GE13: Can we make history?

We must now make a historic choice of a lifetime as we are standing on the threshold of a new beginning.
COMMENT

It looks quite certain that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will be calling for the 13th general election (GE13) without the voter rolls being cleaned up.

And what can we as the citizens do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Zilch. Nil. Zero. Except to come out in full force and vote and make a big hue and cry if our name is not on the voter rolls on polling day.

Even the Election Commission (EC) is now openly siding with Barisan Nasional when the top two officials ought to resign with immediate effect. The EC has lost its credibility and integrity because it is no longer seen to be neutral and impartial.

In the meantime, why is there still no word from the EC in regard to the cleaning up of the dirty voter rolls? Why is the EC still silent on this matter? And, more importantly, why is Najib also keeping quiet on this issue?

Instead, the focus on Bersih 3.0′s demands had been shifted to the so-called rioting caused by its participants on April 28.

The prime minister no doubt now has only one thing on his mind and that is the date of the forthcoming national polls. He is mulling over when to call for the polls and he is pre-occupied with this day and night.

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GE13: Can we make history?
Selena Tay
May 16, 2012 – FMT

Bring on the general ejection

After decades of robbing Malaysians of everything from their rightful share of the nation’s riches to their democratic rights and civil liberties, the kleptocrats and kleptocronies of the BN regime are hell-bent on stealing yet another five years in office.

But they know they haven’t a prayer of achieving this without playing as dirty as ever; hence their hate campaign against the organisers and supporters of Bersih for demanding a clean and fair electoral system.

Most Malaysians are so sick of BN and cynical about its propaganda, however, that the old dirty tricks are no longer working. In fact they’re positively counter-productive, and have been back-firing against the government to a deliciously destructive degree.

So that the claim by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a covert attempt to overthrow the government was greeted not, as intended, as a wise observation by a senior statesman, but as a ridiculous Mahathir-style fabrication.

A fabrication nevertheless enthusiastically adopted and echoed by current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and three former police chiefs, one of whom went further to implicate communists in the plot.

Then the government made a further laughing stock of itself by appointing the red-suspecting former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar, as head of an ‘independent’ inquiry into the rally.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also attracted his share of public scorn with his claim that “some parties” wanted injuries and deaths to occur at the rally, and deputy IGP Khalid Abu Bakar further stated that he had seen video evidence of the fact that there were “elements who wanted to cause deaths”.

Meanwhile, in case all these outlandish claims of coups and killings hadn’t sufficiently diverted Malaysians’ attention from Bersih’s call for clean and fair elections, Election Commission (EC) deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar stated that the EC would no longer deal with Bersih, as its co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan is a “destroyer of democracy”.

Also joining in an evidently concerted attempt to smear and harass Ambiga were a group of “petty traders” who rallied outside Pertama Complex and later at her house to cook burgers, while all the usual suspects including Perkasa and so-called ‘NGOs’ variously burned her in effigy and demanded that her citizenship be revoked.

And not to be out-done in the regime’s attempts to further disgrace itself and alienate the populace, the National Fatwa Council threw its support behind BN in condemning the Bersih 3.0 rally as haram.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself, in concert with his craven ‘mainstream media’, has been waging a campaign of all his usual lies and disinformation, as if in a desperate attempt to demonstrate his regime’s utter lack of credibility.

Any remaining shred of clout that the regime’s media still enjoy with most Malaysians was lost through such post-Bersih 3.0 atrocities as Astro’s censoring of BBC and Al Jazeera reports on the rallies, and the criminal defamation of Australian Senator Nick Xenopophon by the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia.

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Bring on the general ejection
Dean Johns
May 16, 2012

Time to dismantle the regime

No political party should be allowed to rule for more than half a century. This is not about Pakatan or BN but people’s power.

COMMENT

The only constant thing in life is change…

Four years have passed since Barisan Nasional watched with disbelief as the opposition swept into power in several states and denied the ruling coalition its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority. It was a contest that shifted the electoral tectonic plates in Malaysia and resulted in what was aptly termed as a political tsunami.

From securing the biggest ever mandate to the smallest ever within a span of four years, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi allowed the impregnable fortress to crack under his watch. This earned him the scorn of Umno and BN leaders, who swept their respective shortcomings under the carpet, and pinned the blame on his fondness for the forty winks and his over ambitious son-in-law for the catastrophe. The old prime minister was then swiftly deposed and driven out of Putrajaya with his new bride.

Now, there is a new prime minister with an old bride at the helm with innovative ideas, hoping that the people would give him a strong mandate for his attempts to undo, in three years, the rot that has been festering for decades. But to his credit, he is the first prime minister to admit that all is not well in the BN front and apologised for it.

Born with a silver spoon in his aristocratic mouth, the son of the second prime minister is portrayed as a caring, pragmatic and sincere leader, sensitive to the plight of all races from all walks of life. His task, an unenviable one, is to restore BN to its former stardom.

His 1Malaysia slogan has become a catchphrase, with the government-linked media and his public relations experts ensuring that the message travels the length and breadth of the nation, even to remote places, where voters lurk in the dense tropical jungles.

Autobot or decepticon?

But behind the media blitz and glitz, is a man with enormous political baggage.

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Time to dismantle the regime
RK Anand
May 14, 2012 – FMT

Who says the EC is independent?

FRANKLY, I wasn’t surprised at all when it was reported in late April that both the Election Commission (EC) chairperson and deputy chairperson were Umno members. Even without evidence of party membership and despite the EC deputy chairperson’s subsequent U-turn and denial, it would not be a stretch to imagine both the chairperson and his deputy are Umno members.

I don’t doubt PKR’s announcement about the top EC leaders’ purported political membership was strategically timed to be released a day before the 28 April 2012 Bersih 3.0 protest. Clever strategy aside, Umno membership alone isn’t the only evidence of the EC’s lack of independence. The evidence has been mounting over the years.

What other proof do we have? And how can we be oh-so-certain that the EC is not independent even if it’s eventually demonstrated that neither Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof nor Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar are members of any political party?

A subservient commission

Firstly, every single member of the EC, including the chairperson and deputy chairperson, is a former civil servant. The most recent appointment, Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee, was formerly the former Kuala Lumpur Special Branch chief. This composition in itself sets the EC up for bias since civil servants’ professional training is to carry out the wishes of the government of the day.

This point was made by Bersih 2.0 in its recommendations to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reform in November 2011. It argued that in a country where only one coalition has formed the federal government since 1955, “inevitably, senior civil servants slowly stop making the distinction between the government and the political party”. That includes the Royal Malaysian Police Force as well, which has often demonstrated that BN events can proceed without a hitch while Pakatan Rakyat functions are often prevented from going ahead.

Bersih 2.0’s claim is supported by the testimony of EC officials themselves. In an interview by a team of researchers with the top three EC officials in the 2000s, the then chairperson, deputy chairperson and secretary said it was “normal for them to see the prime minister even before constituency reviews were begun”. The chairperson added that “as a practical matter, requests for meetings by ‘number one and number two’ could not be refused, unlike similar requests from lesser political leaders”. [1]

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Who says the EC is independent?
Shape of a Pocket
14 May 2012 – The Nutgraph

Bersih 3.0, What’s Next? (Video)

 

MediaRakyat “Speak Your Mind”: Bersih 3.0, What’s Next?

Host: Patrick Teoh
Guest: Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan

My country, my government

People rise up against their government because they want corrupt leaders to go.

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government. – Patrick Henry

The prime minister has set the stage for a crackdown on freedom and truth. He has branded the mammoth Saturday rally as an insurrection to topple the government. But the tens of thousands who took to the streets on that hot sunny day are citizens who have elected the government of the day on the understanding that it would not abuse the power given to its leaders. The sacred trust was broken when the holders of high public office often strayed from the true path.

A government is a creature of the people. It belongs to the people and it will go back to the people. A government stays forever. Leaders come and go. Some will be remembered for their good deeds, some for the evil they have done, some others are best forgotten. A government is formed to take care of the people – be they Chinese, Malays, Indians, minorities. It exists to ensure people are treated fairly and equally. Every few years it must get another mandate to rule. But when leaders become corrupt after a long reign, they must step down.

Regrettably, tainted leaders will choose to stay put. They will use the full might of the government machinery to pulverise any opposition, even making laws to serve their own selfish ends. They become adamant in the pursuit of power. No reason can prevail over them to change course. Such leaders are littered the world over. The universal response to political obduracy is street protests. It is the only weapon left for the common citizens to fight discredited leaders. They make leaders and they can also dethrone them.

Malaysia is no different from all the other countries whose people have to take their grievances in the open because of leaders who have abused their trust. In the global village, Malaysia is not immune from the viral infection of popular discontent. Global citizens share the same concerns, traits and bravery. In the face of the firepower of the state, they muster willpower to overpower the power of the state. People power is not illegal but a legitimate expression of public disquiet. It is an effective counter-weight to the excesses of bad leaders. What happened on the streets of Kuala Lumpur on April 28 was an outpouring of deep resentment against a government which refused to listen to the people’s lawful demands.

The Malaysians who stood their ground – and were beaten up at the barricades of freedom square – were civilised citizens who wanted to make a statement. They were not there to overthrow the government that they themselves have elected to govern the country. They were fighting for a cause on behalf of the millions of voters who must ultimately decide the destiny of the nation. But the political masters, realising the massive support the rally had drawn, went out of the way to demonise it, even roping in a religious authority to pronounce an ominous ruling against street protests. They tried to strike the fear of God in God’s children. It may not work because divine retribution works both ways.

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My country, my government
May 8, 2012 – FMT

Dr Mahathir and the selling of oxymoronicracy

MAY 22 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated his advice for Umno leaders to discard self-interest and acts of sabotage to ensure a Barisan Nasional (BN) victory in the next general election.

There are two things that stuck out as very sore thumbs in the above statement. Both are never the hallmarks of Umno. Indeed if they are practised, Umno ceases to be Umno. They are the elimination of self-interest and absence of acts of sabotage. Asking Umno people not to sabotage and to disown personal interest is like asking a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Dr Mahathir does not only walk on water, he is also the chief spokesman for oxymoronicracy.

Since the creation of Umno Baru in 1988, every Umno leader who has assumed the mantle of leadership has been motivated by self-interests. What’s more, they are motivated by the desire to perpetuate the self-interests, where self-preservation is top of the list. It will be interesting to investigate these fellers’ bank account when they are no longer in power.

Sabotaging is second nature to Umno people, by incumbents who are no longer chosen to stand or by aspiring candidates scheming and plotting to overthrow incumbents. What is absent from Umno? A sense of purpose and a cause to fight for. So if we want an example of oxymoronicracy, Dr Mahathir is its foremost spokesman.

Let’s dissect the substance behind the statement by Dr Mahathir in Jitra the other day. What do we make of this statement?

This is a clear sign that all is not well in Umno. He has to reiterate. He has to remind. Someone asked me the same question I posed some time ago: if Umno is in dire straits, doesn’t that mean easy defeat of them? So why bother writing about Umno? Just ignore them. Let them destroy themselves by their won devices.

No can do. We write about Umno to speed up its demise. To hasten its exit from the seat of power so that the real interests of the people are taken care of. We bash Umno because it has something that we want. Power to do good as opposed power having done evil. We are not power crazy, but we want to take away power from crazy people. All Umno leaders and ministers are replaceable. Who can do worse than them? If Najib can become PM, this means anyone can too.

Now, Mahathir the man who I described as one who can walk on water is giving out unsolicited advice. I am not sure if anyone cares to listen to him nowadays. He has contradicted himself so many times. During an interview with BBC, the interviewer read from a speech Dr Mahathir once spoke from, quoting passages from that speech. Dr Mahathir can cavalierly deny he said that. He said that with a straight face. Dr Mahathir is utterly honest even when he is lying. Now that is an oxymoron.

The polygraph machine doesn’t work on Dr Mahathir. Wasn’t he the one who was the chief saboteur to Umno, doing whatever he could to unseat Pak Lah? He even left Umno as it was preparing for elections.

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Dr Mahathir and the selling of oxymoronicracy — Sakmongkol AK47
May 22, 2012 – TMI

Dr M gives the game away: BN may revive ISA if given stronger mandate

The call by former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the people to give Najib a stronger govt to revive ISA is evidence of the fact that BN is not committed to reforms in particular the repeal of archaic and undemocratic laws in Malaysia.

The former PM is quoted to have said Najib had abolished the ISA “fearing the loss of more support” and “succumbing to pressures from the opposition” in an interview with Kwong Wah Daily recently.

The truth finally emerges. It appears Najib isn’t moving his reform agenda because he wants to. He is merely doing it to ensure his and his governments own political survival.

This is significant as Najib has continuously said in Parliament that the repeal of the ISA was at the behest of his government. This cannot be true in light of what Tun has now declared.

Look beyond GE-13

The rakyat should look over and beyond the so called triumphs Najib boasts his government has achieved.

It is quite clear that Najib fears the growing strength of the rakyat and he is therefore playing to the gallery in the hope that he wins bigger support in the next election, only so that UMNO can thereafter move to recapture lost ground.

The fact remains that UMNO is minded to and will revive the ISA or reintroduce laws such as the ISA in future. This threat is dangerously real.

UMNO would have then achieved two victories, which is to have enacted new security laws with the widest of scope to curb amongst others, political dissent under the guise of the repeal of the ISA this session and later reintroduce the draconian ISA when given a stronger mandate by the people.

And it doesn’t really help that the PM has thought it fit to remain silent on the matter despite its gravity, right up until now.

GOBIND SINGH DEO IS MP PUCHONG

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Dr M gives the game away: BN may revive ISA if given stronger mandate – Gobind
Written by Gobind Singh Deo
11 May 2012 – Malaysia Chronicle

The unshackling of M’sia’s rakyat

Bersih 3.0 is probably the biggest civil protest the country has ever seen. Reports have suggested anywhere from 150,000 to 250,000.

It is hard to establish the figures but depending on which side of the fence you are sitting; I would say that it was an intimidating number of people. Definitely more than Bersih 1 and Bersih 2.

Bersih 3.0, to me was a watershed event, much like BN’s loss of the two-third’s majority in the 2008 general election.

Each time an event like Bersih 3 occurs the ground shakes and the fault lines open up. In 2008, the obvious changes were the new governments which took over the states of Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor.

Many were elated but something unseen happened in the psyche of Malaysians which shook the social structure of Malaysia.

The groundswell in 2008 loosed the shackles of fear which had gripped our fathers’ generation. The deep-seated fear shackled our freedom, divided our communities, silenced our elders and compromised our faith.

Lowered voices

I recall the days when we had to lower our voices when speaking about the government in public or fear that our telephone conversations were being listened to. It was very subtle but the fear of “big brother” coming to take you away at any time under the ISA was very real and kept us all in check.

Then in March 2008, the opposition leader was a charismatic Malay man from within the establishment who had been persecuted, beaten and jailed for six years by his own Malay party.

The opposition won the popular votes in that general election and governed five states in Malaysia.

The shackles of race sensitivity were gone and suddenly Malaysians were free. It was like a spell which had been over Malaysians since 1969 were suddenly lifted.

Malaysians had a new sense of freedom and the courage to speak up in the face of injustice and corruption.

At the front lines of this new movement were young Malaysians, those 35 years and younger who had the benefit of an overseas education and who were born long after the dreaded May13 scar in Malaysian history.

The sense of freedom grew after March 2008 and there was no turning back.

Fast forward to Bersih 3.0, no one would have imagined that our Chinese elders, our fathers, those in their 50s and 60s, would go out to join a street protest as the one seen last weekend. Bersih 1 was predominantly and significantly Malay.

Bersih 2 saw more young Chinese and Indian professionals.

So gradually, there is a progressive movement of newfound sense of justice and courage in the hearts of all Malaysians.

This has proven to be a headache for the ruling coalition which is out of its league and totally clueless on how to handle and appease the new Malaysia.

So it was very encouraging to see Malaysians of all races and faces of all ages standing in unity, braving police violence and demanding for clean and fair elections.

It is no longer a communal issue but an issue of justice and fair play. Malaysians are tired of our leaders telling us what is good for us while millions are being siphoned off through kickbacks, mismanagement and corruption.

Malaysians are no longer blind, neither are they fearful. Last week’s Bersih shows that Malaysia is on its way to a mature civil society and one which allows greater democratic space.

It appears, change is inevitable and if the government of the day has lost the plot and is clueless as to what is happening, they will be swept away in the next general election.

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The unshackling of M’sia’s rakyat
Yee Siew Meng
May 9, 2012 – Malaysiakini Letter

Malaysia: Drop Charges Against Protest Participants

The Malaysian authorities appear to be using what happened at the Bersih demonstration as a pretext to prosecute political opposition leaders. These charges, and the actions by police at the Bersih rally, don’t inspire confidence that the Malaysian government is committed to protecting basic free expression rights.

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should withdraw charges against opposition leaders for their participation in the “Bersih 3.0” demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on April 28, 2012. A criminal charge sheet obtained by Malaysian media indicates that authorities will charge former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, president of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR); Azmin Ali, PKR deputy president; and Badrul Hisham Shaharin, a PKR activist, with disobeying judicial orders and taking part in a prohibited street protest.

The Bersih movement, a coalition of some 150 organizations promoting reform of election laws and procedures, held a mass rally on April 28 at Dataran Merkeda (Independence Square). Days earlier, the authorities had obtained a judicial order to stop the protest, but Bersih proceeded with a demonstration in the area surrounding the square. The protest proceeded mostly without incident but ended with police using excessive force, including teargas and water cannons, and beating and arresting as many as 1,700 protesters.

“The Malaysian authorities appear to be using what happened at the Bersih demonstration as a pretext to prosecute political opposition leaders,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These charges, and the actions by police at the Bersih rally, don’t inspire confidence that the Malaysian government is committed to protecting basic free expression rights.”

The PKR leaders are being charged under Malaysia’s new Peaceful Assembly Act, which went into effect mere days before the protest. The Malaysian parliament enacted the law in late 2011 as part of a billed legislative “reform” package, revoking an earlier law that prohibited all protests without permits and had been used to outlaw virtually all political protests.

The Peaceful Assembly Act bans so-called street protests and contains an overly broad list of areas in which all assemblies are banned ­– a list that makes it virtually impossible for protesters to hold demonstrations in urban areas, Human Rights Watch said. Anwar, Azmin, and Badrul are specifically charged under the act for engaging in a “street protest.”

Human Rights Watch called on the government to rewrite the Peaceful Assembly Act so that it conforms with international human rights standards.

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Malaysia: Drop Charges Against Protest Participants
Cases Appear Aimed at the Political Opposition
May 21, 2012 – Human Rights Watch