Altantuya Killers’ Appeal Up Soon

John Berthelsen @ Asia Sentinel

The politically-charged appeal of two elite Malaysian police bodyguards who were sentenced to death two years and nine months ago for the 2006 murder-for-hire of Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya Shaaribuu is due on Feb. 10 in Malaysia’s Court of Appeal.

The High Court trial, in which everything appeared to have been done ignore the question of who hired the two killers, stands in vivid contrast to the appeal filed by prosecutors on Jan. 19 in the case of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, in which everything appeared to have been done to bend the evidence to try to put the 64-year-old Anwar behind bars. As Judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah pointed out in his not-guilty verdict, “the court cannot be 100 percent certain that the DNA evidence against Anwar was not contaminated.”

The two bodyguards, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, were to be paid RM50,000 to RM00,000 to kill Altantuya, according to a confession by Sirul which was never produced in court.

Why the need for a para-military group like RELA? Why continue to give them guns?

Maclean Patrick

The RM6.56 million high-tech virtual shooting range set up at the Rakan Muda Complex recently is nothing more than an overpriced game machine that panders to the trigger-happy fingers of 16-year-old volunteers of the Rela Youth cadets. Money, that is otherwise better spent elsewhere, is instead pumped into a system that hopes to “foster youth interest in security and public order issues through the activity of shooting”.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he hoped trainees would be able to better understand the pressures of being a policeman when faced with a life-or-death scenario. “Maybe the youths will see how difficult it is for the authorities to carry out their duties when faced with certain situations so they won’t easily point fingers and accuse the police in certain cases,” he told reporters after visiting the centre.

“I ask those who accuse the police (of wrongful shooting) … to come to this centre. They can see for themselves what they will do when faced with the choice of shoot or be killed. It’s not easy to make such a decision.”

Manglish or Bahasa rojak. How can?

Mariam Mokhtar

The inexcusable translation in our government departments is not just a question of lack of professionalism and education but, more importantly, of attitude, especially of those at the top.

Throughout Malaysia’s arms spending history, the government has forked out billions on defence procurement while millions more have allegedly been used for commissions and backhanders.

And yet the defence ministry does not see fit to apportion a tiny fraction of its massive budget on the services of a translator.

It cannot be a lack of funds or a scarcity of translators. Is it an aversion which started after one high-profile translator connected to a particular defence purchase met an untimely end?

Unable to get the warlords to compromise, Umno decides to whitewash the NFC debacle

Nawawi Mohamad

Since PKR leaders Rafizi Ramli and Zuraida Kamaruddin blew the lid off the RM250mil NFC debacle with their well-timed series of expose’ and revelations of greed, corruption and sheer financial imbecility, the scandal has morphed from being a mess into a quagmire for UMNO.

Make no mistake, the UMNO elite are watching this case a very wary eye because NFC is also the gateway to UMNO’s Pandora box. If not careful, it can provide arch rival Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat coalition with a weapon of mass destruction for the 13th general election.

But scream and shout it may, UMNO has no one to blame but itself, its own greed and its own infighting for this very critical situation. What a blunder of fireworks for a grand finale of destruction for UMNO!

Even Houdini or David Copperfield could never make NFC and the spectre of the Shahrizat clan, their cows, condos and Super-class Mercedes Benz disappear from the people’s minds! Sad to say, the two magicians could never make the whole RM250mil government soft loan reappear for the people either!

Umno’s latest secret weapon – “Professor Kangkong”

Nawawi Mohamad

Things are not going well for UMNO, it is under fire from all fronts. Not only are its famed and highly-paid cyber-troopers causing more harm than good with their obscene and crude commentaries, its big ‘educational’ weapon in the form of Oxford-graduate Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin has been a miserable letdown with his sometimes left and sometimes right leanings. Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali too has been a huge disappointment, making not just UMNO but entire Malay community seem dumb and born without brains.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that a desperate UMNO has decided to engage academicians to provide ‘intellectual’ support. Of course, academicians have always known which side their bread is buttered, but with the political stakes heightened as GE-13 approaches, targeted ‘analysis’ aimed to upset the opposition’s apple cart is worth ‘paying’ for.

Shoots itself in the foot

Adam to appeal to minister against suspension

Malaysiakini

Student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim says he will appeal against his three-semester suspension by his university to Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin.According to Malay daily Sinar Harian today, the Legasi Mahasiswa Progresif coordinator said students should be given the space to voice out and seek justice, and not be restricted as such.Adam was suspended by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris on charges of damaging the institution’s reputation, after he had swapped a flag bearing the prime minister’s image with a banner that read “liberate academic freedom” in front of the Umno headquarters in Putra World Trade Centre in December.

Meanwhile, the daily also reported that residents of Kampung Jalan Kebun in Shah Alam have banned members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) from entering their village following a ceramah they co-organised with Anything But Umno (ABU) at the Shah Alam City Council hall last Saturday.

Nothing but propaganda from Najib

Charles Santiago

Najib appears as a political weakling who, time and again, back pedals on promised reforms to cater to the demands of Umno warlords, says Charles Santiago.

The water dragon year, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is special. It happens once in every 60 years and therefore considered auspicious.

The dragon is ferocious, strong and believed to signify changes. In the case of Malaysia, changes we need pronto.

The recent disruption of an ABU (Anything But Umno) rally clearly shows that we need to boot out the current regime.

Enough of calling for reforms within the existing system of government. The rampant graft, cronyism and greed is so institutionalized in Umno and its coalition partners that no revamp is possible.

Court victories herald change in Sarawak

Keruah Usit

Sarawak natives have jammed another wrench into the land acquisition machine of plantation companies with close ties to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Taib is the state minister responsible for land, and is under investigation by several foreign governments, as well as (ostensibly) by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, for alleged graft.

Tua Kampung Nyipa Anak Tingang, representing his longhouse of 30 doors in Sebauh, 25km from Bintulu, has notched up another significant victory against state-sponsored plantation tycoons, in the campaign for native customary rights (NCR) land.

On Jan 20, Nyipa won a court injunction against Pusaka KTS, a forest plantation giant with vast interests in Bintulu, Belaga and Baram.

Taib snubs Najib’s man in Sarawak

Joseph Tawie

Can wily veteran Taib Mahmud outwit the Umno ‘immortals’ in the game of political charades?

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s absence from Sarawak United People’s Party’s (SUPP) Chinese New Year open house on Monday has further fuelled speculations of “Putrajaya’s hand” in Sarawak.

This is the second time that Taib has excused himself from a SUPP function organised by “agents of Putrajaya”.

He sent his deputy Alfred Jabu Numpang in his place. Also present at the open house was acting Yang di-Pertua Negeri Asfia Awang Nassar and scores of other VIPs.

Last December, he sent Abang Johari Tun Openg, Pesaka Bumiptera Bersatu (PBB) deputy president, to attend the party’s controversy-ridden triennial delegates conference (TDC), which was opened by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Taib is PBB president.

Appeal against Anwar’s acquittal a fatal mistake

Kim Quek

Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to have made a U-turn in his position on the much-lauded acquittal of de facto Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim from the sodomy charge.

When the totally unexpected acquittal was stunningly announced on Jan 9, Najib together with senior Umno leaders were quick to bask in the compliments that poured in from around the world for finally having done justice to Anwar, despite the preceding perverted process that was seen as plain political persecution.

Najib , in particular, seemed proud of this High Court verdict, citing it as proof of the transformation that he had brought to the country.

In an interview published by the influential Wall Street Journal on Jan 13, he told interviewer James Hookway that this verdict “underscores the depth of the reform process”.

Taib Mahmud’s ‘no-show’ at SUPP’s CNY open house: Waste of time?

Theborneopost.com

The no-show by the chief minister at SUPP’s Chinese New Year open house this year should not be speculated as a reflection of his stand at the party’ new leadership, said president Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui.

The Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister stated that he had no qualms about Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud giving the open house at SUPP headquarters here on Monday a miss because the party had been advised that Taib would be represented by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang.

“We (SUPP) sent an invitation to the chief minister but we were told that he would be represented by Jabu.

“Whatever reason Taib has for not being able to make it this year, only he knows the answer.

“As SUPP president, it is alright that Taib chose not to come. After all, this is an open house for both the VIPs and the people,” Chin told reporters when met at the open house.

Long house residents get injunction to stop timber extraction

Sulok Tawie

The High Court here has granted an interim injunction to restrain a timber company from encroaching into native customary rights (NCR) land claimed by long house residents in the Bintulu Division.

Judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang granted the injunction after an ex-parte hearing in chambers following an application submitted by counsel for the long house residents See Chee How, last Friday afternoon.

The full hearing of the application is scheduled to be held at the Bintulu High Court on Jan 30.

Village headman Nyipa anak Tingang of Kuala Pandan, Sebauh in Bintulu, representing himself and 63 other residents, claimed that they are the proprietors, occupiers, holders and claimants of the land surrounding Ulu Sungai Kakus and Ulu Sungai Merirai.

He named Pustaka KTS Forests Plantation Sdn Bhd, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, director of Forests Sarawak, Superintendent of Lands and Surveys of Bintulu and Sarawak state government as first, second, third, fourth and fifth defendants respectively.

Najib will ‘override all laws’ if Umno loses

Awang Abdillah

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Umno have been reminded that Article 150 of the Federal Constitution empowers only the King to proclaim a state of emergency.

If Umno loses in the 13th general election, Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak may be left with one option, override all rules of the game and declare a state of emergency in accordance with Article 150 of the federal constitution to prevent the surrender of the political power to his adversaries.

Although it is hardly considered proper.

A government can only declare a state of emergency if there exists a genuine large scale threat to our national democratic political system, the state security, the country’s economic and financial system, public order and peace, racial harmony, the country’s transport and communications system and the likes such as from imminent attacks by saboteurs, destruction from natural calamities, people’s uprising, foreign military threats and war.

NCR landowners warn govt: Withdraw leases or else…

Joseph Tawie

Angry Iban landowners from Balai Ringin are demanding that Land and Survey Department director Sazali Kipli withdraw the provisional leases (PLs) on native customary rights (NCR) land.

The PLs on these lands have been awarded to a number of private companies.

Some 50 landowners expressed their dissatisfaction to Sazali recently and demanded that the government withdrwa the PLs or face the consequences.

“We are giving the department 30 days starting from Jan 17 to withdraw the PLs, failing which we will come again to express our displeasure.

“The next time we will come in a bigger group,” said Augustine Bagat, the group’s spokesman.

International response filters in, condemning Najib’s U-turn on Anwar acquittal

Maria Begum

International response is starting to filter in on news that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government has decided to appeal the acquittal of political arch rival Anwar, the Opposition Leader, who was found “not guilty” by a High Court judge last week.

Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of the Asia Division, Human Rights Watch was among the early bird to condemn the Najib administration for its latest flip-flop.

“The trial court gave the government a chance to bow out gracefully from Anwar’s politically motivated prosecution. It’s very unfortunate that they didn’t take it. This decision means the citizens of Malaysia will be further subjected to the more political machinations in the courtroom as the government perpetuates this travesty of a trial for a crime that should not be a crime in the first place,” Phil said in a statement.

Appeal against sodomy verdict, What are we to think?

Terence Netto

Anwar’s sodomy acquittal a Pyrrhic victory

Those who claimed that Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal by the High Court last week on a charge of sodomy was a game-changing move must have felt, after the Attorney-General’s Chambers filed a notice of appeal yesterday, rather like North Korea’s nuclear disarmament interlocutors in recent years.

Just when we discern some sign of softening on the part of the communist world’s first dynastic regime, a South Korean frigate is sunk off the coast of the Korean peninsula, or Pyongyang test fires a missile, or commits some such travesty.

Then, what vestigial hopes the North had managed to keep alive in its adversaries are recognised as chimerical before the rogue regime begins another cycle of ‘now you see my softer side, now you don’t.’

Have a Happy New Year

Sim Kwang Yang

It is time for us to say goodbye to the old year of the Rabbit and welcome the new year of the Dragon.

Can Umno change or cows fly?

Kee Thuan Chye

Can it stop dishing out favours and projects to party leaders and their cronies?

Umno is beyond redemption. At its general assembly in December, the message it sent out was suspicion of others and hatred for them, and a desperate desire to win the next general election.

Its president, Najib Tun Razak, once again proved what many of us have long suspected – that he is a dissembler. He exposed the ultimate lie behind his 1Malaysia slogan by saying things that would divide the races rather than bring them together. He set the trend for delegates at the assembly to harp on the threats to Umno from other races. It was disgraceful coming from the prime minister of the country. It was supremely irresponsible.

Worse, two days after the assembly ended, he appealed to the right-wing NGO Pertubuhan Kebajikan dan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Pekida) for support. This has to be the final nail in the 1Malaysia coffin.

Nazri and Co have something to hide

Mariam Mokhtar

The minister appears to have no desire to arrest the erosion of trust in the way we are governed.

In March 2011, four politicians in Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) declared their assets in statutory declarations which listed their salaries and assets such as cars and houses. The four are Sungai Siput MP Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, Kota Damansara assemblyman Nasir Hashim, Shah Alam councillor A Sivarajan and Kajang councillor S Arutchelvan. They also tried to persuade the opposition coalition to emulate them.

This January, Bersih 2.0 chairman S Ambiga, Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) chief Paul Low and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and members of his executive council urged Umno-BN politicians to publicly declare their assets.

If Bersih 3.0 takes to streets, they’ll face the music

Hazlan Zakaria

Should the pro-electoral reform group Bersih take to the streets yet again, it will face the music, de facto law minister Nazri Aziz warns.

“You go to the streets, then you face the law,” Nazri said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He was responding to news reports that the outlawed NGO, dissatisfied with the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms for not picking up all the eight reforms it suggested, may hold a repeat performance of its previous Bersih and Bersih 2.0 mass rallies, held in 2008 and last July respectively.

Chiding the NGO for such tactics, Nazri added that if it wanted to see reforms carried out, it should use the proper channels.

Even if Umno-BN wins 100% of the votes, it would still be an illegitimate government

Nawawi Mohamad

UMNO has long lost its legitimacy to form the federal government. Even if it can win 100 per cent of the vote in the 13th general election that must be called by April 2013, this fact will not change. In fact, the more seats UMNO wins, the more illegitimate it would be because it is simply inconceivable that UMNO can win 100 per cent votes, without having cheated or rigged the polls results.

Some facts on the 12th General Election held in 2008 should be noted and analysed. The Barisan Nasional within Peninsular Malaysia failed to obtain a majority of popular votes cast. It only obtained 49% of the popular votes in Peninsular Malaysia whereas the Opposition had the majority of popular votes – 51%. UMNO won 35% of popular votes against 34.8% won by PAS and PKR. The figures by themselves tell us that the Malays do not depend on UMNO anymore.

Without ideas and clueless, Najib has lost the plot to lead Malaysia

Maclean Patrick

It is easy to say that Pakatan Rakyat has run out of ideas to bring forward to the people, especially when most of the items in the Buku Jingga have been hijacked by an increasingly clueless Prime Minister Najib Razak and Barisan National. And surely one must take into consideration that Pakatan Rakyat is not yet the ruling government, thus their ideas will remain ideas on paper without a clear mechanism for implementation until they get a clear mandate from the people.

Even still, we can already see some measure of success with Pakatan’s ideas in the states of Penang and Selangor. Given that Pakatan has only been in power for 4 years, their successes in Penang and Selangor are little short of a miracle compared to Najib’s disastrous 4-year reign.

Implementation and political will

Bishop : Najib only paying ‘lip service’ when talking of moderation

David Anandarajoo

Paul Tan Chee Ing, the Catholic prelate, says that prime minister Najib Razak is merely paying lip service when he talks about fostering moderation in Malaysia but leaves “demagogues unchallenged” when they make irrational claims.

Commenting on Najib’s speech at an international convention earlier this week, Tan said that the past year had seen Christians being “unjustifiably accused of a host of deeds that contravene inter-religious harmony,” in an obvious reference to sacked Selangor exco Dr Hasan Ali’s tirade against groups who were allegedly bent on converting Muslims.

Hasan was then a member of PAS, part of the Pakatan Rakyat opposition, but was accused of working for Umno to destabilise his own party by creating religious dissatisfaction in Selangor, a key state in which Najib has bowed to re-take in the coming 13th general election.

Uniting Malays Not Over (Umno)

Christopher Fernandez

Umno, the acronym for United Malays National Organisation, despite being in existence for decades, has failed miserably to unite Malays under its banner. Therefore, it should perhaps re-define Umno as Uniting Malays Not Over.

All was well upon the inception of Umno by Jaffar Onn and the fight against the British that led to Merdeka. Umno was also well under Tunku Abdul Rahman’s leadership. But the changes that led to Umno losing favour with the Malay populace can be traced back to as early as the 70s.

Umno has since then become a fractious and divisive organisation which even led to its de-registration and the setting up of a new Umno during the era of the Mahathir administration. But the fact that a Malay organisation, claiming to represent the bulk of the Malay population, does not even have a Malay equivalent in naming itself speaks of the muddled politics the party has been engaging in until now.

Taib’s Landgrabs – The Breakdown

Sarawak report

Don’t take our forest! Bruno Manser Fund has looked behind ‘development’ at the real motive driving Taib – Money.

Bruno Manser Fund’s research team have done the world another favour.  They have conducted a careful and painstaking analysis of the leaked Land & Survey Department information that we first revealed on line here on Sarawak Report [click for land grab map and data].

From the BMF report we can now see clearly, in black and white, the extraordinary extent of the theft carried out by the Chief Minister and his family of Sarawak’s native and state-owned lands.

In the name of ‘development’ Taib has filched an area three times the size of Singapore for himself and close family members.  Indeed, the Chief Minister, who claims he ‘does no business in Sarawak’ is himself an owner of the company which has received most of all in terms of land, Delta Padi [see our previous expose].

Evidence of Taib corruption – oil palm plantations three times the size of Singapore

stop-timber-corruption

Leaked land registry records show that companies linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family have been given close to 200,000 hectares of land for oil palm plantations – Taib himself is a shareholder of Delta Padi Snd Bhd, one of the main beneficiaries Bruno Manser Fund is challenging the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission over its inaction on the Taib case

Leaked records from the Malaysian state of Sarawak’s Land and Survey Department show that 31 companies linked to Malaysian top politician Abdul Taib Mahmud (“Taib”) have been given land for oil palm plantations amounting to almost 200,000 hectares equivalent to three times the size of Singapore. The land leases were issued by the Taib-led Sarawak state government, which is being accused of massive corruption and the systematic destruction of the Borneo rainforest.

Taib To Be Sued By His Own Constituents

Sarawak Report

Moonscape ? Local people of Pulau Bruit after Taib-owned Delta Padi stripped their land

The Chief Minister of Sarawak faces the humiliation of being prosecuted for cheating members of his own community in a Kuching court. Some of the potential plaintiffs are among his own constituents!

The unprecedented plan by a group of Taib’s fellow Melanau, till now considered to be his most loyal supporters, was revealed on air today by the new-look Radio Free Sarawak, during interviews about the latest land grab figures released by the Bruno Manser Fund(BMF).

The Swiss-based NGO has analysed who received what out of the huge areas of Native Customary Lands, alienated by the Chief Minister’s own government.  Their figures (due out shortly) prove that the vast majority went into the hands of companies owned by himself and his family.

A Coward In Putrajaya: Why is Najib so afraid to face Anwar?

Ismail Dahlan

On Saturday, Najib Razak was challenged for the 3rd time by Anwar Ibrahim to a debate. There has been no response from him. Mr.Najib, it would seem, prefers to skulk in the shadows and throw stones. There is a word for such people; they are cowards.

Mr.Najib, surrounded by supporters and and propagandists from the mainstream press like The Star, NST and Utusan, has brave words to say about Pakatan’s proposed policies. He has no compunctions, casting self-respect and dignity aside, to behave like a juvenile schoolboy and shout mealy-mouthed insults at Anwar Ibrahim from a safe distance. But Najib refuses to face Anwar Ibrahim in open debate for he has not the courage to do so.

Poltroon means Coward

Bersih kicks off voter turnout campaign

K Pragalath

The electoral reform watchdog says a 100 percent turnout would strengthen democracy.

Electoral reform watchdog, Bersih 2.0, launched a programme called “Jom 100” to increase voter turnout for the 13th general election.

Bersih 2.0 chairman S Ambiga said: “A 100 percent turnout would strengthen democracy and mitigate gerrymandering and electoral fraud.”

At a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here, she also said that 100 percent voter turnout would allow the people to re-shape the future of Malaysia.

She added that the Jom 100 programme is geared towards educating voters on their rights and importance of casting their voters.

Bersih hints of another rally if polls reform fails

Leven Woon

The NGO coalition for clean and fair elections may take to the streets again should the authorities fail to implement its recommendations on electoral reform.

Speaking to the media after launching a voter education campaign in Kuala Lumpur today, Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan said she fears that the authorities will not abide by the recommendations of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms.

“The PSC can come up with their recommendations, but they may not be implemented.

“If they don’t fulfil these recommendations, I don’t rule out another Bersih rally before GE,” she said.

Ambiga led Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 when thousands of people from all walks of life converged in Kuala Lumpur to demand for electoral reforms.

Another ‘annus horribilis’ for Taib

Keruah Usit

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud raised eyebrows, and a few laughs, when he lost his temper very visibly on Dec 17 last year. A reporter asked him in passing about NGO allegations of corruption and calls for his arrest.

Eyewitnesses say Taib yelled “That’s a lie!” and then left the ‘Halal Transformation’ promotion he had graced with his appearance. His bodyguard later returned, and demanded to know which newspaper the reporter was from.

“Malaysiakini,” was the reply, to smiles all around, since all the reporters gathered there were well aware there were no Malaysiakini staff present.

Arab Spring Malaysian style

AB Sulaiman

Last year might well be labelled as the year of the ‘Arab Spring’ by historians.

It was when one Arab country after another, beginning with Tunisia and spreading rapidly to other Arab countries like Yemen, Syria, and Libya, experienced a revolt from their citizens.

These countries share some common characteristics: they are in the main, oil-rich, governed by autocratic and dictatorial leaders for long periods, use Islam as a weapon of suppression, and pay lip service to democracy.

The citizens were tired of these suppressive, autocratic and dictatorial regimes. So they clamoured for more equality in income and wealth distribution, and for fairness and justice to replace oppression and suppression in the practice of the law and in governance.

Polls date: Is Najib dancing in the dark?

Selena Tay

Due to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal of the sodomy charge, it is back to the drawing board for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to fix the ever-elusive date for the 13th general election.

There is a proverb that says “he who hesitates is lost”. Najib is not really lost in that sense but again this highlights his indecisiveness for all to see. He should have called for the polls in 2010, but then he was hesitant and now the opposition Pakatan Rakyat has gained a slight upperhand and he is left cracking his head as he mulls over night and day when to call for the polls.

He even had ample time to call for the polls last year before the Bersih 2.0 rally in July, but again somehow he stumbled. Now the general election date seems to be like the Holy Grail and this is all due to his own doing. There is a Chinese proverb which says “don’t do stupid things to inconvenience oneself” and this applies perfectly to Najib.

BN tag won’t work on informed Sarawak voters

Bernama

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Jemut Masing has said that the Barisan Nasional can no longer depend on its usual election campaign tagline of ‘No Barisan Nasional, No Development’ in Sarawak.

This is because the current voters are “not only young but well educated and are very well-informed of happenings around them”, he said at a dinner organised by the party’s Bintulu branch here last night.

Masing said the Internet has changed the scenario now.

“It is both a blessing as well as a curse for us. Because of the Internet, we now have the alternative or social media and they have more readership than the mainstream media.

“These alternative media have better reach and are read by different strata of society. Thus, our population, especially those in urban and semi-urban areas, are well informed of happenings around them,” he said.

A tiger may change its stripes

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Hindustan Times

Former Malaysia’s prime minister Mahathir Mohamad smiles as he speaks at his office in Putrajaya outside Kuala. The man who made Malaysia part of the “East Asia Miracle” with a massive inflow of foreign direct investment doesn’t think much of it today. Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad

Writing articles about Southeast Asian politics was once a journalist’s purgatory. The sun’s rise was less predictable than a Singaporean election. Nothing was less important than a Thai change of government. Vietnam and Myanmar were in authoritarian straitjackets. And Malaysia was dominated by

one party and one man.

Suddenly it’s a different story. Thailand is a bi-colour nation. Aung San Suu Kyi is back on the campaign trail. Even Singapore’s ruling has suffered ballot box humiliation. But it is in Malaysia that political ferment is producing something genuinely heady.