Social media a double-edged sword for Umno

Boo Su-Lyn

Najib stressed that voters at the coming 13th general election were more concerned with what the government could do for them in future. – File pic

Social media is both a boon and a bane for Umno as it caused Barisan Nasional (BN) to lose its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday.

The prime minister told CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland yesterday that voters were getting more educated and critical.

“I see the advent of ICT, social media as both something good, but also our bane. Could be our Achilles heel as well,” said Najib in the interview with Fareed.

When ‘good enough’ is better than ‘best’

Bernard Fook Weng Loo

Technology as a force multiplier is a familiar argument for states with limited strategic resources — such as manpower — to overcome. However, the lasting qualitative advantages any armed forces should seek may not come from technology.

Technology is necessarily short-lived. Five years ago, portable storage devices — so-called thumb drives — with megabytes of storage space were considered fairly cutting-edge technologies. Then came along portable hard drives with hundreds of megabytes of storage space. Today, mobile storage devices contain gigabytes of space.

Technological change is accelerating and, once measured by the century, is today likely to occur every year.

Will 2013 bite us?

Yanto Soegiarto

 According to Chinese traditional beliefs, 2013 is the year of the water snake. That means it will be a tricky year. With the snake, it’s not always easy to tell which direction it is going to go in. That will probably be the same with the year 2013. It will seem to go in one direction and then, very unexpectedly, veer in a completely different direction.

It’s a year that will be full of uncertainty and surprises, whether political, social or economic.

The Mayan calendar got it wrong because the world didn’t end in 2012. Nostradamus’ predictions of wars and disasters in the 21st century have yet to be proved.

The smartphone rebate just got stupider

A. Asohan

• Only eligible for pre-approved devices costing under RM500; other qualifying criteria just as bad
• Smartphone rebate still stinks of an election ploy, with possible ‘crony play’ now added in as well

ONE of the most flabbergasting initiatives unveiled by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic), Malaysia’s Prime Minister and Finance Minister, in his proposed national budget, was a rebate of RM200 (US$65) for youths to purchase a 3G smartphone.

As my colleague Karamjit Singh noted in his commentary, Budget 2013 smartphone rebate: A stupid thing to do, the RM300 million (US$98 million) could have been put to better use on other initiatives to develop the ICT ecosystem in the country.

Rise in domestic debt places Malaysia at risk of crisis, economists warn

Ida Lim

Kuala Lumpur skyline at dusk. WSJ reported that Malaysia had one of the higher figures of debt levels in the region, with the country’s credit-to-GDP ratio this June rising to 117 per cent from 96 per cent in late 2007. – Reuters pic

Economists warn that a rise in domestic debt that has been keeping Asia’s economy strong could place the region, which includes Malaysia, at risk of a major crisis, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

The WSJ noted the great increase in the number of loans being taken by Asian businesses and individuals due to the low interest rates offered by banks.

But Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC, warned that the Asia could be at the brink of a major debt crisis, saying: “I believe we are at the beginning of a major debt cycle in Asia.”

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Will we live to see Christmas?

Stanley Koh

Malaysians have no doubt that the earth will spin on.

The world is supposed to end today (Friday), but Malaysians are generally keeping their cool, unlike many other people across the globe.

There has been no panic buying of food or attempted suicide, as has happened in other places, including China and the United States. Neither was there any indication that anyone will be celebrating, unlike in Mexico, where believers in the Doomsday theory are planning to get together to take their last collective breath.

Your Digital Legacy: States Grapple with Protecting Our Data After We Die

Katy Steinmetz

Who is allowed to read through your e-mails — or update your Facebook page — when you die? In many states across the U.S., there are no clear answers to such basic legal questions.That’s why Cynthia Creem, along with numerous other policymakers nationwide, is fighting to bring clarity to the high-tech confusion. A Massachusetts state senator, Creem proposed a bill this year that would give executors access to e-mail accounts of the deceased. “You would certainly have access to somebody’s desk,” Creem says. “Why should this be any different?” Her bill would make Massachusetts the sixth state to put a “digital asset” law on the books. But tech companies are wary of new privacy-related legislation — and in this case, Google hired a lobbyist to oppose it.

No free BN radios for Sarawak rural folk, says deputy minister

Bernama

The Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sarawak will not give out free transistor radios to the people, especially those in rural areas, for campaigning purposes before the coming general election.

Deputy Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang said this was because since its formation in 1973, the BN had been synonymous with the country’s rapid development, progress and prosperity.

The opposition in Sarawak is giving radios to rural folk. 

Will social media sway Malaysia’s elections?

Kalinga Seneviratne

Politicians are becoming media savvy in Malaysia, using social media to appeal to “netizens”.

“We lost the internet war,” Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said [Reuters]

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia is gearing up for a general election in six months and as the campaigns enter the crucial voter-courting phase many observers are wondering if the political “tsunami”, which severely weakened the ruling National Front coalition (BN) at the 2008 polls, might be repeated.

Young Adults’ Twitter Code of Conduct

Louis Liaw

A tongue-in-cheek piece on some observations made via Twitter. Descriptions below may or may not apply to persons on Twitter with whom the author associates, or disassociates, himself.

DON’Ts

1. Don’t brag, intentionally or unintentionally

Do not tweet that you are hitting the gym, or attending an extra course, or going for class and most importantly never ever tweet about your accomplishments – such as scoring an A or winning a case. Because we all know that you are just showing off, that you have to announce your achievements to the whole world to feed your poor ego. And yes, we all know that many others on Twitter (especially the Enforcers of this Code)  could do better if they were to do what you did, only that they don’t want to.

Chinese traditional medicine

Sim Kwang Yang

Growing up in Kuching as a boy, my first contact with medical treatment was of the herbal Chinese type. The services of Western medical science were expensive, and unaffordable in my youth, so Chinese medicine was the only medical care that we could have access to.

We never had enough money to see the handful of doctors in practice in Kuching, in those days. Of course, modern private medicine can also be hugely expensive today because of the burgeoning cost of healthcare, even though we now have many more doctors around us.

Now that I am grown up, and older, I suppose I have more faith in Western medicine. But I still retain a lingering love for Chinese medicine.

Revisiting the ‘Heart of Darkness’

Sim Kwang Yang

One of my favourite books is the novel written by Joseph Conrad, entitled ‘Heart of Darkness’. It is a short novella, documenting the death of an adventurer in the dark continent of Africa.

Joseph Conrad was actually a Polish national, but carved for himself a giant territory in the world of English literature. He wrote many books which were largely characterised by sea adventures. These were stories gleaned from his experiences and materials collected when he was a seaman.

‘Heart of Darkness’ tells the story of a merchant company agent by the name of Mr Kurtz, who died in the jungles of Africa. Working in the field for a company in the shipping business, Kurtz fell ill in the course of his duties, and died on the job.

Sarawak Workers Party in troubled waters ?

Dukau Papau

Trouble is said to be brewing in the five-month old Sarawak Workers Party apparently stirred up by financial problems as three members of its supreme council are quitting, an inside source revealed today.

Even some of its potential candidates, including Ellison Ludan, a lecturer tipped to vie against Aaron Dagang in Kanowit are said to be taking the feet off the gas pedal of their political activities for the same reason, he said.

The source said: “Many of its workers and singers accompanying them to longhouses have complained that they have not been paid their promised allowances.

PANIC IN SABAH: Najib won’t be able to do better than Badawi in GE-13

Joe Fernandez

Suddenly, nothing is certain nor sacred anymore and the future is entirely up for grabs by anyone willing to risk a gamble on the odds. The alternative is being consigned to the dustbin of history. The trick lies in connecting the dots in time. After all, we pass this way only once.

The essence, in short, is in the timing as even acknowledged by the chaos theory of management and crisis managers.

It cannot be denied that the ruling Barisan Nasional, despite the absence of a definite ideology but only a Confucianism of sorts, has made a most lucrative career for long – indeed too long – out of being political opportunists of the highest order. Perhaps it’s only too true that a people get a Government that they deserve. There’s also something to be said for the fact that you can bluff some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. Every dog has its day.

A different kind of gold rush

Jeswan Kaur

Are our athletes today competing with the objective of hitting the bull’s eye to earn a handsome reward?

Malaysia’s top single’s shuttler Lee Chong Wei is under tremendous pressure to bring home the country’s first Olympic gold medal. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he secured a silver medal and hope against hope is that he will eventually strike gold.

Lee previously held the world No 1 title for four years until archrival Lin Dan over took him this year. Once again there is trepidation come the Lee-Lin Dan face off – and it is understandable, for all eyes are on Lee, who is expected to make the country proud by emerging victorious.

Chopper crashes into river mouth *latest! Updated!

Borneo Post online

EUROCOPTER EC 120: This is the model of the helicopter that crashed into Sungai Teriso estuary yesterday. — Bernama photo

A private helicopter carrying three passengers to Nanga Merit Kapit Division crashed into Sungai Teriso estuary near Sebuyau 150 km from here at about 9.30am yesterday.

The German pilot Rico Steger, 35, managed to get out from the wreckage and swam for a few hours before reaching Kampung Tebelu, Sebuyau, clad only in boxer shorts shortly past noon.

State police chief Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, confirming the incident, said a group of fishermen rescued the pilot at the river estuary and brought him to Kampung Tebelu.

Stop dithering over electoral reforms, Proham tells Putrajaya

Proham

Proham in a statement today said there has been a public loss of confidence in the Election Commission and the electoral process as a whole.

Putrajaya must focus on promised reforms in the next month ahead of national polls to resolve the “electoral crisis” instead of getting defensive over the chaos of the April 28 rally, human rights watchdog Proham said today.

The ex-human rights commissioners group wants the federal government to set up a permanent monitoring committee to oversee the 22 points proposed by a temporary parliamentary panel set up last year to boost flagging public confidence in the Election Commission (EC).

Debate winner irrelevant to sway support for GE13

Leslie Lau,

Both Lim and Dr Chua spent their televised debate offering viewers a glimpse of what they have already seen and heard before. – Picture by Jack Ooi

ANALYSIS, Feb 19 — In the matter of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek against Lim Guan Eng, the key question may not be who won yesterday’s debate but whether it will make a difference to how Malaysians will vote in the next general elections.

And the answer is probably no.

Beware of the New Year

Sim Kwang Yang

According to ancient Chinese mythology, the New Year beast is an ancient beast that used to terrorise the human world every so often. The New Year celebration has always meant to be noisy and boisterous in our attempt to frighten away this horrid beast to ensure that we can live in peace and prosperity in the New Year.

The New Year also signifies a new beginning in an eternal turn of seasons. It is a time for farmers to harvest old crops and enjoy the hard earned rest at the end of the year before replanting the fields.

For the Chinese people, the New Year is an all important turn in the eternal cycle of life in their agrarian mode of existence. Time for the Chinese is forever cyclical.

Much of the meaning of the New Year has its roots in the Chinese agricultural way of life. The New Year is a day of rest from their annual toil of working the fields. It is time to celebrate the harvest and enjoy it in happiness with family.

Will we see a change of government in Malaysia in the coming general election?

Liew Chin Tong

The 12th general election in 2008 produced a devastating result for Barisan Nasional. BN received 49 per cent of popular votes in the Peninsula while the opposition gained a combined vote of 51 per cent.

Nationally, after taking into account of votes from Sabah and Sarawak, the tally was reversed with BN 51 per cent versus the opposition at 49 per cent.

In terms of seats, on 8th March 2008, BN gained 85 seats in the Peninsula while the opposition 80 seats.

The opposition managed to get only one (Bandar Kuching) of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and one (Kota Kinabalu) of 25 in Sabah. In the Peninsula, the opposition won one (Bakri) of 26 seats in Johor and two (Kuantan and Indera Mahkota) of Pahang’s 13 parliamentary seats.

The four “fixed deposit” states of BN has a total of 95 seats. A change of federal government will happen if the opposition wins a third of the parliamentary seats in the states of Sabah, Sarawak, Johore and Pahang.

‘Wong forfeits right to contest if he boycotts TDC’

Joseph Tawie

Deputy secretary general and team cannot take their seats with them if they resign from SUPP, says outgoing president George Chan

Sarawak United People’s Party will remain with the State Barisan Nasional even if the six state assemblymen resign from the party, said presidential candidate Peter Chin.

Chin is posied to win the presidential race tomorrow if rival Wong Soon Koh, who is also the party’s deputy secretary general, sees through his threat to boycott the triennial delegates’ conference (TDC) today.

Wong and his team issued the threat over what they alleged were irregularities in branch level party polls. They have lodged several reports with the Registrar of Society (ROS) and want the TDC postponed until ROS completes its investigation.

Will SUPP recover in time?

Alan Ting

The weekend delegates conference will decide whether the state’s oldest political party will stay afloat or sink.

The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) triennial delegates conference (TDC) this weekend will be watched keenly as it represents what observers believe the last chance for the party “to correct things” or continue to face a downfall in the next general election.

Going by the record in the last two state elections, the party appears to be getting weaker due to, what many believe, the problem of perceptions – that it has failed to represent the people’s voices – and because of the internal conflicts it has been facing since 2004.

The party lost 13 of the 19 seats it contested in the April polls, including Piasau, the seat contested by party president Dr George Chan. In 2006, SUPP lost six seats.

Why does Umno fear DAP so?

Terence Netto

Looked at forensically, in politics the strength of some leader or party cannot be measured merely by the size of support he or she commands or that the party is capable of delivering.

The torrent of abuse that the DAP drew from speakers, both prominent and obscure, at the ongoing Umno general assembly testifies to this reality of leaders or parties weighing in the political balance in ways disproportionate to their strength in terms of membership or representation in legislatures.

Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin (left), expected to be menteri besar of Johor after the general election, acknowledged this reality when he speculated on the reasons why speakers at the Umno assembly targeted the DAP with special venom.

Deputy Prime Minister and deputy president of Umno Muhyiddin Yassin led the way in his address to the youth and women wings of the party where he branded the DAPas anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-royals.

The mother of all electoral abuses

Lim Hong Hai

I refer to the Malaysiakini report, ‘A retiree exposes gerrymandering in Sabah’, and applaud Ng Chak Ngoon for his contribution, especially his graph on the unequal numbers of voters among electoral constituencies.

The delineation of constituencies has long been considered unfair because of two practices that are generally regarded as electoral abuses, namely mal-apportionment and gerrymandering.

Both these practices can have important effects under the first-past-the-post electoral system, which we use in Malaysia.

What Ng has so graphically exposed (chart below) is mal-apportionment or inequality among constituency electorates, rather than gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the drawing of constituency boundaries for partisan advantage and it can be done even in the absence of mal-apportionment.

Azizah: Vote for us and we’ll deliver RM4,000 p/m minimum household income

Maria Begum

PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail unveiled a slew of strategies to improve the livelihood of Malaysians, the majority of whom are struggling with sky-rocketing prices, promising voters a much brighter furture should they vote for her party in general elections widely expected to be held early next year.

Not only did the Wan Azizah announce that PKR had finalised a plan to raise the minimum household income to RM4,000 within 5 years, and introduce a minimum wage of RM1,100 per month, she also had good news for the Felda settlers, who number around 2 million and form the traditional voter base of arch rival Umno.

“Our main strategy to raise the minimum household income to RM4,000 in five years. Keadilan is the first party to target this. This shift in mindset is the weapon most feared by the ruling elite, as they know this will break their race-based economic strategy,” a cheerful Wan Azizah said in her policy speech at Pulai Springs, Johor on Saturday.

Najib gives M’sians more freedom

Mariam Mokhtar

The reforms help distract and reduce the rakyat’s worries about electoral fraud and the National Feedlot Corporation’s alleged misuse of RM250 million of taxpayers’ money.

With dizzying speed, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak tabled several new laws to fulfill an earlier pledge to give Malaysians the “best democracy in the world”.

Meanwhile, political pundits criticise Najib’s “rash of reforms” saying that they were an over-reaction to public sentiment in the run-up to GE-13.

Their skepticism stems from the action of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who promised envoys from the UN Security Council, that he was “committed to the reform process.” The Syrian uprising has left 3,500 dead, scores injured and thousands detained.

‘What happened to Malaysia?’

Mimi Chih

How is it that the cost of so many basic food items and day to day consumable items end up being so much more expensive in Malaysia compared to Singapore?

How does one measure the success of a country? To the people, it is reflected in their overall standard of living.

Not every country is lucky enough to have a team of intelligent people whose passionate objectives drive them to make their country a better place to live – for everyone.

Singapore is one such country. Today this island republic has one of the highest standard of living in Southeast Asia.

‘There won’t be a hung parliament’

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz

The 13th general election will deliver a clear winner simply because that’s what Malaysians ‘would prefer’.

Former Umno vice-president Rahim Tamby Chik has opined that the 13th general election will deliver a hung parliament. I beg to differ. I don’t think we are going to have a hung parliament.

I think it will be a clear cut win either way. Malaysians would prefer a clear cut victory one way or the other.

So here’s my prognosis.

Will the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, lose its current 82 seats? Very unlikely.

Infact the seats which they lost when some people jumped ship, post-2008, will become theirs again.

Insulting Muslims 101

Jacqueline Ann Surin 

HOW does one insult Islam in Malaysia? And how does one insult Muslims in Malaysia?

Over the past few years and increasingly over the past months, the state, politicians and pressure groups like Perkasa have demonstrated just how to do either one or both. For the most part, these incidents are an insult to Muslims in Malaysia, rather than to the world’s fastest growing religion per se.

Here’s my take on how these groups have been giving lessons to the nation, and to the world, on Insulting Muslims 101.

Step 1: Weak and wavering

NFC illuminates Najib’s transformations!

Kim Quek

By Barisan Nasional standard, the National Feedlot Center Project scandal is no big deal, as it involves no more than RM300 million of public fund, but the intensive debate over it has allowed us to gauge the country’s current state of governance, and more importantly, whether there has been a paradigm shift among BN leadership under the various transformation programs brought in by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The current scandal is typical of the BN misadventure with public funds. A large sum of public fund is given to an incompetent crony who squanders the money without bringing the project to fruition.

And the response by BN leaders, from the prime minister down, has been nothing but a series of cover-ups and excuses. There has been no attempt to face the problem squarely and come up with effective remedial measures. The culture of transparency and accountability seems to be alien to these people, despite hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money being dumped to trumpet Najib’s many ‘transformaions’ for the country.

Dr M wants referendum on PPSMI, but not a squeak from Perkasa

Melissa Lee

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has called for a referendum on whether English should continue to be used to teach Mathematic and Science, a move that is unsurprising since he introduced the policy but it will surely put ultra -Malay rights group Perkasa, of which he is the patron, in a spot.

In fact for a movement that has declared itself the champion of the Malays, Perkasa has been strangely quiet on PPSMI which is the Malay acronym for teaching and learning Math and Science in English.

“Perhaps we should do a referendum. If we do a survey for example whether it is true that rich people are sending their kids to schools that use English but the poor have to go to schools provided by the government that teach in Malay,” he told reporters on Friday.

“I am as much a nationalist as anybody else. I advocated the use of Malay long before many of those people who are against English were born. But I realise the practicality of it. We have to master scientific knowledge if we want to develop this country. That is why despite the fact that many of my old friends are

Choose a better power-sharing formula

Awang Abdillah

Perhaps it time that Sarawak and its Barisan Nasional allies revisited the terms of their alliance.

Political parties have to adhere to the democratic universal law of majority rule, whereby a party or an association of parties that secures a majority of the seats (or at least a simple majority ) in the legislative assembly, namely the Parliament or State Legislative Assembly, will have the right to form the government.

The formation of the government where one single party can obtain a majority of the seats is a straight-forward case .

However, the problem arises when no one single party can garner a majority of the seats in the legislature.

A crucial issue takes centre stage when a government that has been formed cannot perform according to the expectations of the people and the standards of good governance, as expressed by the members of the legislative assembly .

PAGE hands over memo on English to PM

The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) delivered its memorandum on the language issue to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak here on Monday with the hope “he is listening to the people.”

“We want the memorandum to reach the hands of the PM before he leaves for Mecca for the Hajj.

“The PM says he is listening to the Rakyat, so I hope he listens to us,” Page chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told reporters after handing over the memorandum at the PM’s Office.

Around a dozen Page members accompanied Noor Azimah to hand over the memorandum to request that the government allow the option for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI).

Noor Azimah added that she handed over graphs and figures showing the percentage of parents and students supporting PPSMI and exam results that warranted the continued use of English.

PM and DPM stay stuck in fantasy, shunning reality as GE-13 deadline looms

Maclean Patrick

The timing of the 13th general election is still anybody’s guess. But however fickle and indecisive Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government is, the sands of time are fast slipping away. GE-13 must be held by April 2013, but due to Umno’s internal polls next year, snap national elections are likely to be held within 6 months. And like it or not both, Najib and his deputy have begun to court voters in their own styles.

Showy and lavish as ever, Najib chose to give football fans a treat at his official residence recently. It was a clever move to garner much needed support from the Malaysian middle ground. The aim was to give an image of a prime minister that is a huge Manchester United fan, who tweets and attends rock concerts. Words like “cool” and “awesome” seem to be the by-word with the PM when addressing his many ‘adoring fans’.

However, it was a different scene with his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin. The stodgy DPM has been busy fixing a leaky boat, and he seems to be more concerned about the political survival of UMNO and BN. Also the BN depuy chairman, Muhyiddin said he has begun meeting parties in the coalition regarding their preparation to face the next general election. So far, he has met with six component parties. “I fear that if they take their own sweet time to resolve the problems, it may pose a problem for us,” he told a news conference.