Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 18/5/2014 Another abduction has taken place, another breach of security, another breach of our nation’s sovereignty and are we going to expect more of such to come? This is the question that we are not putting to the federal government and the various security administrators of our nation. Where are they right now when crucial answers and explanations are required to ease the public outcry over the current situation in Sabah. The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), which was established in March 2013 under the direct purview of the Prime Minister’s Department, is now under heavy public criticism following yet another abduction by foreign gunmen who are believed to be closely link to a terror group based in the southern Philippines. It seems that the security and control in Sabah still remain a very confusing affair. No one, not even the Sabah state government, knows who is exactly in charge of the security command to ensure t...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 10/5/2014 PAS has expressed its intention to table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament next month to pave the way for the PAS-led Kelantan government to implement hudud law in the state. The PAS-dominated Kelantan state assembly had passed the Islamic penal law in 1993. In 2002, the PAS-controlled Terengganu state assembly too passed the Hudud Bill for implementation in the state. Recently, the Umno-led Perlis state government also expressed its intention to implement hudud law in the country’s smallest state. Even the Selangor Umno chief Datuk Noh Omar has openly voiced his support for hudud. Given this trend, many of us are beginning to voice our concerns over the proposed implementation of hudud. It looks like hudud is slowly getting its foot in. Some said that hudud is unconstitutional, against human rights and does not serve any “proper justice”. Arguments aside, there are also vast differences between theory and practice...

Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak warned Malaysia’s youth to hold fast to moderation and steer clear of liberal and pluralistic beliefs that would destroy the country. “The youth have to stay away from extreme beliefs which can bring harm to the country and (themselves). They also need to avoid being trapped in the liberal or pluralism belief. “The best approach is to hold on to moderation,” he said in Malay during his speech before presenting awards in conjunction with National Youth Day 2014 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here. The prime minister is telling off the youths of our nation to be moderate, avoid liberal and plural beliefs that he said, would eventually destroy the country. We would like to ask Najib, why didn't he tell this to his radical and extreme colleagues and subordinates in Umno? Najib, before you decided to teach our youths about moderation, tell the radicals, racists and extremists in the Umno, Perkasa, Isma, Pekida, Muafakat, ...

Hudud law should be first tried on the country’s elites and royals, Muslim activist Zainah Anwar suggested today as a way to prove that the Islamic penal code will be applied fairly before it is introduced to the rest of Malaysia. The director of Musawah and former Sisters in Islam chief argued the controversial hudud law is vulnerable to abuse, pointing to evidence of injustice in countries where the law is in effect. “If you really want to implement the hudud laws, let’s do a test run and I think it should only apply to the Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, to the state assemblymen, to the mentri besars, and to the royal families. “Let’s test on them first because you know they are not going to be prosecuted, you know it’s going to be people like you and I here,” she said at the forum entitled “What is hudud” at the MCA headquarters. Zainah said the debate on implementing hudud is distracting the society from more important matters such as corruption, urban poverty and the g...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 30/4/2014 According to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) deputy chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, there are many Malaysians who strive to continue building racial harmony in our nation. Lee, who is also a former DAP deputy secretary-general, urged Malaysians to fight racism together. The NUCC, established by the government in November 2013, was tasked with advising the administration on efforts to unite the various ethnic groups as well as instilling the spirit of unity among the multiracial communities. The NUCC has gone on a nationwide roadshow to seek feedback from the public and NGOs, and of course its efforts should be acknowledged. However, a big question remains here. What has the federal government done to check the rising racial tensions? Despite various reports and comments discussed by the NUCC recently, we have yet to see any government action on several NUCC recommendations. The government must realise ...

Malaysia should consider enacting laws prohibiting hate speech, former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said today amid controversial remarks by Muslim groups attacking the minority Chinese and Christians. The activist, however, expressed reservations on whether new legislation governing free speech, or the National Harmony Act which is set to replace the Sedition Act, would be implemented fairly. “Going by the Sedition Act, it’s so obvious — the blatant abuse of the Sedition Act,” Ambiga told The Malay Mail Online today. DAP leader Teresa Kok was charged with sedition last Tuesday over a satirical video clip that purportedly mocked the education system and the Sulu terrorist intrusion in Lahad Datu. The late Karpal Singh, then the national chairman of the DAP opposition party, was also convicted with sedition last February for saying that the Perak sultan’s actions in the 2009 state constitutional crisis could be questioned in a court of law. After Ikatan Muslimin Ma...

A big question here! Are both the Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) as well as the civil service slowly turning into triads? In Cuepacs, are all its members required to declare the utmost loyalty or should we say, blind loyalty to the government and the leader of this country without any question? So does the civil service, all civil servants are required to declare their full unquestionable loyalty to their masters? Being a member of Cuepacs and a civil servant, are all required to give up their basic human rights, their basic democratic rights as well as their constitutional rights in order to be part of Cuepacs and in the civil service? Both Cuepacs president Azih Muda and the Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Ali Hamsa should explain if they are serious of their respective "orders" or "warnings" onto all civil servants nationwide, following the mass protest against the implementation of the Goods and Servi...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 21/4/2014 When the Auditor-General’s (AG) Report was released recently, it again exposed how government ministries, departments, agencies as well as government-linked companies (GLCs) embarked on many kinds of multi-million ringgit projects and procurements that resulted in wastage of public funds. In most cases, there were no clues as to where the money ended up. It has become a yearly affair and efforts by the AG to curb all this mismanagement within the government have been in vain. What went wrong actually? The AG’s report has been tabled in Parliament and debated by the MPs every year, and yet nobody could decide how these financial fiascos should be stopped once and for all. The general public has many critical questions for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Public Service Department (PSD), and also on the role of Parliament in ensuring that the day-to-day affairs of the government are properly run to serve public ...