men who migrated to the cities, are still unemployed. Many have turned to drugs or petty theft. What has the government done to make farming attractive?”
Many civil servants claim that they are demoralised at work. They find that their time and departmental operating budgets are increasingly being used for UMNO Baru political activities. The ones who voice their opinions are warned that they risk destroying their career prospects.
Even UMNO Baru supporters are slowly realising they are being conned. One senior party worker said that, with UMNO Baru’s help, many rich Malays drive imported sports cars and live in rumah mewah (mansions). When asked how UMNO Baru had helped uplift his life, he was dumb-struck. The penny had dropped!
If Najib Abdul Razak had asked the rhetorical question “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, in front of ordinary members of the rakyat, he would have been drowned out with hisses and pelted with rotten eggs, or shoes.
The answer to Najib’s question is simple. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays would be better off economically, financially, morally, spiritually and intellectually. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays can restore their lost dignity. A Malay who has the courage to reject UMNO Baru will be mentally liberated and feel a weight lifted from his shoulders.
UMNO Baru has brainwashed Malays and gave them a false sense of entitlement. They were told they were owed success without the need for hard work. Only UMNO Baru would think of placing a copyright on the word ‘Allah’. UMNO Baru gave Malays and Islam a bad reputation.
Under UMNO Baru, Malays have become arrogant, insincere, work-shy, complacent, uncompetitive, demanding and insensitive. UMNO Baru conditioned the Malays to stop thinking and let UMNO Baru think for them.
UMNO Baru taught some Malays to steal the taxpayers’ money and learn the fine art of corruption. It conditioned the Malay mind to think that any wrongdoing by its leaders is acceptable, because this is preferable to a non-Malay leading the country. How pathetic can anyone get than someone with this frame of mind.
UMNO Baru injected fear into the Malay psyche and told him that he should be afraid of change and new ideas. Only UMNO Baru will say that liberal Malays, Christians, Singapore and progressive NGOs are a threat to Malays and Islam.
UMNO Baru is Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s creation and mistrust, disunity, treachery, sedition and intolerance are his true legacy.
Only an UMNO Baru leader would defend his wife’s extravagance and boast of her ability, but ignore the suffering of the rakyat. The average Malaysian family is barely surviving. Where is the breadwinner going to find an additional 15 percent more income to pay for the increase caused by the GST?
Mahathir, Najib, Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Khairy Jamaluddin and other senior UMNO Baru politicians are poor role models for Malays.
UMNO Baru is not concerned about Malays or Malay rights. Its only concern is status and power; both economic and political power. Najib realises that without the Malays, UMNO Baru could be as dead as a dodo. Najib knows that UMNO Baru is living on borrowed time.
By GE14, the only people supporting Najib and UMNO Baru will be the mat rempits and the ‘new Malays’ from Bangladesh.
The 4Rs – race, royalty, religion and the rural people – have been used by UMNO Baru to divide and rule Malaysia.
When Najib asked the rhetorical question, “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, it was a cry of desperation and an admission of defeat.
UMNO Baru’s hold on the Malays is slipping. Najib and UMNO Baru are scared. Without the Malays, where would UMNO Baru be? Domination of the Malays is not about protecting their rights. It is all about power and status.
The line that UMNO Baru has used for over five decades to divide the nation is no longer relevant. Malay graduates who return to Malaysia do so because they have to fulfill the terms of their scholarship or loan. Try asking them what they really feel about Malaysia, about UMNO Baru and its leaders. Their stories will fill you with hope.
The current clampdown on dissent and the hunt for Malays who speak their minds is because the government is afraid. A thinking Malay is a threat to UMNO Baru. A thinking Malay who is prepared to question the leaders and make them accountable for their actions will erode the power of UMNO Baru. UMNO Baru knows that one thinking Malay will embolden other Malays and very soon, UMNO Baru will become irrelevant.
If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, the brain drain is no longer confined to non-Malays seeking better shores. What frightens UMNO Baru is the fact that many Malays have become disillusioned with UMNO Baru and are not just abandoning the party. They are prepared to forsake their country.
In the past, Malays used to deride the non-Malays for leaving Malaysia. Many did not know the degree of unfairness with which the government treated the non-Malays, in the areas of employment, business opportunities, education, jobs in the civil service and defence.
Today, young graduate Malays, who have been educated overseas, are telling their parents that enough is enough. They are astute enough to know that the government will make the lives of their families miserable so they leave quietly and without fuss. If the government cannot prosecute the Malay graduate who has absconded, their modus operandi is to go after their families.
In a change from the past, Malay families are now supportive of their children working and living abroad. In the age of the Internet, communication is easy and relatively cheap. Ironically, the Malays are now emulating their non-Malay peers, by turning their backs on Malaysia.
Many Malays who have found employment in the countries in which they studied are happy and glad they made the move. One Malay doctor said, “My work experience in the (Malaysian) hospital was a bitter experience. I wasn’t just overworked but when I asked the consultant for advice, I was shouted at in front of the patients and other staff. It was humiliating and degrading. In the teaching hospital in Sydney, the consultants were pleasant and eager to train me. I felt appreciated.”
When you hear stories like these you know that young Malays are not prepared to believe the lies of UMNO Baru any longer. The young Malays of today have an appetite for hard work, which is not matched by the UMNO Baru Malays or mat rempit types whom Najib is fond of praising.
Answering Najib
A Malay farmer in his sixties said, “What is Najib doing about the farmers? The youth have no interest in agriculture They are leaving the kampong in search of jobs. Many farmers are now in their 60s and 70s. Who will take over my farm when I die?
“I know that many young men who migrated to the cities, are still unemployed. Many have turned to drugs or petty theft. What has the government done to make farming attractive?”
Many civil servants claim that they are demoralised at work. They find that their time and departmental operating budgets are increasingly being used for UMNO Baru political activities. The ones who voice their opinions are warned that they risk destroying their career prospects.
Even UMNO Baru supporters are slowly realising they are being conned. One senior party worker said that, with UMNO Baru’s help, many rich Malays drive imported sports cars and live in rumah mewah (mansions). When asked how UMNO Baru had helped uplift his life, he was dumb-struck. The penny had dropped!
If Najib Abdul Razak had asked the rhetorical question “Where would the Malays be without UMNO Baru?”, in front of ordinary members of the rakyat, he would have been drowned out with hisses and pelted with rotten eggs, or shoes.
The answer to Najib’s question is simple. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays would be better off economically, financially, morally, spiritually and intellectually. Without UMNO Baru, the Malays can restore their lost dignity. A Malay who has the courage to reject UMNO Baru will be mentally liberated and feel a weight lifted from his shoulders.
UMNO Baru has brainwashed Malays and gave them a false sense of entitlement. They were told they were owed success without the need for hard work. Only UMNO Baru would think of placing a copyright on the word ‘Allah’. UMNO Baru gave Malays and Islam a bad reputation.
Under UMNO Baru, Malays have become arrogant, insincere, work-shy, complacent, uncompetitive, demanding and insensitive. UMNO Baru conditioned the Malays to stop thinking and let UMNO Baru think for them.
UMNO Baru taught some Malays to steal the taxpayers’ money and learn the fine art of corruption. It conditioned the Malay mind to think that any wrongdoing by its leaders is acceptable, because this is preferable to a non-Malay leading the country. How pathetic can anyone get than someone with this frame of mind.
UMNO Baru injected fear into the Malay psyche and told him that he should be afraid of change and new ideas. Only UMNO Baru will say that liberal Malays, Christians, Singapore and progressive NGOs are a threat to Malays and Islam.
UMNO Baru is Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s creation and mistrust, disunity, treachery, sedition and intolerance are his true legacy.
Only an UMNO Baru leader would defend his wife’s extravagance and boast of her ability, but ignore the suffering of the rakyat. The average Malaysian family is barely surviving. Where is the breadwinner going to find an additional 15 percent more income to pay for the increase caused by the GST?
Mahathir, Najib, Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Khairy Jamaluddin and other senior UMNO Baru politicians are poor role models for Malays.
UMNO Baru is not concerned about Malays or Malay rights. Its only concern is status and power; both economic and political power. Najib realises that without the Malays, UMNO Baru could be as dead as a dodo. Najib knows that UMNO Baru is living on borrowed time.
By GE14, the only people supporting Najib and UMNO Baru will be the mat rempits and the ‘new Malays’ from Bangladesh.
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