Floods, Hudud and Whatever!

Idealistic Malaysians still cannot see how Pakatan Rakayt leaders have an unholy and disunited coalition their forced marriage of convenience – a mockery of the word ‘Pakatan’.

Never before has it being as glaringly clear as it is today that DAP, PAS and PKR have their own agendas and never have they agreed to disagree or to find middle ground.

The country is now facing floods in many areas and the status quo are trying their best to help the rakyat as effectively as they can but all Pakatan Rakyat leaders can do is to hide behind their party flag and condemn the government and worse still, condemn their supposed partners in PR as well.

Lim Kit Siang was born with one mission – to spew filth and to deride anyone who is not on his side.

Donning the thickest blinkers ever created, Lim Kit Siang has bungled big time with his senseless tweet about KLIA2 and despite facing the wrath of netizens, has continued his merry way to castigate anyone but his own party members.

As long as anything can put the status quo in bad light, LKS will jump at the opportunity to make baseless accusations, which supporters will cling to as if it were messages from heaven.

Today, LKS amplified the problems in Manek Urai, Dabong, Kuala Krai and many other places in the east coast. At no point in time, has Lim Kit Siang or his party leaders ever outlined or announced what DAP has done for flood victims. No and NEVER. They are NOT concerned about the victims.

Their main concern is two-fold – magnify the problem and to accuse the government of doing nothing or to put the Prime Minister and his leaders in very negative light.

DAP specializes in SPINNING myths and distorting reality via misperceptions. They are experts in diverting attention from real problems that DAP is facing – such as how they are losing the hudud war against PAS and how Chinese will finally realize that DAP is ever ready to make friends or enemies as long as they can reap benefits and mileage.

For example, when the CEC issue exploded and DAP faced the prospects of being deregistered, they were ready to contest under the PAS flag. DAP even convinced Chinese voters to support PAS using the rationale that PAS would not forge ahead with its hudud plan. In addition, what have we today?

PAS has announced its hudud amendment in Kelantan on Dec 29 and there has been little news about what it is doing in Kelantan for the flood victims.

In that respect, PAS and DAP are similar – both are not concerned about the rakyat, only about themselves. Both are ready to be friends today and enemies tomorrow whenever it suits them.

PAS is not ashamed that Kelantan is one of the poorest states in Malaysia nor are they worried about imposing gender segregation or how tourism and investments in the state have been dwindling.

As for PKR, where was the Kajang adun Dr. Wan Azizah when the flood broke out and what has she done since?

Conveniently, Lim Kit Siang chose to keep a holy silence about this because he needs to warp the perception of citizens. Truth, justice, being concerned and doing what they were ELECTED to do is never a priority. DAP supremacy is THE one and only priority.

Therefore, whether it is floods, hudud or whatever issue plagues the country, you can bet PR leaders will throw temper tantrums because each leader wants to be Frank Sinatra – to do it THEIR way, not the coalition’s way. No wonder, LKS threatened to quit Pakatan meetings if PAS insists on hudud.

However, why didn’t people ask – why quit meetings only? Why not quit the whole coalition and go solo if they always want things their way, if they always feel DAP is THE best party in this nation?

Why are they playing to the galley whenever it suits them? Why are they diverting attention from their failure in the hudud wrangle by slamming the government when DAP has done nothing for flood victims?

It is because they cannot do anything else as it is beyond their ken.

It is time Lim Kit Siang takes lessons from IKHLAS that has achieved milestones in the way they have helped flood victims in Pahang. Scolding, cursing and blaming is not the IKHLAS way (pun intended) – that is reserved for DAP. Real citizens reach out, turun padang and help victims but alas, Lim Kit Siang cannot get his shoes dirty – his mouth is dirty enough and he would like to keep it that way.

Buku Jingga? PR leaders please explain!

An open letter to Pakatan Rakyat representatives in Selangor from an angry PJ resident.

by Michael Kum

Dear Yang Berhormat ADUNs and MPs,

About a month ago, we attended DAP’s fundraising event at MBPJ’s Civic Centre, where DAP leaders, new Menteri Besaar YAB Mohd Azmin Ali and a Selangor PAS ADUN spoke. A host of “legacy issues” from BN’s administration of the state were brought up, including corruption and the slow decision-making that resulted from the ineffectiveness of federal-state processes.

We want to ask, are PR lawmakers following their Buku Jingga manifesto? It says, “No Highway, No Tolls.” We, the rakyat, paid attention to this rhetoric and we voted Pakatan so that some wrongs under BN could be rectified.

How do resident organisations convey news to members when developments are kept in the dark?

These cover complex matters such as Petaling Jaya’s One Way Loop (OWL), the Kidex highway and the Mangkubumi sewarage project as well as day-to-day issues such as theft, rubbish collection and traffic displacement.

Moral concerns

PR reps, please do not just talk about civic and political concerns, but speak also of moral concerns. We find that Pakatan Rakyat’s “moral obligation” is not up to par.

Now, this is not a complaint, but an effort to encourage PR lawmakers to improve their trustworthiness. For example, YB Tony Pua, you talk about 1MDB and its corruption, but what are you doing about the very state that your people are governing?

We feel betrayed by PR. We want to be heard, but our needs are ignored.

For example, when MBPJ held the “OWL Public Hearing” last Tuesday, 200 angry residents showed why they want the project scrapped. The spoke of road accidents, some leading to death, and said these and other problems were due to poor planning and lack of road design management. MBPJ spent RM2 million, based on the ideas of Mayor Datin Paduka Alinah. What do we do now that the money is burnt? Will MBPJ listen? Will PR reps help? Or will there be “no further action”?

No public consultation

According to a Say No to Kidex official, “public consultation” is “totally unheard of”. This is true. When have the local councils and PR reps ever consulted the rakyat?

Selangor Pakatan Rakyat reps, we need you to quickly focus on these issues and take action. Why are our local councils, after so many years in service, still need 10 people to fix a light bulb? Don’t write-ups on potholes and lives lost due to accidents cause any anger?

Also, why are ADUNs focused on domestic issues such as drains and gardens? Why not instead focus on the larger issues like local council management and the performance of elected councillors?

What will PR representatives and MB Azmin do about all this?

PR reps, we hope you will work to make the state a better one. We are well informed, and if you do not change your attitude, especially in honouring your moral obligations, we will change you.

Thanking you, with sincere regards,

Michael Kum, Assistant Chairman, Resident’s Association, Section 14A, Petaling Jaya.

The View Through Hate-Tinted Lenses

The View through Hate-Tinted Lenses

By Datuk Huan Cheng Guan

Vice-President, Parti Cinta Malaysia

Since GE 12 and 13, PR 's gospel of hatred has corroded public opinion and created greater hostility toward our ruling government. 

Undoubtedly, the widespread use of hate politics has created such a fragmented and divided society that today, our country is opposingly different from the one formed by our forefathers when independence was declared in 1957. Unlike before, many look at one another through hate-tinted lenses.

With the surfeit of hate messages, negative comments via speeches, Malaysians have seen the emergence of ‘anti-politics’ where more have growing contempt for  politics and politicians thereby fanning a cauldron of anti-establishment sentiments stirred by rabble rousers. 

A political coalition and its members that claims victory by laying a foundation of racism has no basis to gloat over how they won the popular vote. Realistically, Pakatan Rakyat secured seats via a platform of hatred, lies, and propaganda to manipulate and motivate citizens to vote for them and to turn against the government.

PR is least concerned about being factual, ethical or truthful because they blatantly go against these ethics which they freely use to judge BN. All they need to do is to make citizens hate anything and anyone related to the ruling government.

When Malaysians are not informed but inflamed, they will believe anything and everything that comes from the mouth of PR leaders.

Even if the PM or PMO or any upright leader were to defend any issue, brainwashed citizens would not cast a second look at those messages because their minds have already been indoctrinated with hate and fear.

The Opposition constantly bombards its audience with the same message that PR leaders are the only ones telling you the truth whereas BN leaders are corrupt and are lying. They teach Malaysians to distrust and disrespect the government by accusing them of all kinds of crimes – from corruption to discrimination to concealing the truth.

Today, Malaysia is at the threshold of a very dangerous possibility that the mongrels of hatred could cause their victims to run rabid in street protests that could lead to clashes. Citizens are incited to show their displeasure physically via brazen street protests or to sue those who speak against them.

These reasons and the series of unfortunate events in the last two years must have spurred PM Najib to declare that Seditions Act will "be strengthened and made more effective", with "a special clause to protect the sanctity of Islam, while other religions also cannot be insulted".

A second clause will make it illegal to call for the breakaway of the states of Sabah and Sarawak, on Malaysian Borneo, he said.

It is not a question of reneging on his July 2012 announcement that he will repeal the Sedition Act. Current political ambiance has left PM with no choice but to rein in negative comments, which seem to be second nature for many netizens or citizens.

Implementing a National Harmony Act when hate is in the air would be a farcical move.

Few would admit that the government has been quite liberal in allowing dissenting thoughts to be openly voiced not just locally, but also internationally. In fact, since the abolition of the ISA, Malaysians have become more brazen in their critique of the government and leaders, not just verbally or in written/electronic form but also in digital art form where insulting graphics that divide citizens are spread like wildfire in social media.

Imagine the anarchy that might reign in both the Internet and the real world if indeed the Seditions Act was withdrawn. Hence, PM’s move is timely and laudable.

The Seditions Act is the last stronghold the government possesses to  ban any act, speech, or publication that brings contempt against the government or Malaysia's nine royal sultans and to prohibit people from inciting hatred between different races and religions, or questioning the special position of the ethnic Malay majority and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. To remove this Act is akin to giving citizens and PR the visa to inflict more damage and disunity than what it has already wrought on our nation’s moral fabric.

I beg to differ from Lim Kit Siang’s lame accusation that the PM’s announcement to retain the Sedition Act is a U-turn from “buckling under pressure” and succumbing to threats by Umno rightists and extremists. It takes true grit for our PM to go against the flow publicly before the UMNO General Assembly to make such a stand for it shows his sincerity in taking the bull by its horns in dealing with subversive elements, which are invoking anti-establishment sentiments to the highest degree.

It is not a question of bypassing the cabinet as alleged by some. Rather, it is getting the support  from the UMNO members our PM represents so that he has the mandate to bring it up to Parliament.

The motive is sincere for the PM stated clearly that the enforcement of the act would be fair to ensure a more stable, peaceful, and harmonious nation for all. To object to the PM’s move would be tantamount to agreeing to an unstable, chaotic, and divided nation. Is this what Malaysians want? 

Removing all hate-tinted lenses can certainly help us see the issue more clearly.

Pakatan's Future - BLEAK!

The double blow of PAS in Pengkalan Kubor and the reduced exco quota in Selangor serves to tell party president Hadi Awang that no one is going to win if the party chooses to split from Pakatan Rakyat.

In Pengkalan Kubor, BN has won with an expanded majority. PAS only managed 7,326 votes, more than 1,000 votes fewer than the 8,438 votes obtained by PKR in GE13, which is inexplicable given the fact that PKR is relatively weak in Kelantan while PAS has ruled the state for 24 years.

After last year's general election, Hadi analyzed that the drain of Malay votes from PAS was due to the party deviating from its religious path, and as such has since stepped up effort to implement the hudud law in Kelantan. But if hudud law is the panacea of PAS' problems, then the party would not have failed so badly.

PAS' by-election operations director Datuk Wan Abdul Rahim said low voter turnout was one of the reasons for PAS' defeat, as many young voters did not go back to vote.

Which was same as in the Teluk Intan by-election in which DAP blamed its defeat to low voter turnout.

What has caused the voter turnout in Kajang, Bukit Gelugor, Teluk Intan and Pengkalan Kubor to be so low? I believe we all know that it has something to do with the split within Pakatan Rakyat that has frustrated many of its supporters.

PKR and DAP leaders were absent in the Pengkalan Kubor by-election campaign, resulting in the drain of more votes in favor of BN.

PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat warned in the party's recent general assembly of the shaky PAS administration in Kelantan, but his argument was immediately dismissed by delegates. Judging from the outcome of Pengkalan Kubor by-election, if Pakatan and PAS remain divided, it is not impossible that the party would lose Kelantan in the next general elections.

None of the three parties in Pakatan Rakyat fighting alone could challenge the BN, and the last two by-elections have sounded the alarm bell.

As for the reduced exco posts for PAS in Selangor, this is the price the party has to pay for its impressionable stand. This said, the party's leaders as well as grassroots members are expected to feel infuriated. The removed former exco member Halimah Ali has said the Pakatan spirit is no more existent/

How is PKR going to convince the public that while it has the fewest seats among the three parties in the state legislative assembly, it has the most exco members. How do we expect PAS to work alongside its allies in Pakatan come the next general elections?

Azmin's appointment as the new Selangor MB was initially seen as a boon to mend the torn relationship among the three parties given the fact that he is maintaining good relationship with Hadi Awang. But Azmin still needs to take instructions from Anwar and Wan Azizah and the misunderstanding among the three parties has yet to be dispelled.

It is believed that in the near future PKR will still remember how Hadi has attempted to block Wan Azizah's access to the MB post. DAP, meanwhile depends wholly on Chinese votes to come this far,a and will therefore frown upon PAS' decision to embrace the religious path, as the ghost of the humiliating defeat in 1999 still lingers on.

The older generation of leaders in PAS are worried to be labeled as "followers" of Pakatan. The signing of statutory declaration to support Kak Wan by two PAS assemblymen has enraged the party president, and this illustrates the fact that they are very much bothered about being respected.

Nevertheless, Lim Guan Eng went ahead to file a defamation suit against PAS' MP for Temerloh Nasrudin Hassan, while DAP central committee called PAS "traitors." As if that is not enough, 11 DAP and PKR municipal councilors in Penang blasted PAS' councilor Izsuree Ibrahim. And all these will only serve to make things a whole lot worse.

It is time for PKR and DAP to seriously consider the future of the pact.


Source: MySinchew

Top Ten Reasons Why Pakatan Rakyat is a Failure

1. A coalition is a group of people/parties/organizations who share common interest in reaching the same goal and work together harmoniously by regularly meeting and resolving issues/differences. Pakatan Rakyat does not do this. 

Although PAS, DAP and PKR share the same goal of toppling BN, they do not have common interests, philosophy or methodology in reaching that goal.

2. A coalition draws inspiration and direction from citizens/members/regional population. This does not apply for Pakatan Rakayt.

PAS, DAP and PKR each get direction from THREE DIFFERENT party leaders who do not co-exist for the same goal.

3. A coalition works to build a healthy community. Pakatan Rakyat thrives by sowing the seeds of dissent.

PAS, DAP and PKR work for self-interest. Decisions made by leaders are usually for THEIR PERSONAL interests.

A good example is the Kajang by-election and MB issue in Selangor.

4. A coalition draws up guidelines and work towards achieving their goals by following guidelines. This does not apply to Pakatan Rakyat.

Pakatan Rakyat had differences when drafting their Buku Jingga and even when completed, it remains A BUKU - A MERE BOOK for show. All else is forgotten!

5. A coalition must have members which respect member parties/organizations but not Pakatan Rakyat.

Pakatan Rakyat coalition party leaders have no qualms about asking other parties to leave when their ideology or methodology do NOT match.

Malaysiakini reported that Lim Guan Eng said "the biggest issue after Aidilfitri celebrations is whether the two party system can continue in Malaysia. The breaking up of Pakatan Rakyat on the refusal of one component party to respect and hold on to views arrived at together, could not be discounted according to his Hari Raya statement today."

6. A coalition must have member parties/organizations that respect and honour the decisions and opinions of other members. 

Recently, PAS frustrated PKR and DAP when it said that there was no reason to remove Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim from his post. According to Lim Guan Eng, "if the decisions we have achieved together in the Pakatan highest leadership council is dismissed just like that by one party, the survival and credibility of Pakatan will be continue to be undermined."

What future is left for Pakatan Rakyat, what hope is there for its supporters when Lim Guan Eng himself has PUBLICLY acknowledged that the survival and credibility of Pakatan Rakyat is at stake? Zilch.

7. A coalition makes and keeps promises but not Pakatan Rakyat.

Over the years, Pakatan Rakyat has CLAIMED it can govern if it is given the mandate by the rakyat. They promised to show their shadow cabinet which today has been in the shadows, never ever seeing the light of day! Are they capable of governing Malaysia when they cannot even keep a basic promise?

8. A coalition must show and develop its abilities and competence to foster healthy relationships with member parties/organizations to sustain efforts to reach their mission. Sorry, this does not apply to PR.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders almost always issue individual press statements without consulting/considering or acknowledging the views of other leaders of member parties.

Is this effective cooperation or destructive individualism?

9. To succeed, a coalition must show progressive or interim victories because its members work together in unity. Pakatan Rakyat does not have any such consistent record except only in their wishful fantasies.

Since 2008, we have seen PKR, PAS and DAP fighting over seats, limelight and a host of other issues. Self-interest rules, not party cohesion. We see Anwar Ibrahim trapising all over the world to shame the country in international media whereas other leaders HAVE NO COMMENT about such actions.

Who is in charge? Is there unity?

10. A coalition can only succeed if leaders show consideration for the greater good of the country by pooling resources, ensuring proper communication flow to sustain an alliance that unites members to achieve goals and empowers leaders to share power for long-term social and political change. Pakatan Rakyat has never, will never and can never do that.

It is a marriage of convenience that never worked from Day 1. It is a threesome kind of menage a trois whereby three leaders only see themselves and not the other two leaders nor do they see the Trinity kind of leadership depicted by its name. It is never THREE-IN-ONE leadership but each screaming and fighting to be NUMBER ONE.

So there you go....this is the crux of why Pakatan Rakyat has failed and can never serve the rakyat because its leaders are self-serving giants or dinosaurs in the political sphere of Malaysia!

Why is Malaysia so Polarised today?

In the good old days, citizens only had The Straits Echo, New Straits Times and later on, The Star, to feed them with the latest news. The advent of information technology and rise of Internet popularity has seen the proliferation of online news portals - independent and the not-so-independent ones. Since then, news readership of mainstream media has been steadily on the decline and the print media is being sustained mainly by advertising revenue. Beyond all those superficial issues, the fact remains that the rise of the new media has paved the way for more partisan media in Malaysia and triggered an insidious process of political polarisation of Malaysia.

Today, news audience seems to be divided into three segments - the Pro-BN, the Pro-PR and of course, the fence-sitters. Without prejudice, many seem to buy the tales of their preferred media - lock, stock and barrel without questioning the authenticity of the report, the implication of bias headlines, morals, objectivity and even the unhealthy slants of fanatically populist and anti-establishment, anti-corruption rhetoric, anti-PM articles that those independent news portals carried by TMI, FZ, The Ant Daily, MK, Malaysia Chronicle and other sites. Consequently, more are blindly pro-Opposition and narrowmindedly anti-BN with a one-track mind!

Hitler once said: "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

That is exactly what is happening in Malaysia.  the last ten years or so, irresponsible sites have been filling the Internet with lies, distortions of truth, fabrications of concocted reality and all kinds of warped messages.

A very good example is the Altantuya case. 

At the end of this post is a list of headlines from various news portals. Even without reading the whole report, citizens are being BRAINWASHED to hate the government!

Why?

What is the real agenda of those media sites? Why are they persistently seducing their audience with populist views?

Why are some sites so pro-Anwar and anti-Najib?

For that, we need to examine the content, background and ownership of those sites.

News content that is stems from simple and clear ideological slant e.g. Anti-BN headlines would naturally attract viewers who are ALREADY dissatisfied with the state of affairs. Hence, readers would perceive such websites to be more credible as the owners/writers seem to share their political attitudes.

By reading such distorted articles, these readers are unconsciously reinforcing their stereotypes of the status quo and thus political polarisation multiplies at a very dangerously worrying rate. Things can come to a head when the political ambiance in the country is heated and then fringes may be on the rise.

In reality, citizens have a few choices. They can treat these as the gospel truth or ignore them or accept it and think nothing about those deceptive messages. There is one thing which FEW would ever do.

That is to TEST and to VERIFY the information.

I am not saying we have a perfect government (none exists in this world by the way). We have an imperfect government that is trying to perfect its imperfections in sincere programmes such as GTP, BR1M etc. Along the way, we have little devils in irresponsible news portals spreading doubts, magnifying weaknesses, glorifying the Opposition.

I do not deny the presence of a strong Opposition is important BUT it has to be a wholesome, effective and upright Opposition and that is absent in Malaysia.

There is much irony in news reporting.

1. When the status quo tells the truth e.g. in AG's reports, they are blasted to kingdom come for this and that. Fine - all in the name of efficiency.

However...

2. If the Opposition does something wrong and then the status quo gives them a dose of their own medicine via public criticism, all hell breaks lose and the citizens turn a blind eye to the weaknesses or failings of the Opposition and go into full throttle to blast BN.

Fair?

3. The worst scenario is this. The whole question of selective exposure is a pivotal factor in polarizing Malaysia. Those who are politically conscious carry with them biases and beliefs that those online sites are believable and trustworthy and deliberately read only THOSE news which can strongly influence their attitudes, speech and voting behaviour. These citizens, armed with their 'perceived' inference of what is right and wrong, go on to become opinion leaders in kopi tiams and INFLUENCE others to share their beliefs. Such a multiplier effect in wider society and at the grassroot level can be very potent in swinging voters to become pro-Opposition.

Now here's the catch.

Some argue and say - if that is the case, why can't the government close down those sites?

Helloooooooooo!

If the ruling government would do that in the name of curbing hostility etc... those 'biased' pro-Opposition citizens would say - there you go - we have a government that does NOT practise freedom of speech or press freedom.

It is a Catch 22 for our government, whom I believe is sincerely trying its best to maintain a healthy balance of freedom in a non-hostile and non-confrontational way. 

If they pull up editors for misdeeds, people would protest and this would trigger another wave of anti-BN sentiments. 

If the government does nothing and allows freedom of speech, the pro-Opposition fellas will say - see our leaders are useless!

Either way, to the pro-PR supporters, BN is always wrong, PR is always right! Sheesssshhh!

The bottom line is this.

Many sites have been spinning their yarn of lies, of deception and myths to the extent that these have become 'truths' in the minds of the audience. You see, the culture of ignorance has made many quite clueless about integrity and journalistic principles.

They do not know what is right or wrong. They only know BN is wrong. Remove BN. All will be right after that WHEN (or so they dreamlah) Pakatan Rakyat takes over.

What a lame and blind displacement of hope!

Their folly is this - their ridiculous belief that whatever BN does is wrong.

To them, whatever PR does is RIGHT. Even if it is wrong, it is ok for their wrong is not as unforgivable as BN's mistakes.

Now you see - our society has really become not only ignorant but so polarized that many have lost their sense of judgement.

They can only see our Prime Minister as the villain and Anwar as the hero.

Anwar - the one who gallivants to foreign countries to shame and blame this nation for anything, anywhere, anyhow he chooses.

Or maybe some look to Lim Kit Siang and his obedient son Lim Guan Eng who has led Penang to four or five consecutive budget deficits, land reclamation issues and botak hills.

In spite of all this...

Despite water cuts and what-have-you's....in the eyes of pro-Opposition citizens....they will say - it is OKlah...they are not as bad as BN.

You see...it is not BN that is taking our citizens on the road to destruction.

It is PR and their insidious media who are marking the routes, paving the different roads to destruction and hurrah for them...many citizens are happily traipsing and spreading their new found 'Pro-PR euphoria'.

Do you see how pervasive is the effect of biased reporting from those websites? They have a malevolent agenda. One to divide, not unite. One to polarise, not to spread harmony.

Maybe now you can understand why this country is so polarised.

Maybe now you can appreciate the uphill task of our government to develop this country for the common good.

Be deceived no more!

_______________________________________

A sample of MALAYSIAKINI headlines and articles:

1. Ministry bleeds RM78mil in bio-tech gamble (Malaysiakini)

2. A case of the PM reaping what he sows

3. How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu? (#2 and # 3 Malaysiakini compiled readers' comments and transformed them into a main post with a mischievous heading. The PM has sued them over these two articles)

4. Cabinet reshuffle another game of musical chairs

A sample of headlines and articles from The Malaysian Insider:

1. Is anyone running Malaysia? (Commentary by Malaysian Insider)

2. When Putrajaya’s words mean naught to Malaysians (Commentary by Malaysian Insider)

3. Gays, lesbians might get no protection under Harmony Bill 

4. Doing nothing about human trafficking is a disgrace - It is shocking that this article is written by someone attached to a local university who should know better than to have used 'NOTHING' in the title. How sure is she that the government has done nothing? The Editor should have known better than to have featured such an article but then again, TMI loves to disgrace the government. That seems to be their preoccupation of late!

Malaysian Chronicle - The website that reposts news from other sites and then SENSATIONALISES the news item by putting in their own headline just to attract other readers who come in thinking it is a different article from the original source but darn - they are deceived! Their forte is to blast 

PM, his wife, the government and to glorify the Opposition!

1. After Allah ruling, Najib preens his Islamic credentials: BE LIKE IRAQI MILITANTS, he tells Umno (original article from TMI)

2. Rosmah’s denial she EMPTIES the pool each time she swims goes viral (original article from Harakah Daily)

3. Crushed by corruption, injustice & rising extremism, M'sia faces an unsure & uncertain future

4. WASTE OF TIME HYPOCRISY! Umno’s governance proves Malay rule can be fair, Najib says (original article from The Malay Mail)

Who Is Playing Hooded Political Stunts?

On June 12, 2014, the Speaker for Selangor Assembly approved the motion to discuss implementing the Islamic penal code in the country's most developed state. ( http://tinyurl.com/puqhc4x)

Why would someone from a party that supposedly opposes hudud do such a thing? 

DAP Damansara Utama assemblywoman Yeo Bee Yin then questioned if MCA would be able to stand up to Umno on the issue of hudud in the recent motion submitted by Umno Sungai Air Tawar assemblyman Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik for debate in the coming state assembly sitting. (http://tinyurl.com/n4j9lkz)

Why would a representative from a party that supposedly opposes hudud APPROVE a motion to discuss hudud and then allow other members to talk down to MCA?

MCA has since demanded that Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak punish the Selangor representatives who submitted the motion and demand that it be withdrawn. (http://tinyurl.com/knndssb)

Today, DAP’s Tony Pua asked today if MCA was admitting to be nothing but a voiceless “flower vase” in Barisan Nasional (BN) when its leaders called on the DAP to trash the hudud motion even though it was tabled by its own allies in Umno. ( http://tinyurl.com/q4kau9f)

Why are DAP members picking on MCA regarding hudud when its Speaker herself allowed the motion for the debate? 

Why didn't DAP members themselves speak up in tandem with their supposed stand on hudud?

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua has come forward in defence of Selangor State Assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh saying motions from all representatives would be heard in a proper democracy. (http://tinyurl.com/k9svl6v)

If that be the case, why did Tony Pua refer to MCA as a flower vase in BN if he believes in 'proper' democracy?

This afternoon, The Star said: Selangor Barisan Nasional has withdrawn a motion to debate the possibility of implementing hudud law in the state. (http://tinyurl.com/nja2aoq)

Lo and behold, what happened?

The Selangor Speaker has put Barisan Nasional (BN) on notice, telling the coalition to stop playing political games with the state assembly after Selangor Umno withdrew a motion on hudud.

Hannah Yeoh, who received a lot of flak over her decision to table the motion, said she felt the move was a political stunt. 

“The State Assembly is not a place for any member to play political games. I view this move by the assemblyman from Umno as a blatant political stunt. 

“If an assemblyman is not ready or prepared to debate or stand by his motion, he should never have wasted the state assembly’s time by tabling it in the first place,” she said. 

Yeoh said that every assemblyperson had an inherent duty to uphold the integrity and preserve the sanctity of the state assembly by not treating it carelessly and haphazardly. 

“No reason was provided for his decision to withdraw the motion. A member may, by notice in writing to the Clerk, withdraw any notice of motion previously given by him, as per Standing Order 29 (1). (http://tinyurl.com/kzuxdv2)

If she has such strong feelings about the motion, why did she approve it in the first place??????

Democracy? 

Lawyer Tommy Thomas yesterday said he was shocked that she allowed the debate as it was unconstitutional, arguing that state assemblies have no business discussing a criminal issue outside their legislative competence.

Thomas said hudud is a revolutionary concept that should be nipped in the bud, instead of encouraged.

BN component party MCA also joined the fray and urged Yeoh to reject the motion, with its state deputy chairman Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai saying the debate on hudud is not important and a discussion on the possibility of implementing it in Selangor is a waste of time.

(http://tinyurl.com/kzuxdv2)

And now the latest news:

 MCA today claimed “victory” over Selangor Umno’s withdrawal of a motion to debate on hudud in the state assembly sitting scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

“With the withdrawal of the motion which was straightforward, MCA has proven its mettle in functioning as a gatekeeper to ensure the spirit of Barisan Nasional (BN),” MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said.

“Similarly, we hope DAP in Pakatan will play a more prominent gatekeeper’s function on hudud law issues to prove that DAP has some form of power within and outside Pakatan.”

Wee said, however, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang’s move in rushing to Kelantan to clarify that DAP did not blame PAS nor hudud for the defeat of the party’s candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud at the Teluk Intan by-election, showed that DAP was so powerless that it was unable to defend its own words and position.

“In the same vein, I urge DAP to play a bigger role within the Pakatan coalition, ie, DAP must curb PAS from its plan to table a Private Member’s Bill during the September session of the Dewan Rakyat to formally implement hudud in Kelantan,” Wee said in a statement today.

Wee added although Selangor Umno’s motion only required a debate on the study on the probability of implementing hudud law, Pakatan leaders had deliberately distorted the motion likening it to an intention to implement, which Wee said was not the case.

“Pakatan leaders had deliberately twisted the truth while Selangor Umno had no desire to implement hudud law.”

He added DAP which held the largest Opposition bloc in the Dewan Rakyat with 37 seats, should play a better role on national issues.

This, he said, was to prevent the country falling under a theocratic regime through the implementation of hudud.

“DAP should implore PAS to abandon its hope of achieving a theocratic rule. The first step is for PAS to give up its proposal to table a Private Member’s Bill to implement hudud law in Kelantan.”

Today, Selangor BN assemblymen agreed to withdraw the motion asking the state government to study the possibility of implementing hudud, the Islamic penal code.

Opposition leader in the state assembly, Datuk Mohd Shamsudin Lias, said the move was to allow the 15 PAS assemblymen to table the motion themselves as implementing hudud was in PAS’ agenda.

(http://tinyurl.com/jvkbjug)

Well done, MCA!

So, after this series of unfortunate events, who is the one playing hooded political stunts on hudud?

You be the judge!

*Haden Hoo is NOT a member of MCA or any political party.

Teluk Intan - The Omen for Pakatan Rakyat

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Unresolved issues within Pakatan Rakyat (PR) such as PAS's renewed hudud bid and the mounting discontent in Selangor could leave the pact with just Penang and handful of federal seats in urban areas in the next general election, according to political observers.



PR leaders told The Malay Mail Online that DAP's performance in Teluk Intan — going from a 7,313-majority win in 2013 to a 238-vote loss — is an indication of potential losses in the future if PAS, DAP, and PKR do not settle its conflicts and maintain its common policy framework.

Issues such as growing public anger towards Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's handling of the Kinrara Damansara Expressway (Kidex), the seizure of Malay- and Iban-language bibles by the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) and allegations of voter manipulation and result delays in PKR's on-going party elections are but a few examples of issues facing the PR state government.

Another pressing concern is PAS's unilateral push for hudud to be implemented in Kelantan, which critics have pointed out went against PR's Election 2013 manifesto.

“If this goes on, we might see a repeat of what happened to PAS in Kedah in 2013 and Barisan Nasional (BN) in Selangor before 2008.

“If voters decided to punish Pakatan in Selangor for not listening and addressing their concerns, like in the Kidex and bible issue we could very well lose the state come GE14,” former political analyst and DAP election strategist Dr Ong Kian Ming told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.



He said PAS's insistence on its hudud bid was costing the opposition pact support among non-Malay voters whom he said feel let down by the Islamist party's departure from its previous “PAS for all” agenda during GE13.

“Because PAS has pushed hudud, which is not part of PR's common manifesto, voters feel betrayed because it goes against our election promise — no hudud,” Ong added.

Adding to that concern, Ong said was PKR's leadership crisis and internal strife in its party election.

“The fact that the elections have dragged on longer than it should is distracting the party from addressing its problems with the Selangor administration.

“The other worry is that PKR's election problems may affect Pakatan's agenda for free and fair elections.... how do we promote that when there are serious concerns as to the transparency of elections on a party level,” he said.

PKR’s internal polls have been mired by allegations of corruption and impropriety, forcing the party to conduct fresh balloting for 35 branches and indefinitely postpone the results.

Selangor DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo agreed with his party colleague, stressing that PR had a “moral obligation” to uphold all of its Election 2013 promises.

A vocal opponent of Kidex, Gobind said that MB Khalid's support for the highway as well as PAS's hudud push contravened the opposition pact's common agenda.

Kidex is a proposed 14.9km highway that will cut through densely-populated parts of Petaling Jaya that is meeting with increasing resistance from residents.

“Promises made during elections must be kept, there is no other way around this.

“In the case of hudud, Malaysia is and must always remain a secular state,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code Enactment (II), allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state. But the laws have not been implemented.

PAS is now looking for parliamentary approval to implement hudud. It plans to put forward two private members’ bills in Parliament.

“What will happen if these things go unaddressed is that people will be reluctant to come out to vote.

“Because if they support DAP and PKR, it means they support PAS as well,” the Puchong MP added.

Independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said that PR's inability to honour its common policy agenda showed that the three-party pact was still a “loose coalition” and that not all of its leaders were on the same page.

This, he said would do little to inspire voters to come out and support PR in the next general election in the numbers that gave the pact the popular vote victory in Election 2013.

“What you are going to see is a trend of voters who may be Pakatan supporters but who will not want to go back to their home states to vote,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Low voter turnout was cited as among the factors that saw DAP lose in Teluk Intan.

Khoo added that the issues in Selangor and the hudud push in Kelantan will also affect how voters viewed PR as a whole.

“When you oversell on reform, you have to back it up.

“What is happening in Selangor and Kelantan is not a good example of good governance,” Khoo said.

In Election 2013, PR won 89 of the 222 federal seats, building on the 82 it took five years before and again denied BN its customary supermajority in Parliament.


- Malay Mail -

PAS told to leave Pakatan

GEORGE TOWN: PAS should stick to its principles and leave Pakatan Rakyat if the opposition pact can’t reach a consensus on the proposal to enact hudud laws for Kelantan.

Former DAP vice president Zulkifli Mohd Noor said the time has come for PAS to understate its political principles and objectives instead of hiding behind the Pakatan Rakyat curtain.

“On one hand, some quarters in PAS, particularly within the Kelantan leadership circle, are insisting for hudud. On the another, a different set of PAS leaders want to avoid the issue, preferring to allow a heated debate to ensue.

“In the midst of it, PKR is keeping quiet, preferring to dabble in half-baked statements while DAP has sternly opposed hudud, citing secularism as the true form of the country’s constitution. In politics, there is a need to have principles.

“It is unfair to the people if political parties profess to keep things hazy. The nation needs to know what Pakatan Rakyat is all about,” said Zulkifli.

He said if PAS were to stay with Pakatan Rakyat, then the Islamist party should find a way out of the hudud maze.
Opposition parties comprising — PAS, DAP, PKR and PSM — formed Barisan Alternatif in 1998. In 2011, DAP decided to pull out of the coalition on grounds that it association with PAS was causing a decline in support for the DAP.

Now, its PAS’ turn to make a decision, Zulkifli said.

FMT

Pakatan to break up soon?

‘Pakatan split inevitable, says Zahid’ – that was one of the stories carried in one of our local English dailies dated May 6, 2014.

Much has been talked about the health of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition these days especially in regard to the hudud issue.

Although the mainstream media has made a big issue of the so-called impending split, Nizar Jamaluddin, the PAS Changkat Jering state assemblyman, is of the view that as long as PR does not fall into the enemy’s trap, it is PR who will remain strong while the enemy will experience a rift in their working relationship.

The key to the hudud issue is for all of PR’s component parties to stay calm and not react to the instigation or provocations of the enemy.

Khalid Samad, the PAS Shah Alam MP, commented that “Pakatan will not break up if everyone works together in order to handle the hudud issue well.”

Added Khalid, “Moreover DAP opposing hudud is nothing new as DAP has been opposing it since Day 1. We agree to disagree on this issue and we will most definitely be going all out to help DAP win their upcoming parliamentary by-elections in Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan.”

Whatever is said up till this point in time, it must be noted that DAP and PKR both knew of PAS Islamic struggle even before PR was formed in April 2008.

Therefore the hudud issue should never act as a catalyst for the breaking up of Pakatan Rakyat and it would be tragic if PR was to go the way of Barisan Alternatif 10 years ago.

Mistakes should never be repeated.

Former Kuala Selangor MP, Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS, remarked that he is the eternal optimist and what PR is going through now will only serve to strengthen the coalition.

The enemy will surely capitalise on the hudud issue to weaken Pakatan by saying that the late Karpal Singh who held the Bukit Gelugor seat was a strong opponent of hudud, never mind that he was opposing it based on arguments from the Federal Constitution.

Therefore DAP and PAS must work together to counter this point that will surely be raised a thousand and one times during these by-election campaigns.

In actual fact, hudud aside, DAP and PAS have a very good working relationship. Take for instance in the 2008 general election when they worked well together to capture the very tough Changkat Jong state seat which falls under the parliamentary seat of Teluk Intan.

This seat which was won by PAS in 2008 was lost to BN in 2013 when the 30% Indian voters in Changkat Jong who had wanted M Manogaran (the incumbent) to contest in Teluk Intan had protested by not coming out to vote.

(M Manogaran was instead sent to Cameron Highlands late wherein he acquitted himself well, losing only to MIC’s G Palanivel by 462 votes with 877 votes being spoilt.) This shows that the contributions of every race is equally important in PR.

And PR leaders must therefore learn from this and not allow any issue to become a contentious issue in Pakatan.

PR will hold firm

At this point in time, MCA is still pushing DAP to stop PAS from attempting to implement hudud in Kelantan via a tabling of a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament next month.

A PAS insider who spoke on condition of anonymity had informed this columnist thus, “Don’t worry, let PAS go ahead, I cannot say more but I dare to say that PR will hold firm.”

Still, the general public is getting a bad impression of PR as an unstable coalition because no one knows what is really going on behind the scenes.

The best thing for everyone in PR to do would be not issuing statements every now and then because these statements confuse the rakyat or worsen the situation.

The more statements that are issued by PR leaders, the more fodder is given to the enemy to spin about.
From now on, any response from Pakatan on the hudud issue should be a united statement. Otherwise, silence is golden because some of these statements are quite unsettling to the public and the supporters of PR.

PR leaders must strive to control the hudud issue or else they will be controlled by the hudud issue.

Currently PR leaders seem to come across as losing focus and losing direction. The hudud issue has taken up much of their time when they should be working the ground to explain the GST (Goods & Services Tax) to the rakyat as the government will be employing 500 people to do so.

Pakatan leaders must focus their attention on urgent issues at hand. Otherwise they will lose the support of the rakyat.

To-date, PR is the most viable coalition acting as a check and balance against the BN federal government. It would be a great pity if PR is dissolved.

Indeed it would be a very sad day if Pakatan ceases to exist because the people’s hopes for a two-party system would then be gone forever.

FMT

We should be governing M'sia, Pakatan tells US

Pakatan Rakyat leaders have told US National Security Adviser Susan Rice that the opposition was stopped from replacing the BN government, even after winning the popular vote in the general election last May.

PKR's Anwar Ibrahim, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng emphasised that Malaysia must undergo electoral reform if the US was serious about its statement on human rights, democracy and freedom in the country.

"Our party won the popular vote. We should be the governing party.

"As long as there is no electoral reform, we are very concerned with the direction of democracy in Malaysia, " DAP's Lim (right) told reporters, when asked about the 45-minute US-Pakatan leaders meeting in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

In response, he said, Rice noted and reaffirmed President Barack Obama's core message during his weekend visit that Malaysia must strive to be an inclusive society and not trample on the rights of minorities in the country.

Lim then quoted African-American civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr, who said, "The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice."

Speaking to reporters after announcing the George Town Arts Festival, which will be held in August, Lim added: "There must be electoral reform to reflect the will of the people, so that the party that wins the popular vote should have the right to govern."

'No country can succeed if...'

In the first visit by a US president to Malaysia in nearly 50 years, Obama had, over the weekend, said his core message to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was that no country could succeed if part of its population was discriminated against.

"Malaysia won’t succeed if non-Muslims don’t have the opportunities," Obama, the first US black president, had said in Kuala Lumpur.

DAP's Lim said that Pakatan concurred with Obama's views.

"You need both Muslims and non-Muslims. You need everyone, you need an inclusive society to move forward," Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, said.

Lim also described the meeting with Rice as "interactive, with dialogue and exchanges" but he declined to elaborate whether the US gave any follow-up action ideas.

Obama had earlier turned down a meeting with Anwar Ibrahim but later told the foreign press in an interview that this did not indicate hiws country’s lack of concern about the federal opposition leader, who has been sentenced to five years’ jail for sodomising his aide.

Source: Malaysiakini

Kit Siang proposes gag order on Pakatan over hudud issue

DAP's Lim Kit Siang (pic) wants Pakatan Rakyat leaders to stop issuing statements over its ally PAS's intention to implement Hudud law in Kelantan.

The veteran leader said all three parties in the opposition pact as well as its leaders should take heed of the plot by its nemesis Umno to cause Pakatan's "disintegration" by magnifying differences when the leaders had "agreed to disagree" and to adhere to the coalition's common policy framework.

"In these circumstances, I would call for an immediate moratorium on statements by Pakatan Rakyat leaders on the latest hudud controversy and to refer the issue to the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council for decision," Lim said in a statement today.

The hudud issue recently flared up again when PAS had announced plans this month to introduce two private members’ bills in Parliament to allow it to enforce hudud in Kelantan.

This triggered a public war of words between Deputy Menteri Besar of Kelantan, Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah and DAP's national organising secretary Anthony Loke.

Nik Amar had told off its coalition partners saying that they have "no right to interfere" in the Islamist party plan to implement hudud in the east coast state, causing Loke to tell PAS to leave Pakatan if it is adamant to go ahead with its plan.

In ticking off both Nik Amar and Loke, Lim, who is also DAP parliamentary leader, said both leaders should be more restrained since many in Umno and Barisan Nasional are looking to "fish in troubled waters", creating a situation akin to the Chinese saying "friends to grieve and enemies to rejoice".

"Let all Pakatan Rakyat leaders, whether DAP, PAS or PKR, continue to be guided by Pakatan's common policy framework and consensus so as to give hope to Malaysians for the long-needed changes in the political landscape in the country if Malaysia is to become a united, democratic, competitive and prosperous nation which holds itself out as beacon of light of a successful multi-racial and multi-religious nation to the rest the world," he added.

The veteran leader's comments came after DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng earlier today denied a claim made by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang that the Islamist party's plan to implement hudud in Kelantan had been endorsed by the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council.

Guan Eng said DAP leaders would never have endorsed such a plan and urged Hadi to prove his claim if the report quoting him was true.

"If Hadi was correctly quoted, then he is wrong and should show proof to back his claim because DAP had never agreed to the implementation of hudud by PAS on Muslims in Kelantan before or after PR was established in 2008."

He added that DAP had always been adamant against the implementation of hudud in Malaysia, with its late chairman Karpal Singh arguing that it is against the Federal Constitution and national interest.

Guan Eng warned PAS against turning to Umno for support, saying Umno leaders, including Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had clearly stated their opposition to the introduction of hudud.

"Clearly, in failing to secure PR support for implementing hudud, PAS is now turning to Umno.

"Despite Umno’s opposition to hudud from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad until Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2011, PAS is willing to trust that Umno is not playing politics to recapture Kelantan," said the Penang chief minister.

Many say Umno's Muslim MPs were expected to support PAS's bill, with Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and Kelantan Umno chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa coming out to declare they would support the bill.

Umno has 88 MPs while PAS has 21 MPs in the Parliament. Their combination would mean that the bill is still short of 39 votes to be passed with a two-thirds majority.

Guan Eng urged PAS to "make a realistic assessment" on whether Umno's support for PAS's move was a political strategy to undermine and subvert the Islamist party in its bid to recapture Kelantan.

"Hadi should not forget that he was the Terengganu menteri besar who passed the Hudud law in Terengganu in 2003 and immediately thereafter lost Terengganu in the 2004 general election to Umno.

"By attempting to work with Umno again on trying to implement hudud for Muslims in Kelantan, will history repeat itself and allow Umno to recapture Kelantan?" –  April 27, 2014.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

Pakatan’s deceit on local council elections

In 2008, Pakatan Rakyat captured four states, riding on a wave of public support crying out for change and transparency. Local democracy was touted and public demonstrations by NGOs were fully supported by all of its component parties. Local council elections became part of its election manifesto.

A 25% quota was allocated to civil society and the first batch of councillors had a good number from NGOs. The coalition of good governance (CGG) was formed, and with a grant from the Selangor government, worked out the feasibility of conducting local council elections.

A serious attempt was made to implement it, using MBPJ as the first council, but the final go-ahead never came. All the series of meeting came to an end with no closure. Unofficially we were told that one party in Pakatan had reservations and it was difficult to go ahead with it.

The exco for local government, Teng Chang Kim, said in a statement to the press that the Bill for local council elections was ready and awaiting support from only one party. Members were encouraged to persuade this party to agree so that he could get on with the job of implementing it.

Many doubted the sincerity of his statement based on observations and the performance of Pakatan since 2008. In 2013, Pakatan no longer took a strong stand on local council elections, dropping it from its election manifesto.

After 2008, many local councils lost their NGOs. Lobbying by politicians to get their compliant proxies resulted in delays in the appointments, leaving them without councillors for months while power-hungry politicians fought over the quota and subsequently usurped the seats from the NGO quota.

Teng promised local council elections in 2014 when he was appointed exco for local government and then made the move of appointing councilors whose terms will end in 2015. This makes a mockery of Teng’s statement that one party was reluctant to consent to the elections.

This matter has been discussed before. Pakatan’s fear is that as the majority of its members are Malays, they will hardly get any seats in urban areas where the population is mixed. This can be overcome by following the Singapore model of electing groups of councillors, each consisting of all races.

While it may be a good solution, it also reaffirms that Pakatan is not ready to move away from race based politics. The real reason for Pakatan having two minds about local council elections is based on the greed for power. We are all familiar with the phrase ‘power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely’.

A case in point is Kota Damansara. The first councillor appointed was not reappointed. In his place, the local MP has put in his own friendly proxy to take the place. For three years, the councillor worked against NGOs and the neglected poor in Kota Damansara.

A four-year-old boy fell to his death through rusted railings under his watch. Official complaints to the Menteri Besar’s and Teng’s office was of no avail. This matter was already well covered by the online media. The Selangor state assembly said the matter was resolved, when it was not.

This will certainly hurt the ‘keadilan’ image of Pakatan Rakyat. The question here is: Is Pakatan still for the rakyat?

Danger signs

The Bible Society of Malaysia announced that it cannot rely on Pakatan to protect the religious rights of the minorities and is moving to Kuala Lumpur. The sarcastic goodbye to BSM’s exit from Selangor by the Menteri Besar will not be taken lightly by the religious minorities.

The disregard for public opinion does not bode well for Pakatan. In the next few days the disgruntled public are demanding to meet the Menteri Besar over the Selangor government’s plan to go ahead with the Kidex highway. No genuine public consultation was conducted.

The highway will slice across Petaling Jaya, displacing hundreds of homes and making Petaling Jaya a ‘laughable city’ instead of the much touted ‘livable city’. The ‘protected’ Selangor State park which will also have a highway tearing across a pristine forested area that is also a water catchment area.

Petaling Jaya will continue to absorb more residents even though its infrastructure can no longer support a bigger population. This is because the state is pushing for a higher plot ratio for all areas that are along the MRT.

The public is no longer consulted and engaged. Some who do not trust the words of the state government are moving away. The more solid ones are now openly criticising the self-serving attitude of some politicians.
The upcoming PKR elections may offer hope of a more inclusive leadership but it is no longer about empty promises. The public is going to judge politicians individually for their sincerity and their work.

Back to the local council elections. Don’t ask the public to persuade the stubborn party to change its mind. Don’t ask the environmentalists to waste their time gathering petitions to protect the desecration of water catchment areas.

Don’t ask Kidex volunteers to sacrifice their work and family time to mobilise and fight against unjust development. It is Pakatan’s responsibility to get its house in order to keep to its manifesto promises.

A paragraph from its 2013 election manifesto states: Pakatan Rakyat respects the people as the ultimate masters of their destiny and our homeland. The people’s freedom and voices must be respected. The rights of all, regardless of background, rich or poor, shall be considered. Our aim is to eliminate all unjust laws that infringe the sovereignty of the people.

If in the last election the public entrustment of power to you have been misplaced, you can rest assured that the public is already benchmarking all politicians individually. Are they here to use their power against the public or to work with the public by empowering them to help solve community problems?

Already some groups have decided and they are moving.

Written by Jeffrey FK Phang
FMT

Jeffrey FK Phang is an asst professor at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman while also an activist with Friends of Kota Damansara. His passion is in creating caring communities that are safe, harmonious and livable.

Will Pakatan save Barisan for the next 10 years?

MANY people will celebrate this coming Saturday as the 6th anniversary of the 2008 Political Celebration.

For Malaysians who want regime change, March 8 is the most commemorative date on the calendar because it gives them hope, or in the words of writer Kee Thuan Chye, it was "the day Malaysia woke up."

March 8 six years ago was the day the Opposition parties, for the first time after 1969, denied the ruling coalition its customary two-thirds, and first time ever, rule a host of five states. It was the day many Malaysians discovered that their votes actually could make a difference.

But the very reason why March 8 is so widely commemorated by Pakatan Rakyat and Civil Society is also really because they cannot celebrate May 5, the day that is supposed to end Umno's 59/51 years rule of Malaya/Malaysia.

In other words, every celebration of the greatness of March 8 is an unspoken mourning over the failure of May 5.

So, how many more years will the Malaysia democrats celebrate most grandly the March 8 near-miss because they cannot celebrate regime change?

How did Umno/BN rebound from near-misses?

The answer may lie with Pakatan Rakyat: PKR, PAS and DAP.

Lest we forget, 2008 was not the first time Umno and BN escaped their defeat. In fact, it was the third, after the 1990 and 1999 abortive attempts. Each time, Umno and BN bounced back stronger than before.

In both the 1990 and 1999 episodes, three things happened: change – of policy or leadership – in BN; break-up of the opposition coalition; and, seat increase and constituency redelineation.

1. Change in BN Policy/Leadership

Conventionally, the First-Past-The-Post electoral system forces political parties to win the middle ground voters. Hence, electoral set-backs will often lead to change of policy or leadership to restore a party's popularity or voters' confidence on it.

BN followed this rule in 1990 when the opposition won 47% of votes, and some 70% support amongst Chinese voters. But it managed to secure majority of Malay voters west of Banjaran Titiwangsa because Tengku Razaleigh wore a Kadazan traditional headgear with a crucifix-like pattern. That became the evidence he sold out the Malay-Muslims to Kadazan-Catholics.

To win back the Chinese voters, within four months from election, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dished out Vision 2020 and introduced cultural and educational liberalisation, which paved way for significant increase in Chinese support of BN for the next three elections.

In 1999, BN secured the support of the Chinese who were largely afraid of another 1969-style post-election riot as well as an Islamic State should PAS come to power. But the Malays were polarised by Mahathir, whose sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was seen by many Malays as tyrannical and un-Malay.

To save Umno, Dr Mahathir retired on November 2003. In March 2004, his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called a fresh poll and won a 91% parliamentary majority.

2. Break-up of Opposition Coalition

Umno/BN's revival requires the Opposition coalitions to break-up so that middle-ground voters can be convinced that Umno/BN is the only electable party to run the country.

Some misunderstood that the opposition parties were more disunited than the BN parties. The actual fact is that coalitions are much built by the benefits and prospects of staying in power.

That's why Umno schisms in both episodes would lead to formation of opposition coalitions which were respectively led by Razaleigh's S46 and Anwar's Keadilan.

When the opposition coalitions lost the elections without even denying BN's two-third majority, the incentives to hold the opposition parties together disappeared.

After 1990, PAS pushed Hudud Law in Kelantan, S46 became more Malay nationalistic, and DAP soon quitted the opposition pact. And PAS and S46 too fought in Kelantan before Razaleigh's troop rejoined Umno.

After 1999, PAS pushed Hudud Law in Terengganu, while PKR with Anwar in jail couldn't do much, not long after the 911 Incident, DAP again called it quit.

And of course, disarrayed oppositions made BN naturally appealing, especially after policy and leadership changes respectively.

3. Seat Increase and Constituency Redelineation

While the above two factors are well-known, few realise the BN's rebound was amplified by seat increase and constituency redelineation in the Peninsula that happened before the next election.

The 1994 redelineation was packaged with an increase of 12 seats in Peninsula, leading to a net of six more seats allocated for Umno to contest.

While Mahathir's BN was no doubt way more popular in 1995 than in 1990, DAP and PAS were shortchanged in the Peninsula by constituency redelineation.

In 1990, DAP won 20 seats (then 15.15% of the Peninsula's total) with 18.04% of votes, yielding a vote value of 84%. To get the concept of vote value, think of vote analogously as a bank note, DAP could only get RM 0.84 worth of goods with a RM1 note.

By 1995, its vote share dropped by about one third to 12.13%, but its seat dropped sharply to only 8 (now 5.56%), yielding a vote value of 46%. In other words, the value of a DAP vote was almost halved.

Similarly, despite a slight increase of vote share from 7.79% to 8.45%, PAS found itself still winning only seven seats in a larger pool. The value of a vote for PAS dropped from 68% to 58%.

Abdullah's 91% parliamentary landslide in 2004 was BN's largest since Independence but his vote share, 63.85%, was only the second highest. Mahathir bagged the highest vote share of 65.16% in 1995 but only 84.38% of seats.

How did Abdullah do better than his predecessor? Again, his magic is in seat increase and constituency redelineation.

The Election Commission under Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman helped him with an increase of 26 seats in the Peninsula and Sabah (including Labuan) in 2003.

In 1995, Mahathir's BN won 65.27% of votes in these two regions, which was translated into 82.42% of their total seats, yielding a vote value of 126%. By 2004, Abdullah's BN won 90.05% of seats with 63.72% of votes, yielding a vote value of 1.41.

Rashid was Abdullah's magician.

Will Pakatan be its worst enemy?

How long will Malaysian democrats have to celebrate May 8 as the most important political anniversary?

If historical pattern of Umno's revivals after 1990 and 1999 can be of any guide for the future, Umno is now deprived of its first favourable condition: policy or leadership change.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak's 1Malaysia is actually by and large Mahathir's Vision 2020 repackaged but he couldn't keep the pretension of inclusiveness. Any leadership change will likely alienate the opposition-voting majority further.

The two other favourable developments are however still possible: the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat; and, seat increase coupled with constituency redelineation.

To do the former, Umno had tried with different packages of coalition government but none has worked so far.

It still has a ultimate weapon – offering PAS hardliners constitutional amendment to allow Hudud Laws at state-level. But this may be a double-edged sword – BN may break too and Pakatan may turn out stronger after the exodus of some hardliners.

The best weapon for Umno is to lure Pakatan Rakyat to be its own enemy and agree on seat increase. With enough Pakatan politicians believing in the EC's win-win promise or their ability to outsmart it, the Commission can do its magic again and keep Umno in power for two more terms.

The opposition could not do anything in 1994 and 2003 to stop seat increase. If in 2014, Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians voluntarily sign democracy's delivery ticket to slaughter house, that tragedy would be too heavy to bear for Malaysia.

Source: Wong Chin Huat, FZ