Friday, February 27, 2009

Economy and nation in chaos under Umno

As the global economic crisis worsens, our nation had started to feel the impact with more and more closure of businesses and multi national companies nationwide. As the result, the unemployment rate had also increased dramatically with more of our people are expected to lose their jobs in coming months.

Source released from the human resources ministry recently also reported that about 100,000 employees nationwide are expected to be without jobs by end of this year.

So, what are the measures undertaken by the Barisan Nasional federal government so far? Why are they still delaying federal assistance to our people who were retrenched and laid off by their employers? What effective action plans has carried out so far?

Well, their recent action plan was to topple the elected Perak state government of which they already had done so. Then they “dispatched” two live bullets to Karpal Singh’s house in Penang. And their subsequent action plan was to ensure the resignation and departure of a Selangor state executive councillor as soon as possible following the release and exposure of her private and personal effects in public.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was also not spared from the list of the BN federal government’s action plan. He was accused of corruption in his previous contribution of cows to a village for their Aidil Adha celebration, and maintenance and milage claims for the usage of his personal vehicle for official purpose.

Their latest action plan was to call for Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng’s citizenship to be revoked because he did a right thing to foster national unity by establishing a religious goodwill council in Penang.

Then, we heard Umno deputy president Najib Razak who pledged to avenge those who had reported to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) on attempts by some Umno leaders to buy over some Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen and members of parliament with millions of Ringgit in offer.

Another action plan was they decided to burden the people by increasing the highway tolls with immediate effect from March onwards.

Looks like the BN federal government under the leadership of Umno is busy politicking and politicking, creating more and more disturbance and uncertainties in the nation in order to have their racist political agendas achieved.

It is clear that the BN federal government under the leadership of Umno wanted to punish the electorate with such action plans by depriving our people of their economic rights.

The global economic crisis is worsening and the unemployment rate is rising at a very fast phase, but the Umno’s cronies, the Umno’s contractors, the Umno’s corporate partners are getting wealthier and wealthier. They are throwing their monies and cash almost everyday like there is nothing is happening.

We cannot let these Umno leaders do this to us anymore. We must come up with our action plan to save the nation from being ruined by them.

Shabudin insulted Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Bahai

The Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government had on early of this month set up a Religious Goodwill Council to foster and develop interfaith understanding and harmony among the various communities in the state.

This is Pakatan Rakyat’s effort to explore and build common universal values between religious communities. It helps to improve religious co-existence and understanding in our society.

It has been very unfortunate and disappointing that the Umno Permatang Berangan state assemblyman Shabudin Yahya had condemned the Penang state government’s effort as disrespect towards Islam as the country’s official religion.

Shabudin also claimed that the formation of an “interfaith council” by DAP, PKR and PAS in Penang state is something scary as the state government had made Islam to be seen as having the same status as Buddhism which was founded by a man called Gautama Buddha as well as Christianity, Taoism and Bahai.

Shabudin and Umno now insulted other religions in the name of Islam (or their political agenda) in order to create public disorder in the state by giving false information to the people on the state.

Besides, Shabudin and Umno also aimed to create disharmony amongst the multi-racial and multi-religious communities, hatred among all Malaysians and ethnics, so they could request the (Umno) federal government to declare a state of emergency in the Penang and Umno would move in eventually to take over state government by force.

Umno had became irrelevant and a poisonous sore in our nation’s politics. Just because they had ran out of ideas to entice the people to support them, Umno had resorted to instill and promote hatred and more hatred across the country in order to emerge as a particular race champion in event of an ethnic clash in our nation.

So, this is Umno with its fascist and racist policies of hate, hate, hate and nothing but only hatred toward the other community.

Therefore, we all Malaysians must come together and work towards preserving our national unity and we must also fight to prevent Umno from furthering its hate agendas in our nation. All of us must treasure our peaceful, harmonious and united multi-racial, multi-religious society in this nation for the benefits of our families, relatives, children, grandchildren and our next generations to come.

We must not let Umno ruin the national unity and peace of our nation anymore. Let us all put a stop to their racist and violent political venture now !

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Umno is very revengeful towards Pakatan Rakyat

Umno who is controlling education ministry had made an instruction to all state education department directors to instruct all school principals and teachers not to attend any events organized by Pakatan Rakyat and not allowed to invite any Pakatan Rakyat officials to officiate any events organized by schools.

As the result, the DAP state assemblyman for Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh was not allow to attend her own secondary school alumni dinner held at the school.

Then, Penang Deputy Chief Minister Professor Dr P.Ramasamy was not allowed to attend nor officiating several functions organized by some Tamil primary schools in the state.

And recently, SRJK © Sin Ming is now being targeted by the education ministry and the Selangor education department for inviting Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to officiate the school’s four storey building.

The principal and teachers of SRJK © Sin Ming were told by via the education department’s circular that they are not allowed to attend the event in their school because they are civil servant under the federal jurisdiction which is still under the BN-Umno.

Just because Pakatan Rakyat had taken over several states in the last general elections, government agencies under the federal jurisdictions has been told to disallow all their officers and employees from having any communications or attending any events organized by Pakatan Rakyat state governments.

Umno is currently at a very desperate position and their move is to sabotage various channels and communications which are aimed for the betterment of the people. Umno is now avenging its defeat on the people for voting the Pakatan Rakyat into power during the last general elections. Umno is now punishing the people in these Pakatan Rakyat held states and showing the people the consequences of not voting BN-Umno.

Umno is still in a denial mode.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Senior MPSP official under investigation resigns

A Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) department head has resigned after the council initiated a domestic inquiry into his department’s activities.

Council president Farizan Darus confirmed that Md Pilus Md Noor had voluntarily quit as building department director from March 1 after having served the council for about 20 years.

Farizan said Md Pilus, who is in his 50s, had been relieved of his official duties since Jan 22 to facilitate internal investigations following complaints against him.

Last month, Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng gave the council a two-month ultimatum to clean up its act and to boost productivity. Lim ordered Farizan to take action against incompetent officers and contractors that gave the council a bad name.

State Local Government, Traffic Management and Environment Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow also declined to elaborate on Md Pilus abrupt exit. He said the state government had asked the council to initiate a clean-up of its administration.

"We began by going through the council’s accounts and then focus on staff,” he said. Chow who is also Penang DAP State Chairman said the state wanted the council to be more efficient and accountable to ratepayers.

Guan Eng laments red tape over trust fund

Red tape and bureaucratic procedures have prevented the state government from opening a trust fund to help wipe out hardcore poverty in Penang, said Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng.

He said although it had been over a month since state Health, Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh discussed with state officials, a bank account for the fund has yet to be opened.

“The account is vital so that the corporate sector and public can obtain tax exemption on their contributions to the fund.

“Unfortunately, this delay has hampered efforts to wipe out hardcore poverty in Penang by our original March 8 deadline,” he told reporters after opening the Bagan constituency free medical camp in Lucky Garden, Raja Uda, here yesterday.

Penang has 904 hardcore poor families with a monthly income of RM400 or less, Lim said, noting that the state wanted to raise their monthly income to RM500 - Agencies.

PR leaders invited to school function; Principal and teachers absent

In a departure from the norms, the board of directors of SJK (C) Sin Ming in Puchong invited Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to officiate the opening of its new school block-cum-multi-purpose hall on Sunday, Sin Chew Daily reported today.

Also present were Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Selangor exco members Teresa Kok and Ronnie Liu, Dong Zong (United Chinese School Boards Committee) president Dr Yap Sin Tian and representatives from the school's parent-teacher association (PIBG).

However, conspicuously missing from the ceremony were the school's principal and teaching staff.

School board chairman Chai Yun Ping said the school was informed by the state education department verbally a week ago that its staff and pupils were not allowed to attend Sunday's ceremony. "The department did not give any reason but said the principal and teachers must follow the directive as they get their salary from the federal government," said Chai.

Meanwhile, Khaild promised the school that he will look into the problem facing the school in acquiring an empty plot next to the school for expansion.He said if necessary the state government will exercise the power vested in it to compel the land owner to sell the plot to the school.

The mentri besar later pledged a RM50,000 grant for the school. Anwar, meanwhile, demonstrated his Chinese calligraphy skill and raised RM150,000 for the school with his writing of famous Chinese scholar Confucius' saying, "All within the Four Seas are Brothers".

Explaining the meaning of the saying, Anwar stressed the need for all races in the country to work together and to understand one another - Agencies.

Perak crisis: Umno seeks QC's opinion from London

It was reported that a senior constitutional lawyer left Kuala Lumpur yesterday for London to engage the services of a Queen's Counsel on behalf of Umno to advise the party on the Perak constitutional crisis.

Looks like Umno is not confident of winning the legal suit file by the Perak Pakatan Rakyat recently to challenge the legitimacy of the Perak Umno rebel state government. Umno did not have much qualified lawyers to advice them on the Pakatan Rakyat's legal suit or is it because no lawyers in Malaysia who are willing to team up on behalf of Umno because they too do not recognise the Perak Umno rebel state government which was installed via a coup d'etat with an illegal state assembly sitting held at the Perak Umno headquarters.

Yes, this is a fact. Umno seized power by holding its own state assembly sitting at the Perak Umno headquarters to claim power. The state assembly sitting held at the Perak Umno headquarters was not even chaired by the state assembly speaker because the speaker was from DAP and they certainly would not allow a DAP member into an Umno building. As such, the state assembly sitting was chaired by the Umno deputy president Najib Razak instead, in his capacity as both coup leader and state Umno chief.

Friday, February 20, 2009

About Religious and Racial Conflicts

Many of our social problems today are extended into religious and racial conflicts. In fact, most of the time, religion and racial issues are the cause of these conflicts. The purpose of religion is to guide mankind to develop unity and harmonious life and practice humane qualities.

Today, however, religion is often being used to discriminate against other religions and to develop jealousy, hatred and hostility. Actually today, human beings are not using religion to maintain peace and harmony but to create superiority or inferiority feelings. Such hostile and unhealthy religious competition or domination had even created bloodshed in many part of the world.

Some religious leaders or groups have been guilty of praising their own beliefs as part of their valuable religious customs and traditions, while ridiculing other religious beliefs and traditions as being inferior. Some others use religions for material gain, political power, self-glorification, reign supreme over others, and worldly powers. Religion itself has become a major problem.

Those who use religion and racial issues for worldly material gain and political power also face fear, worry, insecurity, enmity and difficulty of maintaining their power and authority. This clearly shows that the accumulation of worldly power is not the solution to overcome human problems.

Some people concentrate only on wealth power. Wealth can only help to overcome certain minor problems. Worldly happiness, sensual pleasures can be gained through wealth. Money cannot eradicate natural problems. Religious teachers, scholars, thinkers and rationalist pointed out the nature of human weakness and how to overcome them.

However, the ordinary people often regard them as theories and not solutions to their problems.

Nationwide roadshow on treason, "derhaka" and supremacism

The supremacist and extremist Umno is now on nationwide tour and roadshow to "explain" to its grassroots and the people of Pakatan Rakyat's direspect on the royalty, treason, "derhaka" and the importance of maintaining and enhancing the supremacist Umno policies to this nation.

With the assistance from the federal government and pro-Umno mainstream medias and press, Umno is hoping to regain its grounds by harping on royalty, treason, "derhaka" issues and its supremacy policies. Umno is hoping to convince the people that their survival is vital in order to protect the royalty from treason and "derhaka" as well as the importance of Umno supremacy policies in order to curb the growing influences of MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, PBS, Upko, PBRS, SAPP, IPF, SUPP, PRS from within the BN coalition and the rising popularity of the Pakatan Rakyat's component parties like PKR, DAP and PAS amongst people and the electorate.

Umno is in a very desparate position now and will resort to any tactics or measures that will ensure its continuous grip in power. Umno will also resort to any other ways or means be it undemocratic, uncivilised or unlawful in order to ensure the people and electorate listen to their instructions and adhere to their supremacist policies.

Umno is in a very desparate position now as their are losing their battle at the grassroot levels and its irrelevance had became clear that the people and the electorate are fed up with the racist and supremacist policies that Umno wants to continue with in order to maintain its power in the federal government.

Umno's behavior of terrorising, creating disharmony, creating disunity, promoting racist ideas, promoting violence, hate and anger, organising mass racist rallies and demonstrations around the nation in order to enhance their selfish racial political agendas will ruin our nation's democracy, justice, prosperity, economy, investors confidence and the national security.

These negative elements has to be stopped at all means. We must prevent Umno from further damaging our country. Enough is enough !

Thursday, February 19, 2009

PM says Pakatan trying to overthrow Perak government, a world's greatest joke !

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi accused the Pakatan Rakyat today of trying to overthrow the Barisan Nasional's Umno-dominated Perak state government.

Hold on a second Pak Lah, be careful of what you are saying. We do not consider the current administration as Perak state government because it should be named Perak rebel state government and in Bahasa Malaysia it should be called "kerajaan pemberontak negeri Perak".

It was Umno who overthrown a people's legally elected state government led by Pakatan Rakyat. The Pakatan Rakyat has not and will never plot to re-overthrow the present rebel state government even if its formation was deemed illegal.

Pakatan Rakyat would instead choose to address its counter measures in the court of law and not following Umno's undemocratic, unconstitutional and uncivilised ways of means to do so.

What disrespected sultan's decision does the PM means?

The move to suspend Perak Umno MB Zambry Abdul Kadir and his six rebel state government's excos is tantamount to disrespecting the sultan's wishes, says the prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

First of all what does Abdullah mean of direspecting the sultan? Based on my latest article below, it clearly stated that who had actually started the "derhaka" first previously. We all know who the real "derhaka" is in the current political situation.

Umno had already committed the "derhaka" by not having the state assembly sitting to be held in the state assembly building, but instead made it at the Perak Umno headquarters to claim they have the numbers to form the new state government.

In actual fact, Umno had committed a rebellion as well and in Bahasa Malaysia we call it "rampasan kuasa" whereas in English is coup d'etat. Umno organised the state assembly sitting in the Perak Umno headquarters, that is rebellion against democracy, justice, equality and freedom.

Umno's derhaka label

Following the coup d'etat in Perak recently, with many political leaders are voicing their dissatisfaction over Umno's undemocratic act and the way Umno uses its muscles to pressure the sultan to recognise their rebel state government, Umno top leaders hit back all the critics by labelling them as "derhaka" and call nationwide demonstrations in support of the royalty.

What does Umno's "derhaka" means? It was Umno who were the actual "derhaka" as the sultanate in Perak has been pressured to receive appointment of the rebel state government. It was Umno who were actual "derhaka" for going against the people's will and the democratic principles. It was Umno who were the actual "derhaka" who went went against all the above, concurrently went against the state and federal constitutions which enshrines that the will of the people must be respected.

It was during the earlier constitutional crisis too, Umno top leaders initiated a "derhaka" move to have the federal constitution amended in order to strip off the sultan's powers and immunity from prosecution by the court of law in 1993.

Because of the amendment to the federal constitution in 1993, the entire royal institution has became part of the democratic establishment.

So, by all these means, it shows Umno is the first to "derhaka" the royalty, then the federal constitution "derhaka" the royalty in terms of its articles being amended by Umno, and further, the commoners (including critics) now "derhaka" the royal institution which has been placed in an equal democratic platform in 1993 by Umno.

As such, is the word "derhaka" still valid in our today's democratic platform? The answer is Umno did not want to erase the word "derhaka" in 1993 because it wanted to continue using label on its political opponents and they are showing it now, today on us, on the people and on the voters. Umno had labelled the voters as "derhaka".

Perak rebel state government to terminate all Pakatan appointees

The Perak Umno-led rebel state government is expected to terminate all appointees made by the toppled Pakatan Rakyat state government.

The move is to consolidate its power in the once Pakatan controlled state administrations in order to replace them with local Umno leaders and supporters after its successful coup d'etat which eventually saw the Perak Sultanate had no choice but to also recognised Umno's power seizure due to the strong presence of the Umno controlled federal security forces in the state.

Among positions affected were the municipal and district councillors, village committee members (JKKK) and the village head (penghulu). It has also been known that the rebel state government will also not recognise the election of village heads system which was introduced by PKR state leaders earlier.

Source from inside Umno also said that the party had yet to plan on the power sharing with its BN component parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP for positions in municipal and district councils, village committees (JKKK) and the village headmanship (penghulu).

So far Gerakan and PPP had also came out with their demands for positions in local governments to be filled by its leaders and members but Umno leaders said, they will not respond to such demands yet.

From here, we could see Umno is flexing its ketuanan muscles again by refusing power sharing with its BN component parties. Is there anymore future in Perak if Umno rules with its ketuanan or supremacist policies?

Source close to Umno also mentioned that the federal security forces will remain in the state for some security reasons i.e. should BN's MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP decide rebel against Umno due to its one-party rule and also to prevent a Pakatan Rakyat return by all means.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Liz Wong must stay on and fight for her rights

The Selangor state executive councillor Elizabeth Wong has been thrown into an embarassing situation by irresponsible parties who were out there to bring her down, tarnish her reputation and her government's as well.

In order to topple the people's elected government, they had done it in Perak and now they are eyeing Selangor as their next target. The politics of the other side or shall we call it the "dark side" had become even dirtier than we expect, as it happened unexpectedly.

We had seen and heard Elizabeth Wong saying that she had done nothing wrong and that is accurately true. She had not done anything wrong at all. This is a plot to destroy her reputation and image by the powerful politicians who are from the "dark side" and we could all hear their words and criticism now. They are standing out to talk about "goodness" like as they are the cleanest of all. We know who are they, they faces, their crimes and their pass misdeeds.

So, we strongly urge Elizabeth Wong to retract her resignation and continue her fight not only for her political survival but for justice, democracy, human rights, equality and freedom. You have yet to complete your task to the people.

Stay on and fight for our rights.

Plots, coups, sexual politics, democracy undermined

After the anti-investment drives in Penang, the Kinrara accusation in Selangor, the signboard sentiment in Penang again, then the Perak coup d’etat and now the latest sexual exploitation in Selangor, the one aimed to damage the reputation of the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat State government.

Another project of the supremacist Umno to tarnish the image of a state executive councilor in order to divert the attention from the Bukit Gantang Parliamentary and Bukit Selambau State seats’ by-elections, at the same time to gain some political mileage for their upcoming party and by-elections campaigns.

It seems that the Umno politics in our nation is getting dirtier than expected with more and more of such back door, illegal or “haram” measures being taken to undermine the other party’s governance. The Umno politicians no longer respect the normal democratic process as they knew that they had been dumped via democratic process because of their denial mode.

And now they are still in denial mode, cannot accept the fact that they had lost the general elections because of the irrelevance in their political ideology and beliefs, but instead they blamed the people for their defeat, they blamed the people for being immature and not continuing their support for them, they blamed the internet, weblogs, short messages systems, online chats and so on because with such technologies, our people were able to know the truth and make their judgment better when they cast their votes.

These Umno people kept on swaying from the facts and stubbornly maintained that they are politically and ideologically correct and would resort to any means even by undemocratic ways to ensure people toe to their line, policies, instructions and “ketuanan”.

That is why they resorted to lies, power seizure and now sexual exploitation to bring about the fall of an elected government which does not belong to their BN coalition. In near future, should their influence amongst the people begin to slide to the worst, will Umno resort to civil unrest, violence or even civil war in order to retake power from the people’s legally elected state governments?

Why do we say that if after all these lies, power seizures and sexual invasion and they still cannot undermine or topple anymore Pakatan Rakyat state governments, they may resort to civil unrest, violence or even civil war? We didn’t accuse them of their impending civil unrest, violence or even civil war actually! It was Umno themselves who had foreseen that they may partake such moves because they had undertook to do so during their party general assembly three year ago. The Umno delegates proposed bloodshed, blood bath, to repeat May 13, to use the “keris” for war, to burn down Kuala Lumpur and the top leaders endorsed all these resolutions.

Therefore, let us not vote for Umno or is stooges in the BN anymore from now on, be it general elections or by-elections. Send this message to your families and friends as many as you can in order to let them know the truth and the facts.

Do not let Umno undermine democracy, the unity of our people, the peace and harmony in our community and our nation with their selfish political motives and war mongering policies. Let us all send them our strong message that we do not need them anymore, we want peace, unity, democracy, equality, freedom and justice.

Perak rebel Umno MB and his six exco members suspended from State Assembly

Perak rebel Umno Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and his rebel state government's six state executive councillors from the Barisan Nasional have been suspended by the State Rights and Privileges Committee for contempt of the State Assembly.

Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir Zambry (Pangkor assemblyman) was suspended for 18 months while the six exco members Dr Mah Hang Soon (MCA-Chenderiang), Hamidah Osman (Umno-Sungai Rapat), Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (Umno-Sungai Manik), Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid (Umno-Kamunting), Datuk Saarani Mohamad (Umno-Kota Tampan) and Datuk Ramly Zahari (Umno-Manong) were suspended for 12 months.

The decision was announced by State Assembly Speaker V Sivakumar after a two-hearing which began yesterday.

The latest episode is expected to further worsen Perak's constitutional and political crisis which sparked off after the capture of the state government, following the cross-over of some Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen to the BN earlier this month.

The seven BN assemblymen had been referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee for contempt of the State Assembly when they took up the posts in the rebel state government's state executive council.

Zambry had yesterday appeared before the committee chaired by Sivakumar and made up of six other assemblymen, Datuk Hasbullah Osman (Temenggor) of Barisan Nasional and five from Pakatan Rakyat - Husin Din (Selingsing), Chan Ming Kai (Simpang Pulai), Ong Boon Piow (Tebing Tinggi), Loke Chee Yan (Kepayang) and Sum Chok Leng (Bercham).

Sivakumar had yesterday said the committee called them to give statements for the purpose of gathering information and to investigate a statement of Zambry's that appeared in newspapers on Tuesday. He said the probe was done under Article 72(3) of the Perak Standing Orders.

The mentri besar and his rebel state government's executive councillors were suspended due to their coup d'etat earlier which toppled the Pakatan Rakyat's elected state government when the Umno state assemblymen seized power after it conducted its own state assembly sitting at the Perak Umno headquarters to declared that they already had the numbers to form the new state government.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Gerakan Youth lodges report over Guan Eng's safety

A Gerakan Youth wing has lodged a police report over the safety of Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng following reports in Chinese dailies about an alleged plot to "assassinate" him.

Its Tanjung Youth chief H'ng Khoon Leng said the reports had serious implication on the state's political, social and economic stability.

"Lim, as the state chief minister, is a very important person. We are worried over his safety which is currently under threat.

"The report lodged was meant to urge the police to provide Lim with extra protection," he told pressmen outside the Petani Road police station yesterday.

Four Chinese dailies Kwong Wah Yit Poh, Guang Ming Daily, China Press and Oriental Daily reported yesterday that rumours were spreading like wildfire that "someone is out to finish off Lim."

When contacted, Lim's political secretary Ng Wei Aik said the rumours were most likely spread by Lim's political enemies.

"At the moment, Lim does not intend to lodge any police report," he said. However, Ng said he was grateful to Gerakan Youth for its concern for Lim's safety - Agencies.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Ceramah ban in Perak, clearly a pro-Umno act

The move by the police to enforce the ban ceramahs to be organised by Pakatan Rakyat component parties is seen as a pro-Umno measure in order to prevent them from campaigning and getting their roadshows up effectively in conjuction of the by-election in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary constituency.

The move of ban is simply very clear, the home affairs minister is an Umno top leader and the police force answers directly to the home ministry and there is where the minister has his direct powers on.

Therefore, the move to ban ceramahs in the state is clearly political motivated aimed to tarnish the image of Pakatan Rakyat and preventing them from effectively explaining to the people the truth and facts behind Umno coup d'etat that toppled the people's elected Pakatan Rakyat state government.

7 April is the by-election date, a sabotage !

Well, the Elections Commission (EC) had today fixed the by-election dates for both DUN Bukit Selambau and Parlimen Bukit Gantang seats respectively.

It is believed that the by-election dates for these two constituencies are fixed on request of Umno via its federal government. Yes of course so because the EC comes under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department. The EC chairman and secretary reports directly to the prime minister.

First, the by-election dates were fixed on 7 April because on March, Umno will be having its party elections and general assembly. Therefore infighting and factional rivalries are expected to be tense on that month. Therefore, Umno did not want its election to be concurrently held with the by-elections for fear of its own factional rift.

Second, the by-election dates were fixed on 7 April is also a working day. With this move, Umno is hoping to be able to prevent more voter turn out expected from those of Pakatan Rakyat supporters in order to try to gather their numbers to win them.

Third, by having the two by-elections on 7 April, Umno is hoping to gain some mileage by intensifying its media campaign onslaught against the Pakatan Rakyat a little more longer time frame.

So, this is the Umno-EC pact which aimed to sabotage the smooth democratic process of both by-elections.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Penang sets up Religious Goodwill Council

Penang has set up a Religious Goodwill Council to foster and develop inter-faith understanding and harmony among the various communities in the state.

The council, the first government-level body of its kind in the country, will have 21 members from various religious organisations, 11 of whom are Muslims.

Chaired by Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, it will also comprise three leaders from PAS including state PAS commissioner Salleh Man.

“This is our latest effort to explore and build common universal values between religious communities,” Lim said in a press conference at his office yesterday.

“It will help improve religious co-existence and understanding in our society.” Lim had announced an idea to form such a council soon after Pakatan Rakyat’s victory in the state in the March 8 general election - Agencies.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Upcoming By-elections: Non-Malay votes could swing

With the dust barely settled on the Kuala Terengganu by-election last month, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition is thrown into two more by-elections in which many unresolved controversies are likely to hold sway. The sudden by-elections in Perak and Kedah will take place in two seats that have a significant non-Malay voter base.

“The non-Malay votes will play a decisive role in these two by-elections,” said electoral analyst Ong Kian Ming. That is not good news for the BN.

Through regular surveys, it would appear that while the Malay support for BN may have held since the March general election last year, the non-Malay support has fallen.

If it had its way, the BN will not want to face voters at a time when pro-opposition sentiment is boiling over. But it has no choice, as the law requires that the by-elections be held within 60 days of the seat becoming vacant.

The Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak fell vacant when the Pas MP Roslan Shaharum died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday.

The Bukit Selambau state seat in Kedah was vacated when its PKR assemblyman V. Arumugam reportedly quit over claims that he was being pressured to defect. He is still missing but Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Azizan Abdul Razak has announced his resignation. So far, there is no word to the contrary.

Allegations have surfaced that Arumugam had married a second wife in contravention of the law. The PKR has claimed that he married her only through religious rites, and did not register it. He is still legally married to his first wife.

Although in different states, both seats have significant numbers of non-Malay voters, making it very hard for the BN to wrest them away.

“The mood of the day is against the status quo, especially among the non-Malay voters and the young,” said Professor Agus Yusoff, a political analyst.

The voter breakdown for the Perak parliamentary seat is 63.5 per cent Malay, 27.1 per cent Chinese and 9.1 per cent Indian. For the Kedah state seat, it is 50.2 per cent Malay, 19.3 per cent Chinese and 29.5 per cent Indian.

Ong's study showed that about 53 per cent of the Malays voted for BN in Bukit Gantang last March. Only about 35 per cent of non-Malays did so, sharply down from the 85 per cent in 2004.

As for the Kedah seat, the Malay support for the BN was a high 63 per cent, with the non-Malay vote at a low 26 per cent, according to the study.

The non-Malay vote had plummeted in March last year because of resentment over the heightening race rhetoric at that time.

The situation has not improved much. “Umno didn't change, it didn't come clean on issues, or deliver on promises to change,” said Agus.

Two major controversies that have special resonance for the minority communities, are still raging.

The first is the BN-Umno seizure of the Perak state government last week. It angered many voters, and will become the biggest issue in the Bukit Gantang by-election.

The Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition may take full advantage of this by fielding former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as a candidate.

“I believe Nizar is a symbolic figure in view of the present circumstances,” said Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham.

Nizar was popular among the non-Malays, and his move to approve permanent land leases for Chinese new villages and vernacular schools was hailed. There is concern now among villagers whether the BN government will continue this policy.

The new BN Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir has said it was too early to decide.
The non-Malay votes in Perak will be very difficult for the BN. This is clear from the response to the defecting Chinese assemblyman Hee Yit Fong. The locals were so enraged that her family is taking the brunt of their anger.

In Kedah, the major issue that will play among the non-Malay voters, especially the Indians, is the perception of continued marginalisation of the community. This had lost the BN most of their Indian support last March.

The BN is likely to be further hobbled by a MIC candidate. The party is hugely unpopular with the Indian community.

As a result, analysts believe BN's strongest voter bank in both seats will be the Malay votes. In Perak, Umno still has a fairly strong standing in the community. Of the 28 BN assemblymen, 27 are from Umno.

“The Malay vote is fairly status quo, but the young voters may be different. They may swing away,” said Agus.

The Malay dissatisfaction over the perception of their diminishing political clout, especially in Perak where their numbers form less than half the population, could also come into play. But it will be hard work for the BN - Agencies.

BN government ban political ceramah in Perak

The move by the BN federal government to instruct the police force via its home affairs ministry to ban all political ceramahs in Perak is seen as a measure by Umno to curb the increasing popularity of the Pakatan Rakyat amongst the people.

Besides, the move is also aimed to strengthen its grip in Perak following Umno's coup d'etat that toppled the Pakatan Rakyat state government recently and to prevent the opposition alliance from organising roadshows in the state to explain to the people on the actual political situation.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan says the ban will last until the situation in the state returns back to normal.

The ban on ceramahs in the state is also seen as one of Umno measures to curb the election campaigns expected to be fully mobilised by Pakatan Rakyat for the upcoming by-elections in Bukit Gantang parliamentary seat.

Guan Eng: Four Vacant Posts As Bait For Party Hopping

The Perak Umno state government has been accused of keeping four Executive Council (Exco) posts vacant as bait to lure State Assemblymen from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to defect.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng also claimed that the appointment of only six Exco members was irresponsible because the task of managing a government was not easy especially when the world was facing an economic crisis.

"How can six people handle all the tasks because the previous government, whether the BN or PR, had 11 Exco members including the menteri besar. Why only six (Exco members) now...?
"They think they are supermen...obviously it is a political reward to strengthen the position of the illegal Umno (government) in Perak. It will encourage more Assemblymen to defect to the BN," he said at a media conference at his office, here Wednesday (11 Feb).

Lim, who is also the DAP secretary-general, described the offer of the vacant Exco posts as a promise to any PR Assemblyman to cross over to the BN.

"Maybe, upon crossing over they can be offered the post. Otherwise, why are all the posts not filled up. I feel this is an irresponsible act," he said.

Tuesday (10 Feb), six new Perak Exco members had taken their oath of office before the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah. They are Datuk Saarani Mohamad, Zainol Padzi Paharudin, Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid, Dr Mah Hang Soon, Hamidah Osman and Datuk Ramly Zahari.

In another development, Lim set Feb 28 as the deadline for Umno and the MCA to pay their outstanding assessments to the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).

He said there were nine BN political party offices, comprising eight Umno offices and one MCA office, which failed to settle their outstanding assessments totalling RM238,632.17 - Agencies.

Guan Eng: We’ve always against hopping

The DAP today made its stand clear that it was against party-hopping by elected representatives.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party had never ceased asking for an ‘anti-hopping’ law — even when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the supposed crossover of Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliaments on Sept 16 last year.

“This is the DAP policy...I have tried to be like a brother’s keeper but sometimes, we cannot be the keeper all the time.

“We are not denying that DAP and PKR might have differing views but we deal with it. We do not sweep everything under the carpet,” he told reporters after a ground-breaking ceremony to build a perimeter wall and gate at the Silver Jubilee Home in Sungai Nibong here today.

However, Lim, who is also chief minister, said Pas had also stated its stand against the hopping of elected representatives.

He said DAP was willing to support BN if they were to table the ‘anti-hopping’ law and assured that its 28 MPs would give their support. On a report in Chinese dailies that the MCA and Gerakan were against money politics and corruption, he said they should support the formation of an ‘anti-hopping’ law - Agencies.

Umno is the real treason in Perak crisis

From the beginning, we could see all sorts of hide and seek of the four Perak state assemblymen who later came out to claimed they had moved away from their respective parties and then, Umno came out in a press conference to claim power over the imbalance political situation and seek out to launch a coup d'etat to toppled the Perak Pakatan Rakyat state government and replaced it with a rebel state government led by Umno itself.

Because of such unconstitutional and undemocratic move by Umno to seize power, many people had protested it and questioned the legality of the power seizure, including our Pakatan Rakyat leaders and members.

Umno charge such protests and questions as being treason, as the Perak royalty had already made it decision to recognise the Umno rebel state government.

So, who was actually treason? It is most certain that Umno is definitely the one! Clear reasons and facts could well establish to prove that Umno had actually committed treason in the Perak crisis.

First, Umno committed treason against the people's will by launching a coup d'etat in the press conference, informing the general public that it had already seized power because of the 3 Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen turned independent and the other one shamelessly walked back into Umno's fold.

What right has Umno got to confirmed to the press that it has the numbers to form the rebel state government? Shouldn't that supposed to be carried out in the state assembly sitting and then move a no-confidence vote to seek a formation of a new state government or to dissolve the state assembly whichever applicable? Why did Umno avoided the state assembly sitting? Because they have no confidence in the ad-hoc numbers that they had obtained? Is there a legality for Umno to move a "no-confidence" vote from the Perak state Umno headquarters against the Pakatan Rakyat state government instead of doing it at the state assembly sitting?

Second, Umno committed treason against the Perak royalty by moving a large number of its federal controlled security forces into the royal palace compound in Kuala Kangsar in order to ensure the rebel state government gets recognised by pressuring the Sultan of Perak even if it has been proven that there are imbalance and uncertainties in numbers from both BN-Umno and Pakatan Rakyat where an appropriate state election should be called to seek the people's mandate again.

Third, Umno with all the above treasons had in fact committed treason against the democratic institution of this country, treason against the Perak state constitution and treason against the Federal constitution which enshrined and affirmed that the people's will and mandate must be heard and fully respected.

Therefore, we had all know who is the real treason behind the Perak crisis and we urge the people to come forward together in full force to sentence Umno to death by voting them out in the next general elections and further, embrace a new national charter calling for a total destruction of Umno for its racist, violence, dictatorial and crime against our people in order to ensure freedom, democratic, justice and equality for all.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

DAP reaffirms support for Pakatan Rakyat to establish an alternative government that is democratic, people-centric and with an ethical leadership base

DAP's commitment towards a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia is not only an article of faith but a deep conviction in Bangsa Malaysia. DAP is inclusive of all races and religions. We represent the interests and fight for the rights every Malaysian.

In the effort of being representative of all Malaysians, including both Malays and non-Malays, the party is willing to undertake a transformational process that may be painful but necessary.

We have no alternative but to grow without compromising our basic principles.

DAP reaffirms support for Pakatan Rakyat(PR) to establish an alternative government that is democratic, people-centric and with an ethical leadership based on the 5 principles of freedom, justice, truth, social welfare and universal moral values. In this regard the DAP supports PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Parliamentary Opposition Leader and will remain so as no single leader has ever questioned this during internal meetings whether at the highest levels or otherwise.

The Pakatan Rakyat leadership has clearly endorsed a position that no individual party policy can be PR policy unless it is fully approved unanimously by all three parties. DAP's position on hudud and Islamic state is crystal clear and regardless of whatever support for both hudud and the establishment of an Islamic State, whether from PAS or PKR, this will not be PR policy as long as DAP does not agree to it.

Similarly DAP's leadership has been consistently urging the government to enact an anti-hopping law even before the Perak crisis, and we have expressed support of our 28 MPs. As BN does not have a 2/3 parliamentary majority, the support of DAP's 28 MPs will be required to effect any constitutional amendment for such an anti-hopping laws.

As a democratic party, DAP policies can be changed in accordance with the wishes of its members. However until today there has been no requests to question or disturb the basic framework of co-operation between the 3 parties of DAP, PAS and PKR that makes up PR.

Umno plays its racist card in Perak as outrage spreads across all ethnic groups

Despite whipping up a storm of criticism, Umno is expected to stay stubbornly unrepentant and keep playing its favourite racial card, in a bid to stir up a groundswell of support amongst the Malays against arch rival Pakatan Rakyat.

Umno leaders Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Muhyiddin Yassin have been among those resorted to harsh language, calling the Pakatan’s refusal to accept the Perak Sultan’s appointment of a new Barisan Nasional state government as ‘treason’.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim upped the ante by announcing last night that Pakatan would not sue the Sultan for his decision, although the coalition maintains it is still the legitimate state government.

The opposition icon also denied talk that the Pakatan did not protect the rights of Malays, as accused by Umno.

“But who was given Genting Highlands? Lim Goh Tong. How about Pangkor? When Barisan Nasional gives land to Chinese bosses, it is fine.

But when we give a bit of land to poor Chinese, they turn it into a racial issue,” he said, referring to the Pakatan’s popular plan of awarding freehold land to all low-income groups including non-Malays.

Not just the Malays or PAS

State Umno deputy chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi too is accusing PAS of being exploited by its Pakatan partners, PKR and DAP.

“Only one race was there and what was the use of having a coalition government when the Malays were only exploited by other races,” said Zahid. “Not that I want to be racist but the reality is only race was there. Where were representatives from other parties of the alliance? If they are really united, everybody was supposed to be there.”

He was referring to a street protest that took place outside a mosque nearby the Palace on Friday, when BN candidate Zambry Kadir was being sworn-in by the Sultan to replace Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

However, what Zahid chose not to mention was that the crowd, which wanted to protest the Sultan’s decision to sack Nizar, had earlier joined the PAS leader for special prayers at the mosque.

Unsurprising then, that its composition was mostly Malay and supportive of PAS. Umno Youth is also planning to hold a demonstration in Perak to garner support for the Sultan.

“Obviously, Umno would do this. Firstly, the Sultan sided them, so to criticise the Sultan is to criticise them,” said a political analyst. “Secondly, whenever Umno is in trouble and want to cover up its wrongdoing, it will bring out the racial card and try to scare everyone else into submission.”

Not only DAP alone but all ethnic groups are also upset

Political watchers following the crisis in Perak pointed out that large numbers of non-Malays had attended ceramahs held at Nizar’s official residence on Friday and Sunday night.

The feelings of outrage are spreading across the different ethnic groups, who feel their rights have been trampled on by their Sultan and Umno-BN.

In fact, the dissatisfaction in the Chinese community is so strong that Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak, who masterminded the coup d'etat against Nizar, decided against attending a Chinese New Year function in Ipoh on Saturday night for fear of being condemned in the event.

On Sunday morning, at least 720 signatures were collected within 90 minutes during a petition signing at the Jelapang market, that demanded the immediate resignation of DAP state assemblywoman Hee Yit Foong.

Hee has incurred the wrath of the Perak Chinese, who believe she has betrayed the community by switching allegiance to the BN. The multi-racial Pakatan line-up is fairly representative of the composition of the Perak population, but only one BN assemblyman is non-Malay.

It was the same with Perak Indians, who overwhelmingly showed their support for Nizar versus Zambry during the duo’s respective visits to the Arulmigusubramania Temple in Gunung Cheroh for the Thaipusam festival.

Although Zambry - in typical Umno tradition - pledged to give RM100,000 to the temple, it was the simple but sincere Nizar who won the hears of the Indians, who all loudly cheered for him throughout his visit.

“We do not accept Barisan Nasional-Umno as the government, our Mentri Besar is Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin,” 26-year old M Vigneswary was reported as saying when interviewed at the Jelapang market.

The Barisan Nasional-Umno had established a rebel state government.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Do not trust pro-Umno or BN medias

We would like to inform our readers, please not not fully trust the statements and information released by Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Most of their statements and information released to the pro-Umno and BN medias are one-sided with no free and fair coverage.

We hope our readers will not influenced by the various negative, racist and extremist propagandas released by Umno and BN recently to tarnish the image of our Pakatan Rakyat leaders and component parties.

Wear Black to symbolise the death of democracy

To all my fellow Perakians,

I would like to urge you to demonstrate your silent protest by wearing black or show, hang anything which is black in order to symbolise the death of democracy in Perak state.

Let us all show the Perak Umno rebel state government that our people did not like the way they seize power, the way they use money to entice the state assemblymen to cross over and they way they pressure the Sultan of Perak to reocognise their power seizure.

Umno had officially sentenced democracy to death last week and the dictatorship in Perak had just began with Umno's supremacist iron fist rule.

Perak Umno rebel state government refused people's request

The Perak Umno rebel state government had confirmed that they will refuse and attempt or calls by the people of the state to hold fresh state election in order to determine who will be the new majority in the state assembly.

This is because, the Perak Umno already knows, they will have their state assembly seat reduced and their lackeys MCA, MIC, PPP and Gerakan may not even gain any seats anymore. It is believed that MCA, may also lose all their existing state seats should the state election take place.

So, this is what Perak Umno and Barisan Nasional are afraid of. The Perak Umno is afraid to face the people as they are not being able to justify to the people of their coup d'etat. The Perak Umno is afraid of the reality that they are losing the people and had became irrelevant today.

The Perak Umno is afraid of everything.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

We challenge Perak Umno to call for state election

Since Perak Umno had now formed the rebel state government following their power seizure from the Pakatan Rakyat’s administration on grounds of the assemblymen’s defection, we are challenging them to call for a fresh state election in order to determine the reality of our people’s choice.

The Perak Umno rebel state government should be brave enough not to hide themselves and prove their sincerity in wanting to boost their popularity with the people, if they claim to have support from the majority of the people.

The Perak Umno leaders as well as its top leaders in Putrajaya should also realize that the rebel state government which they established today is not an elected one as it was obtained via seizure of power by force.

If you have the sufficient popular support in the state as claimed by you, then prove your worth and dissolve the state assembly to make way for a fresh state election.

Otherwise, you are all cowards.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Most Perakians will not recognize Umno’s new state government

We believe most of our Perakians had on yesterday and today witnessed an event which no one will forget till the end. We all had witness how Umno had seized the state government by an illegal means, unconstitutional and in an unethical, immoral manner (corruption).

We had also seen how Umno launched its coup to topple a government elected by the people during the last year’s general elections. How Umno who currently still control the federal government had made use of various security agencies under its powers to wipe out the Perak state government from power and pressured the Perak Sultanate into recognizing the a new state Umno government which came into being to rival the existing legitimate state government on 4 February.

Therefore, as the result of such unconstitutional manner Umno carries into forming the new state government which is to be dominate by only Umno themselves, we are certainly assured that majority of our Perakians will not recognize the new state Umno government as a legitimate one because the new state Umno government was not elected by the people but was installed after a power seizure which was carried out unconstitutional way and in an immoral manner.

Most Perakians will still recognize the Pakatan Rakyat state government of Chief Minister Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin and his state executive councilors who has been forcefully vacated from their respective offices by the federal controlled security forces under Umno’s supervision.

Let us all tell our friends and our neighboring countries how unjust Umno has been treating its people and the various discriminations they had carried out onto our people. Let our friends of other nations know too of Umno’s political atrocities against our people, their crime against democracy and their dictatorial policies as well.

We therefore, declare the new Perak state Umno government as an illegal entity and urge the people not to deal with this illegal establishment by all means.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Umno's coup in Perak

Looks like the Umno's attempt to overthrow the Perak Pakatan Rakyat state government may come to a success following the continuous pressure by Umno top leaders on the Sultan of Perak, particularly the Umno deputy president who is also deputy prime minister Najib Razak.

Najib was seen entering the Kinta Palace twice today to pressure the royalty to accept the rival Umno state government which has already been established this morning. If the Sultan were to accept the rival Umno state government over the existing Pakatan Rakyat's state government, what will it become then?

Well, as we know Umno still controls the federal government of which has the power over the federal security forces. Therefore, should Umno failed to obtain the so-called power transfer from incumbent Pakatan Rakyat state government, Umno may resort to the use of security force to enforce their rivalry over a democratically elected government.

The three PKR state assemblymen and a DAP representative were widely believed to have been bribed over to reduce the majority of the Pakatan Rakyat in the state legislature gained from last year's general election.

The two of the 3 PKR state assemblymen who defected, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) are believed to have accepted an offer from Umno to have their corruption charges dropped by the public prosecutor when the court hearing on the duo's charges commence. This is the most disgusting political episode that Umno and BN had ever organised.

The people of Perak gave victory to Pakatan Rakyat on 8 March 08. Now Najib has, with an undemocratic means and corrupt manner taken away from Perak a government led mainly by people who serve the people so well.

Democracy in Perak is now dead.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Perak Sultan urged to allow dissolution of state assembly

In the name of the people and in order to seek a fresh mandate from the people, we would like to urge the Sultan of Perak to approve the Mentri Besar’s proposal for the dissolution of the state assembly given to the fact that the Pakatan Rakyat state government balance of power has been affected following the Umno’s corruption and money politics in enticing the PKR duo to defect.

The Sultan of Perak must also understand that Umno is trying to launch a coup to retake the state government by an illegal means that is corruption and money politics. In order to disallow such an immoral move from being materialized by Umno, the Sultan must return the mandate to the people instead of allowing corruption and money politics takes its place.

We must not allow Umno to terrorize the Perak state with its corrupt practice and immoralities. The people of Perak should be given an opportunity to make their stand on this matter with their votes. Please allow democracy to take place.

Perak PKR duo confirmed defecting to Umno

The much awaited answer of the two Perak PKR state executive councilors status are still hanging and so far one had confirmed leaving the party to go over to Umno. What about the other guy? There’s still no news on him as he is still missing.

This situation leaves the Perak state government in-balance due to its majority decreasing and Umno got its number increased instead should the other decides to join Umno as well.

A confirmed source had also mentioned that Umno leaders promised via its dominated federal government to reverse the corruption charges onto the PKR duo if they agree to leave PKR and join Umno.

If the PKR duo who is currently facing corruption charges on a proposed housing development, decides to cleanse themselves by joining Umno who promised to drop the charges, the Perak Pakatan Rakyat leadership will have no other choice but to seek a new mandate from the people by calling for a fresh state election as soon as possible.

With the departure of the PKR duo, the Perak Pakatan Rakyat could not function properly as all its administration activities will come into blockade with Umno and BN current have an increase bargaining power with the two crossovers. That means Umno and BN will block whatever implementation the state government wishes to carry out in order to continue destabilizing the administration and grab the state powers by all means.

As such, no other choice. The Perak Pakatan Rakyat must call for a fresh election to seek a fresh mandate from the people.

Why all the confusion, instability, terror and fear?

As we know the uncertainties of the current economy, following the global financial crisis with job losses on the rise due to closure of businesses and factories, lack of supplies on certain foods and items, rising crimes as the result of lack of security, dissatisfaction amongst people on rising cost of living and so on, the BN and Umno leader had yet to wake up despite the verdict given by the people in last year’s general election.

Instead of accepting its losses and the verdict of the people, and carry on with its task to improve the livelihood of the people by cooperating with the state governments in face of the current economic situation, Umno chooses to ignore them and continue with their politicking in the Pakatan Rakyat led states in order to create more confusion, instability, terror and fear.

With these measures, Umno is hoping to take the advantage by toppling the respective elected state governments and to regain control of these state administrations by using the people’s funds from the BN controlled federal government. Millions of ringgit are poured into the political scene in Perak in order to entice the state assemblymen of the existing government to crossover to the BN to enable its numbers in the state assembly to increase.

The millions in cash which were now rolling in the Perak Umno politics are generate from the people via taxation, revenues, fees and several other statutory payments are now being politically used by Umno for its own political benefit in order to regain power by all means.

Our money, or should we call it public funds is being used in such a way like nobody’s business. Those funds are being freely misused as those who are in power at Putrajaya are Umno leaders who call the shots.

Umno now uses all these funds for their political means to promote more confusion, instability, terror and fear amongst people. Perak has been destabilized, Kedah might be the next with one of its state exco member lodging a police report over his family’s safety recently.

This is Umno’s political agenda. The terror and fear agenda.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Umno’s reign of terror

After its refusal to accept the people’s verdict in the 2008 general elections, the Barisan Nasional (BN) with its dominant party Umno taking charge of the opposition in Perak state had tried to stage a comeback one month after the general elections last year by trying to destabilize the newly formed Perak state government.

Much negative publicities and racist-like sentiments were played around the state to provoke the people’s anger on the new state government with false reports and allegations being rumor all over the state thinking that the people may come up in full force to topple the state government and then BN together with Umno will come up to take over the helm.

But it never happen at all as the people are fed up with the BN and Umno politicking aiming at destabilizing the state for good for their own political agenda.

Then one of Umno state assemblyman defected to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) recently with thousand of its supporters crossing over as well further angered Umno leaders into launching its second coup attempt to topple the Pakatan Rakyat led state government.

This time around, the Umno president-elect Datuk Najib Razak is leading the charge after taking up the Perak Umno state liaison chief post following the resignation of the then state chief Datuk Mohamad Tajol Rosli because of his failure to prevent one of its state assemblyman from defecting.

With Najib at helm of Perak Umno leadership, he is look set to bring about more instability in the Pakatan Rakyat state government in even a harsher way. To openly activate money politics in public in order to entice some of the state assemblymen to defect over to the BN fold. By carrying out such measures, BN and Umno is hoping to launch a second and final onslaught to retake the Perak state government as soon as possible in order to boost the moral if Umno local leaders and members who were very much demoralized by its general elections defeat and the party’s factional infightings as well.

Looks like, a possibility of an Umno coup is ongoing. Tons of money bags were brought in from an unnamed federal government source of which the local political source believed that these cash are to be used to entice the Pakatan Rakyat leaders into defecting. BN and Umno owned media and press are also stepping up their propaganda efforts to attack the Perak state government from all corner with negative reports to tarnish the reputations of the present administration.

Should Umno successfully destabilize the entire Perak state, the state government had no other choice but to call for a fresh election to bring about a fresh and stronger mandate. With Umno’s doing, corruptions, arrogance and immoral tactics being widely known to the general public, will the people ever vote for BN-Umno again if a fresh state elections is called?

4 MPSP contractors expelled

The Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) had expelled four contractors from its list recently for its non-performing attitudes. The contracts which were mainly for cleaning services were terminated with effect from 18 January onwards.

The contractors who were expelled from their respective services were listed herein.

1. Koperasi Serbaguna Tasek Gelugor Bhd;
2. Sinar Jujur Services;
3. Pertubuhan Peladang Kawasan Lahar Bubu;
4. Spasda Dagangan Sdn Bhd.

These terminated contractors had been given reminders earlier to buck up but the notices go unheeded instead with no improvement in their areas of service and therefore, the council had no choice but to expel them with immediate effect.

According to MPSP source, the contracts’ value was worth about RM87,371 per month and MPSP was now in final stage of shortlist and appointing new contractors to take up the jobs.

Is party hopping so bad like crime? Situation and facts

With the recent crossover of an Umno state assemblyman from Perak to PKR, there many reports, statements and view of his actions in condemnation, welcoming, encouragement, immoral and so on.

Most of us also viewed that party hopping is not good for the person himself in moral grounds and loyalty, but not the party itself. Did we actually overlooked the fault at the party from the beginning?

Now, let us all view the insights of party hopping and why did it happened in the first place and what was the factor behind it, the person or the party?

We begin with when an opposition party MP or state assemblyman decides to cross over to a BN component party, the BN leaders will applaud it and welcome it as a positive move, with praise of high ethics and moral of the person who did that. And the person who jumped over to the BN is also hailed as a hero of what? We do not know what hero!

But when a BN MP or state assemblyman decides to crossover to an opposition party instead, the BN is quick to label such move as immoral, betrayal to the people, the party and the person is problematic and so on. The person who walks over to the opposition is often branded as an attitude problem and that the BN has got no problems at all.

A same situation also applies like this, when an opposition MP or state assemblyman crosses over to the BN, the person is deemed to be clean and he or she need not to be investigated for any possible corrupt practice being taken place.

But when a BN MP or state assemblyman crosses over to the opposition instead, allegations of the person being corrupt and received bribes to walk over will surface and the former ACA and the newly formed Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) are quick to investigate the allegation with grave suspicion of a possible real crime taken place.

From this point of view, is this fair? What we saw here is the entire situation is one-sided. The BN still have the advantages in penalizing the person with pressures from MACC. If some circumstances permit, the BN could also avenge the person’s cross over with harassment or imprisonment from the authorities if they wanted to.

We could see the case here, whichever sides make its move, the BN is sure to come out and seek its advantage to the entire situation, because the mass media and press entirely belongs to them.

Well, we had seen and read many views and comments from the public in regards with the good, the bad and the ugly side of party hopping and we could also see that not much study or analysis were made prior to the presentation of such views.

We all should know that whenever something happens, it must happen with a cause. The root cause to this issue, the root cause to this problem, and the root cause to such happenings or situations.

Let us take a look on what recently happened to Perak’s Bota state assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim and why did he left Umno for PKR.

In Umno, we could all see factional rivalries, internal bickering, money politics, corruptions, phantom voters and factionalism is rampant in the party with every leader and members of the party are being part of the dirty game from within, and such activities are especially active during the upcoming party elections which is currently ongoing at divisional level and expected to intensify when the elections for the party supreme council approach. Each of every Umno politicians are too busy with their internal party matters until to the fact that they do not even have sufficient time to serve their constituencies and voters.

Even the former Perak Umno liaison chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Tajol Rosli had openly admitted the fact that he could not control the overcrowded infighting in Perak Umno anymore and resigned from his state chairman and division chairman positions.

Therefore, the reason Datuk Nasarudin given for his departure from Umno was very clear. The factional rivalries, internal bickering, money politics, corruptions, phantom voters and factionalism are the reasons. Datuk Nasarudin was not the cause for all these problems but Umno was the cause of all these problems and everyone knows it very well and so do the Umno members.

The situation is very clear, with the factional rivalries, internal bickering, money politics, corruptions, phantom voters and factionalism in Umno continues, Datuk Nasarudin was unable to serve his constituency and voters effectively because of the blockades, politicking and boycotts he experienced from within Umno.

Datuk Nasarudin’s justification for his move into PKR is correct in order to continue serving his constituency and voters without fail, instead of keeping himself busy with Umno’s internal bickering and neglecting his services to the people in the end.

In this case, should anymore shifts of Umno MPs or state assemblymen to the opposition party take place, it should therefore be encouraged and lauded for the mere benefits of the people and should also be viewed as a sacrifice for the sake of the people’s welfare and being.

In the case of party hopping in Sabah and Sarawak politics, they are of completely a different scenario compare with what is happening currently. We could definitely say that most of the moves by politicians over there are immoral, unethical and corrupt at sight.

In these two states, we could see very frequent, on instigation by Umno leaders, the regional based parties often split, with factional fights amongst its leaders which in the end lead to the break ups of the said party and formation of another party one after another, coupled with its leaders and members will start hopping from one party to another due a lots of choice.

In Sabah, the then opposition PBS strength was systematically dismantled (although it survived eventually) into a number of parties like SAPP, PBRS, UPKO, LDP with Umno leading the charge into the state with other peninsular based BN component parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP. It is clear fact that money politics had spread all over this state and spoiled those regional based parties to become subservient to Umno.

During the political transition or crisis, we could see certain politicians had jumped ship for about six to nine times in a year in order to seek a “better political prospect”. Although the situation in Sabah had slow down with Umno already entirely in firm grip in power, Sarawak is still being a target from both Umno and its local proxy Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) to ensure the unity of the Dayak community does not turn into a strong political force to stake its claim on the state chief ministership.

The Dayak based parties which were systematically dismantled by PBB were SNAP, PBDS and now PRS while SPDP and PDS may soon receive the axe as well. The Dayaks were disintegrated from a one political entity and displaced into other ethnic based or mixtures of tribes’ parties like PBB, SUPP, PDS, SPDP so that the community’s political power could be overpowered.

Attempts by several Dayak political leaders to regroup and form a much larger and stronger Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) has been a failure because of the continuous efforts by both Umno and PBB to block the Dayak’s unity attempt. The Registrar of Societies (ROS) had recently rejected the application from MDC pro-tem committee on grounds of a possible national security threat in Sarawak should the Dayaks were to be reunited gradually. The MDC had since filed an appeal to ROS on the rejection but the later have yet to make any decision pending instruction from the home affairs minister.

As such, we should always view with in depth party hopping in a different manner and circumstances based on the current political situation and the political parties involved with the person in transition. If we see Datuk Nasarudin’s current situation now, it is neither immoral, unethical nor bad, but in the case of Sarawak and Sabah, we can say it does involve a lots of immoral, unethical and bad doers in its field.

No wonder those who are in power are overly powerful now and those who are weak are further weaken with no choice but to become overly subservient to the powerful.

Our disadvantage here is the BN always claim to have the good and the best, the opposition are the bad and the worst or even a threat to the national security. Therefore, BN says ISA is essential in order to control and curb the opposition’s threat.

Corruptions in UMNO, phantom voters and denials

Corruption or widely known in Umno as money politics had a very long established roots for decades. It is practically a daily business amongst all its party leaders from the presidential levels, supreme councils, state liaison committees, divisional committees, right down to the branch committees.

The money politics in Umno has been so popular today until its top leaders had a most difficult task of avoiding or denying it and finally they are saying that the leadership is taking steps to curb such practices in the party for good by calling in the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) for swift action.

Although a few arrests has been made and expected to be charged in the court soon for their malpractice, top leaders of the party remained untouched as we all know. These top leaders are the untouchables. So, what is the use of nabbing all those small flies who are merely office boys, agents or distributors? Why didn’t MACC go after those on the top and grab all those who are actually holding the money bags?

On cases of phantom voters within Umno, it is a well known subject whenever the party elections begins, be it a branch or divisional elections, such allegations are sure to come out when the opposing faction in the party does not get what they want or does not get elected into party offices. And there goes the party disciplinary and management committees start opening files and proceedings to receive such complaints from their grassroots and dissatisfied members but so far, these two committees had proven to be very ineffective as most of its decisions were made without any proper investigations being carried out by persons deemed to be independent from one faction or another. Decisions made by these two disciplinary and management committees are usually factional sided, with the complainant not getting satisfied proceedings at the end.

Then at the end, these two committees will make public of their justifications by saying that their decisions are made purely on their sole jurisdiction with no influences from any party leaders, that means they are an independent body as what they mean.

Although there are a few actions being taken against some party leaders earlier, but such action are proven only as a mere window dressing, with no real drastic action being taken in actual fact. If both the disciplinary and management committees of the party really walk its talk, there should be a reduction of such activities by now but it is seem to be increasing more and more whenever any party elections comes by. In fact these national and local Umno leaders are not afraid of the disciplinary and management committees showing the fact the party leaders are still overall powerful.

If we want to say that these disciplinary and management committee members are independent in their entities, it is actually not quite correct in sense that these committee members are still members of the party and they have been party leaders too in the past, and if they were party leaders before, the certain thing is most of them are tainted with money politics themselves as well during their periods in the party offices and leadership. So, can we actually ask an already tainted person to judge another tainted person? The other matter is, are all these independent members really of independent in their entities. Records shows that those retired leaders or veterans who are now sitting in these disciplinary and management committees are actually of factional based during their past leadership in the party. Are they truly independent in actual fact?

No wonder money politics are growing and developing rapidly in the party and it is going to achieve its record very soon as the most corrupted political party in Southeast Asia. If these disciplinary and management committees are really independent in sense of judgment and decisions, there should be no such negative activities anymore in the party, isn’t it so? The real wonder is its is rapidly growing and developing like nobody’s business at all.

So when comes to general elections in our nation, when there are claims of money politics and phantom voters being practically in use to buy voters and to shift voters’ choice over to their side, both Umno and the Elections Commission (EC) are quick to deny its existence saying that claims by the opposition are always out to tarnish Umno’s and the federal government’s image.

So, can you imagine what is the really funny here? During general elections, when opposition parties claimed money politics, vote buying and phantom voters at the Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) side, Umno is quick to deny that, but during the Umno party elections, when allegations of money politics, vote buying and phantom voters arise from within, the party leaders acknowledge its existence and they pledge to work on it and they are still working on it till today and they will continue to work on it for the rest of their lives.

The conclusion is, the opposition parties need not expose all these in the public because Umno itself had already exposes it themselves for decades. It is not the opposition parties who were out there to tarnish their image but it is Umno themselves who had already tarnish the image of their own. Umno is still in a denial mode and is on its way to self destruct.