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.

Uncivilized BN MPs in the Parliament

After the recent 12th general elections, more members of the Pakatan Rakyat were elected into the Parliament to counter check the weakened Barisan Nasional coalition MPs who were reduced from their two thirds majority enjoyed for decades.

However the speaker and deputy speaker of the parliament are still elected from amongst BN due to their current majority in the house. Due to this, unfair and unreasonable counts were still often sighted during the parliamentary sittings where BN MPs who uttered outrageous and sexist remarks in the house remain unpunished during the entire session despite their continuous uncivilized characters.

Let us look from the beginning, first we had these controversially dirty BN MPs such as Datuk Badruddin “Binatang” Amiruddin, Datuk Bung Mokhtar “Bocor” Radin and Datuk Mohd Said “Close One Eye” Yusof, and when Datuk Mohd Said is out from the picture, he was immediately replace with yet another Datuk Tajudin “Bastard” Rahman from Pasir Salak.

After uttering the word “Bloddy Bastard” on Ipoh Barat DAP MP M.Kulasegaran and just withdrawn his statement unpunished, he again more racist and dirty remarks on Kulasegaran by calling him “keling” while PKR MP Azmin Ali was called a “boil” (dumb). Then he asked another DAP MP Teo Nie Ching “bila nak keluar lagi air dia?”

Anyway, when every time this Tajudin utter any sensitive, sexist words or remarks on the Pakatan Rakyat MPs, he was merely given a light and ineffective reminder (not warning) and asked to retract his words by the speaker and deputy speaker.

But when the Pakatan Rakyat MPs fought back or make any additional requests to have certain current issues to be debated, they are either being told to keep quiet, to leave the house, being blocked or lastly suspended from the sittings for a stipulated time without pay.

If these Pakatan Rakyat MPs did get justice in the parliament and were unfairly punished like this, do you think our people or “rakyat” will be treated fairly and being given justice? Certainly it is a No! The parliament as the highest lawmaking institution in our nation had failed to demonstrate its effectiveness in its management and a just proceeding during the sitting.

In this case, the speaker and the deputy of the parliament should not be appointed solely from the BN coalition parties but instead should be also appointed from amongst members of parliament from Pakatan Rakyat as well. And if situations are left undecided, then the speaker and the deputy speaker should be appointed from amongst neutral professionals or respected figures whose duty bound to maintain the professionalism of this institution and do not belong to either BN nor Pakatan Rakyat. This will keep the BN MPs in check and deal with in a proper procedure should their words when out of their way.

But is BN willing to let go the positions of speaker and deputy speaker anyway? We bet they will not at all as long as they are still in power.

Fatwa Council banned Yoga, then take up Yogi !

As we had heard recently the announcement by the National Fatwa Council to ban Muslims from practicing Yoga exercise for fear of Hinduism influence over its Muslims practitioners which may jeopardize their Islamic faith.

What a big fuss on this? Has any Muslim converted to Hinduism after practicing Yoga? So far, we have not heard any case in relation of Muslims being converted during Yoga sessions. What is the main agenda behind such ruling? We supposed, the National Fatwa Council is practicing dogmatism !

To our understanding, Yoga exercise is practiced for natural health and healing purpose in many of its centers nationwide under full secular condition without emphasizing the need to recite any mantras nor chanting any Hindu prayers as claimed by the National Fatwa Council. In fact many surviving cancer patients or patients of other sickness had seen significant improvement in the management of their health after taking up Yoga practically by attending its session regularly.

Yoga exercises are purely to promote and enhance health of its practitioners, helps to relieve stress and even lower high blood pressure to prevent heart failure. Same goes to Qi Qong exercise it helped to relieve pain and stress of persons as well as to promote stability in body metabolism as a way to gain better health. So, let me ask, is the so-called Fatwa Council going to ban Muslims from practicing Qi Qong soon for its Taoism and Buddhism influences? Come on, talk sense and think positively! Your thinking and way of live is getting more and more backward and looks like de-civilization is coming into picture when you are practicing dogmatism in the name of a religion.

Well, we knew even if we give our facts right, they would not listen or try to understand it. Anyway, to all my Muslim friends who had long practiced Yoga and it is time to stop when a Fatwa is released. Do not give up, take up Yogi instead!

Wait! Another worry is will the National Fatwa Council ban favourable martial arts like Karate, Judo, Wushu or Silambam in future due to its foreign influence, with Silat to become a sole martial art allowed in this nation one day?

'Projects will not jeopardise Georgetown's heritage status' ~ Malaysiakini

Former Penang executive councillor in charge of tourism Teng Chang Yeow believes that the three high rise hotels approved by the previous state government will not jeopardise Georgetown's status as a Unesco heritage site.

Teng who is also Gerakan secretary-general mentioned that Unesco was aware of the projects and the stringent guidelines has been adhered to so far.

Therefore, Melaka Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam should check his facts first before attacking and warning Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan on the possibility of losing the twin heritage status.

What Ali Rustam had mentioned earlier in the heritage issue had confused and manipulated the actual facts thus, causing angers and confusion amongst the public. Ali Rustam, you'd better clean up you own backyard first before you interfere in other state's administration and affairs.

Heritage crisis and the dilemma in Penang

Well, there is yet another challenge which our Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng will have to undertake in face with the continuous attacks and slandering from Umno and its lackeys in Barisan Nasional on the issues regarding the proposed development of four high rise hotels in the middle of the Penang heritage sites.

According to the Unesco’s committee on heritage sites, Penang will set to loose the award jointly given to both Melaka if the construction of these hotels take place. Recently, we could hear Melaka Chief Minister Ali Rustam warning Guan Eng and his state government not to proceed with the said development for fear of losing the heritage status in his state (Melaka) too. Who was to be blamed in this ongoing crisis?

The situation is that the proposed four high rise hotels project was initially submitted to the previous Gerakan led BN state government and gained its approval soon before the 8 March general elections begin which lead to the defeat of the previous government. Then after the Pakatan Rakyat took control of the state government, Penang state was awarded the World Heritage Status jointly with Melaka by Unesco for its continuous preservation of historical sites in the state. Then Gerakan leaders and its Umno masters came out to claim their credit for the entire effort in ensuring the Unesco award came through.

The previous BN state government actually did not give a clear picture or understanding to the project developers on the guidelines and ways to preserve the heritage sites while allowing its development or constructions to continue, which is where the mistakes came from! The approval of the four high rise hotels by the previous BN state government as actually done in a hurry without any proper references and restrictions brief nor any precautions were taken to prevent the heritage status from being jeopardize by such a radical development.

So, why put the blame on Guan Eng and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition partners instead? Since the new state government was in transition at that time, do they have the choice to reverse or review every single projects that was approved by the defeated BN state government and cancel them immediately when it feels uncomfortable?

The correct answer is No! The Pakatan Rakyat state government cannot do that, as if the cancellation is made, the developers may suffer a very heavy loss and the new state government will have to pay the heavy price should the developers decided to sue the state government for their loss of income and business opportunities in the state. Because of the losses that the developers may suffer as the result of the cancellation, many people may end up losing their jobs and many families may suffer because of their unemployed parents, brothers and sisters.

Then, if unemployment as the result of such stopped projects or failed businesses, crime rate will definitely rise as those who lost their financial dependency may resort to things which are against the law in order to survive. Do we all want to see such thing happening to us, to our family, our children and our lives? Do we want to see the safety and security of our people being threatened because of all these?

Therefore, we would like to urge the Penang people and voters to go back to the roots cause of these problems and judge who were the actual wrong doers! Who gave the approval to this project at the first place and who approved the building plans to enable these developers to commence with their legal papers in order to secure their groundwork for the construction?

Remember what the previous BN-Umno administration had done, many of their approved projects are now being scrutinized for not being transparent with elements of corruption as well as power abuse were also found to have taken place. Because most of these projects involved millions of Ringgit in investments, the new government cannot simply cancel or withhold the approval just for the sake of doing it. Careful review and studies has to be made prior to any decision in order to safeguard the interest of all parties concerned.

We also would like to call upon the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and his coalition partners to get what is best for the people of Penang to ensure the well being and the household income of the people are looked into. If the heritage status is not going to help our people, then, to Hell with it! Do not hesitate and get things done as soon as possible even if we have to suffer from the condemnation of the BN-Umno, Unesco, the Melaka Chief Minister or even the Tourism Ministry. Remember, such condemnations are short term and it cannot go any further than that. Let it be as long as you ensure the well being of the people and our families are not jeopardized.

If the heritage status does not bring any good nor benefit to the people, why not do it away? In order to preserve the livelihood of our people, we must sacrifice the unimportant ones to achieve them.

Penang Govt should not be blamed

The Penang state government should not be totally blamed on the failure of the King of Tennis tournament recently which had resulted to the damage on the historical Esplanade field.

The event was merely promoted by the State Executive Councillor in charge of Tourism Development, Danny Law's office as an effort to promote Penang as an international tourist destination.

The organiser of the event was actually from the private sector i.e. Ariana Teoh via her company and the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) merely gave its blessing and collected its revenue from the rental of the said location in hope that this event would eventually promote Penang as an internation arena.

So, if it goes on as planned and held successfully, will it be politicised? I don't think so. But the event failed to come out as planned, and Umno with its coalition partners are all out condemning the failure of this event as the result and doing of the state government. This is in fact maximum politicising in order to discredit the government and the people of Penang.

When Umno, Gerakan and MCA ruled Penang previously, there are millions more of corruptions and power abuse reported within its administration and political offices. Taxpayers' monies are almost spend away during the Umno-Gerakan reign like nobody's business.

Why build a so luxury Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) complex in Bandar Perda? A five star building as an MPSP headquarters, for what? To promote tourism or to make life more comfortable for its staffs? Do you know, an office cubicle in the MPSP office for each staff cost about RM800 to RM1200 per unit! This is taxpayers' money too. Why wasted so much money to build and design such an expensive office sites?

Taxpayers' monies are supposed to be used to upgrade public infrastructures around the city and areas within its municipal borders, but Umno and BN politicians choose to spend them on unneccessary wonders instead with most of its projects deemed to be luxurious but no benefit to the public at all.

For decades, Umno and BN wasted billions in ringgit and most of them also benefited their division and branch chairmen via rewards of contracts of services and so on. They are much more corrupted then we all expected.

So, Danny Law, be strong and firm in facing such accusation and negative allegation against you. We are all behind you and support whatever effort you are carrying out. So does our Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, keep up your good work.

EPF 8% Means Paying More Income Tax

Here's how the Barisan Nasional government tricked us. They are actually taking our money away from our EPF savings. Let us look at the formula below.

Assume monthly basic salary is RM4000.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is 11% ( RM440 ), taxable income = RM3560, income tax payable = RM77.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is 8% ( RM320 ), taxable income = RM3680, income tax payable = RM109.

Conclusion : If you choose to contribute 8%, you will end up paying more income tax to the government, which will make the government richer. Finance Minister Najib said this measure is meant to boost up the slow-down market, but from this example we see that the money does not go into the market.

Instead the money goes direct into the government's pocket through the greater amount of income tax that we will have to pay. Obviously this measure does not help the market at all.

Do we still want this kind of government that doesn't have the best interest of the people in mind?

Hands off state tourism affairs, Gerakan told

We would like to tell the new Gerakan youth national vice-chief Oh Tong Keong to hands off the state tourism affairs and not to interfere with the current affords and initiatives carried out by State Executive Councillor Danny Law in enhancing his tourism promotions for the state.

As well know, Danny Law has done a great job in ensuring the tourism effects of the states could be enhanced, promoted and making Penang well-known internationally.

Unfortunately, it was the tourism minister Azalina Othman who had been sabotaging the efforts carried out by Danny Law by refusing or withdrawing the supposedly allocated funds to the state and also in the management of policies related to enhancing tourism in the Penang state. Azalina had in the past and present also made many negative remarks on the management of the state tourism in Penang by urging many investors and participants of such and such events not to cooperate with the Penang state government’s efforts and initiatives.

In handling such challenging situation, we would like to ask our Danny Law to be firm and strong in dealing with these bad hats who are out there trying to bring down all of us.

Therefore, the Gerakan youth national vice-chief Oh Tong Keong should know where he is standing right now. Gerakan had all along being a running dog, a servant and a blind follower of the “ketuanan” policies of Umno ever since its inception into the Barisan Nasional coalition front. Even your own party advisor Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik had also said Gerakan and MCA acted like beggars in the BN when dealing with their supreme master who is Umno, the dominant party in the BN.

So, we urge Oh Tong Keong to clean up his own house first. What you had said earlier had helped Umno to further sabotage the people’s will in Penang. The people here had voted and given the mandate to DAP to run Penang. We also urge Gerakan to come out and work for the betterment of our Penang state and not helping Umno to sabotage and destroy the economy of Penang. Do you want your children to suffer because of your political mileage? We ask you, Oh Tong Keong!

If you still treat Penang as your home, then work with us!

Penang’s move to create a state opposition leader position lauds

We would like to congratulate Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng for initiating a move to create a state opposition leader position.

The initiation of this position also proves that the DAP led Pakatan Rakyat state government is sincere in promoting its democratic and transparent platform in the state which had been pledged during the previous general elections.

According to Guan Eng, the creation of the opposition leader position is also in line with the state government’s recognition of the opposition’s role in the state to provide check and balance in the administration.

However, state Umno secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim was unhappy because the allowance of the state opposition is too little and wanted the state government to also accommodate the opposition leader with an office, a researcher and a clerk.

In response, we would like to ask Datuk Azhar not to be too greedy. Datuk Azhar is asking for too much. When BN was governing the state prior to the general elections, did they recognize the role of the opposition at that time? Did they initiate any effort to accommodate the opposition with an official position previously?

The answer is no! BN never even recognize the role of the oppositions then. So, why acted so double standard in issues related to democratic reforms? In a true democratic platform, Umno is not qualified to talk nor speak on this topic, as the party’s administration from within itself is already undemocratic.

The police failed because IPCMC failed to materialize

Recently, we had seen the police acted harshly against our fellow Pakatan Rakyat MP, State Assemblyman and the latest, a State Executive Councillor. Prior to that, even a State Executive Councillor was detailed under the Internal Security Act for a week at Umno’s instigation.

We could clearly see that the police force of today does too much work on political policing. The majority of the manpower in the force has been much concentrating on assisting Umno to curb the rising influence and popularity of Pakatan Rakyat.

As the result, the force is getting more corrupted and one-sided and listened too much to certain Umno top leaders. The top brass of the force are also seen to be leaning towards the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional in order to prevent the establishment of the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaints Commission (IPCMC). The police special branch’s headcount was increased to carry out these “political” tasks.

Therefore, an “understanding” might have taken place i.e. “make sure you don’t form the IPCMC to control us and we will take care of your political rivals for you” or “if you get IPCMC into the picture, we will increase the crime rates”. So, that is why the proposed IPCMC did not take place but instead a loosely Special Complaints Commission (SCC) was counter-proposed to do away with the original plan.

With this, the police got down to do its intense political policing for Umno by harassing the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and even their state governments. What happened after then?

You all could see it today, here, in front of you, almost daily! The crime rates in our nation are increasing drastically. Armed robbery, murder, rape, snatch thieves, kidnappings and various kinds of threats are happening everyday in our neighborhood, districts, states and the entire nation. Even innocent children are being kidnapped or brutally murdered. Where are the police when our people needed them so much?

The police were supposed to protect us from all these crimes around us but they were not there when we need them. They were busy fighting in politics on behalf of their political masters who are also well known with their racist supremacy, dominancy and neo-Nazi stand.

In this case, Pakatan Rakyat state governments should now start to initiate the establishment of a state level IPCMC each in Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan in order to observe and oversee the effectiveness of the police in their respective states.

Concurrently, in order to counter-balance the powers of the police, the Pakatan Rakyat state governments should also look into possibilities of establishing their own Security Force in order to provide effective security measures for their chief ministers and state executive councilors and to support crime prevention efforts by the respective state administrations as well.

The Pakatan Rakyat leaders should jointly come out with a firm resolution to deny the continuous display of power abuse by Umno and the police force onto our peace loving people and community.

Why the multi lingual road sign fuss?

We wish to tell the Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, go ahead with your greatest plans to have multi lingual road signs in Penang to promote tourism activities and to enhance the Malaysian image of our state. Have no fear on that!!!

We all know Umno is making so much fuss over this by politicizing the matter in a racist and uncivilized manner. We also know that an Umno delegation from Tanjung division led by its deputy chief Raja Munir Shah had stormed into the MPPP and Deputy Chief Minister’s Office to hand over their protest memorandum on the proposed multi lingual road signs.

So what? These Umno stooges are bulls! They did that for the sake of doing it. They continuously accused the state government of planning to completely do away with road signs in Bahasa Malaysia. Well, who said that? Guan Eng did not say he wanted to delete the Bahasa Malaysia languages from the present road signs in Penang. He only mentioned that he wanted to put additional languages on the existing road signs to enhance and to reflect its multi racial community and identity. This is Malaysian Malaysia!

When DBKL and MBJB put up multi lingual road signs in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, why didn’t Umno make the fuss earlier? For your information, certain road signs in Kuala Lumpur are added with Arabic words, besides the alphabets.

So, we want to ask DBKL and Umno now, why put up Arabic words? We all know that Arabs today are closely associated with terrorism and by putting up Arabic words could also symbolize our nation’s support and advancement for terrorism. Do you want us to put that this way, dear Umno?

But instead, we did not say anything on these Arabic words at all, as we believe in peace loving and harmonious society and living together with each other in a very humanistic way, in a Malaysian Malaysia way of life.

So Umno, by continuing behaving like this, we believe one day you will bring our nation back to stone- age and de-civilization. You Umno guys are making a very dangerous move. You are dividing our people and splitting the nation apart with your racist, violence and hate messages across.

These Umno stooges are now behaving more like the apes. We want to remind you, do not turn our nation into a “planet of the apes”!

Ahmad “Kerbau” Ismail given heroic welcome

Suspended Umno member and former Bukit Bendera division chairman Datuk Ahmad “Kerbau” Ismail was given a heroic welcome at his division during its annual general meeting last week at Penang.

At the division’s meeting, Ahmad was also hoisted as a hero and given a weapon called “keris” to continue his violent agenda. Besides, he was also appointed the division’s advisor in which in actual fact would make him a de facto leader of the division as well.

The decision by the Bukit Bendera Umno division to appoint Ahmad as their advisor was seen as a mark of defiant and protest against the supreme council’s decision to suspend his party membership for three years.

As we had all known, many police reports had been lodged against him, but no action was taken against him till today. Instead the person who witness and heard his racist statement and his uncivilized behavior was detained for no reason just because she reported the event!!!

Because of the no police action, this also prompted Ahmad to state in the public that even the prime minister, home minister and the police were afraid of him. Even the deputy prime minister helped him to apologize to the public!!! He again demonstrated his arrogance and defiant manner to the people. Bukit Bendera will not be in peace as long as Ahmad still exists. He is the real threat to the security of Penang state.

The real problem now is Ahmad “Kerbau” Ismail is still a free man and people’s life there are at stake.

Establish State Public Security Force in Pakatan Rakyat states

Based on the recent incident at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre on 9 November, we had seen the police abruptly attacked a peaceful gathering of some Abolish ISA and BERSIH supporters during their candlelight vigil to celebrate the first anniversary of BERSIH, a coalition of political parties and NGOs for promoting free and fair elections.

Those peaceful people were attacked, beaten up and thrown onto the police black maria truck and taken to the police station later to be locked up in the cell. Among those who were attacked and beaten up were Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, Kampung Tunku State Assemblyman Lau Weng Sang and Selangor State Executive Councillor Ronnie Liew.

Instead of protecting the public and to ensure their safety, the police force is now seen to be threatening the security of the public. The people no more trust the police force in ensuring security of their neighborhood. Who else we can depend on for safety of our people, our family and children with the continuous increase of criminal activities in our nation, such as murder, rape, assault, snatch thieves and a lot more to name. The worst scenario now is the police are even attacking the public who had gathered from all walks of life at a civic center just to sing Negaraku and to show their patriotism towards the nation.

So, the Pakatan Rakyat State Governments in Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan should come forward and come out with a contingency plan to jointly establish a Public Security Force in their respective states to provide better security for their people. Apart from assisting the existing enforcement agency in promoting security in these five states, the Public Security Force should be also tasked as an effective security force to counter the brutality of the currently BN controlled police forced which has been frequently used by the BN government to demonstrate its armed strength in the Pakatan Rakyat states.

The Pakatan Rakyat State Governments should have a security force of their own to protect their state administrations and state controlled infrastructures from being overran or overpowered by the BN federal government’s police force in future. We could see now the current situation, when the new BN-Umno leadership take place next year, some drastic move may be carried out by them to curb the Pakatan Rakyat controlled state governments of its powers and depriving their state executive orders.

In doing this, the BN-Umno government may in future exercise its federal power over these five states by moving its police force into these state administrations by force and retake control of these elected state governments. Who know it may happen, if the BN-Umno feels that their survival is at stake by then.

Therefore, the Pakatan Rakyat states ought to defend themselves from these possible threats from the BN-Umno controlled federal government. A competent and well respected Public Security Force is needed to ensure the security of these states and its people.

Phantom Voters

Remember, during the previous general elections on 8 March, Umno and Barisan Nasional had always denied repeatedly the existence of phantom voters as alleged by members of the Pakatan Rakyat component parties. Even the Elections Commission denied the phantom voters allegation.

So, were there any phantom voters anyway? Let us look at the currently ongoing Umno’s divisional and branch elections which are highly publicized almost daily. Factional fighting, chairs throwing, boycotting, reports of unjust policies and quarrels are among the most happened incidents at the annual general meetings of the Umno divisions and branches.

Another latest allegation by local Umno divisional and branch leaders in their tussle to defend their positions are the existence of phantom voters in their divisional elections planted by certain Umno state and national leaders in order to take control of certain divisions.

As such, local Umno leaders had now openly admitted that the existence of phantom voters even at their party’s divisional and branch levels. They had also openly admitted that such groups called “phantoms” which are implanted by certain leaders to grab hold of some divisions really exist and evidence were even forwarded to the top Umno leadership as “complaint” against rival factions.

The Election Commission denied the allegation of phantom voters known as “pengundi hantu” in Bahasa Malaysia by saying that “ghost” cannot vote in elections. But interestingly to know that, there are a lots of “ghost” who could help certain top leaders to gain control at Umno divisional elections.

So, during general elections when Umno ferried thousand of phantom voters into opposition strongholds to vote, the Election Commission denied the facts, but when top Umno leaders ferried thousand of phantom voters into their party’s divisional elections, the Umno members admitted that phantom voters does exist in their party for the sake of certain party leaders.

Some disgruntled local Umno leaders even went to an extend to forward their complaints to the party headquarters to prove that phantom voters truly exist in their division due to factional tussle for positions in the party.

For your understanding, phantom voters means voters who does not belong to the place or district and merely brought in to vote during elections. In most cases phantom voters were not locals of the place or district where they were registered as.

As for Umno’s case, a party member may be residing in one state or district but casts his vote in another state or district during the party elections be it branch or divisional ones. This is also called phantom voters.

So, the Election Commission is always avoiding this topic in order to cover up for Barisan Nasional but it was eventually blown up by Umno leaders themselves during their party elections.

Court orders Raja Petra's release ~ Malaysiakini

The Shah Alam High Court this morning ruled that the detention of well-known blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin under the ISA was illegal and ordered his immediate release.

So, the court had given its verdict, RPK's detention was illegal, null and void. The fact was, the BN government didn't even know if their actions or policies were against the law.

That means, the BN government of today rules by its political comfort and not within the law. The executive branch of the federal government now runs as what the political leaders dictates and saw it fits to their pleasures, especially Umno who now feels the heat of its unpopularity because of its continuous stance to maintain their art of supremacy on the others.

Umno still have not realise that they were the rulers of the past. Their conduct of governance are completely outdated with no opportunities of reforms or rejuvenation. To maintain their grip in power, they had resorted to the rule of the jungle to uphold the Greatness of their ethnicity and identity, by continuously saying without Umno there will be no such ethnic anymore.

What are they saying now is to associate Umno with their race in order to survive the current political trend which is moving towards a more non-racial approach.

So RPK, carry on with your job now and show us you could do it !

Fong and Chong suspended from Parliament, what about Tajuddin ?

Batu Gajah member of parliament Fong Po Kuan and Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chien Jen were suspended from Parliament for the rest of the day for disobeying the House speaker.

So, what about Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Umno-Pasir Salak) for calling M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) a "bloody bastard" during a heated argument in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. He should be suspended too !

Why is Tajuddin "Bastard" Abdul Rahman only being let off with a retraction of statement? This is unjust. The Dewan Rakyat speaker is a BN man. So, he is sure never to suspend any of his fellow BN men from the parliament.

A rubber stamp parliament.

Pak Lah : Anyone also can be a PM

According to the prime minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today, anyone in Malaysia be it from the minority group or ethnic can also become a Prime Minister.

Pak Lah made this statement after he was asked to comment on Barrack Obama's victory in the recent US presidential elections. Obama was in fact from the US' minority African-American community.

The question is, is Pak Lah serious on this? Does he mean it or it is just a gesture of his just to give some words on Obama? What will Umno say then? Well, when Najib takes over in March next year, will it become "anyone from Umno also can be a PM"? Then some comments on the PM's position with racial jargon will rise again in order to protect their so-called "ketuanan" of theirs.

Let us stay tune and watch their show then.

Umno still play racist

Despite its massive losses in the 8 March general elections, Umno and its leaders are still well-versed in their racist jargons with a number of racist remarks and statements increasing day by day.

With their party elections coming closer, these Umno leaders are expected to intensify their onslaught on their BN coalition partners as well as the Pakatan Rakyat parties. Because of the continuous disunity among the Umno leaders and their way of active play on the racial issue, former minister in the prime minister's department, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim resigned from both his cabinet post and his seat in the senate.

Recently after Zaid voice his discontent on certain Umno leaders, he was condemned and urged to leave the Malay race instead! What is this all about? Why ask him to renounce his ethnicity? First of all can a person renounce his ethnicity? It is totally impossible! Those Umno leaders who made these remarks and statement, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar, Tan Sri Muhammad Taib and the rest are really greatest fools on earth. What right do they have to request Zaid to renounce his ethnicity?

Are they trying to cover-up their weaknesses and positions in Umno because of the upcoming party elections? Such leaders, who are willing to sacrifice unity for the sake of enhancing or maintaining their political positions ought to be kicked out from both the party and the country's political arena.

We cannot afford to have the Nazism and Fascism continue to ruin our nation.