Tenaganita's Irene Fernandez says if the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission isn't established, a coalition of NGOs will hit the streets.
Malaysia cannot depend on just one source of income -- Petronas. But then even Malaysians (Chinese in particular, but Indians and Malays as well) are moving their money to other countries (and not all is ‘dirty’ money but are legitimate investments). Some are even coming to the UK and billions are being invested here (some of them are my personal friends). How long can this go on before something breaks?
Malaysians are a bit too free with labelling this, that, or the other, as racism. Racism goes deeper than just fighting for your own community. Would you label African American Christian priests or African American Muslim imams who set up community centres for ‘Blacks’ as racists?
The whacking of Najib’s brother is the beginning of an onslaught that we are going to see against Najib. And do not clap and cheer too early. If Najib does fall, and unless someone from Pakatan Rakyat takes over, you may not like the alternative to Najib. You may, not long after that, be reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ when Najib was Prime Minister.
The fruit of a poisonous tree is poisonous. There are no two ways about it. The opposition will sound more credible if it were to announce that it is boycotting the salaries and allowances for all Members of Parliament and State Assemblypersons since it considers the recent general election as illegitimate and the government as equally illegitimate.
Can you see that everything in the end boils down to just one thing -- robbery. Anything taken from the people or denied the people is an act of robbery. You rob the people of this, that or the other. So our struggle must be to oppose these robbers. Anyone who short-changes the people is robbing the people. And I can see robbers on both sides of the political divide. Even in Pakatan Rakyat, just like in Barisan Nasional, there are robbers.
Then the English made one huge mistake, as did the Christian missionaries. They built schools and started educating the Malays. Then the Malays began to speak English better than an Englishman and sometimes with a Winston Churchill accent as well. Then the educated Malays began to be taught one very important word, lust. The Malays were told if they did not possess lust then they would be viewed as lazy and backward. They needed to have lust to prove that they are progressive and successful.
I feel His Majesty the Agong should pardon that woman who was arrested for insulting His Majesty in the spirit that Muslim leaders and rulers are not exempt from criticism. I know I said that insults are not criticism and that there is a difference. Nevertheless, let this be a lesson to all Malaysians that under Islam criticism of leaders and rulers is allowed as long as you know the difference between a criticism and an insult.
The ex-PAS Menteri Besar of Kedah, Azizan Abdul Razak, was also given the Tan Sri award on 1st June. I suppose now the Umno supporters are going to vilify and disparage him and call him a bitch, prostitute and whatnot. And if they do not then why the hell not? After all, Azizan is on the opposite side of the political fence and hence an enemy of Umno. So it is only right that they vilify and disparage Azizan and call him a bitch, prostitute and so on even though this would be seen as an insult to His Majesty the Agong.
Okay, so we have one Indian journalist working for an Indian/Chinese news portal that is financed by Indian/Chinese opposition activists quoting an Indian opposition leader from a Chinese political party complaining about an Indian Cabinet member from the government who is alleged to be remaining silent regarding the death of an Indian under police remand. And now we have the Chinese up in arms about one very charming Malaysian Chinese actress who, today, was awarded a Tan Sri title.
In fact, if you look at ‘Point 1’ of the Agreement, Sabah does not have any State religion. This would mean Islam is not the official religion of Sabah. And this would also mean, if a Muslim lives in Sabah, he or she can leave Islam and become a Christian or Atheist or whatever and there is nothing the government can do about it (unlike in West Malaysia where they can).
Bishop Nicholas Holtam’s comment in the news item above "sometimes Christians have had to rethink the priorities of the Gospel in the light of experience" and “the Biblical texts have not changed; our interpretation has" are very interesting comments. No doubt the Bishop was talking about the Anglican Church but it could easily apply to the Catholic Church or even to Islam.
Umno leaders also realized that the British required inter-ethnic cooperation before a further political transition would take place. The Chinese on their part were forced to be restrained in their demands because the Emergency, which was seen as supported largely by Chinese, had placed the community under a political cloud. And after the 1955 elections when they had less seats than Umno, they realized that their bargaining position was weaker. There must be appreciation that the Constitution was drawn up in a context of compromise and consensus so as to forge a united front in the fight for independence. Today there is an urgency to retrieve and regain that spirit of mutual respect and understanding to build a cohesive Malaysia that can thrive in an increasingly globalising and competitive world.
The Umno-MCA alliance could have turned out to be no more than a temporary arrangement of convenience. Given that the first real electoral contest took place in Kuala Lumpur which was largely Chinese-majority, Umno found it necessary to work with MCA to defeat its rival, the IMP. Had elections been held elsewhere where Chinese votes were insignificant, there might not have been a reason for Umno to seek a Chinese electoral partner. Nevertheless in 1952 it was more than just electoral battles that led Umno and MCA to work together. They now had to forge a common front to negotiate with the British on constitutional change.
The Malay radicals had been marginalised in the talks among Umno, the British, and the rulers. The MNP saw the Federation Agreement as a move to maintain colonial rule in Malaya. The AMCJA-Putera called for a hartal on 20 October 1947 to protest against the Federation of Malaya Agreement. Towards the end of 1947, the government banned the AMCJA and Putera and most of their leaders, except for Tan, were arrested or went into exile. In June 1951, Dato Onn declared at the Umno General Assembly that independence could only be achieved if there was unity with the other races. He therefore proposed opening Umno membership to non-Malays and the party renamed as the United Malayan National Organisation.
In other words, say PKR, DAP, PAS and PRM each won 15% of the seats. Would their 15% each be considered a combined 60%? Or would they be considered 15% individually? And if they are not combined to become 60% but are treated as 15% each, then would Barisan Nasional with 40% of the seats be regarded as the largest minority (not the majority) against PKN, DAP, PAS and PRM who each had only 15% of the seats?
Another more important point is that it was Jusuf Kalla who revealed the secret deal between Najib Tun Razak and Anwar Ibrahim. And then Anwar goes and whacks Najib when Najib never said a word and it was Jusuf Kalla who spoke out. Should not Anwar whack Jusuf Kalla instead? Why whack Najib? Najib never said anything. Jusuf Kalla was the one who spoke.
Politicians need to be very careful in how they talk. Barisan Nasional boasts about the higher number of seats it got and claims it represents the majority. Pakatan Rakyat boasts about the higher number of votes it got and claims it represents the majority. But both got roughly only 20% each of the votes. What about the rights of the 80% other Malaysians who did not vote for you? Are you saying they do not matter?
