Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

Rencana saya ini telah diterbitkan dalam Aliran.com pada 15/12/2015. Tindakan kerajaan Barisan Nasional yang begitu menyegerakan kelulusan RUU MKN tanpa melalui proses perbahasan dan kajian yang teliti dalam kalangan ahli-ahli Dewan Rakyat bagaikan suatu penghinaan terhadap institusi demokrasi berpalimen di dalam negara kita ini. Dengan terlulusnya RUU MKN ini, maka ianya bakal melalui satu lagi peringkat pembentangan dan undian di Dewan Negara (Senat) sebelum ianya dapat dipersembahkan kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong untuk dipersetujui dan diwartakan sebagai sebuah badan keselamatan yang sah. Persoalannya adalah, apakah niat dan tujuan yang sebenarnya kerajaan BN mencadang dan menyegerakan proses pembentukan MKN ini? Berdasarkan kepada: keadaan ekonomi yang tidak stabil, persoalan yang masih timbul dalam skandal 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), skandal RM2.6bn perdana menteri, pemberontakan dalaman Umno, pengaruh parti-parti pembangkang yang semakin meningkat, pembongk...

Barry Grey, WSWS Global stock markets plunged Friday as oil prices hit new lows, threatening to crash the junk bond market and trigger a new financial meltdown. Investor nervousness was heightened by the prospect of the US Federal Reserve Board raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when it meets next week. Fed officials have repeatedly signaled to the financial markets that any increase will be small and interest rates will remain well below normal levels for an indefinite period. However, any increase from the current near-zero level will likely intensify a selloff of junk bonds, a large percentage of which are energy-related, threatening to destabilize the entire credit system. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 309 points (1.76 percent), the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 39 points (1.94 percent), and the Nasdaq index fell 111 points (2.21 percent). For the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.8 percent, its worst week since late August, at the he...

We have seen the total failure of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, not only its failure to administer our nation but the coalition’s entire leadership, administration and system has been tainted with mass corruption, mismanagement and power abuse. It is a total disaster. Even the prime minister and his entire cabinet is a total failure, having become a laughing stock throughout the world. Well, what about the opposition bloc? From Pakatan Rakyat to Pakatan Harapan and later on what Pakatan more, we won’t know yet as of now. Leaders of the opposition parties in Pakatan are still bickering among themselves over who is bigger, smaller or who should listen to whom. And they are still bickering today. Thanks to PAS’ destructive kind of religious conservatism, Pakatan had effectively lost its strong voice in the parliament today. The people who has been putting so much hope on Pakatan to get rid of BN are now feeling hopeless and frustrated because our nation is turning f...

My article has earlier appeared in the Beritadaily.com on 20/10/2015 The Barisan Nasional government’s growing intolerance towards criticism and opposition to its rule in the recent years has seen many individuals, critics, dissidents, commentators and opposition leaders being arrested, charged in the court and subsequently convicted. By now, the government should realise that the current legal process of purging such criticisms and opposition actually takes a long time to “prove” the “wrongs” in order to convict the offenders. As such, the question to be asked is this: Are your measures really good enough in stopping all those criticisms and opposition? Will these individuals, critics, dissidents, commentators and opposition leaders stop doing so after they have been convicted, fined and jailed? Are these critics afraid of you after their prosecution? The problem is that these people will keep on criticising and exposing all the irregularities in the government. And the governmen...

My article has earlier appeared in the Beritadaily.com on 13/10/2015 In our nation’s current situation, it looks like Barisan Nasional (BN) is the only coalition of political parties to be 'reckoned' with as the other political parties or political coalitions seem to be always bickering and 'unstable'. This is what BN and its leaders are trying to emphasise to the people, confusing them between the so-called labelling of their 'stability' and others’ 'instability'. BN is now playing hard with such words to ensure the people are distracted from the BN’s various financial scandals and corruption. On the other hand, the Opposition parties too are in no good position as they have been politicking continuously all this while instead of projecting themselves as an 'alternative government-in-waiting' in developing their policymaking and debates which benefit the people, the economy and the entire nation. BN has also opted for racial and relig...

Interest groups are one important avenue which the people of Malaysia make their ideas, demands, needs and views known to elected representatives or legislation be it to the ruling party or the opposition parties. People normally find an interest group that focuses on their concerns and daily cores. Not all interest groups are political motivated, but many of these interest groups may try to or campaign to influence public policies. Interest groups in Malaysia exist in various forms, via  formal structure, registered as a society, club or association, which we usually call them as non-governmental organizations (NGOs); in certain circumstances some interest groups may also register in a form of a company limited by guarantee, private limited company or as a small business entity. This is due to the fact that the government's registrar of societies' reluctance to see these NGOs flourish under their book. The other type of interest groups are existing in an informal stru...

Malaysia today is in the mess! The entire nation is in total mess! Barisan Nasional (BN) is making  a mess in our nation. The BN chairman is still in denial mode. He is playing hide and seek with the people. The BN chairman is hiding his head under the sand over the 1MDB scandal which caused billions of Ringgit loss. The BN chairman is also hiding under the sand over his "donation" of RM2.6 billion from an Arab businessman or corporation into his very personal account. Scandals after scandals. Billions after billions of Ringgit of public fund is just going to go missing again and again after all. To shift public attention from the billion dollar scandals, the "United Monkeys National Organization" has decided to pull the string by staging "The Rise of The Planet of The Apes" drama in red colours over our nation's capital during our Malaysia Day holiday to claim that a so-called race and religion is under threat of "going-off" soon si...

Pada perhimpunan Bersih 4, kita semua telahpun menyaksikan puluhan ribu rakyat Malaysia dari seluruh pelusuk negara tidak mengira kaum, agama, warna kulit atau taraf turun ke Kuala Lumpur secara beramai-ramai untuk melahirkan ketidakpuasan mereka terhadap kemelut yang sedang melanda negara kita. Apa yang perlu kita katakan terhadap tindakan sebilangan besar rakyat Malaysia yang telah berkumpul secara beramai-ramai di ibu negara pada dua hari ini untuk menyertai perhimpunan Bersih 4? Begitu juga dengan rakyat Malaysia yang berada di luar negara? Ya, mereka sepatutnya dicapkan sebagai patriot dan rakyat Malaysia yang sejati kerana mereka sungguh prihatin dan sayangkan negara mereka. Mereka keluar beramai-ramai dengan berbaju kuning kerana ingin melahirkan kebimbangan mereka terhadap keadaan dan kemelut yang sedang memusnahkan negara tanah tumpah darahnya mereka. Skandal yang berlaku di dalam kerajaan yang diterajui Barisan Nasional (BN) tidak habis-habis dan asyik berulang dan t...

Daripada apa yang kita semua telah dan sedang perhatikan pada hari ini, kita semua telahpun menyedari bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) sememangnya lebih mementingkan keselamatan politiknya (political security) daripada menumpukan perhatian mereka terhadap kebajikan dan sosio-ekonomi rakyat jelata. Penyalahgunaan kuasa, perlakuan rasuah dan macam-macam jenis penyelewengan serta skandal di dalam kerajaan BN telah menyebabkan negara kehilangan berbilion-bilion Ringgit pada setiap tahun. Walaupun laporan ketua audit negara telah dilaporkan pada setiap tahun, dibentang dan dibahaskan di dalam parlimen tahun demi tahun, janji-janji daripada Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) dan Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Negara (PAC) untuk mengambil tindakan terhadap mereka-mereka yang bertanggungjawab, namun, sehingga kini, janji tinggal janji, kerana badan-badan tersebut sebenarnya tidak mempunyai kuasa yang mencukupi untuk bertindak terhadap unsur-unsur yang negatif tersebut. Daripada ...

Pendedahan kepada umum mengenai penyelewengan, penyalahgunaan kuasa dan rasuah yang berlaku di kalangan para pemimpin, pegawai kerajaan dan mereka yang beruurusan secara langsung dengan kerajaan adalah wajar dan patut dialu-alukan, serta digalakkan di kalangan rakyat jelata. Selain daripada itu, pendedahan mengenai salahlaku yang berlaku di dalam kerajaan ini juga tidak akan menyebabkan sebarang rusuhan ataupun kacau bilau oleh rakyat jelata, malah rakyat akan sedar dan mengetahui apakah kerajaan yang sekarang mampu memberikan khidmat mereka yang berkesan kepada rakyat dan negara. Rakyat tidak akan merusuh semata-mata kerana telah mengetahui bahawa kerajaan yang ada sekarang telah banyak melakukan kesalahan dan penyelewengan sepanjang pemerintahannya. Justeru daripada itu, kenyataan baru-baru ini oleh seorang pegawai tinggi polis yang berpangkat “Jeneral” yang mengatakan mereka dan pihak yang mendedahkan salahlaku yang berlaku di dalam kerajaan bakal menyebabkan rusuhan dan ketidakt...

Artikel saya ini telah diterbitkan di dalam akhbar Sosialis terbitan bulan Mei-Jun 2015 Apakah yang dimaksudkan berkomentar? Begitu juga dengan kritikan, apakah maknanya di sebalik? Bagaimana pula dengan teguran? Berkomentar adalah bermaksud memberikan pandangan yang meliputi pelbagai sudut, makna dan tujuan. Kritikan adalah sesuatu pandangan yang kurang atau tidak menyokong sesuatu tajuk, perbuatan ataupun dasar, manakala teguran adalah merupakan suatu tindakan yang lebih menonjol untuk cuba memperbetul atau cuba membongkar sesuatu dengan pandangan atau kata-kata yang lebih kritikal dan sinis. Di dalam apajua bentuk ataupun tindakan berkomentar, mengkritik dan menegur pihak-pihak yang tertentu, ianya adalah sebahagian daripada lumrah dan kehidupan kelompok kemanusiaan yang sejagat. Ianya berlaku hampir pada setiap hari. Di dalam amalan sistem demokrasi pada hari ini, tindakan berkomentar, mengkritik dan menegur pemimpin kerajaan, jabatan dan agensi pentadbiran berserta de...

"Talking about reform in PAS, is it possible? For decades, they have been harping over religion and race from one end to the other end, and start from the beginning again after having gone circling around for so long. The question here is, are they ready to face the realities of today?" This, according to them, is because the party's current model of politics is no longer appropriate in today's global political reality. The political observers predicted that with the pro-ulama faction growing stronger, the upcoming party polls will see the professionals in the Islamist party soundly defeated. As such, delegates will have to either vote for the professionals - so that they can fully lead the party - or isolate themselves from the ulama to form a new party before later joining Pakatan Rakyat partners, PKR and DAP, and other civil movements. This is one of the exit plans that needed to be considered by the professionals in the party after the much anticipated 61st...

Malaysia’s embattled prime minister provoked fierce criticism Friday by not attending an event at which he was to defend himself over an escalating scandal threatening to engulf his administration. Prime Minister Najib Razak had been expected to use the public forum to hit back at critics of a state-owned development company he launched that is reeling under billions of dollars of debt and accusations of fraud. But after 89-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad — the chief voice pushing for Najib’s ouster over the affair — showed up to speak at the event, police ordered it shut down, citing unspecified “public order and national harmony” concerns. Political opponents and Malaysia’s active social-media scene accused Najib of engineering the cancellation to avoid facing his main accuser in public. “He lost an opportunity to win over support for himself, to explain everything… that no money is missing,” Mahathir was quoted saying by The Malaysian Insider news portal. ...

Baru-baru ini, satu majlis agama dari sebuah negeri telah mendakwa bahawa undang-undang agama yang ada adalah lebih tinggi tarafnya daripada Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan segala enakmen agama yang diluluskan dan dijadikan undang-undang boleh mengabaikan hak asasi seseorang seperti yang termaktub di dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Dan sehingga pada hari ini, kerajaan pusat masih membisu dengan dakwaan majlis agama tersebut yang kini mendapat kritikan yang meluas daripada kalangan rakyat jelata. Persoalannya adalah, kenapa majlis agama tersebut dibenarkan bermaharajalela dengan mencabar kesahihan Perlembagaan Persekutuan? Tindakan majlis agama yang begitu berani mencabar undang-undang yang tertinggi dalam negara ini menunjukkan sikap bongkak mereka sehinggakan sanggup menghina perlembagaan tersebut yang merupakan tunggak kepada pembentukan dan kedudukan negara kita pada hari ini. Malah, Artikel 75 Perlembagaan Persekutuan turut menyebut jika sekiranya ada undang-undang negeri yang berc...

Apakah Umno dengan PAS sudah tidak lagi mempunyai sebarang keberanian untuk menghadapi cabaran dalam dunia politik dan ekonomi yang kini sedang diselubungi dengan kemajuan sains and teknologi yang begitu pesat? Daripada membalas segala dakwaan yang kononnya tindakan mereka adalah tidak betul, kurang wajar, tidak masuk akal, tidak adil, tidak berperikemanusiaan, berat sebelah, enggan menerima hakikat, keengganan menerima kemajuan dan perubahan dan sebagainya, Umno dan PAS kini lebih suka menggunakan isu-isu agama dan perkauman sebagai senjata mereka untuk menghadapi pelbagai dugaan. Hanya isu-isu agama dan perkauman sahaja yang dapat melindungi mereka daripada segala-gala kritikan dan kecaman daripada pelbagai pihak baik daripada parti-parti pembangkang mahupun daripada pertubuhan-pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang giat memperjuangkan hak asasi kemanusiaan dan hak wanita. Umno, yang masih berkerajaan kini semakin buas dengan tindakannya mempergunakan segala undang-undang yan...

We applaud the move made by DAP recently to establish their own shadow cabinet to oversee and provide check and balance on the current Barisan Nasional (BN) government following the ineffectiveness of the parliamentary shadow committees which was established in 2008, then becoming defunct in 2013. We do not want to blame the Opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PKR, DAP and PAS) over the ineffectiveness of the parliamentary shadow committees initiated earlier, but we should blame the BN government for its refusal to recognize the institution of a shadow cabinet in this country. The internal bickering among component parties of Pakatan Rakyat is a secondary issue as in a democracy of a coalition structure, each of the component parties should agree to disagree with each other constructively in order to be equals in the coalition, compare to the one in BN where all its component parties need to be subservient to the dominance of Umno, the main and leading party in the BN coalition. Th...

Well, the DAP had recently announced the party’s shadow cabinet line-up to check on the BN government’s performances and administration after being frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat’s 2008 shadow cabinet of one representative each from PKR, DAP and PAS to oversee all the government ministries. Thumbs up for DAP for not wanting to waste any time and to check on the BN government to ensure good governance and service to our people and the nation. Asides, DAP had also called on its coalition partners PKR and PAS to come up with the line-ups of their own to also check on the government’s performance. Then, suddenly PAS president Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang came out with a strong and negative message against DAP by claiming that the later’s shadow cabinet line-up had proven that DAP had wanted to govern alone should it come to power one day and not to forget that the PAS leader also mentioned that there is an attempt to establish a “Chinese governm...

By Doug Enaa Greene In 2008 one of the best-selling novels in Japan was an eighty-year-old novel: Kanikosen (Crab Cannery Ship) by the communist author Takiji Kobayashi. The book is a story about a crew of fishermen who rebel against the wretched working conditions on a Japanese crabbing ship by going on strike and attempting to take over their ship. Amid the global financial crisis, the novel, previously selling a moderate five thousand copies per year shot up to sales of five hundred thousand. Four new manga versions were also produced, and in 2009 Japanese director Hiroyuki Tanaka (Sabu) made a film based on the novel. Kobayashi’s work touched a nerve in contemporary Japan, plagued by growing inequality, insecurity, and the effects of a two-decade economic slump. Kanikosen laid bare not only the grueling reality of capitalism, but also the possibility of united resistance by workers. Although Kobayashi’s Crab Cannery Ship has been in English translation since 1933 (albeit as an...