Nizar: Pakatan risks Malay support in state secretary dispute

By Adib Zalkapli

Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin has warned that the Selangor government was in danger of losing popularity among the Malays and being accused of treason for disputing the appointment of a new state secretary.
The ousted Perak mentri besar said Umno leaders might accuse Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim of undermining the Sultan’s role by opposing the appointment Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as the state’s top civil servant, which has received royal assent.

“Because [of] their control of the press, they will use this issue to accuse Khalid of committing treason against the Sultan like what happened to me in Perak. For the Malays this is very serious,” Nizar told The Malaysian Insider in a reference to Umno, which supported Khusrin’s appointment.

“That is why they keep saying the Sultan has consented to the appointment,” he added.

Nizar lost the post of mentri besar almost two years ago after the Perak ruler refused to dissolve the state assembly following the defection of three Perak Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers. He was then accused of being a traitor after he insisted on calling for a fresh election.

The PAS central committee member also said despite strengthening PR’s traditional support base in urban Selangor, Khusrin’s presence in the administration would hamper the state’s efforts.

“This will strengthen Pakatan’s traditional support, but when Khusrin assumes office the government will be distracted. It is difficult for Khalid,” said Nizar.

“Khusrin is seen as the best candidate to challenge [the] MB and launch acts of insubordination,” he added pointing out that Khusrin, as the Selangor Islamic affairs department head, had on several occasions spoke out against the state government.

The country’s richest state has been in turmoil since Khusrin was handed the post after receiving the consent of the Sultan of Selangor.

The state government has maintained that it has not finalised a candidate list, saying Khalid has not been informed officially of the appointment.

Khalid had also formed a committee headed by Selangor Assembly Speaker Datuk Teng Chang Khim, which shortlisted three names that were submitted to the palace.

Palace officials, however, have maintained the mentri besar was “late” in forwarding his candidate choices, with Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s aide Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani saying that Khalid had sent in three shortlisted candidates on December 7, after the Ruler had already agreed to the federal government’s pick.

A swearing in ceremony before Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has also been scheduled for January 6 and is expected to be boycotted by PR lawmakers.

Nizar had claimed that the appointment of Mohd Khusrin was part of an attempt by the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration that controls Putrajaya to stage a coup in Selangor similar to what was done in Perak in February 2009.

Nizar has now advised the Selangor government to prepare for a prolonged crisis and to explain to the public the decision to reject Mohd Khusrin’s appointment.

“As the mentri besar, he has the power to stop Khusrin from entering his office. The best thing to do is to make Khusrin miserable,” said Nizar.

“There will be further turmoil, the crisis will continue, but at least the people can be made aware of the constitution,” he added.

Nizar said that the Khalid administration would win public sympathy if it handles the issue well.

“Previously nobody knew about the Perak Constitution, but now everybody remembers it,” said Nizar relating his experience after his removal from the state government.

He also predicted that the issue would not end in Khalid’s favour, as could be seen in Perak when he tried to get the State Secretary Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Hashim replaced.

“I tried twice, I approached the Sultan, I met Tan Sri Sidek Hassan twice to get replacement but the KSN did not bother,” said Nizar.

Sarawakians, time to vote the state Barisan out of power!

The Islamic Development Department (Jakim) maintains that Christians should not be allowed to use the word “Allah” and rejects the suggestion that the word could be used in East Malaysia while remaining banned on the peninsula.

Umno Youth executive committee member Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi said in his blog that Malay violence is inevitable. Looks like the Umno-inspired violence is also inevitable. They wanted to wage war and violence against all of us for trying to preserve national unity and religious harmony.

They (these terrorists) bombed and attacked the churches in both peninsular and the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Sarawak's state legislative assembly term which is scheduled to in mid of 2011 next year is expected to call for state elections anytime around. We hope our friends in Sarawak would have made up their mind by now.

In order to preserve our national unity and religious harmony, you must vote the state Barisan out of power. What has the state BN dominant party Persaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), its number two ally Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), Sarawak People's Democratic Party (SPDP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and the rest in the BN coalition done for you all?

All they had done todate are to continue splitting the majority Dayak community there in order to continue staying in power for the rest of their life. The slashed your forests and jungles because they wanted to enrich themselves and their political allies with the logging business.

They thrown out the state's natives from their respective villages, rape their wifes and daughters in open and took away all their properties and traditional establishments, and now they wanted to control and monitor your religion, to say you cannot do this and you cannot do that, consficated your bibles and so on.

The Sarawakian Chinese community had already voiced their discontent in the last state election by voting out their chinese representatives from SUPP and now, it is time the entire Dayak community to do the same without fear. Exercise your rights to vote and voice your future through the ballot box.

Support Sarawak National Party (SNAP), PKR, DAP and PAS - the Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat.

Written Judgment missing

The Appeal Court had on 22 May gave a verbal judgment confirming that Perak rebel leader Dr Zambry Abd Kadir was the rightful menteri besar of Perak thus, overruled an earlier decision made by the High Court declaring that Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin was the lawful menteri besar of the Perak.

Well, the situation now is getting tense, Datuk Nizar wanted to file an appeal against the Appeal Court's decision but the Appeal Court judges had yet to finalise their written judgment which they made on 22 May verbally. Why are these judges delaying their judgments in writting? Did they really know how to write their judgment?

Or is this a sabotage effort from someone at the top instructing those judges to delay the written judgment so Datuk Nizar would not be able to file a proper and detail appeal against the judgment?

The Appeal Court had earlier promised that they will provide the written judgment within seven days from the date of the judgment day, that is 22 May but to-date nothing has been issued to Datuk Nizar so far.

And now Datuk Nizar is faced with the ending of the 30 day deadline to file an appeal to the Federal Court just because of the purposely delayed written judgment from the Appeal Court.

This is a very clear act of attempt to sabotage Datuk Nizar's effort to file an appeal against the Appeal Court's decision.

PKFZ scandal, PAC useless

The key persons in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal which cost the BN-led federal government millions of Ringgit in losses will not be hauled up for enquiry.

Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy have to take full responsibilities and answer to all Malaysians for the failure of the PKFZ project which saw a great wastage of public funds in millions of Ringgit unnecessarily.

It does not mean if persons with titles of Tun or Tan Sri shall be immune from all prosecutions and court of laws. If they are wrong and proven guilty, they should be hauled up and punished accordingly.

The current parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is chaired by a BN cabinet minister Datuk Azmi Khalid is a useless entity as the chairman is too powerful and one-sided. The members of the PAC in majority had wanted both Tun Dr Ling and Tan Sri Chan to be summoned before the PAC hearing to testify on the PKFZ scandal but Datuk Azmi with his wide powers as PAC chairman overruled the PAC majority by refusing to summon the two former MCA leaders.

Besides Tun Dr Ling and Tan Sri Chan, the others were former Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman Datuk Chor Chee Heung who is now a deputy finance minister in Najib’s government and former PKFZ general manager Datik Paduka O.C.Phang.

Well, since the BN-led federal government had made the PAC a redundant entity and exist only by name, let us see if the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) would haul up all these PKFZ key persons who are responsible for the PKFZ losses and failures.

From this point, we could clearly see that the taxpayers’ hard earned money varnished just like that. This is completely disgusting and injustice. We all worked so hard every day to earn that money and remit our tax to the government and these people just took all those money away into their pockets.

We want to ask Najib, if all these hanky-panky continue, what is the use of your “People First” and “Performance Now” slogans that you are promoting? They are completely useless and baseless as it is a mere cover up, we supposed.

Every time whenever a new BN prime minister is installed a new slogan will be introduced to the people based on his new leadership but did the new administration really initiate any changes or improvements? The answer is a no. it is a mere window dressing in order to “reform” an old order into a new one. Only rebranding has been carried out and not reform.

After PKFZ scandal, there will be another PKFZ-type debacle to come very soon as long as BN is still around. The future of our country under the BN rulers is at stake and the risk will continue to be at its highest level.

More on PKFZ scandal right over here

Umno's Hisham bars Pakatan leaders from schools

According to Malaysiakini today, a list issued by Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to all schools in Selangor allowed only 73 leaders from BN to attend events in the schools in the state.

Looks like Hishammuddin and Umno is very revengeful towards the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat State Government and did not want the Pakatan officials to attend the schools' functions in the state.

This move is clearly a sabotage act by Umno and its BN lackeys in order to create instability in Selangor by instilling hatred and anger, at the same time provoke other sentiments which is deemed harmful to the state government and its people.

It was Umno who had confused the people

An Umno vice president and Melaka chief minister Mohd Ali Rustam had recently said that PKR and PAS are disrespecting the Malay rulers, the Malay rights and creating confusions among Malaysians and said that it was because of PKR and PAS, DAP is now insulting the sultans and touching on sensitive issues and their leader behaving like “kurang ajar”.

From the statement made by Ali Rustam, it shows that he is frustrated because the people had begun to abandon Umno and BN in a very large move and he could feel it. That is why he is frustrated and uttered the word “kurang ajar” on PKR, PAS and DAP leaders for their roles in letting facts known to the people.

Umno is worried that the people would one day know the entire truth. That is why they are trying to cover up their misdeeds by blaming the Pakatan Rakyat of confusing the people. It was actually Umno who is confusing the people, because they are in control of all the mass medias and newspapers, where Pakatan Rakyat did not even have full access to these channels.

Umno is very revengeful towards Pakatan Rakyat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Umno is still in a denial mode.

PR leaders invited to school function; Principal and teachers absent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro-Umno subversive elements in MPSP

Why and how in the world Umno got hold of the list of assessment arrears owed by political parties from the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) before it was submitted to the state government?

The state Umno secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim was quoted in the newspaper recently that Umno had received a copy of the report. But according to Azhar later, he said that the report was not a report or a letter as it did not have a letterhead. Azhar also claimed that the report is just a statement telling them how much they owed MPSP.

If Azhar is referring to the same report that the state government currently has, then there is a serious problem within the MPSP. The report might have been copied or stolen by pro-Umno subversive elements from within the MPSP and passed to an Umno leader who manages such syndicate of spies.

If such pro-Umno syndicate or elements does exist in MPSP or even the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) and other state administration offices, it could pose a massive security threat to the safety of the state government systems, documentations and records. If can, Umno could pose severe damages or sabotage on the structures and administrative activities of the state government of which would also jeopardize the security and well being of the state as a whole.

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!

Multi-lingual road signs in Penang do not infringe Article 152 of the Federal Constitution

By : Karpal Singh, DAP National Chairman

The criticism by Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) of the Penang DAP-led Pakatan Government is misconceived, apart from being mischievous.

The Penang State Government's approval of the application by the Penang Municipal to have road signs in Jawi, Tamil and Chinese, in addition to Bahasa Malaysia in Georgetown's heritage sites does not in any way infringe the provisions of article 152 of the Federal Constitution which provides for Bahasa Malaysia to be the national language of the country. Those who argue that the Penang State Government's move is against article 152 clearly shows their ignorance of constitutional law.

It should not be forgotten that Penang is a tourist destination of international repute. This distinction certainly requires that tourists in the country are capable of apprehending multi-lingual road signs. This step is in no way an affront to the status of Bahasa Malaysia as the country's national language. Both Shafie Apdal and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) should not subscribe to blind nationalism which does not have a place in view of globalisation with which the country must keep abreast.

Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, should be congratulated for setting the pace in encouraging tourism. In fact, his example should be emulated by other states. In this time and age, all barriers which divide people of different nationalities should be dismantled. Even in Russia and China there is thirst to master the English language which is the international lingua franca. In this part of the world, likewise, there is enthusiasm to master Mandarin which is fast becoming a necessity in view of the awakening and opening up of China which will, in due time, determine the rise or fall of economies in Asia.

The Fereral Government should not unnecessarily interfere with the steps taken by the Penang State Government to boost and encourage tourism to counter the negative effects of the looming recession. The Penang State Government should be allowed to steer towards its own destiny without narrow and parochial considerations which will in no way advance the cause of the necessity to promote tourism which is pratically the mainstay of the economies of states like Penang, Malacca, Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.

Expose the Culprits and Demand Apology: CM told

Friday, 29 August 2008

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General has been urged to expose and tell the people of Penang who was the culprit who had sabotaged Penang’s investment opportunities by informing the federal government to scrap the second Penang bridge project.

The culprit who is also currently an Umno state assemblyman and former state executive councilor in the previously toppled BN state government had earlier urged the federal government to scrap the second bridge project.Prior to that, the said Umno state assemblyman had also called on the federal government to scrap and withdraw all mega projects and development plans for Penang state after their 8 March general election defeat to mark its revenge on the voters.As much sabotage and spoilt has been done on the Penang investment plans and opportunities, job opportunities in the state are also soaring.

Therefore, the said Umno state assemblyman should come out and apologize to the people of Penang for sabotaging the state’s economy. This person, whom we called “YB” is out there aiming to destroy the economy and livelihood of our people, thus threatening the security well-being of our neighborhood and this has to be stopped.We urged the state government to take stern action and demand for public apology for what he had done onto us and stop his further sabotage plans.

South Korean Investor Driven Away

Friday, 29 August 2008

Penang had lost a multi billion ringgit of investment from a South Korean based company which plan to set up a plant in Batu Kawan in Seberang Perai but instead opted out for another neighboring country.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said the Korean company changed its mind after a former Barisan Nasional state executive councilor had urged the federal government to scrap the second bridge project.The Korean investor reviewed the project as Batu Kawan wa no longer strategic if the new second bridge linking Batu Maung to Batu Kawan was scrapped.Guan Eng also referred to a report from a Malay daily which quoted the former BN state executive councilor as saying the second bridge should be scrapped if the project cost reaches RM6 billion.

After the statement was published in the daily, when the company learned of, it indicated that it was no longer interested in opening the manufacturing facility in Penang anymore.The Penang State Government has been working hard to attract more investors into Penang but instead there are those out there who are sabotaging our efforts by instilling, fear, hatred and instability to scare those investors away in order to achieve their mere personal political agenda.

EC's election date a political sabotage

Thursday, 7 August 2008

We would like to express our grave disappointment over the by-election date on 26 August which was announce by the Election Commission recently.It is unfair and disgusting to see that the Election Commission had decided to call 26 August which falls on Tuesday as the by-election date knowing very clear that it is a weekday where everyone is working.

The Election Commission had failed to see the importance of the voters or may it be a political sabotage sanctioned by both the BN and the commission itself in order to reduce the voter turn out on that day.In this case, we view such move as unfair and attempt to disrupt the actual election process. Therfore, we call on the Election Commission to revise the by-election date to weekend as soon as possible, failing which, we shall consider such decision as an attempt to sabotage the electoral process.