IS IT POSSIBLE: The de-racialisation of BN

Yang Razali Kassim

On the 44th anniversary of the May 13, 1969, racial riots that gave birth to it, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) displayed signs of being in existential angst.

Though it won the 13th general election on May 5 by securing the most parliamentary seats, BN lost the popular vote and failed to wrest back its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the face of Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) strong showing.

While BN was relieved to have been returned to power, the results were a body blow that sent it into deep introspection. A significant upshot has been a proposal to transform itself from the current model of a coalition of communal parties into a single, merged multi-racial entity.

Ambiga: Bersih’s ‘People’s Tribunal’ a ‘moral force’ to expose electoral fraud

CLARA CHOOI

Ambiga said the tribunal will gather evidence of polls fraud.

Bersih 2.0’s “People’s Tribunal” may not have any legal standing but will serve as a “moral force” to publicly expose electoral fraud, said Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan when defending the polls watchdog’s final attempt at proving wrongdoing in the May 5 polls.

The renowned civil rights activist told The Malaysian Insider that Bersih 2.0 will soldier on with its plan to set up the tribunal which, she said, should be announced in two or three weeks’ time, despite earning condemnation from polls regulator Election Commission (EC).

“It is true that it is not set up under any law or statute. That is why it is called the People’s Tribunal,” she said.

Doing away with vernacular schools

Cheng Yi

As a parent of four kids, three of whom are still in the national school system, it is actually very heart-warming to see the children make friends with other students of all colour and creed, shapes and sizes, and gender.

In the short hour between end of school and start of co-curricular, my son will bring home his group of friends, and they mingle, eat together and call each other “bro”. But I realise this is sadly not the case for most other national schools, and even in my son’s school, the ratio of Malays to non-Malays is discouraging.

Somewhere in the 80s, I believe, there must have been a change in perception of the vernacular schools. When I was growing up, “Chinese school” kids were considered almost disadvantaged. They hardly spoke any English, and very bad Malay, (although their Math whipped a**) and had to waste a year attending remove classes, and national schools were the schools of choice.

SAVE RIVERS lodges police report against IHA and Sarawak Energy

Bruno Manser Fonds

The International Hydropower Assocation’s World Congress to be held in Kuching, Sarawak/ Malaysia, from 21 to 24 May 2013, is beginnig badly.

Peter Kallang, an important indigenous leader from Baram, Sarawak, has been barred this morning from a pre-congress workshop organized jointly by the International Hydropower Association (IHA), the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Despite having paid the horrendous IHA World Congress’ registration fee of USD 1750, Mr. Kallang was stopped this morning from boarding a bus to the International Hydropower Association’s pre-congress workshop at Sarawak Energy Bhd’s office. The reason given to Mr. Kallang was that he had written critical letters to the International Hydropower Association’s chairman, Richard Taylor, over the IHA’s cooperation with the regime of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and the association’ss policy to exclude affected indigenous people from the congress.

For the love of God, he speaks

RK Anand

The 73-year-old cleric is passionate about his chosen path, and his faith and conviction motivate him to speak out against injustices, which has earned him both bouquets and brickbats.

JOHOR BAHRU: Step into the office and his four-legged companions are the first to greet you. Among the canine entourage, are two beautiful German Shepherds called Max and Bella. The rest are Beagles and a Doberman Pinscher.

Bishop Paul Tan loves his dogs, and never tires talking about them. He recalled how he had been given Bella when she was a two-month-old pup, and was thus forced to play the role of a surrogate mother.

The 73-year-old cleric is just as passionate about his chosen path, and his faith and conviction motivate him to speak out against injustices, which has earned him both bouquets and brickbats.

Thugs in Penang disrupt vigil for Adam Adli

Low Chia Ming

A candlelight vigil by some 30 people in front of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) showing solidarity with detained student Adam Adli Abdul Halim was disrupted by a rowdy group last night.

The thugs, numbering about 10, shoved a student and Suaram coordinator Sean Ho and hit two journalists on their arms during the vigil.

Police Special Branch officers and Universiti Sains Malaysia security personnel were present, but they did not take any action against the thugs.

The vigil began about 8.20pm with the singing of theNegaraku, followed by several brief talks given by participants.

Malaysia hydropower meeting to open amid controversy

AFP 

This file photo shows a general view of the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam on the Balui River, west of Belaga, in Malaysia’s Sarawak state, on September 21, 2011. The world hydroelectric industry’s decision to meet in Sarawak where dams have uprooted rainforests and native peoples is drawing bitter fire from environmental and tribal groups.

The world hydroelectric industry’s decision to meet in a Malaysian state where dams have uprooted rainforests and native peoples is drawing bitter fire from environmental and tribal groups.

The International Hydropower Association’s (IHA) four-day biennial meeting to push “sustainable hydropower” opens Tuesday in Kuching, the languid capital of Sarawak state on Borneo island, and a highly contentious choice.

Blame yourself for defeat, Meonet tells Pakatan

Athi Shankar

The opposition pact did not have an effective strategy to net rural votes, says the election observer group.

GEORGE TOWN: Pakatan Rakyat lost the recent general election because its campaign strategy was faulty, not because it was the victim of fraud, according to the Malaysian Election Observers Network (Meonet).

Meonet chief Ong Boon Keong said today that his organisation’s ground study found Pakatan did not have an effective strategy to penetrate Barisan Nasional’s rural vote bank, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

He noted that virtually all of Pakatan’s claims of fraud involved urban constituencies, where it was more successful than BN.

Beyond GE13

Wong Chin Huat

AND so the Barisan Nasional (BN) is still in power. Those hoping for a change in government are still coming to terms with the results of the 13th general election since our independence (GE13). The Nut Graph asks political scientist Wong Chin Huat how the BN won, why it would racialise the poll results, and what needs to happen next.

So, the BN is still in power. How did that happen, considering that there was such an upsurge in support for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), as reflected in the increase in popular vote for the PR?

The PR’s vote share has risen from 36% in 2008 to 51% in 2013, but its seat share merely increased from 36% to 40% and the BN continues to rule despite more voters rejecting it than supporting it. This is the outcome of malapportionment where constituencies are of unequal electorate sizes, and of gerrymandering – manipulating constituency boundaries to benefit certain parties.

Pakatan: It’s BN that’s detrimental to democracy

Mkini

Pakatan Rakyat today hit out at the BN government for investigating student activist Adam Adli for allegedly being detrimental to parliamentary democracy, and claims that it is the ruling coalition that has threatened parliamentary democracy.

In a joint statement by PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan, DAP Youth chief Teo Kok Seong and PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (right), the trio said that BN has destroyed democracy by clinging to power although it does not have the support of the majority.

“It is BN that is detrimental to parliamentary democracy, and not Adam Adli. BN has destroyed the value of democracy by continuing to shamelessly rule despite having less than 50 percent of the support in Malaysia,” they said.

People’s fiesta to ‘take back democracy’

Alyaa Azhar

The rakyat just want to take back the stolen democracy, says SAMM’s Chegubard.

The people’s fiesta is not about toppling the government, rather, it is about taking back democracy, claimed NGO Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) chairman Badrul Hisham Shahrin.

Badrul Hisham, also known as Chegubard, said a coalition made up of nearly 50 NGOs named the People’s Voice 505 (Suara Rakyat 505) will be launching an event on May 25 at Padang Timur, located in front of Amcorp Mall to present evidences of electoral fraud in the 13th general election (GE13).

“We are going to the streets not to topple the government, but to re-claim democracy.

International Hydropower Association Delegates Told “Sack Sjotveit”!

Sarawak Report

Complicit in Corruption – the dossier on Sarawak Energy CEO Torstein Dale Sjotveit

An investigation by the Swiss NGO the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has revealed that Sarawak Energy’s Nowegian Chief Executive has handed more than US$220 million worth of contracts to companies controlled by the Taib family.

BMF therefore slams Torstein Dale Sjotveit as being “complicit” in Sarawak’s political corruption and has demanded he be sacked.

The release of the damning information in a report entitled “Complicit in Corruption – Taib’s Norwegian Power Man” comes at a high profile and sensitive moment, on the eve of the International Hydropower Association’s Conference in Kuching this week.

Umno Baru’s hidden agenda

Mariam Mokhtar

When Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – the new home minister – told disgruntled opposition supporters that they should migrate if they were unhappy with the results of GE13, he had unwittingly confessed that Umno Baru has a hidden agenda.
This little-known plan is Umno Baru’s mass immigration policy and is a deliberate ploy fuelled by political self-interests. Asking people to emigrate will ensure that Malaysia is populated largely by Umno Baru-putras and selected foreigners.

Zahid reluctantly acknowledged that the rakyat was disappointed with the rigging of the polls, but at the same time, he revealed the fears of Umno Baru leaders. The cheating did not go as smoothly and secretly as they had intended.

Was an ‘honest oversight’, Najib?

FMT Staff

SPDP will send Prime Minister Najib a petition signed by all its 40 branches statewide, urging him to appoint one full minister and two deputies from the party.

Dayak-majority Sarawak Progressive  Democratic Party (SPDP) has given Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak the benefit of the doubt over its exclusion from the federal cabinet.

Despite winning all its four parliamentary seats in the 13th general election, SPDP was dropped from the federal cabinet.

“We hope it is an honest oversight (on the part of the PM) as we cannot really imagine any other reasons,” said SPDP supreme council member James Laju Ambok.

Emergence of the new kingmakers

Awang Abdillah

The phenomenal ‘finding’ of the 13th GE is the emergence of the Dayak and KadazandusunMurut-based parties as the real “kingmakers”.

As soon as Najib Tun Razak, announced in the wee hours of May 6, 2013 that Barisan Nasional had won and he would form the government, he had set in motion the third tsunami.

The fraudulent results of the 13th general election held on May 5, 2013 could precipitate many diverse dimensional consequences.

Though BN won 133 seats and Pakatan Rakyat 89, both coalitions and the voters know that the BN victory was made possible through fraudulent means.

Stop the racial politicking

Jeswan Kaur

While racial discord continues to grow unhealthily in the country, premier Najib continues to be non-committal on this issue.

It is Malaysia’s greatest tragedy that despite being home to people of diverse faiths, mutual respect for one another’s religious beliefs is increasingly being compromised.

The culprits who engage in racial disrespect are none other than the country’s politicians, the very people who had assured to look after the rakyat’s welfare.

To a great extent, the damage done by these politicians has become irreversible, with racial harmony once enjoyed by Malaysians now becoming a thing of the past.

Kuching Conference Threatens Image Of International Hydropower Association

Sarawak Report

Millionaire Tostein Sjotveit poses with the kids he plans to wash out of their homes.

The Chief Executive of Taib’s closely controlled Sarawak Energy Board, the Norwegian Torstein Dale Sjotveit, has been working hard to merit his extraordinary four million dollar a year salary.

His principle job is to push through SCORE, which is the Chief Minister’s monstrous plan to build up to 50 dams in the state.

It is also to make sure that all the plum Sarawak Energy contracts go to Taib’s own family in the process.

Building ‘respectability’

Najib’s feckless and uninspiring cabinet

Mariam Mokhtar

Najib is impotent when tackling corruption, or defusing racial and religious tensions. His weakness as a leader is reflected in the Cabinet line-up

Najib Tun Razak’s defence of the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia which displayed a provocative headline, “What more do the Chinese want?” does nothing for national reconciliation, something which Najib promised to address, after GE-13.

Trying his best to placate an increasingly cynical public, Najib vowed to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, state or political views.

He said, “I love my country …… We will also continue to promote moderation among multiracial

I will not retire, says Anwar

Athi Shankar

‘But why should I retire? We won. Are Umno people stupid? We won and we will fight together with the people against this robbery, says Anwar at a Penang rally.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim will not retire from active politics any time soon, hinting that he would still be around come the next general election.

The Permatang Pauh MP defied calls for him to retire by claiming that Pakatan Rakyat had actually “won” the 13th general election, only to be robbed by electoral frauds.

He said Pakatan’s popular votes, which were more than Barisan Nasional’s, proved that majority Malaysians have voted for a change of federal government.

BN’s transformation agenda is a sham

Azmin Ali

Well done, Zahid! By taking this high and mighty position as your first proclamation of ministerial power, you’ve shown both arrogance and stupidity.

Since the 13th general election, the nation is once again being treated to an endless dose of racist rhetoric that seemed to have died down just days before.

After Najib’s first ‘Chinese tsunami’ outburst, Perkasa and other self-proclaimed ‘champions’ of Malay rights have come out of the woodwork to do their ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ service.

Right on cue to Utusan Malaysia’s “What more do the Chinese want?” front page headline, former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Noor Abdullah, raged about how this country is being economically colonised by the Chinese.

What Tsunami? It was a political awakening

P Dev Anand Pillai

Umno is up its tricks to ensure that future generations remain firmly in its grasp by keeping them intellectually challenged and incapable of thinking

I had always participated in the workings of general elections since the time I was a staff in the Suruhanjaya PilihanRaya Selangor in the early 90s. Being a Polling and Counting Agent (PACA) in 1999 and 2004 general elections gave me the insight as to how it all worked at the end of the day. But this time, it was different, what I witnessed was a coming together of the whole country with a motive to change the federal government for the first time in history, friends from overseas whom had almost given up on their country of birth had made time to return to try to make the change happen. It would have, had it not been for massive fraud by the custodians of the elections themselves, the Election Commission, who were in cahoots with the  police.

‘Open up Petronas’ books’

Queville To

Prime Minister Najib must move to amendment the Petroleum Development Act 1974, says a Sabah state rep from DAP.

A Sabah state legislative assembly representative has called for greater  transparency, accountability and creditability in the shadowy world of the nation’s oil wealth that is now only privy to the Prime Minister.

Luyang representative Hiew King Cheu said the need to amend the Petroleum Development Act 1974 is in line with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s declared intentions of creating a more responsible government.

Sidelined Sarawak reps demand seats in Najib’s Cabinet

DEBRA CHONG

Najib speaks during the announcement of his new Cabinet line-up at his office in Putrajaya May 15, 2013.

Overlooked lawmakers in the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) East Malaysian vote bank say they should also be aboard Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet, believing they had earned full ministerial positions after their victorious run in the May 5 polls.

Some 40 branches of Sarawak’s SPDP said they will petition the prime minister to consider allocating to them at least one ministerial seat and one deputy minister post, believing Najib’s decision to have been an oversight as the party had netted four federal seats for the Barisan Nasional (BN).

10 things Anwar must do

P Gunasegaram

By now the cabinet has been appointed and while there are fresh faces, no one I have spoken to expects any drastic changes from the norm especially as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is bound to face pressure from Umno delegates at the forthcoming Umno general assembly.

We seem to be going from one election to another and delaying much needed change accordingly. And as everyone knows by now, Umno delegates don’t at all represent the common voice of the Malays but posture to make it appear as if they do.

Thus it was that when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi got a massive mandate from the people in the 2004 elections, obtaining over 90 percent of parliamentary seats, he refrained from taking measures he promised because his advisers told him there will be a backlash from Umno delegates.

Discontent in BN parties over Cabinet posts

TMI

File photo of Najib announcing his new Cabinet line-up in Putrajaya on May 15, 2013. BN parties are not happy with some of his choices.

All is not well among Barisan Nasional (BN) parties over the distribution of Cabinet posts as Sarawak’s PRS has decided to reject its appointments while SPDP is also upset its four federal wins did not get the party anything.

Several senior Sabah Umno MPs are also grumbling that they were overlooked in the Cabinet appointments while other Umno lawmakers are disputing Hindraf’s P. Waythamoorthy’s selection despite him running down the government previously.

‘They welcome Bangladeshis, but tell us to balik Cina’

Ahmad Fadli KC

Anger at new home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who had told those dissatisfied with the 13th general election to leave the country, is fuelling the crowds at the Black 505 rally in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Participant Karen Ngoo, 46 (right), when met at the 30,000-strong rally last night said Zahid’s comment did not make sense, as there were many allegations of foreigners being allegedly brought in to vote.

“He wants to drive away us Malaysians, but Bangladeshis are being brought in to the country.

“He should show us respect. The Bangladeshi phantom voters are the ones who need to be sent away,” she said.

The downside of BN’s victory

Selena Tay

Najib’s new cabinet has been labelled as the “same old thing”. Let us also hope that the petrol price will stay the same too.

For the low-wage earner and the average man-in-the-street trying to make ends meet, the worst thing about Barisan Nasional emerging victorious in the 13th general election is that there is no reduction in the petrol price.

Although the low-income group look forward to the annual BR1M handout at the beginning of the year, that is a pittance compared to the daily rising cost of living.

BN leaders have mentioned that the RM500 cash aid will be gradually increased to RM1,200 but there is silence on this matter now.

Please get your facts right, home minister

Andrew Khoo

Like many Malaysiakini readers, I was appalled at the remarks made by the new Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, vice president of Umno with regard to those who questioned the fact that Barisan Nasional lost the popular vote but still won a majority of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat. 

He basically told them that if they didn’t like the result, they could leave.

His clear disrespect for the right of Malaysians to freedom of expression, coming as it does as he takes up his new position, is a negative harbinger of things to come.

However, a careful study of his article published in Utusan Malaysia on May 16, 2013 reveals more egregious remarks which are unbefitting a minister of government.

NGOs condemns IHA for supporting Taib

Joseph Tawie

SAVE Rivers, a coalition of NGOs, want the International Hydropower Association (IHA) to cancel its global conference in Kuching.

Save Sarawak Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers) is demanding that the International Hydropower Association (IHA) withdraw its support for Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s plans to build 12 additional mega-dams.

The call was also made to state-owned Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), the main contractors of the project. SAVE Rivers wants the state government scrap its plans to build the dams.

Its secretary, Mark Bujang, said: “We want IHA to cancel SEB’s membership in the association as it has not yet addressed the outstanding issues affecting the indigenous people in Batang Ai, Bakun and Murum dams.

GE13: We are already the winners!

M.M. Pereira

A few days before the historic 505, the then caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said: “The victor or loser of this 13th general election will not be BN or PR. It will be Malaysia, its people and our children.” Immediately after the official results were announced, he blamed the loss of BN seats on a “Chinese tsunami”.

In my view, these statements not only reflect Najib’s arrogance but also his shallow understanding of the democratic process and how disconnected he is with what is happening at the grassroots. And he continues to insult our intelligence!

Today we see Malaysians from diverse ethnic backgrounds manifesting their unity of purpose with so much pride, confidence and optimism, taking ownership of their country and their destiny. They are ready to take risks to secure the future they desire.

Is a forgiven Husam on course for rehab?

Terence Netto

In the Malay political chess game of feint-and-manoeuvre, whose Kelantanese variant is more complex than its peers, former PAS state executive councillor Husam Musa has made what has traditionally been known to be the prelude to a concatenation of moves.

Surprisingly not included in the list of executive councillors announced last week by newly-installed Menteri Besar Ahmad Yacob, a development attributed to his being deliberately excluded by design of his compatriots or at the behest of the sultan, Husam earlier this week left for Mecca to perform the umrah.

Though there is no precise dictionary by which to interpret gestures in the Malay political chess game, since every nonverbal expression depends for meaning on the variants of both the individual using it and the culture in which it takes place, there was no mistaking the import of the letter emanating from the palace a day or two after Husam left for the holy land and addressed to Husam.

PRS tired of being ‘flower girls’

Joseph Tawie

Parti Rakyat Sarawak says Prime Minister Najib ‘should be smart enough and well-advised to know what the Dayaks need and where they can fit in’.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak vice-president Joseph Salang said the party’s supreme council took a firm stand on the cabinet posts because they were tired of “begging” and being treated like “flower arrangements”

Said Salang: “Najib offered us only two deputy ministers…Only after the president (James Masing) protested and some begging, only then the Prime Minister agreed for (Joseph) Entulu to be made a full minister in the Prime Minister’s Department

“Is that the way to treat PRS which has six seats, while a certain party which delivered only one seat is given a full minister?

SEREMBAN rushes for a slice of Anwar, PR:Who are you to tell us to get out – Zahid scolded

Wong Choon Mei

Yes, it was another easy victory for Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat team. The 50,000-odd crowd at the Seremban Blackout 505 rally on Friday night was only too happy to lap up their speeches, and Prime Minister Najib Razak should take note that when Anwar asked, “should we give BN another 5 years”, the crowd roared back “NO WAY!”‘

So great is Anwar’s and Pakatan’s hold on the people that they have become superstars. On arrival, they are mobbed and at the end of the ceramah (rally), the crowd rushes up to the stage to take photos with their favourite Pakatan leaders and to get their autographs.

Tonight, apart from Anwar who as always got the loudest cheers, it was Nik Nazmi, the PKR assemblyman for Seri Setia, who got the hero’s welcome, while stealing the show was Johari Abdul, the PKR MP for Sungei Petani.

Sarawak dams will flood 2,300 sq km, warns BMF

BMF

VIDEO | 1.32 min The Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has warned of possible degradation of the environment and social effects on the Sarawak indigenous people, following the proposed flooding of 11 dams which may cover an area of 2,300 square km of rainforests or one-and-a-half times the area of Greater London.

BMF, which released a map of the possible repercussions, said it is concerned over this fact following Sarawak’s hosting of the International Hydro-power Association’s (IHA) World Congress in Kuching for three days beginning May 21.

It said Sarawak Energy, the state’s power monopoly, is planning to realise the dams by 2020. 

What do Chinese want?

Koon Yew Yin

The most important concern of the Chinese is fairness in the system – especially in education, business and the civil service.

Even before the elections took place, various Umno leaders led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Utusan Malaysia have led the onslaught against the Chinese in the country.

Now the results are in, they are taking to a new level the politics of suspicion, hatred and revenge in the Malay masses for what they say as a betrayal by the Chinese voters.

There are several undeniable contrary facts to their thinking. Firstly, as others have pointed out, the so-called Chinese tsunami was actually a Malaysian tsunami which accounted for the largest ever proportion of total votes – in fact the majority – going to the opposition.