PKR should Just Sack Manikavasagam.

I wish to refer to your article 'Will Mike make good on his threat'.

The member of Parliament of Kapar should not only quit his PKR post but should also relinquish his Parliament seat. His antics and threats to the PKR party is a disgrace and such behaviour should not even be tolerated by the party hierachy. For one man to hold the party to ransom is a sad reflection of poor management of the party. If he does not quit the party then he should be sacked.We dont need M.Ps who constantly issue threats in order to get their way.This member of parliament must be taught a lesson that he did not win the election on the basis of his personality.He won the seat because people wanted a change . If PKR had put a dog or a pig in his place they would also would have won with a handsome majority. Manikavasagam should not be imbued with his own pride that he won the seat on his own ability.

Its about time that Manikavasagam and many of his indian colleagues who have been too concern about their self importance should re-examine their contribution in the march 8th election.In all the seats that they contested they could not have won a single seat without the support of the chinese and malay voters.The indians votes alone could not have elected them as member of parliament.That reality should be evident to the most optimistic candidate and it would do alot of justice if Manikavasagam realises this equation. It was not the indian voters that put him there and if he was to be arrogant in saying that they will form an independent party for the indian PKR M.Ps then it is likely that all of them will only serve one term as Parliamentarians.

For 50 years, the MIC represented the Indian community and all they have to show was a Minister and a few Parliamentary Secretary in the govt to represent them. When the opposition won in Penang and Perak, a Deputy Chief Minister Post was given to an Indian and in the Perak Legislature the Speaker Post was similarly allocated to an Indian.All this was accomplished in a space of few weeks after the election which put the opposition in power in the two States.Manikavasagam should realise that this are giants strides accomplished for the indian community and if he is still bent on biting the hands that feed him I suggest he should leave the position he was elected and let there be a by-election for the people to decide who should represent them.

This time if Manikavasagam does not resign from the party then the leadership should just sack him. The party would be better off without him in the long run. After his latest episode I doubt the voters in his constituency would ever elect him again.There will not be any solidarity in the Pakataan Rakyat if such maverick politicians are constantly allowed to threaten the party leadership.

Perak Mufti does nto Deserve the Tokoh Maal Hijrah Award.

How extraordinary that someone with a blemish record of inciting a riot against a christian church could be rewarded with a Tokoh Maal Hijrah award.This Perak Mufti also made an unsubstantiated statement that there were 100,000 apostates in the country. Where he obtained this figure is only left to conjecture.Therefore one would question those who are responsible for awarding the Tokoh why was this controversial character given such a distingush title when he hardly deserve it in the first place. In fact his appointment has only make a mockery of the occassion.

A person more worthy of the accolade should have been the Perlis Mufti whose many statements regarding religious matters have been an enlightenment.So can the authorities responsible for bestowing the title please justify how a least deserved person could have won the title of the Tokoh Maal Hijrah award?

Merry Christmas

Wishing All My Christian Readers, Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

Penang To keep Bumiputra Quota

Now that Penang has decided to follow Kedah in retaining the bumiputra quota in housing, we are beginning to see the retention of the old B.N practice of perpetuating the race based policy in Housing.Selangor too has remained mute regarding the abolishment of the Housing policy based on race.Prior to the march 8th election it was advocating a policy that if they win they would introduce a housing policy which was based on poverty and need and not on race where rich bumiputras were able to enjoy subsidise houses when poor indians and chinese had to pay the full price.This practice tantamount to poor non malays subsidising rich Bumis in the purchase of houses.

What perhaps anger me and most fair minded malaysians is why is it so difficult to abolish a perverted policy and substitute one that is fair.?And why is the Pakatan Rakyat governed states finding it so difficult to change B.N's race based policy when it was clearly evident that it was discriminatory and racist in nature.?Is not the result of the march 8th election an indication of the people's fervent desire for a change?Then why is Pakatan Rakyat states dancing to the same tune of the B.N old policies?

If DAP, PKR and PAS cannot fulfil what it has promised in its manifesto then maybe all those who voted for them believing there would be a change would have to reconsider their support in the next election.The people voted for a change and if the Pakatan Rakyat governed states cannot provide the impetus for that change then its time we look elsewhere for another party that can initiate that change.If need be maybe we should even revert back to B.N's rule and hope that they have learn their lesson in the last election.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha

Najib:Razak Baginda is not involved.

The whole picture in the Altantuya saga would be more complete if Najib, the DPM should now come out and state irrevocably that Razak Baginda was not at all involved in the murder of the mongolian model.Yes, then it would be a classic case of you scratch my back and I scratch yours.Razak must be naive to think that people is going to believe his self confessed version of events when so many unresolve issues remained unresolved.

Hello, what happened to the Statutory Declaration of private Investigator, Balasubramanian, who in his first S.D made an unequivocal statement that Najib was acquainted with the murdered model and that their relationship was more than plutonic.Not only was it more than plutonic, their sexual tryst was luridly described in detail.And just as quickly as the first S.D appeared a second S.D was hastily authored by the private investigator to dismiss the first S.D on the grounds that it was made under duress.It was never made clear where that duress originated from.And after having made the second S.D to deny the authencity of the first S.D he made a disappearing act worthy of David Copperfield .And till today, the David copperfield protege has simply vanished without trace and the police acting with indifference over the two contradictory S.D's which would have thrown the Altantuya case wide open.

And what about blogger Raja Petra Kamarrudin's Statutory Declaration linking the wife of Najib to be present at the murder scene ?These three S.Ds should have been compelling evidence to implicate the personalities mentioned in the S.Ds and yet for some mysterious reasons were never exhaustively investigated by the police and pursued by the public prosecutor.

And the most shocking turn of events was the acquittal of Razak Baginda , the central figure in the murder case , without his defence being called.The acquittal has made the case virtually 'floating' with two protagonists involved in a murder without any motives or connection whatsoever .And quite expectantly, the prosecutor did not even attempt to appeal the decision of the acquittal with the lame excuse that the Judge made a finding of fact that according to them was indisputable.

Without further investigation of the role of the DPM and the subsequent acquittal of Razak Baginda in the Altantuya murder case, the whole case crumble for want of a motive by the two body guards of the DPM who had no rhyme or reason to execute the murder of the Mongolian beauty.

An even in the unlikely event that both the body guards were to be convicted for the murder of the mongolian woman, there is every likelihood that both will not serve any prison term.Has any one ever wondered why the identity of the two police personal has been zealously guarded to the extent that there is no media publication of photos of the two men?And is it not possible that even after conviction the two men could be surreptiously released without the knowledge of any one other than those who had planned to protect the identity of the two men?

The Altantuya murder case becomes even more perplexing when two men who are strangers to the murder victim are being charged with a violent crime that was designed to totally obliterate any evidence and trace of the Mongolian woman.And why would any one attempt to eradicate immigration records of the mongolian entry into the country?All these purported act to manipulate evidence lend further credence that unseen hands and unseen actors play a crucial role in the murder of the mongolian beauty.

It is a farcical attempt for the court to try and convict two men who at best would be scapegoats for the real perpetrators.

P.M's "Anyone can Be P.M' is an outright lie.

Our Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi never ceases to amaze me. Even in the last leg of his tenure, he is still telling lies which any one listening to would know is an outright lie.
His recent statement that ‘anyone can be prime minister' in Malaysia really tops the mother of all his lies.

How could anyone from a minority race - either an Indian, Chinese, Iban or Kadazan etc, - be accepted as a PM when the simple appointment of a Chinese woman to be the acting general manager of PKNS could create such a ruckus?

Where was our PM when the hue and cry over that appointment took place? Not even a whimper from him and yet he has the gall to tell his audience that 'anyone can be PM’.

What about in Perak after the recent general election when DAP won the majority of the state seats?
Instead of a Chinese assembly person from the major winning party being given the Menteri Besar’s post (which by convention should have gone to the party winning the most seats) it was instead given to Malay assembly person whose party only won a few seats.

Malaysia has a long way to go before it can emulate what Barack Obama has achieved in America.

Umno and our present Malay leaders are too deeply entrenched in their Ketuanan Melayu policy that it is unlikely they will ever discard this race-based ideology that has served them so well for the last 50 years.

Even the mere mention of the weaknesses of this policy has brought the wrath of the Umno leadership on the erstwhile former law minister Zaid Ibrahim.
What more if there is any concerted attempt to abandon this policy in favour of one that does not discriminate against race, colour , creed or religion?

Americans have the shown to the world that they have moved beyond politics based on race and that even a miniority race member can become the president of the world's most powerful nation .

Unfortunately, in Malaysia we are still mired in racial and religious bigotry. Instead of uniting the various races with a multi-racial policy, they have instead embraced a divide-and-rule policy.
This is a policy which emphasises the bumiputera and non-bumiputera dichotomy. And after 50 years of BN rule, our nation has never been more vulnerable.

Why a Chinese Cannot Be a G.M of PKNS?

A weak leader always compromise. A decision made can be retracted the moment there is any opposition. That simply defines the personalityof Menteri Besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid.

His initial decision to appoint the Deputy general manager, Low as the General Manager was made for the simple reason that she was the most capable and suitable candidate for the post.It would have been history for PKNS to appoint a chinese to a post which had always been the domain of the malay bumiputra.Tan Sri Khalid would have won admiration and acholades if he had persisted with his initial desire to appoint the best. But later when he succumbed to PAS and UMNO's opposition and meekly conceded that it was only a temporary appointment, it became apparent that he was not made of sterner stuff. He exemplified his character as one who has no leadership qualities to lead and that he would wilt the moment there was some pressure or opposition.

The protest by the six staff bodies was uncharacteristic of employees dictating to employers who should manage them.No public body or firm would tolerate such nonsense and why should PKNS be an exception?If any of the staff had refused to work with the appointed G.M then they should resign and if they persist in their attitude then they should be sacked. PKNS assets and capital belongs to the State govt and not exclusive to any one race. The stated objectives of PKNS is not to enrich or help only one race. PKNS belongs to all Selangor state citizens and it is their rightful duty to assume that a proper and qualified person be appointed to manage the body.PKNS was never meant to be a vehicle to fill the quota of Bumiputras. For 51 years UMNO has inculculated that mentality with the malay race that now they are demanding for their own selfish purpose to continue with that unsavoury practice of appointing a malay G.M irrespective of his capabilities.

If PKR for all its exhortations of abandoning race-based policies cannot even appoint someone based on merit rather than based on race, then one can safely say that PKR days are numbered.We placed so much faith on PKR to move away from UMNO's race based policies and in the end it appears we have never departed at all from that old mentality which UMNO has consistently practiced.

Wishing All Our Indian readers HAPPY DEEPAVALI

Scrap Housing Quotas Based on Race.

Prior to the 8th March election, Pakatan made a promise in their manifesto that housing quotas would be based on need and poverty and not on race. Annuar himself on many of his ceramahs made that solemn promise.Now six months down the road, none of the five states that Pakatan took control has even started to dismantle that old bumi quota based on race.

What seems even more contradictory was the PAS govt in Kedah implementing a policy that require a 50% compliance of units to be sold to Bumis.Apparently, PAS did not subscribe to Pakatan's manifesto that Housing policy should be based on need and not on race.Instead it would seem that PAS was of the view that B.N's previous policy of 30% bumi quota was inadequate, thus the introduction of the 50% policy.

Looking at PAS history of administration in its state of Kelantan and Trengganu one thing becomes obvious.They just simply lack the experience of governing a state.Many a time they have shot themselves in the foot simply because they implemented populist policy which in reality did not work.

Introducing a 50% bumi policy in the housing sector simply means that rich bumis can buy houses at a 10% discount while poor chinese and indians have to bear the full cost. This translate to a very ridiculous situation where the poor non-malays has to subsidise the rich bumis.Not only is such a policy discriminatory but racist to the core.The criteria for qualification is race and not need or poverty.

Pakatan Rakyat made a promise that its policy would be based on poverty and need and that was the reason why it made a promise to abolish the NEP and replace it with a policy that was equitable to every one irrespective of race.That promise has not been kept in any of the PR governed states.

Tribunal Must Be Set Up To Try Past Politicians

When the final curtain closes on the B.N govt which had governed this nation for 51 years, a tribunal should be set up to try those politicians who have manipulated our country's Judiciary, the Police, the Attorney- General office and all the tainted public instituitions which had become beholden to their political masters.Included in this category should be those who had used and abused their position in office in furtherance of their political ambitions.

Begining with the last Prime Minister,Mahathir, his legacy was fraught with monumental corruption .During his 22 years tenure he had used govt resources to bail out his son's ailing shipping company, gave lucrative contracts to his children and cronies and in the process enriched himself with wealth that far exceeded his remuneration as the Prime Minister of this country.

Next would be the incumbent Prime Minister who had also used his position to secure contracts and services for his son's business and also for his son-in-law, Khairy.He should then be investigated for the abuse of his powers in using the ISA to incarcerate civilians and politicians who had not threatened national security but were mere ordinary citizens and politicians who had expressed contradictory views of govt policies.

All ministers from the B.N who had amassed huge fortunes beyond what they should have earned and in this category, Ling Liong Sik, Samy Vellu , Daim Zainuddin, Najib ,former Negri Sembilan M.B Mat Isa , former Selangor M.B Muhammad Taib, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, and the Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman .In addition the rogue gallery of politicians who had plundered the nation's coffers should further include all Ministers and M.Bs whose wealth were obtained under dubious circumstances.

The ACA should also be empowered to investigate thorughly the background of all those personalities mentioned above and from the basis of their report they should be charged in a court of law for corruption and other abuses perpetuated during the course of their tenure.

In order for our nation to move forward we must spare no effort to ensure that future leaders will not succumb to the same temptation that beseech our past leaders and which sadly have caused our nation to descend the slippery slope of self destruction.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

WISHING ALL MY MUSLIM FRIENDS AND READERS,"SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI''

To Silent RPK at Kamunting

Outside the prison wall in Kamunting for which Raja Petra is incarcerated, the guilty ones are free to roam.When he was outside he caused havoc and sleepless nights for those who had reason to conceal their murderous act.RPK's revealation that Najib's wife, Rosmah was present when the Mongolian model was blown up resulted in a criminal defamation suit brought by the Attorney-General.RPK then went further to reveal the Statutory Declaration by the Doctor who had examined Saiful and concluded that he was not sodomised. RPK's exposition of these two critical events not only struck some raw nerves but also sent the guilty party scurrying for plans to put RPK away in Kamunting.

If indeed RPK had made a false Statutory Declaration then existing laws should be adequate to charge and punish him.Why was he not charged if he had indeed made a fictitious S.D?Surely there are penalties for making false Declarations .And if they are false the contents can be investigated . Was this done and why was no report publish to accept or deny the status of the S.D?

Conveniently, RPK was charged under ISA for insulting the Islam religion in his articles. I have read all his articles and I cannot deem any of his articles coming close to insulting the Islam religion.And indeed if he was accused of doing that then he deserves an opportunity to defend himself. Why was he not given that opportunity?

Home Minister , Syed Hamid Albar will have to one day answer for his act of signing the papers that sent RPK to Kamunting.On whose behest did he act by sending RPK under S8 of the ISA Act for a two year period detention and which can be renewed indefintely.Since he was detained under this section it had clearly preempted the Habeas Corpus which his counsel was to file and which had rendered the whole process purely academic.

In short, justice was abrogated and silence because sending RPK to Kamunting would totally deprived him of any opportunity to defend, to expose and to punish those guilty parties with the information that he was supposedly privy to.Now that he is incarcerated in Kamunting, the hearing of the criminal defamation suit will be arrogated to some obscure date when the public at large through the passage of time would have totally forgotten about the man and his mission.


The Home Minister definitely acted with malice in sending RPK to Kamunting.Existing laws would have been sufficient to charge RPK. Why was it not used ? Why the haste in sending him under ISA when it was so close to the date in October when he had to defend his criminal defamation suit and where he had promised he would reveal in court how he was privy to the information that the DPM's wife Rosmah was at the scene of the brutal crime where a young Mongolian woman was blown to smittens

.RPK's incarceration in Kamunting would totally anihilate and close the chapter of all his previous disclosure of how events transpired on that fateful night.

One country, two Laws.

It was only last week when P.M made a call to the media to tell the truth. So what happened to the Sin Chew reporter who reported what was said by the UMNO politician, Ismail Ahmad?She was first hauled in by the police to explain why she had reported the utterances that the 'chinese were squatters'.Not satisfied with that, on the 12th of Sept. she was arrested under S. 73 of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and whisked to an undisclosed destination .All these arrogant act by the police despite the confirmation by two other journalists confirming the authencity of the statement reported.

What perhaps even boggles the mind was the presence of DPM , Najib ,who attended the function and who made a reluctant attempt to defuse the situation a few days later ( when the situation escalated into a slinging match between leaders of the B.N component parties) by making an apology.Surely if Najib did not hear those racist statements being made would he have made that apology?To question the reporter over the statement is tantamount to undermining the integrity of Najib because it would make the latter complicity to suppress the truth.

What makes the arrest of the Sin Chew Daily journalist even more perplexing was her subsequent released after 16 hours of incarceration.The Home Minister,Syed Hamid Albar statement was totally incomprehensible. It was according to him 'for her own protection'.How could any one be offered protective custody when in the dark of the night that person was taken away without offering the option whether one was prepared to be whisked away to an undisclosed destination without even offering an explanation to the family? No, the true reason was that they did not expect the response from the civil society and the activist who were totally shocked at such a brutal suppression of news as reported by the mainstream media. And it was this unexpected backlash of public dissent that won the freedom of the Sin Chew daily journalist.

The lesson to be learned from this unsavoury episode which has earned us international scorn and notoriety is that there appears to be two sets of law in this country. One law applicable to UMNO members and politicians who are meted punishment for infringing the provisions of the UMNO constitution. This category of offenders need not fear the long arm of the Malaysian Law.Once UMNO disciplining Supreme Council dish out the punishment to the UMNO offender the matter is no longer taken up by the Malaysian Law. Such was the case of the UMNO politician who was given a three years suspension from his party while the Journalist who did her job by reporting the racist utterances was unceremoniously hauled away under the ISA.

Ong Ka Ting Last Chance For greatness.

MCA's leaders should by now be aware of the political significance of the 8th march , 2008 election which swept the oppositon to power in five states.If there is still any doubts, the Permatang Pauh by-election which gave Pakatan Rakyat, Annuar Ibrahim a landslide victory should cast aside any reservation why the non malays have abandoned traditional race based party and gave their full support to the opposition parties of DAP and PKR.

From their current jockeying for MCA leadership one important aspect which most of them fail to take stock is the future direction of the party.None of the leaders seem to have any idea where the future direction of the party was heading.If the current groundswell of discontentment among the non-malays is any indication MCA would be history after the 13th General Election.Therefore it becomes irrelevant and of no consequence who shall lead MCA if their intent was to remain in the Barisan National.

MCA and all the other B.N component parties in the coalition will die a natural death after the next general election.That was further confirm by the Cross street polling station in Permatang Pauh where majority of the chinese voted for Annuar.And all these despite the promise of monetary contribution to the chinese schools. In previous elections such a strategy would bought support from the chinese community.But after 50 years the non-malay voters have become more savvy with their electoral preference.

Ong Ka Ting , the current President of MCA would do a great service to the chinese community if he should choose to make a momentous and history changing decision to take MCA out from the Barisan National and join the current popular Pakatan Rakyat.Ong's decision to change the future direction of MCA by joining Pakatan Rakyat would not only save an otherwise doom party but would rekindle its aspiration to represent the interest of the chinese community.Failure to do this would spell the death Knell of MCA as a party representing the chinese.


An astute leader would have seen the writing on the wall.The chinese would no longer want to play second fiddle to UMNO and be merely satisfied with the crumbs that they dish out to the MCA leaders .For too long, MCA leaders have remain silent while UMNO's racists members lashed out and threaten chinese leaders who vocalised a more equitable policy in education and business policies.In Anwar, they now have found a leader who would be fair and equitable to all races guided by the basic principle that need and poverty would supplant the policy of helping along racial lines.

The policy espoused by Pakatan Rakyat is a fair and equitable one.If 70% of the poor living in rural areas are malays then so be it, they would qualify for the bulk of the govt's help.The policy implemented would be to help 70% of the poor malays not along racial lines but because it so happen that 70% of the poor are malays.However, 30% poor indians and chinese are also not forgotten.The policy would automatically extend help to other communities who needs help because of their poverty levels and not because of racial factors.Such an equitable policy even though slanted to help the rural malays more would be acceptable to all races because govt assisstance is only extended to those who genuinely needs help and not to those who are rich and belong to one particular race.

Ong Ka Ting would go down in history as a great chinese leader if he can grasp this opportunity and lead MCA into a new and acceptable direction that would guarantee a brighter future for the chinese community.If Ong choose not to do so then he will go down in history as the President who could have changed the plight of the chinese people but choose not to do so.

Door To Putrajaya now open

The march 8th 2008 General Election was a defining moment which saw the Barisan National lost its 2/3 majority and the lost of five states to Pakatan Rakyat. That monumental defeat should have been the warning sign that there was immense dissatisfaction among the rakyat.Instead of focusing their energy redressing what had caused their abysmal defeat they conjured a plan to charge Anwar Ibrahim on a dubious sodomy charge.

However , whatever plans they still harbour to frame a sodomy charge on Anwar and deprive him of the Prime Ministership was totally banished when Anwar won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat.It was fairly plain that with that victory the road to Putrajaya was now opened for Anwar.

What appears a simple march to Putrajaya may however be still paved with obstacles.The September 10th date at the court where Anwar will face the sodomy charge has a sinster motive. The swearing on the Koran by Saiful on the eve of nomination was for a political purpose.It was intended to cast aspersion on Anwar as a sodomist and to influence voters sentiment in favour of the Barisan National candidate.Now that this had failed and Anwar had won with a bigger majority than his wife, the ultimate plan now was to throw him to the court so that it would be the final nail in the coffin for the Pakatan Rakyat leader.It was no coincidence that the 10th sept date was to throw a spanner in the works of Anwar's 16th sept date of dethroning the Barisan National Govt.

The powers to be at Putrajaya will not allow Anwar to stroll to the capital without any semblance of resistance.The loser may well be answerable to a host of mismanagement and corruption issues .And for the victor, a chance to reform all the institutions that have been tainted when it was under Mahathir's 22 years legacy.That would have been good enough reason for both sides not to lose.But for Anwar, the road to Putrajaya will remain open and the rakyat do not expect him to falter.

P.M finally show he is a leader for the Malays only.

I refer to the Malaysiakini article 'P.M vetos call to open UITM to non-malays'.
When Abdullah Badawi assumed the mantle of Prime Minister he vowed he would be a leader for all Malaysians.However his statement on 13th August, 2008 where he vetoed Pakatan Rakyat Selangor Menteri Besar's call for UITM to be opened to non-bumiputra clearly showed that what he espoused was not what he had meant.His veto of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid proposal of admitting non- malays in this tertiary institution is clear proof that the P.M is a leader of only one race.
No leader of a country that is diverse and multi-ethnic can ever perpetuate a policy that favours one race and yet claim magnanimously that he is a leader for all.
The myopic policy of enrolling one exclusive race in an institution of Higher learning will result in a generation of malays growing up without any contact with another race. Such a policy will have adverse implication on future race relations where religion has already created a wide chasm between the three major ethnic populace.
Tan Sri Abdul Khalid proposal for an initial 10% entry of non-malay is a legitimate plea to open up UITM so that some form of competition could be given to the otherwise exclusive malay students.This in turn would also allow some form of integration among the races and augurs well for a multi racial identity.
It is rather unfortunate that the University' Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Ibrahim Abu Shah should even oppose such a plan when you would expect an academic to be supportive of attaining academic excellent by opening its institution based on merit.It is ironical that an academic who choose mediocrity in its enrolment policy should be even appointed to be the Vice Chancellor of an institution that profess to be churning out students who 'now hold top positions in both the public and private sector

A Govt doomed to Fall

This government has failed us. Those who voted to allow BN to continue ruling the country must now be kicking themselves.
For the first time in 50 years of BN rule, the people have a glimpse of how pathetic our leaders are. They would resort to any evil deeds so as to frustrate any one brave enough to challenge their authority.
That someone who dared to challenge BN was Anwar Ibrahim.And for that he is now paying the price for his ambition of becoming the next PM. This government has shown that it will not only not tolerate dissent but it will not sit by and allow any one to usurp what they feel is their divine right to govern this country for eternity.
The sodomy case against the Pakatan leader has made a mockery of our country. Our home minister has made a fool of himself by ordering a convoy of 15 police cars to arrest a defenceless old man of 60.
By emphasising the importance of sodomy as a crime of major proportions the home minister has made us a laughing stock of the international community.
Instead of focussing its attention and resources on the murder of the Mongolian model where altogether three statutory declarations have been made mentioning the DPM, the police chose to harass and arrest a man on a dubious sodomy charge.
For the second time in 10 years , the police have portrayed themselves as a tool of the ruling party when they should have been bipartisan.
Their active participation in an insignificant crime for political expediency when serious crimes are skyrocketing only reflects their lack of professionalism.

Najib must be a P.m without a stain.

Before UMNO underlings like the UMNO Putera chairman start to challenge Pakatan de facto leader to swear on the Quran in order to prove his guilt or innocence, I suggest the chairperson should first prioriotise the gravity of the offence.
In most civilised and developed countries homosexual activities between consenting adults is accepted and does not constitute a criminal offence.What two consenting adults do within the confines of their bedroom is nobody's business but their own
The govt by attempting to charge one of them for sodomy just because one of the consenting adults choose to bare his sordid details is making a mockery of our institutions like the Police dept, the Attorney-General Dept and principally the whole Govt institution which indirectly played a vital role in bringing the case to light.
What perhaps the UMNO Putera chairman should demand is for the Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Najib who is slotted to become the next Prime Minister to swear on the Holy Koran that he and his wife is totally absolved of any involvement in the Altantuya murder.
The Statutory Declaration made by Razak Baginda's private investigator gives further credence that the DPM was in some way involved in the dastardly act of murder.
Whereas homosexual activities between two consenting adults does not constitute an offence in most civilised countries, this cannot be said of murder or accessory to murder.The crime of murder in every country whether civilised or uncivilised is a capital offence.It is a universal crime which cannot be exempted from punishment.
Therefore it must be baffling to ordinary citizens why the Police dept and the Attorney-General is placing so much emphasis on the sodomy charge while treating the Altantuya murder nonchalantly.And this despite two statutory Declarations being made to implicate the DPM and his wife of involvement of the murder?
The Deputy Prime Minister is groomed to be the next Prime Minister of our country.Can he assume the mantle of the Prime Ministership in the near future with a stain and blemish of his involvement in a murder case?What would be the implication to the country if after his ascendancy there was irrefutable evidence to indicate his involvement?
All this implication of the DPM's involvement can only be banished once and for all if the Police seriously carry out an unbiased investigation without fear or favour and to eventually provide irrefutable evidence as to his guilt or innocence.
The first Statutory Declaration made by blogger, Raja Petra was most damaging and pointed directly to DPM and his wife involvement and despite a month after the Statutory Declaration there is no evidence or attempt to refute the revelation made.The DPM's wife even was generous to a fault by declaring she would not sue the blogger for defamation. The feeble attempt by the DPM to dismiss all those allegations as merely political attacks is unacceptable.The ordinary citizens deserves to know the truth and nothing but the truth.Mere denials cannot form the basis of any defence and therefore exonerate his guilt.
Unless and until there is conclusive proof that he was in no way involved in Altantuya's murder there is no likelihood Malaysians will accept him as our next Prime Minister.

Sodomy episode smells of entrapment.

Why are the police so worked up over an insignificant report by a young man that he has been sodomised?
Every neighbourhood is swarmed with reports of murder, rapes, snatch thieves, ATM robbers, goldsmith robbers and a host of other crimes that seem to increase by the day and yet, for some unfathomable reason only known to the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, they pay so much undue attention to the case of a young man who suddenly unabashedly tells the whole world that he has been sodomised.
The flurry of activity at the 'crime site' with a forensic team coming in and out depicts a crime of major proportions.
If only they had shown similar diligence in tackling the neighbourhood crimes they would have won more accolades.
As for the allegation, unless there is a consensual thing among both parties for the act to be consummated, I can’t for one precious moment think how a man of sixty and a young man of twenty three could ever put the act together if there is even the slightest resistance from the complainant.
And if this was really a consensual thing between two consenting adults, each with every intent to enjoy the forbidden fruit, then why for god’s sake would he suddenly turn around and point an accussing finger at the very person who had penetrated him?
Even if it was true, what two consenting adults do within the confines of their castle is no business of anybody unless of course one party decide to kiss and tell.
And why would any one who indulge in such a past time want to tell the world of his dysfuntion?
The whole unsavory episode smacks of entrapment and conspiracy with every intent to deprive this nation a man worthy to be our next national leader.
Malaysians of every ethnic divide will not accept the simplistic version that the government had no hand in snarling the prey to the lion's den to be slaughtered at the altar.
No matter how the government’s judiciary may arrive at their verdict, Malaysians will not want to be fooled a second time round.

Stop selling subsidised Petrol and Diesel to Foreigners.

When leaders are under siege and the political scenario they operate are in a state of turmoil, there is a tendency for them to make the wrong decision.The decision to increase the price of petrol and diesel signifies such a case.
The flawed decision of granting the subsidy scheme for petrol and diesel in the beginning was a bad decision. The decision to increase the price now was made too late and long overdue.Basic economic principles dictate that market forces should be allowed to determine supply and demand.and hence price will prevail at the point where demand equals supply.Any attempt to manipulate price by means of subsidy will create an artificial demand and supply situation.
Subsidy will inevitably create a black market situation and encourage smuggling of the goods for pecunary gains.In this case subsidy depresses the price of the goods vis-a-vis the market price and unscrupulous people will capitalise the situation by selling the subsidised goods to neighbouring countries where it is sold at market price.
Such a scenario is displayed along the coastal boundaries of kelantan, Kedah, Selangor and Malacca where fishermen under their legitimate guise of fishing, transfer their load of subsidised diesel to waiting foreign vessels for a quick monetary profit.Two thousand litres of diesel at a paltry profit of 50cts per litre is sufficient to net $1000 for a day's work.No wonder empty vessels returning home without any fruitful catch is a common occurrence.
Common sense dictate that if the fishermen need subsidy to continue with their profession then its about time they should abandon fishing and seek new pasture in other ventures that are more lucrative.If Thailand and Indonesian fishermen can fish and sustain their venture profitably without any subsidy then why cant our fishermen do the same?Giving them subsidy for them to continue in a not profitable venture is not a viable option in the long run.It would be better for the govt to encourage them to venture into something else without the dependency of a subsidy.

In the case for increasing the price of petrol and diesel, the govt at first made the right decision to ban the sale to foreign vehicles on a 50km radius of the border towns.This option was sensible and most practical since it immediately cease to subsidise the sale of petrol and diesel to foreigners who were capitalising from the difference in the pump price of the neighbouring country.In Thailand the pump price of petrol is $4.00 per litre and at the border town of Rantau Panjang the pump price is $2.70 per litre.With the unending daily queue of foreign cars lining up to fill their cars a modest estimate of one million litres of subsidised diesel sold could translate to $1.3 million loss of daily revenue.In a year the govt will be subsidising an astronomical amount of $468 million and that is just on the border town of one place. How much is lost in total from all other border towns is any body guess.
The question that begs to be answered is why are we selling subsidised petrol and diesel to foreigners?The fact that subsidised petrol and diesel are not reaching the targeted group should be good reason enough to stop the sale of petrol and diesel to foreigners at border towns.Why the flip flop decision to lift the ban of sale to foreigners?
The lack of a proper policy to address this serious leakage of our country's finance is a mismanagement of our country's resources.Previously when the pump price was subsidised at $1.92 per litre our country must have lost billions.Can the policy makers please tell us why we are not addressing this serious financial leakage?

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45% of PSD scholarship go to non-bumis.

I wish to refer to your article dated 29th may regarding the disbursement of PSD scholarships to Bumis and non-bumis.
The public service department pointed out that "there is a fairer distribution of Public service department scholarships for all races for degree studies abroad from this year,with 1100 going to bumiputras and 900 to non-bumiputras". In spite of this the PSD received 3000 appeals from post SPM students who failed to get scholarships for studies abroad.
Perhaps what the public would like to know is on what basis are the students being selected?The 45% for non-bumis and 55% for bumis seem to imply that selection is solely based on a racial quota and not based on meritocracy.
If the selection is based on merits then it is incumbent upon PSD to be transparent and reveal the methodology in which the students for the bumis are selected.The scholastic achievements of all the successful 1100 bumi and 900 non-bumi students should be published in order to dispel any doubts that the bumis are selected based on race rather than on merit.
But the statement by PSD Director-General Tan Sri Ismail Adam that those rejected (3000 students) received low marks for interview and below active curricular records raised more suspicions than adequate justification.His statement seems to imply that the 1100 bumis who were successful received high marks for interview and also high curricular records and on top of that all had 9As and above in order to qualify for the benchmark.
It is rather hard to believe that all the 3000 rejected students had low marks for interviews and low marks for curricular activities whereas the successful 1100 bumis students all had high marks for interview and curricular activities.
Perhaps the PSD should be honest and let the public know whether the selection criteria is solely based on racial quotas for the bumis and for the non bumis the selection is based on merit.

If it is true that the selection by the PSD for the bumis are based on a racial quotas then it certainly explain why many of the unemployed graduates are bumis..It should be apparent by now that simply churning out unemployable below par graduates is not the answer to our human resources problem

Mahathir should be charged for sedition.

He was the one who amended the Fedral Constitution to remove the ruler's immunity from criminal prosecution under a special court.
Therefore if rulers cannot even be exempted from criminal prosecution then why is the former premier not brought to court for his seditious comments in Johore when he accused the non malays were gradually taking away the rights of the malays. ?
Then in Japan for a conference he went to say that extremists non-malays were making unfair demands on the govt. If anybody else had uttered those words they would have been classified as seditious and charged accordingly.Then may I ask why is not Mahathir charged for his seditious comments?Being an ex -premier does not mean he is immune to the laws of the country which even the rulers are not exempted.
The Attorney-General must display fairness in prosecuting offenders who have infringed on any of our legislated laws and failing to do so would give the perception that there are two laws in the country, one for the ordinary citizens and one for our political leaders.

Election Chairman should be Independent and answerable to Parliament.

Two articles reported by Malaysiakini should be of interest to the Malaysian Public
.First it was the EC chairman statement when he dropped the bombshell that it was the cabinet decision to scrap the use of the indelible ink in the march 8th General election.
The other article reported by a senior UMNO veteran Shahrir, came after Mahathir's decision to resign from the party.According to him the exodus of resignation from the party could result in Abdullah calling for a fresh snap election.
The first statement by the EC chairman confirms what Bersih had all along asserted that the election commission was not independent and that it was acting under the behest of the executive.It was an honest admission that the Election Commission was not independent and that for that matter it had always acted in the interest of the ruling party.
This admission has placed the integrity of the whole electoral process into question.Was the decision to abolish the use of the indelible ink four days before the election an act to allow phantom voters to cast their votes?The use of the indelible ink was to disallow that possibility and the last minute abolishment of that use under some dubious ,unproven security reason paved the way for phantom voters to emerge.
Then , did the Election commission played a vital role in the use and leverage of the postal votes?The manner in which the procedure for the postal votes were carried out left many unanswered questions. Every postal voter had to insert their identification number on the postal vote and such mandatory procedure violated the privacy and secrecy of the voters preference.At the expense and sacrifice of their careers many meekly complied with the superiors influence.
The second article by Shahrir seems to suggest the possibilty of a snap election.If this does come to fruition then where does this place the role of the Election Commission?Can the present Election Commission chairman be expected to assume the same role as before where it was obviously by its own admission subservient to the ruling party?In order for a fair and transparent election to take place, Bersih and all contesting parties should insist the appointment of an Election Chairman that is impartial and answerable only to parliament..Only with such a change can the electorate be assured of a free, fair and transparent election.

Mahathir should be charged if he is found guilty.

If Nixon who was the President of the most powerful nation on earth can be impeached and charged for his role in the Watergate scandal, I cannot see why Mahathir who is a retired former head of state cannot be charged for his role in the fixing of the judges.According to a report in Malaysiakini ,Mahathir challenged the govt to charge him.
If the govt is serious in getting to the truth of the Lingam scandal, no stones should be left unturned to expose the insidious conspiracy that allowed a less than capable judge Tun Ahmad Fairuz to be appointed as the chief Judge over the more popular and capable Judge, Datuk Abdul Malek.
Since Mahathir has thrown the ball at the govt's feet, Pak Lah should have no hesitation in taking up the gauntlet. The royal commission report has already provided an insight as to Mahahtir's role in the scandal.If further investigation can be unravelled to prove his pivitol role in the scandal then the full force of the law should be brought against the former Premier irrespective of his former status.
His former status should not provide him with any form of immunity if there are grounds to charge him for subverting and conspiring the appointment of Judges.
Pak Lah should not be cowed by Mahathir's challenge and to prove that he is serious in cleaning up the Judiciary,the Attorney-General should be directed to investigate the revelation in the Royal commission of the Lingam Scandal.

Another clandestine appointment of Judge?

Was there a similar clandestine appointment of judge when Datuk Zaki, the once UMNO adviser was parachuted to become the court of Appeal Judge and who was recently elevated to become the President of the Court of Appeal.?
Well, we will never know unless someone produce another video clip showing the appointment of Zaki as a Court of appeal judge.
However what is significant is his sudden appointment which seems to indicate a planned purpose.
By the time the Altantuya case reached the apex court on appeal, assuming there is an appeal by the losing side, Zaki would in all probabilty be presiding the case as the elevated chief Judge. So as a previous UMNO adviser now conveniently ensconced in the apex court his role is to ensure that Razak Baginda and Najib escape unscathed in the enigmatic court case which have captured the imagination of a world wide audience.
If not for this purpose then why was Zaki parachuted from an ordinary UMNO adviser to become a judge in the Court of Appeal ahead of many senior serving Judges ?

UMNO's sickening display of loyalty to the monarch.

As expected, UMNO's henchmen were in every state making police report against Karpal's purported insult to Sultan Raja Azlan Shah's perogative to order the Perak M.B to reinstate the State Religious Director,Datuk Jamry Sury.But where were the same people when the sultan of Trengganu refused to appoint Datuk Idris as M.B of Trengganu?They were out in the streets carrying banners with the words 'Nantang' directing their ire at the royal steadfast decision not to appoint Datuk Idris.
That was indeed blatant sedition and why was no police report made against the perpetrators?It seems quite evident by now that only UMNO reserves the right to insult the royalty when and where they feel like it.
Karpal's statement that the Sultan has no jurisdiction to order reinstatement of the civil servant is based on legal precedents which he did not hesitate to quote.That statement was merely to point out to the ruler that an error of judgement based on law was made. It was not intended to undermine or insult the Perak Ruler.If indeed Karpal was wrong in his legal argument than someone should rightly point out to him.To bring the whole matter in question as one that borders on sedition is not only ridiculous but smacks of political opportunism.
P.M and DPM's inflamatory comments and suggestion to the Attorney-General to institute formal charges is interferring with the due process of the Law and to cause unnecessary influence to the A.G's Dept.to commence seditious charges even before examining the merits of such a charge.
The speed in which Karpal was asked to report and give a statement seems to indicate that pressure was unduly applied to come out with some trump up seditious charge.
The march 8th election seems to vindicate one thing . This evil regime has to go before some form of justice can prevail.

Selangor needs a Change in Pakatan's Leadership

I refer to Malaysiakini's article 'Barricade row: Pakatan State Govt 'weak'".
Ever since the beginning when Pakatan Rakyat under Tan Sri Khalid took over the reins of the Selangor govt there was already signs of a weak govt.
Events until now has not dispel that lingering doubts.Immediately after taking control of the govt,there was strong compelling evidence that the previous administration was shredding important state documents which could have incriminated their administration and yet Tan Sri Khalid chose to ignore them with a nonchalant attitude as if it was of little importance.
That single act of ommission has virtually deprived the rakyat of the opportunity to punish those perpetrators of their crime for which they were so eager to conceal and destroy.
When Penang's Chief minister announced their intention to abolish the NEP and replaced it with one that is more equitable there was a deafeaning silence from the Selangor State Govt.Either Tan Sri Khalid didnt hear the announcement or he had totally forgotten about the Pakatan's manifesto.
Tan Sri Khalid's reluctance to prosecute those UMNO leaders responsible for shredding those State documents is understandable. After all he was once a blue-eyed boy of UMNO who so happen to loose their favour sometime ago.Fortune has been kind to him and now that he is in the driver's seat he is slowly remembering his old UMNO roots.
As long as Selangor continue to be under the helm of Tan Sri Khalid there will be little change from its previous UMNO predeccessor.After all both Tan SriKhalid and Mohd Toyo came from the same UMNO origin.
In the case of the Bandar Makhota Cheras Barricade, the whole matter could have been expediously resolved if there was strong leadership.Land in the state comes under state jurisdiction and if the incumbent govt cannot even settle what is within their purview then Pakatan Rakyat is heading for a very short term.
Five years in politics is a very short time.If Pakatan's govt cannot reform the govt like it promised then maybe the rakyat will have to look for an alternative govt.

Govt not serious about judicial reforms

How does the Barisan National Govt which suffered a titanic defeat in the recent concluded 12thGen. Election seek to initiate Judicial reforms when it cannot even bring a proper closure to the 1988 judicial crisis over the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan sri wan Sulaiman Pawanteh as Supreme court Judges.?
If Prime Minister Abdullah refusal to apologise remain steadfast then it is unlikely there will be any significant judicial reforms.Abdullah's stand is indeed perplexing.
The Judicial crisis of 1988 happened duringMahathir's tenure and he was the prime mover for the formation of the tribunal to dismiss the Lord president.If Abdullah had agreed to the apology he would have shown his genuine resolve to reform the judiciary.The fall guy would be Mahathir and he would have everything to gain and little to lose.But to refuse the apology would merely cast a serious aspersion on his statement that he would aggressively pursue reforms.Once again this unusual decision by Abdullah has brought serious doubts as to his leadership qualities.

Mahathir's Secret Agenda.

As an elderly respected former Prime
Minister of our country he has certainly overstep the
boundaries of a Statesman who should spend the
twilight of his retirement away from the limelight of
the current political turmoil.
The former Premier has once again exhibited
his sturborn,recalcitrant character of imposing his
views and thoughts to members of his once UMNO party.
This Grand old man of Malaysian politics should
have been aware that the present political turmoil was
the result of his legacy which his successor inherited
from him.
Therefore for every finger he points at the P.M
there is ten fingers pointing at him.
Ahmad Badawi could have been the greatest Prime
Minister Malaysia ever had if only he had grasp the
opportunities Mahathir presented to him.Mahathir's 22
years legacy left every institution in the country
either tainted or in tatters.All Badawi had to do was
exposed,dismantled and reform the institutions that
bear the
hallmark of Mahathir's tainted past and he would have
won another mandate similar to the 2004 election.
But instead he fumbled,stumbled and slept his way
past the revealing corrupt Mahathir's legacy.And
instead of formulating remedial strategy to overcome
them he chose to ignore them with impunity.
The litany of issues that confronted him was met
with his typical 'elegant silent'It was not a
deliberate strategy but a truthful admission of his
incompetency.
Mahahtir did not make a mistake in choosing his
successor.He knew very well Badawi's capabilities but
still chosed him because he would have a fool to
compare with his own legacy.After all it was his
choice to dismiss two illustrous candidate, Musa and
Annuar who could perhaps pose a challenge to his own
legacy.

Barisan Govt up to Old tricks again.

The latest news that the B.N controlled federal govt will by-pass Pakatan Rakyat State govts in allocating federal funds is a tell-tale sign that the incumbent govt has not moved away from their old habits.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister Dept, Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum had the gall to say that 'So far we have found that the mechanism used in Trengganu is the most suitable for these states'.I would have thought that the lesson learned in Trengganu that led to the change in the Menteri besar would still be fresh in every one's mind . yet we have here a smart Deputy minister trying to coral the 'wang Ehsan ' money meant for state development to a one similar what Idris did to the 'wang Ehsan' money in Trengganu.
Perhaps he had in mind another Monsoon cup along the coast of Port Klang with a budget of $300 million.
If this is not another way of channelling State developement funds for crony sponsored projects then I dont know what it is.
Looks like old habits die hard. Contracts for mega projects will be given out via federal funds to UMNO cronies thus by-passing opposition controlled States of Pakatan Rakyat.And why not.? They have been doing it in Kelantan and Trengganu and now they will extend it to the other Pakatan Rakyat States.Looks like the good times are coming back again.

Mahathir's Secret Agenda

As an elderly respected former Prime Minister of our country he has certainly overstep the boundaries of a Statesman who should spend the twilight of his retirement away from the limelight of the current political turmoil.
The former Premier has once again exhibited his stubborn,recalcitrant character of imposing his views and thoughts to members of his once UMNO party.
This Grand old man of Malaysian politics should have been aware that the present political turmoil was the result of his legacy which his successor inherited from him.
Therefore for every finger he points at the P.M there is ten fingers pointing at him.
Ahmad Badawi could have been the greatest Prime Minister Malaysia ever had if only he had grasp the opportunities Mahathir presented to him.Mahathir's 22 years legacy left every institution in the country either tainted or in tatters.All Badawi had to do was exposed,dismantled and reform the institutions that bear the hallmark of Mahathir's tainted past and he would have won another mandate similar to the 2004 election.
But instead he fumbled,stumbled and slept his way past the revealing corrupt Mahathir's legacy.And instead of formulating remedial strategy to overcome them he chose to ignore them with impunity.
The litany of issues that confronted him was met with his typical 'elegant silent'It was not a deliberate strategy but a truthful admission of his incompetency.
Mahahtir did not make a mistake in choosing his successor.He knew very well Badawi's capabilities but still choosed him because he would have a fool to compare with his own legacy.After all it was his choice to dismiss two illustrous candidate, Musa and Annuar who could perhaps pose a challenge to his own legacy.

UMNO's Route To Political Oblivion.

Why do Umno and the rest of the Barisan National component parties need to 'engage an independent body to conduct a post-mortem on their performance in the recent general election'? Were they so removed from the rakyat that they were not aware of the swelling discontentment that was swirling amongst the ordinary folk?
No wonder the political tsunami that swept across the nation with five states going to the opposition was a complete unexpected shock to Umno and the BN parties. You don’t need an expert in political science to tell you what actually caused the failure of the Barisan Nasional parties.
The principal cause of the BN failure can be attributed to the leaders in Umno. They were under the delusion that they had the majority support of the Malay populace. To a certain extent this was true before the advent of PAS and now PKR.
However failure to realise that the political landscape had changed led Umno leaders to formulate policies that antagonised the non-Malays. The non-Malays were maginalised in practically every aspect of the Umno-dominated government policies.
This marginalisation led to the loss of support for other race-based BN parties like MCA, MIC and Gerakan. In addition, the BN component parties were cowed to such an extent that religious and educational issues affecting the community did not find a voice and they were unable to articulate their grievances.
Umno’s mistake was its failure to grasp the current political reality. Umno today cannot claim to be a legitimate representative of all the Malays. With the birth of PAS and now PKR, Umno at best can claim to have the support of only 30% of the Malay community.
In fact, it was reported in the main stream media that Umno's Malay support in the recent election amounted to only 29.6%. The reality of today’s political landscape clearly demonstrates that for any of the three parties - Umno, PAS and PKR - to succeed, it is vital for them to obtain the support of the non-Malays.
They were, in fact, the king-makers of the last election. As long as Malay support is divided amongst the three parties namely Umno, PAS and PKR, the fate of each of them will continue to remain in the hands of the non-Malays.
Therefore if Umno continues to plod along with its old racist and pro-Umnoputra NEP policies thinking that it will garner Malay support but in fact eroding its non-Malay support, it will most likely end up as a political dinosaur in the next general election

Annuar Ibrahim will be the next P.M

Come rain, shine or thunderstorm, the writing is on the wall.Barring a great collapse of the Barisan Rakyat coalition of PAS.PKR and DAP the next Prime Minister will be Annuar Ibrahim.Events in the past week in Penang, Perak and Selangor have confirmed what most voters have already known when they went to vote on the 8th of March.After 50 years of entrenched habits it is unlikely UMNO and their Barisan Component Parties will ever change.
.P.M without hesitation rebuke new Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng for wanting to do away with the abused NEP policy of helping the elite UMNOPUTRAs.
P.M does not even know that NEP in its present form was not even supported by the malays and that was hammered home by Annuar in many of his ceramahs.So if P.M cannot even convince the malays the need for the NEP then what are the chances for UMNO and B.N to win back the lost votes in the 8th march election?
If P.M thinks that by putting old wine in new bottles he will be able to win back the voters who deserted the B.N in droves, then he will be sadly dsiappointed.The old strategy of yesteryear by relying on the racial card to gain the support of the malays no longer works.The old proverb that you can fool some people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time has come back to haunt UMNO and their component parties.
In the three states of Penang, Perak and Selangor we witnessed UMNO sore losers gathering at an illegal assembly to protest over the abused NEP policy which had benefitted the UMNO cronies.But in all the three states we saw only UMNO leaders demonstrating for the continuation of a policy that had benefitted them.We didnt see any PAS or PKR malays protesting the rebranding of the NEP?WHY? Because for the simple reason that NEP did not reach them.More so because they were not even UMNO members.
Why cant P.M even see the futility of an NEP policy that benefitted only the rich of one race to a more acceptable NEP policy of benefitting all the poor irrespective of race?Is not he a P.M of all Malaysians or is he just a P.M of one race?
After 50 years of independence, the people are tired of the divisive policies of the B.N and their component parties.The people have spoken through the ballot box that they want a united Malaysian community where every race have an equal stake under the Malaysian sun.The 12th General Election have shown that they are prepared to vote across racial barriers to achieve this.
If P.M and UMNO's reinvention is to continue churning out the same old policies and barking the same old racial tune,then we can safely hail the new chief, Annuar Ibrahim, as the next Prime minister of Malaysia.

Annuar should contest by-election and become M.B for Selangor.

The opposition capture of the Selangor State is an important milestone for an alternative govt to replace the 50 years of administration of the Barisan National Party.
Many, including the opposition did not expect such a prize windfall.DAP alone could not have accomplished the feat and neither could PAS and PKR achieved such success if not for the fact that there was complete trust and cooperation among the three parties.
Despite the absence of a pact between DAP and PAS there was obvious mutual benefit in the voting pattern.The chinese on this occassion had no qualms voting for PAS and vice versa there were malay votes cast for DAP in their respective areas contested.This indirectly translated in malay votes for DAP and chinese votes for PAS.That perhaps explain the good results for both parties in mixed areas where chinese and malay voters were contesting with B.N candidates.
Similarly in areas where the chinese and malays were miniorities their votes cast for DAP and PAS respectively made the difference. Having accomplished the task of taking the Selangor State it is of vital importance that a new transparent way of administering the govt should be prioritised.In this regard the best person to initiate such a task would be DSAI.
His years spent in many of the portfolios as a minister would put him in goodstead to introduce reforms that would be a departure from the previous administration.
For a start he has advised the incoming state assemblymen not to indulge in wasteful expenditure for renovations and the purchase of new cars for wakil rakyat use.This is a refreshing start and if other similar measures can be introduced the rakyat can immediately see some tangible change.
For DSAI to be an M.B there needs to be a bye-election and one of the DUN has to make way for him.It will be a sacrifice for the person concerned but it will be a worthwhile sacrifice when we consider that the success or failure of Selangor under the opposition will determine the future survival of the three opposition parties.For the moment they have achieved an important milestone in capturing the five states but whether their success can be perpetuated in the next election will depends on the success or failure in the governance of the five states.

New Opposition state Govts has to do a good Job.

For the opposition parties of DAP, PAS, and PKR winning the 12th General election was the easy part.Now the hard part is to be able to foster a united group of politicians to govern the newly captured states of Penang, kedah, Perak and Selangor.
Governing Penang would posed no problem for the newly elected DAP members.It happened to Gerakan when they took over the govt in 1969.So it will be a smooth transition except it will have to govern as an opposition as opposed to Gerakan when it later became part of the Barisan National.
However this will not be the case for Kedah,Perak and Selangor.These three states will for the first time in their history come under a new administration.The early test will come in their consensus to select their respective Menteri besar.
Kedah present no problem because of PAS comfortable majority.Selangor should also posed no problem by virtue of PKR's slim majority.But in Perak it does have some hiccups.DAP with eleven state seats has the major number of seats while PKR has seven and PAS has six.But Perak's state constitution only provides for a muslim Menteri Besar unless the Sultan decides to waive the requirement as allowed in the constitution.This option is unlikely to be exercised in view of the political landscape of the state.
Any attempt to push for a chinese Menteri Besar would be foolish and invite a political backlash from the 28 Barisan national mainly malay representative.
A happy and acceptable compromise would be to appoint a malay candidate as the Menteri Besar from either PKR or PAS and for DAP to have a Deputy Menteri Besar.In addition to this DAP can be compensated by having more exco representative than PKR and PAS
Forging a coalition among the three almost divergent political parties would be a formidable task but the difficult part would be to translate their respective ideas into a viable entity.For this only time can tell and they will have to prove their mettle within five years or face a quick exit.

Penangites Must vote opposition to Deny 2/3 majority

Penang voters must discard their emotionalbaggage when they vote on 8th March.Emotional tieswith illustrous candidates like Koh Tsu Koon,Teng HockNan, and Chia kwang Chye must be totally discarded.If at all, Penang voters should not give any votes to these three Gerakan members.To show their dissatisfaction we should even let them lose their deposit.
Penang voters must by now be aware that any vote for Gerakan or MCA is a vote for UMNO and a vote forUMNO is to invite a continuity of the scandals of corruption that has plagued our nation.
Penang voters must discard the mentality that we need Gerakan and MCA wakil rakyats to represent our chinese interest in state legislature and Parliament.For the umpteenth years that Gerakan andMCA have represented us have they articulated our rights and grievances?The answer is an emphatic 'No'.
We dont need wakil rakyats to look after our drains and roads anymore. What we are more concern is the erosion of our rights under the constitution.The right to vernacular education and the right to build more of such schools if the need arises.The right to freedom of religion and worship and to ensure that we are not force to seek justice in a Syariah courts when as non-muslims our recourse is to the civil courts.
We hold dear these sacred fundamental rights as guaranteed under the constitution and we want our elected representatives to articulate and protect these rights.We no longer feel confident that Gerakan and MCA can perform that role as long as they are in the B.N.
Therefore Penangites should no longer have any reservations about voting in opposition to protect our rights.We have given Gerakan and MCA many years and many terms in Penang and they have been a dismal failure.If they had done their duty faithfully, we would not have faced this unprecedented erosion of ourrights.
On 8th march,Penangites should forget their past ties with Gerakan and MCA.I think it was an MCA President that says when a fish is rotten we have to cut off the head first.On election day voters should ensure that we vote out, Koh Tsu Koon, Teng Hock Nan and Chia Kwang Chye.Dont let your emotional ties cloud your judgement.No battles was ever won without any sacrifice and now is the time we have to plead withPenangites to make that supreme sacrifice.

Ballot Box the way to break Nepotism.

I refer to the Malaysiakini report The rising sons, daughter and son-in-law.
When an elected representative who no longer commands the respect of the electorate insists on staying on, the only recourse is to show him the way out is through the ballot box. Many of our current politicians view their elected position as a sure ticket to make easy money.
They lack the passion and idealism of serving the country and its people. Instead they are guided by the greed and power their elected positions will bring to them and their families. Many of them unashamedly go to the extent of even promoting their children or close relatives to take over their place as if it is their birthright to occupy that position forever.
This is especially true in the BN component parties of Umno MCA and Gerakan. In Umno we have examples of Najib Razak, taking over his father's place and now the prime minister’s son-in-law Khairy Jamalludin is waiting in the wings of Umno Youth. Don’t forget Hishammuddin Hussein Onn.
In MCA, we have Ling Liong Sik's son who incidently became a millionaire by the age of 27. Then there is the current MCA president Ong Ka Ting whose brother Ka Chuan is waiting to contest again despite losing twice in the previous elections. In Gerakan we have the son of the party advisor Lim Keng Yaik who will be contesting in the coming election.
It would seem perfectly alright if the children and relatives of these politicians are capable and secure their position based on merit even though in most cases it would be a leg-up for them if their father was or is in a position of power and influence.
However if their position is merely through the auspices of their father's influence, perhaps then, voters will have to exercise their discretion to vote them out.
In the same vein, even a prime minister who has lost a lot of his influence may not want to retire voluntary. Sadly, the truth is that ordinary human beings, when suddenly given extraordinary powers, are the last person on earth who will willingly relinquish their positions on their own accord.
Since it will be an exercise in futility to persuade such people to retire gracefully, the only recourse is to vote them out in the coming election. Once we strip the aura of glamour and power which we ordained upon them, they once again become become mere mortals like every one of us.
And like the proverbial cowboy it will be an opportune moment for them to ride into the sunset of their fading careers.

Hisham's failure:vernacular School enrolment Proof.

I refer to the letters Hisham a failure as education minister and National schools turning into Islamic schools.
The first letter is a statement of fact. Not only was he a poor exemplary role model as the head of the Education Ministry but he was also an abject failure in his position as a minister. Brandishing the keris to politicise his cause in full view of his audience cannot be construed as a refined leader with exemplary qualities. At best he can be labelled as a rebel with a dubious political agenda.
Statistics don’t usually tell a lie. Some 95% of Chinese and Indian students are enrolled in vernacular schools. The stark reality is that a miniscule 5% of the non-Malays are in the government’s sekolah kebangsaan. Of course, this trend did not happen overnight. But when Hisham took over the Education Ministry, the trend was already patently evident.
Yet during his term, what did he do to address this lop-sided enrolment of non-Malays in vernacular schools? The Education Minister should be aware of the repercussions of having a racially polarised education system which in the long term, would have serious ramifications for nation-building.
In the 1960s, when I attended a national school, it was the school of choice for Chinese, Malays and Indians. Vernacular schools had such poor enrolment that many of them had to close on their own volition.
But then the national school I attended then was different from the ones today. In every national schools then there was a good mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malay teachers. Besides the few Mat Salleh headmasters, there was also a good spread of Chinese, Indian and Malay headmasters too.
There was a total absence of religious rituals. No such thing as doa selamat or whatever prayers during school hours. We left religion at home.
The sad part is that Hisham does not know the reason for the decline in the enrolment of non- Malays in the national schools today. Instead, he tried to introduce mother-tongue language in the national schools thinking this was what the non-Malays wanted.
However, that is not addressing the real problem. Yes, the real problem refers to the second letter’s topic, ‘National schools turning into Islamic schools’.If the Education Minister had kept his eyes opened wide, he would have read numerous complaints of parents expressing their concern and anger at the slow Islamisation creeping within the corridors of the national schools.
Somehow, national schools have been infiltrated by religious zealots out to preach Islam and many do not hesitate to impose their religious rituals on non-Malays. Some schools even go overboard in prescribing the mode of school uniforms to be worn including the tudung.
All the above, probably escapes the attention of the minister or alternatively he may have condoned
the various religious impositions. The proof is already there for him to see. Vernacular schools are full to the brim and what is perhaps even astonishing is that there are about 60,000 Malay students scrambling for places in the Chinese vernacular schools.
That in itself is an indictment of his abject failure as an Education Minister.

Just Vote Opposition to deny B.N 2/3 Majority

I would like to refer to the Malaysiakini article ‘Finally a chance to wrest Penang.’
In this article, Ronald Quay seems to contradict himself.His caption seems to suggest there is a good chance of the opposition wresting Penang from B.N and yet in the same breathe predicted that’B.N will still win the General Elections ,hands down’What is perhaps galling is his statement that’the Barisan national is still the best party to govern Malaysia today’.
If Ronald is so confident that his theory of opposition contesting the State seats as oppose to contesting the parliamentary seat is workable then there should not be any reason for B.N winning ‘hands down’.
What the people of Penang should do is not try to play God. Trying to be smart by voting B.N for state seats while voting for opposition in Parliament may not always turn up as planned.
For the country as a whole B.N will end up with a massive majority in parliament and in the other state seats.This is by virtue of the strong rural support which have traditionally supported UMNO irrespective of rain or shine.
Therefore it should be the goal of every urban voter to vote for opposition in order to counter the strong rural vote for B.N.Only with this strategy of voting can there be a possibilty of denying B.N a 2/3 majority in state and Federal seats.
I certainly dont agree with the writer’s statement that’the Barisan National is still the best party to govern Malaysia.’On what basis is he making the statement.?I can only conclude that he is not aware of what transpired during Mahathir’s 22 yearstenure and what happened during the current P.M’s 4 years of administration.
Every aspect of B.N’s last 26 years tenure has been nothing short of failure.Corruption is rife, the Police dept is in shamble, the Judiciary is tainted, the civil service is a disgrace,foreign investors are avoiding us like a plague.If not for our oil and thegood export price of oil palm we would have followed ZimBahwee’s path to economic destruction.
Even in matters of race and religion the govt has not handled it with care and sensitivity.This has resulted in further alienating the various races which if not properly addressed would have dire consequences in the future.So please do tell me what is the record of B.N’s governance that has so impressed the writer that made him conclude that’ B.N is the best party to govern Malaysia.’?
We inherited a good system of governance from the British during the colonial era and most of these institutions were already in place after Merdeka. So there is no reason why another party albeit an opposition party cannot continue to govern without any difficulty.With better accountabilty and transparency maybe the new party would do a better job.So please dont listen to the B.N leaders saying that the opposition has no experience in governing the country.We will never know if we dont give them a chance. Do we?

B.N flouting Election offences Act with Impunity

The Election Commission cannot be perceived to be neutral if it continues to ignore the infringements of the BN government. On the first occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak implied that the government had to restrain the Kampong Baru Malays from coming out to demonstrate in response to the Hindraf demonstration.
His subtle hint was that such a response would have caused another May 13 incident. On the second occasion, during a meeting with MIC division chairpersons, Najib threatened the Indians not to vote against the government. Both occasions were tantamount to exerting undue influence on the electorate and is in contravention of Election Offences Act 1954, Part 3 Section 9(1).
In addition to the above two offences, a third offence was committed at the launch of the state-level
Chinese New Year open house in Kota Bharu when Najib presented RM1.3 million as a ‘special donation’ to 17 Chinese schools. It was reported that the amount was a ‘special BN allocation for Chinese schools’.
Meanwhile, in Ipoh, a fourth offence was committed by the prime minister when ne announced that ‘farmers located at New Villages in Jeram, Kuala Bikam, Kanthan in Chemor, Malim Nawar in Kampar and Kampong Coldstream will be allowed to lease some 2,850ha for 30 years at an annual rental of RM200 for every 0.4ha’.
The third and fourth offences are in contravention of Section 10 of Election Offences Act 1954 which relates to bribery. All the above offences committed were published in the mainstream media and are in direct violation of the act .The public prosecutor should not hesitate to initiate action.
The Election Commission cannot profess its impartiality if it cannot act without fear or
favour. Its role as a neutral referee in the conduct of an election can only be credible if it can prosecute those who have breached the Election Offence Act of 1954 irrespective of their status.
If it cannot carry out its duty as prescribed under the act, then it becomes apparent why NGOs such as Bersih have been calling for electoral reforms.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE RAT

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS CHINESE NEW YEAR.

Malaysians should expect a change for the better.

Malaysians should not accept what the govt say in the media as gospel truth.Of late we hear DPM Najib say that the opposition is not capable of administering the country.This is not only misleading but a blatant lie.
The present govt have shown that it is not capable of properly governing this nation.The last 22 years of Mahathir’s tenure and 4 years of Pak Lah’s administration have seen the country degenerating towards a failed state.
The litany of failures in the various govt department is shocking.The Police Dept is in dire straits with crime surging to unprecedented heights. The Judiciary is not only tainted with dubious appointments but it has practically lost theconfidence of the people.
Religious conflict arising from conversion of non-muslims and the practice of ‘body snatching’ of muslim converts have stretched racial tolerance to breaking point.
In addition the govt has wantonly wasted public funds in compensation for the crooked bridge and the Broga incinerator project. The PKFTZ cost the govt a few billion of tax payers money which was siphoned off by UMNO cronies.
The Defence Ministry headed by our DPM, Najib saw fit to purchase inferior quality Sukhoi air planes from Russia and Scorpene Submarines from France. All these dubious purchases were done through the front companies of his close friend Razak Baginda who is now charged with the Mongolian model’s murder.
Are the above catalogue of failures what Najib would call a success of the B.N govt?
Surely an opposition govt given the same opportunity could not have fared worse than this.
A regime change can only offer a refreshing start to a new era of governance which can only be better. It has the benefit of learning from B.N’s mistake and this hindsight experience should enable the opposition to make a better alternative government for the people.

Election Chairman should Retire.

The present constitution provides specifically for the Election chairman to retire at the age of 65.Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has reached the age of retirement on 31st december,2007.Therefore in accordance with the constitution the EC chairperson should just retire gracefully and let some one else replace him.
What defies logic is for the govt to pursue a most unusual course of action to amend the constitution to extend the retirement age to 66 thus allowing the EC chairperson to extend his tenure for another year
\ The constitution is a sacred document which should not be frivously altered or amended merely for the express purpose of extending the tenure of the election Chairman.The constitution of a country is a living document that should not be manipulated to suit the whims and fancy of the incumbent govt in power.
To amend the constituition in order to retain the EC chairperson for the express purpose of presiding over the impending election conceal a sinster motive of the govt which cannot be construed as honourable.
Why is the govt so adamant in wanting to extend the tenure of Abdul Rashid so that he could preside over the impending election?Even if the reason for the govt to retain him is perfectly legitimate the very act of amending the constitution to extend his tenure would undoubtedly cast aspersion on the impartiality of his role in the election.
His public statement that " no other regime is capable of running the country " is further evidence that his impartiality is questionable.
The disappearance of 140 ballot boxes in the Ijok election should be of some concern and consequence, but the election chairperson dismissed it as inconsequential.How could it be?If each ballot box were to contain a mere 500 electoral votes, the total 140 ballot boxes would have a massive 7000 votes.A figure that could easily sway and swing the result in favour of the opposition party.
Examples of such irregularity has prompted the
birth of Bersih to seek electoral reforms that will eventually ensure a free and fair election.
Many of the outstanding issues such as postal votes, dead people appearing in the electoral rolls,gerrymandering,equal access to media for campaigning and a host of other electoral issues have not been addressed by the current EC chairperson.How could there be free and fair elections when all these electoral reforms have not been implemented to the satisfaction of all parties?
Since Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has not carried out reforms in these controversial issues and the govt has not displayed any urgency in pressing for changes in those areas, perhaps it would be timely that a new independent person be appointed to the post of the EC chairperson.
For that to happen Abdul Abdul Rahman should gracefully exit and opt for retirement rather than seek an extension of his tenure.

Najib, You are wrong.

Yes the tide is turning in Kelantan but certainly not in favour of BN but for PAS. As a kelantanese I can safely tell Najib the true current political situation in Kelantan. How could Zubaidah Abu Bakar speculate in the 6th Jan.2008 NST that “there are many in Kelantan who want to see a change of government”?
This is farthest from the truth. The Malay psyche in Kelantan is vastly different from the psyche of Malays from the other states. The Malays in Kelantan are astute when it comes to politics. That explains why it is the only Malay state where the opposition party other than UMNO has ruled for a substantial period since Merdeka.
During BN’s tenure, pork sellers in the Chinese market were harrassed daily. They were confined to a small inconspicous space where pork could be sold hidden from public view. There was conditional and restricted time when pork could be sold. When PAS took over the government in 1990, they improved the Chinese market and pork was sold without any restrictions. In short they were not harrassed.
Again, during BN’s tenure, Chinese could not buy houses built on Malay reservation land. Since most of the land come under the purview of Malay reservation, most Kelantanese Chinese could not own a home. But all these changed when PAS came to power.
Under the able DUN of Kota Bharu, Dato Annuar Tan, 30% of houses built on Malay reservation land were allocated for sale to the Kelantan Chinese.
Any doubts where the Chinese loyalty lies can easily be dispelled by visiting the Chinese enclave in Jalan Kebun Sultan. Ask any Chinese business community there and they will brazenly tell you that they will vote for PAS. Yes the Chinese votes in Kelantan are solidly behind PAS.
It is also a fact that the Chinese miniority’s vote in Kelantan are insignificant and confined to only few seats where their votes are crucial for victory or loss. But in a state where a lot of seats are won and lost by a handful of votes this becomes immensely important where in the final analysis the fate of the government could merely depend on the margin of one or two seats.
The Malays in Kelantan were generous in giving Pak Lah a resounding victory in 2004. But this was partly due to PAS over-zealous Islamic reforms which persuaded the Malays to vote for Pak Lah’s Islam Hadhari. Further they were captivated by Pak Lah’s assurance of tackling corruption which was beginning to be rampant in all branches of the government. But alas, Pak Lah was a disappointment. Instead he took it as an opportunity for his relatives and family to plunder the nation’s wealth by giving contracts to his son and son-in law.
There is a saying among the Malays in Kelantan that UMNO can fool the Malays in the other states with their rhetoric of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ but they cannot fool the Malays in Kelantan. They are aware that BN has introduced many programmes and development projects.
According to Datuk Annuar Musa “RM2 billion worth of projects are flowing into the state”. But the local malays will ask you who are the beneficiaries of these projects? Yes, its the UMNO cronies and the UMNO connected politicians who will secure all the major contracts.
Of late, the sprinkling of Indians are also behind PAS not due to Hindraf’s effort but because of the awareness that it was under PAS rule that a prominent land in Jalan Hamzah was approved for the Hindus to build a temple when the same approval was rejected by BN four times before.
Because of centuries of close proximity of Kelantan to Thailand and the close rapport between the Chinese and the Kelantanese Malays, the local Malays are not only intelligent and well-versed in commerce but they are very conversant with local and federal politics. This perhaps explain why UMNO with their brand of politics can never fool the Kelantan Malays.
In the coming general election BN will not only lose in Kelantan it will lose as badly as in 1990. This is not only a fact, it is a promise.