Meena Lakshana, fz.com

Pakatan Rakyat's popular vote win in GE13 is limited to four states and Kuala Lumpur, according to an analysis by Sinar Harian.

READ MORE HERE

Student activist Adam Adli Abd Halim has been remanded for  five days  to allow police to question him over remarks he allegedly made at a post-GE13 forum.

Boo Su-Lyn, TMI

The Selangor DAP is questioning the state executive council composition announced by Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim yesterday, barely a week after a furore in PKR over the state’s top post was settled.

State DAP deputy chairman Tony Pua said the party was supposed to get four exco seats instead of the three announced by Khalid, adding that the pick for state Speaker was not as agreed.

“Last night, we found out a different set of names,” Pua told reporters in Subang Jaya here today.

“We want to know why; there was no problem on Thursday. It was a quick half-an-hour meet,” he added.

Pua pointed out that Khalid and Selangor Pakatan Rakyat ― represented by state DAP leaders Teresa Kok and Datuk Teng Chang Khim, as well as state PAS leaders Khalid Samad and Dr Rani Osman ― had agreed in a meeting last Thursday that the DAP would get four spots in the state executive council, while PAS would get three and choose the Selangor Speaker.

Khalid told reporters last night that four Selangor executive council posts would be given to PAS, while the DAP and PKR would get three each, apart from the state Speaker being a DAP lawmaker.

Pua said he only found out about the allocation of the exco seats through a tweet by Khalid last night.

“We’re surprised by Tan Sri (Khalid),” said the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

“What’s the point of the meeting then?” he added.

Pua said that Teng and Kok have been trying to contact Khalid for clarification, but to no avail.

Last night, Khalid said that a list of names for the Selangor executive council, along with proposed alternatives, was submitted to the Sultan last Friday.

He said the state executive council will be sworn in within the next two weeks.

READ MORE HERE

Leven Woon, FMT

DAP has disputed Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s statement that the party will be given three exco and one speaker posts in the state administration.

Citing the meeting between Pakatan Rakyat component parties last Thursday, DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said the consensus arrived was for DAP to have four exco posts, PAS three and the speaker posts, while PKR will take three exco posts and the Menteri Besar post.

However, Khalid told reporters a different version at a function last night where he said DAP would have the speaker posts while PAS would have four exco spots.

He also said the name list had been submitted to the Selangor Sultan on Friday, and DAP would decide on its speaker candidate.

Pua said the party was surprised by Khalid’s statement because this is not what the coalition had agreed upon.

He said during the 30-minute meeting on Thursday, PAS had agreed to swap their quota with DAP, which would see the Islamic party taking up three exco and one speaker posts.

“If now he submitted a different set of names, then what is the point of the meeting?” he said.

He said DAP would question Khalid on the matter once the MB returns to Selangor on Friday.

“I hope he made a mistake and told the reporters wrongly,” he said.

DAP announced last Friday that the party had chosen incumbent Selangor assembly speaker Teng Chang Khim and incumbent exco for new village Ean Yong Hian Wah for the exco posts.

Pakatan retained power in Selangor with a greater majority in the recently concluded general election. DAP and PAS obtained 15 seats each out of the 56 seats, while PKR bagged 14.

'But why should I retire? We won. Are Umno people stupid? We won and we will fight together with the people against this robbery, says Anwar at a Penang rally.

Athi Shankar, FMT

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim will not retire from active politics any time soon, hinting that he would still be around come the next general election.

The Permatang Pauh MP defied calls for him to retire by claiming that Pakatan Rakyat had actually “won” the 13th general election, only to be robbed by electoral frauds.

He said Pakatan’s popular votes, which were more than Barisan Nasional’s, proved that majority Malaysians have voted for a change of federal government.

Strangely, he claimed that the popular choice of the people had become the opposition while minority choice had formed the government.

Hence, Anwar told a nightly rally here yesterday that he would not heed to quit calls made by his opponents.

Critics have called on Anwar to make good of his pre-election promise to retire and go into lecturing if BN won the polls and retained Putrajaya.

Many cyber commentators have called on Anwar to fulfill his promise for once this time. But Anwar is adamant he would not heed their call.

“Yes I said I would retire from politics if Pakatan loses. Some told me to retire as promised and to fight it out next time.

“But why should I retire? We won. Are Umno people stupid? We won and we will fight together with the people against this robbery.

“We can’t tolerate this rigging, robbery and fraud. We want answers now,” he thundered before a roaring and flag-waving mammoth crowd in Esplanade field.

A total 11,054,577 votes were recorded for federal contest in the just concluded polls on May 5. Pakatan garnered 50.9 or 5,623,984 popular votes against Barisan Nasional’s 47.4% or 5,237,699.

The three parties in Pakatan – Chinese-dominated DAP, Anwar’s PKR and Islamist PAS, collectively won 88 parliamentary seats against BN’s 133 seats.

Pakatan-friendly Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) won a federal seat in Sungai Siput to make it 89 in the parliamentary opposition bench.

Soon after the polls, Pakatan led by Anwar has been organising rallies across the country to claim that their victory was robbed by electoral frauds and an incompetent Election Commission.

Pakatan leaders also claimed that they were rightful, legitimate winners due to higher popular votes, while hammering BN as a minority government.

READ MORE HERE

(The Star) - DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has warned former DAP vice-chairman Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim to cease further attacks on the party or he would bring the latter to court.

"He is completely getting out of hand. I have been watching him very closely.

"The DAP leadership was guilty of serious misjudgement in having given Tunku Aziz membership for the party and immediately made a vice-chairman.

"He is not grateful but an opportunist," he told a press conference after a thanksgiving session with the public at a market in Jalan Gangsa in Green Lane on Sunday.

Tunku Aziz had quit the party in May last year.

Karpal Singh said that while Tunku Aziz has not made personal attacks on him, the latter has gone beyond the limit and must stop with the 'persistent attacks' on the party.

When asked on how Tunku Aziz would be charged if brought to court, Karpal Singh said it would depend on what the former said.

"Bringing him to court is the last thing we want to do," he said.

Karpal Singh added that Tunku Aziz should be a gentleman and not reveal whatever that had transpired during central executive committee meetings when he was still a member.

Boo Su-Lyn, TMI

The Selangor executive council will be sworn in within the next two weeks, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday.

He added that PAS will take four spots in the state executive council, while PKR and the DAP will get three seats each.

“The list of names that was given to the Sultan includes alternative names,” Khalid (picture) told reporters after a thanksgiving function at Pandamaran Jaya here last night.

“I gave alternative names so that Tuanku will have the chance to make his choice,” he added.

Khalid refused, however, to name the executive council line-up or to confirm if PKR deputy president Azmin Ali was included in the list.

Azmin was said to be eyeing the mentri besar post, leading to a protracted tussle over the top government position in Selangor until Khalid was sworn in last Tuesday, more than a week after the May 5 general election.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said last Friday that party members Teng Chang Khim and Ean Yong Hian Wah will be joining the Selangor executive council.

Teng served as the Selangor Speaker in the last term, while Ean Yong, who is also the Seri Kembangan assemblyman, was previously a member of the state executive council.

Khalid said yesterday that the DAP will decide on who will take up the post of the Selangor Speaker.

Khalid was reappointed Selangor mentri besar for a second term after Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won a two-thirds majority in Election 2013 by sweeping 44 of the 56 state seats in the country’s most industrialised state.

PAS and the DAP snagged 15 state seats each, while PKR took 14 seats.

Boo Su-Lyn, TMI

The call by pro-Umno bloggers and Muslim groups for a boycott of Chinese businesses is racist and will harm the country’s economic growth, according to businessmen from the community.

Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year as a result of weaker exports and slower growth in public spending, compared to 4.7 per cent in the same quarter in 2012 and 6.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2012.

“How can you say boycott? Who loses? The government and Malaysia are the ones that will lose out,” Chen Kien Keong, chairman of the Tea Trade Association of Malaysia, told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

“The priority now is the economy... so few people also pay income tax,” he added.

Only 10 per cent of the working population in the country pays income tax.

Khoo Kah Jin, president of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association, said the call for a boycott of consumer goods produced by Chinese companies was “racist”.

“If they boycott Chinese brands, (the) Chinese can boycott Malay brands ― where does it end?” he told The Malaysian Insider.

“Politics is politics. This is all consumer items. How can you boycott? Leave politics aside,” Khoo added.

Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz was reported by national news agency Bernama last Wednesday as saying that the economy was forecast to grow between five and six per cent this year.

She added that resilient domestic demand would continue to be the “key driver of growth”, underpinned by sustained private sector expansion and backed by the public sector.

Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Hasan Malek said yesterday that Putrajaya did not approve of the boycott, but said that he could not prevent those who wished to do so.

Several pro-Umno bloggers and the Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia (PPIM) recently called for consumers to boycott or at least buy goods sold by Chinese companies last, including products such as Massimo bread, Cap Sauh wheat flour and items from the Old Town White Coffee chain.

PPIM wrote on its website that such “DAP products” must be boycotted by Malaysians who love peace and harmony.

Pro-Umno blog theunspinners.blogspot.com called last Friday for a “Buy Malay first! Buy Chinese last!” campaign and listed several consumer products sold by Muslims and by “DAP allies”.

READ MORE HERE

(Vice.com) - We start off with restraint and a zero tolerance stance, but we won't keep up this position if the Malays in Malaysia are threatened. 

A couple of years ago, my friend moved out to Malaysia in search of a life where a winter wardrobe isn't a thing and you don't have to worry about stuff like moronic bro culture or seeing Kim K's face on television. What he found was a job as a bar manager in an establishment frequented by Malay punks covered in swastikas, wearing Combat 18 (a neo-Nazi terrorist organization) T-shirts and harping on about "Malay power."

Turns out they're a group of far-right nationalists who want to rid Malaysia of any non-ethnic Malays and stop immigration into the country. Which, although pretty backwards and reductive, isn't all that surprising in the current world climate. What was surprising, and kind of confusing, is that they identify themselves as neo-Nazis, are fond of sieg-heiling and listen to Nazi bands like Skrewdriver and Angry Aryan, yet definitely aren't Aryan themselves. And adopting a worldview that specifically discriminates against your race seems a very odd thing to do.     

I was told that one of the most popular Malay power bands is an act named Boot Axe, so I got in touch with band member Mr. Slay to find out why exactly a group of Malaysians are going through this bizarre, neo-Nazi identity crisis.  

VICE: Hi Slay. So what’s the deal with all this "Malay power" stuff then?

Slay: Malay power is important because we're concerned about keeping a pure Malay community all over the Malay Archipelago [the archipelago between Australia and Southeast Asia, believed by some to be the homeland of the Malay race]. I'm a second generation fighter for Malay power. The first generation, who founded the Malay power movement, have been less active recently. Malay power stems from a point in history—the 13th of May, 1969—where the Chinese and Malay communities fought each other. However, the punk and skinhead Malay power movement started in Kuala Lumpur in the early 90s.   

As far as I understand it, the idea that there's a "Malay race"—which is supposedly indigenous to the Malay Archipelago—was proposed by German scientist Johann Blumenbach. There's a lot of contention over whether or not such a race actually exists. For a start, Blumenbach’s theory hinged around the idea that there were only five different races in the world, which is clearly pretty flawed. I take it racism features pretty heavily in your ideology?
We're extremists in regards to the Malay race, but that doesn’t mean that we're extreme racists. It’s not about racism. It’s all about being Malay.

OK. How exactly is Nazism culturally relevant to Malaysians? Malaysia isn’t a country that most people would associate with Hitler and his Third Reich buddies.
Malaysia is home to people from China, India, and foreign immigrants from Bangladesh, Africa, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Burma. The government can't control the entry of immigrants and we get so many of them. There are so many protests against the government about this issue, but they haven’t done anything tangible to improve the situation. Race has become a focus because of the inclusion of uncontrolled numbers of these people in our society.

How has immigration affected you? 
Malay people have been affected in socio-economic terms. Ethnic Malays also fall prey to criminals who come from abroad and sell drugs and commit murder, rape, robbery, and so on. The lesson that we can learn from Nazism is that we can take extreme racist action if the position of the Malays is affected by these factors. We won't practice overt racism if the Malay race isn't compromised, but, if threatened, we will take action.

So you aren’t openly hostile to minorities at the moment?

We don’t like minorities in Malaysia if they can’t co-exist with the Malay race. If they are good, then we are good.

Read more at: http://www.vice.com/read/the-malaysian-nazis-fighting-for-a-pure-race 

(Cracked.com) - When we have a strong opinion on an issue and have researched and validated that opinion, it can be exceptionally difficult to see why anyone would have the opposite viewpoint. Here's the thing: The person who holds the opposite viewpoint is thinking the exact same thing. 

Political discourse in America has reached levels of douchebaggery previously only theorized about but never observed, like conversational dark matter. We're in a whole new world of hating people based solely on their opinions on a few key issues, and since this is unexplored territory, our conversations about politics are usually only a couple notches beyond the "hold your breath until the other person agrees with you and/or you die" technique.

But it's the 21st century. We have access to the entirety of collective human knowledge in our back pockets at all times. We have taken pictures of the deepest corners of space. We have three different goddamn TV shows about bidding on abandoned storage units. We as a society should have moved beyond figuratively (and literally, probably, knowing you assholes) shitting in our hands and throwing it at each other whenever someone brings up the deficit.

Boo Su-Lyn, TMI

Student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim was arrested this afternoon under the Sedition Act that his lawyer believes is due to his remarks at a forum on May 13.

Adam Adli, 24 (picture), had apparently told a forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall this week that Malaysians “cannot wait for five years to overthrow Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN)”.

“It looks like it’s a crackdown,” Adam Adli’s lawyer Latheefa Koya told The Malaysian Insider today.

She said that Adam Adli was being brought to IPD Jinjang, which is a remand centre, adding that she feared the police would detain him until tomorrow.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was reported by Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia today as saying that the government would take stern action against those who intended to foment chaos on the streets.

“As soon as he came out from the building, he was arrested immediately,” said Mandeep, 27.

At the May 13 forum, Adam Adli reportedly called for street demonstrations, saying: “Elections won’t overthrow the government; the people’s power will”.

Anything But Umno (ABU) movement leader Haris Ibrahim said at the same forum that the BN government would be toppled through a street rally.

Several authoritarian regimes in the Middle East have been overthrown through mass demonstrations in the Arab Spring revolution.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR), however, has distanced itself from calls for street protests to overturn the results of Election 2013 that was tainted with widespread reports of electoral fraud.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said last Wednesday that the federal opposition pact would stick to indoor rallies to “voice their disgust” at alleged vote-rigging in the May 5 general polls.

READ MORE HERE

(Borneo Insider) - SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee has called on the Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to disclose the names of the three opposition leaders, one of whom is from Sabah, whom Zahid had alleged to have been involved in the Philippine Sulu incursion at Lahad Datu.

Yong stressed that this is only fair to all Malaysians and to anybody who has been cast in a negative light by the damaging “disclosures” of the defence minister in the midst of an election campaign.

“Instead of making even more irresponsible statements like asking Malaysians to leave the country if they do not like Malaysia’s political system, the new Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, should without any further delay fulfil his promise to disclose the names of the three opposition leaders, one of whom is in Sabah, whom Zahid had alleged to have been involved in the Philippine Sulu incursion at Lahad Datu,” he said.

Yong reminded that Zahid, who was the Defence Minister in the last cabinet before the May 5 elections, had on April 27 said that the defence ministry had identified the culprits behind the armed intrusion by Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datu. He claimed that two of the three suspects are from the opposition parties based in the Peninsula while the other one is in Sabah. Zahid has said that actions would be taken against the three opposition leaders after the general elections.

Yong who lost in the last elections, had at a ceramah at Foh Sang in Kota Kinabalu on May 1 challenged Zahid to name the “suspects” immediately as he (Yong) was actually hauled up by the police from Bukit Aman (Police Headquarters) for questioning in connection with allegations that Yong had met the leaders of the Sulu intrusion at a five-star hotel in Kota KInabalu last October.

Noting that the alleged involvement is a treason against the country and waging war against the Agong and is punishable by death, Yong said Zahid’s claim has cast a heavy psychological burden on all possible suspects, including him who was hauled up for question by the police.

Yong also recalled that Zahid’s startling “disclosures” coincidently came after he (Yong) had during the campaign, spoken extensively on the Philippine Sulu claim on Sabah and displayed Philippine maps with Sabah (North Borneo) being visible.

Yong had vehemently denied the allegation of his involvement and has called on the authorities to clear his name.

An overnight candlelight vigil will be held tonight in front of the Jinjang police remand centre, in protest against the arrest of student activist Adam Adli Abd Halim earlier today.

The opposition leader tells a crowd of 20,000 at a Black 505 rally in Seremban that he may be branded a traitor

Zefry Dahalan, FMT

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim last night told of about 20,000 at a Black 505 rally in Seremban last night that he may be arrested soon and charged.

“I want to tell you…let (them) record this and hand it over to the Home Minister and the Prime Minister. Whatever your plan…to arrest me and to charge me because Anwar is a traitor to the…

“I’m not at all bothered. I don’t know what their plan is,” he told his audience, most of them youths who braved a heavy downpour to hear him.

“But I have one satisfaction that really touched me,” said Anwar. “I’m happy that the future of the country is guaranteed with youths.

“This is the spirit of the new Malaysia. Those present here tonight are the ones who have dignity, who love freedom and justice. They don’t bother about BR1M.

“We must throw the BN government out,” he told the cheering crowd.

Anwar has been on a nationwide tour holding rallies at major cities, wanting the BN government, to step down and allow Pakatan to assume power because of irregularities in the just concluded polls.

So what if the Chinese voted Pakatan?

Anwar also kept up his firing of salvos at Umno, the backbone of the ruling Barisan Nasional.

“Umno asked why I’m not stepping down…I have not stepped down because you cheated (in the elections).

READ MORE HERE

Sean Augustin, fz.com

Efforts by Indonesia to negotiate a political truce between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been described as "futile" and a "waste of time".

(Asia News Network) - Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has criticised the new Cabinet line-up, questioning the decision to pick Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

"Waythamoorthy has previously rejected some of the core points of the country's Constitution and his party is basically the Indian version of Perkasa," the Opposition Leader said, pointing out that both Perkasa and Hindraf were "extremist parties".

Anwar said that instead of Waythamoorthy, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should have appointed "a Bangladeshi deputy minister instead" in reference to claims by the Opposition that groups of Bangladeshis and other foreigners were brought in to vote for Barisan Nasional during the general election.

Anwar was speaking to a crowd who had gathered for the Blackout 505 rally at Puteri Wangsa here on Wednesday night.

At the rally, Anwar urged the Election Commission to declare that Pakatan Rakyat was the rightful winner of GE13.

"I have had a meeting with the Pakatan coalition leaders and we have decided to claim our rights and protest the elections results," he said, adding that the Opposition had evidence to prove there were discrepancies involved.

"We will not give Barisan five more years," he said.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, who also spoke at the event, said he felt sorry for Umno Youth chief and Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin who was appointed Youth and Sports Minister.

"I am no friend of Khairy's but it is unfair to him that he is put in charge of one of the most minor posts in the Cabinet," he said, adding that Khairy was an Oxford University graduate and deserved better.

Lim also labelled the new Cabinet line-up as "the most unimpressive in history", expressing disappointment that some non-perfoming ministers were retained. He urged Najib and the Election Commission to provide answers to alleged irregularities during the polls and urged for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be set up to address the concerns raised.

(The Star) - DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said the state’s ‘thanksgiving mega ceramah’ on Saturday night did not need a permit as it is a state function.

“It is a gathering to introduce the new exco lineup. That is the purpose of the assembly.

“I have had a word with chief minister Lim Guan Eng who wrote a letter this morning informing the police of the purpose of the gathering.

“I hope the police will not be trigger-happy and try to interfere with the gathering,” he told a press conference in Air Itam Saturday.

The Bukit Gelugor MP added that the state has every right, particularly now after the victory of Pakatan Rakyat in the state, to introduce everyone in the line-up to the public.

“The state government has the right to organise a rally like this at the Penang Esplanade which is under the jurisdiction of the Penang Municipal Council.

“It is a government function which does not require a permit,” he said.

(Bernama) - The DAP chairman, Karpal Singh today said the federal constitution should be amended to abolish the senate.

"There is no need for the senate. It is an unnecessary expense required to be borne by the people. It does not serve a useful purpose.

"It only encourages those who have been rejected by the people or others to be brought into Parliament through the back door via the senate as in law Parliament also includes the senate," he told a press conference, here.

He said a unicameral house with a single legislative chamber, as is the position in Singapore, would be best suited in the public interest.

Karpal, who is also the Bukit Gelugor Member of Parliament, said the inclusion of Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, Datuk Idris Jala, Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Datuk Dr J. Loga Bala Mohan, Datuk Ahmad Bashar Md Hanipah and Watha Moorthy in the cabinet was a mockery.

He said such personalities, who do not hold a single seat either in the Dewan Rakyat or in any of the state assemblies, should be shown the door and not allowed entry through the back door via the senate.

(The Star) - GEORGE TOWN: The police and the state government are heading for a showdown as the state is planning to proceed with its “thanksgiving mega ceramah” in the Esplanade tonight although the police have not approved the permit application for the gathering.

Deputy Chief Minister I Mohd Rashid Hasnon said the state notified the police yesterday that the event was an official state function and was not being organised by Pakatan Rakyat.

Furthermore, he said the venue for the gathering was not at any of the places stipulated under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 as prohibited areas, such as the airport, dams, hospital or places used for religious ceremonies.

The police said the permit application was rejected because the organiser failed to comply with certain requirements, including giving a 10-day notice prior to the event.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said the proposed location for the gathering was also unsuitable due to concerns over public safety as the Esplanade was a popular spot for tourists especially on weekends.

Mohd Rashid told a press conference here yesterday that even if the police continued to refuse to issue a permit for the gathering, the state would proceed as planned.

State Tourism Development and Culture Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang, who was also present at the press conference, cla­rified that he had on Wednesday applied for a police permit under the name of Pakatan.

He said police had approved the permit, provided it was moved to the City Stadium.

“We felt it was too small to ac­commodate the expected crowd of 60,000 and would cause a massive traffic jam.

“To make it easier, we felt that the event was best organised under the state.”

Boo Su-Lyn, TMI

Putrajaya will not compromise but will take stern action against Pakatan Rakyat (PR) if it foments chaos on the streets, says Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia reported Ahmad Zahid today as saying that prevention was better than cure, after tens of thousands of Malaysians thronged six PR rallies across the country to protest against alleged vote-rigging in Election 2013.

“I will not give warning, but just wait for stern action,” Ahmad Zahid (picture) was quoted as saying by the Malay-language daily.

The Malay broadsheet’s front page today was 

headlined “KDN: Tiada kompromi (KDN: No compromise)” and the newly-minted home minister was quoted as saying: “Prevention is better than cure, and the price of early prevention is cheaper than solving problems after.”

More than 100 people were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1987 in an operation dubbed Ops Lalang that was carried out amid rising political tensions, the second-largest ISA swoop in Malaysian history since the May 13, 1969 race riots.

But the ISA, which allows for detention without trial, was abolished in 2012 and replaced with the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) that removes the government’s option to detain without trial.

Human rights activists, however, have criticised the new law for giving the government broad powers to deem any form of opposition a threat and to prosecute them.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has rallied against the legitimacy of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, saying that the May 5 general election was tainted with electoral fraud.

BN won just 133 federal seats, ceding an additional seven seats to PR, and lost the popular vote for the first time since 1969 when it contested as the Alliance party then.

Ahmad Zahid wrote in Utusan Malaysia last Thursday that Malaysians who were unhappy with the country’s first-past-the-post voting system should migrate to other countries that had different voting systems.

READ MORE HERE

PRS and SPDP remind Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak that the rural vote bank is with them and if not taken care of, 'somebody will come by and withdraw it'.

Joseph Tawie, FMT

KUCHING: Bitter Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) supreme council members today unanimously agreed to reject all ministerial posts in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s cabinet.

This means that Joseph Entulu who was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Joseph Salang Gandum, a deputy minister, will not accept their posts.

A miffed Salang had in fact already earlier rejected the position.

Parti president James Masing said majority of the party’s supreme council members had agreed to reject Najib’s offer and felt that they were “sidelined” and “deserved to be treated better.”

PRS had delivered six parliamentary seats to Barisan Nasional’s 133 seat tally. They did better than some BN parties in peninsular who were suitably rewarded.

Without mincing his words Masing warned Najib not to toy with PRS and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) which had been totally ignored despite delivering four parliamentary seats.

“Don’t try to sideline us because we have the support of the rural people. It is not a warning.

“It is a fact, in case they don’t understand that we have six seats and four from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

“PRS and SPDP which are rural-based parties are not properly treated by the present government.

“The rural areas in Sarawak are Barisan Nasional ‘fixed deposit’. If you don’t take care of it, somebody will come by and withdraw it,” warned Masing.

‘Give us appropriate portfolio’

Masing, who chaired the emergency supreme council meeting, said majority of the members felt that a ministerial post in the PM Department was inappropriate for PRS which was a rural based party.

“Joseph Entulu who was offered a post of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department sought the advice of the meeting which agreed that the president would discuss with the Prime Minister where Entulu should be.

“All the members of the supreme council are not happy that Entulu is a mere Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

“We want the Prime Minister to give us an appropriate portfolio, the one that could be of assistance to the rural people, portfolios such as Infrastructure and Agriculture,” he said.

He said the council felt the same way about Salang’s new position which was deputy minister of tourism.

“Such post is not of any assistance to the rural people. We just want a portfolio that is of assistance to the rural people, and not just any position” said Masing.

Masing revealed that the party was initially offered two deputy ministers’ posts which they felt was an insult because the party had delivered on its pledge to BN.

But it wasn’t until Masing informed Najib that PRS felt they were being sidelined and would not attend the swearing in ceremony that the PM tweaked his list before announcing it on Wednesday. In the new list, he named Entulu a full minister.

But even this move by Najib has not appeased the party.

READ MORE HERE

(TMI) - All is not well among Barisan Nasional (BN) parties over the distribution of Cabinet posts as Sarawak’s PRS has decided to reject its appointments while SPDP is also upset its four federal wins did not get the party anything.

Several senior Sabah Umno MPs are also grumbling that they were overlooked in the Cabinet appointments while other Umno lawmakers are disputing Hindraf’s P. Waythamoorthy’s selection despite him running down the government previously.

Media reports say Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun will not take up his appointment as minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum has openly rejected being a deputy minister again.

BN secretary-general Datuk Tengku Adnan Mansor told Utusan Malaysia today that the coalition has accepted Gandum's refusal of his deputy tourism minister post.

PRS president James Masing said the majority of the party’s supreme council members had agreed to reject Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s offer, saying they felt “sidelined” and “deserved to be treated better.”

PRS gained six federal seats and SPDP four to add to BN’s 133-seat haul, doing better than BN parties in Sabah, Sarawak and even the peninsula that were better rewarded.

MIC, which won four seats, got two ministerships and two deputy minister posts while SUPP and PBRS got full ministerships despite each winning only one federal seat.

“PRS and SPDP, which are rural-based parties, are not properly treated by the present government.

“The rural areas in Sarawak are Barisan Nasional ‘fixed deposit’. If you don’t take care of it, somebody will come by and withdraw it,” Masing warned in a report by Free Malaysia Today.

Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/discontent-in-bn-parties-over-cabinet-posts/ 

(NST) - ‘MALAYSIAN SPRING’ PLANS: Former DAP senator reveals 2012 email between party HQ and its leaders

PETALING JAYA: A FORMER DAP vice-chairman yesterday revealed that the opposition had long intended to initiate a “Malaysian spring” to overthrow the government through street rallies. Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim said the opposition had planned to create chaos since last year’s Bersih rally and was now building up to nationwide protests, which were being organised to condemn a democratically elected government over so-called electoral fraud in the 13th General Election.

The former senator said he had evidence to back his claim in the form of an email which was sent out by DAP’s chief of staff Foo Yueh Chuan to all central executive council members on April 26, 2012.

In the email, Foo informed the recipients that  she was coordinating the party members and leaders to participate in Bersih's sit-in rally at Stadium Merdeka on April 28 last year.

Tunku Aziz said he replied to the email making it clear that he was "in principle opposed to street demonstrations".

However, he said, DAP founding member Dr Chen Man Hin replied the email, saying that he was in support of the idea.

"Dr Chen said he would be 'delighted to participate in the sit-in (Bersih rally)'. He wrote that 'this may be the beginning of a Malaysia spring'," Tunku Aziz said reading out Dr Chen's response at a press conference held here yesterday.

Tunku Aziz said the email response itself was proof that the opposition backed illegal street protests for an "Arab Spring" kind of uprising to take place in Malaysia.

"Pakatan has been talking about Malaysian spring, they are not talking about flowers, but what the Syrians have been doing and the Egyptians or Libyans had done.

"This is very serious. This is about toppling an elected government...this is being done even when we operate under a democratic system. If you want to bring it (the government) down, bring it down through the ballot box. But they did not succeed and now they are forced to resort to street rallies."

Tunku Aziz, who was accompanied by former Selangor DAP publicity secretary Tan Tuan Tat, added that Anwar was quite open about his plan to organise and orchestrate large-scale, nationwide protests.

"Anwar is well aware that he is playing with fire but he is determined to create a dangerous environment of unease, fear and insecurity that could easily get out of control with predictable consequences."

Tunku Aziz urged the government to put a stop the rallies, as they posed a serious threat to national security and public order.

"The government must apply the full force of the law to stop the rot from setting in.

"Anwar's selfish act bordering on the criminal, has gone far enough..

Tunku Aziz was also not convinced when asked about Anwar's statement that the opposition would steer clear of any illegal street demonstrations to topple the government.

"Of course he would say that their demonstration is going to be peaceful...we are used to his lies.

"So whatever Anwar says, it has to be taken with a pinch of salt, for example his Sept 16 notion that didn't materialise."

(The Star) - “I am not being racist... I am just being practical in saying such groups should go to countries where they can translate their political beliefs into reality”

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has defended his statement which called for groups which did not accept the country's political system to migrate to countries with systems that suit them.

The Umno vice-president, who has been criticised for it, clarified that his statement was taken out of context by certain irresponsible parties.

“I actually said those who are not confident of our political system to berhijrah to countries with political systems that suited them.

“I am not being racist... I am just being practical in saying such groups should go to countries where they can translate their political beliefs into reality,” he said yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said people should not read the statement out of context, urging readers to read the full Utusan Malaysia article.

He explained that Malaysia inherited the Commonwealth system and those who think that the system in the United States or other countries were more suitable could migrate there.

Dr Ahmad Zahid also lambasted the Opposition for disputing the general election results but recognising the results for Selangor, Penang and Kelantan, where they won.

“They are disputing the results very selectively,” he said.

"The government intends to exit its role in business. But it can never be done in one day. There will still be businesses that the government has a role, due to the importance of it in the daily lives of Malaysians," Jala added. 

Bishop Paul Tan explains that while he abstains from partisan politics, he supports electoral watchdog Bersih in its cause for free and fair polls.

RK Anand, FMT

An outspoken Catholic cleric has cast aspersion on the 13th general election with regard to the battle for Putrajaya being clean and fair.

Bishop Paul Tan said this in reference to the report of the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS).

“IDEAS and CPPS have done an interim report. In it, there is this conclusion: ‘GE13 was only partially free and not fair’. I find it difficult to believe that the report could conclude this…

“But when it concluded ‘only partially free’ for the three reasons given that are fraught with irregularities as reported in the said report, the people involved are not objective,” he said.

“From the multiple examples of irregularities arrived in the report, permit me to use a stronger phrase than that of IDEAS and CPPS: GE13 is anything but transparently ‘free and fair’,” he added.

Tan, who heads the Malacca and Johor diocese, conceded that he could be wrong but stressed that he was morally obliged to speak out at this time because of the immorality practiced before and during GE13.

“If I didn’t speak up, I would have to answer to my God and my Church,” he said.

Tan said while he obeyed the Catholic Church’s teaching that clerics must not take sides in partisan politics, he noted that the church also taught that clerics must speak out against immoralities and against all that go against human rights.

“As a religious person in my role as bishop, I am in a dilemma vis-a-vis to what extent should I allow a certain degree of immorality or infringement against human rights to go on unpunished before denouncing them publicly,” he added.

For a long time, Tan said, there had not been sufficient action taken against immorality in its widest sense, especially corruption.

“Some attempts have been made by related government departments to deal with the matter. In ‘grosso modo’, it has not been effective. Only a few small fish have been caught, the big fish was left untouched.

“The consequence of this ‘laissez faire’ lifestyle is that it has produced massive corruption, cheating and immoral manipulation of the people to garner votes for one’s political party.

“Unfortunately, this cuts across the boundaries of all parties. The degree lies in the extent of corruption,” he added.

READ MORE HERE

Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei has also been implicated in the sand mining corruption scandal

(Bernama) - The sedition charge against Sri Muda state assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei over alleged blog postings stands.

This follows a decision of the Court of Appeal here today to dismiss his appeal to have his sedition charge struck out.

Mat Shuhaimi wanted his sedition charge be struck out as he disputed the constitutionality of Section 4(1)© of the Sedition Act 1948, the provision in which he was being charged.

A three-member panel led by Justice Datuk Abdul Malik Ishak in their unanimous decision ruled that Section 4(1)© was constitutionally enacted by Parliament.

“The section remains a valid enforceable law until today,” said Abdul Malik who presided on the panel with Justices Datuk Azhar Mohamed and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh.

Justice Abdul Malik ordered Mat Shuhaimi, 45, to appear before the Sessions Court in Shah Alam on June 5 which was set for mention of his sedition case.

The panel, however, allowed Mat Shuhaimi’s application to stay the trial at the Sessions Court pending his appeal to the Federal Court against today’s decision.

Justice Abdul Malik had granted the stay order applied by Mat Shuhaimi through his lawyer Edmund Bon and deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud did not object to the application.

Mat Shuhaimi, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat assemblyman, was charged in 2011 with posting an allegedly seditious article in his blog, srimuda.blogspot.com on the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as the new Selangor State Secretary.

He was accused of committing the offence at Pusat Khidmat Rakyat, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla, Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam on Dec 30, 2010.

Mat Shuhaimi can be jailed up to three years or fined up to RM5,000 if found guilty.

On April 1, 2011, he filed a notice of motion at the High Court in Shah Alam seeking to have his sedition charge struck out on grounds that the Sedition Act was unconstitutional as it conflicted with Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed freedom of speech.

On Aug 26, 2011, the High Court in Shah Alam dismissed Mat Shuhaimi’s application to strike out his sedition charge.

M Ravi claims that Kamarul won the Teluk Kemang seat because of the excellent service rendered by three assemblymen.

Zefry Dahalan, FMT

Port Dickson state assemblyman M Ravi has urged Telok Kemang MP Kamarul Baharin Abbas to step down as Negeri Sembilan PKR chairman.

He claimed that Kamarul is to be blamed for PKR’s defeat in several Negeri Sembilan seats in the just concluded 13th general election.

“Kamarul used his power to field candidates as per his wish without consulting with division and grassroots leaders. This is the reason we (PKR) lost many seats, which we should have won.

“He must be responsible and must step down as state PKR chairman voluntarily. If he loves the party, it’s better to do it now before the ‘disease’ becomes worse. He should step down from the state chairman post and concentrate on his job as MP for Telok Kemang,” he added.

Ravi said that Kamarul should make way for young leaders to spearhead the party in Negeri Sembilan.

According to Ravi, PKR could have won the state seats of Ampangan, Pilah and Linggi if the party had fielded candidates who worked through various activities including charities and assistance to poor at the respective constituency for the past four years.

“These candidates are PKR supreme council member and Seremban PKR deputy chief, Dr Mohamad Rafie Abdul Malek in Ampangan; PKR Kuala Pilah treasurer Kamarul Allaymmy Abdul Kadir in Pilah and Telok Kemang PKR deputy chief Rusli Abdullah in Linggi.

“However, Kamarul decided to field ‘parachute’ candidates including himself in Ampangan, Mohamad Nazaruddin Sabtu in Pilah and Rosman Jonet in Linggi,” he added.

Kamarul’s track record poor

Ravi said these three candidates went down to the ground only after the nomination day, and 15 days is not enough for parachute candidates to familiarise themselves with the ground.

READ MORE HERE

Companies that invest in the Sarawak dams are still exposed to the risk of becoming embroiled in corruption scandals, human rights violations, and conflict. Unfortunately, for some investors, this is not a deterrent.  

Kirk Herbertson, Southeast Asia Policy Coordinator, International Rivers 

The Malaysian state of Sarawak is the new star of the global hydropower industry. Located on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, Sarawak is largely unknown around the world. Five years ago, Sarawak’s ruler Mr. Abdul Taib Mahmud announced that he will “transform Sarawak into a developed state” by building 12 large dams in the state’s remote, tropical forests. He argues that the dams will produce an abundance of cheap electricity, which will attract heavy industry and create jobs. Reuters has called Taib’s scheme “staggeringly ambitious,” especially since the dams will produce 450% more electricity than Sarawak currently needs.

Mr. Taib’s scheme has caught the attention of the world’s leading hydropower companies. Next week, on May 20-25, Sarawak will host the industry’s world congress, which is organized every few years by the International Hydropower Association (IHA). The IHA’s mission is to demonstrate that large dams—which are often a source of controversy—can be built in an environmentally and socially responsible way. The IHA is now promoting Sarawak as an example of responsible dam-building that brings profit as well as local development.

Sarawak has a dark history of dam building, having completed the disastrous Bakun Dam in 2011 after five decades of delays. The project is widely criticized for displacing 10,000 indigenous people and leaving them in impoverished conditions, while much of its electricity remains unused. However, Mr. Taib says his government has learned lessons from the Bakun Dam and is committed to do a better job on the next 12 dams. IHA is advising the Sarawak government and will showcase its efforts at next week’s congress. The Sarawak government will also use the opportunity to reach out to potential investors.

Doing business in Sarawak requires buying the favor of Mr. Taib, who has ruled Sarawak since 1981. Corruption is well documented. The government carefully controls the information that reaches the public, and journalists are forbidden from scrutinizing Mr. Taib. This creates serious risks for investors who want to steer clear of corruption and human rights abuses. 

The IHA has helped the Sarawak government to make modest improvements in its dams. Yet this has not been enough. To date, IHA’s efforts have been largely cosmetic and do not address the real challenges of investing in Mr. Taib’s dams.

Read more at: http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/267/malaysia-authoritarian-leader-lures-investors-with-promise-of-%E2%80%9Cresponsible%E2%80%9D-dams 

(TMI) - Malaysians are among the least racially-tolerant people in the world, according to a survey by Swedish economists, who also revealed those from India, Bangladesh and Hong Kong as the most racist.

Researchers for the World Values Survey had aimed to determine whether racial tolerance was linked to free-market economics.

To gauge a respondent’s level of racial tolerance, they posed a simple question. Respondents in more than 80 countries were told to identify whom they would not want as neighbours.

One possible answer was “people of a different race”. The proportion of people picking this answer from any given country was then used to show the relative tolerance of that society.

Up to 29.9 per cent of Malaysians said they would not like living next to a person of a different race, which was approximately the same per centage in Thailand and the Philippines, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Mali and Zambia.

In contrast, only 9.9 per cent of Singaporeans were considered racially intolerant, marking out the republic as among the most open country in the world.

The data from the survey by Niclas Berggren and Therese Nilsson was recently mapped by the Washington Post to produce an “atlas of global tolerance”.

“If we treat this data as indicative of racial tolerance, then we might conclude that people in the bluer countries are the least likely to express racist attitudes, while the people in red countries are the most likely,” the Washington Post reported.

Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysians-among-worlds-most-bigoted-survey-shows/ 

The PKR leader was charged at the Sessions Court under the Peaceful Assembly Act for failing to give sufficient notice before holding a rally. 

G Vinod and K Pragalath,FMT

PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was charged at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court today, under Section 9 (1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 (PAA), for failing to give the police sufficient notice before holding the rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium last week.

Nik Nazmi is the first person to be charged in relation to the rally as the police are in the midst of questioning others, including speakers at the rally which was called to highlight the alleged electoral fraud.

The case was heard before judge Rohana Ayub while the prosecution was done by Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

Nik Nazmi, who is also Seri Setia state assemblyman, was charged under the PAA for failing to give the police a minimum 10 days notice before holding the rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium on May 8.

If convicted, Nik Nazmi could be fined up to RM10,000, which could disqualify him from public office.

Speaking at a press conference later, the PKR leader said that many other leaders who participated in the rally last week may also be charged soon in an attempt to silence the opposition.

“In the summonses provided to me last night, there was a sheet that included the names of other Pakatan leaders who gave speeches on the day.

“I’m not sure whether they will be charged but that is the signal I’m getting from the statements made by the Selangor police chief (Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah),” he said.

Calling it a harassment against Pakatan leaders, Nik Nazmi said that charge was unconstitutional as the Federal Constitution allows Malaysians to assemble peacefully.

“All the rallies held by Pakatan were peaceful and patriotic. It shows that we have done no wrong,” he said.

‘Bad start for IGP, Home Minister’

On related matter, Nik Nazmi’s defence counsel, Eric Paulsen, said that he would challenge the constitutionality of the PAA in High Court soon.

He also alleged that the charge against Nik Nazmi was done in bad faith and was against public policy.

“Although the charge only involves a fine but I can see the authorities are trying to turn this into a sort of a traffic offence.

“So everytime you don’t give proper notice, the person gets fined. I’m sure many other Barisan Nasional supporters hold rallies without giving proper notice but we don’t see them getting charged,” said Paulsen.

READ MORE HERE

KLSCAH and Dong Zong say the more crucial question is whether the party can reinvent itself.

(FMT) - The exclusion of MCA representatives from the federal cabinet may not be permanent, but the issue is secondary to the question of whether the party can reinvent itself to stay relevant to contemporary politics, according to two NGO leaders.

The exclusion of MCA representatives from the federal cabinet may not be permanent, but the issue is secondary to the question of whether the party can reinvent itself to stay relevant to contemporary politics, according to two NGO leaders.

Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) chief executive officer Tang Ah Chai and Dong Zong deputy president Chow Siew Hon told FMT the second largest BN component party might make its way back to the government soon, although it has been excluded from the new cabinet unveiled on Wednesday.

Tang said MCA’s return to the cabinet might happen as soon as it completes party elections slated for the end of the year.

He said the new leadership could opt to revoke the pledge made by current president Dr Chua Soi Lek on not accepting any government position.

“But the biggest challenge that lies with MCA is they that are without a clear direction,” he added.

“They hold in hand plenty of resources, for example huge party assets, millions of party members and solid grassroots organisations. But after being hit with the political tsunami in 2008, they appear to have no idea what to do.”

Chow also said the Chinese might support MCA’s return to the cabinet if it could show them that it could reinvent itself.

The only two Chinese appointed to the new cabinet are Transparency-International Malaysia chief Paul Low, who is now a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, and Parti Bersatu Sabah’s Mary Yap, Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Learning.

Tang said Malaysian Chinese seemed to have accepted the reality that they lack representation in the cabinet.

“Contrasting with the situation after the 1969 election, when there was a sense of anxiety over the non-appointment of Chinese representative in the cabinet, this time the Chinese community seems okay with it,” he said.

“That is because the younger generations are embracing diversity and multiracial politics. They are looking out for the authorities to avoid using skin colour as the benchmark for policies.

“Besides, there is a perception that MCA failed to perform to a satisfactory level even when they had 10 ministers and deputy ministers before.

“They more or less did Umno’s bidding. So it makes no difference whether this time they are there or not.”

Read more at: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/05/17/mca-may-return-to-cabinet-say-ngos/ 

(TMI) - Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will continue to pressure the government for the Election Commission (EC) to be completely reformed if Malaysia wants to see a clean election the next time around, said PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli.

Speaking at a forum on the facts behind PR’s win in popular votes for Election 2013 here last night, Rafizi (picture) said the only way was to continuously fight and apply pressure so that the EC will be completely overhauled and replaced with people who are fair and who believe in clean elections.

“We need the whole EC to be completely reformed, where the chairman down to all its officers are replaced by new officers that are approved by PR and the public to ensure their impartiality,” he said.

He said it was only after the EC was fully reformed that re-elections be held for seats that are proven to have irregularities and fraud, especially the 30 marginal seats.

He told the audience of several hundreds at Komtar that PKR has already assembled a team to probe electoral fraud into several parliamentary and state seats and once enough evidence was gathered, election petitions would be filed.

“We have been told that to file a petition, it would cost up to RM50,000 for each petition per seat and that means the 27 seats we are currently investigating could cost us close to RM1.5 million if we were to file petitions,” he said.

He said this was why the party has to conduct thorough investigations and scrutinise all irregularities on top of gathering enough resources to file the petitions.

Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/rafizi-says-pakatan-to-press-for-ec-reform-in-court-in-the-streets-in-parliament/ 

(Malaysian Digest) - A former aide to PKR women's wing chief Zuraida Kamaruddin, Mohd Fareez Kamal Intidzam, has urged Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail not to defend the party presidency and make way for deputy president Azmin Ali.

"The PKR machinery in Selangor headed by Azmin has managed to retain the state with a bigger majority in this general election. Following Azmin's strong showing, Dr Wan Azizah should not seek re-election in the coming party polls," he said in a statement yesterday.

Fareez also called on Dr Wan Azizah to openly admit her "failures" and to acknowledge Azmin's great leadership as the Selangor PKR chairman.

"Even though Azmin is only the deputy president, he managed to win both the parliamentary and state seats he contested in the recent polls. Also, he was able to lead the PKR machinery in Selangor to win a two-thirds majority in the state assembly," he said.

Fareez said on the other hand, Dr Wan Azizah proved to be a failure as PKR president after announcing that she would not contest in the general election.

"She is a liability to PKR and she should stop humiliating the party. It is shameful for any political organisation in the world if its president does not hold a parliamentary or state seat."

Fareez added that Dr Wan Azizah was no longer relevant in the current political scenario as she could not win the hearts and minds of the youth who supported PKR.

Fareez said instead, PKR needed a "complete leader" like Azmin to become the next president who could map out a new direction for the party.

"The perception that the party is led by a dynasty should be quashed once and for all. Failing which, PKR will be frowned upon by other countries as it will be regarded as a party that is nepotistic in nature."

He, therefore, urged every PKR member, including the party's top echelon, to give their full support to Azmin to become the new party president in the coming elections.

(NST) - MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek yesterday thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for respecting the party's wish not to be included in the new cabinet line-up following its dismal performance in the recent polls.

Dr Chua had conveyed the message in a Twitter posting after Najib announced the new cabinet.

(Malaysian Digest) - The 'Red Bean Army', a group of cybertroopers believed to be funded by DAP has been hard at work spreading rumors on the internet alleging the government has increased the prices of basic goods like petrol, cooking oil, cooking gas, sugar and flour in a bid to further fuel the public's anger towards the ruling government.

According to a few online blogs, the rumors were spread mainly on social networking sites, namely Facebook and Twitter and has made many internet users angry at Barisan Nasional (BN) making them believe the Opposition coalition (Pakatan Rakyat) would have been a better option in ruling the federal government.

Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia, today reported that blog owner tunfaisal revealed several blatant lies spread by the Opposition; the first one regarding the increase of sugar price.

However some shops supporting Pakatan may have taken to increasing prices on their own.

Two other lies according to him, which was also made by PAS deputy Secretary-General, Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi is the claim that cooking gas is now up RM2 to RM30, and that the price of Gardenia breads has also gone up.

Syed Azman was found to have spread the rumor on cooking gas price increase via his Twitter account which was later retweeted by Opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"Gullible members of the public will believe all this and be manipulated in the process."

"That is why we should not support liars, because when they lie and we share, like and retweet their lies, we are merely helping them to spread the rumors and indirectly we too become responsible in duping the public," the blog owner said via http://tunfaisal.blogspot.com last Saturday.

This picture showing a price hike of the White Gardenia bread is untrue; according to Gardenia the tag on the left is from a different Gardenia product, sliced Sandwich Bun (Burger bun). Pic: Gardenia's Blog

Meanwhile, another blog, The Flying Kick, claims that several shops have taken to increasing prices after the recent 13th general election (GE13) in an attempt to sabotage the ruling government.

"Malaysia is now faced with a wave of rumors and untruths. It is believed that Anwar is behind this. DAP is helping him from behind by providing the means to do so," the blog mentioned.

Because of these rumors, Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd has had to issue a statement refuting the price increase.

This act by the Opposition is seen as their means of strengthening their earlier claims that the government will begin increasing the prices of basic goods after GE13.

It does not hinge on Pakatan Rakyat's support, says ABU's Haris Ibrahim.

Alyaa Azhar, FMT

Anything But Umno (ABU) spokesperson Haris Ibrahim said that a street rally against the Barisan Nasional federal government will go on with or without Pakatan Rakyat’s support.

When asked if he will call off the rally following Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s objection to it, he said: “This is not Pakatan Rakyat’s initiative, rather, it is the rakyat’s initiative.”

“The rally is not hinged on Pakatan’s support. The latest announcement by Anwar yesterday that Pakatan does not condone streets rallis has no bearing on our initiative,” he said.

Haris, however, said that no date has been set for the street rally.

Social activist Hishamuddin Rais echoed Haris’ view by saying that the decision to go on with the street rally will be taken by the rakyat and not Pakatan Rakyat.

Haris told a forum on Monday that pro-Pakatan NGOs would topple the BN federal government through massive street rallies in protest of irregularities during the 13th general election.

“We will take to the streets and take over Putrajaya. If we really want to overthrow them, there is no other way. Democracy does not work.

“The people cannot wait anymore. We don’t want to wait another five years. We will take the streets,” he said.

Police to take preventive steps

Pakatan, however, said that it does not condone overthrowing Barisan Nasional through mass street demonstrations.

“The proposal has never been submitted to us, it has never been discussed by Pakatan. Those are the views of some NGOs,” said Anwar yesterday.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh said his party too, rejected the call for street protests to overthrow the BN government.

While he commended Haris for opposing violent demonstrations, Karpal warned that a street protest may cause unrest if it was not handled properly.

Police on the other hand, have warned against holding a street rally and said they will take preventive measures ahead of the event.

Outgoing Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar said the statements by the organisers on the rallies were dangerous and provocative.

“Nobody should try to change the government through undemocratic means.

“It must be done only through democratic means. Let the people make their choice through the voting system,” he said.

It has been with us a long while and we should admit that it is a potent factor in Malaysian politics, says Chandra Muzzafar.

Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT

Political analysts are not surprised with the country’s distinct racial polarisation following the results of the recent 13th general election (GE13).

Political scientist Chandra Muzzafar said that there has always been “a certain degree of polarisation” throughout history, however, in Malaysa, this was made more distinct in GE13.

“Ethnic consciousness has always been strong in society so it should not surprise us. People sometimes attribute to political parties based on ethnicity,” he said.

“It has been with us a long while and we should admit that it is a potent factor in Malaysian politics,” he added.

Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) associate professor James Gomez said the re-emergence of racial polarisation “shows that Malaysia is unable to evolve politics into a more policy-centered approach”.

“There was a positive indication in the run up to the election where different parties put out their manifestos which were very much policy-centered,” he said.

“But soon it degenerated from a policy-centered approach and now after all the race-based talks, we have lost the plot. It has just gotten worse,” he added.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) associate professor Andrew Aeria agreed that racial polarisation “certainly exists within Malaysian society”.

He accused ruling Barisan Nasion of making it worse by “not making much effort in closing the ethnic and religious divides”.

“Fanning ethnic supremacist positions has only made ethnic/religious relations worse,” he said. “In contrast, Pakatan Rakyat has achieved much more in closing this ethnic and religious divide.”

Aeria further described Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a “lame-duck, wishy-washy PM” who “continues to pander and appease the racist fringes of Umno and BN”.

“The racism that has emerged post-GE13 is reprehensible,” he said.

Anwar has been giving false hopes

Chandra believed “false perceptions” that the Chinese were “marginalised” by Umno-BN played a key factor in determining the Chinese vote.

“These are all false perceptions that have become widespread. It was effectively built up, especially after the 2008 general election when DAP did well,” he said.

Chandra pointed out that the Chinese dominated the upper strata of the Malaysian economy and those at the bottom were mostly of other races.

He added that in terms of politics, “Chinese participation is quite remarkable”.

READ MORE HERE

The Sabah Kadazandusun Murut Welfare and Education Association however described "as historic" the appointment of three full ministers from the community. 

(FMT) - KUCHING: The much anticipated “stronger” representations by Sarawak’s loyal Dayak community in the new federal cabinet turned out to be a major disappointment.

In fact local Dayak majority parties Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Democratic Party (SPDP) have questioned the rationale behind Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s decision to handover a large chunk of cabinet positions to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).

A SPDP insider in a text message even went so far as to ask if Najib had hoped to mask the fact that he had fewer peninsular-based Umno members on his cabinet compared to before.

“Look at the (cabinet) list, PBB/Sabah ‘Malays’ all over place,” read the message.

Sarawak Barisan Nasional pact comprising PBB, PRS, SPDP and Chinese-majority Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP) delivered 25 of 31 parliamentary seats to Najib’s push for a new term in office in the 13th general election.

Sabah BN comprising Umno, MCA, Gerakan, LDP, Upko, PBS and PBRS gave federal BN 22 seats.

But yesterday’s announcement of cabinet positions showed he had little regard especially for his Dayak-majority party partners – PRS and SPDP, who fought hard battles and delivered 100%.

Collectively PRS and SPDP delivered to Najib 10 parliamentary seats. Of the 11 Sarawak ministers appointed, seven were from PBB.

Among them were four full ministers – Douglas Uggah Embas, Fadillah Yusof, Rohani Abdul Karim, Nancy Shukri, and three deputies, Dr James Dawos Mamit, Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, and Alexander Nanta Linggi.

Said a deeply disappointed PRS president James Masing last night: “Something is wrong somewhere.

“Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu was given four ministers (57%), PRS one minister (33%), SUPP (100%), while SPDP has zero%.

“Where is the fairness?”

Salang declines, Entulu reluctant

Masing said Najib’s cabinet had not rewarded winners and loyalists as could be seen in PRS’s and SPDP’s allocations.

“Politics normally is not kind to the losers, but (Najib must) reward those who win, ” he added.

He said PRS’s ministerial appointments did not commensurate with the party’s contribution to BN’s win.

PRS, which won all the six seats it contested, had expected to be rewarded with one full minister and two deputy ministers and so did SPDP which delivered all four parlaimentary constituencies.

But instead Najib promoted the PRS’ former rural and regional development deputy minister Joseph Entulu to a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and retained Julau MP Joseph Salang Gandum as the deputy minister of tourism.

But Salang, who had served nine years as a deputy minister, has declined the cabinet post.

According to sources close to Salang, putting him in the tourism ministry would not help empower the rural Dayak community.

Previously Salang was the deputy minister of information and communications and culture, and during his tenure had worked hard to ensure better internet accessibility in rural Sarawak.

Entulu on his part is a “reluctant” minister.

According to Masing, he had to persuade Entulu to accept the position, adding that he had failed in his bid to get Salang to stay.

Said Masing: “The allocations doen’t make sense. Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) won one seat, yet it is given one full minister. I can’t understand the promotion of Richard Riot. The party won one out of seven seats it contested.

“That is 100% accommodation to a party which performed badly in the recently concluded general election. Why?

“While Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) has 100% delivery yet it got zero appointment, ” he said.

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“Well definitely he is seeking re-election this year and that will be reflected in his Umno Cabinet line-up. You can see him strategising for re-election but how is he to do that leaves a question mark because most of them are just old-timers,” he said, adding that the names announced have been in government for a very long time, even if not at Putrajaya’s highest decision-making level."

By Amin Iskandar, Debra Chong and Syed Jaymal Zahiid, TMI

Umno’s domination of the 2013 Cabinet shows Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s desire to shore up his personal support ahead of party polls but at the expense of the prime minister’s national reform measures, several observers say.

While the pundits hold grave reservations over the large number of veterans in the 32-man Cabinet, they said Najib deserves a chance to prove he can deliver on his promised government and economic transformation agenda once he has secured his party presidency.

The Umno president had cast 17 of his party colleagues in ministerial positions when naming members of his Cabinet yesterday. Of the line-up, most were old government hands being switched around or promoted with the exception of new faces Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Universiti Putra Malaysia political scientist Prof Jayum A. Jawan was sceptical about the changes that Najib could make with what the don branded a “conservative” Cabinet.

“I don’t see a real power-sharing here. The positions of power are all held by Umno like Finance, Home Affairs and Defence,” he said.

“Well definitely he is seeking re-election this year and that will be reflected in his Umno Cabinet line-up. You can see him strategising for re-election but how is he to do that leaves a question mark because most of them are just old-timers,” he said, adding that the names announced have been in government for a very long time, even if not at Putrajaya’s highest decision-making level."

Like the other pundits, Jayum viewed Khairy’s inclusion as a positive step towards getting youth support, but noted the move was unlikely to be sufficient to parry a possible challenge in the party polls.

“Some people in Umno are already saying that Najib would not see a smooth re-election and that there are some people that will likely challenge him,” he said.

But such an Umno-studded cast was “clever”, according to William Case, a professor in Asian and International Studies at the University of Hong Kong.

“My take is that while many critics are dismissing the Cabinet as made up most of old hacks, I see it as more mixed, possibly in clever ways, as it includes Najib’s personal supporters, reformers, and nativists,” he told The Malaysian Insider in an emailed response yesterday.

There has been speculation that Najib, 59, is likely to face a challenge to his presidency from within Umno in the party ballot due this year for failing to return BN’s two-thirds supermajority in the May 5 general election despite improving the Malay party’s number of federal seats to 88.

READ MORE HERE

An academic says the ruling coalition is still lagging in the perception war.

Athi Shankar, FMT

Barisan Nasional needs to beef up its cyber team to beat Pakatan Rakyat in the game of shaping public opinion, a political analyst has suggested.

Sivamurugan Pandian, an associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, said social media proved to be the decisive battleground in the campaign for the 13th general election, adding that Pakatan had the upper hand.

“BN surely lagged behind in social media like portal mails, tweets, Facebook, blogs and YouTube,” he said.

He cautioned BN against overdependence on the conventional mainstream media and warned that it would face big problems in the next election if it failed to improve on its social media networking and strategies.

“It’s time for BN to learn to battle out in social media,” he said.

He acknowledged that BN had improved in its cyber strategies since the 2008 election, but not well enough to beat Pakatan in the game.

“BN needs to be more on the offensive,” he said.

To illustrate the skill of Pakatan cyber troopers, he cited their treatment of the controversy surrounding Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin, who was BN’s defeated candidate for the Shah Alam parliamentary seat.

He said those troopers effectively played up an old video recording of Zulkifli insulting Indians and Hindus in a religious discourse.

He noted that the video was already online when Zulkifli was still a PKR member but the troopers had skilfully used it to create the impression that BN was in the habit on nurturing racism.

Consequently, he added, the Zulkifli factor was a major cause of BN’s loss of Indian votes in Selangor and other urban areas.

READ MORE HERE

by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, fz.com

In Sinar Harian today, Umno leaders called on Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to fulfil his promise of leaving politics if he failed to win Putrajaya in the 13th general election.

(Bloomberg) - “The Cabinet reflects a prime minister concerned about retaining the premiership and the presidency of UMNO,” said Edmund Terence Gomez, a professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t see any move in the direction to talk about reconciliation and transformation and inclusivity in this cabinet.” 

Prime Minister Najib Razak stocked his Cabinet with party stalwarts, after the ruling coalition’s biggest ethnic Chinese partner said it wouldn’t accept ministerial posts following its poor election showing.

Najib tapped leaders of his ruling United Malays Nasional Organisation for key positions before party polls later this year that will determine whether he stays on as prime minister. He also gave posts to the heads of Malaysia’s biggest bank, a corruption watchdog and a Hindu rights group. Two of the new line-up are Chinese, compared with more than a dozen previously.

“The Cabinet reflects a prime minister concerned about retaining the premiership and the presidency of UMNO,” said Edmund Terence Gomez, a professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. “I don’t see any move in the direction to talk about reconciliation and transformation and inclusivity in this cabinet.”

Najib’s coalition retained power in the May 5 election even after losing a majority of the popular vote for the first time since 1969, which the prime minister attributed to a loss of support from Chinese voters. Besides an ethnic divide, his administration faces a weakening economy, with Malaysia’s growth slowing to less than 5 percent for the first in seven quarters.

“The recovery in terms of exports is quite weak” and will be determined by a growth rebound in developed markets, Ho Woei Chen, a Singapore-based economist at United Overseas Bank Ltd., said yesterday, before the release of economic data. “But consumption, investments will remain strong in Malaysia.”

GDP Misses

Gross domestic product rose 4.1 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, after a revised 6.5 percent gain in the previous quarter, the central bank said yesterday. That’s lower than all 22 estimates in a Bloomberg Newssurvey. The monetary authority kept its full-year growth forecast at as much as 6 percent.

The ringgit slipped 0.4 percent before the GDP data was released. It has risen about 3.8 percent in the past 12 months, the fourth-best performer among the 11 most actively traded Asian currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has gained more than 14 percent and closed 0.3 percent lower yesterday.

Najib’s coalition won 133 seats, topping the 89 seats claimed by Anwar Ibrahim’s three-party opposition, which captured 51 percent of the popular vote. Anwar has said he’ll challenge about 30 seats, enough to swing the result, and has held rallies in different states after the election.

MCA Vote

Ethnic Chinese parties in the government won nine seats compared with 23 in the 2008 election. Chua Soi Lek, president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, said on on May 6 the party wouldn’t take up its allotment of Cabinet posts.

Najib said he has reserved the transport minister’s position for the party in case it changes its mind when it meets to select a new leader.

“We are a balanced cabinet and the transport ministry will be given to MCA once they have decided,” Najib said in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative capital.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-15/najib-cabinet-rewards-base-as-chinese-sidelined-southeast-asia.html 

(Bernama) - Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairman P. Waythamoorthy has been appointed to join the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. 

According to Dr Xavier Jeyakumar's detractors, PKR had received 29 memorandums of his wrongdoings and mismanagement during his tenure as state exco.

B Nantha Kumar, FMT

A large group of PKR Indian leaders today unanimously rejected the party’s decision to submit Sri Andalas assemblyman Dr Xavier Jeyakumar’s name for executive councillor position in the Selangor state administration.

They’re also planning for a series of protests against PKR if Jeyakumar gets the nod for a second term as an exco member.

In the last state cabinet, Jeyakumar helmed the Health, Estate Workers, Poverty and Caring Government portfolio.

“We were told that Jeyakumar’s name is in the PKR’s exco list for a second term which really shocked the Pakatan Indian leaders in Selangor,” said Dr S Streram from Petaling Jaya Selatan PKR division.

Speaking to reporters here, Streram added: “We are here today and want to send a strong message to PKR’s top leadership not to pick Jeyakumar for the exco post.”

Also present were several PKR grassroots leaders such as ‘OMS’ P Thiagarajan, who is a close ally to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, P Krishnasamy (Klang), S Murali (Puchong), M Jayabalan (Lembah Pantai), Anthony Dass (Kota Raja), S Balan (Subang), P Maniam (Hulu Selangor) and Dr Neduchelian from Kapar.

Streram said if the PKR leadership was adamant about pushing ahead with Jeyakumar, then they should be prepared to face massive protests.

“We are not threatening the party, but we want the leaders to listen to our suggestions,” said Streram.

He said there was a general consensus among PKR Indian leaders to have DAP’s V Ganapathi Rao as the Selangor exco for Indian affairs.

“We Selangor Indians are disappointed with Jeyakumar’s quality of leadership. Apart from being a ‘postman’ on delivering Tamil schools allocations, he has done nothing for the Indian community,”   said Streram, adding that Jeyakumar had failed to empower the Indians in Selangor.

29 memorandums of wrongdoings

He said, on the other hand, Ganapathi Rao, a Hindraf activist and former ISA detainee, was well aware of the real situation of Selangor Indians.

Sharing Streram’s view, Murali and Anthony Dass claimed that so far PKR had received 29 memorandums of alleged wrongdoings and mismanagement on Jeyakumar during his tenure as state exco.

READ MORE HERE

ABN NEWS

Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar says they do not condone overthrowing government through street demonstrations. 

Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT

Pakatan Rakyat today said the coalition does not condone overthrowing ruling Barisan Nasional through mass street demonstrations.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was responding to activist Haris Ibrahim’s statement that pro-Pakatan Rakyat NGOs would topple the federal government through massive street rallies.

“The proposal has never been submitted to us, it has never been discussed by Pakatan. Those are the views of some NGOs,” Anwar told a press conference here after a meeting involving Pakatan leaders.

He however did not fully disregard the idea of street demonstrations. Anwar maintained that street demonstrations should be held in a peaceful and orderly manner.

“We will confine purely to peaceful rallies at designated places.

“But we do not say no to peaceful rallies, we must let the people express their disgust at Umno-BN for stealing the election,” he added.

On Monday, pro-Pakatan Rakyat groups vowed to overthrow the BN government within the year through a massive street rally.

Speakers at a forum unanimously agreed that waiting for five years until the next general election was too long, and vowed to overthrow BN this year through “force”.

PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua had also thrown support behind their cry to overthrow BN through force, and said it was the people’s choice.

“The decision to wait another five years or fight is not the right of Pakatan leaders, the results during the polls were not of Pakatan… but the rakyat’s,” he said.

However, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution has since said Tian’s backing for the street rally was a personal stand and not reflective of Pakatan’s stand.

“The official decision must come from the top Pakatan leadership, not only theirs (Tian Chua),” he added.

READ MORE HERE

Sabah MCA leaders will uphold the resolution of the presidential council not to accept posts in the state and federal government. 

(FMT) - Across Sabah, all state MCA members serving as councillors in municipal councils, Hospital Visitors Boards, State Prisons Board and as Health Clinic Advisors were told today to resign with immediate effect.

Sabah MCA chief Edward Khoo said this was in accordance with decisions made during the MCA presidential council meeting last Saturday.

Khoo, who met with he state MCA division leaders yesterday to convey the president council’s decision, said it was “unanimously agreed” at state level to uphold the presidential council’s decision.

“In this meeting we unanimously agreed that the 259 Sabah MCA members who are now serving as councillors in all municipal councils, Hospital Visitors Boards, State Prisons Boards and Health Clinic Advisors throughout the state should resign from their posts with immediate effect.

“This is the decision by the presidential council. It is in line with the 2011 and 2012 MCA annual general congress resolutions, ” he told reporters here after a state level meeting. Also present were the Sabah MCA Women and Youth wing leaders.

On Sabah MCA’s future direction, Khoo said the local chapter had decided to work with the central MCA leadership appointed task force.

“We also discussed the last election and explored the the direction that Sabah MCA should take now.

“We have decided that Sabah MCA will work with the MCA central task force.

“The central leadership has appointed Liow Tiong Lai to head the task force.

“The task force will chart the direction of the party and present its report at the next central committee meeting,” he said.

Sabah MCA ‘no where’

Meanwhile, when asked if the state MCA would accept a Senator’s appointment, Khoo replied in the negative.

“We will not accept. It has been the resolution in the past two central AGMs, not only for Sabah but the whole of Malaysia not to accept.

READ MORE HERE

(The Star) - Pulai Sebatang assemblyman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said he took his oath as state executive council member not in defiance of the MCA's stand but in compliance with a royal command by the Sultan of Johor.

“I am an MCA representative but I am also a Johorean. There is no easy way to go about it but I have to accede to the wishes of the Sultan,” he said.

Tee, the MCA national organising secretary, said the decision was made known to party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Tee, who will head the state Tourism, Domestic Trade and Consumerism Committee, said both Dr Chua and Najib agreed that the party had to comply with the wishes of the Ruler.

Ahead of GE13, the MCA had made a stand that if it won less than 15 parliamentary seats, the party would not accept government posts at any level. Voters delivered only seven seats to the party on May 5.

Tee, met after his swearing-in, said the party was still steadfast in its decision, but had to make an exception in Johor because Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar had made it clear that he wanted a Chinese representative in the state exco line-up.

“The Sultan made it clear during a luncheon event at Istana Pasir Pelangi on May 13 that he wanted a Chinese representative to promote togetherness.

“I am thankful he has selected me,” he said, adding that he would work hard and put forward the needs of the Chinese community to the state government.

Tee said being selected was a big burden and a huge challenge but he was prepared for his portfolio in the state exco.

Asked if a similar situation would happen in other states, he said: “This is highly unlikely as Johor is a special case. The Johor government was formed in 1895, even before the country's government was formed, and we have our own set of regulations to follow.

“That is why we have to adhere to the advice of the Sultan, as he has the authority and right to dictate what he feels is best for his people.”

It’s official: Tee signing his appointment documents after taking his oath before the Sultan of Johor.

(The Star) - MCA national organising secretary Datuk Tee Siew Kiong may face action by the party after he was sworn in as a Johor executive councillor despite the party's decision to abstain from holding any government post.

Tee, who is Pulai Sebatang state assemblyman, took his oath of office in compliance with the command of the Sultan of Johor.

Nonetheless, the party may take disciplinary action against him.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek confirmed that the party central committee would deliberate on Tee's case and he might face disciplinary action.

“I would like to clarify that MCA has not recommended Tee to be a Johor executive councillor in keeping with the party resolution passed in 2011 that it would not accept any government posts,” Dr Chua said in a statement yesterday.

In 2008, MCA won 15 parliamentary and 31 state seats out of 40 parliamentary and 90 state constituencies it contested.

Great honour: Khaled Nordin being sworn in as Mentri Besar by Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar. 

In the May 5 elections, the party only won seven parliamentary and 11 state seats.

Dr Chua said: “The Sultan has the power to appoint the Mentri Besar and the state executive councillors because of the uniqueness of the State Constitution.

“It was also the Sultan's aspiration to have Chinese representation in the state government as I received a call from the Johor Palace's secretary that the Ruler wanted to appoint Tee as a state executive councillor.”

Dr Chua said he also consulted Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Monday about the royal command, and the Prime Minister advised him to follow it.

He noted that the Rulers of other states had not exercised their authority to appoint MCA elected representatives as executive councillors.

He said there were also some states which had kept vacant state executive councillor posts for Chinese elected representatives.

He appealed to the people and MCA members for understanding of “this unique situation in Johor as well as the Johor Sultan's power and authority”.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Tee would be retained as a state executive councillor even if MCA decides to “disown” him for accepting the position.

“Even if the party disowns him, we will practise what some people have suggested at the federal level and appoint him as an independent or even as a non-governmental organisation head,” he said.

“Tee's appointment is based on the Johor Sultan's wishes to see that all communities in the state are represented in the new exco line-up.”