Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

Before we go further into this topic, we would like to send our deepest heartfelt condolence to the family of the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu. The statesman shall be remembered as the person who had brought Penang up to the current stage. He can considered as the Father of the Penang State. No one and not even those current leaders of Gerakan could well emulate his leadership and skills. It has been a very sad moment to observe that the late Dr Lim was not able to see Gerakan regain its strength after the party was summarily defeated in the last general election in 2008, where the party was swept aside by the voters to make way for the DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat to form the new state government. So, what had Gerakan learned so far? Back to basics, what basics? When and how? This question has been asked by many of its party members after the party suffered its worst ever defeat in March 2008. Gerakan's ideology and concept: Bangsa Malaysia. The party had failed to defend its concept while ...

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) currently consist of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and Sarawak National Party (SNAP) should change its status quo and come out with open hands to embrace the other small and neutral political parties into its fold rather than to let the so-call "Third Force" to emerge in the next general election. The other smaller political parties are the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), Human Rights Party (HRP), Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia (AKIM), Parti Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak (PERS), while the neutral and much bigger regional based is the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP). If the "Third Force" is allowed to emerge in the next general election, it will not serve PR any good as these parties may split the votes, would confuse the voters as well and then, it would indirectly benefits the Barisan Nasional (BN). Even if the "Third Force" is not properly organi...

Today, we learned with grave disappointment that the police will not go after the Umno-led violent demonstrators who came crushing the Abolish ISA Mini Forum held at the Penang Komtar Walk recently. Instead, the police, according to the Star newspaper report , will only go after those passer-by and members of the general public who stood at the Komtar Walk to listen to some of the speakers of the Abolish ISA Mini Forum citing that the forum was in fact a demonstration held illegally at that area. We wish to remind the police to mind their language please. You gave the wrong word to the Abolish ISA Mini Forum. It was not a demonstration as claimed by you. The police was in fact giving a wrong impression in their press statement saying that the Abolish ISA Mini Forum there was a demonstration. Show us the evidence to justify that it was a demonstration. In a very and gravely disappointing manner, the police publicly treated all those Umno violent demonstrators so friendly. The police jus...

According to a report in today's Sunday Times, the BN supreme council had decided to form a BN Rakan Muda Club in order to attract and bring in more youngsters into the BN fold. The club's membership would consist of youngsters aged between 18 and 21 years. So, after all these years, BN now decides to woo youngsters aged between 18 to 21 year into its coalition after realizing the potential of the young in our nation. Actually, Pakatan Rakyat component parties like, PKR, DAP and PAS as well as other political parties like PSM and PRM had longed being wooing youngsters into their fold in order to bring the political awareness to the young generation. One restriction after another restriction that PKR, DAP, PAS, PSM and PRM face in their youth initiatives is the common use of the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) by the BN, particularly its dominant party, Umno to prevent university students from approaching the opposing political parties. For years, the UUCA laws and...

Ever since you had been expelled from Umno for your principled stand on certain issues, we all welcomed you with open arms into the Pakatan Rakyat fold via your entry into Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). We knew that you are one of the architect behind the Pakatan Rakyat framework and its first ever convention being organized. We also knew that you are also one of the architect behind the much awaited initiatives to work towards getting Pakatan Rakyat to be registered as an official opposition coalition. During your entry into PKR, you sang praises for the Pakatan Rakyat and its policies as well as their stand against injustice, their continuous and untiring efforts to ensure justice, democracy and equality would one day become a reality to our nation. When you announced your intention to contest for the PKR deputy presidency, we welcomed your move as your democratic right to participate in the party elections. Besides, we also pray hard that you will gain some miracle in winning the post...

By Raja Petra Kamarudin No, I am not going to whack Anwar. This article is not about personalities. I am going to talk about systems and structures. And today’s article is going to be a very short piece, not my normal cheong hei type of article. As what I have already said before, which means I am repeating myself, PKR is structured along the lines of Umno. The party positions and functions duplicate Umno. PKR is almost a carbon copy of Umno. I have said this before and I will say it again. PKR has to break out of the Umno mould. It must not be structured the way Umno is and function the way Umno does. Think out of the box. Try doing things differently. One issue that needs addressing is the top leadership of the party. Why have a president, deputy president, 3-7 vice presidents, youth leader, women’s wing leader and whatnot? PKR should consider amending its constitution and change its party structure. Abolish the Umno-type structure. For example, dump all those many top positions. No ...

By Debra Chong The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) wants Malaysia to repeal its Internal Security Act (ISA), which it claims has breached the rule of law and affected a person’s basic right to defence in a democracy. The trial of controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, who had been detained under the ISA, showed that Malaysia was using the law as a state tool to limit the freedom of expression, the world lawyers’ group said. “Malaysia’s use of the Internal Security Act as drafted severely curtails individuals’ rights of defence and amounts to an arbitrary exercise of state power,” said Martin Šolc, co-chairman of the London-based IBAHRI in a media statement. “Due process and rights of defence are an essential component of the rule of law itself, which is the foundation of the democratic state. “As the IBAHRI’s trial report into Raja Petra’s trial shows, the result is a chilling of free speech,” he added. IBAHRI had recently published a report, “Malay...

The troubled government-owned company Sime Darby Berhad should reveal its audit findings to the public instead of just "initiating legal actions" against those unnamed responsible individuals who had caused the massive losses on the company. The reveal of the audit findings is important in order to identify those who are responsible for the massive losses incurred due to mismanagement, power abuses and corruptions. We are certain there all these topics are the caused of Sime Darby's losses in millions of Ringgit. The people or the general public deserve to know the facts and details of the losses because this company is the federal government's wholly-owned business entity, heavily financed with public funds. Where does the public funds get its money? It is definitely from our pockets, through the payment of our taxes and revenues to the federal government annually. We, as stakeholders entrusted the federal government via general election to manage the public funds an...

Why is the transport minister and MCA secretary-general Kong Cho Ha trying to avoid the current worsening flood situation in Kedah and Penang states? Who is he trying to put the blame onto? It is very clear that it was the MMC-Gamuda's RM15 billion Electrified Double Tracking Rail project who causes all those flood chaos in both Kedah and Penang states. Even MCA vice president and Alor Setar MP Chor Chee Heung had openly admitted it was that particular rail project who is causing all those massive floods following the continuous downpour. We wish to advise Kong to go personally to the ground to find out the actual cause of the floods in these two states instead of just sitting in his office at Putrajaya waiting for reports and updates from afar. Look at the grievances and complaints made by the people there. Look at the massive red earth dumps here and there along the road side and inside the drainage. Because of all these unsupervised earthworks the drainage in most of the affect ...

The Penang Forum 3 yesterday laid a very important foundation on the revival of the elections for the local council to select from its pool of candidates to be municipal councillors. Congratulations, you all did gave Penang state the proudest moment ever. About three hundred over people attended the forum and voted to elect ten candidates to represent the people in both the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP). At the end of the eventful moment, ten candidates were elected, with five each for MPPP and MPSP respectively. The Penang State Executive Councillor for Local Government Chow Kon Yeow who was present lauded the event as an important foundation to restore the third vote in the state. He also said that the list of the winners would be handed over to the state government for a final selection process. As mentioned, the foundation has been laid. The Penang state government should consider every ways and means to have it implemented on the e...

By Firdaus Alya Security is the most essential element a country needs to ensure its long life and success. The most important institution that guarantees security of a country is the police force. Transparency and rule of law in the leadership of a country will ensure efficiency of the police institution. The credibility and reliability of the police reflect the quality and extent of excellence that a government maintains in ruling a country. In Malaysia, sadly, the police institution has lost the trust of citizens to a very great extent, which was not the case in the past. Our fathers and grandfathers still brag how secure they felt when policemen were around, or how they could always count on the police to protect them. The reverse is happening today. People nowadays sneer and scorn when the word ‘police’ is mentioned. Worse, policemen today have become the source of fear and insecurity – the total opposite of what they once were, and should be, to Malaysian society. Three decades ...

By Dr Lim Teck Ghee Defense minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should be commended for stating in Parliament that the reason Chinese and Indians made up only a tiny proportion of Army recruits is that their "patriotism spirit is not high enough". This is because he has inadvertently brought out into the open a perception which is shared by the majority of Malay leaders and also possibly by a very large proportion of the Malay population. It is a perception that should not be suppressed – on the contrary, it needs to be fully aired and dissected so that rational thinking and fact-based policy formulation shall prevail. What has been criticised as a "racially biased, shallow and chauvinistic" statement questioning the loyalty of young Malaysians may in fact be correct. Non-Malays may be much less patriotic than Malays which accounts for their low enrolment in the military and civil service, as well as for their lack of participation in other national activities when patrioti...

Previously, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) became the first political party in our nation to open up the elections of its national, state and divisional leadership to all its ordinary party members. The move was eventually welcomed by its party members and supporters as a step towards a multi-democratic way of choosing their party leaders via direct elections right from the branch, division, state to the top ones national level. It was in fact a move that had never came into the minds of most political parties all this while. The move was symbolized as an open democracy and the beginning of the modernization of party politics. According to the PKR's leadership, this move was to prevent money politics and manipulation of party delegates by certain influential party leaders to dominate party elections with funds and bribery. However, the open and transparent democratic process in the PKR's party elections had turned into an open battle between opposing leaders and almost all its con...

By K.Baradan It is time to take the Justice and Reform Group, a faction in Selangor DAP, seriously, because this group won all the posts at the Klang DAPSY or DAP Youth election recently, its fifth straight win against the DAP establishment in the state. They are riding on a wave to victory and their mission is to capture the state DAP in elections on November 28. While the man himself has not said anything, reform group members are saying Selangor Speaker and DAP icon Teng Chang Khim (picture) is their leader. If this is true, then the DAP establishment in Selangor will have a hard time keeping their seats because Teng, his supporters said, is already campaigning hard to win “hearts and minds” on a reform agenda, meeting grassroots members at small dinners and get-togethers. Teng is strongly supported by veteran DAP grassroots leaders like T. Kannan, James Ooi and Tee Boon Hock, who although sacked from the party for the “support letters” scandal is nevertheless the glue that is holdi...

By Lim Mun Fah What will Datuk Zaid Ibrahim do now that he has dropped out of the PKR deputy presidency race and resigned from all his party positions? Some people have called him as a political marginal man as it seems that neither the BN nor the Pakatan Rakyat is suitable for him. To most non-Malays, he is open-minded and moderate, but for many Malays, he is not Malay and Muslim enough. Zaid’s dilemmas is understandable, given the deep-rooted racial political scenario in Malaysia. In fact, there are many other marginal politicians in the MCA, MIC, Gerakan, and even the DAP. They are either being accused of not being Chinese enough or Indian enough. The sad reality in Malaysia is that decades of racial political culture has caused everything to take on racial connotations, resulting in many non-racial losing their focus. Everything is mixed up and there is no distinction between right and wrong any more, but only misunderstanding, suspicion, jealousy and hatred remain. Racial sentimen...

Umno vice-president and defense minister Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had recently told the parliament and the press that the low percentage of Malaysian Chinese and Indians in the armed forces were because members of these two communities are not patriotic. It shows that this Umno leader is simply avenging his anger on the Malaysian Chinese and Indians just because he failed to attract these two communities to join the armed forces or is he overly foolish to make such statements? But we think that he may belongs to two of these categories. Why by not enrolling or joining or having an interest in joining the armed forces shows that we are being unpatriotic or somehow a "penderhaka"? What makes you think that we all Malaysian Chinese and Indians who did not enroll in the armed forces are being considered not loyal to our country? Who do you think you are to say all these insulting words? You are being overly a racist when you made this statement. Being a voter, are we not patrioti...

By R.B.Bhattacharjee Virtually everyone has a favourite anecdote to illustrate how sub-standard many Malaysian workers have become, which strengthens the perception that the human capital base in the country has reached a critically low level. Some new examples came to the attention of this writer recently. One is that of a science teacher who mistakenly referred to a “crucible” as a “cucumber”, disconcerting her students greatly. A textile manufacturer laments that local engineers in his factory have to be supervised by a foreign peer because their competency is suspect. A senior corporate executive despairs of recruiting lawyers who can perform the basic functions of their job. And the list goes on. The feedback from business circles is that the supply of skilled workers, especially at the higher end of the scale, is a major constraint for their growth in Malaysia. Not surprisingly, efforts to address the shortage of human capital have become a constant theme in the government’s poli...

Barisan Nasional (BN) should not accommodate leaders who are racists and against the spirit of 1Malaysia, Gerakan vice president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said recently. Datuk Mah was responding to the chorus of dissatisfaction from the party’s delegates against such leaders in BN, which they believe was detrimental to efforts in regaining support from the non-Malay communities. First of all, does Gerakan has that particular strength to push or to pressure those racist BN leaders to leave the coalition. The real problem here is, most of the racist BN leaders are from Umno itself. Right now, Umno is one particular dominant and powerful component part in the coalition which also consist MCA, MIC, PPP, SUPP, PBB, UPKO, LDP, PBS, PBRS and PRS. SAPP had earlier left the coalition citing dissatisfaction over the neglect of the Sabah state by Umno and BN. Gerakan had lost mostly all of its parliamentary and state seats contested in the last general election. The party president himself had lost th...

The recent attack on the Selangor state assemblyman for Sekinchan Ng Suee Lim by a group of Tanjung Karang Umno division militiamen was disgusting and considered as an act of terrorism aimed at destroying the democratic process in our nation. What Suee Lim was trying to do is to do his best to help the people of Tanjung Karang when their plight and grievances fell to deaf ears when the villagers and farmers there filed their complaints to Tanjung Karang Umno division chief Datuk Noh Omar who is also a federal minister. Since Noh Omar failed to address the issues, plight and grievances filed by those poor villagers and farmers there, it is Suee Lim's duties and responsibilities as a state assemblyman of the Selangor state to step in to assist them after the people there made their request known to him. Fearing of a possible embarrassment, Nor Omar then dispatched his Umno division militiamen to prevent Suee Lim from helping the people at Tanjung Karang. Failing to chase Suee Lim awa...

Deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has called on the Kedah PAS state government not to ignore the plight of flood victims, saying the state should also be responsible in providing assistance. It looks like Muhyiddin is trying to make some political gains out of the floods issue which is currently worsening in Kedah and the other northern states. Instead of assisting the Kedah state government in handling the flood relief and resolve the complex situation there, Muhyiddin and Umno is making things worst by telling the people of Kedah to "rise" against the state government, blaming the PAS for not doing much to help the people and being "overly" depending on the federal government. The Umno deputy president is trying to push all the blame of the worsening flood situation on the state government and then pay a visit to the state to act like a "hero" to the people. No way the people is going to succumb to your lies and pol...

By TK Tan Recently, the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) of Malaysia released the half yearly circulation figures as at 31 December 2009 for most major daily newspapers, or colloquially known as the mainstream media (MSM) papers. The omens are certainly disconcerting for many of these MSM paper owners. The traditional mainstays of the English and Bahasa Malaysia dailies i.e. the Star, New Strait Times (NST), Utusan Malaysia (UM) and Berita Harian (BH) all recording drops in their circulation figures, with BH and its weekend edition Berita Minggu recording a staggering 24 and 31 percent drop from 2006 to 2009 respectively. For some, it is a sign of times when the grand dame of MSM papers in Malaysia, the NST, was noted to have commanded less than 90,000 copies daily for those copies sold at full rates, well below most major vernacular dailies. Only Sin Chew Daily (SCD) bucked the trend, when it recorded an 18 percent increase over the same time period. However, the tabloid-like dailies...

Did you realize that victims of crimes were being arrested here? Why? Because they held the truth firmly in their hands and hearts. Selangor State Executive Councillor Teresa Kok was arrested and detained under the ISA after she lodged a police report against former state Umno chief Dr Mohd Khir Toyo who accused her of instigating non-Muslims to demonstrate against the loud azans of a mosque in her constituency. The bilal of the mosque had later came out in her defense, clearly denying that she had ever involve in an attempt demonstration against the loud azan of the mosque. The police did not take Dr Khir Toyo into custody because he is closely associated to the then home affairs minister Syed Hamid Albar. The then Bukit Bendera Umno division chairman Ahmad Ismail made a seditious speech during a by-election campaign in Permatang Pauh, Butterworth by calling the Malaysian Chinese as "pendatang" and mere temporary residents of Malaysia. Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, toget...