Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 22/7/2014 The formation of the Negara-Ku movement ought to be welcomed by all as this new NGO’s aim is to heal our nation of divisiveness which has been caused by the rising influence of the racist and extremist groups. As we all know, Negara-Ku’s primary objective is to promote national unity, peace and harmony among the multi-racial and multi-religious communities. It is a fact that the Negara-Ku movement has nothing against anybody or any parties at all. This NGO is promoting positive values amongst Malaysians from all walks of life by going back to the basics to counter negative elements that are threatening to tear our communities apart. We should well note that although the racist and extremist groups are no doubt a mere minority, it would be a big mistake to ignore their threat from afar. We must remember that the existence of the originally small band of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters was initially ignored by th...

Constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari has advised the police to be mindful of the law and not to act in a "mechanical" fashion. "And since when has the sultan's wrath become a reason to investigate?" "The police should be mindful of the law, apply their mind to the issue at hand. Don't just act mechanically," added the vocal academic in a statement. Aziz was commenting on the investigations under the Sedition Act against PAS leader Khalid Samad (right), whose remarks regarding the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) angered the sultan. He said the Shah Alam MP had merely suggested amending the law to curb Mais' executive powers and did not mention the sultan. "It was others who linked his suggestion with the sultan's position and power. Khalid did not say anything about the sultan. "What's wrong about making the suggestion? Since when a suggestion to amend the law pertaining to a corporation like Mais has become seditio...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 10/7/2014 The Sedition Act should be abolished as soon as possible before it is manipulated further to the detriment of the nation. It is very clear that the Sedition Act has been abused for mostly political reasons by those in power. The Sedition Act does not serve its original purpose anymore but is a mere political tool for those in power to maintain their grip, protecting their personal interests and covering up whatever wrongdoings they have committed. In 1993, the then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad initiated an amendment to the Federal Constitution to curb the powers of the Malay rulers and to subject their actions to the relevant laws via a Special Court. When the late DAP national chairman Karpal Singh used the amendment initiated by Mahathir in 1993 to state that the Perak Sultan had committed an error in recognising Umno’s power grab in Perak in February 2009, the Sedition Act was used to charge Karpal with inst...

National laureate A Samad Said and former Malaysian Bar president Ambiga Sreenevasan have formed a new NGO to battle racism and extremism in the nation. The outfit is called, "A people's movement to reclaim our nation (Negaraku)". Speaking at the launch today, Ambiga said following the general election, there has been an increase in racial and religious rhetoric in the country, as if certain quarters have a "hidden agenda" to create chaos. These, she said, included "statements from certain leaders" about the May 13 racial riots of 1969. Both Samad and Ambiga were former chairpersons of electoral watchdog Bersih. Joining them in Negaraku is former judge and human rights commissioner Simon Sipaun. The coalition is made up of 60 other NGOs and is chaired by former Bersih steering committee member and Ikram vice president Zaid Kamaruddin. Nation-building neglected Zaid said that the coalition is non-partisan and is aimed at educating the rakyat on the con...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 2/7/2014 Racist and extremist groups, most of them believed linked to Umno, the dominant party of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), have been continuously claiming that the Malay community and Islam are under threat. They use this to constantly urge Malay Muslims nationwide to come forward in order to “defend” their special rights at all costs. The question here is, who is actually threatening the Malays and Islam in particular? As we all know, the Malay Muslim community forms the majority in Malaysia. Islam has been enshrined in our Federal Constitution as the official religion in the federation and nobody can dispute this. Furthermore, it is also very clear that Umno has been ruling our nation uninterrupted since our nation achieved its independence in 1957. Under Umno’s governance, the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced and a number of Malay and Bumiputera first policies were implemented to guide and develop the community...

Taking a very important decision, the Supreme Court on Monday, July 7, ruled out that Fatwas and Sharia courts are illegal. The apex court claimed that the Sharia courts, which dispense justice among Muslim community members, have no legal sanctity and at times their order infringes the fundamental rights of the people. Headed by Justice CK Prasad, the apex court bench said that religious courts cannot pass an order that infringes on the fundamental rights of a person or of an affected person on a plea by a third person.  The court said the Sharia courts can only pass edicts and only when an affected person approaches it. The court said this while disposing of a petition that sought to put a cap on Sharia courts, saying that they were functioning as parallel to the country's judicial system. The epic judgement came following a legal petition filed by by a Delhi based lawyer Vishwa Lochan Madan in 2005. Mr Madan, in his petition, challenged legality of Shariat courts. T...

Christians are not alone in their struggle to use the word "Allah" in Malaysia, as Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGO) have taken it upon themselves to educate fellow Malays that the word predates Islam. Islamic NGOs, such as Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) , have taken to social media to spread awareness on the issue, bringing with them views that are a far cry from the threats and exclusivity espoused by groups such as Perkasa and Isma. “Yes, it is possible for Muslims to voice their support (for the Christians), and Muslims have been doing that – most visibly on social media. There’s been an outpouring of voices who have critiqued the Federal Court’s decision (on the Allah issue),” SIS programme manager Suri Kempe told The Malaysian Insider. “SIS has also been using our social media channels as a platform for discussion, which is essential for people to understand the issue and formulate an opinion.” On its Facebook page, SIS shares ...

First, when the flight MH370 went missing in the middle of its flight to Beijing in the early of last March, the BN government blamed the opposition leaders for trying to tarnish the country's image in the eyes of the international community. Now, when the news of a Malaysian embassy junior official was caught for rape, assault and burglary in New Zealand, and officials from Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) tried to cover up the entire fiasco, the BN government again blamed the opposition leaders for attempting to tarnish our country's image. Then, when it was made known that Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman was fired as Universiti Malaya's Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel) as well as dean of the UM's Faculty of Arts and Social Science, the Education Ministry tried to cover up the whole episode by claiming that Dr Redzuan's contract was "not renewed", the BN government again blame the opposition for trying to turn things upside do...

Militan Kumpulan Negara Iraq dan Jajahannya (Isil) merancang untuk menakluk Arab Saudi dan memusnahkan Kaabah, lapor media Turki. Seorang ahli Kumpulan Militan Negara Islam di Iraq dan Syria (Isis), Abu Turab Al Mugaddasi berkata mereka akan menakluki kota suci umat Islam itu dan memulakan operasi dari sana. "Jika Allah izinkan, kami akan membunuh sesiapa yang menyembah batu di Mekah dan memusnahkan Kaabah. "Mereka ke Mekah untuk menyentuh batu dan bukan kerana Allah," lapor India Today memetik sumber berkenaan. Isil pada Isnin mengisytiharkan penubuhan 'kerajaan khalifah Islam' di kawasan yang ditawan ketika tentera Iraq melancarkan operasi menawan semula bandar Tikrit, lapor AFP. Dalam rakaman audio yang disebarkan melalui Internet, Isil turut mengangkat ketuanya, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sebagai khalifah dan pemimpin umat Islam di seluruh dunia. Melalui pengumuman itu, Isil mendakwa, kerajaan baharu itu terbentuk dari Aleppo di utara Syria sehingga ke Diyala, du...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 24/6/2014 Hasn’t the BN federal government realised what happened to the country’s national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) after all these years? MAS has been bleeding the past three years. It suffered a loss of RM2.52 billion in 2011, followed by losses of RM433 million in 2012 and RM1.2 billion in 2013. For the first quarter of 2014, MAS recorded a net loss of RM443.4 million and no improvements are expected in the later months or even in the next two years. Its share had also plunged to all-time lows. As we all know, MAS is a government-linked company (GLC) with Khazanah Nasional as the largest shareholder and being a GLC, MAS had proven that it cannot perform at all, as evident from its continuous losses. Khazanah itself has no expertise in running an airline. Furthermore, being the government’s investment arm, Khazanah already has too many GLCs under its care and it couldn’t give its full attention just to MAS. As such, Kha...

My article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 14/6/2014 MCA has decided to accept cabinet positions after its delegates voted to allow the party to rejoin the Umno-dominated BN government, while Gerakan was promised a ministerial position if the party president was voted back into Parliament in the recent Teluk Intan by-election. Well, the wishes of MCA and Gerakan have finally come through. The two BN component parties will once again enjoy their government privileges after a long absence. However, the leaders of MCA and Gerakan should be reminded that this is no honeymoon for them. People are still watching the way politics has been played by these two parties which were almost wiped out in the last two general elections. The people still see both MCA and Gerakan as being too dependent on the powerful and dominant Umno in the BN coalition. It has been noted that when the opposition Islamist party PAS made an attempt to table a private bill in Parliament to pave the way for ...