readmore NEW SCRIPT FOR MALAYSIA THE SAD REALITY MYTHS ARE BEING PERPETUATED BY UMNOFOR THEIR OWN GAIN.UNDER ITS SUZERAINTY FOREVER.
By Nurul Izzah Anwar COMMENT A Malay daily recently declared that a civil war would break out in the country. And this war would dwarf the May 13 1969 racial riot – the worst in Malaysia’s history. The war, said the newspaper, is a response to a non-existing amended constitution that abolishes the special position of
PKR vice president Tian Chua ticked off Prime Minister Najib Razak for ignorance and for trying to mislead the public when he recently challenged the Pakatan Rakyat to form a shadow Cabinet.
“This is one guy who doesn’t know what he is talking about, he is simply shooting his mouth off. A shadow Cabinet such as those practised in the advanced democracies like U.K. are formalized structures recognized by the ruling coalition," Tian, who is also the Batu MP, told Malaysia Chronicle.
"When a certain Bill is due to be debated, the relevant shadow ministry is invited to give its views and expected to challenge or support the Bill in Parliament. In other words, a two-party system is recognized as a norm. Can Najib look Malaysians in the eye and say that he and BN recognise a two-party system here?”
Treated like enemies, not fellow citizens
But shallow though the PM's arguments may have been and despite his usual refusal to take into account important facts that did not favour him, his Cabinet colleagues and several pro-Umno bloggers rushed to cheer him on.
Over the weekend, Najib had actually hailed the advantages a shadow Cabinet could reap for the country. “In Malaysia we only have a government Cabinet. The opposition is incapable of forming one and does not know how to distribute portfolios to the right figures among its ranks,” Bernama reported him as saying.
But according to Tian, Najib omitted to tell the crowd that his BN coalition treated opposition MPs as enemies, rather than as fellow citizens working for the betterment of the country.
The Najib administration has even banned extending any form of financial allocation to the opposition. So extreme has the BN government been that Sungai Siput MP Michael Jeyaraj Devakumar filed a lawsuit to compel it to provide financing for essential repairs and development projects at constituencies that did not cote for them
Recently, in a move condemned by foreign parliamentarians, Najib even hammered through resolutions suspending Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Karpal Singh, Azmin Ali and Sivarasa Rasiah. The four men had persisted on asking him to reveal details of a shadowy public relations and strategic communications contract he signed with APCO, a New York based firm whose top management has links to the Israeli secret service including Shin Bet.
“This is the reality of the existing Malaysian parliamentary system. To hide these facts just to attack Pakatan shows smalless and desperation. Malaysia’s deserves a prime minister with greater intellectual and spiritual depth, a man who doesn’t lie but confronts the truth and works out solutions,” said Tian.
People's dream team
Tian also said Pakatan Rakyat took a shadow Cabinet very seriously.
“It is actually a promise to the people. Say for example, if we were to make Tony Pua the Finance minister and Tony wins his seat, then we should honor it because that is what we told the people. Not like now when the BN makes a mockery of the entire system. Have you ever seen in any of their manifesto who would form the team to lead Malaysia if they won? What happens now is BN only chooses after the elections are over and then it’s completely up to Umno. There is a huge amount of horse trading involved and in the end the people never get to see their dream team,” he said.
While it has not been able to run a proper shadow Cabinet, Pakatan has actually already established a committee of shadow portfolios. At least one lawmaker from each of the three Pakatan parties DAP, PAS and PKR sit in each portfolio.
They track various national issues and developments as well as proposed Bills . For example, when the Defence ministry recently proposed buying six patrol warships for an exorbitant RM6billion, representatives of the Pakatan defense group issued press statements to alert the public of what they perceived to be gross overpricing.
“We really wish we could formalize into a more concrete shadow Cabinet but until Najib and BN changes their tune, we have to stick with our steering committees. These have actually been quite successful in raising awareness. It is just the mainstream press that doesn’t report our efforts or reports them negatively,” Tian said.
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WHAT DID HE MEAN BY ‘TENTATIVE CHARGE BUT ALL IS NOT LOST’?
On 11th October, Malaysia Today carried a post entitled ‘Abuse of power by the Deputy Prime Minister’ that laid out a series of sms’es alleged to have passed between Najib and senior lawyer Shafee Abdullah in relation to Razak Baginda’s arrest and remand in the days before Baginda was charged.
Najib was publicly asked to comment about these sms’es and he never denied the authenticity of the same.
Now, there’s one other exchange of sms’es, this time allegedly between Razak Baginda and Najib. I do not recall Najib himself having ever addressed or denied or admitted the correctness or otherwise of these sms’es directly, as he did with the series of sms’es referred to in the MT posting.
I am referring to the 2 sms’es mentioned at paragraphs 51 and 52 of the first statutory declaration of private investigator Balasubramaniam. Let me reproduce below both paragraphs 51 and 52 of that first statutory declaration.
51. On the day Abdul Razak Baginda was arrested, I was with him at his lawyers office at 6.30am. Abdul Razak Baginda informed us that he had sent Najib Razak an SMS the evening before as he refused to believe he was to be arrested, but had not received a response.
52. Shortly thereafter, at about 7.30am, Abdul Razak Baginda received an SMS from Najib Razak and showed, this message to both myself and his lawyer. This message read as follows: “ I am seeing IGP at 11am
“Firstly, we cannot equate what is happening in Egypt with Malaysia because things are very different in the two countries.” Najib Tun Razak
WHAT BOLLOCKS!
UNADULTERATED OFFAL!
WHAT DIFFERENCE?
SAME DIFFERENCE!
CORRUPTION IS CORRUPTION!
IN MALAYSIA OR MYANMAR!
SARAWAK OR SUDAN !
THE ONLY DIFFERECE IS:
The degree of corruption and the expediency of MACC, and the judiciary.
Najib and his boys need to contemplate hard on these quotes on this holy day!
Corruption has its own motivations, and one has to thoroughly study that phenomenon and eliminate the foundations that allow corruption to exist.
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze
Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.
Karl Kraus
Karl Kraus
It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption.
Charles de Montesquieu
Charles de Montesquieu
Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.
Ray Davies
Ray Davies
The corruption in reporting starts very early. It's like the police reporting on the police .
Julian Assange
Julian Assange
The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.
Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos
The winner must promote social jusitce, remove corruption and discrmination, and stand against political , cultural and economic plots.
Ayatollah Khamenei
Ayatollah Khamenei
Whoever looks at Malaysia will see: the ship is powered by stupidity, corruption, or prejudice.
IT WONT HAPPEN HERE.
NOT NOW
JUST MAYBE LATER.
Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared to be nursing a stiff neck, and certainly looked terribly nervous and uncomfortable as he started his speech. Having no doubt been advised by his handlers to establish eye contact with the audience, he nevertheless managed to look furtive doing it. His body language spoke far more than any words that he spoke. Mr Najib is a worried man, fearful of his future.
He cannot improve on the BN’s performance of 2008, he knows this, and in fact the BN will fare worse. Which means Mr Najib will be deposed after the election by his own party. His short and hitherto unimpressive career will be over. So he has decided on a radical new strategy, to take on the mantle of a reformer; overnight!
He first started off with a dull history lesson, focusing on the fact that Malaysians (Malayans rather) had been able to vote in an election for the first time in 1952, and as a free country in 1959. Since that makes Malaysia about the same as every other country that ever became independent of a colonial power (including the US), we were left wishing that he would get to the point. And we were quite sure there was a point, as Mr.Najib could not afford another pointless speech.
“The three Declarations of Emergency are hereby cancelled 40 years later”. Big deal. Better than Gaddafi, but that’s about it. Broad false smile from Hishamuddin Hussein.
“The ISA will be annulled in its entirety”. More false happy signals from Hishamuddin. Rais Yatim doing a terribly good impression of a prune. The IGP nodding his head like one of those vile nodding-head dolls that people are always bringing back from their travels. Unenthusiastic clapping from the very perpetuators of these vile laws, the BN’s flabby, flaccid in-bred ruling class.
And a bonus, “no more Printing Presses Act”, so the newspapers will be ‘free’. They’ll still need a license to operate though, so maybe not so ‘free’. The Executive will still control them. You can look forward to the usual garbage from the mainstream newspapers. Opposition newspapers will of course not be given a licence.
So, what, in the end, was Mr Najib's point?
Sure, BN can change, no doubt about it!
Well, Mr Najib would like you to believe that, contrary to current conventional wisdom, the BN can change without being thrown out first. He would like the fence-sitters to vote for him. He would like to disentangle himself as an individual from the BN’s unpopularity. He would like some of the urban vote, which he has entirely lost, back.
But he offers nothing! The announcements of September 15th are superficial garbage. The ISA was a law that was politically impossible to use any more, so what difference that it is repealed, other than symbolism. Two new laws will be created, Mr Najib announced. Just like that. He needed to discuss it with no stakeholders? The judiciary remains under the thumb of the executive. The police remain unreformed, the IPCMC blocked. The MACC a farce in itself. The AG will have his powers unclipped and we may look forward to more selective prosecutions.
Already his underlings like Hishamuddin Hussein and Nazri Aziz are undermining even these miserable changes. The current batch of ISA detainees have yet to be released two days after Mr Najib made his speech. Hishamuddin Hussein now claims that they are all being held for ‘terrorism’. It is indeed a very sudden surge of it!
Najib's version of freedom
There are some who have welcomed Mr.Najib’s speech, but they may very well be suffering, as tweeted by Ms Latheefa Koya, from a severe case of Stockholm syndrome. You do not thank your captor for letting you go because it has now become expedient for him to do so!
To add insult to injury, Mr Najib claims to have ‘freed’ the newspapers. He will however have the right to pull their license whenever he chooses! This is Mr Najib’s idea of freedom. Very different from Mandela's and a Sword of Damocles over your head.
The only clear fact that comes out of his announcements is that Mr.Najib believes that Malaysians can be easily fooled. His speech on the 15th was an exercise in talking down to the electorate. Few will be fool enough to swallow this lukewarm swill he would serve us.
Mr Najib may keep his half-measures and expedient speeches. Or he may spout them from the opposition benches after the next General Election. What cannot be countenanced is another five years of incompetence, economic mismanagement and arrogant rule by the BN.
In a classic two-pronged strategy, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak is leading the party’s charge for the non-Malay vote while his deputy works on Malay groups such as Perkasa in the ruling coalition’s bid for more support in the next general elections.
The strategy has also seen Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad emerging as Najib’s point man for the crucial Malay vote with the former premier’s warning yesterday that the community will lose political power if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) captures Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional (BN).
The Malaysian Insider understands that the Umno leadership believes it is courting disaster if it is seen to be pandering to non-Malays although the prime minister has been actively reaching out to religious and communal leaders to emphasise inclusivity and unity under his 1 Malaysia concept.
But Dr Mahathir and his ilk believe that the key to Najib’s big win in the next polls is resounding Malay support and crucial for Umno to work with Perkasa and other right wing groups The country’s
longest-serving prime minister is to expound on this theme when he addresses the Perkasa Kelantan rally tomorrow at the Pasir Mas Railway Station in Kelatan.
The former Umno president, who still commands widespread influence among Umno members and larger Malay community, pointed to the former PR mentri besar in Perak Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as an example of how Malay politicians had been sidelined by the fledgling coalition.
“We see Nizar in Perak...even though he was Mentri Besar he followed the instructions of DAP until he fell. The Chinese claim this was BN’s move to bring down a Chinese government.
“So they called it a Chinese administration and is it not possible that we can have a prime minister like Nizar, Malay in name and a Muslim but not really independent and a tool of others,” he said in an interview with the Umno Online website yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said that while Nizar represented PAS which supposedly champions Islam, he was actually used to secure Malay support.
He pointed out that there was no requirement for the prime minister to be a Muslim or Malay. All that was needed, Dr Mahathir said, was that the person had the support of the majority in Parliament.
“There is no restriction in law. In our Constitution there is nothing to stop a Chinese or an Indian from becoming prime minister. What is needed is support from the majority. If the majority agree there is nothing we can do,” he said.
Apart from Dr Mahathir, other Umno leaders such as Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin have been tasked to manage the Malay ground and recapture support from those who now back PAS and PKR, which has a number of former Umno leaders.
The strategy however will see the country’s top leaders sounding as different as night and day as they work their charm offensive on the non-Malays and Malays.
Najib’s recent praise of the tiny Malayalee community and support for an inter-faith group plus the project to re-brand Kuala Lumpur’s Brickfields suburb as Little India, to be officiated by his Indian
counterpart, will be balanced by ensuring that affirmative action policies stay in his New Economic Model (NEM) to be finalised next month.
The strategy has also seen Umno and Barisan BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor declaring that the ruling coalition will not support Ibrahim Ali in the next general elections only to see Najib and other senior leaders reversing that stand.
Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali has denied his movement is political but said its members will decide which coalition to support in the next general elections. The independent Pasir Mas MP has stressed that his movement’s growing membership of 300,000 cannot be discounted and their views considered particularly over Malay rights and the monarchy.
The focus, however, is on Umno as its senior allies MCA and MIC struggle through leadership changes and appear to lose support from their respective communities.
The question that lingers is still whether Malaysians are going to buy the good cop/bad cop routine from the top Umno and BN leadership in the run-up to the next general elections. And whether it’s tenable to straddle the fence indefinitely in the face of PR’s ambitions to rule the country after its historic wins in Election 2008.
In a democracy worth its name, it’s the people who come first. The government exists for them and not the other way around as is happening now. We are made to believe that the people are there to do the government's bidding. The government actually tells you that.
You vote for my man on Sunday, you will get a cheque on Monday. That’s what they told the voters in Ulu Selangor. In Sibu they told the voters, “You elect my man, I will pay for the flood mitigation project” - otherwise you can drown in the flood for all I care!
In other words, you will be rewarded if you serve the ruler; otherwise you will be punished. They don’t govern the country any more – they rule over you; they lord over you.
Is this what democracy is all about?
53 years of disappointment
For 53 years, we have been ruled - not served; for 53 years we have been kept apart through policies that discriminate against the citizens; for 53 years they failed to forge a nation rooted in justice and truth. For more than half a century they failed us miserably; they disappointed us blatantly without a care or thought for the welfare of the nation and its people.
They did whatever they wanted to, without being accountable for their actions simply because the police, the judiciary, the anti-corruption commission, even our mainstream media and others are no longer able to function professionally and in an unbiased manner in the larger interest of the nation. Notions of justice and fair play are no longer the cornerstone of our society.
Tun Dr Mahathir made sure that truth and justice will not be part of the fabric of our society. He destroyed the judiciary in 1988 and we have not recovered from that shameful onslaught that removed the Lord President unjustly and made victims of two honest and brave judges of the Supreme Court who stood up for justice.
Our judiciary was once regarded as a bastion of justice. It was a well-respected institution of integrity in the Commonwealth. But alas, it is now totally discredited and ridiculed. We can even predict certain judgments even before they are pronounced.
Certain judges don’t even seem to know the law. They dispense judgments that are baffling and absurd. We witnessed these weird instances in numerous cases.
In the Perak crisis, the provisions of the Federal Constitution were completely ignored; in the Kampung Buah Pala case, we witnessed an absurd situation when a piece of land was sold for pittance by the former BN Penang state government when that land did not belong to the state government – this very important fact was strangely never addressed by the court; in the cases involving conversions that deliberately disrupted families and separated mother and child, the verdicts of the
judges were absolutely unfair.
In the case of Anwar Ibrahim, the courts have totally discredited themselves in the way they have denied Anwar access to vital information that is crucial for his defence. Rampant corruption, wastage – and a false dawn
Corruption is rampant and the MACC does not come across as an impartial institution that can be depended upon to curb corruption. The speed with which it moves to investigate those opposed to the BN as compared to the dragging of feet when corruption involves BN leaders and ministers makes you wonder whether the MACC is there to protect the BN and harass the Pakatan Rakyat.
If we are privy to information about corruption and abuse of our money that has surfaced lately, it is not because of the ACA becoming MACC. It is because of the change of certain state governments.
For over 50 years, the books had been closed to the rakyat. Alarming information has been preserved and protected through the use of the OSA. Not any more. Exco minutes no longer remain a state secret. They can be revealed; the abuse, the corruption, the lies - all can be exposed now.
The wastage and squandering of the national wealth is amazing and bewildering. While there are moves to remove subsidies and reduce scholarships due to lack of funds, we seem to have endless funds for opulent lifestyles and extravagant expenditure for putting up buildings that cost hundreds of million ringgit.
Shockingly, allocations to hospitals have been cut drastically resulting in shortages of vital medicines. But we have funds for building a new parliament.
Why do we need another Parliament when we already have one that is rich in history, serving as a national symbol of democracy for nearly half a century?
We should not even think of moving into the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, which has come to symbolise one of the many failed projects that has cost the taxpayers unnecessary colossal expenditure.
A new Parliament should not be used as an excuse to save or rescue Putrajaya ICC. The Malaysian voters should punish the BN at the next election if it dares to go for another Parliament completely dismissing public sentiments.
Why do we need another palace when we already have the Istana Negara and another palace in Putrajaya? We can safely assume that His Majesty the Yang Di Pertuan Agong had not demanded for yet one more palace.
People were fooled into thinking that a new dawn in race relations had arrived when the Prime Minister announced his 1Malaysia with much fanfare. For a moment, he made Malaysians believe that at long last we have come to our senses. He spoke of equal opportunities based on ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.
But it was rather unfortunate that almost immediately, it was sunset for 1Malaysia when his Deputy declared, “I’m Malay first.” He put a stop to our progress in race relations and came across as supporting Ibrahim Ali’s Perkasa, which is strident about Ketuanan Melayu.
1Malaysia notwithstanding, it is clear that under the BN we will never be united as a people and as a nation. The BN is not capable of genuinely reinventing itself. We will remain divided and compartmentalised in our own communities because this situation suits the BN.
We must never fall into this trap.
Hope for complete change
Democracy only works when people claim it as their own. But, as the Aliran Singers tell us, democracy means you have to get off your backsides!
In this regard, it is important to usher in a two-party system for Malaysia. In a two party system, we can expect them to behave responsibly or else they will get the boot, for sure.
It is refreshing to note that after half a century of monolithic rule by the BN, we are witnessing changes that are interesting and refreshing. We have got a Speakers’ Square, stadiums for massive gatherings, ‘tak nak ISA’, a more lively and vibrant parliament, accountability for past misdeeds, Balkis misuse of funds and junket trips exposed. These were never possible before the tsunami brought in the change.
Let’s give a serious thought to an alternative government. Let’s not be put off by the internal squabbles in the Pakatan Rakyat, which is being played up by the mainstream media to give an edge to the BN.
There is still hope for complete change. Please do not think that we are anti-BN. We are not. Any ruling party whatever its colour and shade must conduct itself responsibly, solely in the interest of the people.
In keeping with this policy, we give fair warning to any future PR government. We will be just as critical of the Pakatan Rakyat when it reaches Putrajaya. It makes no difference who governs this country. If they are wrong and at fault, if they do not walk the talk about people first, democracy now, the PR government too will be equally criticised and condemned. Rest assured, we will conduct ourselves even-handedly.
Let me make a personal appeal to all of you. The Aliran Monthly in its 30th year of publication needs your support urgently. The hassle of collecting payment from distributors, coupled with poor sales and spiralling printing costs, has forced our hand to do away with street sales of the Monthly.
As from 1 January 2011, the Aliran Monthly cannot be bought off the shelf in stalls and bookshops. But it will be available to those who subscribe to the magazine.
I encourage all of you to subscribe to the Aliran Monthly. Get your friends and relatives to subscribe as well. Meanwhile don’t forget to visit our website regularly, check out our Thinking Allowed- Online in particular.
This is an abridged version of the address by Aliran president P Ramakrishnan during an Aliran fund-raising dinner at the PJ Civic Centre on 26 June 2010
You vote for my man on Sunday, you will get a cheque on Monday. That’s what they told the voters in Ulu Selangor. In Sibu they told the voters, “You elect my man, I will pay for the flood mitigation project” - otherwise you can drown in the flood for all I care!
In other words, you will be rewarded if you serve the ruler; otherwise you will be punished. They don’t govern the country any more – they rule over you; they lord over you.
Is this what democracy is all about?
53 years of disappointment
For 53 years, we have been ruled - not served; for 53 years we have been kept apart through policies that discriminate against the citizens; for 53 years they failed to forge a nation rooted in justice and truth. For more than half a century they failed us miserably; they disappointed us blatantly without a care or thought for the welfare of the nation and its people.
They did whatever they wanted to, without being accountable for their actions simply because the police, the judiciary, the anti-corruption commission, even our mainstream media and others are no longer able to function professionally and in an unbiased manner in the larger interest of the nation. Notions of justice and fair play are no longer the cornerstone of our society.
Tun Dr Mahathir made sure that truth and justice will not be part of the fabric of our society. He destroyed the judiciary in 1988 and we have not recovered from that shameful onslaught that removed the Lord President unjustly and made victims of two honest and brave judges of the Supreme Court who stood up for justice.
Our judiciary was once regarded as a bastion of justice. It was a well-respected institution of integrity in the Commonwealth. But alas, it is now totally discredited and ridiculed. We can even predict certain judgments even before they are pronounced.
Certain judges don’t even seem to know the law. They dispense judgments that are baffling and absurd. We witnessed these weird instances in numerous cases.
In the Perak crisis, the provisions of the Federal Constitution were completely ignored; in the Kampung Buah Pala case, we witnessed an absurd situation when a piece of land was sold for pittance by the former BN Penang state government when that land did not belong to the state government – this very important fact was strangely never addressed by the court; in the cases involving conversions that deliberately disrupted families and separated mother and child, the verdicts of the
judges were absolutely unfair.
In the case of Anwar Ibrahim, the courts have totally discredited themselves in the way they have denied Anwar access to vital information that is crucial for his defence. Rampant corruption, wastage – and a false dawn
Corruption is rampant and the MACC does not come across as an impartial institution that can be depended upon to curb corruption. The speed with which it moves to investigate those opposed to the BN as compared to the dragging of feet when corruption involves BN leaders and ministers makes you wonder whether the MACC is there to protect the BN and harass the Pakatan Rakyat.
If we are privy to information about corruption and abuse of our money that has surfaced lately, it is not because of the ACA becoming MACC. It is because of the change of certain state governments.
For over 50 years, the books had been closed to the rakyat. Alarming information has been preserved and protected through the use of the OSA. Not any more. Exco minutes no longer remain a state secret. They can be revealed; the abuse, the corruption, the lies - all can be exposed now.
The wastage and squandering of the national wealth is amazing and bewildering. While there are moves to remove subsidies and reduce scholarships due to lack of funds, we seem to have endless funds for opulent lifestyles and extravagant expenditure for putting up buildings that cost hundreds of million ringgit.
Shockingly, allocations to hospitals have been cut drastically resulting in shortages of vital medicines. But we have funds for building a new parliament.
Why do we need another Parliament when we already have one that is rich in history, serving as a national symbol of democracy for nearly half a century?
We should not even think of moving into the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, which has come to symbolise one of the many failed projects that has cost the taxpayers unnecessary colossal expenditure.
A new Parliament should not be used as an excuse to save or rescue Putrajaya ICC. The Malaysian voters should punish the BN at the next election if it dares to go for another Parliament completely dismissing public sentiments.
Why do we need another palace when we already have the Istana Negara and another palace in Putrajaya? We can safely assume that His Majesty the Yang Di Pertuan Agong had not demanded for yet one more palace.
People were fooled into thinking that a new dawn in race relations had arrived when the Prime Minister announced his 1Malaysia with much fanfare. For a moment, he made Malaysians believe that at long last we have come to our senses. He spoke of equal opportunities based on ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.
But it was rather unfortunate that almost immediately, it was sunset for 1Malaysia when his Deputy declared, “I’m Malay first.” He put a stop to our progress in race relations and came across as supporting Ibrahim Ali’s Perkasa, which is strident about Ketuanan Melayu.
1Malaysia notwithstanding, it is clear that under the BN we will never be united as a people and as a nation. The BN is not capable of genuinely reinventing itself. We will remain divided and compartmentalised in our own communities because this situation suits the BN.
We must never fall into this trap.
Hope for complete change
Democracy only works when people claim it as their own. But, as the Aliran Singers tell us, democracy means you have to get off your backsides!
In this regard, it is important to usher in a two-party system for Malaysia. In a two party system, we can expect them to behave responsibly or else they will get the boot, for sure.
It is refreshing to note that after half a century of monolithic rule by the BN, we are witnessing changes that are interesting and refreshing. We have got a Speakers’ Square, stadiums for massive gatherings, ‘tak nak ISA’, a more lively and vibrant parliament, accountability for past misdeeds, Balkis misuse of funds and junket trips exposed. These were never possible before the tsunami brought in the change.
Let’s give a serious thought to an alternative government. Let’s not be put off by the internal squabbles in the Pakatan Rakyat, which is being played up by the mainstream media to give an edge to the BN.
There is still hope for complete change. Please do not think that we are anti-BN. We are not. Any ruling party whatever its colour and shade must conduct itself responsibly, solely in the interest of the people.
In keeping with this policy, we give fair warning to any future PR government. We will be just as critical of the Pakatan Rakyat when it reaches Putrajaya. It makes no difference who governs this country. If they are wrong and at fault, if they do not walk the talk about people first, democracy now, the PR government too will be equally criticised and condemned. Rest assured, we will conduct ourselves even-handedly.
Let me make a personal appeal to all of you. The Aliran Monthly in its 30th year of publication needs your support urgently. The hassle of collecting payment from distributors, coupled with poor sales and spiralling printing costs, has forced our hand to do away with street sales of the Monthly.
As from 1 January 2011, the Aliran Monthly cannot be bought off the shelf in stalls and bookshops. But it will be available to those who subscribe to the magazine.
I encourage all of you to subscribe to the Aliran Monthly. Get your friends and relatives to subscribe as well. Meanwhile don’t forget to visit our website regularly, check out our Thinking Allowed- Online in particular.
This is an abridged version of the address by Aliran president P Ramakrishnan during an Aliran fund-raising dinner at the PJ Civic Centre on 26 June 2010
…
Dr Mahathir cautioned the Malays that they stood to lose if they backed Pakatan Rakyat’s quest for Putrajaya. — Reuters pic
The PKR legislator also offered to debate the veteran Umno politician to disprove the claims he articulated in a blog post yesterday, in which the latter denied he was a racist.
“The ‘politics of fear’ uses Article 153 as a political instrument of deceit and despair,” the first-term MP said, referring to the Federal Constitution.
Article 153 concerns the special position of the Bumiputeras, which includes the Malay community.
Dr Mahathir appeared to play the race card for Umno yesterday by warning Malays that they risked losing power if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) came to rule.
He also implied that a Chinese or an Indian could become prime minister if PR took federal power because there was no constitutional restriction on race for the position.
The former prime minister claimed the political marginalisation of the Malays had already become a reality in PR-controlled states even though those administrations were led by Malays.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Dr Mahathir has offered his expertise to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to deliver a big win for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election, which could be held as early as next year.
His remarks to Umno Online yesterday suggest he will play a big role in Umno’s campaign to consolidate support among conservative Malays and win over fence-sitters uneasy with PR administrations.
Nurul Izzah observed today that Dr Mahathir appeared to be suggesting the constitution should be amended so that only Malays can hold the prime ministership.
“The aim of this is none other to maintain political hegemony by the ruling Malay elite few who have enriched themselves through corruption, abuse of power and undermining the constitution relentlessly,” she added, slamming the octogenarian for warning yesterday.
“I find this statement as irresponsible and as a desperate attempt to destabilise the nation,” the 30-year-old said of the country’s longest-serving premier.
The eldest daughter of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and a rising star in the PR bloc called on Malays to stand firm against the described threat to their community.
“We must fight back by emphasising on the ‘Politics of Hope and Liberation’, which will transform the Malay mind from the false fear of losing their identity and economical development to a positive force that will create a confident and liberated community,” she urged.
Nurul Izzah claimed the Malays have been persistently “indoctrinated” to “act out a victim mentality narrative that degrades, confuses and paralyses a community to remain enslaved intellectually and emotionally first by the colonial masters and now by its new reincarnation, Umno”.
She stressed that the other partners in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition were also guilty for not speaking up for the communities they represented.
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