Pakatan forms council to counter BN and federal discrimination

A formal Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Chief Ministers Council and Secretariat was established today to counter what they claimed is discrimination by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Speaking to the press this evening after meeting his fellow PR mentris besar, Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said they were fed up of being left out by Abdullah, who only met with Barisan Nasional menteris besar.

“When MBs of all states meets during the Council of Rulers, we are excluded by the Prime Minister, who meets only BN MBs separately at the end.”

Lim said they were left with two options, to either go back to their states or wander the streets of the city they were in. “We have been patient for nearly a year and as leaders who are democratically elected by the people we felt we had no choice but to form the council.”

The establishment of the new council was formally called the Mentaloon Declaration by Kedah MB and state PAS commissioner Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak who hosted the meeting in Dewan Sri Mentaloon, which is at his official residence, here.

He said the council will be used to co-ordinate the activities of the five states and was necessary to reduce miscommunication between leaders. “Many feel that we (PR Chief Ministers) are contradicting each other and through the council we hope to sit together and iron out our differences.”

Perak MB and state PAS secretary Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said the council will meet at least twice a year and will be chaired by the menteri besar hosting the event.

Selangor MB and state PKR liaison chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the Council was an opportunity for them to exchange ideas and learn from each other. “It will also enable us to manage our states more effectively.”

Kelantan MB and PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat was at the meeting earlier but did not attend the press conference.

BN lost, Umno infighting continues

From the results of the Kuala Terengganu by-elections results which saw the BN-Umno candidate being badly defeated by the Pakatan Rakyat’s PAS candidate on 17 January last week, which shows the BN coalition which is led by Umno is becoming irrelevant in the eyes of the people of today.

BN had won the parliamentary seat with a slim majority in last year’s general election and lost the seat last week with an increased lost of popularity. What happened then? We all know the factors behind the BN loss in the by-elections in Terengganu.

Umno, the dominant party in the BN coalition of 14 parties, has been suffering from infighting and factional rivalry ever since the present Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said took over from his former boss Datuk Idris Jusoh. Despite having made peace after the open tug-of-war last year for the Mentri Besar’s position, the two faction remain as rival in all divisions and branches in the state. Each faction is trying to outdo each other in the branches and divisional elections and they are now lobbying for the supreme council elections in Umno this coming March.

Intense fighting between these two factions continues, even though both Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his party deputy president cum president-elect Datuk Seri Najib Razak had called for a truce between these two factions in order to focus in the by-elections.

The actual fact is the Ahmad Said faction and Idris Jusoh faction accepted the truce call by their national leaders but continue their rivalries in their election campaign rounds where each faction is working to outdo each other in order to seek the attention of Najib, who is also the BN-Umno director of operations. No doubt that both Ahmad Said and Idris Jusoh are campaigning hard for the BN-Umno candidate but it is clear that these two leaders do not see eye to eye nor speaking to each other and so do their faction supporters who were looking each other as enemies rather than PAS.

The fact that the Umno factions in Terengganu has been overly split up and too uncooperative to an extend that the national leadership have to seek a helping hand from Umno leaders from as far as Sabah, Johor and Pahang to come over to campaign for the said candidate.

Apart from that Umno leaders seen by many as corrupt and untrustworthy were also roped in to campaign in the by-elections for BN, especially of those from Selangor, Perak, Penang and Kedah which proved to have damaged the BN-Umno machinery as a whole. Reminders were also made known to the voters over there of Umno’s rising extremism and its BN coalition partners like MCA, Gerakan, MIC and PPP as mere lackeys with no powers at all. The people there still remember how were these BN parties being treated by Umno previously and how Umno rised to extremism with couple of its leaders expressing the party’s racist policies in open which had in fact angered the Chinese and Indian communities as a whole.

Besides, the ongoing case in the court involving the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu had also caused some impact with the one of the two accused had testified in the hearing that he received instructions from Najib’s police ADC to “settle” Altantuya from a discharged accused political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda.
With all these factional fightings and rivalries within Umno election machinery and the ongoing murder case which may involve Najib in the end, the BN-Umno did not seek to work out to prove all these allegation were wrong but merely cover them with their extensive old campaign slogans of denouncing and condemning the Pakatan Rakyat coalition as being unfit to govern the country and accused the DAP, PKR and PAS that they had lied to the people and so on.

From the Pakatan Rakyat side, we could see DAP, PKR and PAS were seem clashing on their views regarding the Islamic hudud laws but they managed to convince the people that this is the policy of Pakatan Rakyat that has to be proven in front of the people i.e. democracy, where every component party in the Pakatan Rakyat were of equal status with no one ever being dominant over the other. Therefore, with democracy actively alive in the Pakatan, these three parties were able to demonstrate that differences amongst them can be debated in public for the good, understanding and betterment of their relationship as a whole. In fact, when DAP and PAS were debating on the hudud issue, they even went to the ground to seek the people’s opinion and feedback.

BN as its has been clearly seen, with Umno as a dominant party over the other component parties like MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP, etc. In the BN, they claimed that their “debates” were held close door and Umno plan and dictates the policies of the coalition from within the Umno supreme council itself. The BN component parties only need to receive, understand and accept the policies dictated by Umno as the policies of the BN in actually it only benefits Umno in the whole process. So, is there a democracy in the BN? People are watching the BN and how it works till today, the rest of its component parties are seems to be quiet and obedient prior to the general elections last year but has been too vocal only after they lost in the general elections. What is the use of being so vocal right now? Are they able to break up the Umno dominancy and monopoly if they continue to be vocal now? Is Umno going to listen and repent based on the criticism of MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP, etc?

So with the above situation, it shows that there are no practical democracy in the BN at all, which allows open debates, discussion and criticism amongst members of the coalition and to seek the people’s opinion on their differences.

We ask them now, will Umno reform? The answers is No. If Umno would not reform, so do the BN. And where to for its coalition partners like MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP, etc? They have no choice but to stay on as lackeys and be obedient to their masters. Therefore, may BN rest in peace!

DAP to field more Malays in next general election

The Perak DAP intends to field more Malay candidates including Islamic scholars in the next general election, Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said today.

He said the political trend in the country had changed tremendously and showed that DAP continued to be accepted by voters, especially the Malays. "In the 1990s, voters especially Malays were scared of DAP to the extent of taking it out on the party's flag and posters.

"But everything has changed now. Malay voters are eager to register as DAP members and set up new branches, in which they are the majority members," he told reporters after the launch of the Kampung Ayer Tawar DAP branch here.

During the event, Kampung Ayer Tawar DAP branch pro-tem chairman Ahmad Ikram Abdul Karim, 45, submitted 53 membership applications, comprising Malay men and women - Agencies.

Polling day at Kuala Terengganu

Today is the polling day for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency. High voter turnout is expected today based on efforts from both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional to voo the voters and those staying outstation to return home to vote.

The battle between PAS and Umno is seem to be a tough one as both candidates had also proven their potentials in their campaign rounds and commitments as well.

Despite PAS and Pakatan Rakyat were dealed with a heavy blow from the BN controlled mainstream medias and newspapers, comments from the grounds had predicted a good chance for PAS. Some analyst like Ong Kian Ming had even went as far to predict PAS' victory at about 7000 vote majority this time.

Well, right now, no one knows yet on the outcome. We will have to wait till the polling stations close this evening and when counting begins then. We have to admit that this is surely a tough fight. Will the voters choose to continue the previous political tsunami?

DAP request KT voters to support Pakatan economic plan

On the eve of the crucial Kuala Terengganu by-elections, the DAP has openly asked Kuala Terengganu voters to support Pakatan Rakyat's RM50 billion economic stimulus package and for petrol prices at RM1.20 a litre.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said today the Kuala Terengganu by-election on Saturday will be "a good indicator to gauge the people's support, especially from the Malays" to determine the national agenda.

Throwing support behind Pas candidate Abdul Wahid Endut, Lim said lower petrol prices was feasible as global crude prices have dropped below US$35 a barrel, similar to global prices on Oct 1, 2000 when Malaysian pump price was RM1.20 a litre.

"It is only fair that the government further reduce the price of petrol by 60 cents from the present RM 1.80 per litre to reflect the current market price," said Lim, who is also the Bagan Member of Parliament.

He also called on the people to support the electoral pact's RM50 billion economic package "to save Malaysian jobs and businesses that Malaysians can see, touch and feel the difference".
The economic package, which Lim had announced before, includes a RM6,000 annual oil bonus for families earning less than RM 6,000 a month or RM 3,000 annual bonus to bachelors earning less than RM 3,000 a month which will only cost RM35 billion.

He also proposed a progressive reduction of corporate tax from the present 25 percent to 17 percent which will cost RM 13 billion, a daily revision of petrol pump prices linked to changes in global prices and immediate cuts in gas prices as well as electricity tariffs.

Lim also promised an additional RM 2 billion wireless project "so that as many Malaysians as possible can be connected to the Internet" - Malaysian Insider.

Guan Eng warns subversive civil servants

The Pakatan Rakyat Penang government has cautioned any civil servants in the state who harbour ulterior motives not to try making things difficult for the new administration.

Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said today his office had received feedback that certain quarters had been deliberately mismanaging government work and even stoking racial issues.

He said that while most public servants were doing their jobs well, there were a few who were involved in maladministration.

“I have come to know that that there are certain parties in the state public offices who are using whispering methods, that are malicious, to ignite race-related sentiments,” he said. He pointed as an example the case of a Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) staff who rented out council-owned tents at a much higher rate than that charged under the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) state government, without informing his superiors.

There were also cases where there was discrimination in the issuance of summonses. Addressing a gathering of state-level government officers at Geodesic Dome in Komtar here, Lim stressed that the PR government intended to eradicate corruption as well as racial attitudes in the state’s administration. “Don’t make things difficult for the state government,” Lim said, stressing that the public was not fooled by the work of such government staff.

He said there was a general public opinion that certain civil servants were working to “sabotage” the new state government.

“The public is not ignorant unlike what the BN assumed,” Lim said. “They are able to evaluate the situation and understand what is going on.” He warned that stern action will be taken against any government servant found to have breached the state’s rules and guidelines.

He also urged civil servants who detected anything amiss in their departments to report the matter to his office.

He said the state government intended to serve all Penangites with equal care, regardless of race, religion or social standing.

Lim pointed out that the state was working to eradicate hard-core poverty across all races, and had given RM100 in water rebates to each low income households regardless of its ethnic background. He also noted that the state had made contributions to huffaz (people who can recite the Quran) even though it was led by a Chinese chief minister, thus cutting across the ethnic divide.

“We will not compromise based one’s race if we find that an individual or organisation has gone against the rules and policies set by the state government,” he said - The Sun.

BN promised development only if it wins the by-election

The deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had earlier said that if the people of Kuala Terengganu vote BN in the coming parliamentary by-election, more changes and developments will roll into the constituency.

Looks like the Umno deputy president is some sort of "blackmailing" the voters of the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency into voting BN. Should BN lose the by-election the people there will be punished with no developments nor any changes to the said area.

Is this the way democracy works?

A vote for BN is a vote to Umno's supremacy

A vote for BN is a vote for so many issues that that matters. If we could list them out it could be possible in a lots of pages needed.

A vote of BN is defenitely a vote for Umno's division chairmen, Umno's branch chairmen, Umno's contractors, Umno's sub-contractors, Umno's business corporations, Umno's dominancy, Umno's racism, Umno's violence, Umno's supremacist, Umno's arrogance, Umno's monopolies, Umno's capitalism, Umno's "pendatang" policies, Umno's wealth, Umno's "mat rempits", Umno's newspapers, medias, television stations and so on.

If we vote for BN it means we will make Umno leaders wealthier, richer and dominant over the people and our communities. In the end where will all our income tax goes to? Think about it, think of the future for this country of ours.

DAP flags taken down at KT by-election

We had received news that party flags put up by our DAP members in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election were taken down by the authorities reasoning that DAP was not contesting in the by-election, therefore the DAP cannot raise their party flags in the public.

Why double standard ? Umno is putting up many of its flags on the streets everywhere in the contesting areas. It was actually Barisan Nasional (BN) who is contesting the by-elections and not Umno.

The only registered contesting parties with the Elections Commission for this by-election are BN and PAS. So why are Umno flags raised for this elections then? The authorities should be fair to all parties who are contesting in the elections and the political parties who are assisting their coalition partners.

The authorities are acting double standard.

The Toyota Camry issue

Recently, we have news of the Selangor and Perak state governments receiving their first batch of Toyota Camrys for the use of their state executive councillors and senior state officials. Previously it was the Trengganu state government who opted to buy in the Mercedes Benz to replace the ageing Proton Perdanas in their state.

Selangor Umno liaison committee chairman Dr Mohd Khir Toyo yesterday made a fuss out of all this issue again by saying the cost savings initiated by the Pakatan Rakyat state governments were a bluff. What bluff? In fact Dr Khir had a lots to explain on all the conditions and over expenditures of all the Proton Perdanas service during his reign.

Remember, what happened during the Selangor state executive councillor Ronnie Liu's travelling previously? His Proton Perdana which he was in it suddenly mulfunction and the bonnet was blown open while on the road which almost kill both Ronnie and his driver.

When the incident was reported to Proton, the Proton service managers tried to avoid the faulty reports and gave a lots of lame excuses, this and that, here and there and so on. Proton even went to an extend of blaming the drivers of the official vehicle even after facts after facts were produced to confirm the negligence in serivicing.

Prior to this, we also had reports that the respective state government had found out that the repairs or servicing of these Proton Perdanas had gone up to hundred thousands of Ringgit and in total cost of serivicing the entire fleet of these official cars, it came up about millions of Ringgit. Some of the vehicle serivicing agents and dealers were even being called up by authorities for questioning for a possible corrupt practice being taken place.

So during the Umno's reign in these state governments previously, were there any transparencies in sending all these car for serivicing, repairs, etc, etc? Are these serivicing agents or dealers related to Umno and are all these cars' spare parts were replaced with the cheap and low quality ones?

All these needed to be checked, looked into it deeply and upfront the decision by the Selangor and Perak state governments to replace their ageing Perdanas with the more reliable Camrys should not be questioned and politicised as an issue. Let us all look back the facts and figures first, what are the cause and who are the cause to all these previously.

It is totally being unfair to put all the blame on the Pakatan Rakyat state government when they reported any faulty conditions of the vehicles or any wrongdoings arise when they took over after the 8 March general elections last year.

It is usual for Dr Khir to continue to complain and politicising this issue in order to cover up the previous weaknesses and power abuses of his administration. No wonder BN was voted out.

Herald gets nod for Malay language but not "Allah"

The BN federal government will allow the Malay edition of a Catholic newspaper to resume publication, lifting a ban imposed for its use of the word "Allah," an official said today.

The Herald, the country's main Roman Catholic newspaper, will not be allowed to use "Allah" as a translation for "God," however, said Che Din Yusoh, a senior official with the Home Ministry's publications control unit.

"If they stop printing the word 'Allah,' they can publish anytime," Che Din told The Associated Press. "You can use another word. It's permissible for us," he said, adding that the decision would be conveyed to the Herald by tomorrow.

The ministry had ordered the Herald last week to stop printing its Malay edition for violating a 2007 ban on the use of the word "Allah," except to refer to the Muslim God. The government says using the word could confuse Muslims, even though the newspaper is read almost exclusively by Christians.

Malay language is widely spoken by many indigenous Christian believers in Sabah and Sarawak states, who read the Herald's Malay edition regularly. The newspaper has continued to publish its English, Mandarin and Tamil editions.

The Herald has challenged the ban on "Allah" in court, saying that the translation has been used for centuries and that the Arabic word is a common reference to God that predates Islam. It says the ban is unconstitutional and threatens the religious freedom of the minorities in this nation.

Is Datuk Shabery joking ?

Race relations under the Barisan Nasional government is more sincere than in the opposition-led administration, said Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Based on track record, Umno is arrogant, racist, a Nazi-based, violent and reign supreme over other races. The BN component parties were treated like second or third class members. So is Barisan Nasional's race relations really good?

Penang Govt lifts stop-work order on MMC-Gamuda JV

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said today the government made the decision to allowed MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd to resume work on its electrified double-track project through mainland after receiving assurance from the company that it will settle pending payments worth RM 7.4 million owing to the state.

He explained that the company has made partial payment of RM4 million and undertaken to finalise the remaining amount by Chinese New Year. Of the amount, RM 3.2 million was owed as drainage contribution to the state government, while some RM 4.2 million was mainly fines to the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) for conducting work without planning permission, he said.

The state government issued a stop-work order on the project last month after the company failed to submit planning permission application to the MPSP, Lim explained at a press conference at his office in Komtar today.

He also dismissed reported criticism by state Opposition leader and state Umno secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim that the Pakatan Rakyat administration’s initial decision to stop the project was political motivated.

"The state government wants the project to go smoothly," Lim said. "Even though we have not collected the full amount, we are willing to allow work to continue. So what Azhar said has no basis."

Azhar's misleading statement was reported by a Malay-language daily today (7 Jan) as saying that the state’s stop-work order on the double track project which stretches from Ipoh to Padang Besar was related to the federal government’s refusal to approve some of the state’s requests.

"We are not like the state opposition which thinks that everything is political," Lim said. "If we wanted to stop this project, we would have stopped it earlier."

On the issue of compensation for squatters and residents living on land that is needed for the rail project, Lim said the state was waiting for the company to respond on the amount it was willing to give.

Municipal Elections

It has been in our agenda ever since before the previous general elections to fight for the implementation of open elections to elect our municipal councilors to both Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) and the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) as well.

However, this could only be done when the Local Government Act is amended to enable municipal councilors to be elected by voters and the Pakatan Rakyat is still fighting for this level to be open up for elections.

In order to amend the Local Government Act, we had to have this tabled in the parliament and convince the floor of our need to have the third vote take into effect at the municipal levels. The major obstacles here are will the Barisan Nasional MPs ever ready to support our moves?

So in order to continue strive the third vote, we need your support as well to show to the BN government that we mean business and our objective is Competency, Accountability and Transparency. To the BN MPs, we hope you could come over to support us for the benefit of our people.

New Junction Opened

We would like to congratulate our Sungai Puyu State Assemblyman and Penang State Executive Councillor Phee Boon Poh for his tireless effort in ensuring the successful opening of the Jalan Chain Ferry – Taman Bagan traffic lights and junction which he has been fighting for us since 2004.

We the opening of the said traffic lights and junction, we strongly believed that the traffic loads and congestions of several transit roads nearby would be eased effectively and provide a very convenient passage for our motorist to make their travel choice.

Once again, Syabas to our Boon Poh who is also the DAP Bagan Jermal Branch Chairman.

NGO reps in municipal councils should remain

Referring to the recent statement made by the Penang PKR Chairman Datuk Zahrain who chaired the State Pakatan Rakyat Council meeting, suggested that the non-performing NGO representatives in the municipal councils of Seberang Perai (MPSP) and Penang (MPPP) should be dropped and replaced with representatives from the Pakatan Rakyat component parties.

We felt that such move would be inappropriate as this will derived the NGO’s representation from the local governance. In fact, the allocated seats for the NGOs to be both MPSP and MPPP councilors should remain as it is because we had already committed an open and transparency concept, where the local governance level should be participated by all, including those outside Pakatan Rakyat.

If these NGO councilors are not performing as claimed by Datuk Zahrain earlier, then we speak to the respective organizations concerned and ask them to get us the replacement when the incumbents’ term expires.

By-elections and development projects

As we know the by-election for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency starts today with its nomination roll on. Previously, a by-election was held in Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency and PKR made a clean sweep on the seat with at ease.

Did you know when any by-elections comes to a designated area following the death or disqualification of the incumbent member of parliament or state assemblyman, the Barisan Nasional government is quick to upload its development plans and proceed with its projects earlier or even additional projects were put in to justify its intended victory in the areas concerned.

A simple phrase for this, the BN government will only develop an area whenever a by-election is held. Look at the roads leading into the villages are properly and nicely tarred, traffic lights and street lamps were installed, schools were given additional allocations and funds, drainage systems were upgraded into concrete ones, roads after being tarred were re-aligned, government offices and school buildings or even low and medium cost flats were re-painted in a very nice form, gardens and housing estates were renewed and beautified with fresh flowers and plants and so on.

When we go to the ground and asked those people and village folks of all these new projects and efforts put up by the BN machinery to gain the voters’ support, their answers are “these projects, applications and request were made about 10 to 20 years ago and it never even come, because according to the BN Yang Berhormat, they do not have enough allocations to fulfill all the projects, unless there is a by-election, then all these projects will come in very fast, faster than a lightning and it even came without being asked to”. Another villager said “the road in front of my house has never being tarred for over 35 years and when a by-election comes, the BN machinery came with the Jabatan Kerjaraya (JKR) personnel to have it tarred from one end to the other”.

So, the questions here are, is the BN government really serious and sincere in providing our people developments, enhancements, projects, upgrading, allocations, funds and public benefits? If the BN leaders keep on emphasizing on developments and funding and claimed that only BN could carry on with all these activities, why don’t they bring them over to us at the first place and wait only until a by-election instead? If a by-election never take place for instance, will all these developments and funding come, or should we say actually there is none at all.

We hope the people and voters will be able to judge between sincerity and commitment. Is the BN really sincere or committed to channel the developments and funds to the people all these while? Are they trying to bribe the people and the voters into voting BN whenever a by-election takes place?

MIC's educational project hit with scandal

The party is investigating managers of Maju Institute for Education Development for alleged wrongdoing in awarding contracts - but they point the fingers at the party president instead.

So who were the wrongdoers of all these ? We also heard that recently the MIC treasurer-general was terminated from his position in the party and MIED because of this issue. Is he being made a scapegoat for this ? It is impossible that the former MIC treasurer is alone in this scandal. MIC is putting the entire blame on him just to safeguard the other top leaders of the party.

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) should step in to investigate the scandal hit MIED as soon as possible and nab all those who are involved to bring them to justice.

Umno & BN are splitting and breaking up instead

In the most recent statement by the Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhamad Taib saying that the Pakatan Rakyat would eventually split due to the differences between the three parties mainly DAP, PKR and PAS in their respective principles and objectives.

We would like to remind Tan Sri Muhammad, these differences shown in the Pakatan Rakyat does not mean our coalition is splitting and would not last. The differences as demonstrated in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition reflects the true nature of democracy in practical which has been carried out by DAP, PKR and PAS in making known to the public of their differences and to prove that even so, we could still come up with joint resolution and work towards strengthening our opposition coalition.

The true democracy as shown by the Pakatan Rakyat also demonstrate the transparency nature of communications between all coalition parties which will also reflect to the people and voters that differences between partners can be debated and mutually discussed in order to provide and to gain better understanding amongst parties concerned. Therefore, in Pakatan Rakyat no parties are dominant and all coalition partners are treated equally.

The major differences here is Barisan Nasional (BN) even though a coalition of political parties consist of Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, SUPP, SPDP, PRS, PBS,UPKO, PBB, LDP and the rest, it operates like a secret society. All its issues and matter are discussed in a closed door manner and the people and the voters are not allowed to gain any information on the inside communication between them.

Umno, being a dominant party in the BN dictates and decides most of the coalition policies, where all its component parties are required to follow them strictly without any debates, discussions and so on. Whoever or if there are any members of MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, SUPP, SPDP, PRS, PBS, UPKO, PBB or LDP who voted against or abstain on any policies or proposal tabled in the parliament or state assembly, the said member would be penalized or punished with suspension or possible expulsion.

So, is there democracy in BN actually? The simple answer is no, because Umno is dominant and the others would just listen and listen blindly without debating the disadvantages over the advantages. There are no real collective voice in the BN coalition when it comes decision making as a whole as every single move in the coalition has been decided by Umno and its supreme council.

BN is failing because of Umno is failing. The very reason behind these failures are because Umno is very, very much tainted for decades with corruptions, vote buying, money politics, factional fighting, and power tussles amongst top leaders from within. Every faction in Umno are fighting to take control of the party and encourage the other BN component party leaders who supported the respective Umno factions to do so. So, when Umno’s infighting starts, the other BN component parties will follow. For an example, when Abdullah retires in March 2009, then Najib takes over as both prime minister and Umno president, the pro-Najib factions in MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, SUPP, SPDP, PRS, PBS, UPKO, PBB or LDP will also make their moves to tussle with their respective leaderships.

Therefore, the fact here is Umno and BN are splitting and will fall apart slowly and painfully.

KDN’s ban on Herald unreasonable

The home affairs ministry (KDN) decision to ban the Catholic daily’s Herald publication in Bahasa Malaysia has been criticized and condemned as being unjust and does not reflect the federal government’s recognition on its local religious activities.

Instead, the KDN approval only allows the Herald to publish its articles in English, Chinese and Tamil. According to the editor of the Herald publication, the editorial is considering a possible legal action against the federal government and the ministry should these issues remain unresolved till then.

Can we imagine how ashamed we are for being disallowed to use our own national language if this were to make known to other people of different countries and region? The federal government’s move to ban the usage of Bahasa Malaysia in the Herald publication is a direct implication that the authorities were afraid of the so-called “conversion” onto the dominant community of this nation which might be carried out by the said Catholic daily.

In our federal constitution, the freedom of multi religious practice are guaranteed but in somehow restricted by the fact that to protect one religion which wanted to remain dominant and in control of the other religions. Is this really fair anyway?

BN says no worries and be happy !

Did you know recently, the deputy finance minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha had said in the parliament that the ongoing global financial crisis had only caused a minimal damage to our country’s economic situation. He said Malaysia only felt the minimum impact of the global financial crisis and therefore we need not worry so much on the effects.

No wonder there are no measures at all taken by the BN federal government to curb the impact of the global economic crisis. In Penang itself we now had about more than 2,000 out of job and we are expected to add another few hundred by early of 2009. In Sarawak, 1,500 is already confirmed to be out of job by next March. In areas of Selangor like Shah Alam, Port Klang and Johor’s Senai, the figures are also there but not yet reported as some of these affected companies are trying to keep these impact as low profile as possible. Our neighbour, Singapore is also feeling the impact as well.

So, BN says no worries at this moment, be happy!

Over 2,000 out of job in Penang

According to MTUC's recent analysis, about 2,000 people has been out of job three months ago. And the Human Resources Ministry is not doing much to come out with an actual solution on these rising problems.

Instead the Human Resources Ministry had kept on harping on the claim that the economic fundamentals in this country are still very strong and impact had not being that bad after all. The statement made by the ministry and their lack of attention on this matter is a grave irresponsibility.

Based on the current crisis' impact at both asia and worldwide, why is the BN government trying to cover up the real situation? The BN government is not insterested at all in pursuing any counter measures to curb the current impact of the economic and financial crisis.

Muslim NGOs protest in Penang

Some about 20 over muslim NGOs under the patronage of Gabungan Melayu NGO Malaysia today held a peaceful protest in front of Sri Mutiara, the official residence of the Penang Governor to call on the Rulers Council to strip the citizenship of those who questioned the Malay special rights and ketuanan Melayu.

Apart from these NGO protesters, these NGOs also made use of about 400 over under-aged children to join them in this morning's protest. First of all, we would like to question these NGOs, who actually did question the special rights and ketuanan Melayu and when did it happened? Why did these NGOs often allowed themselves to be used by some political parties who is out there to promote and advance their racist political agendas?

For the leaders of these muslim NGOs, we hope in future they will use their judgment and common sense to ensure they are not being used political parties with racist political agendas, particularly Umno. Do not lower yourselves to be used in such ways.

At the same time, in the protest this morning, you are using children as your your shield and for your information, it is wrong to use under-aged as a tool to protest on certain issues related to politics and racial sentiments.

The policemen who were there, why they did not take any action on the protesters who used children to join them in the said demonstration? Is it because such protest were sanctioned by Umno and they choose not to care about it just because the home minister is an Umno supreme council member?

Stop arguing in public, PR leaders told

We had seen and heard some arguments and bickerings amongst leaders of Pakatan Rakyat recently which does not reflect the maturity of its leaders.

The most recent ones were between Selangor DAP state assemblyman and house speaker Teng Chang Khim and DAP MPs Charles Santiago (Klang) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut), as well as Kapar MP S.Manikavasagam with the state PKR leadership over his disappointment on certain issues related to the Indian community.

All these issues can be brought to the top leadership and discussed in a proper manner instead of bickering over them in the public especially via BN controlled medias and newspapers which will make things worst and create a mere negative impression on the new Pakatan Rakyat state governments. Do not let the BN take advantage on all these.

If you guys keep on harping on some issues in public, the BN would take this opportunity to attack us and split us up even worse via their medias and presses.

And the same also goes to PAS, please respect your fellow Pakatan Rakyat parties and not making some statement or delivering some policies in public that are against the Pakatan Rakyat's spirit of cooperation.

Perak and Penang committed to freehold titles award plans

Pakatan Rakyat states Perak and Penang are committed to giving lower-income folk the opportunity to own freehold land, but will have to re-discuss their proposals following Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s freeze order on their plans.

Perak Senior Executive Councillor and State DAP Chairman Ngeh Koo Ham said it was the Pakatan’s policy to rectify the past injustices done to those living in these villages. “They did not go into the villages voluntarily but were forced to move into them and they were not given basic amenities. They suffered a lot,” said Ngeh.

Both the Perak and Penang state governments were responding to news that Najib had frozen their proposals to do so. Najib’s had said that Perak would have to wait until the National Land Council held a meeting to discuss its proposal.

But according to Ngeh, the power related to land rested on the state and not the federal government.. “The National Land Code is a governing code for administrative purposes only,” Ngeh said.

He added that Perak had discussed special circumstances in awarding freehold titles such as public or government projects and projects that were of public interest. “The new and planned villages come under special circumstances,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said the state will discuss whether to continue with its plan to allow owners of low and medium-cost flats to convert their leasehold titles to freehold without paying a land premium.

An announcement on the matter would most likely be made today, he added. “We need to consider carefully whether we are going to implement the policies or re-propose them at the next National Land Council meeting,” said Lim.

Husam: No hudud without consent of DAP and PKR

PAS vice president Husam Musa - who together with Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin stirred a hornet’s nest after they both called for the introduction of hudud law - has said that any such move would first require the agreement of Pakatan Rakyat partners - DAP and PKR.

“However, PAS will continue with its struggle to implement Hudud law, which is God’s law, by explaining to all quarters, including the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, until they are ready to accept the law,” Husam said. “We will discuss the hudud law and if they cannot accept its implementation when the time comes, we will postpone it,” he added.

His gesture will sit well with both DAP and PKR leaders, who have been worried the comments might misrepresent the overall stance of the tripartite alliance. The trio had in August entered an agreement which requires any policy change to be made only after multi-lateral discussion and consent.

This again proves that Pakatan works on a consensus basis. No unilateral decisions are made and none of the coalition partners will impose their own values or agenda on the others.

New PKNS general manager named

The Selangor Pakatan Rakyat state government had yesterday named a new general manager to take charge of the Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).

The new appointee Othman Omar also denies claims by certain parties that race had played a pivotal role in him being chosen to head the state development agency.

The 49-year old Othman is due to succeed acting general manager Datuk Low Siew Moi from Feb 1 onwards next year.

More are voicing out against the dominancy

About a year ago, when a Chinese based community association voiced their discontent of being sidelined by another, BN component parties were fast to come out in defence of their policies which had according to them serve all communities equally.

Then the Indian community who came in full force, demonstrated their plight and grieves in order to gain the BN government's attention on their problems and the facts that they are being sidelined from the mainstream development and wealth.

The BN government was quick to respond with battalions of armed police personnel and water canons, coupled with some detention of its leaders under the ISA because of their quest for justice. And that does not stop Hindraf from continue pursuing their goals to ensure their voices are to be heard from all corners.

The BN government is doing all it can to stop Hindraf from their objectives. Hindraf was officially banned then. But the leaders said they will continue to shoulder on despite being banned by the draconian law of the BN. Hindraf voices are still being heard till today from both inside and outside the nation.

Attention is now pointing at Sarawak, who are the victims there. According to the Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, "there is no problem at all in Sarawak". Well, we want to tell him that he is lying, a bully and a dictator in the state. He had rule Sarawak decades with an iron fist, purge any possible opponents or possible rise of any communities whom he felt could threaten his position and power.

He does it successfully. Whenever any Dayak based party is seem likely to emerge strong in the Sarawak BN component, he is quick to step in and planned for their eventual split where he could break off these Dayak leaders into many splinter parties so he could control them in his "divide and rule" system".

Everyone of us knew, Sarawak's leadership were Dayak dominated prior to BN's entry into Sarawak. Just look at what happened to SNAP, PBDS, STAR, PDS and now PRS. All are virtually broken off by the dominant Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) by financial and wealth means, so that the Dayak leaders could rival in their community while PBB could continue ruling the state and grab every single wealth away from them.

Because of these continuous crisis, the Dayak leaders had wanted to reunite and emerge again in their political leadership by seeking the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) to be registered as a new political entity. Unfortunately, PBB on seeing the emerging MDC which could effect their dominanncy in the state quickly informed the prime minister to instruct the Registrar of Societies (ROS) not to have the MDC registered. So MDC status is still pending todate and the ROS replied that "some issues related to the national security need to be studied further" and the approval was therefore put onhold till today.

Let us go into Sabah, the initial decades of rule and political monopoly of Berjaya and Usno were eventually broke off by the then newly emerged Kadazan Dusun based Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in the state elections. As the result, both Berjaya and Usno seeing their positions became weaken of the strong PBS presence dissolved themselves and went to Kuala Lumpur to persuade Umno to come over to fight for them.

Then, when Umno came over to Sabah, it offered the BN membership to PBS in exchange of developments and funds into the state. PBS accepted it unwillingly. Then Umno leaders began its onslaught inside PBS which irritates some of its top leaders into leaving the BN at a last moment of one state election. PBS won the state elections anyway with a slim majority, Umno continues its onslaught by offering some PBS leaders with positions and wealth to create factional fightings in the party.

As the result, SAPP, PBRS, UPKO, LDP were all formed by spliter groups of PBS. The PBS' strength began to disintegrate but managed to survive somehow to shoulder on with its Kadazan Dusun based strength. PBS finally gave in and decided to rejoin the Sabah BN few years later in order not to be left out from the mainstream development with Umno's promise of the chief ministership rotation to every BN component parties.

So, there goes the Sabah Chief Ministership rotation every two years for each BN component parties to enjoy until all these parties became weaker because of factional rifts and when Umno emerged stronger with its stable financial backings, turned up to informed all their BN friends that the rotation system have to be stopped for the sake of development. Umno took on the state leadership with at ease and soon turned into a dominant party in Sabah.

The poor developments and influx of illegal immigrants in the state had turned from bad to worst. Criminal activities amongst these illegal immigrants are becoming the subject of the day in the state and so does illegal logging, where the forest were cut down for the logs. Umno businessmen became richer because of all these activities. But what did the natives i.e. the Kadazan Dusuns get in the end? Nothing at all. The illegals and some sort of other outsiders are beginning to take their place in their villages, kampungs and neighbourhoods. These are all in fact threatening.

The authorities doesn't care, the BN federal government doesn't care, Umno doesn't care and the chief minister doesn't care. So, one of the BN component party SAPP got fed up and left the state coalition. Umno tries to disintegrate SAPP but with little success. SAPP continue to play its part as the state opposition together with the DAP's sole representative.

Enough is enough, we cannot let the dominancies of PBB and Umno continue running in Sarawak and Sabah forever, otherwise the fate of our Dayak and Kadazan brothers and sisters will be at stake. Come out and make a better choice for your community in the coming state elections.

Umno's Utusan ordered to pay RM120,000 to Mahfuz

The Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia had lost a lawsuit filed by the PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar over an article the said newspaper which suggested that he supported the violent overthrow of the BN federal government.

Utusan Malaysia is therefore ordered to pay Mahfuz RM120,000 in damages immediately after the judgment was read out.

In another case, DAP National Publicity Chief and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok had also filed a lawsuit on Utusan Malaysia and Selangor Umno liaison chairman Dr Mohd Khir Toyo for accusing her of involving in a petition to lower the azan in the state.

Teresa who is also the Selangor State Executive Councillor is seeking a RM30 million in damages over the accusations made against her by both Utusan and Dr Khir Toyo.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

DAP would like to wish all our members, supporters and our people Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Why these fanatics are still promoting hatred and disunity?

Just look at what these fanatics are doing and putting these hate banners in the streets. What are they trying to prove actually? Why did they hate other people so much and resorted to such action and threats onto the other peace loving communities.

To those hate mongers, we are all here to live peacefully amongst multi-racial, multi religious and multi cultural society. We all truly love peace, harmony, friendship and unity but there are some fanatics who are supported by a BN component party are out there to create more and more hate and nothing but hate onto others and possible to provoke anger of another race.

What can they gain by promoting hatred among our communities actually? This has to be stopped at all cost. But the police force and other authorities are not doing enough to prevent such racist fanatics from continuing all these. Is it because these hate mongers are members of a BN dominant component party?

And also, why MCA, Gerakan, MIC, IPF and PPP are keeping quiet on these? Are they too afraid to voice their discontent on their master component party in the BN or what?

Can we see action against these people who promote terror as soon as possible? We want to have a peaceful and harmonious living. We want Unity.

Establish State IPCMC

The BN federal government had decided not to proceed with the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill in the parliament for fear of the police would increase the crime rate in the nation, instead proposed a less effective Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill in order to ease the anger from the police force.

Since the BN federal government had failed to address the public concern on the integrity and transparency of the police force, the Pakatan Rakyat state governments of Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan should combine their efforts to establish a state level IPCMC in their respective governing states in order to address the public concerns and complaints on the police force in these states.

Under the state constitutions, the State Legislative Assemblies are also empowered to establish service commissions to investigate, address, improve and uphold public administration structures in their respective states.

By moving to establish the state IPCMC in Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan would be a stepping stone to push forward for a federal level IPCMC in near future, but first these state IPCMC should demonstrate its effectiveness in managing and addressing public grievances on the police force professionally.

The police force in turn should not view the IPCMC as a threat to their daily proceedings but to accept the challenge from the public to improve their professionalism, integrity and transparency in order to regain the public confidence onto the force. The police must also understand that IPCMC is here to assist and not to put more damage on the police force and they must accept this fact with an open heart.

Therefore, if the police force still thinks conservatively and maintain their unchallenged attitude, then the entire force should be dissolved and replaced with a more people oriented Public Security Force. The people had voted the Pakatan Rakyat into governance and the police force must accept the verdict of change as well.

JKKKP are all illegal organizations

During the recent general elections which saw the Pakatan Rakyat taking over the state governments of Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan, the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government is quick to react to these situations by establishing its resistance in these states.

As we had all know, the state government is empowered to appoint its people or suitable persons to be members of the Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) and Village Heads (Penghulu). These JKKK members and Village Heads are provided with allowance to perform their duties and play their roles in the community.

The JKKK stature is a state-level organization appointed by the state government to serve the communities in the rural and village areas which was established under the state enactments and approved by the state legislative assembly.

In order to counter the influence of the state level JKKKs and Village Heads which are now under the jurisdictions of the Pakatan Rakyat state governments, the BN federal government moved to established the Federal level JKKK (JKKKP) and appoint Federal Village Heads to rival their state level counterparts by all means.

Because of these JKKKPs now being rivals to the original state level JKKKs, most of our people are now confused with such situation and much questions has been raised on the validity of both JKKKs and the JKKKPs. The public now complained why are they two development committees administering an area and two village heads overseeing a village? Whom to see and who are more effective and so on?

The real problem now lies on the federal level JKKKPs. After going round researching the laws and regulated documentations of the federal governance, we cannot find any parliamentary Act or Law which allows or sanctions the establishment of these JKKKPs in addition to the existing JKKKs which are established via state enactments and approved by the state legislative assembly.

By what stature of law does these JKKKPs belongs to? In order to continue resisting the Pakatan Rakyat led state governments, the BN federal government had spend millions of Ringgit of our taxpayers monies just to fulfill and further their political agendas.

Therefore, JKKKP is deemed illegal as there is no stature nor any law established to empower the functions of these JKKKPs. In order words, the JKKKP has no locus standi as it was not recognized nor registered entity. In this case, whenever the BN federal government allocates its funds to these JKKKPs it will be deemed illegal as well, as it is unlawful to provide or support unregistered bodies with funds and monies under the Societies Act.

So, do not support or participate in any activities organized by the JKKKPs as by participating in their activities would also deemed to be wrongful as JKKKPs are not registered entities and could be charged under the Societies Act for unlawful assembly.

We want the IPCMC Bill, not the SCC Bill

We are gravely disappointed with the BN government over the tabled Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill instead of the originally proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) which was made by the Royal Commission To Enhance the Operations and Managements of the Royal Malaysian Police previously.

The SCC Bill had clearly defeats the true intention of the Royal Commission to enhance the professionalism of the police force and to ensure that the doctrines, laws, rules and procedures are adhered to and implemented by the police.

The current SCC Bill had in fact failed to look into the fundamental requirement for complaint mechanism in order to make the police more accountable to the public for their actions or omission to act on public complaints. Besides, the SCC also lacks of its independence nature in providing an effective check and balance on the police force. Our worries doubled when we found that the SCC Bill intends to put the inspector general of police (IGP) in the governance structure of the commission and concerns are further increasing when details of the SCC Bill shows that the commission will have no powers to conduct independent investigation into the police force i.e. submissions will be channeled back to the police to investigate complaints lodged against themselves.

In the Royal Commission official report in the year 2005, it found that the internal mechanism currently governed by the police themselves were in fact inadequate, unreliable, and often ineffective. As such, the IPCMC was introduced to address all these inefficiencies and to come out with a reliable structure in order to address complaints made against the police in a fair and transparent manner. The Royal Commission had then saw the importance of such implementation to improve the much needed public confidence in our country’s policing system and to make the police force more accountable to the public as a whole.

The proposed SCC is completely useless in the sense that the public will not have any confidence nor any trust to lodge a complaint against the police given the fact that the SCC will be governed by the IGP himself where it will definitely create a conflict of interest. Second the inquiry procedures lead back to the police force itself of which will create another interest confliction.

In this case, if there is any complaint made by the public on the police force, there will be indeed no proper attainment of justice in an impartial manner free from any element of collusion.

Therefore, by tabling the SCC Bill is similar to nothing has been done. It’s just simply waste of time.

Independence of MACC and JAC must be assured

The bills for the establishment of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Judiciary Appointments Commission (JAC) had been tabled in the parliament recently by the prime minister and now its papers had been put to debate.

We could see from the details of these two proposed bills that the appointment of commissioners for these two commissions still lies on the jurisdictions of the prime minister himself. Apart from the commissioners’ appointment, the appointment of the advisory panels, the operations review panel, the consultative panel and the complaints committee for the MACC also lies on the sole discretion of the prime minister.

So, are the independence of MACC and JACC rest assured? As long as it still have direct connections with the prime minister’s department, the independence of these two commissions are still questionable and doubtful. To give a simple word on these, there are no clear cut for a real implementations but merely intend to create a final legacy for Pak Lah whose term is due to end next March following his departure from the Umno presidency.

In this case, in order to assured the public and our parliamentarians, both the MACC and JAC should come under the direct jurisdiction of a parliamentary committee against corruption and a parliamentary committee on judiciary respectively.

Therefore, the appointment of commissioners to the both MACC and JAC should also be scrutinized and endorsed by both parliamentary committees appointed amongst members of parliament which shall consist of members from both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional as well. The prime minister’s role in such appointment shall only be at proposal level and not direct appointment nor confirmation.

Besides, the appointment of five panels to oversee the MACC must also be done and endorsed by the parliament instead of the prime minister. To have the parliamentary roles onto such appointments will also help to enhance the transparency and accountability of these bodies and commissions as well as to assured the public of its independence.

If Pak Lah and the Barisan Nasional government still insist on the current proposed structural role of both MACC and the JAC, it is just like nothing has really been done at all, but merely an upgrade of status of these two bodies has been carried out.

Our main concern here, can the independence of these two commissions rest assured? And what are the justification then?

'Orang asing' remark irks business group ~ Malaysiakini

According to Malaysiakini report today, the Malaysian Indian Business Association (Miba) sees red with a bank officer for using an insensitive term during a seminar in Kuala Lumpur.

Again another racist remark made by a person in the presence of a multi racial business forum attended by professionals and businessmen. The continuous racist showing in public forums and functions would continue as long as Umno continues its "ketuanan" agenda, as Umno had already sanctioned the use of such remarks all these while.

Such a racist and irresponsible action by the bank officer would tarnish the image of our nation in the eyes of the business and professional community as a whole and action should be taken against the said bank officer who mentioned the racist words in front of a business forum.

Apart from that, the said bank officer should also apologise publicly and retract his statement. The root cause of this nature, as a result of Umno's doing.

Indonesian parliament passes anti racial discrimination law

Reports from the Jakarta Post mentioned that the Indonesian parliament had recently unaimously voted to pass a law that will describe ethnic and racial discrimination as a serious crime in that nation.

The passing of this law ensures that racial discrimination is now a crime considered same as other crimes like corruption, terrorism, drug abuses and breach of trust of which could warrants imprisonment as a minimum sentence.

An interesting fact to note that is Indonesia now joined ranks with other nations in the "International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination" enacted in the year 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly.

It is a disappointment to say that Malaysia is not even in the list of nations that has endorsed the convention. Pretty sad isn't it so ?

So long as Umno and its window dressing Barisan Nasional coalition is still around, racial discrimination in this nation will continue.

HK system on hillside developments should be implemented here

We applaud the call by Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng that the federal government should come out with geotechnical engineering unit similar to that of the Hong Kong Geotechnical Engineering Office to ensure the safety of hillside developments.

The Hong Kong government had established a very effective yet powerful Geotechnical Engineering Office after the landslides in the 1970s killed hundreds of people, to monitor the developments of hillside housing there.

According to Guan Eng, the existing hillside developments require constant maintenance, monitoring and management in every aspect. Therefore, a very special department or office is required to have such matters deal with in a professional manner.

Guan Eng also explained that the Hong Kong Geotechnical Engineering Office had proved successful in preventing further deaths and incidents via four simple and effective moves i.e. checking on new slopes, planning land usage, maintaining and upgrading slopes and ensuring both private and government land owners adhere to the same guidelines.

While Penang already had a special committee working on outlining new guidelines for slope safety and conducting inspections on developments, the body needed to be placed under federal supervision as the source required are quite substantial and we don’t think any state will have enough resources to expand their roles.

Therefore, the federal government ought to look into this matter seriously and come out with a nationwide action plan to enforce some effective guidelines to prevent further deaths in the near future.

Crime prevention is more important than politics

The police force should not waste their time to monitoring and arresting innocent civilians on passive political motives and campaign rounds to promote positive values amongst public.

We are referring to the police recent action on members of NGO called the Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (JERIT) who organized their cycling tour in selected locations to promote their campaign on certain issues related to human rights, labour, freedom and justice. What wrong had all these innocent “cyclists” done? They are merely using their sporting event to promote something which needed public attention and awareness. These JERIT members are not harming anybody with its activities or events.

The police should know that, the crime rate in our nation is getting from bad to worst with crimes keep on happening in our neighborhood every minute. What had the police force done to protect our people? Where are they when we need them most and at times of emergency? Snatch thieves who had the intention to kill for the sake of some cash are now running around us like nobody’s business. We are not fully protected at all. When we make a police report, it was merely a report to formalize the role of the police. Did they really go all out and act against these criminals and murderers.

MACC can be monitored but why PDRM cannot?

Yesterday, the prime minister had tabled the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) bill in the parliament, to enable the anti graft organization to function as an effective enforcement body. The debate of the MACC Bill in parliament would be today.

With the upgrade of the current Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) into a full-fledged commission solely responsible to the parliament, the new MACC shall also be supervised and oversaw by five special bodies namely the Anti Corruption Advisory Board, the Special Committee on Corruption, Operations Review Panel, Corruption Prevention & Consultative Panel and lastly a Complaints Committee.

All the members of these panels will be selected from outside the commission and officials from the MACC will sit in these panels merely as ex-officio personnel. Some of these panels are also expected to be filled by parliamentarians from both the Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

As you can see, the new MACC is going to prove its transparency by willing to be monitored by five advisory panels, especially the Complaints Committee which would address any complaints and hear any dissatisfaction from the public.

So, how about the police force (PDRM)? Why are they so worried of being monitored by a proposed commission called the Independent Police Complaints & Misconducts Commission (IPCMC)? Why did the entire top officials of PDRM objected to the establishment of IPCMC to an extend of threatening to let loose crimes into our neighborhood if the government proceeds with its plan? Is PDRM trying to hide something within their organization and structure?

If you are not wrong and you are innocent, why afraid of being watch or monitored by the IPCMC? Don’t you all want to prove to the public the efficiency of your organization? If the entire structure of PDRM is unclean, corrupt and there are some cover-ups in its unlawful activities, then we understand, as IPCMC may prosecute those who were wronged in their duties and activities.

And did you know during the 1950s in Hong Kong, the Royal Police Force was entirely corrupted and it took years for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to monitor and clean up the entire structure of the force until it became the most efficient police force in the world today. Today’s Hong Kong Police Force is considered the best in terms of efficiency, administration, crime busting and its technology as well.

The top officials of PDRM should clearly understand that by having IPCMC monitoring them in their daily functions does not mean they would be restricted in their law enforcement duties and crime prevention activities. The PDRM can carry out its functions as usual as a public security provider, the IPCMC is there to assist to monitor, investigate and to check on public dissatisfaction on the police force and at the same time to assist the force to enhance their professional image in the eyes of the public.
So, we cannot understand why is PDRM so afraid of IPCMC? If you have nothing wrong and discharging your duties with full honesty and commitment, why bother about IPCMC? Let those who are corrupt and abusing their powers to worry about this. And we are sure that not all personnel of PDRM are bad or corrupt.

Therefore, Pak Lah, when are you going to table the IPCMC Bill in the parliament? The Special Complaints Commission (SCC) that you are suggesting isn’t effective enough to evaluate PDRM to the whole extend. SCC is too general and applied to too many areas without any special attention or focus to PDRM. If you wish to go ahead with SCC, then forget it. It is just like nothing has been done.

Pak Lah said PPP can buzz off anytime they like

Umno again demonstrated its supremacist view when its party president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday told the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and its presiden Datuk M.Kayveas that they could leave the Barisan Nasional coalition anytime they like.

The PPP president had earlier made a call to the BN’s dominant party Umno to repeal and revamp the Internal Security Act (ISA), failing which they would leave the BN coalition to become an independent party. Well, Umno is not afraid of PPP’s threat at all and had instead proudly called for PPP to leave the coalition as soon as possible.

This means, PPP is trapped in the middle of the ocean with no place to go anymore. The Pakatan Rakyat would not accept PPP into its fold neither. Will PPP be able to survive this time? What about the other parties in the BN coalition, like MCA, MIC, Gerakan, SUPP, PDS, PRS, PBS, Upko and PBRS? Are they able to continue to withstand the supremacist Umno mastership?

Well, the fact that these parties are still harping on a false hope to try changing Umno’s mindset from within the BN coalition’s so-called spirit of understanding and close door forum. The problem is, do they the guts to do it?

Investigate Elements of Corruptions

We would like the parliament and the newly formed entity Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to take a deep dive and investigate elements of corruptions which may arise in the development of houses and condominiums on the hillside and hill tops.

This is because, we knew the laws and regulations guiding such constructions and projects, plus the enforcements and checks are all available. We cannot understand why are all these laws, regulations, guidelines and enforcements are not adhere to first of all? Why are the authorities start to finger pointing at each other now only after death had happened?

Those should be investigated include the Housing & Local Government Ministry, the local authorities, environmental department, geological department, public works department and other relevant agencies concerned.

Where are the Competency, Accountability and Transparency for all these proceedings? Haven't we learned from the Highland Towers tragedies?

The results of BN’s over-developments, was corruption the subject?

From the Highland Towers, Karak Highway Tunnel, Ulu Yam and now the latest Bukit Antarabangsa, all initiated and developed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had shown its results. With the other luxurious projects and developments of hillside, hill slope bungalows, condominiums and gated housing estates other than the above still existing and enjoying their lives, when will they meet their fate, we would not know, only god knows. It can be tomorrow, if not tomorrow, it can be the day after tomorrow and if not that, it may be next week, next month, six months time, a year later or so on. These developments will or may meet their fate.

What caused all these landslides and loss of lives unnecessarily? Why did these hillsides and hill slopes collapse or sunk drastically whenever heavy rain pours in? Then, how did these developers got their permission to cut and slice these hills and mountains to build their bungalows and condominiums? Did the local government or authorities has any proper rules, guidelines and procedures to sanction such developments and hill cuttings first of all?

So, with all these questions still left unanswered till today and now, we can be assure of one element which has been existing in ruling institution for decades without any effective checks, which was also one of the cause of such tragedies i.e. Corruption.

Well, corruption has been long exist in the structures of the local government and authorities for decades, an area where the BN politicians had generate their profits and much of their incomes from, with a lots of contracts, sub-contracts, business deals, family related deals being signed up without even any reference to the statutory rules, laws and guidelines . In a shorter term, and it may be a harsh term for some, we call it Corruption.

Take for instance on how did the former Port Klang MP Datuk Zakaria Mat Deros gain his wealth right up to the illegal construction of his multi storey palace liked bungalow in a middle of a small village. Besides Zakaria, there also many more Umno and BN politicians who had constructed their palaces and bungalows in such ways thinking that it was their right to bypass the authorities as long as BN stays in power. So, what are the results? The answer is power abuses and some sort of human rights violation had reaped through.

In this case, when corruption goes on rampant and unstoppable, people’s lives are at stake for the sake of profit and the pockets of these irresponsible BN politicians. When these inhuman practices are at its highest stake, competencies, accountability and transparencies are completely zeroed, with no integrity nor human sense arise. All as the result of greed, fame, wealth and money.

That is why, since from the Highland Towers, Karak Highway Tunnel, Ulu Yam and now the latest Bukit Antarabangsa, no top officials nor those BN politicians involved would be brought over for trial for the crimes they did against humanity and the nature. Whenever these slopes falls, and fell onto houses killing many people, these hypocritical BN politicians will come forward to just show their sympathy and offer their condolences to the victims and their families and start talking of stopping or freezing these and that projects, promising actions and so on. Why all these talking only after people lost their lives for it? It’s simple, Corruption has been the way of life for these BN politicians all these years.
Then, when and why did these elements rise first of all? If there is someone asking for a “favour”, the other person may be willing to “give”. When all these elements came into full force, the “deadly weapon” would be the impact on our people’s lives, a month, a year, or in the later years to come.

And again if all these Zakaria Mat Deros alike politicians are still barking, running around and reigning supreme over others, the local government and authorities would still prove ineffective in their roles, proceedings, enforcements and administration.

If the tragedies had already happened, there is no use of doing any talking and harping on the issues anymore, like what the BN people are doing now. We want action, an immediate action with effective answers and solutions. We have not seen all these so far, but only talking.

And congratulations to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who had recently come out with an action plan and special task force to monitor any hillside or hill slope housing projects in Penang (the current hillside and sloping housing projects were approved by the previous BN state government). We don’t see any actions been taken by the housing and local government ministry so far. The minister in charge was also keeping quiet on this.

Happy Birthday Guan Eng

I would like to wish our Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng a very Happy Birthday and may he be always strong, healthly and lead our party and Penang state government towards a greater height in terms of economic, socio-welfare, justice, peace, freedom, equality and social democracy..

Happy Birthday Guan Eng !

KT by-election fixed on 17 Jan 2009

The Elections Commission had today announced that the Kuala Trengganu parliamentary by-election would be held on 17 January next year. The nomination would be carried out on 6 January which gave a campaign period of 11 days.

The Pakatan Rakyat candidacy is expected to be filled by PAS while the BN has yet to confirm theirs, but as expected Umno would be the one to take on PAS as per the previous general elections, where the BN had only managed to retained the seat with a simple majority.

The minority Chinese voters may very well decide the outcome of the upcoming Kuala Terengganu by-election if the Malay votes are divided equally between Umno and PAS.

With 88 percent of voters in the area being Malays, Chinese voters make up only 11 percent of the total voters, controlling around 8,800 votes.

Contractors dominate Umno

It sounds shocking for those who are new in politics but this has been long in Umno for decades. Contractors are dominating the entire organization in Umno from branch, division right up to the state liaison committee levels.

And that is how money politics in Umno continues and it will never be wiped out as certain leaders had claimed to. For those Umno leaders who said they could wipe out money politics in their organization, we would suggest they bang their heads on the wall first. The actual fact is it is impossible, as it has been in the roots of the party for years and rooting out these elements in one time would be miracle if it really happens.

So, can Umno be cleaned up? The answer is No as the Umno leaders already had these traditions in their roots ever since they became party members. To become an Umno member, one must obtain some contracts from the government, if not what is the use of being a member? Therefore, in order to ensure they gain these contracts, those party members will ensure the leaders of their choice be elected to office and in turn the said elected leaders will pursue for a government position where aftermath of their appointments will reward their supporters with vast numbers of contracts without going into the proper channel of tendering in public or open tender.

Such practices, if describe by a layman, it would be called corruption but in Umno such practices are sanctioned by the leadership, therefore it has been legally interpreted as “valid” in the party. The clear fact is, about 85% of the delegates in the Umno general assembly are contractors.

We got a good laugh when former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad threatened to reveal the names of Umno leaders and members who are involved in money politics. By exposing these culprits means exposing himself as well, where during his reign in Umno too money politics are widely practiced.

So, what is the big deal then?

Mukhriz urged closure of vernacular schools

Umno youth chief aspirant, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir had recently urged vernacular schools in the nation to be closed in order to achieve national unity reasoning that the current vernacular school system are too divisive.

Well, we knew that Mukhriz was making this statement in order to gain support for his Umno youth chief candidacy in the coming Umno elections on March next year. With his statement which was deemed to be racist and one-sided had resulted to criticism from both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional parties. Certain quarters had also called on Mukhriz to apologize, retract his statement or action to be taken against him under Sedition Act.

Mukhriz, you should know who started all these first of all. During the independence era, it was Umno who had started all these divide and rule in order to preserve some sort of special privilege currently enjoyed. If Umno were had to really think of national unity from the beginning, then there would be no such thing of “ketuanan Melayu”, “pendatang” or “penghuni sementara” today.

Let us put it this way, if Mukhriz still insist that the vernacular schools should be closed in order to achieve national unity, then Umno and the rest of the race based parties like MCA, MIC or IPF should be disband first to form a united political party which consist of all ethnics with racial equality as a must. Can Mukhriz or Umno do that, first of all? We don’t think so.

Therefore, Mukhriz should use his common sense first before lashing out such statement. Umno had already split the nation racially 50 years ago and you cannot just call for a so-called national unity by first closing down all the Chinese and Tamil schools in this country.

What about the national-type schools or “sekolah kebangsaan”? Based on our observation, these schools has been too Islamic or overly Malayed, and this is what drove the Chinese and Indian parents away from enrolling their children in these schools.

So, will Mukhriz or Umno be able to neutralize and secularize the “sekolah kebangsaan” schools to make them more attractive to the Chinese and Indian parents and children? We are doubtful they could do it.

BN heading for a break up

It seems like the Barisan Nasional coalition might be heading for a split following the fact that more and more component parties like MCA, Gerakan, MIC and PPP are beginning to criticize their senior partner Umno for being over conservative and resisting changes from within in order to present itself as a true multi-racial coalition.

Instead, ever since after the 8 March general election, Umno is still harping on his old concept of upholding racial supremacy “ketuanan Melayu” over other ethnicities, thus immediately fending off any attempts or efforts by several quarters from within the coalition to initiate changes and rebranding to make BN come out with a non-racial approach in its policies.

A call by MCA for Umno to do away with the “ketuanan” was immediately responded by the Umno youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein as questioning their rights. Gerakan later joined in by supporting MCA’s call to an end of the supremacist policies in Umno, while PPP started to call for the ISA to be reviewed and amended, and would leave BN if changes are not carried out. MCA too, later supported PPP’s move by also calling the ISA to be repealed.

Well, as long as the current Umno leadership insist of maintaining its trends and resist any drastic changes, the current policies in the BN and the government would remain as it had 50 years ago, which could spell the end of MCA, Gerakan, MIC and PPP. These BN component parties kept on believing that for any real change to happen, it must be driven by Umno. Then, do they actually have enough guts to leave BN anyway?

SAPP had left BN and might be considering to join Pakatan Rakyat to rid the Umno’s dominancy in Sabah, while a large number of Dayak political and community leaders in Sarawak had also made their move by joining PKR en bloc thus, resulting the current state BN to be on alert of the recent mass defection.

Meanwhile, MCA’s opinion seems to be splitting as its party president Datuk Ong Tee Keat had formally distanced himself and his faction from party deputy president Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek who had earlier mentioned that they do not accept “ketuanan Melayu” but only the Malay leadership instead which had eventually shows that the two camps in the MCA is also heading for a clear split.

Umno, with its well known brand in money politics is also brandishing its internal politickings openly with infightings and factional tussle for party positions, with dissatisfying leaders making press releases and bringing their tussles to the civil courts to address their frustrations. Looks like the Umno delegates may also end up electing various factions into the top leadership echelon on March 2009 next year like their counterpart MCA which may see a continuous split from within.

MIC with Samy Vellu promising a rebranding exercise from within does not seem wanting to change in actual fact by saying that he intends to run for another term for the party presidency. When some dissatisfaction arose, he called in another conservative to challenge him in order to demonstrate his “willingness” to be challenge and to reflect the “democracy” in his party. Other MIC youngsters were either too obedient or sub-servant to fight a battle with the Samy Vellu faction to effect a real change.
Gerakan with Dr Koh Tsu Koon had helm, was still hoping to convince their master Umno to lead the change from within the coalition of which saw no hope at all in actual fact. However, Dr Koh had not given up his effort and still pursuing his Umno friends to come out with a more multi-racial friendly concept in order to win back the people’s trust. First of all, the big question mark is will Umno listen to Gerakan?

PPP under M.Kayveas is seem to be still uncertain of its future undertakings, but only moved short by calling for the ISA to be repealed and not abolished. The PPP leadership had so far refrained from making a more drastic call for changes which may affect its relation with Umno for fear of being further sidelined. PPP’s threat to pull out of BN was merely a copycat tone in support of its bigger partners like MCA, MIC and Gerakan. If these parties did not make their moves, will PPP ever make its own move then?

The other BN component parties like, SUPP, PRS, PDS, PBS, PBRS, UPKO and LDP are regionally tied up with their states in Sarawak and Sabah without any real interest in national politics as a whole. The Sarawak BN parties were apparently being sub-due by the much stronger PBB for decades while the Sabah parties were force to toe by the Sabah Umno’s line after having the rotation of the state’s chief minister position abolished.

Well, the BN don’t really have clear direction after all.