Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Corruption a Core Issue in Malaysia
Corruption
a core electoral issue for Christians, say church leaders
The Malaysian Insider – Fri, Apr 26, 2013 By Boo Su-Lyn
KUALA LUMPUR, April
26 — Christians will vote against corruption and social injustice in
Election 2013, besides calling for religious freedom in multi-racial Malaysia,
church leaders said today.
They also said that
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s support for the appeal to reverse a High Court ruling
allowing Christians to use the Arabic word “Allah” contradicted his 2011
resolution granting east Malaysian Christians the freedom to do so.
“The question that
begs to be answered is whether the 10-point solution decided by him and the
Cabinet is still valid?” Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) chairman Rev Dr
Eu Hong Seng told The Malaysian Insider today, referring to the
caretaker prime minister.
“Before the GE, the
Church is looking at a broad spectrum of issues — corruption, improvement to
the economic well-being of people, freedom of religion, men of integrity to be
our future MPs. I think Christians at large in Malaysia, whether east or west,
we share the same strong sentiments about corruption,” added the head of the
ecumenical umbrella body that represents 90 per cent of Malaysia’s roughly two
million Christians.
The Christian
community forms about a quarter of Sabah’s population and almost half of
Sarawak’s population, where they mainly worship in Bahasa Malaysia church
services and read Malay-language bibles.
Najib told global
news station Al Jazeera in an interview, to be aired tomorrow, that he
supported the government appeal against the 2009 High Court ruling that allowed
non-Muslims to use the word “Allah”, saying that the Muslims have a different
concept of Allah than the Christians.
An excerpt of the
interview was obtained and reported by The Malaysian Insider this
morning.
Before the Sarawak
state election in 2011, Najib’s administration came up with a 10-point formula
to resolve the issue of shipments of Malay-language bibles, which cater to
Bumiputera Christians, that were blocked and confiscated before they were
subsequently released by the government.
In the 10-point
resolution, the Cabinet, through its minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala, assured
the sizeable Bumiputera Christian population in Sabah and Sarawak that they
were free to bring in and use their bibles in Malay as well as in indigenous
languages.
Jala declined to
comment today when asked about Najib’s backing for the appeal against the High
Court ruling.
The Court of Appeal
has fixed May 30 for another case management on the government and Home
Ministry’s appeal against the 2009 High Court decision that the word “Allah”
can be used by the Catholic weekly newspaper Herald.
Several places of
worship nationwide, including churches, mosques and a gurdwara, were firebombed
and desecrated after the High Court ruling, sparking tension between the
Muslims — who form the majority of Malaysia’s population — and the Christian
minority.
Christians comprise
about nine per cent of the country’s 28 million population.
Council of Churches
of Malaysia (CCM) general-secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri said Najib was
“contradicting himself”.
“He’s the one who
signed the 10-point agreement for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak in 2011,” he
told The Malaysian Insider.
“Corruption is
prevalent here and in east Malaysia. We are going to vote for an accountable
government that protects the rights of all Malaysians as provided in the
constitution. And this constitution has been made relevant to all sectors of
Malaysian society, which include the rights of marginalised people, rights of
workers, equality before the law, and one among them is religious freedom,”
added Shastri.
CCM, an umbrella body
of Protestant churches, released a video recently that urged Christians to vote
for a corruption-free country where all Malaysians are treated as equals and where
there is religious freedom.
Shastri said
Christians were praying now until the May 5 polls for a “clean and fair
election”.
Sabah’s Christian
UPKO president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok did not respond to calls or text messages
asking for comment.
Malaysian Govt using Sedition Act on Opposition
Fadiah
They have used this archaic and draconian Sedition Act, even though the Prime Minister, the government has said before that they would repeal this act, because it's no longer relevant in the modern setting, but unfortunately, it's not repealed and they continue to use this draconian act to stifle dissent.
Sen Lam interviews Fadiah Nadwa at Radio Australia
Malaysian authorities have arrested a high-profile Opposition politician and three others under the country's controversial Sedition Act.
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak pledged last year to strengthen civil liberties, including possibly repealing the Sedition Act.
The law has been described as oppressive by critics, who say it's been invoked often in the past to silence dissent.
Human rights lawyer Fadiah Nadwa is representing one of the four men detained. She spoke to me from Kuala Lumpur.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Fadiah Nadwa, lawyer representing student activist Adam Adli, one of four Malaysians charged with sedition
FADIAH: The four people are Tian Chua, the vice president of (opposition) Parti Keadilan Rakyat. The second person is Thamrin Ghafar, he's a PAS member (Parti Islam SeMalaysia), the Islamic party, PAS, and the third person is Haris Ibrahim, he's the chief of this movement called 'Anything But UMNO'. And the fourth person is Adam Adli and Adam has been charged this morning, and he has been released on bail. These four people are now in the Jinjang remand centre.
LAM: You represent Adam Adli, who was detained five days ago, but he's out on bail, is that right?
FADIAH: Yes, correct. Basically, they're just punishing him for speaking his mind and they have used this archaic and draconian Sedition Act, even though the Prime Minister, the government has said before that they would repeal this act, because it's no longer relevant in the modern setting, but unfortunately, it's not repealed and they continue to use this draconian act to stifle dissent. So Adam Adli has been detained for five days, after being arrested last Saturday - they (police) applied for a remand order from the magistrate, and the magistrate granted five-day remand against Adam Adli, and he was subjected to continuous interrogation even though he kept telling the police that they could have just referred to the video that contains his speech. They (the police) are just trying to send a message to the Malaysian people, Do not say something that's not favourable to the government, or else you'll be arrested and detained under the Sedition Act.
LAM: And Fadiah, can you tell us what is it exactly that Adam Adli had allegedly said that was considered so seditious?
FADIAH: Adam Adli basically called for the Malaysian people to go to the streets to protest against the fraud committed during the (May 5th) elections.
LAM: Tian Chua is of course the high-profile spokesman and also VP of the opposition Parti Keadilan. The opposition of course has been holding meetings about alleged electoral fraud - do you think Tian Chua's arrest might fuel emotions that're already running in Opposition ranks?
FADIAH: Yes, I believe so, because I think right now, after the elections, the government is obviously very insecure with how the Malaysian public is reacting to the allegations of fraud in the elections and how the Malaysian people are assembling to protest against the recent arrest of Adam Adli. The government is using the power that they have to tell the Malaysian public that they will do anything they can to stop the Malaysian public from expressing themselves, from protesting, from participating in peaceful assemblies and so on.
LAM: Prime Minister Najib prior to this month's elections, had vowed to strengthen civil liberties, including the possibility of getting rid of the Sedition Act. Do you think he's having second thoughts now?
FADIAH: I believe so, I think for political survival, the government knows that by having this (Sedition) Act, they can try to instil fear, because it's been used for so long. The Sedition Act is the legacy of the British and it has been used to stifle dissent. It's very, very clear that people who get arrested under the Sedition Act are people who're very vocal and critical of the government. So, this is a very powerful tool that is being used by the government, to stifle dissent, because the Sedition Act is very broad and wide. It can cover everything, and that's why it's being abused by the government, to stop people from speaking out.
LAM: One of the reasons the government had given for the need for the Sedition Act, was that it was relevant to multi-racial Malaysia, and there is a great need to keep racial harmony. You don't think the Sedition Act has a role or a place in Malaysian society?
FADIAH: No, I don't think that the Sedition Act is relevant. We can clearly compare this to the seditious statements issued by some people who're calling for racial hatred, racial violence, for example, recently. But no one was subjected to this Act. But when it comes to the Opposition, when it comes to the activists, the authorities are very fast to take action under the Sedition Act. So you can selective prosecution, and also how the government is not really serious in trying to build harmony and trying to deter racial hatred and also racial violence. So if they're very, very serious, they should repeal this Act and they should come up with new legislation that can deal with hate speech, for example, that can deal with racial violence, racial discrimination, in line with the international standard, International Covenant on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in order to ensure that everyone has the civil and political rights.
NY Times on Malaysia latest
Asia Pacific,
New York Times
Opposition Figures Are
Detained in Malaysia
Published: May 23, 2013
BANGKOK —
The Malaysian government began a crackdown on political opponents on Thursday,
arresting three government critics, including a prominent member of Parliament,
and charging a student activist with sedition.
The
arrests come two and a half weeks after elections
that showed the governing party, which has been in power since
independence from Britain in 1957, losing support from broad portions of the
electorate.
The
crackdown may be an attempt to pre-empt a demonstration planned for Saturday to
protest accusations of fraud in the election, analysts said.
The
opposition, which is led by a former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, won
the popular vote in the May 5 election but failed to take control of Parliament
because of a lopsided electoral system that gives a stronger voice to rural
areas, where the governing party is strongest.
Mr. Anwar
says the election victory was fraudulent and has been leading rallies across
the country since the election results were announced; the demonstration on
Saturday is being organized by a coalition of several dozen civic
organizations.
The
member of Parliament arrested on Thursday, Tian Chua, is Mr. Anwar’s deputy in
a multicultural party that is challenging the dominance of the single-race
United Malays National Organization.
Mr. Chua,
who won re-election to Parliament May 5, posted on Twitter as he was being
arrested Thursday, “No dictators could ever repress the rise of people’s
power.” He said a police officer told him that he was being charged with
sedition.
The two
other people arrested are Haris Ibrahim, who leads an antigovernment group, and
Tamrin Ghafar, the son of a former deputy prime minister who is a member of an
Islamic party that is allied with Mr. Anwar. In addition, Adam Adli, the
student activist, was charged with sedition on Thursday and released.
The
Malaysian government, which has begun numerous crackdowns against dissidents
during its decades in power, issued a statement late Thursday calling the
arrests “a matter for the police.”
“The
detentions came after the police received numerous reports against the
defendants by members of the public,” the statement said. “In such circumstances
the police are required to investigate and are following due and proper
process.”
Malaysia’s
prime minister, Najib Razak, who is under pressure within his party after the
narrow victory, has vowed to undo some of the authoritarian legacy of his
predecessors. The government has lifted a ban that prevented students from
participating in politics, and it has said it will not use a law that allows
detention without trial.
Mr. Najib
announced in July that he would repeal the sedition law, which dates to British
colonial days, but it remains on the books.
Open to
broad interpretation, the sedition act calls for sentences of up to three years
in prison and makes it illegal to bring “into hatred or contempt or to excite
disaffection against the administration of justice in Malaysia.”
It can
also apply to someone who promotes “feelings of ill will and hostility between
different races or classes of the population of Malaysia.”
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
BN rigged the EC constituencies
Putrajaya's small constituency is made equal to Kapar's huge constituency: this is a blatant example of disproportionate rigging of votes in favour of BN.
PETALING JAYA (May 22): Among the election "literature" distributed prior to the 13th general election (GE13) was Tindak Malaysia's analysis of Malaysia's electoral outlook.
By virtue of Tindak Malaysia's position as a non-partisan community movement that conducted voter education and election agent training, the analysis was widely circulated via social media.
The analysis examined the 2008 political landscape and drew conclusions as to the probable results of the GE13.
Tindak Malaysia's main political premise was that BN would never lose a general election because its re-delineation strategy ensured that it won most of the smaller rural parliamentary seats while Pakatan Rakyat took most of the larger but lesser urban seats.
The movement ranked the 222 parliamentary constituencies according to the size of their voters based on 2008 data. Most of the rural areas, aside from Putrajaya, made up the first 112 seats.
To further illustrate its point, Tindak Malaysia compared the smallest parliamentary seat of Putrajaya to the largest seat of Kapar. Putrajaya's 6,608 voters when compared to Kapar's 112,224 voters resulted in a ratio of 1:17. This means one vote in Putrajaya is worth 17 in Kapar.
Today, Putrajaya and Kapar have 15,791 and 144,159 registered voters respectively.
According to Tindak Malaysia founder, Wong Piang Yow, BN only needed to win a simple majority of 51% in 112 of the smaller parliamentary seats to stay on as the ruling government also by a simple majority.
And based on his calculations, BN had easily won 112 seats within the first 139 seats (according to voters' size) in the 2008 general election with a total of 2.08 million votes.
"Do you agree that two million can decide for 28 million?" he asked in the analysis.
The official GE13 figures have yet to be gazetted but Wong has estimated that 2.26 million voters had decided for Malaysia on May 5.
Tindak Malaysia's analysis also emphasised that the bulk of the 112 seats were in Malay-majority rural areas and had a total voter count of less than 45,000 each.
"For a simple majority rule, the rural bumiputeras decide," Tindak Malaysia stated. "Only for two-thirds majority do the non-bumiputeras have a say."
"Is it a coincidence that the poorest groups with the worst infrastructure, education and healthcare facilities are the kingmakers?"
Political analysts who viewed the presentation agreed that the premise, though simplistic, was valid. However, they pointed out that other variables and technicalities had to be taken into consideration.
Professor James Chin of Monash University said that the two million represented registered voters and had therefore decided for the 10.9 million voters instead of the total population of 28 million.
He added that the calculations of a simple majority were also based on the assumption of a full voter turnout in all 112 seats, something which has yet to be achieved.
"But yes, it is possible that two million decided for 10.9 million in 2008," Chin said.
K Shan, chairman of the National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI), agreed with Chin on both points but added that the controversy lay in the popular vote which he called a "problematic analysis."
"We are behaving like we're in a two-party system when in fact we're living in a multi-party system," Shan said. "The popular vote analysis doesn't reflect an illegitimate government."
Taking a different stand from other critics of Malaysia's electoral system, Shan stated that the first past the post (FPTP) system can be maintained but proposed the inclusion of proportional representation.
"FPTP is a balanced representation of the rural, urban and East Malaysian communities especially when 70% of voters in East Malaysia are located outside the urban areas," he said. "FPTP establishes a balance in urban voting power."
On the subject of voting power, the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) has recommended that the upcoming re-delineation exercise reflects equal representation of votes by reverting to a former rural weightage system.
The system, which was part of the original Federal Constitution in 1957, called for not more than a 15% discrepancy from the average constitution in each state. It underwent constitutional amendments in 1962 and was scrapped completely in 1973.
"Rural weightage basically says that people in rural areas should have a greater say in how the country is run because they might need more help," said IDEAS chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan.
"So there must be a normalisation of the constituency sizes while appreciating that there are urban, semi-urban and rural areas and each which different characteristics."
Political analyst and newly-elected DAP MP for Serdang Ong Kian Ming, meanwhile said that while Tindak Malaysia's calculations may be simplistic, it showed a possible reality given that the large majority of small seats were won by BN.
"This point shows the inherent unfairness of the electoral system in Malaysia," he stated. "You would not find such a case in other mature democracies using FPTP."
Two academics from Universiti Putra Malaysia's (UPM) Human Ecology faculty agreed on the premise that BN's winning points were scored in the rural areas and warned that the ruling coalition now needed to focus on the urban areas in preparation for GE14.
Professor Sarjit Singh Darshan Singh said while BN's survival in GE13 was heavily dependent on the rural votes, the next election would be a more severe test of its strength as younger voters moved to the urban areas.
He also noted that political awareness among the minority communities had also increased this time round which indicated that they wanted to be involved in the political process.
"They want to contribute their views but the question is to what extent are their views taken into account by the government," Sarjit said.
Calling the GE13 a "minority general election," Professor Jayum anak Jawan asserted that without them, BN would not be ruling again.
"Sabah and Sarawak carried a sinking ship and with rural areas fast becoming urbanised, the minorities will play a bigger role in the next election," he said.
Read more: http://www.fz.com/content/did-two-million-rural-voters-decide-malaysia#ixzz2U1F5Vb3b
Malay MP speaks out against UMNO
Monday, 13 May 2013 By - Dato' Mohd.Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul
Aziz. He is now the elected MP for Raub Pahang under DAP platform.
Studied Economics at University Malaya and University of Manchester(Owens). P80 RAUB 
1. Dato' Mohd Ariff
Sabri Abdul Aziz (DAP) 23,415
2. Hoh Khai Mun
(BN) 20,601
I am asking
the former judge who came out with a Hitler-like final solution to his problem
to study the above table. Does he have Himmler, Hess and Goebbels and Joseph
Mengele around with him? While he is at it, he might as well invite the Zul
Nordin's and Ibrahim Ali's of this country.
The problem
faced by UMNO is not a Malay problem. It is a problem for specific UMNO
leaders- chiefly Najib for having failed to get more Malay support. Additional
UMNO seats did not translate into more Malay votes. He is trying to hide his
problem by blaming the Chinese. Why did he spend billions on 1Malaysia then?
Was that agenda an excuse to pilfer the till?
What of the
former judge? How did this person become a judge in the first place? There must
be a flaw in the system of selecting judges. He must have been a beneficiary of
the bad side of the NEP, that portion that promotes the mediocre and the
riffraff over genuine and really talented Malays. He should be hauled up for
sedition. Coincidentally, the bad portion of the NEP was the creation of UMNO.
Just look at
the above figures. In Peninsula Malaysia, BN got 4.347 million votes compared
to 5.624 million votes garnered by PR. That’s 45% compared to 53%. It is
obvious PR won the popular votes. In simpler words to UMNO people, more people
voted PR than UMNO/BN.
9.4 million
Malaysian citizens voted in Peninsula on that day. From that figure, let us
assume that 70% were Malays. The number of Malay voters in Peninsula was 6.58
million on that Sunday. BN got 4.347 million votes. Assuming out of that,
70% were Malay voters, UMNO candidates secured 3.0 million votes, an increase
of 1 million from 2008. That is logical given the amount of money Najib bribed
to get their votes. If UMNO got 3.0 million Malay votes, the number of Malays
who didn’t vote UMNO was bigger- at 3.58 million!
What more do
the Malays want? They want nothing more of Najib and his band of thieving
politicians.
Take Perak
for example. The state should receive condolences. PR clearly took in more
votes than BN, yet BN is still the government. It has no moral basis to stay on
as the state government and Zamri can’t crow about having support from the
people. BN got 31 state seats to PR’s 28. Only 3 seats separate the legal
victor from the moral winner.
But immoral
UMNO doesn’t care two hoots about what citizens want. They care more about what
they can get from having power. They care more about what Najib and Mahathir
can give them.
The UMNO
people are working overtime to validate Najib’s performance. He has failed.
Sure, he added a number of seats to UMNO, by way of fraud and gerrymandering.
But, he hasn’t increased Malay support for UMNO.
Since, more
Malays rejected UMNO again this time, Utusan Malaysia should be asking, what
more do the Malays want? Well, they want to kick out UMNO from Putrajaya with
its damning policies. An economy driven by corruption, powered by patronage
meant for cronies.
You think
Malaysians are elated Najib announced another trillion Ringgit package? Because
they already know how the game is played- 30% is for commissions for
UMNO-proxied companies. In the meantime the pliant rural mass is kept fearful
of a Chinese takeover of Malaysia.
Who is UMNO
kidding? The civil service is 90% Malays, all the heads of departments are
Malays, the Police is predominantly Malay, the military again Malays, the
kings- I don’t see any with non-Malay names. So how do the Chinese take over
Malaysia without creating a bloodbath?
Another
thing- why does UMNO confer on itself the monopoly to speak on behalf of the
Malays? It only commands less than 50% of the total number of Malay votes. UMNO
is a shameless party. So for whom does UMNO speak, I ask once again?
For the Malay
anarchists, the pseudo- feudal establishment who desire the good life by
enslaving other people to work, the oligarchs, and the Malay type created by
Mahathir with his scorched earth politics and his politics of vengeance.
What does
Mukhriz have other than a famous surname? The Malays are once again duped into
believing that talent and smartness are inherited. The hallmark of a backward
society is that it operates along the lines of ascriptive norms like McCLelland
says in The Achieving society. A person is promoted on account of his ascribed
and inherited status- hence Mukhriz is deemed the best MB prospect because he
is the son of Mahathir, Najib the best person to lead Malaysia because he is
the son of Tun Razak.
Unfortunately,
the only endorsement on Najib being the best person to lead comes from Pak Lah -
himself a mediocre talent. He could be saying that just to seek revenge on
Muhyidin for orchestrating his departure from office in 2009.
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