Najib: Chinese votes dropped as they believed lies
Prime Minister Najib claimed that the 21st century can belong to Malaysia as it has three assets that no other country does: democracy, demographic dividend and demand. Undisputedly, these are invaluable assets. But Najib must realise that these are eclipsed by a unique combination of three crippling liabilities that only Malaysia has: excessive these three liabilities far exceed the value of the three assets and make Malaysia a country with a negative net worthules and regulations, egregious levels of corruption, and an embarrassingly hostile and irrational racism These three liabilities far exceed the value of the three assets and make Malaysia a country with a negative net worthThese preventive laws were there before. Yes, it was meant for the good of the people and country. It worked well for a long time when it was applied judiciously.The moment these laws were abused then people saw the evil in the law. Remember, the arrest of a journalist 'for her own safety' – a statement coming from the home minister himself; the arrest of an Adun, acting on fake news. That is what the people are more afraid of. Can you guarantee that the laws will not be abused?Most rules and regulations are like highway check-posts. Most can be done away with but are deliberately continued as they yield a steady source of ‘income’ for the bureaucratic and political establishment. Information technology is a potent tool to eliminate corruption. But Indian ingenuity has successfully sabotaged software to ensure that roadblocks continue and nothing can move until a bribe is paid.
The prime collateral casualty is Najib
Where have Malaysia’s political voices against racism gone? Chinese are some of the most racist people on earth, thanks to their culture, of which an aesthetic that valorises a fair complexion is an integral part. It comes naturally to Chinese to practise vicious racism at home and still wax outraged when Chinese abroad come up against racial discrimination. This makes a mockery of not justMalaysia’s claim to the mantle of opposing discrimination, harking back to Gandhi’s role in South Africa, but also of the Malaysia Constitution and the process of forging national unity in this ethnically, regionally and linguistically diverse land of ours.amazed, almost speechless in fact, that in this day and age Gerakan Wanita chief Tan Lian Hoe warns against calls for democracy that in the end, she said, destroys ourselves.nyway, we will not buy your nonsense as we have better sense than the idiots in Gerakan and MCA who are nothing but professional opportunists and ball carriers.ust because their president won Teluk Intan, these Gerakan fools think they are on high ground. Both the Gerakan Youth and Wanita are just trying to cash in on the cabinet bandwagon.there wasn't any vacancy for deputy ministers. But then, knowing Najib, who like to be surrounded by advisers and ministers, he may just be crazy enough to reward Gerakan with another one or two deputy minister posts.So idiotic you don't even realise that many people already have no respect for you, and here again you are talking nonsense so that you can hang on in Barisan Nasional. Shameless!
Another Prostitute from Gerakan. The president, the Youth chief, and now the Wanita chief! A friendly reminder: there are only so many freebies that Umno and Najib can give out. Maybe you are wasting your breath waiting for these.
But in the meantime, you are betraying the country and your community by selling out. Gerakan's slogan should be the No.1 'Yes' Party.She is just reading a statement prepared by Umno, the only political party in the world, to support a repressive law that the people want changed or replaced.
Did she synchronise her brain and mouth before she displayed such ill-informed and unenlightened thinking.Tan Lian Hoe, do you really think that about (democracy)? Then, preventive laws should be applied on you now as, by speaking up against democracy, you are creating public unrest to many of us Malaysians who want democracy.
Administrative and legal processes are now underway to get to the bottom of four high-profile cases involving, directly or otherwise, an assault on the dignity of women. They include a Supreme Court judge, the editor and managing editor of an influential weekly magazine, a former home minister of a major state in the Union (and, possibly, its current chief minister as well) and a spiritual guru with a vast following. What is at stake in each case is abuse of power that is in flagrant violation of the laws by those who are duty-bound – because of the positions they occupy – to uphold them.
The intricacies of the cases continue to be subjected to close and critical scrutiny in the media. But the larger picture they reveal hasn’t attracted the requisite attention: the growing disconnect between the “hardware” and the “software” of Indian democracy. The “hardware” of democracy include legislative and executive institutions (Parliament, state assemblies, panchayats etc), the judiciary, official statutory and non-statutory bodies, political parties and the media. And the “software” relates to the observance of rules and regulations, conventions and precedents to enable the institutions to function in a transparent, accountable and effective manner. What is the record?
Judged according to these standards, our Parliament and state assemblies are little more than a hotbed of interminable intrigue, confrontation, mud-slinging, filibustering and sometimes also outbursts of violence. This numbs the nerves of the executive and paralyses the legislature. The one cannot govern while the other cannot enact laws, adopt policies or, so far as the opposition is concerned, even act as a watch-dog of the government of the day. What stands out, therefore, is a mockery of their constitutional responsibilities.
The political parties are no better. Their public spats are less about policies and programmes and more about the acquisition of power and pelf. Many of them are akin to privately-controlled family businesses. Inner-party democracy is a rumour to them.
The Congress, which has had the longest innings in power since independence, leads the pack. But others are not far behind: Thackerays and Badals, Karunanidhis and Pawars, Reddys and Yadavs. And then you have individuals without kith or kin who rule the roost in their parties: Mamata, Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, Patnaik et al. None dares cross their path. What “software” of democracy can they possibly bring to the table? Precious little.
But these permanently feuding parties from one end of the political spectrum to another can and do make common cause when their interests as a corporate class are in jeopardy. Consider their opposition to any serious effort to keep politicians with criminal backgrounds at bay. Consider, too, the alacrity with which they refused to come within the purview of the Right to Information Act. Such “software” contains far too many bugs to serve any worthwhile purpose.
The ailments of the judiciary, including, in the first place, that of the Supreme Court, are of another order. The alleged moral turpitude of some of the judges is only one of them. Even on this count, however, the judiciary is loath to allow an impartial and transparent probe by anyone other than the members of its own fraternity. The most recent instance concerns allegations of sexual misconduct against a recently retired judge of the apex court by an intern.
Add to this the growing interference of the apex court in legislative and executive areas that are, strictly speaking, beyond its remit. It is argued, doubtless with good reason, that such interference is inevitable when the government and the legislature are unable or unwilling or both to shoulder their constitutionally-mandated tasks. Governance, like nature, abhors a vacuum. But the danger in this argument is that it upsets the delicate balance of power between the three estates of the republic that the Constitution decrees. On this count, too, a lethal virus could render the “software” of democracy obsolete.
That danger is no less acute when governments, both at the Centre and in the states, deploy official agencies to get even with rivals. More often than not, such deployment is initiated outside the framework of laws, rules and regulations. Fake encounters and fabricated cases are evidence of this conceited insouciance.
But so is the intrusive surveillance of citizens suspected of making life difficult for the rulers of the day: rival politicians, nosey media persons, un-cooperative civilian and police officials, NGOs and, in one instance at least, an individual who posed no such threat. We recently witnessed such conduct in, among other states, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat. Surveillance of this nature, especially if it is pervasive, also contaminates the “software” of democracy.
The cases of Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhary of Tehelka and of Asaram Bapu fall in a different category. They relate to an unforgiveable betrayal of trust reposed in them by their readers, friends, colleagues and followers. What makes the betrayal odious is that these individuals professed to promote highfalutin principles of moral and spiritual rectitude. All three of them emasculated the substance of their calling and, in the process, polluted the “software” that is expected to keep state and society in India in fine fettle.
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