My message to Royalty: ubah atau rebah

Malaysia Today

When I die I want to be cremated and for my ashes to be scattered into the sea. There will be no sign that I ever existed or a ‘monument’ that I had lived. I shall revert to dust from where I had come. This is my last will and testament.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

No, I did not create that heading, ubah atau rebah. I ‘stole’ it. Many of you who followed the new Prime Minister’s ‘maiden’ speech will probably know I stole it from there. I may not agree with the new Prime Minister on many things. But I will certainly agree that Umno needs to ubah (change) or else rebah (fall). And that is the same message I want to send to the many Royal Families, in particular the nine Palaces or Royal Households of Malaysia.

But this message is not new. This message was already delivered to the Royal Households more than 20 years ago at the height of the Constitutional Crisis. Although the informal meeting was not a full quorum but merely those from Kedah, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu and Selangor, nevertheless, the five out of nine Royal Households agreed that the Monarchy was under threat and that Malaysia was in danger of being turned into a Republic if nothing were done to arrest the situation.

Another thing the five Royal Households agreed was that the predicament the Monarchy was facing at that time was the Rulers’ own doing. The Rulers are the Monarchy’s worst enemies. Only the Monarchy can save itself. It can’t expect the rakyat to come to its defence. The rakyat, in fact, was anti-Monarchy, the result of a very successful and intensive mainstream media campaign engineered by Umno to turn the rakyat against the Monarchy.

I was tasked with the job of preparing the ‘working paper’ to present to the five Royal Households. And since it was my paper, I was told I should present it, which I did. At the end of the presentation, not a single of the five expressed any disagreement with what I had presented. They fully agreed and were of one mind that the Monarchy’s days may in fact be numbered.

I was told to take back all the working papers and destroy them. No one outside that room was to know that we held our informal ‘Rulers’ Conference’ and about what was discussed and agreed. We all went home with only one thing in mind. The Rulers and all the members of the many Royal Families must, from that day on, behave itself. That would be the only way to save the Monarchy and prevent the formation of the Republic of Malaysia.

That was more than 20 years ago. And for more than 20 years I have remained silent and never revealed how the Monarchy panicked when it saw its future very dim indeed. I never revealed the story of how we met at a secret location more than 20 years ago to explore how we could save the Monarchy; until now, that is.

But the story has to now be told. And it has to be told because the Rulers are beginning to forget the ‘agreement’ we made more than 20 years ago when it came under attack from Umno and when the Monarchy faced the danger of being abolished.

There are some within the Selangor and Perak Royal Families who feel I do not have that right or authority to tegur or reprimand the Rulers or the members of the Royal Family. I would beg to differ (patek mohon durhaka). I certainly have that right. In fact, I have earned that right. When we met more than 20 years ago it is because we love the Monarchy. We wanted to save the Monarchy — but more to save it from itself rather than from Umno, which was ruthlessly attacking the Rulers.

Would we have bothered, more than 20 years ago, to rally to the Monarchy’s side if we did not love the Monarchy? After all, the predicament it was facing was the result of its own actions. Sure, Umno was attacking the Rulers. But it was able to attack the Rulers only because they had opened themselves to attack. If the Rulers had behaved, there would have been nothing Umno could have used against them.

This was the message to the five Royal Households and it was a message that was clearly understood and readily accepted. And they agreed that we must watch the Rulers closely. And if any Ruler was to step out of line, then we are to tegur that Ruler so that he returns to the straight and narrow and ceases putting the entire Monarchy in the line of fire.

In short, if one buffalo is muddy, then the entire herd becomes muddy as well, as the Malay proverb goes. One Ruler’s transgression puts the entire Monarchy at risk. So that one Ruler needs to be taken to task for the sake of all the Rulers.

I do not really bother about the misdemeanours of the Rulers or members of the Royal Families. I am not bothered about their gambling, drinking, frolicking with loose women, and whatever other transgressions. That is their business, not mine. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. But when it involves the wishes of the rakyat, then I have to step in. Matters that involve the rakyat become my business. And this is because the fate and future of the Monarchy, and whether Malaysia becomes a Republic or not, lies in the hands of the rakyat.

Okay, I did not say I am a noble person. I am not doing this for the sake of the rakyat. I do not have the interest of the rakyat at heart. I am only doing this to guarantee the continuation of the Monarchy and to ensure that no one starts harbouring thoughts of turning Malaysia into a Republic. For that I am not sincere in my actions and, in a sense, I have a hidden agenda or, as the Malays would say, udang sebalik batu.

Nevertheless, whatever I do, I do in the service of the Crown. But, now, I am being branded a treasonous person, a traitor (penderhaka), for speaking out against the Sultan of Perak. And the party branding me a treasonous person is none other than the Selangor Royal Family to which I belong.

I am loyal to the Monarchy. I am not the treasonous person or traitor that my family considers me to be. But I also have my pride and dignity. I will never apologise, relent, or go down on my knees to beg for forgiveness. I did no wrong. What I did was for the good of the Monarchy. Yes, I took the side of the rakyat against the Perak Palace in the Nizar versus Zambry matter. But I believed that the rakyat was right while the palace was wrong. Under those circumstances how could I have done otherwise?

My family expects me to take the side of the Palace in the Perak Constitutional Crisis. I am a member of the Selangor Royal Family so I must think and act like a Royalist. I must not bring shame to the family. A Royalist stands behind the Rulers even if the Rulers may be wrong. And since I refuse to do that then I am to be classified an outcast.

I accept the judgement that I am treasonous. I will not dispute this or appeal against it. And they need not even punish me for my ‘crime’. As a loyal subject of the Rulers I will accept, without a whimper, my punishment for displeasing the Palace. And the punishment will be banishment from the State of Selangor and persona non grata from the State of Perak until the day I die. This has been the traditional punishment for all those members of the Royal Family before me who have displeased the Palace.

In case many of you are not aware, my grandfather, Sultan Musa Ghiatuddin Riayat Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah, was also banished from the State of Selangor back in 1945 for being ‘too independent’. The British exiled him to the Cocos Islands, a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean, and appointed his younger brother, Tengku Hisamuddin Alam Shah, the son of Sultan Ala’eddin Suleiman Shah’s second wife, as the Sultan of Selangor.

Sultan Musa actually had another brother, Tengku Badar, from the same mother, who was the Tengku Ampuan Selangor. But he too was by-passed in favour of Tengku Alam Shah, his half-brother, whose mother was not the Tengku Ampuan Selangor but Cik Hasnah binti Pelong, a ‘commoner’. Musa was allowed back into Selangor in 1955 just a few months before he died.

Selangor history does not officially acknowledge the existence of Sultan Musa who was the Sultan of Selangor from 1942 to 1945 and was the Seventh Sultan. The present Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, is listed as the Ninth Sultan when he is actually the Eleventh. That is because Sultan Alam Shah was both the Sixth and Eight Sultan with Sultan Musa sandwiched in between as the Seventh.

I suppose, if even Sultan Musa can be banished from Selangor and sent into exile in the Cocos Islands, who am I to expect less than that? I am not even in the Royal Council let alone close to the Throne.

I am a proud person, too proud to beg for clemency. Hidung tak mancung, pipi tersorong sorong, as the Malays would say. That is just not me. Those who know me will know that that is not me. I know when I am not wanted. If I am not wanted then I move on. And it does not concern me one bit to know I am not wanted. Let it be known that Raja Petra the son of Raja Kamarudin never begged and that he stubbornly held his head up high with pride and dignity.

I have always said I want to be buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kelang when I die. This is where my father, uncles, aunties, grandfathers and grandmothers are also buried. I was told I would be denied permission to be buried there. I would instead have to be buried in Sungai Buloh, not far from where I live, and where the unidentified victims of ‘May 13’ are also buried.

I leave this as my last will and testament. Since I shall not be buried in the Royal Mausoleum in Kelang beside my family, then I refuse to be buried at all. When I die I want to be cremated and for my ashes to be scattered into the sea. There will be no sign that I ever existed or a ‘monument’ that I had lived. I shall revert to dust from where I had come. This is my last will and testament.

Kes Zambry : Keputusan Mahkamah tetapkan esok

Suara Keadilan

Zainal Abidin Nor

PUTRAJAYA, 13 April (SK) : Mahkamah Persekutuan menetapkan esok untuk memberikan keputusan kes Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir dalam kemelut kerajaan Negeri Perak.

“Jika mahkamah memutuskan bahawa kes ini merupakan isu perundangan awam maka kita memohon supaya semakan kehakiman dapat didengar,” demikian jelas peguam Chan Kok Keong ketika dihubungi Suara KeADILan.

Zambry dan enam exco memfailkan saman terhadap Sivakumar di Mahkamah Tinggi Ipoh pada pertengahan Februari lalu untuk mengenepikan penggantungan mereka dari menghadiri Sidang Dun di antara 12 hingga 18 bulan oleh Sivakumar.

Kes saman ini kemudian dipindahkan ke Mahkamah Persekutuan untuk didengar pada hari ini kerana ia melibatkan penafsiran undang-undang tubuh kerajaan negeri Perak

Lima panel hakim yang diketuai oleh Alauddin Mohd Sheriff menetapkan bahawa keputusan mengenai isu perundangan awam akan dibuat  pada 14 April.  Empat hakim lain ialah Arifin Zakaria, Nik Hashim, S Augustine Paul dan Zulkifli Ahmad Makinuddin.

Keputusan menggantung mereka ini dibuat oleh Speaker selepas BN membentuk kerajaan negeri tanpa membubarkan Dun.  Kini pihak plaintif mencuba untuk mengenepikan penggantungan tersebut.

Sulaiman berhujah bahawa perkara ini bukannya melibatkan isu perlembagaan tetapi perkara asas mengikut Artikel 63 perlembagaan persekutuan di mana ketetapan Speaker tidak boleh di adili.

“Jika mahkamah tidak mengambil kira kedudukan Speaker sebagai pejawat kuasa awam maka lebih baik mahkamah membuangnya ke dalam tandas,” ujar beliau.

Definisi pejawat kuasa awam bererti, jika ada kes, fail saman terhadapnya hanya boleh dilakukan dalam tempuh 40 hari sahaja manakala pejawat kuasa persendirian, bermakna jika ada kes, fail saman terhadapnya boleh dilakukan dalam tempuh enam tahun.

Ketika ditemui di luar mahkamah, peguam Sivakumar yang lain, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli menerangkan prinsip asas undang-undang ialah untuk melindungi penguasa awam untuk kepentingan awam.

“Pihak plaintif sendiri tidak yakin keputusan Speaker (berhubung penggantungan Zambry dan enam exconya) boleh diketepikan dan mereka cuba bermain di sekitar semak (play around the bush),” ujar beliau.

Selain daripada Sulaiman dan Razlan, Sivakumar turut diwakili oleh Philip Koh, Ranjit Singh, Chan Kok Keong, Edmund Bon, Amir Hamzah, Leong Cheok Keng dan Nga Hock Cheh.

Sementara para peguam yang mewakili Zambry bersama enam exco ialah Hafarizam Harun, Cheng Mai, Syed Faisal Syed Abdullah, Badrul Hisham Abd Wahap, Faizal Hilmy Ahmad Zamri dan Mohd Reza Hassan disamping Firoz.

Para pencelah terdiri daripada Peguam Negara Abdul Gani Patail, Tun Abdul Majid, Azizah Nawawi, Amarjeet Singh dan Suzana Atan.

Mahkamah Persekutuan akan membuat keputusan esok (14 April) tentang permohonan Zambry dan enam exco untuk mengenepikan perggantungan dari menghadiri Dun yang dibuat oeh Speaker.

THAI GOVERNMENT COVERING UP DEATHS AND LYING TO THE WHOLE WORLD!

The Might of the Pen

BANGKOK- FORMER premier Thaksin

Shinawatra accused Thailand’s embattled

government of lying to cover up deaths in an

army crackdown on protesters Monday. 

Speaking to CNN from an undisclosed

location, the fugitive tycoon said soldiers who

 were seen earlier firing rounds into the air to

disperse his rioting supporters in Bangkok

had killed ‘many’.

 

‘They trapped the people… Many people died… They even take the dead bodies up on the truck and take them away. They’re trying to confuse everything,’ Thaksin told the channel. ‘You try to lie to the whole world, you try to lie to the people, but… it’s impossible,’ he added, as Thailand’s four-month-old government attempted to quell street unrest under emergency measures declared a day earlier.

To read further please go to :

http://sjsandteam.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/thai-government-covering-up-deaths-and-lying-to-the-whole-world/

India’s Tech Mahindra wins Satyam bid

MYSinchew.com

MUMBAI: India’s Tech Mahindra won the bidding Monday for Satyam Computer Services in a sale aimed at giving the scandal-hit outsourcing giant vital capital and a new beginning.

The mid-level outsourcing firm will have to pay nearly 600 million dollars for a majority share of Satyam, which has struggled since its founder earlier this year confessed to staging India’s biggest accounting fraud.

Satyam said in a statement the news “signals a new stage for the company.”

The firm, which was India’s fourth-largest outsourcer by revenues when the scandal broke, acts as back office for some of the world’s biggest manufacturers, health care providers and banks.

The spokeswoman for Hyderabad-based Satyam said Tech Mahindra put in the highest offer among the sealed bids opened earlier in the day by the company’s government-appointed board.

“Tech Mahindra has won the bidding at 58 rupees ($1.16) a share,” she told AFP.

The offer represents a 23 percent premium to Satyam’s last closing share price and would mean Tech Mahindra would have to pay about 29 billion rupees ($581.3 million) for a 51 percent stake.

In January, founder B. Ramalinga Raju admitted faking a billion-dollar bank balance and inflating the company’s profits.

Raju, his brother and seven other people, including two Price Waterhouse India auditors, are now being held on charges of conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts.

The new board was appointed by the government after the confession.

Tech Mahindra beat Indian engineering heavyweight Larsen & Toubro, which already had a 12 percent stake in Satyam and was seen as a front-runner for Satyam. It bid 45.90 rupees a share.

“The selection of the highest bidder, in a fair, open and transparent process, signals a new stage for the company in its progress towards stabilisation and growth,” Satyam said in a statement.

The sale had taken on an urgency, with dozens of clients reported to have terminated their contracts or planning to defect to Satyam’s rivals because of the uncertainty over its future.

“This event ought to dispel the anxiety of all stakeholders as it re-positions the company’s commitment to revival and good governance,” said Satyam board chairman Kiran Karnik.

The company was “in deep trouble. We doused the fire and brought it back on course,” he told a news conference.

Shares of Tech Mahindra, which is based in the western city of Pune, were up 46.15 rupees, or 14.68 percent, at 362.25 rupees following the announcement.

The firm is majority owned by Mahindra and Mahindra, one of India’s top 10 industrial houses, in partnership with British Telecommunications Plc.

Satyam shares climbed 3.15 rupees, or 6.68 percent, to 50.30 rupees but were still well down from their 2008 peak of 544 rupees.

According to the sale process, Tech Mahindra will buy 31 percent of Satyam and then make an open offer on the share market for another 20 percent of the firm.

The board, advised by investment bankers Avendus and Goldman Sachs, had said it wanted a buyer that had a viable operating plan for Satyam.

Tech Mahindra has 23,000 employees, less than half Satyam’s head count of 48,000 that includes contract workers.

The sale attracted just a few contenders because of deep uncertainty over its accounts and worries about liabilities from US shareholder and other suits. Accounts are still being restated and will not be ready for months.

Satyam has been scrambling to pay salaries and other expenses and needs a cash infusion to help stay afloat.

It operates in close to 70 countries and has nearly 700 clients, including about 185 Fortune 500 firms such as Nestle SA. (By SALIL PANCHAL/AFP)

Gerakan, MCA rebuke DPM over ‘ungrateful Chinese voters’

“The more substantive issues of corruption, abuse of power and equity in national leadership and government delivery system must be dealt with first, only then will the voters who deserted the BN be ready to return” The Malaysian Insider By Lee Wei Lian KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin continues to draw criticism over his recent comments that Chinese voters were ungrateful for not voting for BN even though the government had assisted the community, with the latest rebukes coming from Umno’s partners in the Barisan Nasional (BN) . Of the two component parties in the ruling coalition that issued a response to Muyhiddin’s comments however, it was Gerakan that saw its senior leadership speaking out while the task of doing so at MCA was left to the party’s information and communication bureau.

MCA’s response however, was remarkable in that it hit out hard against Umno’s perceived arrogance and listed down an exhaustive list of grievances harboured by the Chinese and even other non-Malay communities. Gerakan Deputy President Datuk Chang Ko Youn said he disagreed with Muhyiddin and that BN’s conventional practice of doling out allocations during elections no longer works as voters want problems to be attended to continuously. “The more substantive issues of corruption, abuse of power and equity in national leadership and government delivery system must be dealt with first, only then will the voters who deserted the BN be ready to return,” Chang said. Muyhiddin had said in an interview published in Mingguan Malaysia yesterday that the BN felt deceived by Chinese voters in the recent by-election in Bukit Gantang and that the voters should have been grateful for help given to Chinese schools and that the non-Malays see themselves as kingmakers in the current scenario where the Malay vote is split between three Malay based political parties — Umno, PAS and PKR. In a separate interview in Utusan Malaysia published on April 10, the deputy prime minister said that the drop in support from the Chinese community was as if they did not appreciate what the BN has done for them. The BN strategy of having separate campaigns for different ethnic communities was also criticised by Chang who urged the ruling Umno-led coalition to move away from ethno-centric campaigning and instead adopt cohesive, universal messages that appeal to all Malaysians. He added that emphasis must be given to the prime minister’s slogan of One Malaysia, which emphasises mutual trust and respect among the different ethnic communities. “The focus of uniting Malaysia under the One Malaysia ‘People First, Performance Now’ agenda is a winner because it promotes fairness and equity, and gives real meaning to the Barisan Nasional struggle,” he said. Lee Wei Kiat, the head of the MCA information and communication bureau said that MCA “takes exception” to the deputy prime minister’s remarks and laid out a laundry list of issues that he believes have caused Chinese voters to turn away from the BN. Issues such as abuse of the New Economic Policy (NEP), a largely mono-ethnic civil service, religious conversion issues, misuse of the ISA and “mob rule” tactics that disrupted civilised dialogue and forums were among the frustrations faced by the Chinese community, said Lee. Touching on Umno’s arrogance, Lee said that acts such as waving the keris amid fiery speeches during the 2006 Umno party assembly and recent statements that Umno was the sole political party responsible for the nation’s independence, both committed by now defence minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, was still a sore point with the non-Malays. “The image of the brandishing of the keris amidst talks of ‘bathing in blood’ which alluded to a civil war against a conjured enemy of another community still remains unforgivable,” said Lee. “Moreover, convenient amnesia at the recently concluded Umno general assembly where an Umno supreme council leader obliterated the contributions of non-Malays towards independence asserting that Merdeka was forged by Umno and the Malay Rulers and nobody else, also fuelled dissatisfaction among the non-Malay communities.” Hishammuddin has publicly denied that he had excluded the involvement of the MCA and the MIC in the process of attaining Malaysia’s independence. He has also said that the use of the Keris during the assembly will be discontinued. He also pointed out that Umno was not able to convince the Malays to vote in sufficient numbers in order to ensure a BN victory in the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections even though these two constituencies are Malay majority polling districts. Lee also noted the astonishing change of sentiment in the Chinese community toward the Islamist party PAS, which is now part of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, within the space of two general elections. “In 2004, the Chinese overwhelmingly rejected PAS’s Islamist agenda of a theocratic state based on hudud and qisas which wreaked of amputating limbs, public lashing and requiring four men of good conduct to witness a rape before an alleged rapist was found guilty and gave the mandate to BN,” said Lee. “In 2008, corruption, cronyism, perceived judicial bias, racial and religious discrimination and intolerance led the multiracial rakyat particularly those on the peninsular to favour the opposition.” He said that if BN wanted to win back support, it would have to overhaul government policies so that every Malaysian citizen is accorded equality, which according to Lee, is guaranteed under Article 8 of the Federal Constitution. “Malaysian citizens have the right to a decent life, free of bigotry, with the adoption of meritocracy and access to equal development where aid is delivered on the basis of need and not racial hegemony,” he said. Lee’s comments are unlikely to be looked on favourably by his partners in Umno however. The dominant party in the BN coalition feels that it has sacrificed a lot for its coalition partners which nevertheless, have failed to deliver the votes from their respective ethnic communities. Many in Umno feel that MCA should not make demands until it delivers the votes. Foreign Minister and senior Umno member, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim was reported to have remarked that MCA should not request for a second deputy prime minister post when the party is weak and unable to attract the majority of Chinese voters. He said this in reference to MCA deputy secretary-general Datuk Loke Yuen Yow’s proposal for the creation of the posts of Chinese deputy prime minister and Chinese Barisan Naional (BN) deputy chairman.

 

Kerajaan Selangor gesa pembubaran Balkis dibatalkan

Harakah Daily

SHAH ALAM, 13 April (Hrkh) – Kerajaan Negeri Selangor melalui peguamnya memohon Jabatan Pendaftaran Pertubuhan Malaysia mengembalikan semula Badan Amal dan Kebajikan Isteri-Isteri Selangor (Balkis) yang dibubarkan selepas pilihan raya umum 8 Mac 2008

Kerajaan Negeri sebelum ini telah memohon Pendaftar Pertubuhan tidak meluluskan permohonan pembubaran Balkis namun bantahan itu tidak dihiraukan.

Menurut surat yang dikeluarkan oleh Tetuan Fernandez & Selvarajah kepada Pendaftar Pertubuhan bertarikh 9 April, Kerajaan Negeri memohon supaya jabatan itu tidak mewartakan pembatalan pendaftaran dan pembubaran Balkis, seterusnya mengenepikan pembatalannya.

“Kami diarahkan oleh anak guam kami untuk menyatakan bahawa pembatalan pendaftaran dan pembubaran Balkis seperti yang dilaporkan adalah salah di sisi undang-undang menurut peruntukan-peruntukan Akta Pertubuhan 1966,” demikian dijelaskan dalam surat tersebut.

Dalam surat tersebut menyatakan bahawa anak guam itu memohon agar pihak Pendaftar Pertubuhan menuntut kembali dana dan kepunyaan Balkis daripada Jabatan Insolvensi Malaysia dan menyerahkan dana tersebut kepada anak guamnya untuk tindakan lanjut.

Pada 25 Mac lalu, hasil siasatan pendengaran awam terbuka berhubung Balkis yang dijalankan oleh Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas mengenai Keupayaaan, Kebertanggungjawaban dan Ketelusan (SELCAT) mengesahkan Balkis telah dibubarkan berkuat kuasa 11 Februari 2009.

Perintah pembatalan pendaftaran Balkis telah dikeluarkan oleh jabatan berkenaan mengikut Seksyen 13(1)(a) Akta Pertubuhan 1966.

Dana kepunyaan Balkis berjumlah RM9.9 juta kini dikendalikan oleh pihak Jabatan Insolvensi Malaysia. – lanh

Anwar hadir majlis kesyukuran dan ceramah di dua Bukit

Suara Keadilan

Anna Yusof

KUALA LUMPUR, 13 April (SK) : Ketua Umum KeADILan Anwar Ibrahim diraikan dalam majlis kesyukuran sempena Perasmian Pusat Khidmat Bukit Selambau bersama wakil rakyat baru S Manikumar semalam.

Ini merupakan lawatan petama beliau selepas kemenangan besar Pakatan Rakyat di kedua-dua Bukit minggu lalu  di Bukit Selambau dan seterusnya mengakhiri lawatannya ke Bukit Gantang.

Beliau mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan kepada penduduk Bukit Selambau dan Bukit Gantang kerana memilih ‘Perubahan’ dan kerana memilih Pakatan Rakyat,” kata Anwar.

Majlis ini juga menyaksikan Manikumar melafazkan ikrar untuk berkhidmat demi rakyat tanpa mengira sempadan kaum, agama dan perbezaan fahaman politik.

Dalam ucapan Manikumar, beliau berkata bahawa arus perjuangan baru untuk bangsa sangat diperlukan di saat politik lama masih tegar dianuti oleh segelintir walaupun diberi bungkusan baru.

“Saya mengucapkan semoga berjaya kepada rakan-rakan yang masih bersama-sama dengan proses pembungkusan semula tersebut,” jelas Manikumar.

Turut hadir dalam majlis tersebut termasuk Adun Padang Serai N Gobalakrisnan dan bekas naib presiden PPP V Nadarajan.

Sehubungan dengan itu, setibanya beliau di Ipoh, rombongan Anwar menuju ke kediaman Wakil Rakyat baru Bukit Gantang Nizar Jamaluddin di Sungai Rokam.

Kehadiran anggota polis yang agak ramai dari biasa di sekitar kawasan tersebut yang mahu memastikan tiada ceramah terbuka diadakan oleh Pakatan Rakyat.

“Sudah tentu mereka hadir bukan untuk menjaga keselamatan saya yang selaku Ketua Pembangkang ini, rupa-rupanya ceramah malam itu masih tidak diberi permit walhal acaranya di dalam dewan tertutup,” kata Anwar.

“Ingatkan berkumandangnya slogan ‘Perubahan’ mengiringi kabinet baru ini keadaan akan berubah, namun masih tidak ada apa yang berubah,” tegas Anwar.

Sementera itu, dalam perjalanan ke Bukit Gantang,  Anwar sempat menziarahi sahabat lamanya yang dirawat di Hospital Seberang Jaya.

Beliau memberi teguran bahawa hospital Seberang Jaya kelihatan sesak dan perlu ada langkah segera dari kementerian kesihatan bagi memastikan perkhidmatan kesihatan yang selesa.

“Janganlah pula kerana Permatang Pauh sekarang di tangan Pakatan Rakyat pihak kementerian mengabaikan kesejahteraan semua, tegas beliau.

Beliau mengingatkan pada mesyuarat bahagian dan perhubungan negeri yang diadakan pada sebelah petang semalam bahawa Kemenangan pilihanraya kecil tidak boleh dijadikan alasan untuk pendokong KeADILan leka dan enak diulit khayal.

“Usaha penerangan serta pemantapan tekad juga iltizam perjuangan perlu diperhebat. Ahli parti perlu diingatkan rasuah dan gagal melaksanakan tanggungjawab hanya akan mengundang kekalahan,” tambah beliau.

“Kita tidak perlu kepada mereka yang sengaja menghampakan amanah rakyat,” kata Anwar lagi.

Manikumar appointed state exco member

The Malaysian Insider

ALOR SETAR, April 13 — S. Manikumar who won the Bukit Selambau state seat by-election on April 7, was today appointed state executive councillor in charge of domestic trade and consumer affairs.

He filled the portfolio left vacant by former state exco member V. Arumugam from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) who had resigned as Bukit Selambau assemblyman.

Manikumar will also be in charge of Siamese and Indian affairs, plantation workers and unity.

Manikumar, 35, earlier took his oath of office before the Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah, before the investiture ceremony held in conjunction with the Sultan’s 81st birthday, at Istana Anak Bukit, here.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak, Speaker Datuk Dr Abdul Isa Ismail, all the other state exco members and senior state government officials were among those present. — Bernama

Kit Siang shocked by DPM’s ‘ungrateful Chinese’ comment

“It is most shocking that 52 years after national independence, the Number Two in the federal  government of a multi-racial nation could come out with such retrogressive and most unacceptable views about Malaysian democracy and nation building,”

Malaysia Today

By Lee Wei Lian, The Malaysian Insider DAP leader Lim Kit Siang has described as “shocking and offensive” the statement by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that Chinese voters are ungrateful in voting for Pakatan Rakyat and that they deceived the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the recent by-elections. The deputy prime minister made the remarks in an interview in Mingguan Malaysia yesterday. He also called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to clarify the definition of his One Malaysia philosophy to give a common understanding of the concept to all, adding that Muhyiddin’s statements have already given a bad name to One Malaysia. “It is most shocking that 52 years after national independence, the Number Two in the federal  government of a multi-racial nation could come out with such retrogressive and most unacceptable views about Malaysian democracy and nation building,” said Lim in response to Muhyiddin’s statements. In the interview with Mingguan Malaysia, Muyhiddin said that the BN felt deceived by Chinese voters and that the community should be grateful for government assistance to Chinese schools. The deputy prime minister also said that the Chinese and Indian communities now liked to see themselves as kingmakers in the current political landscape, where Malay votes are split between three parties. The lawmaker pointed out that Muhyiddin’s complaint about the Chinese being “ungrateful” and the BN feeling “duped” by the Chinese in getting various “benefits” without reciprocating by giving votes to BN was proof that BN was guilty of practising money politics in elections and using public funds in the form of development projects to fish for votes. “Voters are only getting what belongs to them as part of their right as Malaysian citizens,” said Lim. “There is no question of the voters having to feel ‘grateful’ to the Barisan Nasional as the monies do not come from the private pockets of the Barisan Nasional leaders but the public coffers of the government.” Lim also called Muyhiddin “mischievous” for claiming that the non-Malays want to be kingmakers at the expense of Malays. “The Chinese and Indians are not and do not want to be the political kingmakers in Malaysia.  Such a concept is most irresponsible and even dangerous and should not be encouraged,” said Lim. “What we want to see is the full, free and fair functioning of the system of parliamentary democracy in Malaysia where the kingmakers will be the Malaysian voters – Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli and all other Malaysians.” Muhyiddin’s interview also caused the Ipoh Timur member of parliament to wonder about the concept of One Malaysia, which Najib has said will be the thrust of his new administration. He called on the prime minister to clearly define the concept at his first cabinet meeting this Wednesday. “If it rejects DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia, Gerakan’s Malaysian Malaysia, even the Bangsa Malaysia concept of Vision 2020, what does Najib’s “1Malaysia” really mean?” “It is clear from Muhyiddin’s interview that he is still propounding the concept of Ketuanan Melayu, which is a camouflage for Ketuanan Umnoputras, when after 52 years since Merdeka, the time has come for Ketuanan Rakyat Malaysia” said Lim, referring to widespread criticism that the concept of Malay supremacy is being used to benefit only the elite in Umno and not the Malay community at large. He says that the interview gives a clear impression that the Umno leadership has not learned the lessons from the “March 8 Political Tsunami” that saw the Umno led ruling coalition lose five states to the opposition and also the results from five by-elections since, in which the entire might of BN was used and yet managed to win only one. “Umno and Barisan Nasional have become politically irrelevant and Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, want to be kingmakers to effect a major political change in the next general elections,” said Lim. The opposition veteran also called on Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, in his capacity as minister in the Prime Minister’s department in charge of key performance indicators for ministers as well as for One Malaysia, to seek an apology from Muhyiddin. Najib’s One Malaysia slogan emphasises mutual trust and respect among the different races that make up Malaysia, but has yet to be translated into firm directives, policies and programmes. It has also made some Umno supporters uneasy. Mingguan Malaysia ran an opinion piece yesterday on One Malaysia saying that the concept also means that there is a need to continue the affirmative policies due to historical realities and the social contract.

More by-elections?

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 – After the recent series of by-elections, Malaysians will most likely face two more soon. Speculation is rife that two state assemblymen in Selangor and Penang – both under the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance – will resign over allegations relating to corruption and morality.

Penang’s Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin and Selangor’s Elizabeth Wong are also members of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Observers feel that PR will most likely call for by-elections as it has to live up to its image of being a ‘clean and transparent’ government.

The coalition also strives hard to give the impression that its lawmakers have better moral values than Barisan Nasional’s representatives.

But PKR leaders are tight-lipped about the fate of the two seats.

“What are the two areas? Who made the announcement? Please don’t speculate,” said PKR vice-president Azmin Ali, when asked by reporters about the two lawmakers.

Fairus, who is state assemblyman for Penanti, a seat in Penang, recently resigned from his Penang deputy chief minister I post as he is under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. The commission submitted its investigations to the prosecution division recently.

Fairus was alleged to be working hand-in-glove with several quarries to cover up some illegal activities. If he is charged and convicted, he will automatically lose his seat.

BN has been following Fairus’ case closely. Its Gerakan component in Penang has been asking the state government under the Democratic Action Party if action would be taken against the Penanti lawmaker.

Datuk Seri Anwar will announce the new deputy chief minister I on Wednesday.

In Selangor, state Cabinet minister Wong tendered her resignation from her state executive councillor and elected representative posts in February, following circulation of her nude pictures on the Internet.

Her voters in Bukit Lanjan, however, have been asking her to retract her resignation.

“We do not want a by-election. The constituents elected her and most of the residents here support her,” said Mah Weng Kwai, a resident in her constituency.

“She is the victim and the offender should be brought to book. She should not have taken leave.”

Wong has been on long leave since the scandal over her nude pictures broke.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim is expected to announce on Wednesday whether her resignation will be accepted.

Political analyst Ong Kian Ming told The Straits Times: “From a strategic perspective, it makes sense for PR to have by-elections in both these seats so that it can start off on a ‘clean page’, so to speak.

“But because of by-election fatigue, the timing and process of having these by-elections is uncertain, at this point in time.”

There have been five by-elections so far after last year’s polls, with PR winning four of them.

Three of the by-elections took place when the elected representatives died of heart attacks, while the other two were due to resignations of assemblymen. – The Straits Times