DAP Parlimen Bagan 民主城行动党

行動黨新春大團拜26.01.2012 ( 年初四）

2012-01-27T11:07:00.003+08:00

民主行動黨秘書長林冠英指出，如果民聯有機會執政中央，人民將獲得一大一小紅包，包括中央政府的大紅包及民聯州政府的小紅包。

“由民聯執政的檳州政府財力有限，只能每年派小紅包給人民，包括每年派100令吉給樂齡人士及200令吉給新生兒；若民聯執政中央，人民將獲得大紅包，他承諾執政100天內廢除南北大道收費站，每名樂齡人士每年獲1000令吉。”

林冠英也是檳州首席部長。他週四出席檳州行動黨新春團拜時指出，政府財力和權力有限，檳州大多數權限都由中央政府控制，如飛機場、巴士、德士教育等，全由中央政府控制，但州政府還是在能力範圍內，改善人民面對的種種問題。

“南北大道一共耗資63億令吉來建造，根據國會提供的數據，到目前為止已經收到了243億令吉的過路費，而且根據合約，還繼續收費到2038年，而且是逐年提高收費。”

“當然，若執政中央政府後，州政府每年都給的小紅包將會繼續，不會中斷。”

出席者計有檳州第一副首席部長拿督曼梳、第二副首長拉瑪沙米、檳行動黨秘書黃偉益、行動黨顧問林吉祥、華堂主席拿督藍武昌及檳州中元聯合會主席方錫希等。

曹觀友：大選定子孫未來

檳州行動黨主席曹觀友指出，今年是我國重要的一年，因為大選決定了我們及下一代子子孫孫的未來。

他說，人民要怎樣的未來，要向上提昇或向下沉淪，就要在這屆大選做出一個決定，他也促請人民在大選時，不要放任一小撮人繼續的濫權和霸權。

只要不貪污就能省錢

林冠英重提“四兩撥千金”理論，即“錢籌錢、錢賺錢、錢生錢、錢省錢”，希望以四兩撥千金方式，為檳州找到更多錢來發展。

他提到“錢省錢”時說，只要不吃錢（貪污），就能省錢。

“民聯政府在過去3年實行利民計劃都是因為制度改變，所以檳州可以找到錢籌錢。”

他解釋，錢籌錢是以公私伙伴計劃來籌發展費用及利民經費；錢賺錢是以公開招標方式，減少開銷並激發發展。

他說，檳州民聯政府也敢敢面對檳城所面對的主要問題。所以州政府撥出歷史上最大的款項5億令吉建立平民屋。

“州政府也為了減少阻塞，不但改良擴建道路，還推行四大計劃，包括通往峇都丁宜，新關仔角及阿依淡新市鎮的3個新通道，還有海底隧道，以實現“兩岸三通，一個檳州”。”

林吉祥：火箭沒反馬來人

林吉祥重申，行動黨尊重和全力支持我國憲法，因此該黨並非一個反馬來人、反伊斯蘭教及反馬來統治者的政黨。

他說，國陣看到民聯日益受到人民支持而感到慌張，因此，向民聯和行動黨發動強烈的攻勢，包括指責行動黨反馬來人、伊斯蘭教及反馬來統治者等，這都是沒有根據的指責，因為事實證明，行動黨是一個遵從和支持國家憲法的政黨。

“憲法已經列明，我國是一個君主立憲制國家，馬來人是我國土著以及伊斯蘭教是我國國教，如任何團體或政黨不遵從憲法，准證早就被吊銷。

行動黨創黨45年來，都全力支持國家憲法，這一點從來沒有改變。”

“若國陣再指責行動黨反君主、反馬來人和反伊斯蘭教，就顯示他們無知和感到恐懼。”

超過千人出席行動黨新春大團拜。

Testing Malaysia BN's Promises

2012-01-12T17:01:00.001+08:00

By JOHN R. MALOTT

The not guilty verdict handed down last Monday in the sodomy trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim made both sides, Prime Minister Najib Razak and the opposition, happy. Mr. Najib gets an immediate political boost by claiming a victory for the rule of law and an independent judiciary, while Mr. Anwar can focus on the election ahead. This good feeling, however, is likely to be short-lived. Serious challenges lie ahead.

The first test of the post-verdict era will be whether the government chooses to appeal the acquittal. Defense experts successfully demolished the government's DNA evidence, but the judge said during the trial that Mr. Anwar's accuser was credible and reliable. With parliamentary elections looming, the government might conclude that forcing Mr. Anwar back into the courtroom will distract and pull him away from the campaign trail. On the other hand, an appeal would be polarizing and cost the government the support of centrists and independents.

The second test will be whether the government implements key electoral reforms before elections are held. Mr. Najib's government cracked down in July on Bersih 2.0, a coalition of organizations calling for free and fair elections. This demonstrated the ruling party's fear that genuinely fair elections could cause them to lose power for the first time since 1957. However, after strong domestic and international criticism of its heavy-handed treatment of the marchers, the government backtracked and created a select parliamentary committee to propose election reforms. Among the proposals are using indelible ink to prevent voter fraud and allowing the opposition to have access to government-owned television and radio, which now act as propaganda outlets for the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

The trouble is that so far, none of the proposals have been carried out. The only thing worthy of note is a court decision earlier this month ruling that the one million Malaysians who reside overseas have no right to vote. Expatriate Malaysians, it should be noted, are generally believed to lean toward the opposition.

If UMNO fumbles electoral reform and squanders its newly earned goodwill, the opposition will get stronger. The growing pains and ideological differences that plagued the opposition coalition in years past have largely been overcome, and Mr. Anwar and his political associates express confidence that they could take power in a fair contest.

In contrast, Mr. Najib faces a constant uphill battle. Many of the economic and political reforms that he proposed were not implemented because of right-wing opposition from inside his party. He is regularly undercut in public by criticism from Malaysia's very vocal former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and in private by some of his most senior cabinet officers.

The public sees corruption on the rise and feels that UMNO supporters increasingly believe making money from government contracts is business as usual. Many Malaysians now use the word "kleptocracy" to describe their ruling class. This perception further undermines Mr. Najib's calls for reform, making it seem as if no UMNO leader wants to crack down on this abuse, given its importance to maintaining the support of their political base. This perception is compounded by the fact that Mr. Najib has remained largely silent on the latest scandal, in which one cabinet minister's family allegedly used public funds, targeted to increase cattle production, to buy luxury condominiums in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

These weaknesses compound UMNO's fear of losing power and increase the risk of over-reaction. The party will not go down without a fight, and neither will its supporters in the bureaucracy, media, and business worlds, who fear losing access to the financial gravy train. Because of the high stakes, those who benefit from corruption will make an all-out effort to keep the opposition from coming to power. A return to Mahathir-style strong-arm tactics should not be ruled out.

All this will make the coming election the most important in Malaysia's history—and also its dirtiest. The international community needs to pay attention and hold Mr. Najib to his promise of political and electoral reform. Mr. Anwar's acquittal is only the beginning of the country's fight against political abuse and corruption.

Anwar: Strong opposition needed even if Pakatan comes to power

2012-01-05T22:56:00.003+08:00

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal government would be satisfied with a simple majority in Parliament, citing concerns that a two-thirds majority victory will make the coalition complacent.

The PKR advisor and Opposition Leader said that a simple majority would ensure a strong federal government as well as opposition, as well as allow a proper-check-and balance system so that PR does not end up mirroring the current Barisan Nasional government.

“Why do you need to win and have two-thirds majority, for what? Simple majority cukup (is enough). Two-thirds will make (us) complacent... two-thirds if you are too strong, you don’t and won’t have a strong, formidable opposition,” Anwar (picture) told an interview session yesterday.

The opposition leader said he was confident of PR’s chances of taking over Putrajaya and forming a new federal government, and that he wanted “Umno to perform well as an opposition party.”

Election 2008 saw PKR become the largest opposition party in Parliament with a total of 31 MPs as BN suffered its worst performance at the polls ever, ceding five state governments and 82 parliamentary seats.

But it failed to defend Hulu Selangor in a by-election and lost a further six MPs who decided to become independent, allowing the DAP to become the biggest opposition party in Parliament with 28 MPs.

PAS, despite being the largest PR party in terms of membership, had the smallest representation in Parliament with only 23 MPs after the polls.

Asked about PR’s plans for Sabah and Sarawak, Anwar replied by saying that it was focusing on increasing the current number of state and parliamentary seats for the two states.

“It will not be worse than 2008. We do not need to win Sabah and Sarawak. We need a substantial number of seats, and we are there,” the Permatang Pauh MP told the press.

Since the 2008 general election, 57 of the 60 state assembly seats in Sabah are represented by BN, while the remaining three are represented by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) (two seats) and the DAP (one seat.)

The Sarawak state election last year saw PR make significant inroads by winning 15 of the 71 state assembly seats. PR previously had seven seats in the state - Agencies.

Umno and Perkasa hijacked Article 153

2011-12-27T18:17:00.004+08:00

The constitutional provision outlining the special position of Bumiputeras has been manipulated by Umno and is now being used as a weapon of aggression, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers claimed today amid growing debate on the subject.

On Saturday, National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) chairman Reverend Dr Eu Hong Seng said Article 153 of the Federal Constitution is akin to “bullying” if it only protects the rights of one group.

Today, several PR lawmakers suggested that Article 153 was being intentionally conflated with the concept of “ketuanan Melayu”, or Malay supremacy.

“Reverend Eu mentioned it should be inclusive and I think it did try to cover it (inclusiveness),” PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said today. “Fundamentally it is inclusive but has been manipulated and it is not about protection anymore but aggression.”

Eu’s remark sparked protest from Malay rights group Perkasa and drew a denial today from Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin that the provision had been used to bully any community.

On Sunday, Perkasa claimed the provision kept the country peaceful, further claiming that the race riots of May 13, 1969 happened because it was not implemented properly.

“This country is peaceful because of Article 153 which protects the rights of Bumiputeras who are the majority in this country.

“The reverend needs to remember that Christians are able to practise their religion without worry in this country because of Article 153,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hasan Syed Ali had said last week.

Article 153 states that “it shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article.”

Constitutional expert Prof Abdul Aziz Bari also chimed in on Sunday to say this meant “the King must also make sure that (safeguarding Bumiputeras) must not be done at the expense of the legitimate interests of other communities.”

Today, Khalid echoed the view and similarly noted the inclusion of the phrase “other communities.”

“What you want to maintain in the Constitution is that it is recognition of historical facts and that Malays do not lose out even if citizenships were given to the Chinese and Indians.

“Unfortunately it leaves a lot of room for manipulation and it is manipulated by Umno and people such as those in Perkasa where they emphasise on Ketuanan Melayu instead of making sure Malays do not lose out,” said Khalid.

He also noted the Article refers to special privileges, and not special rights.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail agreed with Khalid and spoke of rampant abuse of Article 153 carried out under the guise of safeguarding Malay and Bumiputera interests.

Citing the award of contracts and licensing rights for example, Saifuddin said these appeared to only be given to a core group of politically-connected Malays rather than to the community at large.

“I am clearly guided by the stance agreed by Pakatan Rakyat on this Article 153 ... which is the position of the Malay rulers, Bahasa Malaysia and Islam as the official language and religion of the country and Article 153 as stated clearly in the Malaysian Constitution but at the same time to also look into the interest of minority including those in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh said that it was clear the provision was inclusive despite the specific mention of the Bumiputeras and Malays.

“When we give special rights to Bumiputeras, it does not deny the rights of the others as there are other parts of the Constitution that does not provide for discrimination,” the Kuantan MP added.

PAS Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad also said the clause is self-explanatory and that it provides a “very balanced and just” view of what it should be.

“I have had this understanding for a long time that Article 153 in no way compromises nor usurps any legitimate interests or rights of any ethnic group.

“So if only Perkasa or Ibrahim Ali would read this provision and not just selectively or preferentially highlight what he wants,” he said.

He also stressed that Malays and Bumiputeras had a “special position” that had to be guarded, and not special rights.

“We must move on to bring the nation, both BN and the opposition, forward to one that really confronts and faces the many challenges of the problems in our nation,” he said.

Penang DAP State Convention today

2011-12-11T22:48:00.016+08:00

The Penang DAP held its annual state convention today at Pearl View Hotel situated in Prai, Seberang Perai Tengah, Penang.

About 1,000 delegates and observers attended the convention which was held for the first time in Penang's mainland Seberang Perai district.

At the beginning of the convention, state party chairman Chow Kon Yeow gave his opening address stressing on party unity, close ranks and the most essential, 13th general elections which is expected to be held sooner in early of next year.

Next in the line to address the state convention was party national chairman Karpal Singh who gave his sound address which had received the widest applaud from delegates and observers present in the hall.

Karpal gave strong reminder to all party members to adhere strictly to the basics and principles of the party struggle and not to forget the major contribution and sacrifices made by our party veterans which had turned the party to what it is today.

Karpal also gave his stern warning to state party deputy chairman Dr P.Ramasamy not to utter words that are against the principles and basics of the party and liken the word "godfather" which was mentioned earlier by Dr Ramasamy, as a title only used by the mafia and it is therefore unsuitable and should not be produce in the party leadership itself.

Aside, Karpal also warned there will be and shall never be any room for warlords to grow within the party.

Party secretary-general and Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng later gave his speech to officiate the annual convention, stressed in detail on the recent and current political situation, the economy, social affairs and the party's continuous contribution to the state of Penang.

After the officiating the convention, party leaders had also jointly launched the party's new online connection via iPhone and iPad.

Delegates and absenteeism

From our observation at the registration counter at about 11.30am this morning, we found the attendance and response of the delegates and observers were very good.

But somehow, we also found that, there are quite a very large numbers of delegates who failed to turn up for the annual convention.

This is very disappointing, if you are being elected by your branch members to represent them in this party state convention and you didn't attend it, it would be such an irresponsible act and the failure of a delegate to forward their members' voice to the state leaders attention.

In fact, we saw that in some branches, there are more observers who attended the convention compare to their comrades who are delegates but did not turn up.

With such situation in hand, we would like to urge the party leadership to look into this scenario, where delegates elected by their branches but did not attend the convention should not be allowed to stand as a delegate in the next party branch election in order to give other members an opportunity to do so.

Party basics and principles

We had saw that ever since the party's victory in the 2008 general elections, the party membership had increased drastically and so does the branches from with only about 20 branches in the state, to about 100 over branches today.

And when the membership increases, branches also increase and the divisional level parliamentary liaison committees also started to take its place in almost every parliamentary constituencies.

During party branch elections, we saw intense contest and competitions for party post by these new members, which had resulted to many party veterans and those leaders who had held the fort prior to 2008 has been sidelined.

This is unhealthy as these long serving leaders has been ignored and were not being appreciated by these news generation of members who didn't really understand basics and struggles of the party and various sacrifices undertaken by these veterans and leaders of the pre-2008 era.

As such, we urge the top party leadership to look into such challenges and not letting it off so easily.

The party leaders should take one step ahead and learn what had happened to Gerakan, which had began as a humble political party who served the people so well, to a toothless and irrelevant political party today.

Do not let it happen to us, as we already had an example to learn from, that is Gerakan. From a humble opposition party who had suddenly being given the mandate in 1969, then joined the Barisan Nasional coalition in the 1970s, later govern the state with Umno who later overturned Gerakan's policies and struggle into a racial one, where the later had failed to defend its principles and struggles.

Besides, Gerakan also became ignorant of the people's needs and grievances in the state as its leaders had already turn their powerhouse into what is like one of their own.

And this is how the people became frustrated and decided to vote Gerakan out of the state in 2008 general elections.

DAP winning over Malay voters

2011-12-08T22:46:00.002+08:00

DAP appears to be gaining ground in seemingly uncharted territory: the Malays. Despite having been around since the mid-60s, the party has been perceived as a predominantly Chinese-based party, causing many Malays to shy away from it.

This perception, however, according to DAP members, is changing, albeit slowly but surely. Party member Zairil Khir Johari said that the DAP was only recently able to tap into the Malay grassroots after the 2008 general election.

“Before 2008, the Malay support for DAP was almost non-existent,” he said, adding that the alternative political choice was usually the Islamic-based PAS.

“If you joined the opposition, if you had problems with the government, the natural appeal would be PAS. They have (access to) the suraus and the mosques, which DAP does not have.

“Umno would have its ketua kampung (village chief), while PAS has the religious (advantage), but if the DAP wanted to open a branch in a village, it would be so artificial,” said Zairil, who is also DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary.

DAP’s lack of a large Malay support base for the past 40 years, Zairil claimed, was partially because it was an “urban-based” party; it was more attractive to the city-living Chinese.

The government’s control of the mainstream media did not help the party either.

Malay branches in Penang

According to Zairil, the Umno-linked Malay-based media groups such as Utusan Malaysia blacks out anything DAP-related, unless it was negative. These factors, according to Zairil, made sure that even urban Malays were kept unaware of the DAP’s handiwork.
However, the party’s entry into the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, coupled with access to the alternative media, appears to have helped its position, Zairil claimed.

He said that the party has been able to open a few Malay branches in Penang, with forays into Perlis as well.

Though acknowledging that its Pakatan allies – PKR and PAS – were there to attract Malay voters, DAP president Karpal Singh said that the party needed to make its own effort in reaching out to the Malays.

“PKR and PAS are there, but we shouldn’t rely on them. We have to go ahead with our own Malay support. Recently, there have been some Malays who have joined us.”
“They’re not shying away from the DAP… but they’re not coming in at the extent that we’d want,” he said.

Karpal said that the DAP had seen some Malay representation over the years, such as through former Bayan Baru MP Ahmad Nor and current Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim.
Even so, he said these efforts into the Malay heartland were not enough.

Inroads into Dayak land

Yet, the Bukit Gelugor MP said that Malaysian politics was “taking a different form”, and used the non-Muslim PAS Supporter’s Club (PSC) as an example. In 2004, PAS created the non-Muslim wing in order to attract non-Muslims into their fold.

The PSC boasts a membership of more than 20,000 Chinese, Indians and other races, although some reports have claimed that progress there has been slow.

Malays, according to Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, were not the only Bumiputeras the DAP was attracting in recent years.

He said that the party was “making inroads” into Sarawak’s Dayak community – a longtime Barisan Nasional stronghold – through the Dayak Consultative Council. “We set up the council a month or two after the April 2011 Sarawak election, and it has helped us form policies taking care of the Dayaks, and within the Sarawak alternative budget,” he said.

DAP coverage in the alternative media, Chong added, also helped the party to move into previously untapped political areas.

“Until the last 10 years, we did not have the alternative media. But now, more Malays can read on the Internet (about us), especially the youngsters.”

“With more and more of them using the Internet, it shouldn’t be a problem, as long as they know about our policies and aren’t getting it from the Umno-controlled media,” he said - Agencies.

BN two-faced about PAS, DAP

2011-12-04T17:34:00.002+08:00

The inconsistent claims made by Barisan Nasional (BN) on DAP’s relationship with PAS shows that the ruling coalition’s leaders were misleading, Lim Kit Siang said today.

The DAP parliamentary leader said claims by Umno leaders that PAS was “under the thumb” of DAP contradicted MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s charge that DAP was a “stooge” of the Islamist party.

“Who has lied? Najib and Muhyiddin or Chua Soi Lek?” Lim asked in a statement. “Umno and MCA leaders cannot all be telling the truth — as the DAP cannot be a stooge of PAS and PAS also a stooge of DAP [at the] same time. “Either Umno or MCA leaders have lied.”

But Lim alleged it was more likely that all three — Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his second Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr Chua — were being devious.

The Ipoh Timur MP said the trio were guilty of “perpetuating lies” to ensure their respective parties stood a chance in the next general election.

He added that ordinary Malays stood to gain should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) come to power in Putrajaya as Umno would have to “return... the rights and power they have seized and hijacked from the ordinary Malays over the past few decades”.

Umno had focused its attacks on DAP during the former’s five-day general assembly, which concluded yesterday, warning the Malay community that the next prime minister would be a leader from the Chinese-majority party should PR come to power.

Leaders of the BN lynchpin party also alleged that DAP wished to install a Christian prime minister and get rid of the Malay rulers to form a republic.

DAP has refuted the claims, pointing out that a Malay prime minister was “political reality” and that it has never questioned the royal institution.

By HC Yow

Guan Eng questions Umno’s logic behind powerful DAP claim

2011-12-04T17:26:00.002+08:00

Lim Guan Eng challenged today Umno’s charge against the DAP by portraying it as the dominant party in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, pointed out that his party had the least number of contests compared to its two allies in PR, PKR and PAS, which stood 97 candidates and 66 candidates respectively in the 2008 general elections.

“How can a party contesting in just 47 seats lead PR? This is clearly a dangerous racial game to incite hatred and fear against the DAP and the non-Malays,” he said while opening the Penang state DAP Wanita congress in George Town today.

A copy of his speech was emailed to The Malaysian Insider.

“To cover up their weaknesses in financial irregularities in BN, Umno had used its last weapon which is to play up racial and religious issues against the DAP, Christians, the Chinese community, and DAP voters,” he (picture) added, referring to Umno’s general assembly that ended yesterday.

During the five-day-long Umno assembly, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s Malay party had concentrated its attacks on the DAP and warned that should PR come to power in the next polls coming soon, the next prime minister will be a leader from the Chinese-majority opposition party.

“Today, our country and state are in a state of change. At the federal level, we are facing a moral crisis which does not only involve widespread corruption, but is also tainted by the supremacy agenda and racial rhetoric.

“Today, the country is at its critical point because of the Umno-Barisan Nasional administration which is not transparent. The weak leadership by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had caused the transformation agenda to fail," Lim said.

The Penang chief minister pointed to the Auditor-General in his 2010 report criticising the federal government for overspending RM3.7 billion.

He also highlighted the RM250 million “cow and condo” scandal linked to Women, Family and Community Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

“Even Umno MP (Datuk) Bung Mokhtar (Radin) who is known to insult women who can’t drive and would say things that are inappropriate, can be seen as a hero for asking the women’s minister to resign,” Lim said.

The Bagan MP said his party and the PR pact had proven themselves capable of taking on the BN to govern the country, and pointed to Penang’s administrative successes as an example.

By Melissa Chi

Lim: Macam mana DAP boleh pimpin Pakatan?

2011-12-04T17:18:00.003+08:00

Umno didakwa terus meniupkan sentimen perkauman dengan tujuan menakutkan rakyat di negara ini, khususnya orang Melayu bahawa parti itu bercadang menuntut kerusi perdana menteri sekiranya Pakatan Rakyat berjaya menguasai Putrajaya pada pilihan raya akan datang.

Menurut setiausaha agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng, perkara itu adalah mustahil kerana di anatara komponen Pakatan, DAP bertanding bilangan kerusi parlimen yang paling kurang.

“Dalam pilihanraya umum 2008, DAP bertanding 47 kerusi Parlimen, PAS 66 dan PKR 97.

“Macam mana sebuah parti yang hanya bertanding 47 kerusi boleh memimpin Pakatan?

“Jelas ini adalah permainan perkauman bahaya untuk menimbulkan kebencian dan ketakutan ke atas DAP dan bukan Melayu,” kata Lim semasa perasmian kongres Wanita DAP Pulau Pinang.

Katanya, Umno sebenarnya kini dalam keadaan terdesak kerana kerajaan persekutuan bukan sahaja diselubungi gejala rasuah berleluasa, malah dicemari dengan agenda serta retorik ketuanan dan perkauman.

“Kepimpinan yang lemah oleh Perdana Menteri Najib Razak menyebabkan agenda transformasi yang dilaung-laungkan oleh kerajaan persekutuan gagal sama sekali.

“Laporan Indeks Persepsi Rasuah terbaru menunjukkan Malaysia merundum lagi, kali ini di tangga ke-60 daripada tangga ke-56 tahun lepas. Ini merupakan prestasi paling teruk dalam tempoh sepuluh tahun,” katanya.

Menurut Lim yang juga adalah ketua menteri Pulau Pinang, Najib dan konco-konconya semakin tertekan apabila DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat menawarkan harapan baru kepada rakyat.

“Walaupun pada awalnya DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat dilihat sebagai tidak berpengalaman untuk mentadbir kerajaan, namun kejayaan kita di Pulau Pinang, serta di negeri Kedah, Selangor dan Kelantan telah menunjukkan bahawa, kita tidak berpengalaman tentang rasuah dan kronisme yang dibudayakan dalam parti pemerintah di peringkat kerajaan pusat,” kata Lim.

Beliau seterusnya membandingkan pentadbiran Pakatan dengan BN yang dikritik oleh Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2010 kerana terlebih belanja RM3.7 bilion dan juga mengenai skandal RM250 juta “lembu dan kondo” yang membabitkan keluarga seorang menteri kabinet.

“Demi menutupkan kelemahan penyelewengan kewangan dalam BN, Umno menggunakan senjata terakhir iaitu memainkan isu perkauman dan agama terhadap DAP, penganut Kristian, masyarakat Cina dan pengundi DAP.

“Itulah sebabnya kita mesti Bersihkan Malaysia demi menghalang BN menang balik Pulau Pinang dan majoriti dua pertiga pada pilihan raya umum ke-13, di mana rakyat akan dipimpin oleh puak rasis yang anggap bukan Melayu warganegara kelas ketiga dan Melayu mudah ditipu supaya rasuah boleh bermaharajalela”

Lim juga menghuraikan kejayaan-kejayaan Pulau Pinang yang diterajuinya. Antaranya:

negeri yang meraih perlaburan yang terbesar pada 2010, - RM12.2 billion, iaitu paling tinggi dalam sejarah negeri.
dipuji sebagai negeri yang terbaik dalam pengurusan kewangan oleh Laporan Ketua Audit Negara dengan lebihan bajet RM1.13 bilion.
pengurangan hutang yang paling besar - 95 peratus atau RM600 juta daripada RM630 juta pada 8 Mac 2008 kepada RM30 juta pada akhir Oktober 2011.
berjaya mengurangkan kadar jenayah sebanyak 27 peratus - penurunan yang paling tinggi di Malaysia.
negeri pertama dalam usaha pemuliharaan alam sekitar dan kempen hijau, termasuk menjadi negeri pertama melarang penggunaan beg plastik yang mencemar alam.
negeri tunggal dipuji oleh Transparency International atas usaha lawan rasuah dengan memperkenalkan tender terbuka.
negeri pertama di Malaysia yang membasmi miskin tegar dan membolehkan setiap keluarga memperolehi sekurang-kurangnya RM600 sebulan.
negeri pertama melaksanakan dasar pro kebajikan rakyat dengan memberi sumbangan RM100 setiap tahun kepada warga emas, ibu tunggal, OKU, pelajar Darjah 1 dan 4 serta Tingkatan 1 dan 4, serta bayaran one-off sebanyak RM200 kepada bayi kelahiran baru, RM1,000 kepada pelajar IPTA dan RM1000 kepada waris-waris.
mencatat peningkatan bilangan penumpang udara yang tertinggi pada tahun 2010.
menyumbang lebih 60 peratus daripada penerimaan pelancongan perubatan di Malaysia.

Sumber: Malaysiakini

Kit Siang warns of ‘disaster’ if assembly law passed

2011-11-28T21:22:00.003+08:00

By Clara Chooi

DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang warned prime minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak today of a “political disaster” if he insists on pushing the Peaceful Assembly Bill through Parliament without public consultation.

Echoing calls from civil society groups and other opposition lawmakers, the senior DAP MP said Najib should withdraw the Bill before tomorrow’s debate and form a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to look into public recommendations for amendments.

“Najib should be forewarned that he is heading for another political disaster after his July 9 Bersih 2.0 misjudgment if he rejects the proposal for a PSC on the Bill,” Lim (picture) said in a statement.

“I call on him to reconsider the decision to force the Bill through all three readings in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow as it will be proof that he has not learnt the lessons of his massive misjudgment and mishandling of the July 9 rally,” he added.

Najib mooted the new law to regulate public gatherings following international condemnation over his administration’s handling of Bersih 2.0’s march for free and fair elections.

Just days after it was tabled, however, his Cabinet agreed to amend several contentious provisions in the Bill after complaints that it would further restrict individual freedom.

But Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and several civil society groups, including Suhakam, Bersih 2.0 and the Bar Council, have vowed to continue protesting the Bill, insisting that it go back to the drawing board to include public recommendations.

Lim complained that Clause 16 of the Bill accords the home minister powers as the “final arbiter” to decide if an assembly could be held.

He said such powers should lie in the hands of the judiciary, similar to the Queensland Peaceful Assembly Act 1992, which he said Malaysia’s proposed law is modelled after.

“The Australian home minister and the various Australian state police ministers have no role whatsoever in the decision-making process on freedom of assembly in Australia.

“This is why more time must be given not only to MPs but to civil society, human rights groups and all concerned Malaysians to study the implications of the very badly drafted Bill by referring it to a PSC,” he said.

Lim reminded the government of complaints against bias and discrimination by the police that was listed in the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission Report, saying that since its findings were released in 2005 public confidence still remained low.

Among the complaints, he said, were that permits granted to opposition parties and NGOs deemed as anti-establishment had come with numerous “ridiculous” conditions.

“There were also complaints that the police do not seem to be neutral and impartial in the granting of permits, as would appear to be the case from their alleged numerous refusals of permits to opposition political parties and organisations perceived to be linked to them.

“There were also allegations that those attending the events were arrested and questioned as to why they did so and why they expressed opposition towards the government,” he added.

But despite the report findings, said Lim, the police have yet to earn respect as an “independent, incorruptible and professional” force.

Cognitive gap

2011-11-28T21:20:00.000+08:00

By Soong Phui Jee

Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail does not understand why the people are not happy with the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011, showing that there is a gap between the cognition of the authority and the people. And the controversy lies on the absence of communication and dialogue.

When the Prime Minister made an announcement on the eve of the Malaysia Day about the repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) and some outdated laws, some officials and police officers thought that they were going to cater to the people's and non-governmental organisations' demands and it would earn the BN government some points. They even described it as a "revolutionary" Bill. However, the people's response has not been as expected. Instead, the situation in Malaysia is compared to the situation in Myanmar. It is indeed a great blow to the BN, which is trying to promote democratisation.

Such a cognitive gap can be drawn closer only through repeating democratic dialogues and adjustments in mindset and values. If the gap is ignored and not seriously taken, it will be expanded. Such a situation is not conducive to the ruling party in gaining votes of young and swing voters.

Similar situation also happens to the amendment of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA). The Prime Minister announced that amendments will be made to the Section 5 of the UUCA to allow students aged 21 and above join political parties. However, university students are strictly prohibited from bringing partisan politics into campuses. Students think that the government is not sincere since it will continue appealing the recent Court of Appeal ruling that the UUCA is unconstitutional.

The most important thing is, are universities agree with the government's intention of amending the law or do they think that the UUCA should be repealed to give students absolute right? Many events in the past, particularly campus elections and control over students, have reflected the UUCA's unchallengeable authority. It has bounded students' words and deeds and if the universities do not change their mindset, the small amendment to the UUCA would not help much. This is the students' worry. And it is consistent with the trend only if the UUCA is repealed.

The mindset gap has turned law reforms from something good into bad. It provides room for the opposition to take advantage of it while trapping Umno leaders in an embarrassing situation. If they withdraw the Peaceful Assembly Bill, they might be said to have bowed to pressure, causing a rebound from hardliners inside and outside the party. If they do not withdraw the Bill, the Pakatan Rakyat might take take the opportunity to make a big fuss about it. The most unfavourable situation is, even non-governmental organisations, like the Bar Council, also think that the proposed Bill is more stringent than the Police Act. This might affect BN's impression on swing voters.

Under such a situation, the Cabinet decided to amend several sections of the proposed Act, including the requirement of giving a 30-day notice to the police will be shortened to 10 days. It has finally responded to the public demand but would the Bersih and Bar Council be satisfied? If a Bersih 3.0 rally is held, the BN will face another round of pressure and it might also delay the next general election.

Umno leaders are caught in a dilemma. They have to on the one hand defend the government's face while on the other hand respond to the people's demands. They have to handle the situation well and this is has also faltered the country's politics.

Unsubstantiated reforms

2011-11-28T21:16:00.002+08:00

By Dominic Loh

The problem with the government's reform initiatives is lack of momentum.

They said they wanted to liberalise gatherings, but then they came out with a whole lot of rules and regulations.

To be fair, the peaceful assembly bill is well-intentioned, and the repeal of relevant police acts is also a move in the right direction.

At least no more arrests, and detention for anything from six months to five years without trial will become a thing of the past now.

Under the new bill, gatherings are allowed to be held freely without permits, and no one will be put in a jail for taking part in an assembly.

However, the government is still unable to have a clean cleavage from the past.

While the public are permitted to assemble, they are also put under various restrictions all in the name of public security, showing that some quarters within the government indeed still have reservations and are not quite ready to let go of the power already in their hands.

Politically speaking, the new bill could be a wonderful card in Najib's hands, and the liberalisation of gatherings will significantly perk up the government's image while allaying public discontent.

Unfortunately this card has been held back by the wrong guys inside the PM's team.

If you would take a look at today's headlines, you will learn that even Myanmar has allowed peaceful demonstrations provided that prior notice is given five days in advance and that the demonstrators stay away from four designated locations.

But under our new peaceful assembly bill, 30 days of prior notice is required while the participants are subjected to a score of restrictions.

In a similar manner, even as the government is prepared to amend the UUCA , allowing university students to take part in politics, it is still reluctant to accept the High Court's ruling.

We have more than enough instances of this nature. For example, while newspapers are no longer required to have their publishing permits renewed annually, the authorities still have the power to suspend their licences any time they want.

We applaud the government's intention to push ahead political reforms, but the problem lies with its lack of resolution and confidence. While the government is well aware that there is no way it can resist and deny the needs of the people, it is also worried it may not get back the power once it is let off its hands.

Many fantastic ideas and policies will turn bad once they go through the internal consultation and bureaucratic screening.

The authorities must realise that Malaysians are increasingly more aware of their civic needs and expectations. They are not just asking for a glamorous reform outlook, but the actual substance of the reform itself.

What the Auditor-General said about Penang?

2011-10-26T17:34:00.002+08:00

The Penang state government continues to be in the good books of the Auditor General, who commended its improved financial position in 2010 compared to 2009.

According to the latest AG report, Penang's consolidated revenue grew by 2.7 percent, from RM1,101.89 million for 2009 to RM1,131.17 million in 2010. The consolidated cash reserve rose by 6.2 percent to RM572.49 million, up from RM538.95 million in 2009.

“The state’s revenue for 2010 has increased by RM34.19 million or 9.1 percent compared to 2009 from RM376.51 million to RM410.70 million,” observes the report.

The AG advises the state government to make better investment analysis as a way to increase dividends.

“Besides that, the state government is also urged to continue its effort to collect arrears in revenue amounting to RM78.78 million at the end of 2010 from land tax, loan repayment to students, rental of houses, shop lots and so on,” the report adds.

On development under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the AG rates the state’s performance as satisfactory with a total of RM787.17 or 77.8 percent being spent from the allocated RM1.01 billion.

In terms of implementation of projects, the report hails the state's performance as 'very good' with 99 percent of the 9,003 projects successfully carried out.

The report concludes that the financial management of state agencies remained good for 2010.

“In 2010, 3 agencies are in ‘very good’ category like 2009. 10 agencies are considered ‘good’ and one at satisfactory level,” it says.

For three successive years, 13 state agencies audited at least twice between 2007 to 2010 have showed ‘very good’ financial management by the state treasury and development body.

08.10.2011 Majlis Jamuan Makan Malam Penjanaan Tabung Aktiviti DAPSY Bagan 峇眼社青团筹募活动基金晚宴

2011-10-10T21:20:00.008+08:00

Majlis Jamuan Makan Malam Penjanaan Tabung Aktiviti DAPSY Bagan 2011/2012

峇眼社青团筹募活动基金晚宴

Tarikh: 08.10.2011 ( Sabtu)

Masa: 7.30pm

Tempat: Dewan Sree Mariamman, Butterworth

Say no to racist politicians

2011-10-09T18:19:00.003+08:00

By R Kengadharan

The fundamental problem in Malaysia today is racism, and each day it escalates to a more dangerous level.

We cannot ignore the ugly truth that racism is the consequence of privilege, institutionalised discrimination and the claim of supremacy by one group.

The sad thing is that there is no national effort on a credible scale to destroy the racist mentality.
We must destroy racism by openly condemning it and rejecting it in whatever form it takes, including the form of a race-based political party.

The result of the 2008 general election did provide a ray of hope for a political system dominated by two multiracial parties, but the euphoria was short-lived.

No true political observer can be oblivious of the fact that racial politicking is making a comeback and threatening to push the nation ever backward.

While the vast majority of Malaysians see nothing but ugliness in racial politics, there are still many politicians who believe they cannot survive unless they continue to advocate race politic – and to hell with the consequences on the nation’s future.

Why, for instance, do we need to be constantly reminded about the dark days of the 1969 riots?
It ought to be the duty of political parties to take stern action against their members who arouse racial sentiments.

The government, especially, must act swiftly against them. Meanwhile, responsible citizens must never succumb to these racist instigation. However, the best means of defeating racism is to educate the public on our cultural diversity and to take pride in it.

Racism is a menace and we must cripple it by restructuring our mindsets through discourse and activities that foster solidarity.

But, meanwhile, we can deal with racist politicians by:

rejecting all race-based policies and agendas;
rejecting any political party that represents only one race;
rejecting any attempt to indoctrinate the ideology of a supreme race;
boycotting every activity that encourages racism; and
challenging the constitutionality of any law with an embedded racist agenda.

民联政府以民为本

2011-09-18T15:36:00.006+08:00

民联政府以民为本

30 良政空前利民

Sekandal RM 300 Juta Kerugian ini Kembalikan Kepada Rakyat Pulau Pinang?

2011-09-18T15:29:00.002+08:00

Sekandal RM 300 Juta Kerajaan BN macam mana BN nak kembalikan kerugian ini kepada Rakyat Pulau Pinang?

Majlis Penyampaian Bantuan Kemasukan Ke IPTA Pada 16.09.2011

2011-09-18T14:54:00.004+08:00

Majlis Penyampaian Bantuan Kemasukan Ke IPTA

Peringkat Daerah SPU

Pada 16.09.2011

Di Dewan Dato' Haji Ahmad Badawi, Butterworth

Ada apa dengan politik perkauman?

2011-09-13T22:46:00.003+08:00

Oleh Abd Manan Abd Razak,

Naib Pengerusi DAP Kuala Perlis

Pemerintahan Barisan Nasional selama 54 tahun telah menyebabkan rakyat Malaysia dipecahbelahkan mengikut kaum masing-masing.

Oleh itu BN menerusi parti-parti komponennya telah mempropagandakan perjuangan terhadap sesuatu kaum yang seolah-olah dilihat hanya UMNO berjuang untuk orang Melayu, MCA untuk orang Cina dan MIC untuk kaum India serta lain-lain komponen yang secara dasarnya adalah sama.

Setelah sekian lama di bawah pentadbiran BN, kini rakyat sudah sedar akan politik berasaskan perkauman yang dibawa oleh BN tidak membawa kepada perpaduan.

Tsunami politik 2008 telah membuktikan kebenaran rasa tidak puas hati rakyat yang ditafsirkan dalam bentuk kertas undi.

Rakyat pelbagai kaum bersatu secara sendirinya tanpa diadakan apa-apa program khusus. Semuanya berlaku atas kesedaran peribadi serta secara bermasyarakat.

Parti PAS, PKR dan DAP telah mendapat habuan besar dengan 82 kerusi Parlimen dan 5 kerajaan negeri. Setelah terkesan dengan keputusan itu, BN pula kelihatan saling mencakar sesama sendiri sehinggalah Perdana Menteri pada masa itu Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi didesak beralah oleh kepimpinan partinya sendiri.

Inilah buktinya Malaysia yang kita cintai telah menolak perjuangan sempit berasaskan perkauman. Walau pun tidak ada salahnya membantu golongan kurang bernasib baik di kalangan kaum sendiri, niat murni itu telah disalahgunakan oleh UMNO dan BN untuk menyenangkan kroni-kroni mereka sahaja.

Apalah digembar-gemburkan dengan identiti kaum jika majoriti terbuang di pinggiran? Apalah gunanya mendabik dada menjadi juara kaum jika hanya yang kaya bertambah kaya, yang miskin makin terhimpit?

Kini rakyat semakin bersatu dengan sendirinya tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama. Ini telah menjadi cabaran kepada parti-parti yang berasaskan kaum. Pemimpin BN kelihatan begitu cemburu dengan perubahan yang sedang berlaku.

Perdana Menteri sendiri sanggup meniupkan api perkauman. Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah menyatakan UMNO adalah Melayu dan Melayu adalah UMNO di hadapan masyarakat Melayu.

Di hadapan masyarakat Cina dan India serta di Sabah dan Sarawak, beliau melaungkan pula slogan 1Malaysia. Jelas ini adalah percubaan untuk mengelirukan rakyat pelbagai kaum.

Keangkuhan Perkasa pula dibiarkan begitu saja sebagai tanda ugutan pasif kepada kaum bukan Melayu.

Sikap hipokrit pemimpin BN ini ternyata memakan diri sendiri apabila sebahagian besar kaum Cina dan India telah menyebelahi Pakatan Rakyat manakala kaum Melayu dan Bumiputera lainnya yang telah sedar dengan politik kotor BN mula beralih kepada Pakatan.

Harapan suci PR untuk membela rakyat Malaysia secara keseluruhannya melalui usaha menawan Putrajaya telah tidak lagi dapat dihalang oleh BN.

Rakyat sudah bosan dengan janji-janji kosong BN yang selama ini terbukti pecah tembelang.

Peningkatan kos hidup, korupsi, kronisme, pembaziran sumber, penggangguran, kezaliman dan banyak lagi kelemahan dalam pemerintahan BN tidak dapat lagi ditutup dengan pembohongan dan propaganda perkauman.

BN perlu menerima padah yang bakal menimpa kerana perjuangan berasaskan kaum yang hanya memecahbelahkan perpaduan rakyat tidak lagi relevan.

Laluan untuk peralihan kuasa kepada PR perlu ditepati sekiranya PRU 13 menyebelahi PR berdasarkan sistem demokrasi raja berpelembagaan. Jangan ada sesiapa yang mahu ketepikan hak rakyat sepertimana berlaku di Perak.

BN boleh menipu sekali-sekala tetapi kali ini rakyat tidak akan membenarkan penipuan berlaku lagi.

Judicial independence and justice

2011-09-11T11:17:00.003+08:00

By Soong Phui Jee

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's recent visit to the Palace of Justice has triggered a dispute as some claimed that the visit could jeopardise the independence of the judiciary. However, I am more interested in the remarks made by retiring Chief Justice Tun Zaki Tun Azmi.

He said that the government had allocated RM130 million to upgrade court facilities and it was normal for the Prime Minister to see how the money was spent. Also, the more people the more transparent it was and there was nothing to be kept in the dark. It would not affect judges' independent judgement.

The judiciary needs money to operate and the bill is paid by the government. Then how could we be sure that the judiciary would not lose its independence for government funding?

Judiciary independence is a universal value. According to the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary adopted by the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Milan from 26 August to 6 September 1985, "it is the duty of each Member State to provide adequate resources to enable the judiciary to properly perform its functions".

Most countries and regions such as the US, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, separated the expenses of the judiciary and included it in the central budget. Many countries also have a court expense budget which is planned by a court expense budget committee formed by courts or judges. There are also judges participate in a court expense budget team and the Finance Ministry has no right to delete or seize a court expense budget and funding.

In China, the judiciary is managed by local governments and naturally, the judiciary tends to safeguard the interests of local authorities, resulting in a miscarriage of justice and public resentment.

Most democratic countries and regions are very strict in the appointment of judges. According to the US Constitution, federal judges are appointed by the President of the US and confirmed by a simple majority vote of the Senate.

According to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 of the United Kingdom, the Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for the appointment of judges. The independent commission is formed by multi-commissioners and chaired by a lay member.

According to the Hong Kong Basic Law, judges are appointed by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission. The commission is an independent statutory body composed of the Secretary for Justice, judges, persons from the legal profession and eminent persons from other sectors.

Many countries and regions are having many tedious work to ensure judicial independence and maintain the prestige of the judiciary, as well as the democratic institution.

In Malaysia, however, the feature of independence seems to have been gradually neglected. Judges are appointed without going through the Parliament and after the 1988 judicial crisis, the executive has overrode the judiciary. The judicial prestige has also further declined after the Lingam video clip and other judicial scandals.

The country must recover the long-lost independence, including the independence of the Attorney General's Chamber, the Election Commission (EC) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), as only independence can defend social justice.

Democracy is not just about voting

2011-09-11T11:14:00.001+08:00

By Lim Mun Fah

The Cabinet has agreed to use the indelible ink in the next general election.

From a democratic point of view, it is indeed a step forward. However, it is actually only a small step forward towards a more transparent and fair electoral system, as instead of just about voting, the implications of a democratic election are actually very wide and complex.

Voting seems easy to be done as it only requires voters to draw an "X" next to their preferred candidate before throwing the voting paper into a ballot box.

In fact, it is not as simple as that.

Election is a bottom-up mobilisation. The whole process is tense and complicated. It involves arguments from politicians of different political stands, consideration over benefit tunnelling, entanglements among political parties and confrontations among candidates.

To be specific, a democratic election process must reflect the spirit of democracy. Firstly, all adult citizens have the rights to vote and be voted. Secondly, one man must cast only one vote in an election and the role and effectiveness of each vote must be equal, without being affected by personal identity.

Thirdly, it must be a fair competition in which all candidates are refrained by the same set of election rules and must obey the principle of majority rule. Fourthly, voting is secret and thus, voters' choices in an election are anonymous, so that they can record a sincere choice without being affected by threat and bribery. Fifthly, the counting process must be transparent and being completed and announced under the supervision of a neutral.

To put it simple, a democratic election must generate new lawmakers and government through a democratic, fair, free and transparent process.

Theoretically, it is the advantages of democracy. It allows people to elect and change their government. However, since those in power also has the power to set election rules, the so-called fairness, freedom, transparency and other basic principles of a democratic election can hardly be implemented in political reality. In many cases, a democratic election is democratic, fair, free and transparent only for a particular party.

There is no political power that does not wish to retain its power in the world. Power is fascinating, but at the same time, terrible. It involves too much of benefit distributions and thus, many political parties and politicians are taking the advantage of loopholes found in the election game and try to win political power to enjoy the benefits it brings.

Voting is only part of a democratic election after all. In addition to it, an election could also be affected by other factors, including constituency demarcation, voter registration, election resources allocation and the control over election machinery.

Therefore, after making the small step forward, they must continue to move forward to further improve our democratic election!

Historical truth

2011-09-11T11:11:00.001+08:00

By Lim Sue Goan

Some parts of the national history remain confusing and two recent issues have proven that there are still rooms to be filled and passages to be corrected.

The first issue was provoked by the Utusan Malaysia with a report accusing PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu of praising communism. It has rapidly led to a war of words between Umno and PAS.

Mat Sabu was alleged to have called during a ceramah in Tasik Gelugor, Mat Indera, the man who attacked and killed 25 policemen and their families in the 1950 Bukit Kepong tragedy, an independent fighter.

According to the Wikipedia, Mat Indera was one of the Malay left-wing leaders confronting the British colonial government. At 4.45am on 23 February 1950, he led 200 guerrillas to attack the Bukit Kepong police station. A total of 25 policemen and their family members were killed, only four people survived. Mat Indera was arrested and being hanged in the Perak Taiping prison on 30 January 1953.

They are now arguing that Mat Sabu's praise to Mat Indera has hurt the families of the sacrificed policemen. However, Mat Sabu has denied that he had praised communism and belittled the police. He even cited history book Pengukir Nama Johor to show that Mat Indera was an independent fighter instead of an communist.

Leaving the political controversy aside, there are indeed some doubts about the Bukit Kepong tragedy.

Firstly, was Mat Indera a communist?

Secondly, was it a patriotic act to attack the police station? Was Mat Indera an independent fighter? The country had not achieved independence in 1950 and Mat Indera was confronting the British colonial government when he attacked the police station. However, communism remains a sensitive issue for Muslims and thus, it is still difficult to make a conclusion.

Without clarifying the doubts, all parties will continue making their own arguments and even DAP national chairman Karpal Singh has found it confusing.

The second issue the fight for justice for educationist cum social activist Lim Lian Geok.

Lim was a patriot, and as the Justice for Lim Lian Geok Movement Committee said, the two main goals of the movement are to reinstate the Malaysian citizenship of Lim and establish the Education Equity Act, which ensures a fair treatment for vernacular schools and protects their developments.

However, the issue involves politics and thus, it faces some difficulties, particularly from Malay rights group Perkasa and other racists.

The Malaysian citizenship and teaching licence of Lim were revoked on 21 August 1961 on the ground of confusing and distorting the government's education policies, inciting dissatisfaction towards the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the federal government, as well as spreading hatred among racial groups by making demands with racist sentiments.

Lim was among the front line fighters during the independence of the country. He called on the Chinese to apply for citizenship and be loyal to Malaya. How would such a patriot undermine the country?

To rehabilitate Lim, they must first prove that all the accusations are unfounded to convince officials of the Home Ministry.

The entanglement of the national independence history with politics has resulted in the growing gap between the government and the civil society. The historical truth will never be restored if the crux of the problems is not resolved.

The real Malayan independence fighters

2011-09-02T22:35:00.002+08:00

Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka from fahmi reza on Vimeo.

The real Malayan independence fighters were the PUTERA-AMCJA coalition of political parties which consist of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya, Malayan Democratic Union, Pan-Malayan Federation of Trade Unions, Malayan New Democratic Youth League, Angkatan Pemuda Insaf, Angkatan Wanita Sedar, Gerakan Angkatan Muda and a lot more.

Umno had in fact twice betrayed the independence effort carried out as early as 1945. And after having all the earlier independence minded political parties purged with the help of the British colonial government, Umno then hijacked the independence call in 1957.

Since then, the PUTERA-AMCJA's independence struggle was completely erased and labelled as communists following the declaration of Emergency rule in 1948.

This is how Umno cheated the people until today.

前途茫茫

2011-08-30T17:37:00.002+08:00

Kekalkan kerajaan berjiwa rakyat yang martabatkan rakyat

2011-08-30T09:27:00.002+08:00

Oleh Lim Guan Eng, Setiausaha Agung merangkap Ahli Parlimen Bagan

Dengan penuh ikhlas dan rasa rendah diri, saya mengucapkan Salam Aidilfitri buat semua umat Islam di Malaysia. Semoga 1 Syawal 1432 Hijrah demgan harapan baru untuk menjalankan tugas kerja masing-masing dengan penuh bertanggungjawab dan melawan sebarang kemungkaran.

Kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat Pulau Pinang berusaha menunaikan kewajipan kami kepada rakyat dengan urustadbir CAT - Cekap, Akauntabel dan Telus yang berlandaskan "amar maaruf nahi mungkar". Urustadbir baik dan cekap ini bukan sahaja mendapat pengiktirafan di peringkat tempatan dan negara seperti oleh Lapuran Ketua Audit Negara dan perunding dana kewangan Tan Siok Choo. Malah Pulau Pinang baru ini dipuji oleh majalah ekonomi antarabangsa "The Economist" dan Transparency International atas usaha melawan rasuah dan mengamalkan sistem tender terbuka.

Pihak tertentu yang tidak bertanggungjawab cuba mainkan sentimen perkauman dengan momokan bahawa kontraktor Melayu akan rugi kerana tidak dapat berdaya saing dalam sistem tender terbuka. Hakikatnya ialah 100% daripada kontrak Jabatan Perairan & Saliranbernilai RM 35.6 juta dan 99.5% daripada kontrak JKR bernilai RM 124.2 juta diberikan kepada kontraktor Melayu. Nyata sekali bukan kontraktor Melayu yang tidak dapat berdaya saing tetapi kontraktor bersifat kroni yang tak berguna. Inilah matlamat kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat berjiwa rakyat dengan martabatkan rakyat tanpa kira kaum, agama dan fahaman politik.

Walau pun ada segelintir orang mahu menyempitkan ajaran Islam dengan memburukkan orang lain serta menimbulkan fitnah dan memainkan sentimen perkauman, kerajaan negeri yakin bahawa Islam yang sebenar menggalakkan kita semua untuk bersahabat dengan penuh kasih sayang tanpa rasa curiga antara satu sama lain. Itulah sebebnya kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat mengulangi jaminan bahawa ia bukan anti-cina, anti-Melayu atau anti-India tetapi hanya anti-rasuah sahaja.

Hanya dengan menghayati dan mengamalkan ajaran agama yang mengajak kepada kasih sayang, perpaduan dan saling faham-memahami antara satu sama lain dapat meruntuhkan tembok yang selama ini memisahkan kita semata-mata kerana perbezaan kaum, agama dan cara hidup.

Harapan saya ialah untuk melihat ibu-ibu tidak lagi menangis kerana melihat anak-anak kelaparan, bapa-bapa tidak lagi mengeluh kerana tidak mampu menyediakan keperluan keluarga, anak-anak tidak lagi kecewa kerana tidak mempunyai buku, pakaian dan barang permainan, dan warga emas, ibu tunggal serta orang kurang upaya tidak lagi meratap kerana dipinggirkan oleh orang-orang yang menjadi tempat mereka menaruh harapan.

Ini boleh dilihat dalam program sosial negeri seperti penghapusan miskin tegar, penghargaan warga emas, sumbangan pelajar IPTA dan anak emas, bantuan kepada sekolah-sekolah Agama Rakyat dan para huffaz serta program kebajikan yang makan perbelanjaan lebih RM40 juta setahun. Inilah erti Syawal yang saya harap dapat mengukuhkan semangat kita semua untuk tidak melupakan mereka yang amat memerlukan bantuan, sumbangan dan kasih sayang kita.

Dengan sedikit tenaga dan keupayaan kurniaan Tuhan, kami telah dan akan terus berusaha untuk melaksanakan yang terbaik untuk semua, terutamanya mereka yang benar-benar memerlukan. Marilah kita terus kekalkan kerajaan berjiwa rakyat yang martabatkan rakyat.

Semoga 1 Syawal ini membawa berkat dan rahmat buat kita semua. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin.

DAP and DAPSY Bagan Wishes Selamat Hari Raya

2011-08-28T21:00:00.003+08:00

DAP and DAPSY Bagan would like to wish all our Muslim friends, supporters and voters Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir Batin.

May this Ramadhan and Aidil Fitri spirit would further foster and enhance the unity and religious harmony in our nation.

Malaysia for All Malaysians!

Is fair and clean general election possible?

2011-08-28T20:53:00.002+08:00

By Dr. Hiew King Cheu

The many obvious incidents and events have shown that in Malaysia we are in urgent need and it is compulsory that a "total overhaul" is to be implemented in our election system.

The Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak has also said that a Parliamentary Select Committee is to be set up to look into the various matters arising from the election system and the problems within, because the Malaysian people have called for a clean and fair election in Malaysia.

This is a immediate need to clean up the mil-practices involved in the election process, and there are many unfair ways whereby the true representatives of the people during any elections have been deprived of their chance to be elected to represent the people.

There are loop holes and installed means to ensure that the election result is one sided. This is why we must have an election system reform. The voice of the people must be heard and they are asking for a clean and fair election to be held.

There are defaults arising using the postal votes system, where most of the cases that the postal voters had never seen their own ballet papers, let alone marking on them. This is especially on the uniform groups and their families are concerned. There are ex-servicemen coming out to testify now that they were ordered by their commanding officers to mark bundles and bags of ballet papers for their fellow servicemen with a reward. It is a true fact that the servicemen had voted without their knowledge who they had voted. It is clear that their ballet papers are all marked on the BN, and only a few for pity sack marked for the opposition. This ill practice can be traced back to the 70's. This has to stop completely and the postal voting system for the uniform groups is to be totally abolished, in fact these servicemen and their spouses can come to vote two days earlier before the actual polling day and cast their votes in polling stations set up in their various military camps or police stations, and to be witnessed by the polling agents of the various candidates.

The electoral rolls have the biggest problem involving plenty of faults, discrepancies, dubious person, dead and very old people of over 110 years still being listed as voters. The SPR (Election Commission) must immediately get down to correct these problems with the help from JPN (National Registrar). The SPR should not be seen as not having a genuine intention to put the matters right and stop blaming each other.

The complaints on the names of dubious persons appearing on the electoral rolls did raised concern among the people. In cases where suddenly many unknown people appeared in the list of some small kampongs where the kampong heads do not even know who they are, and where these people come from? This is obviously some quarters had stuffed in additional phantom voters to increase their chance of winning. To object on these people to be registered as voters, SPR charges a high fee of RM10 per head for investigation on the person under query. Just imaging if there are four hundred people needed clarification and to raise objection, we have to pay RM4,000 to SPR. SPR should check and confirm them before listing them for gazette. This system is specially designed to deter the people from filing objections and seeking clarification on people listed who are not genuine or imported. Is it fair?

There are plenty of problems associated with the Malaysian election process, and it is internationally known. The BN government not allowing international independent observers to come to witness on the Malaysian elections is not to allow the inbuilt defaults to be exposed and criticized. The question on how effective the Parliament Select Committee can be is still has to be seen. Many people think that the BN is not sincere to clean and straighten up the election processes, and in fact they will further input and install measures to intensify their chance of winning and to restore power.

Where is the fair and clean election that the Malaysians are longing for? If we don't change now, when can we change, this is the last chance for Malaysians to change. Therefore use your votes and concentrate to vote only for Pakatan Rakyat and not any party else.

RM1,000 for Penang school leavers entering tertiary institutions

2011-08-28T20:48:00.002+08:00

By Aaron Ngui

A total of 1,375 secondary school leavers from Penang who will be continuing their studies at public higher learning institutions will receive RM1,000 from the state government this year.

The money is intended help them defray costs for their travel and student affairs expenses.

Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng (pix) expressed hope that those who received the money will return to Penang to contribute to the state's development.

He said this was because the state had many career opportunities, as evident in it being able to attract some RM12 billion in investments last year, the highest in Malaysia.

“Penang is also cleaner, greener and safer now,” he said, citing reduction in crime by 72 percent last year.

He said this when presenting 30 students with their aid money during a ceremony at the Dewan JKR in Bukit Mertajam here today.

Lim also handed out RM1,000 each to 71 beneficiaries under the state’s Senior Citizens Appreciation Scheme in which the next-of-kin receives the payment upon the death of the registrant.

The money is to defraying funeral and related expenses.

“Taking care of those who took care of us when we were young is the right and proper thing to do,” he said.

焚送大仕爺林冠英歷屆首位‧率檳華裔議員上香參拜

2011-08-18T21:46:00.002+08:00

在歷任檳州首席部長中，
全程參與大山腳人熱慶中元的焚送大士爺最高潮節目，
林冠英屬第一人。

數十年來，大山腳埠眾盂蘭勝會率領逾10萬名善信，在每年農曆七月

熱慶中元15天，也接待過不少政治權貴或部長級人馬，但就是缺少

檳州首席部長的參與，讓這項北馬最大的道教慶典拼圖，如缺了一角。

今年林冠英在15天內，兩度光臨大山腳市區的大士爺壇前與民同慶中元。

在週二（16日）晚的農曆七月十七日，是慶讚中元的萬千善信齊歡送

大士爺回鑾的日子，林冠英當晚9時率領檳州華裔議員和民聯村長領袖，

到壇前率領子民上香參拜大士爺。

出席者包括檳州行政議員王國慧、林峰成、大山腳國會議員章瑛、

巴東拉浪州議員陳宗興、市議員溫維安及沈志強。

喜见双层排屋落成　豆蔻村24户谢民联践诺

2011-08-14T22:22:00.002+08:00

昔日的战友、邻居喜相逢，豆蔻村居民感激民联政府

让他们“团圆”！

拥有超过200年历史的豆蔻村两年前曾因土地转让，

居民逼迁问题闹得轰动全国。据悉，获偿新屋的

24户人家，有15户已经签署合约，表示愿意接受

州政府的赔偿，而居民于周六上午前往豆蔻村看

1200平方尺的双层排屋，并表示对州政府的安排感到满意之极。

他们表示，两年前的捍卫、往日的辛酸让他们记忆犹新，并表示

永远不会忘记。其中，当年为捍卫豆蔻村而成立的豆蔻村协会

秘书助理珊达雅访新屋时，向记者分享他们的喜悦，她说，目前

24间新屋子的水电供应已齐全，待一些程序处理完毕后，随时可以搬入。

珊达雅：真正释怀

她代表居民感激民联政府，为他们重整家园，她说，在等待新屋的两年

期间，他们内心始终存有担忧，直到看见新的屋子后，才真正释怀，

让他们相信州政府的诚意。她语带激动说，

无法想象如果国阵执政槟州，

她相信待遇一定没有今日好。

11.11.2011 Pilihanraya Umum Yang Ke 13 ?

2011-08-14T21:48:00.002+08:00

Mengikut sejarah Pilihanraya Malaysia Umum, selalunya adalah minima 4 tahun dan maksima 5 tahun diadakan.

Jika Pilihanraya Malaysia Umum Yang Ke 13 diadakan pada 11 hb November, 2011, ini bermakna pertama kali Pilihanraya Malaysia Umum hanya selama 3 tahun 8 bulan diadakan, ini sudah Cetak Rekod Politk Malaysia.

Penang: Getting back its mojo

2011-08-14T11:15:00.002+08:00

After a slump, an early engine of globalisation is thriving again

IF YOU are going to have a heart attack, have it in Penang. So one might think, to the see the hospitals in George Town, the capital of this north-western Malaysian state. Patients are flocking in. Ted Mohr, the head of the venerable Penang Adventist Hospital says that he will admit 70,000 medical tourists this year. The hospital specialises in heart procedures and it will perform roughly 23,000 of them this year, including 550 open-heart operations. Such is the demand that the hospital is doubling its number of beds.

Mr Mohr gives two main reasons for Penang’s success with the coronary crowd. First, it is relatively cheap. Open-heart surgery that would set you back $100,000 in America costs only about $10,000 in Penang. Second, Penang’s hospitals are as well-equipped as many in the West.

The combination of low cost and high technology is the main reason why industries across the state of Penang, made up of the original island and a larger bit of the mainland, are prospering again after more than a decade of decline. Their revival is important to Malaysia’s economy—Penang and the surrounding region account for 21% of the country’s GDP. But the renaissance could also have important political consequences for the country. Since 2008 Penang has been one of only four states (out of 13) run by an opposition party. If its politicians can claim the credit for the recent success, that should greatly help the opposition in the next general election, expected within the year.

Penang was founded as a free port by the British in 1786. Occupying a position between India and East Asia, the island drew merchants and middlemen keen to make their fortunes. Chinese, Indians, Armenians, Arabs and more all traded alongside each other. With its racial and religious mix, and dedication to the pursuit of free trade, Penang was in many ways the first custom-made city of globalisation.

The island’s fortunes sank as it lost business to its arch-rival, Singapore. In the post-colonial period Penang fell victim to the rise of nationalism. The region’s freshly minted republics chose to develop their own ports. Penang enjoyed a revival during the 1970s with the setting-up of Malaysia’s first free-trade zone (a “free port” by another name); this attracted big names in electronics, like Intel and Bosch, which built some of the first offshore assembly lines. But this boom was founded on cheap labour, and as Malaysia became richer other emerging economies, such as China and Vietnam, drew the assembly work away.

To recover its prosperity, Penang has sought to reinvent itself. With the rise of India and China, Penang’s location again looks very handy to foreign companies as a place to invest, as in the 18th century. It is relatively close to both big markets—yet offers advantages that trump Asia’s giants’.

Read more......

Poll: Race ties deteriorating, politics blamed

2011-08-12T23:38:00.002+08:00

By Shannon Teoh

With race and religious politics intensifying since the 2008 general election, Malaysians believe that inter-racial relations have degenerated over the past five years due to distrust among the different races.

A survey of 1,013 Malaysians conducted from May 24 to June 8 by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research found that only 66 per cent of respondents said ethnic relations were “good” — a 15 per cent decline from the 78 per cent who said so in February 2006.

It also found that just over a third believed that there was “sincere and friendly ethnic unity,” down from 54 per cent five years ago, and those that thought unity was superficial rose from 29 per cent to 44 per cent.

Respondents also said they trusted other races less, with trust towards Indians declining from 37 to 31 per cent, Chinese decreasing from 47 to 42 per cent and belief towards Malays dropping marginally from 66 to 65 per cent.

“A significant factor noted in this particular query was the high level of distrust reported by respondents in their fellow Malaysians from a different ethnic background.

“In our view, the survey findings reflect a significant shift in Malaysian public thinking — the optimism of the mid-2000s appears to have given way to increased insecurities and distrust, which is in part due to the current competitive political environment,” the Merdeka Center said.

Recent years have seen communal politics being stirred up after the landmark Election 2000 — the stiffest contest in Malaysian history.

With Barisan Nasional (BN) losing its customary two-thirds hold on Parliament and five state governments, several political leaders have retreated into racial silos to drum up support.

Calls for more meritocracy to be practised have been met by accusations of being anti-Malay.

Tensions between Muslim and Christian communities also came to the fore with the dispute over the use of the word Allah to refer to the Christian god still not settled.

An initial court ruling allowing the Catholic Church to use the term Allah had led to places of worship being firebombed in January last year, while the seizure of Malay-language bibles by enforcement officers has also seen Christian and Muslim leaders clash in the media.

A recent raid by religious authorities on a church in Petaling Jaya accused of proselytising Muslims exacerbated the distrust that arose after Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and Malay rights lobby Perkasa accused the church and DAP of trying to turn Malaysia into a Christian state.

The Merdeka Center survey also found that only 36 per cent said that people were getting closer together and 82 per cent said they were happy to live in a multi-ethnic society like Malaysia, a 10 percentage point decline from 2006.

Only 38 per cent felt that Malaysians were mature enough to discuss race and religious matters openly, down from 46 per cent five years ago.

Penang reviving under new leadership, says Economist

2011-08-12T23:34:00.002+08:00

By Debra Chong

Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng’s open tender policies are helping Penang regain its lustre as a ‘global city’ by lifting the state’s economy to beyond that of a sweat shop industry, The Economist reported this week.

In its latest issue dated August 13, the international weekly dubbed Penang “the first custom-made city of globalisation” and credited Lim for boosting the port city’s revival by axing a racial special treatment economic policy in the state to create a more level-playing field that appeals to foreign investors.

“He has become the first governor in Malaysia to open up all state tenders to competition. This has entailed dismantling the special preferences for ethnic Malays that have underpinned the BN’s rule since the early 1970s,” the influential magazine on business and international affairs said of the Penang chief minister and his economic reforms.

“Adapted to the national stage, such policies could transform the way that the Malaysian federal government conducts business,” it added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had also mooted a similar series of reforms to raise Malaysia’s economic competitiveness last year but resistance from his own political party Umno, which is the lynchpin to the ruling Barisan Nasional federal government, has delayed its implementation.

The Economist article titled “Getting back its mojo: After a slump, an early engine of globalisation is thriving again reported that Penang had emerged as the top choice for investors out of Malaysia’s 13 other states — including Selangor, the most developed — due to its strategic geographic location between Asia’s two rising economic giants with its stickiness for the rule of law as its trump card.

“Penang’s own ‘Silicon Valley’ companies know that the rule of law in Malaysia gives them the sort of protection for patents and intellectual property they would not enjoy in China, and an ease of doing business that they could not find in India,” it said.

“Crucially, most of the new jobs are in research and development rather than assembly. An American chip-designer, Altera, has a new facility with 1,100 workers in Penang, 800 of them engineers. Its head says that almost all the engineers are locals — which is good for Malaysia,” it said.

It noted that Penang was also varying its investments; while the manufacturing sector was expanding rapidly as scores more electronic firms and medical-device makers are setting up base in the port city, it had also emerged as a top destination for medical tourists in the region offering top-notch services at a fraction of the cost in first-world countries such as the US.

“Little wonder, then, that Penang has become a political weathervane as much as a lesson in economic development,” it concluded.

峇眼区社青团大会24.07.2011

2011-07-27T20:52:00.003+08:00

恭喜孙意志市议员中选峇眼区社青团团长

Bagan DAPSY Chairman - Soon Lip Chee
Vice Chairman - V. Krishna Murthy Naidu A/L Vartharaju
Secretary - Vincent Yeow Hoo Wooi
Vice Secretary - Lee Poh Ying
Treasurer - Khong Chee Seong
Organizer Secretary - Ang Keng Tatt
Publicity Secretary - Francis Ung Su Thien
Politic Education Secretary - Chee Sze Yhing
Committees - Neoh Eng Seng, Suriapragasam A/L Asoghan,
Siva Kumar A/L Muniandy, Kumar A/L Kannan.

DAPSY Bagan Annual General Meeting (Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan DAPSY Bagan)

2011-07-20T21:16:00.003+08:00

Adalah dimaklumkan bahawa Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan Pemuda Sosialis DAP (DAPSY) Bahagian Bagan akan diadakan pada hari berikut,

Tarikh: 24hb Julai 2011 (Ahad)

Masa: 2.00 petang

Tempat: Dewan Sri Bagan Jermal, Taman Sin Tatt, off Jalan Raja Uda, 123000 Butterworth

Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan tersebut akan menyaksikan pemilihan ahli-ahli jawatankuasa bagi penggal yang akan datang, membentang dan menerima laporan tahunan bahagian, penyata kewangan bahagian serta mempertimbangkan draf-draf resolusi yang bakal dikemukakan.

Ahli-ahli DAPSY adalah dijemput datang beramai-ramai bagi menjayakan mesyuarat agung tahunan tersebut pada hari itu.

Solidarity with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

2011-07-16T18:47:00.003+08:00

According to the home minister and Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein, all these PSM 6 detainees arrested in connection with the Bersih 2.0 rally has had "terrorist" connections and their attempt is to establish a communist state in Malaysia.

Until today, we have yet to see any evidence from the home minister, the police and special branch and reliable sources from inside the police force also indicated that these 6 detainees were repeatedly interrogated on the Bersih 2.0 programmes and activities instead of the alleged "communist" and "terrorist" activities that the ministry and police officials had alleged to the press.

So, which is which? Saying this and doing another. How could we trust this government when it lied to the people not only once but too many times.

If both the home ministry and the police force do not have any solid or even a simple evidence, then release all these 6 detainees at once.

Bersih 2.0: A rally against injustice

2011-07-09T17:07:00.003+08:00

By Viktor Wong

Bersih 2.0 rally had commenced at 2.00 pm at Kuala Lumpur this afternoon. The large and overcrowded support that the people had given to the Bersih 2.0 was unexpected since there were so many threats issued by the police, the prime minister and his home minister earlier.

The people had decided to stand firm against all acts of injustice, racism, extremism and more importantly, the threat to destroy democracy at large by the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government.

For more than 50 years, the BN government had choose to ignore the plight of our people and built itself around the wall a ruling elite, to take away whatever resources this country has from our people.

Claiming to be the champion of the Malay community, Umno had failed to prove its effectiveness in governance for more than 50 years now as the Malay community is still suffering from hardcore poor, lacking in education, and no rise on the communities equity in the country's economic growth despite tonnes of assistance and financial aids being given out in millions of Ringgit yearly. Do you still believe in Umno with all these failures?

MCA, MIC and Gerakan all claiming to champion the Chinese, Indian communities or Malaysians alike but what have they done to deal with the rising extremism in Umno? None, they just sit on it and say yes, yes all the time.

The scholarships problems which has been raised almost every year by the Chinese and Indian communities, but why only now MCA did manage to come out to say they will handle the repeating issue this year but not so many years ago. Why MCA only came to ask DAP not to interfere now? It is because the MCA leaders has been sleeping for decades on this issue and that is why this issue has been repeating none stop.

Calling for electoral reforms, if Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan or PPP were to be principled enough, why would they want to be afraid of the demand tabled by Bersih 2.0, that is to reform the current electoral system?

So, there must be a lots of cover up in the BN government and therefore, they choose to crush the rally by force.

Keep it up, Bersih 2.0! As long as there is no electoral reforms, there shall be another Bersih 3.0 in near future until clear and real electoral reforms are being carried out.

Support Bersih 2.0 Rally on 9 July 2011

2011-07-08T22:43:00.006+08:00

PAS rep files motion to free Sungai Siput MP

2011-06-27T22:40:00.002+08:00

By Clara Chooi

A PAS MP filed an emergency motion notice to Parliament today, calling for the immediate release of Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar, currently under remand for allegedly “waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong”.

Dr Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) confirmed with The Malaysian Insider this afternoon that notice had been given to the office of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia this morning.

“We, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs, stand behind a man who was chosen by the people. He fights not only for the rights of those in Sungai Siput but for the entire country.

“You (the police) have [prevented] an MP [from] serving his duties in the House. In any democratic country, no parliamentarian should be mishandled like this. We are very unhappy and we want justice,” he told a joint press conference earlier today with other Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs.

He said the Speaker will decide on the motion by Wednesday.

During the press conference, PR lawmakers expressed their disgust at Jeyakumar’s arrest and those of 30 Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) activists on Saturday.

The group was picked up in Penang for their involvement in a roadshow linked to Bersih and accused of attempting to revive communism. They were detained under Section 122 of the Penal Code for “waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong”.

The law was used to prosecute militant terrorist group Al Ma’unah, which was involved in an audacious arms heist at an army camp and a tense stand-off in the jungles of Perak in 2000.

Under Section 122 of the Penal Code, “whoever collects or attempts to collect men, arms or ammunition, or otherwise prepares to wage war with the intention of either waging or being prepared to wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or any of the Rulers or the Yang di-Pertua Negeri or abets the waging or the preparation of such war, shall be punished with imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

PSM secretary-general S. Arutchelvan, however, claimed today that the event in Penang on Saturday — “Kempen Udahlah Bersaralah” — was not directly connected to Bersih.

“It has nothing to do with Bersih, although we support Bersih and had leaflets on the rally, our event had been planned a long time ago,” explained Arutchelvan.

PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said the use of Section 122 on the activists was an attempt by the authorities to intimidate and silence opposition dissent.

“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those now detained,” she said.

Bersih says will march on without permit

2011-06-27T22:35:00.001+08:00

By Debra Chong

Despite being hauled up for police questioning today, Bersih chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan insists the July 9 march for electoral reforms will continue as planned.
The prominent lawyer said she will also not apply for a police permit to hold the street demonstration as the home minister and the police have made it clear one will not be issued.

She then slammed the authorities for hauling up civil society members campaigning for electoral reform instead of engaging them.

“Instead of threatening people, engage with us,” she urged the authorities, repeating the movement’s statement made last night.

Ambiga also repeatedly called the arrests of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members in Penang during the weekend “ridiculous”, denouncing attempts by various groups to link the minor political group backing Bersih to “communists”.

“I don’t know what it’s about... They are caught in a time warp. Who talks about communists in this day and age?” she quizzed, claiming the arrests were baseless.

The British colonial authorities battled communist terrorists from 1948 to 1960 in a police action called the Emergency and Malaysia later enacted the Internal Security Act (ISA) to allow detention without trial. The Communist Party of Malaysia (CPM) later laid down their weapons in 1989.

“Whoever wants to support Bersih, it’s up to them. It's open to all citizens,” she stressed.

Ambiga, who arrived at the Dang Wangi police station at about 2pm and left nearly two hours later, told reporters she had been questioned on three issues.

The first concerned the Bersih rally launched last week at the Chinese Assembly Hall here; followed by a recent police report in which she was accused of holding an illegal assembly outside the Jalan Travers police station; and the last was about her speech at a PKR-organised event held at the Girl Guides’ Association in Brickfields on June 12.

Talam dua muka: Satu Malaysia, Dua UMNO

2011-06-17T22:48:00.003+08:00

Oleh Wong Chin Huat

Desas-desus bahawa PRU-13 bakal diadakan pada pertengahan tahun ini agak kencang sebelum ini. Tetapi, susulan daripada kenaikan harga minyak, gula, elektrik dan sebagainya, kemungkinan ini semakin menipis. Ada yang mengatakan bahawa Najib dan Muhyiddin berbeza pandangan dalam hal ini - Muhyiddin berharap PRU diadakan secepat mungkin, Najib pula mahu menanti peluang dan masa yang lebih baik.

Hujah ini ada asasnya yang objektif pada tahap tertentu. Sokongan pengundi Cina belum kembali ke BN, malah sokongan bumiputera bukan Islam di Malaysia Timur terhadap BN mulai goyah. Seandainya PRU diadakan sekarang, amat sukar untuk BN memperolehi majoriti dua pertiga. Sungguhpun majoriti dua pertiga dimenangi BN, besar kemungkinan ia ditunjangi kerusi UMNO - maka wujudlah sebuah kerajaan yang didominasi sepenuhnya Melayu, dengan bumiputera Malaysia Timur sebagai sampingannya.

Keputusan sebegini memperlihatkan kegagalan Najib dalam garis politik "1Malaysia"-nya, lantas beliau kehilangan modal untuk meneruskan program transformasi ekonominya. Justeru itu, jikapun Najib tidak digulingkan sejurus selepas PRU-13, beliau juga akan menjadi PM yang tempang.

Maka adegan gandingan Mahathir-Muhyiddin untuk menggulingkan Abdullah Ahmad Badawi akan berulang. Perwatakan Mahathir tiada gantiannya, malah Muhyiddin pada ketika itu adalah orang rapat Abdullah pada asalnya. Kini, siapa pula "Muhyiddin" yang baru? Ada yang teka Naib Presiden dengan undi tertinggi, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yang kini menyandang jawatan Menteri Pertahanan.

UMNO semakin berkocak. Pada tahap tertentu, ia adalah persaingan antara dua garis politik. Pertama, mahukah UMNO mengambil kedudukan pertengahan untuk mengembalikan undi bukan Melayu yang hilang secara mendadak pada tahun 2008? Kedua, mahukah UMNO melaksanakan reformasi ekonomi, untuk mengurangkan defisit kerajaan dan meningkatkan persaingan di antarabangsa? Kedua-dua pendekatan ini bersamaan dengan penafian terhadap dasar dan garis politik UMNO yang lalu - sebagaimana keterbukaan politik secara terhad oleh Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang menyinggung sayap kanan dan mereka yang berkepentingan dalam UMNO, termasuk Mahathir Mohamad.

Sesiapa yang berada di kedudukan Najib terpaksa berbuat demikian. Jikalau tidak, pemerintahan UMNO bakal berdepan dengan cabaran dari dalam dan luar, sehingga memberi laluan kepada Anwar, PKR dan Pakatan Rakyat untuk menjadi pengganti. Namun, siapa-siapa yang tidak berada pada kedudukan Najib tetapi berhasrat untuk memanjat tangga kuasa akan tergoda untuk menarik sokongan sayap kanan dalam UMNO.

Oleh yang demikian, gagasan "1Malaysia" Najib sering terhantuk dalam UMNO - bukan sahaja Muhyiddin secara terang-terang mendakwa dirinya mendahulukan identitinya sebagai Melayu daripada Malaysia, malah sepupu Najib, iaitu Menteri Dalam Negeri Hishammuddin Hussein juga membela sayap kanan ketika bangkitnya isu demonstrasi kepala lembu dan khabar angin penubuhan"Negara Kristian".

Talam dua muka: Strategi UMNO

Menurut wartawan yang dipecat dari Utusan Malaysia, Hata Wahari, Utusan dikawal secara terus oleh Presiden, Timbalan Presiden, Naib Presiden, Setiausaha Agung, Ketua Penerangan UMNO. Oleh itu, pendekatan Utusan yang ektrem bukan kerana sabotaj Muhyiddin, tetapi adalah strategi "talam dua muka" UMNO. Satu mukanya berdepan dengan golongan Melayu sayap kanan, sementara satu lagi ditujukan kepada bukan bumiputera, Melayu yang berada di pertengahan dan pengundi Malaysia Timur.

Seterusnya ......

Ambiga: Our rally will be peaceful

2011-06-17T22:40:00.002+08:00

By S.Rutra

Bersih 2.0 chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan is looking at a win-win situation.
She will be writing to the Kuala Lumpur police chief on how they can work together in making the July 9 rally a peaceful one.

“We understand their job and at the same time we would like to explain to them why we are holding the rally,” Ambiga told FMT.

She said the organisers of the rally strongly believe that it can be conducted in very peaceful and responsible manner.

“If there are any problems on that day (July 9), it will not be because of us and we will ensure to the best of our ability to have a peaceful rally,” added Ambiga.

Asked on the Perkasa’s intention to hold their rally at the city centre on the same day, Ambiga who was the former Bar Council president, welcomed Perkasa leaders and its members to join the Bersih rally which is calling for a free and clean election.

“They are most welcome, provided they walk along with us peacefully,” said Ambiga.
On Tuesday, Perkasa and 30 Malay-based NGOs announced their plans to organise a similar rally to oppose the Bersih rally.

Bersih 2.0 is a coalition of 62 NGOs which have been promoting democracy and free and fair elections in Malaysia.

Ambiga said in her letter to the police next week, she will persuade them on how both parties can work together to make the rally a peaceful one.

In related development, Bersih 2.0 will be holding a talk at the KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here on Sunday night to explain the objectives of the rally.

On July 9, Bersih 2.have invited all organisations including political parties from both sides of divide to join them in their call for electoral reform.

Umno Youth to hold rally too?

The planned rally has been objected by the police who had said that action will be taken against those participating in the illegal assembly. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein too had warned the public against taking part in both the Bersih and Perkasa rallies.

Yesterday, the Umno Youth movement also decided to hold a gathering and procession on July 9. The movement plans to hand over a memorandum to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to support the democracy system and the role and reforms carried out by the Election Commission (EC).

Its head, Khairy Jamaluddin said among the matters to be highlighted in the memorandum was the issue on the transfer of voters carried out by the opposition in preparation for the next general election.

Besides proposing several matters, the gathering also aimed to prove that the people’s voice was not only monopolised by the opposition particularly PAS, the DAP and PKR, Khairy said.

Khairy said the gathering was not to clash with any group, but would instead show the spirit of the young generation in Umno to defend the existing system as well as to cooperate with the EC to improve the existing system.

专才不回家?

2011-06-14T08:56:00.002+08:00

黄燕燕不应该以游客生命作赌注

2011-06-13T21:54:00.002+08:00

Confirmed: Mat Sabu is PAS new deputy president

2011-06-04T16:11:00.003+08:00

PAS grassroots leader Mohamad Sabu has won the PAS deputy president's post in the Islamic party's most hotly-contested elections to date.

In a surprise victory, Mohamad Sabu ousted two ulamas (religious scholars) candidates in the election - the three-term incumbent Nasharudin Mat Isa and a last-minute challenge from Pahang PAS commissioner Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

According to election committee chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman, Mohamad Sabu bagged 420 votes against Tuan Ibrahim, 399 and Nasharudin, 224.

Mohamad Sabu, who has succeeded in his second attempt for the number two position, is the first non-ulama to hold the post for two decades.

Congratulations Mat Sabu!

DAP quibbles Tenaga CEO’s pay hike as tariffs rise

2011-06-03T21:04:00.001+08:00

By Boo Su-Lyn

DAP asked Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to explain the doubling of its chief executive officer’s basic pay last year to RM1.2 million as unhappiness continued over the national power company’s electricity tariff hike.

TNB CEO Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh salary went up from RM600,000 in 2009 to RM1.2 million in 2010, according to the company’s annual report. His total remuneration last year, including bonuses, was RM1.8 million, compared to RM1.4 million in 2009.

“The DAP wishes to question the logic in increasing the salaries of the TNB chiefs at a time where inflation is at an all time high and the average Malaysian’s salary isn’t exactly increasing at all.” Komtar assemblyman Ng Wei Aik said in a statement today.

“With the increase of electricity tariff by 7 per cent, this is a classic example of ‘passing the buck back to the people’,” he added.

TNB has been asking for a hike in electricity tariffs since the beginning of the year due to increased capital expenditure and rising fuel costs.

Its group profit before taxation and zakat was RM4 billion for the 2010 financial year, more than double the RM1.5 billion it made in 2009, according to the annual report

The group revenue topped RM30.3 billion for the 2010 financial year, up 5.3 per cent from the previous year.

Putrajaya recently announced a 7.12 per cent increase in electricity tariffs in an effort to trim a subsidy bill, which would otherwise double to RM21 billion this year, and promised the hike will not affect 75 per cent of domestic consumers.

But power prices will now rise by as much as 2.3 sen per kWh in areas taking TNB’s electricity supply, a potential source of public anger just ahead of a general election expected within the year.

Ng also lambasted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan “People First, Performance Now”.

“With the rising cost of living that is affecting most Malaysians, it is now increasingly becoming 1 Malaysia: Cronies First, Performance Never!” he said.

Economists have predicted that the price hike in electricity and natural gas will push up the monthly consumer price index (CPI) by as much four per cent in the next few months from 3.2 per cent in April.

“Electricity is a basic need of every Malaysian; it should not be used by TNB to increase profits,” said Ng.

Scholarships: ‘No difference’ if MCA in Cabinet, says DAP

2011-06-03T21:01:00.002+08:00

By Yow Hong Chieh

The MCA’s failure to help 86 top SPM students secure scholarships for studies abroad proves there is “no difference” whether or not the party remains in the Cabinet, Lim Guan Eng said.

The DAP secretary-general said that instead of taking Barisan Nasional (BN) to task for its “unfair treatment” of top scholars, the MCA chose to attack the opposition party even though it was the Public Service Department (PSD) that withheld the scholarships.

This only showed that the MCA was “inarticulate, indifferent, indecisive and ineffective” when it came to righting wrongs perpetrated by the ruling coalition on students despite being “ever ready” to blame the DAP, Lim said.

“Must we wait until there is no MCA for there to be a final and permanent solution that would do justice to top students?” he said in a statement today.

Lim (picture), who is also Penang chief minister, slammed the MCA for taking a leaf out of Malay rights group Perkasa’s playbook by using race to cover up its failure to obtain the overseas scholarships.

He stressed the DAP has never turned the issue into a racial one as claimed by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, pointing out that of the 86 students who appealed three were Malay Bumiputeras, one Sarawak Bumiputera, 71 Chinese and 11 Indians.

“DAP has never turned this issue into a racial issue as claimed by Chua but considered this as a failure by the BN government to appreciate Malaysian talents regardless of race and religion,” he said.

Lim added while the MCA may be afraid to speak up on the scholarship issue, DAP lawmakers would pursue this matter at the next Parliamentary sitting this month.

Dr Chua accused the DAP yesterday of sowing discontent within the Chinese community and reminded the opposition party not to turn the government scholarship programme into a racial issue.

The MCA chief pointed out that 1,620 Chinese students received scholarships this year, the highest ever since the government introduced the PSD programme.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz announced two days ago that the 86 SPM top scorers who failed to qualify for this year’s PSD scholarships will be given places in local private colleges and universities.

He said by giving out scholarships to local private colleges and universities, the government will only spend RM21.6 million and not the RM52.1 million it would take to send the students overseas.

PSD currently offers overseas scholarships to 1,500 students with straight 9A+ and above, 2,500 local grants to those with minimum achievements of 8A+ and above and 8,000 local scholarships for diploma or matriculation courses to those who failed to qualify for the first two categories and others.

DAP Bagan leader’s son – from victim to suspect

2011-05-21T14:29:00.001+08:00

By Athi Shankar

A local DAP leader is confused why his son, who was attacked by a group of motorcyclists, has been remanded for a week in connection with the case.
Bagan Luar branch chairman G Asoghan wanted to know why his son, Suria Pragasam, 26, the branch youth wing chief, was being “treated like a suspect when he was the victim.”

“Police should have detained the assailants not the victims,” he told FMT. Asoghan could not get any official answer from the North Seberang Perai (SPU) district police headquarters either.

The DAP man said he could not get in touch with the investigating officer, only known as Inspector Azlizan, district police chief Zulkifli Alias or other officers in SPU. He claimed that none of them responded to his numerous calls.

He alleged that his request to meet with the relevant officers when he went to the SPU police headquarters in Kepala Batas was also turned down. “I was told that the investigating officer did not want to meet anyone until he finished investigating the case. This is unfair, the family has the right to know what is going on,” he said.

Attempts by FMT to contact Azlizan and Zulkifli were also futile. Until Friday, Asoghan was even prohibited from visiting his son at the Seberang Jaya Hospital, where the latter had been undergoing treatment since last Tuesday’s incident.

The distraught father then sought the assistance of Bagan Dalam assemblyman A Thanasekaran, a lawyer, to facilitate his visit.

Following Thanasekaran’s request, Asoghan was allowed to visit his injured son. Suria had claimed that he and two others were hacked with machetes by a group of motorcyclists during a temple festival on Wesak Day.

The trio were sitting with some friends in Taman Mewah here around 8pm when a group of some 20 motorcyclists armed with machetes, knives and helmets attacked them.

Suria and his friend Gopinath, who had also been remanded, sustained slash wounds on their arms and heads.

Meanwhile, Thanasekaran said he would liaise with the investigating officer to obtain details on the duo’s detention.

FMT learnt that the police now plan to detain the two under the Emergency Ordinance.

Richard Lim receives his promotion

2011-05-12T21:38:00.000+08:00

Richard Lim, the Associate Editor of DAP Bagan website has been promoted to full Editor with immediate effect.

Richard, since from the beginning of this site has been an active contributor, promoter and actively wrote articles to support the objectives and struggles of the party. Besides, Richard has also been credited in this well-designed website and he has faithfully maintain it till today.

In addition, Richard also serves as a copy-editor whose responsibility is also to incorporate various news, events and reports into this site, as well as the Chinese language reporting.

Let us all congratulate Richard on his promotion.

Sack Utusan editors for Christian PM claim

2011-05-12T21:33:00.000+08:00

By Shannon Teoh

The DAP demanded today that Datuk Seri Najib Razak replace the Utusan Malaysia editors and reporters responsible for the “false report” of a plot by the DAP and pastors to install a Christian prime minister to usurp Islam’s position in the constitution.

Party Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said that this was the only way for the prime minister to convince Malaysians that Umno disagrees with the “dangerous lies” printed by the newspaper that his party owns.

The Bagan MP said that Najib must “direct Utusan Malaysia to withdraw and apologise for the false report and replace the editors and reporters involved in such dangerous lies that can burn 1 Malaysia.”

Utusan Malaysia carried a front-page article on Saturday headlined “Kristian agama rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?), claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the religion of the federation.

The report, based entirely on unsubstantiated blog postings by several pro-Umno bloggers, has sparked angry protests especially from Christian groups in the country.

Najib was forced to meet a select group of church leaders today to clear the air after the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government took flak over reports of the presumed plot by Christians to usurp Islam as Malaysia’s main creed.

With the Umno president drawing flak, pro-Umno bloggers and even Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have criticised Utusan Malaysia and blogger Big Dog (Zakhir Mohamad) for making the unsubstantiated allegation.

Lim demanded Najib act against the Malay daily to prove that the newspaper does not enjoy full legal immunity.

“Utusan appears to enjoy legal immunity from printing such evil and malicious lies because Utusan is both owned and working fully under the direction of Umno,” he said.

He cited a report where National Union of Journalists president Hata Wahari, who was recently sacked by Utusan Malaysia for criticising the company, said the daily’s editorial directives were set by Najib and other top Umno leaders.

“For that reason, any failure by Najib to act against Utusan will only confirm that Utusan’s lies of a Christian conspiracy... were sanctioned by Umno to entrench Umno’s rural Malay support,” the Penang chief minister said.

MCA Risks It All

2011-05-11T21:52:00.000+08:00

By Dajmarizal Zolkipli

Formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance (Perikatan), Barisan Nasional (BN) has been Malaysia's ruling political party since Independence. Until the March 2008 ‘political tsunami’, the BN coalition has never lost its two-thirds majority in the general election. The vast majority of BN's seats are held by its three largest race-based parties –Umno (Malay), MCA (Chinese) and MIC (Indian) – each of which is sectarian in nature, though officially supporting racial harmony.

As a coalition party, BN has always done its best at practicing racial harmony within and outside the party. The harmonious leadership has allowed the rakyat prosper whenever BN delivers its manifestos and promises. You can’t take this away from BN. The party has been their code of ethics that has embodied the political landscape in Malaysia.

The relationship among BN parties including Gerakan, PPP and its component parties in Sabah and Sarawak is the core success of BN in ensuring the its longevity as the ruling party in the country. Unlike what can be seen in Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition between all BN parties never seems to have stirred up serious problems. All of its coalition parties are working hand in hand with the utmost respect to their leader and also the rakyat.

But perhaps, all the positivity from the BN coalition has never been severely tested like what can be seen in the present political landscape. MCA, for one, is going through a difficult phase especially after the apparent Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state election last month. Clouded with insecurity, the party recently announced that it will not be taking up Cabinet posts if it underperforms in the next general election. The main mission at hand is to redeem itself by regaining the dwindling Chinese support.

MCA’s dwindling popularity is a demise of its own doing. It’s bad enough that the party has chosen a leader who was involved in a sex scandal as their president, now that very person they had elected has been making the situation worse for MCA. We hear a lot of talk from party president Chua Soi Lek who has been issuing controversial statements of which many backfired.

Time and time again, when defending the party’s stand on certain issues, Chua would come up with shortsighted statements that have caused uproar among the public, and this is not what the party really needs with the general election looming.

With BN starting to gain momentum after a series of wins in by-elections around the country, MCA on the other hand have been losing voters’ confidence. Their credibility in championing the Chinese cause is also lost and now their relevance is at stake.

Many questioned Chua’s competency as MCA’s president. Unlike his predecessor Ong Tee Keat, Chua is not as in tune with Non-Chinese culture as Ong is. In a popularity contest among the Malay community, Ong would prevail over Chua hands down. One would think a 64-year-old Malaysian political leader would be in touch with the beliefs and customs of non-Chinese races but this is not the case with Chua. His comments towards a PAS candidate Normala Sudirman during the Tenang by-election exposed MCA to onslaughts of attacks from the Opposition. At that time Chua said Normala was rude for refusing to shake hands with men. Chua’s incognizant remark just shows his skin-deep understanding of Malay-Muslim customs. It’s downright shameful for a veteran BN leader to be so detached from the Malay culture and any other non-Chinese Malaysian cultures for that matter. A Malay friend would have told him some time in his life that it is considered haram for Muslims to touch a stranger of the opposite sex unless, of course, he never had a Malay friend. In all respects, Chua had failed to carry Najib’s/BN’s 1Malaysia torch.

Not only that, in the rude awakening of the Chinese vote swing in the Sarawak state polls the MCA president gave an excuse by attributing its nemesis’ success to its alleged racial campaign. Ironically, just after accusing DAP of being a racial party, Chua invited DAP to go hand in hand with MCA to boycott Utusan Malaysia over the Malay daily’s call for the’ 1Melayu, 1Bumi’ movement. Although DAP turned down the invitation, Chua’s call did invite protests from right-wing Malay rights NGO Perkasa.

Recently, the former Health Minister also made remarks challenging the opposition to amend the constitution and abolish Malay special position recently. His baseless challenge was only successful in making MCA more prone to attacks while the party faithfuls scratch their head over their president’s confusing remarks.

Apart Chua giving MCA bad publicity, there are also internal problems especially that relating to the PKFZ scandal in which Transport Ministry was allegedly involved. There were also reports of some shenanigans going on in the Tourism Ministry which, like the Transport Ministry, is headed by an MCA minister.

All these problems has given rise to the notion that MCA has lost its credibility and is no longer relevant to the Chinese except for its cronies and rich Chinese businessman who looks after the party in exchange for their patronage.

On the opposition’s side, DAP continues to be a beacon of hope to the people, or at least that’s what the Sarawak state election results tells us. The public feels that DAP has and will always have an important role in championing the struggles of the underprivileged and the oppressed. As far as the Chinese Malaysians are concerned, DAP is where the action is – now more than ever in this post-2008 tsunami era. Time is running out and the quickest remedy for rejuvenating MCA is by abandoning Chua and fully concentrate on the party’s objective before it loses more support of the Chinese.

After election, the blame game starts

2011-04-17T19:50:00.005+08:00

By Viktor Wong

In aftermath of the Sarawak state election which saw a severe defeat of one state BN major component party, the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and the outstanding gain of DAP and PKR the blame game is about to start.

SUPP president Dr George Chan, who himself was defeated by a DAP newcomer is not about giving up that so easy. He fired his first salvo today by blaming his BN state government and Putrajaya for not doing much to address issues and concerns raised by SUPP, particularly of those unjust policies on the Chinese community.

If the BN is not doing much for the Chinese community and SUPP, why stay on in the coalition in the first place? If you are really sincere about serving the Chinese community and serious about all those concerns and issues highlighted by SUPP, then quit the BN coalition and fight it out alone or join forces with Pakatan Rakyat. It shows that you love your positions and status more than your concern to your people.

Like their counterparts in peninsular, the Sarawak Chinese community had also decided to reject SUPP as the core representative of their community, reason - they are ineffective in speaking up and powerless. They decided to vote for the opposition, regardless of if there is anybody up there representing them or not, no difference - they are all powerless.

Then come the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia who is out to create another havoc by calling on BN to hate the Chinese for being so "ungrateful" because the majority had voted for DAP in the recently concluded Sarawak state election. Utusan also urged BN to avenge their defeat by completely excluding BN Chinese leaders from new state government line-up as a sign of protest.

There you go, it's racism and hatred again. As instructed by Umno, the Utusan editorial played up racially sensitive sentiment again as a revenge on behalf of party president Najib Razak.

There is nothing else they could do now other than hate, hate and hate. This is what they are good at right now.

However, we all have our patience, we can wait till the 13th general elections to come in order for us to strike back at all these racist. Be prepared for another onslaught.

Malaysian Chinese should learn from Barak Obama 华人要学奥巴马

2011-04-09T23:22:00.000+08:00

行动党首晚讲座万人空巷破纪录从古晋横跨诗巫美里人潮逾七千

2011-04-07T10:45:00.009+08:00

砂州选举开打第一天，行动党举办的讲座气势如虹，从古晋、诗巫到美里，

尽是一片人山人海，反应热烈，一举打破了过往砂州人民对政治慢热的印象。

行动党首晚讲座在古晋的人潮高达5千人，在诗巫及美里皆突破1千人，

美里的讲座更成功筹募逾万令吉竞选基金。

眼看民联先声夺人，选举经验丰富的行动党国会领袖林吉祥不禁在

其推特上指出，今晚的人潮已经打破过往砂拉越首晚政治演讲的记录，

是一个好的开端。

一些本地记者表示，这种盛况比起2006年州选的情况还要热烈。

古晋5千群众高呼要“换”

在古晋，行动党选在朋岭区一座商业中

心旁的空地上，举办首晚的政治讲座。

由于旁边恰巧有数个露天美食中心，

现场人潮更是挤得水泄不通。

行动党则在空地周围设置了多个投影屏幕，

以让无法挤进台前的群众，全程跟进

行动党领袖的演讲。

古晋讲座的主讲人以行动党秘书长兼

槟州首长林冠英挂帅，还包括灵北国会

议员潘俭伟、蒲种国会议员哥宾星及

大选备战委员会

文宣组组长丘光耀等多名重炮手，

毫不留情地猛轰国阵。

林冠英更是把砂州选举升级为拉倒首长泰益玛目的“世纪之战”，

并率领群众以华语、马来语及伊班语高呼“换”，掀起全场高潮。

质问人联是否要泰益下台

他强调，就算人联党派出新秀或专业人士出战，也不是选举的焦点，

因为本届州选的焦点应该是泰益应否下台。

“人联党的新人的确是专业人士，一表人才，听起来值得投票给他们。

但是我们要在这里拉刹车柄，我们要问，人联党所谓的新秀是

否支持‘白毛’（泰益的外号）？”

“人联党的新秀敢答吗？如果他们答不，就是得罪选民。如果答支持，

得罪‘白毛’就更糟糕。”

他表示，只要泰益一日不下台，就算人联党派出再多的新秀，

都是换汤不换药，“换了汤还是要吃‘白毛’的毒药”。

讥讽泰益第二春不会下台

林冠英在台上讽刺国阵及泰益一针见血，

台下的群众则时而大笑，时而怒骂国阵。

他说，泰益执政长达30年，虽然扬言要在2、3年内下台，

不过才刚新婚的人，如同人生第二春，不可能那么容易下台。

“（人联党主席）陈康南在2006年也是用这招，现在他哪里有下台？

现在还结婚，而且还与‘白毛’一起新婚，两个人走起来一弹一弹，

哪里可能会要下台？”

林冠英促请选民把票投给民联，就算不能改朝换代，

最少也要否决国阵在砂州议会的三分二优势。

陈康南老巢筹获逾万令吉

在美里，行动党直捣陈康南的老巢卑尔骚举办讲座，

也获得超过千人赴会，场面热爆。社青团长陆兆福在推特上指出，

现场超过1000名群众热情捐出1万200令吉，资助行动党打选战。

民主行动党今晚的讲座在临举行前几个钟头，接获警方的通知，

指在美里富丽华商业中心北京海鲜楼的讲座准证不获批准，

原因是人联党在对面的酒楼也有活动。

无论如何，在经过行动党的极力抗议后，认为警方存有双重标准，

警方被迫取消行动党和人联党在同一现场的讲座准证。

行动党则成功申请到距离原本讲座地点200米的金口福酒楼举行，

该党场地组也在15分钟内设置音箱和讲台。

人潮在讲座一开始后就开始增加，

甚至下起毛毛雨也不离去。

主讲者的阵容则星光熠熠，

计有陆兆福、蔡添强、

雪州高级行政议员郭素沁、

霹雳州也郎区州议员梁美明、

公正党副主席努鲁依莎和卑尔骚区

候选人林思健、埔奕区候选人房保德、

士纳丁区候选人张有庆。

郭素沁呼吁美里的人民全力支持民联，

以期打破国阵在北砂的政治垄断

。陆兆福则要求美里人用选票抗议陈康南和人联党，以教训人联党替“白毛”助纣为虐。

至于公正党上阵，以马来选民为主

的古晋砂督（Satok）州议席，负责督军的

公正党青年团团长山苏也惊讶，今晚竟然

有这么多民众出席该党砂督行动室的

政治讲座（左图）。

山苏讲座上抨击经过了30年的砂州元首泰

益玛目的治理之后，砂州仍然存在严重

的经济及失业问题。

高唱“白毛不该让砂民太累”

在诗巫6个席位直接对峙的人联党及行动党，不约而同在诗巫国席底下的

武吉阿瑟州选区打对台举办政治讲座，结果高下立分。

行动党为4位候选人举办的政治座谈会吸引逾千人赴会，候选人更带动群众

高唱匿名音乐人特别针对砂州首长泰益谱写的“白毛不该让砂民太累”曲子，

顿时掀起全场高潮。

行动党今晚7点起，便在诗巫市区一个鱼市场外的空地上举办座谈会，

并安排武吉阿瑟州议席候选人黄和联（右图）、峇旺阿山州议席候选人

刘强燕、都东州议席候选人叶海量及柏拉旺州议席候选人黄培根及

中央领袖致词。
　
从晚上7点起，已开始聚集了300至400人，直至行动党国会领袖

林吉祥抵达时，人潮已聚集至逾千人以上，导致附近的道路也出现车龙阵。
　
大会也两度播放改编自港台艺人王杰及苏永康的“男人不该让女人流泪”歌曲，

接著邀请党领袖与候选人一同合唱。由于这是大家耳熟能详的曲子，

台下的支持者也配合一同啍唱时，互动气氛浓厚。

让强燕成屠龙手除顺舸

林吉祥在致词时也炮轰马来西亚反贪会，在赵明福命案后又再发生

关税局官员在反贪会的坠楼命案。
　
“据悉，有不少人赏识他（死者）

，他昨天上午才去打网球，

下午便去反贪会，随后却发生了

坠楼事件。不管怎样，都不

应该发生命案。”

他质疑说，政府机构在这种

情况下若要得到人民的信心，

根本是不可能的。
　
他也促请砂州选民否决州政府三分之二优势，同时在诗巫创造奇迹，

让行动党委派的候选人可以胜出。
　
林吉祥也说，诗巫人若要对付“白毛”（原任砂州首长泰益玛目），

大可先除掉诗巫区内唯一的部长黄顺舸，让行动党派出的峇旺阿山候选人

刘强燕可以成为屠龙手。

相对之下，

砂人联党

则选择在

数公里以外，

举办首场政治座谈会，

不过场面则不象行动党政治座谈

会般热烈，仅获百人赴会聆听。

Jom Ubah Sarawak - Sarawak For Change 2011

2011-04-02T20:57:00.000+08:00

The Sarawak state election will be held on 16 April. It is time for the people of Sarawak to voice their choice of government for the next 5 years.

The DAP hopes to bring change to Sarawak by fighting the rampant abuse of power, cronysim and corruption by BN leaders, who enriched themselves while impoverishing the people over the past 50 years.

Pakatan: Alkitab row shows wider check on non-Muslims

2011-03-27T16:20:00.002+08:00

By Melissa Chi

Leaders from the Opposition have described the controversy surrounding Malay bibles and the use of “Allah” by Christians as just the tip of the iceberg in the erosion of non-Muslim rights.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said the government did not seem to be picking specifically on Christians, but other religions other than Islam as well.

“I think that the government has the same treatment to all religions, it’s just that the Christians are speaking up today. If you look at the school system, government departments, you can see mild forms of preferences or restrictions of religions increasing over the years.

“It is already happening, it’s just that [followers of] other religions are not speaking up about it,” he said.

He said for example there was a limit on the number of temples that can be built, and that if it was in a Malay majority area, no other places of worship could be built in the vicinity.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) had issued a strongly worded statement yesterday accusing the government of riding roughshod over religions other than Islam when it imposed conditions for the release of 35,000 Malay bibles seized from Port Klang and Kuching.

In a series of news statements that started earlier this month, the Christian organisation denounced the government for defacing its holy books with the home ministry’s official seal, an act it said amounted to desecration.

About one in 10 Malaysians is Christian.

The MCCBCHST said the authorities seemed to want Malaysians to believe that the Alkitab conflict is solely a tussle between two creeds, Islam and Christianity; and affects only Muslims and Christians.

“After the Christians have been ‘fixed’, who next?” the council had questioned. Pua said, however, that he was anticipating the government would give “superficial forms of religious freedom”, ahead of the coming Sarawak elections.

But he remained convinced that the voters would not buy into the government’s ploy and that more Malaysians were waking up to the reality in terms of limited freedom of religion in the country.

“What they say is true. The question is whether or not it will find resonance among the communities,” he said, referring to the council’s suggestion.

When asked if the continuation of the current religious controversies might heighten the religious or racial tension in the country, he said it will have to depend on the ruling government.

“It depends on the wisdom of the ruling party or ruling elites, leaders, if they decide to uphold the constitution, then there will be no issue but if they take it upon themselves to uphold a particular belief in the expense of others, then it is hard to say,” he said.

Freedom of religion is enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution. Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practice his or her religion and is subject to applicable laws restricting the propagation of other religions to Muslims.

Under Article 3, the Constitution also provides that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony.

PKR political bureau member, Sivarasa Rasiah, said that the root of the controversies between the government and Christian groups stemmed from Barisan Nasional’s thought process, which is very dominated by the Umno Ketuanan Melayu concept.

He echoed Pua’s comments that Christians are not being singled out in these cases.

“Basically asserting the Umno thinking frame that Malay dominance means Islamic dominance,” he said, adding that the historical clash between Islam and Christianity is age-old.

“There is a kind of insecurity which is part of the Malay dominance, where they feel compelled to draw a line in the sand,” he said.

He added that the problem is not with the religion, but with the “politically insecure dominant group”, pointing out that Indonesia does not face the same problems, even though they have the most number of Muslims in the world.

PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub once again stood by his party’s stance that they do not have a problem for Christians to use Allah to refer to their God.

“I think that the government should be more understanding about this issue and PAS has a very firm stand about that that Christians can use Allah in the bible as long as use the name in the right context.

“So the government must understand the teachings of Islam,” he said.

Salahuddin pointed out one of the government’s many inactions, is that with the passing of the Datuk Ilani Ishak on February 24, her replacement to lead the national interfaith committee has yet to be announced.

The former lawyer was appointed by the Cabinet to be its special co-ordinator and had been specially handpicked by the Cabinet to head a national committee that saw, for the first time, Muslim leaders at the same table with leaders of other faiths to talk over how to end quarrel and misunderstanding among their followers.

“In the future, the government should engage in all this groups and have round table discussions when it comes to sensitive topics such as religion,” Salahuddin said. He added that the government has the resources to engage the different religious groups across the country.

“We should engage with the people before we make any decisions. The government have to look at this matter to understand and try to [reach a common ground] and not just enforce them in terms of Ketuanan Melayu, that’s the way,” he said.

According to the Population and Housing Census 2000 figures, approximately 60.4 percent of the population practised Islam; 19.2 percent Buddhism; 9.1 percent Christianity; 6.3 percent Hinduism; and 2.6 percent practise Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions.

The MCCBCHST — which represents five out of the country’s six main creeds — reminded the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition of its founder’s words uttered shortly after Independence in 1957, that there should be freedom of worship, speech, want, association, assembly and the freedom of movement.

The MCCBCHST further accused Islamic leaders of not knowing their own religion despite dipping their fingers into the controversy.

Prophet Muhammad was said to have made a promise to a delegation of monks from the monastery near Mount Sinai over 1,400 years ago that Muslims will always protect Christians and their way of worship.

The Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim God.

Christians, however, have argued that “Allah” is an Arabic word that has been used by those of other religious beliefs, including the Jews, for centuries in reference to God in many other parts of the world, notably in Arab nations and Indonesia.

The tussle is still trapped in the courts after the ministry won a stay of the 2009 High Court ruling that allowed Catholic weekly The Herald to use “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The ongoing bible row started in January and came to a head last week after the home ministry stamped the two separate shipments with its official seal before ordering their release.

The Christian importers have denounced the Najib administration for the act, which they say is a desecration of their holy book.

The government had since backed down and offered to paste over the marked Alkitab with labels that simply read “For Christianity”.

With Sarawakians going to the polls on April 16, the twin issues are expected to weigh on the minds of Christians who make up close to half of the hornbill state’s total population.

Who next after Christians, questions non-Muslim interfaith council

2011-03-26T14:02:00.000+08:00

By Debra Chong

A fever has broken out over Putrajaya’s handling of the Alkitab row that appears to have split multicultural Malaysia into two distinct camps — Muslim and non-Muslim — as the nation readies for crucial polls in Sarawak, its biggest Christian state.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) issued a strongly worded statement today accusing the Najib administration of riding roughshod over religions other than Islam when it imposed conditions for the release of 35,000 Malay bibles seized from Port Klang and Kuching.

“This means that the Alkitab (Bahasa Malaysia version) is now considered a restricted item and ‘the Word of God’ has been made subject to the control of man,” it said, citing the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) in the latter’s previous attempt to free the bibles.

CFM is the umbrella body that represents over 90 per cent of churches here.

In a series of news statements that started earlier this month, the Christian organisation denounced the Najib administration for defacing its holy books with the home ministry’s official seal, an act it said amounted to desecration.

“Does our current prime minister wield any authority? And if he does not, who does?” the interfaith council demanded of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“We also vehemently oppose the present line of action being pursued,” it said in solidarity with the Christian community.

About one in 10 Malaysians is Christian.

The MCCBCHST said the authorities seemed to want Malaysians to believe that the Alkitab conflict is solely a tussle between two creeds, Islam and Christianity; and affects only Muslims and Christians.

“After the Christians have been ‘fixed’, who next?” the MCCBCHST questioned.

The council — which represents five out of the country’s six main creeds — reminded the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition of its founder’s words uttered shortly after Independence in 1957.

“Let freedom be secured for all the law-abiding people. There shall be freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of movement,” it said, citing first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.

“The political leaders definitely do not have a finger on the pulse of the nation. They are definitely wrong in what they are doing,” it added, in a thinly veiled dig at Najib’s 1 Malaysia slogan aimed at uniting the different communities.

The MCCBCHST further accused Islamic leaders of not knowing their own religion despite dipping their fingers into the controversy.

“In the face of what has been alluded to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the narrative about ‘The Promise to St Catherine’, it is highly suspect that the Islamic high officials in our country do not even know their own religion!” it said.

Prophet Muhammad was said to have made a promise to a delegation of monks from the monastery near Mount Sinai over 1,400 years ago that Muslims will always protect Christians and their way of worship.

An English translation of the promise as published in the Islamic web site, Muslim.net, can be read here.

The Christian and Muslim religious communities have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the word “Allah”, with the latter group arguing that its use should be exclusive to them on the grounds that Islam is monotheistic and the word “Allah” denotes the Muslim God.

Christians, however, have argued that “Allah” is an Arabic word that has been used by those of other religious beliefs, including the Jews, for centuries in reference to God in many other parts of the world, notably in Arab nations and Indonesia.

The tussle is still trapped in the courts after the ministry won a stay of the 2009 High Court ruling that allowed Catholic weekly The Herald to use “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The ongoing bible row started in January and came to a head last week after the home ministry stamped the two separate shipments with its official seal before ordering their release.

The Christian importers have denounced the Najib administration for the act, which they say is a desecration of their holy book.

Two days ago, the government backed down and offered to paste over the marked Alkitab with labels that simply read “For Christianity”.

In a media statement to national news agency, Bernama, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala said Christian donors have also volunteered to ship in a new replacement consignment so long as the importers agree to have the same words “For Christianity” stamped on their covers in font type Arial size 16.

“No other words or serial numbers will be stamped on the bibles,” Jala added.

CFM is pondering accepting Putrajaya’s offer and has said will give its decision after consulting with all Christian leaders next week.

With Sarawakians going to the polls on April 16, the twin issues are expected to weigh on the minds of Christians who make up close to half of the hornbill state’s total population.

Penang state government regrets that Pos Malaysia intends to increase the commission charges for payment of water bills

2011-03-05T21:49:00.001+08:00

The Penang state government regrets that Pos Malaysia intends to increase the commission charges for payment of water bills from 70cents to 90 cents for every payment of water bill. However PBA will continue to use the services of Pos Malaysia to assist consumers in paying their water bills easier.

PBA spends RM700,000 annually in commission charges to Pos Malaysia. This amount is absorbed by PBA to lessen the burden to consumers. The increase by 20 cents from 70 cents to 90 cents will result in increased charges of RM 200,000 from RM 700,000 to RM 900,000 annually.

The Penang state government hopes that Pos Malaysia would not increase commission charges as part of their service to customers and also fulfill their corporate social responsibility as water is a necessity for everyone. As it is the 70 cents charged for every water bill is already high compared to the 50 cents service charge imposed by banks.

It is unreasonable for Pos Malaysia to seek to add on profits for what is essentially an essential service for all Malaysians. After all if Pos Malaysia seeks to even profit unreasonably from providing an essential service, then it should stop calling itself Pos Malaysia but change its name to Pos Mata Duitan.

However if Pos Malaysia refuses to listen to the appeals by PBA, then PBA has no choice but to bear the extra costs. I have directed PBA to continue to allow payment of water bills from the public at Pos Malaysia offices so that the public will not be inconvenienced and to make it easier for them to pay their bills.

槟城人的心声

2011-02-25T08:43:00.002+08:00

308 后，改变得最多，改善得最成功的州属，就是槟城了。主要原因是因为国阵太清楚这里他们在短时间（至少15 ~20 年）内是拿不回政权了，

因此他们能做的，就是尽量的不公平的对待槟城。

从槟城收到多多的税收后，却只分比马六甲还少几倍的经费给槟城发展,

但槟城人却因此还是很愿意的跟我们新选的州政府一起度过种种难关。

两年多后，成绩很明显，槟城人的生活环境改变了很多，“垃圾州” 这个名称，已经离开我们很远很远，在一连串的环保活动下，人民现在就是出门，

也槟城尽量少拿塑胶袋了，提倡了很久的垃圾分类环保运动，花了那么多钱和时间，都不被人民重视，但却在民联不断的带头教导下，

开始走向成功之道，相信不久，我们还会变成“ 全马最清洁的州属　”。

国家给的经费变得如此的少，本来应该会对我们照成很多不方便的，

那里知道槟城来个透明政策后，我们州政府的收入，竟然还有多余出来的钱可以分给学校，分回给槟城的老人以道谢。

在槟城，又是因为州政府的影响，现在每个星期六，日，都可以看到一群又一群的人在踩脚车。槟城一年有几次的踩脚车节目，参与出席的健儿们都是超出本来预算的数目。

林首长每次都有出来帮忙主持此类活动，

他一到，马上会像张学友出现那样，槟城人会跑上前去找他合照，

就是和他拉个手也很满意。为什么许博士的时代就没有这样的事情发生？

难道林冠英比较英俊？　不是，是因为林冠英为槟城人所付出的努力，槟城人都感受得到。

槟城的治安，　有一阵子是坏得吓人。那时的打抢，分分钟会连命都被抢掉，

出门都十分提心吊担。但今天，也是很明显的，改善了很多，不是谢谢警察，而是谢谢那些　ＲＥＬＡ。　这些　ＲＥＬＡ

胜在真正有心看护自己的环境，有事发生？　试试看打其中一个他们给与的手提电话号码，不久就会见到拿着　Ｔａｌｋｉｅ　的队员一个一个在现场出现。

虽然像以上说到的，　环境变得清洁，政府花费的透明，建设脚车行道，治安的提善，在国阵的眼中都只是很小很小的东西，但他们就是不明白这些很小很小的东西，都是他的人民想要的。我们不要多一个

Ｓｔａｒｈｉｌｌ，不要多出一个最高大楼（已经被挤到不知第几位了。。）不要多那些空得虚名而没有什么实际用处的东西，

现在的槟城人因为在自己手中一票而改变成功后，可以说都很自豪。自豪因为我们做对了选择，让我们最爱的州属槟城更 Living Friendly。虽然槟城政府不是什么都做得完美，但现在他们已经是全国最关心人民的政府，而且还在不断的寻求改进。

看到霹雳人的无奈，柔佛人还是面对的治安问题，我们只能庆幸槟城人的思想的一致，让我们变天成功。

槟城人并不自私，我们更希望其他州属也能像我们一样，会得到一个为我们着想的政府，可惜那是必须靠那些州属自己的人民才能改变到了。只能在此说

：多多加油吧！记得你们是这个国家的公民，要知道你们该有的权力。

DAP Penang CNY Open House 11.02.2011

2011-02-13T07:15:00.002+08:00

于11.02.2011，槟州行动党破天荒在大山脚举行，地点：圣母教堂多元化礼堂，晚上8点正。

出席的人数人山人海，从中可探出槟州的子民还是继续支持民联政府的领导。

槟州首席部长在04.02.2011（年初二）在槟州华人大会堂大团拜致词

2011-02-05T23:26:00.002+08:00

尊敬的槟州首席部长：林冠英在04.02.2011（年初二）在槟州华人大会堂大团拜的致词中，有感谢在槟州元首英明领导下，全马各领域进展中，槟州民联政府获得十个第一名，这是槟州子民的骄傲，Penang Boleh!

一万粒灯笼迎新春

2011-02-05T23:20:00.001+08:00

为了迎接兔年，北海拉惹烏达路，第一次整條路掛上灯笼超过一万粒，这要感谢槟州民联政府英明政策所赐，北海华裔子民才感覚到有新春的氣氛。

31.01.2011峇眼国会选区行动党新春聚餐会

2011-02-05T22:29:00.002+08:00

YAB Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang：Tuan Lim Guan Eng mengadakan majlis makan malam sempena perayaan Tahun Baru Cina Tahun untuk ahli-ahli Jawatankuasa DAP Palimen Bagan pada 31.01.2011.
为了迎接兔年的来临，于31.01.2011，尊敬槟首席部长：林冠英先生在福满楼舍宴招待峇眼国会选区行动党全部支部中委。

Penang Chief Minister's Chinese New Year Open House

2011-01-30T22:41:00.002+08:00

Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng will be holding his Chinese New Year Open House on 3 February 2011 (Thursday) from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm situated at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) Stadium.

All party members, supporters and well-wishers are invited to this most auspicious event.

Wishing all Gong Xi Fa Cai & Happy Chinese New Year.

See you all there...

Chinese New Year Open House

2011-01-30T22:35:00.003+08:00

Majlis Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina 2011 DAP Pulau Pinang

Tarikh: 11 Februari 2011 (Jumaat)
Masa: 7.30 mlm - 10.00 mlm
Tempat: St Anne's Hall, Bukit Mertajam

Majlis Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina 2011 Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang

Tarikh: 6 Februari 2011 (Ahad)
Masa: 6.00 ptg - 10.30 mlm
Tempat: Kompleks Pasar Awam, Balik Pulau, P.Pinang

Semua adalah dijemput hadir.

Chinese New Year series of exciting events in Penang!

2011-01-28T12:08:00.002+08:00

This Chinese New Year, return to Penang for a series of exciting traditional events beginning with the annual Kek Lok Si Lighting Ceremony of 10,000 lanterns on 29th January 2011 at 7pm. This celebration has been voted by VisitPenang readers as 'The Festival of Chinese New Year' with thousands of breathtaking lights sparkling in display.

Next, join in with the celebration of festive Chinese New Year at our Penang Chief Minister's Chinese New Year Open House on the 1st Day of the Lunar Calendar, 3rd February 2011, at PISA from 10am till 1pm.

Following that, the Penang Snake Temple will be celebrating the 'Chor Sor Kong' Deity Birthday Celebration on 8th February 2011. This celebration is conducted throughout the day and is held at the Snake Temple, Bayan Lepas.

On 10th February 2011, witness as 'Thni Kong' or the Heavenly God's Birthday Celebration is conducted at the Chew Jetty, Weld Quay from 9pm till the very next morning.
And DO-NOT-MISS the all-day Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebration on 12th February 2011 from 3pm till 12midnight organised by the Penang State Government, Penang Chinese Clan Council and Clan Associations Youth Committee, Penang within the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE of George Town at Acheen Street, Armenian Street, Cannon Street, Ah Quee Street, Soo Hong Lane, Chulia Street, Kampung Kolam.

To celebrate the last day of the Chinese New Year, the Penang Chinese Town Hall will stage their annual Chap Goh Meh event with a series of entertaining activities beginning from 8pm at Penang Chinese Town Hall, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

Lastly, on the final day of the Chinese New Year Celebration, the 'Chap Goh Meh' Celebration is held at Esplanade, Penang from 4pm and co-organised by the State Tourism Development & Culture together with ASTRO. With that, expect an all-exciting Chinese New Year Celebration for your special reunion here in Penang.

Gong Xi Fa Chai! Happy Chinese New Year to all of you!

The 4 PR states RM25 billion investments have beat the other 10 BN states attracted 53% of Malaysia's total investments of RM47.2 billion

2011-01-25T21:59:00.000+08:00

By Lim Guan Eng

The 4 PR states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan have beat the other 10 BN states by attracting RM25 billion in investments comprising 53% of Malaysia's total investments of RM47.2 billion in 2010. For the first time in history, Penang is now the new champion of investments in Malaysia, coming out top in 2010.

Penang replaced the previous 2009 champion Sarawak by recording RM 12.2 billion in 2010 as compared to Sarawak RM3.9 billion. Penang was No. 4 in 2009 with RM 2.1 billion but shot up 5 times to No.1. On the other hand Sarawak went down from No.1 in 2009 with RM 8.5 billion to No. 4 with RM3.9 billion in 2010. Penang's success in drawing in RM12.2 billion is an extraordinary vote of confidence by both foreign and local investors in the PR state government of Penang.

The No.2 state after Penang is another PR state of Selangor with RM 10.6 billion in investments. In fact the 4 PR states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan combined comprise RM 25 billion investments or 53% of the total investments in Malaysia of RM47,177 million in 2010. These 4 PR states alone can beat the remainder 10 states of BN Malaysia combined!

Despite the financial constraints and limitations imposed by BN, PR have shown our good governance. In Penang we have excelled by being praised by the Auditor-General Report for being the best financially managed state with record surpluses of RM88 million in 2008 and RM77 million in 2009. Penang became the first state government in history to be commended by Transparency International for CAT(Competency, Accountability and Transparency) governance in establishing integrity in leadership.

We have wiped out hard-core poverty, the first state to do so in Malaysia. We are giving senior citizens RM100 every year and when they die, their beneficiaries a one-off RM1,000/-. All partially assisted schools of Chinese,Tamil and Sekolah Agama Rakyat are given a fixed sum of at least RM11.3 million every year. We are working towards a wifi state offered free of charge.

Penang is going green and leading in green practices such as "No Free Plastic Bag" campaigns and waste treatment through 3R of Reduce, Reuse Recycle. Penang enjoys the cheapest water rates in the country. Penang is also the Silicon Valley of Malaysia and selected as the most livable city in Malaysia on par with Kuala Lumpur. We have done more in 3 years what BN fail to do in 51 years.

So who says that PR can not govern. We may not have the experience but neither do we have the experience to cheat or be corrupt. PR has proven that a clean government can outperform corrupt governments. Voters of Tenang should choose PR that offers a better future not only for you but for your children.

PR is the better choice because we embrace the future. We embrace the future by embracing each and every one of you whether Malays, Indians, Chinese, Kadazans and Ibans as Malaysian brothers and sisters, Malaysian sons and daughters. Let us grow together, learn together and enjoy the success together.

Zairil Khir Johari: Why I joined DAP

2011-01-25T20:52:00.003+08:00

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

A year ago, Zairil Khir Johari’s only association with politics would be his father — the late Tan Sri Mohd Khir Johari, Umno stalwart, former education minister and who served three prime ministers including the late Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Over the past few months, however, Zairil’s name has been the talk of the town, namely through opposition blogs as well as anti-Pakatan Rakyat (PR) blogs over his appearance at the coalition’s last convention in Kepala Batas, where he was a guest speaker.

His retractors have accused him of being a “traitor” and “anti-Malay” for abandoning his late father’s party and choosing to become a part of the DAP — a party which is still feared by many Malays and considered to be pro-Chinese due to its majority Chinese membership.

The DAP has, however, of late extended an olive branch to Malays in its bid to shake off “misconceptions” about the party, and Zairil is seen as an example of the party’s efforts.

Zairil said he chose the DAP over Umno because the PR party shared “common goals” with what the late Khir had looked for in the “old” Umno.

“My father’s Umno is a completely different Umno from today’s Umno. When he joined Umno it was during pre-independence, his struggle was to free our country from the oppression of the British government. Now after more than 50 years of BN rule, the situation is such that people are being colonised, oppressed by our own people, we do not have any freedom.

“There are no civil liberties, so the struggle is still the same. It’s the same struggle, I am just using a different platform, that’s why I chose the DAP over Umno,” said the 28 year old who runs his own chocolate business.

Zairil told The Malaysian Insider that if the late Khir were alive today and at the same age as Zairil, he himself would not be a part of Umno.

“It would go against any principle he believed in. When my father joined Umno it was a grassroots party, most of the members were teachers, my father was a teacher himself... today many of them are in it only for the money and to secure lucrative government contracts,” said Zairil.

Coming from a family of nine siblings including himself, Zairil admitted that many of his peers back in his Penang hometown were grassroots DAP members and had encouraged him to join the party.

Prior to joining the DAP, Zairil had “followed” its leaders and attended night functions and ceramahs to get a better idea of what the party was about.

“People in DAP, Liew Chin Tong, for example, have been proactive in introducing me to ceramahs. I followed them to Galas. What I’ve been impressed is the influx of young leaders in DAP as well as PKR.

“There is no social mobility in Umno where it is based on patronage and hierarchy. In PR, young leaders who are capable are allowed to shine,” he said.

Zairil told The Malaysian Insider that he consulted many parties before making the decision, including some very “senior” Umno members who had advised him against joining his father’s party.

Zairil said he was “willing” to contribute to DAP in any way he could — even if it meant contesting in the next general election.

“I put myself out there to serve... no one has discussed anything yet but I am willing to serve in any capacity that is needed,” said the father of one.

According to the young politician, PR was a platform which could be used for restoring “civil liberties” in the country with the abolishment of draconian laws such as the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), and the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) which prohibits students from being politically active.

“Personally, I am pushing for the Education Department to be a separate entity from the Education Ministry. There is too much politics involved when the department is answerable to a minister. There should be a separate panel to monitor the department, made up of all interested parties in the field of education, and this will also include the ministry,” said Zairil, who said he was writing an academic paper on such a proposal.

Political parties are currently rushing to sign up some 4.3 million unregistered voters.

The DAP takes the lead while Umno follows closely behind.

The DAP registered 32.5 per cent of the 169,838 new voters registered between January and June last year.

CM tells Gerakan chief Pulau Jerejak problems are of his own doing

2011-01-13T12:37:00.002+08:00

By Debra Chong

In Penang, the spats between the ruling Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government and its rival Barisan Nasional (BN) faction have grown more strident and public as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak mulls calling for the 13th general elections this year.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today called his predecessor, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, irresponsible for blaming problems faced during the state BN’s recent camp at the Tropical Island Resort (TIR) at Pulau Jerejak on the new administration.

Pulau Jerejak is a 362-hectare island off the eastern coast of Penang, which once served as a penal and leper colony.

“He is not satisfied because there was no key to the boat and there was a snake in the storeroom,” Lim said in a media statement today, referring to the Gerakan president and state BN chief.

The DAP secretary-general said Koh should not blame PR because the jetty at Bayan Bay and Pulau Jerejak was managed by the resort company, which was granted the project by the previous BN administration.

TIR is a joint-venture partnership between Putrajaya-linked UDA Holdings and state-owned Penang Development Corporation (PDC) with shares split 51 per cent and 49 per cent respectively

Lim, who is also PDC chairman, said the project had caused the state agency to suffer a RM19 million loss which it cannot recoup.

He said almost all usable land on the former leper colony had been handed over to UDA during Koh’s 15-year tenure as chief minister.

Lim dared Koh who is the Gerakan president to explain for the loss.

“Is Koh brave enough to explain the new RM19 million scandal in Pulau Jerejak?” the first-term CM challenged.

“Or is he going to wait until March?” he added, mocking Koh’s promise that there are surprises in store for the PR state government.

Lim had earlier this week dared Koh to disclose why the state government had to pay RM40 million over the Tang Hak Ju land scam and why the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) suffered a RM230 million deficit for seven years.

Penang is proof that Pakatan can deliver, says Guan Eng

2011-01-12T13:39:00.000+08:00

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng touted today his administration as proof that Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 100-day promises would not bankrupt government coffers.
He said that since PR took over Penang in 2008, it had executed various welfare programmes but still achieved record budget surpluses.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had scoffed at PR’s 100-day reform programme, saying it was “too good to be true.”

But Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim defended the plan today, stating that it would only cost RM19 billion that would come from cutting out corruption.

Lim echoed this by claiming that Penang had hit a record RM88 million surplus in 2008 and RM77 million in 2009 through “the dividends of anti-corruption” measures.

At a press conference this morning, he pointed out that the state’s administration had been praised by both Transparency International and the Auditor-General who had also rated Penang as the best managed state.

The DAP secretary-general also said that it was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala who had first pointed out that Malaysia would go bankrupt in 2019 under current economic practices.

Lim also listed a number of programmes under his administration which he said was paid for through the budget surplus:

• RM11.3 million in allocations in 2010 for religious, Chinese and Tamil schools;

• RM100 water rebate per family costing RM17 million in 2008 and 2009;

• Elimination of hardcore poverty by ensuring each household had an income of at least RM500 a month;

• RM100 per year in special payments to senior citizens above the age of 60 costing RM20 million a year;

• Funeral allowance of RM1,000 for Penang residents.

The chief minister claimed that these programmes “were never executed under BN’s 51-year rule but was done in the three years that PR has governed.”

He said that no PR-governed state had gone bankrupt.

PR has promised that if it takes over federal government, it would implement a number of reforms and initiatives within the first 100 days of taking power.

These include an RM500 per month incentive for teachers, maintaining fuel subsidies and eliminating toll for highways - Agencies.

Utusan Malaysia's daily staple of lies and falsehoods

2011-01-09T21:58:00.002+08:00

By Lim Kit Siang

Utusan Malaysia’s daily staple of lies and falsehoods to stoke communal poison and hatred, sowing distrust and national disunity, is the greatest disservice to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia slogan and nation-building.

Mingguan Malaysia today is again at its anti-national worst with its daily diet of lies and falsehoods to poison the political system and undermine the nation-building process when it made the completely wild and baseless charge in insinuating in its editorial that DAP is working towards the goal of making Malaysia a republic and the abolition of the system of Malay rulers.

In its Sunday editorial “Iktibar kemelut Selangor” by Awang Selamat, Mingguan Malaysia insinuated that the lesson to be learnt from the Selangor crisis is that Malaysia will end up a republic if PKR and DAP’s “rule of Selangor continues”, viz:

“Tetapi iktibar daripada kemelut di Selangor itu ialah jika PKR dan DAP memerintah, lagi banyak berlaku kemudaratan. Yang paling pasti, Malaysia akan berada di ambang republik.”

There is no need for me to reiterate the DAP’s public stand down the decades supporting the system of constitutional monarchy in Malaysia.

What Awang Selamat had insinuated are downright lies and falsehoods scraping the very bottom of gutter journalism. In seven paragraphs of “Iktibar kemelut Selangor”, Awang Selamat had told more than seven lies in its multiple objective to disseminate communal hatred and ill-will, even attempting to sow discord among the Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, DAP and PAS in the Selangor coalition government.

Under Najib’s premiership and presidency of Umno, Utusan Malaysia has fully transformed from a newspaper into a “liespaper”, diametrically opposed to Najib’s objective of promoting an all-inclusive 1Malaysia media!

If Najib and Umno leaders, as well as the leaders of the other Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC or the Sarawak and Sabah component parties, continue to close their eyes to the daily dosage of lies and falsehoods to carry out its nefarious objective of pumping communal poison, Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic grouping, are entitled to know what credibility could Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan command whether inside or outside the country.

After 18 months, is there not a single Cabinet Minister, whether Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC or Sabah/Sarawak component parties, who dare to raise in the Cabinet next Wednesday the grave issue of Utusan Malaysia’s hatchet job to discredit and dismantle Najib’s 1Malaysia concept with its daily staple of lies, falsehoods and poison to sow communal discord and national disunity?

馬來西亞，該醒一醒了。 Dear Malaysia , it's time to wake up !

2011-01-06T14:06:00.001+08:00

從去年3月到今年9月，已經有30萬大馬人移民他國；

其中20萬人是今年1月到8月出走的數目。

From March 2008 thru September 2009, a total of 300,000 Malaysian

migrated to other countries, among them 200,000 left between Jan - Aug

2009. (in 8 months)

累積下來，已經有超過200萬大馬人移民，接近今天印尼外勞在大馬的人口。

Cummulatively, 2 million Malaysians migrated, this figure is close to

the number of Indonesian workers in Malaysia today.

不同的是，移居他國的大馬人，多是專業人士、中產階級。

The difference are, those migrated are mostly professional and middle

class people.

他們有很多出走的理由，追求事業發展，為了孩子前途，尋找個人更大空間......，

概括一句：對馬來西亞失望。

They have many reasons to leave: pursue career development, for the

future of their children, in search of better life and environment...

In one sentence, they lost hope of Malaysia .

50年前，大家說，馬來西亞真好，好過香港，甚至日本。

50 years ago people said: Malaysia is very good, better than Hong Kong

and even Japan .

30年前，大家說，馬來西亞還不錯，比得上韓國、台灣（不提香港和日本了）。

30 years ago people said: Malaysia is not bad, comparable to S. Korea

and Taiwan . (No mention of Hong Kong and Japan any more).

20年前，大家說，馬來西亞還可以，至少超越中國、泰國（不能和台、韓比了）。

20 years ago people said: Malaysia can do lah, at least better than

China and Thailand (Cannot compare with Taiwan and Korea lah)

10年前，大家說，馬來西亞再差，還不至於像越南、印尼（中國已是不同級別）。

10 years ago people said: No matter how bad Malaysia is, cannot be

worse than Vietnam and Indonesia ok-lah. ( China is already in a

different category).

今日，越南和印尼的經濟成長率遙遙領先大馬，

社會活力和知識發展也勝過一籌；距離愈來愈近了。

Today, the economic growth rate of Vietnam and Indonesia already far

exceeded Malaysia , Social activity and intellectual development of

the country is also better, the gap between us and them is closing up.

怕甚麼，還有菲律賓和柬埔寨、緬甸。

Why worry? there are still Philipines , Cambodia and Myanmar behind us.

但是，一位經濟學家最近到菲律賓考察之後，認為再過20年，

大馬可以取代菲律賓，出口馬籍女傭到全世界了。

However, according to an economist who recently surveyed Phillipines,

he think in 20 years' time, Malaysia can replace Phillipines to become

the World exporter of Malaysian maids.

半個世紀以來，馬來西亞是在大宅院裡，用封建方式，分配祖宗家業，

消耗社會資源，浪費和逼走人才；不談競爭力，忽略生產力，討厭績效制。

Over half a century, Malaysians live in the big old imperial housing

complex, closed up and survive on properties left behind by the

ancestor; continued to consume up social resources, wasteful, and

drove away talents; they never talk about competitiveness, totally

neglected productivity, and hated meritocracy.

亞洲金融風暴來襲時，大馬把門關起來，以為避過一劫，

有人還自我陶醉，自以為是天才策略。

When Asia economic storm hit in 1997, Malaysia closed their doors,

thinking we beautifully avoided a disaster, they even think of

themselves as genius, being able to handle the situation so well.

然而，其它國家面對風暴，走出風暴，進行體質改革，跨步向前，

登上另一個水平；大馬卻還在原地踏步。

However, just look at other countries in our neighbourhood ; they

stood up, faced the storm, and walked out of the storm. They

overhauled their system, improved the processes and marched forward ;

they moved up to a new level. And Malaysia , still walking on the spot

. . !

馬來西亞，該醒一醒了。

Dear Malaysia , it's time to wake up !

In Najib’s silence, priests forced to clarify ‘blunder’

2011-01-05T13:04:00.002+08:00

By Clara Chooi

The Najib administration’s latest “Christmas blunder” has religious leaders in a mad scramble to explain to Christians that the church had not bowed to a directive to remove religious symbols during a Christmas party a fortnight ago.

The Malaysian Insider understands that over the weekend, Catholic priests were forced to address the issue as it had caused an uproar among parishioners who questioned why the church had adhered to such “overzealous” requests, allegedly made by the prime minister’s aide.

But the leaders also agreed that despite their attempts at defusing the situation, the “damage has already been done”, resulting in a rekindling of the same tension that rose during last year’s “Allah” controversy.

Father Simon Labrooy, who spoke on the issue during two separate masses, predicted that the Christian community’s anger was not likely to dissipate until the premier publicly clarified his stand.

He agreed that the administration, now mulling snap polls, would encounter an “angry” Christian electorate if it failed to address the issue.

“Najib should say something about it... he should make a statement to clarify whether the instruction had indeed been given and whether he plans to take action against the person who stirred up this whole thing.

“If the instruction truly did not come from him, then he should take action because this whole thing has created disharmony and animosity among Christian followers,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.

Since the issue erupted last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has not issued a formal statement on the matter. It was reported that an official from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed that the premier had been “completely unaware” of the directive issued by his aide.

The official was also quoted as saying that the PMO would not respond to the incident as it did not want to prolong the issue but gave its assurance that the aide, a non-Muslim, had been advised against repeating such a directive without going through senior officials.

The aide had reportedly listed out several conditions on Catholic Archbishop Murphy Pakiam to facilitate Najib’s attendance at the Christmas tea-party held at his home, including the removal of religious symbols like crucifixes from the venue.

Questions later arose over whether the archbishop had complied with the requests, resulting in rising anger among the Christian community towards both Najib and Pakiam himself.

Labrooy said he was forced to clear the air over the issue by explaining during his sermons that the archbishop had not “compromised God for man’s need” and had not complied with the requests.

A parishioner told The Malaysian Insider that the Catholic priest had repeated his words twice, first during New Year’s and again the following Sunday, that Pakiam had not submitted to the directive despite speculations suggesting otherwise.

“Father Simon said that he was aware of the many speculations and how people were upset that the archbishop had complied with the requests.

“He told us that the Catholic church had stood its ground and refused to comply. But it makes little difference. Najib should apologise and fire his aide,” said the church-goer.

Labrooy confirmed this with The Malaysian Insider, adding that he had wanted to silence conjecture on the issue. “There seems to be suggestions that Pakiam had relented to the requests and this is putting him in a bad light. It is not right.

“However, it is true... the damage has already been done. Many people are very angry that the directive was issued in the first place and this does will not look good on the government,” he said.

Father Michael Chua agreed with Labrooy and stressed that Pakiam had not needed to comply with the directive as the function had been held at the carpark of his home where there were no Christian symbols.

“I was there and there had been no changes to the itinerary for the function. It is just that the prime minister came at the time when prayers had already been said.

“Also, it was at the carpark, so there was no removal of crosses or anything. The reports in the media suggested that we had to remove them but it is not true,” he said.

Chua is in charge of the Ministry of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese, and is a part of the Christian Federation of Malaysia which organised the function on Christmas day last year.

He admitted that since the media exposed the issue last week, religious leaders have been finding it difficult to explain the matter to their followers.

“We have been having problems explaining to the congregation. The most important thing is the context of the matter — it was a carpark and there were no crosses there.

“We have been having it here for the past few years and this was just the first time that the prime minister attended. There was no deliberate removal [of Christian symbols] and we did not take seriously any of the requests,” he said.

Chua stressed that the function had gone on according to plan and it had also seen the attendance of political leaders from the opposition.

“But many people have been angered by this. First, they directed their anger to the government and then to the archbishop and this is not fair. We have been trying to explain it but many do not want to hear the explanation,” he said.

Chua would not say if he felt the prime minister should apologise on behalf of his aide but insisted that the matter not be taken out of context.

“Also, it was a CFM affair, hosted by the archbishop. CFM will meet soon and perhaps then we will discuss it. If we have an issue with it, we will take it up with the authorities,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider reported last week that the prime minister’s aide had issued a list of directives to Pakiam to facilitate Najib’s attendance at the Christmas tea-party on Christmas day.

Among the directives given were: to remove any overt Christian symbol, such as crucifixes, from the party premises and that carollers not belt out hymns and not to quote from Scriptures or say any Christian prayers during the visit.

At the time of publication, Pakiam could not be reached for comment.

Pakiam reportedly said this week that the directive was probably issued by an “overzealous officer”. He also refused to wade deeper into the matter by saying, “Let us not waste time on things like these.”

Utusan calls Malays to wage war against Selangor state govt in Khusrin row, claimed interference from China

2011-01-05T12:58:00.003+08:00

Utusan Malaysia today raised fears of Selangor joining Singapore as another “country belonging to China outside mainland China” over the ‘state secretary’ tussle between the state and Putrajaya.

Assistant editor-in-chief Zaini Hassan’s column called on Malays to “have the same zeal as China, India and Israel” to “defend their sovereignty in governing the country” after seeing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) reject the choice of the federally-controlled Public Services Department (PSD), Datuk Mohamed Khusrin Munawi, as the new state secretary.

“Do we Malays (already so few in the world) want to allow another country belonging to China or India outside their own lands? It should be enough with Singapore (a country belonging to China outside mainland China). Do we also want to give away this homeland?” he wrote, referring to Selangor.

Zaini cited the Hans in China and the Hindus in India who enjoyed supremacy in their countries as they formed the majority population.

“The People’s Republic of China will defend the Hans, who form 92 per cent of the population, to the very end. For example, any autonomous territory that tries to revolt will be crushed immediately.

“India’s Hindu government... will defend the rights of Hindus more than Muslims,” he added.

Zaini stressed that he was not being racist in raising this concern as it was a fact that other large nations did the same.

“My views are logical and valid. I am not trying to divert the issue concerning the state secretary but in the context of Selangor and its government, there is a connection and relevance,” he insisted.

The country’s richest state has been in turmoil for the past week since the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan named former director of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) Mohd Khusrin to the post to replace outgoing State Secretary Datuk Ramli Mahmud, whose last day of office was on Friday.

The PR state government are known to be at odds with Mohd Khusrin in the past and Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has insisted that he has the right to decide on the appointment.

He has announced that the state assembly will sit by the end of the month to amend the state constitution to remove the power of appointment of the state secretary from the federal government despite his coalition not currently holding the necessary two thirds majority of the assembly.

Pesta Chingay, Lion & Dragon Dance Parade @ Butterworth

2010-12-24T11:11:00.001+08:00

Date: 26th Dec 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 7.30pm to 11pm
Venue: MPSP Field, Butterworth, Jalan Bagan Luar to Jalan Raja Uda

Last Sunday, Penang island witnessed the biggest Pesta event, Penang Pesta Chingay, Lion & Dragon Dance Parade held through the streets of Penang in conjunction with the month-long Pesta Carnival in Penang!

This week, the teams from the Penang Wushu Lion Dance, Penang Chingay Association, North Malaya Chingay Association, Kedah Chingay Association, Sungai Dua Chingay Association, Lebuh Presgrave Chingay Association and more will be paraded through the street of Butterworth from Jalan Bagan Luar to Jalan Raja Uda.

This Parade is an annual street parade held in Penang. Today, the parade has evolved into a massive multi-cultural and international event.

Ubah Sekarang, Selamatkan Malaysia! Change Now, Save Malaysia!

2010-12-20T21:17:00.000+08:00

Pakatan leaders strive for unity ahead of possible snap general election

2010-12-19T21:08:00.004+08:00

By Shazwan Mustafa

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) appealed for unity amid speculation of snap polls, as they gathered here to work out policies and strategies to unseat the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) from power.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told a crowd of 2,000 at the PR convention that the BN, chiefly Umno, would try their best to “politicise” the ties among PR members.

“Umno will always try to play up the relationship between PAS and DAP. They want to politicise this. They will use the 3Rs — Race, religion and ‘Raja’ (the Rulers) to try and drive a wedge between us,” said the Penang chief minister.

Umno along with its newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, have consistently attacked the DAP and PAS for their inability to agree on several key policy issues — including the Islamist party’s insistence on forming an Islamic state.

Echoing Lim, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang warned of the same threat, saying that PR needed to focus on balancing living and interacting within a “multi-religious” and “multi-cultural” society.

“In implementing the policies within Pakatan states, it is crucial that we be careful and understand the complexities of each party, taking care of the sensitivities of society... and making sure we take care of each religion and race in this country.

“The failure to understand this fundamental fact will open up room to Umno and BN to spread their propaganda through the mass media which is controlled by them. This will only put on a ‘defensive’ mode and this will only confuse Malaysians,” warned Hadi.

The PAS chief said PR needed to always be a step ahead of BN and avoid being stuck in a “responsive” mode.

“We don’t have much time to do all this because the enemy will always find a way to destroy the developments which we had achieved in PR states... all our efforts won’t mean a thing is we fail to show a form of better governance than BN,” added Hadi.

PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail carried on where Hadi had left off, adding that Umno had long propagated the notion that the DAP would rob the Malays of their rights.

“Their biggest strategy yet is to make us fight between ourselves, so that we stray from our fight which has not been racial. They would want DAP to fear PAS because of claims on Islamisation, and would likewise want PAS to fear DAP for ‘driving away’ Malay support.

“Therefore we have to strengthen our resolve. Any announcements or statements have to be made in agreement with the three parties, to show commitment and unity,” she added.

New Penang DAP State Committee line-up

2010-12-12T23:43:00.003+08:00

At the State Committee meeting today, it has finalized the office-bearers and appointees' line up as follows:

Chairman: Sdr Chow Kon Yeow
Deputy Chairman: Sdr P.Ramasamy
Vice Chairmen: Sdr Jagdeep Singh Deo; Sdr Lim Hock Seng
Secretary: Sdr Ng Wei Aik
Assistant Secretary: Sdri Lim Hui Ling
Treasurer: Sdr Wong Hon Wai
Assistant Treasurer: Sdr Tan Hun Wooi
Organizational Secretary: Sdr Teh Yee Cheu
Asst Organizational Secretary: Sdr Lay Hock Peng; Sdr Harvinder Singh
Publicity Secretary: Sdri Chong Eng
Asst Publicity Secretary: Sdr Gooi Seong Kin
Political Education Director: Sdr Danny Law Heng Kiang
Committee Members: Sdr Koay Teng Hai; Sdr RSN Rayer; Sdr Zulkifli Mohd Noor; Sdr Phee Boon Poh; Sdr Lau Keng Ee; Sdri Lim Siew Khim.

Congratulations to all members of the new State Committee!

2010年槟州民主行动党党员代表大会

2010-12-12T18:04:00.005+08:00

12.12.2010 Konvensyen Biasa Negeri DAP Pulau Pinang Tahun 2010

2010年槟州民主行动党党员代表大会, 2010 年 12 月 12 日（星期日）,

假座槟城光大东姑礼堂举行.

民主行动党秘书长兼槟州首席部长林冠英预计，国阵将在三四月与砂拉越州选同步举行全国大选，而且将在未来一两天内展开凌厉攻势为此铺路。

因此，他今早在光大东姑礼堂出席民主行动党槟州代表大会上疾呼，党内上下团结一心共同应敌。

他事后在记者会上表示，随着砂拉越州选未如预期中落在12月，现极大可能在农历新年后的三四月与全国大选同期举行。但是，民联州属将相互咨询后才决定是否解散议会。

“而且，国阵可能仅解散国会与砂拉越州议会，而继续执政其它州属。”

林冠英早前在致辞时表示，今年行动党槟州代表大会的地点是槟州政府权力的核心地点，正是要提醒全体党领袖，是怎样从1966年起，从一个反对党一步步走来，直到成为执政槟州的政府。

“要知道，夺下江山不容易，但要保江山更加不容易。”

“行动党槟州下一次代表大会将在两年后举行，我们可能以民联第二度赢得槟州政权的方式在这里庆祝。或者是在另一个地方，以落败者及仅创造一届奇迹的姿态出席大会，借酒消愁。”

“大家是决定我们成败的关键，我们能不能够团结一致，共同努力，对我们所承诺的理想打造一个不一样的槟城呢？下届大选，将会决定民主是否能够继续生存、一个以民为本的政府是否能够继续运作，以及一个廉洁的政府还能不能够继续存在。”

促拥抱中庸及遵从法治

除了汇报执政期间的政绩，林冠英表示，行动党必须通过拥抱中庸制度、遵从法治及成为一个让人民相信的政府。

“中庸就是正义！我们立志为自由、民主、正义、真理、社会福利及信奉上苍而斗争。没有人可以怀疑我们对联邦宪法的效忠。当国阵及他们的盟友诬蔑行动党是反马来人、反回教、反统治者、反马来文时，他们拿不出证据。”

林冠英接着表示，经济的成功与否取决于体制内的制度是否透明及确实。而有了法治为根基的制度，任何人不需要人脉，而只需要知道条规。

“对民联政府最高的赞美不是我们有最好的首长或行政议员，而是公众或商人不需要认识首长，也能办妥事务。”

中选名单如下（15人）：

佳日星（柑仔园，州，原任）—— 348票
罗兴强（峇都兰樟，州）—— 321
曹观友（巴当哥打，州，原任）—— 312票
章瑛（大山脚，国）—— 261票
林峰成（峇眼惹玛，州，原任）—— 257票
黄伟益（光大，州，原任）—— 256票
黄汉伟（亚依淡，州，原任）——250票
郭庭恺（浮罗池滑，州，原任）—— 245票
林慧英（原任）——241票
拉玛沙米（北赖，州）—— 240票
郑雨周（丹绒武雅，州，原任）—— 219票
哈敏达星（Harvinder Singh，市，原任）——215票
雷耶（斯里德里玛，州，原任）——190票
赖国平——185票
魏祥敬（原任）——179票

复选成绩：

主席：曹观友
署理主席：拉玛沙米
副主席：佳日星，林峰成
秘书：黄伟益
副秘书：林慧英
财政：黄汉伟
副财政：陈翰威（委任）
组织秘书：郑雨周
副组织秘书：赖国平，哈敏达星
宣传秘书：章瑛
副宣传秘书：魏祥敬
政治教育局主任：罗兴强

委员：郭庭恺，雷尔，朱基菲里（委任），彭文宝（委任），刘敬忆（委任），林秀琴（委任）

Islam rejects 'Ketuanan Melayu'

2010-12-11T14:37:00.000+08:00

By a Dignified Malay

I congratulate the former Mufti of Perlis for his recent statement chiding those who talk about "Malay supremacy".

Dr Asri Zainul Abidin is right in making a comparison between this silly battlecry of a section of politicians to Jewish supremacy, which underlines Zionism and all the ugliness that it represents. Of course, this statement by Asri did not make headlines in Utusan Malaysia or the other UMNO-owned media, unlike his previous opinion calling for Anwar Ibrahim's retirement.

It is also sad that while UMNO leaders in their ignorance keep harping on this racist and un-Islamic notion, not much effort was done by the leaders of PAS or the Muslim scholars in PKR to argue their opposition to this kind of racism from a religious point of view. Much of the issues have been argued from a political and constitutional point of view, and this has led many to suspect that PAS's stance has more to do with votes than their religious ideology.

A cursory glance of this hotch potch "Malay supremacy" will reveal that it has nothing to do with either the Federal constitution or the status of Islam. It is wrong to keep linking the position of Islam to this un-Islamic and racist belief that a certain race should be given preference and their culture should be held in more esteem than others.

Islam came to de-bunk the myth that there is any chosen race in the eyes of God, and characters like Perkasa and UMNO, who call themselves Muslims, threaten to bring us back to the age of the Jahiliyah Arabs.

PAS and PKR leaders should argue the Islamic stand on "Malay supremacy", and as said by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail recently, it is better for the Malays to become a dignified race rather than clinging on the 'ketuanan Melayu'. One also should appreciate our former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who once said that there is no point talking about ketuanan Melayu when most Malays work as coolies. Of course, this great Malaysian uncle keeps evolving despite his age.

The Qur'an is explicit of its stance against any notion of racial supremacy and many verses remind us of our origin from Adam and Eve, and who the real chosen people are, i.e. those who are fearful of Allah Almighty.

Prophet Muhammad's final sermon is also a warning to all those Muslims who are toying with racism, when he declared: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a black has no superiority over white, nor a white has any superiority over black, except by piety and good action (Taqwa). Indeed the best among you is the one with the best character (Taqwa).

Convention Programme and Agenda

2010-12-07T14:30:00.002+08:00

2010 Penang DAP State Ordinary Convention on 12th December 2010(Sunday)at Dewan Tunku, Komtar, Penang.
民主行动党2 0 10年槟州党员代表大会, 2010 年 12 月 12 日（星期日）, 假座槟城光大东姑礼堂举行.

8.30am Registration
9.40am Delegates and Observers take their seats
9.45am State Committee Members take their seats
9.50am CEC Representatives take their seats
9.55am Convention Speaker and Deputy Speaker take their seats

10.00am Official Opening Ceremony

(1) National Anthem and State Anthem.
(2) Party Anthem.
(3) Welcoming Speech by State Chairman Sdr Chow Kon Yeow.
(4) Opening Speech by Secretary-General Sdr Lim Guan Eng.

11.20am Official Convention Business (A)
Election of a State Committee of fifteen members

12.00pm Lunch

2.00pm Official Convention Business (B)
(1) Adoption of Minutes of 2009 State Annual Convention.
(2) Adoption of audited Financial Statement of Accounts for 2009.
(3) Adoption of State Committee Report.
(4) Adoption of Resolutions proposed by Branches.
(5) Adoption of Resolutions / Declarations presented by State Committee.
(6) Transaction of any specific business duly submitted to and approved by State
Committee.
(7) Appointment of two members of the Party in the State as Internal Auditors until the next State Ordinary Convention.

上午

8时30分代表及观察员报到
9时40分代表及观察员就座
9时45分州委就座
9时50分中委会代表就座
9时55分大会正、副议长就座

10时开幕仪式

（1）肃立唱国歌、州歌
（2）肃立唱党歌
（3）州主席致欢迎词
（4）秘书长致开幕词

11时20分大会事项（A）

选举15名成员的州委员会。

中午12时午餐

下午2时大会事项 (B)

（1）通过上届州党员常年大会之会议记录。
（2）考虑及接纳由州委会提呈的经过稽查之上届财政年度财政报告。
（3）考虑及接纳州委会在上届州常年代表大会举行以後之党务进展报告。
（4）考虑及接纳支部提呈的提案。
（5）通过由州委会提呈的提案及/或宣言。
（6）处理任何依照党章第17条款规定，並获得州委会批准的特定事务。
（7）委任2名党员为内部查账，任期至下一届州党员代表大会为止。

Penang DAP State Convention

2010-12-07T14:26:00.001+08:00

Please be informed that the Penang DAP State Ordinary Convention is confirmed to be held as follows:-

Date : 12-12-2010
Time : 9.30am till 6.00pm
Place: Dewan Tunku, KOMTAR, Penang

Registration counter is at level 4 main entrance (pls use the level 3 escalator, beside the KFC restaurant)

Please inform observers and register their names with DAP Penang latest by 9 Dec 2010 (Thursday).

** Pre-Convention Meeting also will be held as follows:-
(i) 8-12-2010(Wed)at 8.30pm at Auditorium A, Komtar, Penang.
(ii) 9-12-2010(Thurs)at 8.30pm at Dewan MPSP, Jalan Bagan Luar, Butterworth.

19.12.2010 Pakatan Rakyat AGM 民联大会

2010-12-05T12:48:00.003+08:00

19.12.2010 Pakatan Rakyat AGM 民联大会

12.12.2010槟州行动党州改选 DAP Party State Committee Election

2010-12-05T12:10:00.007+08:00

12.12.2010 槟州行动党州改选

12.12.2010 DAP Penang Party State Committee Election

2008-2010 DAP Penang Party State Committee List ( For Reference )

Daulat Tuanku!

2010-12-04T21:48:00.001+08:00

By Tunku Abdul Aziz, DAP National Vice Chairman

In an article I wrote recently, Rulers for all Malaysians, I had suggested, in a spirit of helpfulness, that their highnesses the rulers should drop the word “Malay” and instead use the more commonly understood title Sultan, for example, of Selangor or Sultan of Kedah as the case may be.

Continuing to describe themselves as Malay Rulers at a time when inclusiveness is what is required as part of the process of integrating our disparate community of races seems to be a little perverse.

His Highness the Sultan of Selangor, in decrying the suggestion I had made in my article, has, I fear, got the wrong end of the stick. Even a cursory reading of the article will show that the position of their highnesses in the constitutional arrangements of our nation remains inviolate, and Malaysians do not want it any other way.

We recognise the crucial importance of stability in the life of a nation. Stability is inherent in the system of constitutional monarchy. Rulers in today’s terms must be forward looking and open to ideas. It is no longer appropriate, at the drop of the hat, to invoke the divine rights of kings, used in the past by kings and emperors the world over, to legitimise absolutism. Nothing in the nature of things is permanent and if we cannot adjust to change, we are doomed to extinction.

Of course, we respect the institution of rulers because we respect our Constitution. We believe the institution represents all that is noble; the fountain of honour and justice for all. It would be senseless to replace an institution that has worked well.

The post-Hindu Kedah Sultanate, for example, goes back to 1136, making it arguably the oldest ruling house in the world. This is history, not fiction. It has survived to this day because it has changed with the times. There will always be a role for relevant institutions, and we have opted for a system of constitutional rulers instead of other forms of government. That we will always protect.

The Sultan of Selangor has been less than fair to suggest that I am less Malay for submitting, humbly, that the term “Malay Rulers” be dropped altogether and refer to themselves as sultans. I know this could give rise to some confusion because there are Mamaks who use “Sultan” as part of their names.

We want our Rulers to identify themselves with all Malaysians and for all Malaysians to accept that our Rulers are their Rulers as well and, in this way hope that they will learn to embrace and understand the system employed in governing this, their country. The position of the Rulers will be greatly enhanced.

I am proud Malay, as proud as the next, in fact, prouder than most because I can trace my genealogy, in an unbroken line of recorded history, spanning a thousand years. I am not a Malay come lately.

History is important, but I do not let it stand in the way of my concern for national unity. The Malays must not allow the notion of Malayness blind themselves to the demands of the new social, political and economic reality. We and our Rulers will always have an important role to play in the future development of this country, but it will have to be a role we will share with the other citizens of Malaysia.

I have lived long enough to understand, though I do not always agree, with the basis of the Malay suspicion of the so-called non-Malay, particularly, the Chinese agenda. They point out that while the non-Malays are as quick as a flash claiming their rights, they drag their feet when it comes to fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.

Generalisations breed irrationalism and distort our sense of justice and fair play. These are long-held views, and sadly have become dangerous combustible tinder that, if not stopped, and allowed to ignite, could engulf this nation we are all trying to build, in flames of irreversible destruction to benefit only those on the lunatic fringe.

Not working toward a common goal grounded in fairness and equal opportunity is not an option for Malaysians of all racial and cultural stripes. In this great Malaysian endeavour, all of us have to subordinate our prejudices, often born of ignorance, in the greater interests of a Malaysia that offers a rightful place for all. The Rulers who are natural leaders have a particularly important role to play.

Daulat Tuanku!

Malay supremacy unIslamic, suggests chosen race: Asri

2010-12-04T21:30:00.001+08:00

By Clara Chooi

A renowned Islamic scholar silenced arguments today over the controversial “Malay supremacy” concept, charging that it was un-Islamic and akin to the Jewish’s “ chosen race” claim.

Former Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin wrote today that the act of placing the Malay race as more supreme than the others was against the teachings of Islam, which preaches tolerance and the equality of all races.

“If someone considers himself more noble simply because of race or ethnicity factors, or considers others lower than himself because they are not of the same race, such belief is wrong and goes against the teachings of Islam.

“Should this be the case, it can be likened to the Jewish claim that they are the 'chosen race',” he said.

The outspoken scholar added that such “pride” was rejected by Islam.

Dr Mohd Asri's view on the contentious concept is a direct blow to Malay rights group Perkasa, whose leaders have been blaring the “Malay supremacy” rhetoric to push for Malay rights.

In recent days, Perkasa clashed head-on with PKR leaders on the issue, with the latter group arguing that “Malay supremacy” or “ketuanan Melayu” was undemocratic, irrelevant and should be replaced by a more inclusive concept of “ketuanan rakyat” (people's supremacy).

PKR leaders, like its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, his wife party president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and deputy president Azmin Ali have openly rejected “Malay supremacy”, interpreting it to mean the supremacy of the Malay race above the others.

But Perkasa leaders shot back with a biting insult on Dr Wan Azizah and called her a “political prostitute” for rejecting the concept, claiming that it was tantamount to showing disrespect to the Malay Rulers and the Federal Constitution.

The right-wing leaders have argued that the concept of “Malay supremacy” was provided for in the Constitution as it referred to the special positions of the Malays as well as the Malay Rulers.

Today however, Dr Mohd Asri appeared to back PKR's view on the topic, pointing out that while there was no clear definition on the “ketuanan Melayu” terminology, the concept was also not formally expressed in the Federal Constitution.

“Hence it is strange for any party to attempt to defend such a fuzzy concept, whose meaning remains unclear,” he said.

Despite this, Dr Mohd Asri described the concept as one that propagated the supremacy of the Malay race above others, explaining that ultimately, the word “ketuanan” was derived from the word “tuan” in Bahasa Malaysia.

Its English equivalent, the scholar claimed, was “supremacy”.

“It refers to the root word 'tuan' and when combined with 'Melayu', it means that the Malays are in the status of 'tuan' or in Arabic, it is called 'siyadah' (supremacy).

“If you refer to the meaning according to the language, it means that the Malays are always on top, are more supreme and more noble if compared to the non-Malays,” he said.

A clearer definition, added Dr Mohd Asri, would mean that the “Malay race is supreme and most noble”.

Socio-Economy, Political and Education: Supremacy has nothing to do with the Rulers

2010-12-01T23:13:00.000+08:00

Socio-Economy, Political and Education: Supremacy has nothing to do with the Rulers: "In response to the recent call by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that the Ketuanan Melayu agenda should be put to end, Umno had once..."

Socio-Economy, Political and Education: Desperate Times Call for Responsible Measures: Res...

2010-12-01T23:12:00.000+08:00

Socio-Economy, Political and Education: Desperate Times Call for Responsible Measures: Res...: "By Kit Blatt, Accountability International On the heels of a global economic meltdown and the glacial pace of economic recovery, restructur..."

DAP wants FTAs open to Parliament checks

2010-12-01T21:51:00.002+08:00

By Clara Chooi

A DAP MP urged the government today to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee on Free Trade Agreements (FTA) to allow legislators to scrutinise FTA negotiations.

Klang MP Charles Santiago mooted the proposal today and pointed out that at present, the Malaysian Parliament was a mere “rubber stamp” as it would be forced to accept all negotiations without any checks and balances.

“Parliament has no avenue to discuss, debate or comment on FTAs which have critical significance [for] sovereignty, development and public policy... issues that have major ramifications to the lives of Malaysians,” Charles said in a press conference in Parliament today.

The trained economist claimed that at present, FTA negotiations were conducted in a “non-transparent” manner and without an avenue to discuss on the agreements in Parliament, national laws would eventually be amended to reflect the commitments made at the negotiations.

“Parliament will have no choice but to accept the decisions. It has been reduced to the role of a rubber stamp. It has no choice and clearly this shows that the executive arm of the government is not accountable to Parliament,” he said.

Charles added that it was timely for the formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee to allow debates on FTAs as the Malaysian government was presently set to begin negotiations on two critical FTAs with economic powers, the European Union and the US, along with eight other nations.

“The negotiations with the US and the other eight nations will take place in New Zealand from December 6 to 10 in the context of the Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA,” he pointed out.

The countries involved in the negotiations include Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Singapore, Vietmnam, Chile and Peru.

“This will be a second effort on the part of Malaysia to clinch an FTA deal with both the EU and the US.

“This entails negotiations on trade, services and investments, including intellectual property rights, government procurement and competition,” he said.

Charles explained that FTA agreements gave rights to investors to legally challenge governments before international tribunals established at the World Bank or the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

This, he added, would ultimately undermine the sovereignty of the nations involved.

“Liberalisation of the government procurement sector, once considered off-limits to foreign companies is a major departure in the country’s social and development policy,” he argued.

Furthermore, said Charles, FTAs were not just about the exchange of goods and services but would also have far-reaching implications on public policies, including health, the environment and the growth of small and medium industries.

“As a result, they would have implications for the people, business and special interest groups,” he said.

Unlike Malaysia, said Charles, Asean countries like Thailand and Philippines required parliamentary scrutiny and endorsement before their governments formally signed on to FTAs.

Dr Azizah's dream: A united and progressive Malaysia

2010-12-01T21:47:00.002+08:00

By Dr Chen Man Hin

Wan Azizah policy speech at the recent PKR congress was a breath of fresh air into politics in the country. She did not introduce some policy of the nature of 1 Malaysia. What she gave was a dream of building a united and progressive Malaysia with a policy designed to change the political landscape.

Wan Azizah has a dream for Malaysia where all Malaysians whether Malays, Chinese, Indians or Kadazanas are considered as masters and equals in their own country. Her dream is to spread the concept of KETUANAN RAKYAT which means that all Malaysians have the same status and equal opportunities in all the fields of human endeavour.

This is a bold step by Wan Azizah, and just as Martin Luther King had a dream which unleashed a new era for the blacks of America, so will Azizah’s dream open up a new world for Malaysia to be as progressive, compeitive and a high income economy as the tigers of Asia like Singapore, Hong Kong, S Korea and Taiwan.

Wan Azizah does not believe in ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) as espoused by Umno and Perkasa. A policy which has divided the people and imprisoned the poor whether Malays, Chinese or Indians in the world of poverty and backwardness.

Four decades of Malay supremacy and the New Economic Policy have caused the economy to stagnate compared to the tiger economies whose per capita income range from US$18,000 for Taiwan to US$34,000 for Singapore compare to a per capita income of US$8,000 for Malaysia.

40 years of Malay supremacy have kept kampong Malays poor, uneducated, uncompetitive and their youths ill prepared for the competitive era of a global world. Admittedly, the ones who benefitted from Malay supremacy were Umno cronies, rent seekers who made millions from negotiated tenders, APs and land concessions.

It is cruel for Umnoputras to insist on Malay supremacy and corrupt practices just to make cronies into millionaires while the poor in the kampong stay poor, uneducated and not adaptable to the modern world.

All these have to change, and it is up to leaders like Wan Azizah who will make the change with her dream of ketuanan rakyat where opportunties are given to all, and by their own initiative, dedication and hard work, they will become rich and prosperous in a high income economy on the same level as the Asian tiger economies.

The three partners of PR have given full support to article 153 of the constitution which gives guarantees to uplift the economic status of Malays and natives. PR have our plans that they will receive the best education and financial asistance to top education, acquisition of technoloy and the know how to be successful professionals, entreprenurs and successful businessmen.

Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan Jawatankuasa Perhubungan Kawasan Parlimen Bagan

2010-11-27T23:11:00.002+08:00

Oleh Tee Yee Cheu

Notis dengan ini deberi bahawa Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan 2010 Jawatankuasa Perhubungan Kawasan Parlimen Bagan akan diadakan pada 3hb Disember 2010, jam 8.30 malam, bertempat di Pusat Khidmat DAP Bagan yang beralamat 7109, Taman Aman Jaya, Jalan Raja Uda, 12300 Butterworth.

Agenda Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan adalah seperti yang berikut:

a) Ucapan Aluan Oleh Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Perhubungan Parlimen;
b) Ucapan Oleh Wakil Negeri/Ahli Jawatankuasa Pusat;
c) Memilih Pemegang-pemegang jawatan bagi tempoh 2010-2012,
- Pengerusi
- Timbalan Pengerusi
- Naib Pengerusi
- Setiausaha
- Penolong Setiausaha
- Setiausaha Organisasi
- Setiausaha Publisiti
- Bendahari
- Pengarah Pendidikan Politik
- Setiausaha Hal-ehwal Wanita
- Tiga (3) orang Ahli Jawatankuasa
d) Melantik dua (2) ahli sebagai Juruaudit;
e) Meluluskan Minit Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan yang lalu;
f) Meluluskan Penyata Kira-kira Kewangan yang lalu;
g) Membincang dan membahaskan usul-usul.

Semua perwakilan cawangan adalah dikehendaki hadir pada mesyuarat tersebut dan saudara/saudari adalah diingatkan agar membawa kad pengenalan bagi tujuan penandaan kedatangan oleh Speaker Mesyuarat.

Speaker Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan:

a) Sdr Michael Tan
b) Sdr Ng Wei Aik
c) Sdr Danny Law

Reveal how many study loans were offered to Chinese applicants in states run by BN, MCA told

2010-11-27T22:07:00.002+08:00

By Lau Weng San

It is quite disturbing to read statement from several MCA leaders attacking Selangor State Government by implying that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)-led state government only approves 12 Chinese applicants for study loan, when MCA leaders are not prepared to reveal how many study loans were offered to Chinese in states ruled by Barisan Nasional (BN).

In fact, I was the first assemblyman who helped promoting the study loan scheme offered by the state government as early as in August 2010. All elected representatives in Selangor received letters and brochures from the state government requesting helps from elected representatives to promote such scheme and to recommend suitable students to apply for the study loan irregardless of race and religion.

This prompted me to request for more details about the almost-interest-free study loan in August 2010. I also called a press conference to promote the study loan, which is opened to applicants from all races provided that the applicants must be born in Selangor.

It is clear that lately, some MCA leaders are playing racist politics by blaming the Selangor state government for not helping Chinese when there are only 12 successful Chinese applicants.

Selangor government EXCO Teresa Kok had clarified that while it is true that there are only 12 successful Chinese applicants, but the hard fact that MCA leaders choose to ignore is that there are only 12 Chinese students who applied for the study loan!

In fact, each state government in Malaysia does offer study loans to deserving and qualified students from their state to pursue tertiary education. However, Selangor State government study loan is probably the first study loan offered by any state government in Malaysia to accept application from Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders of whom majority of them are non-Malay.

I urge MCA leaders like Ti Lian Ker and Wee Ka Siong to reveal how many Chinese students have benefitted from the Pahang and Johore State Government study loan in 2009 and 2010.

Uphold Malay dignity and not through supremacy route

2010-11-27T22:02:00.002+08:00

The concept of Malay supremacy must be abandoned so that the younger generation would grow up with the right vision, says Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

"Malay supremacy is the slogan used by a small 'elite' group of Malays who deceives the larger group of the community to satisfy their personal interests," she said, adding that the small group comprised those who committed bribery, corruption, criminal breach of trust and other crimes.

Dr Wan Azizah said that a nation and the people would only gain respect when they have dignity.

"So, if a nation wants to grow, it must preserve and maintain its dignity, and this includes the Malays."

She also said that after 53 years of independence, the fate of the Malays and the bumiputra in Malaysia were still neglected, and they were still plagued by social, educational, economic and cultural ills.

She said the current government had neglected the Orang Asli in Malaysia, who were not getting proper attention and protection.

Their poor living conditions were akin to having been deliberately designed for manipulation by certain quarters when the time suited the manipulators, she claimed, adding that there was no provision in the Federal Constitution to protect the interests of indigenous people in the country.

"Their positions are not guaranteed because their rights were not included in the interpretation of Article 153 and Article 160 of the Federal Constitution.

"Clause (2) in Article 160 only interprets that Orang Asli is Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, while in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, it only covers the Malays and Bumiputra of Sabah and Sarawak," she said.

As such, she said, PKR promised to take bold and responsible actions to secure the positions of the indigenous people.

Earlier, Wan Azizah said that despite the flaws in the party's first top leadership election, it had achieved its target with over 70,000 members casting their votes at the branch and central levels.

According to Bernama, she acknowledged that the party had received complaints related to the conduct of its polls for the 2010-2013 term.

"We cannot judge anyone just by allegations which are fundamentally weak. We are fighting for justice, so we must also be fair in judging our own friends," she said in her keynote address at the Seventh PKR Annual National Congress here on Saturday.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the party had received 289 complaints so far.

He said with divisional elections having closed, there were 12 complaints that have yet to be settled while nine pertaining to the party's polls for its central leadership were still being evaluated - Agencies.

PKR congress renews support for Anwar’s leadership

2010-11-27T21:57:00.001+08:00

By Adib Zalkapli

As expected, the PKR annual congress renewed its support for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to continue leading the party, declaring today that the opposition leader should not be forced to go through a party election.

Anwar had refused to contest the presidency which has been held by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail since the party’s formation 11 years ago.

Faris said Anwar did not appoint himself de facto leader.

“There are those who question Anwar’s legitimacy to make decisions, who make us doubt his leadership. Some had questioned his competency to be the de facto leader,” said Faris Musa when tabling the motion to debate the president’s address.

“He did not appoint himself to be the de facto leader. We put him there,” he told the congress.

Faris later asked the 1,200 delegates to stand up as a show of support to Anwar as the de facto leader.

“Let us give our undivided support to Anwar Ibrahim,” said Faris to loud cheers from the crowd.

Another delegate, Siti Aishah Shaik Ismail, said the move to force Anwar to contest the party presidency would restrict his role.

“Many have questioned why Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim refused to contest the presidency. I say this is naïve because we should not restrict Anwar’s role just to serve our party,” said Siti Aishah when debating the president’s policy speech.

“He is an internationally-recognised leader,” she added.

Siti Aishah also likened the position of de facto leader to PAS’s spiritual adviser or mursyidul am, currently held by Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who chairs the Islamist party’s ulama consultative council.

Siti Aishah said Anwar is an internationally-recognised leader.

“The post of de facto leader must not be contested, or be put elsewhere. If PAS has a mursyidul am, we have the de facto leader to guide the party,” said Siti Aishah.

Anwar’s appointment as de facto leader was made at the party congress in 2007, after he was prevented from contesting the presidency by the Registrar of Societies.

He was barred from holding elected party posts because of his abuse of power conviction in 1999. The ban expired in April 2008.

The de facto leader post, which is not defined in the party’s constitution, came under attack from PKR deputy presidential contender Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who had challenged Anwar to take over the presidency. Zaid later quit the contest and the party.

Yesterday, the Wanita PKR proposed that Anwar’s position be formalised constitutionally in a reaction to Zaid’s challenge, but party president Dr Wan Azizah defended the current leadership’s arrangement.

Konvensyen DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat

2010-11-14T17:32:00.003+08:00

Saudara / Saudari,

Sila ambil perhatian dan tandakan diari saudara/saudari pada tarikh-tarikh berikut:

1) Konvensyen Pakatan Rakyat Negeri Pulau Pinang
Tarikh: 21-11-2010 (Ahad)
Masa: 8.00 malam hingga 12.00 tengah malam
Tempat: Dewan Tunku, KOMTAR, P.Pinang

2) Konvensyen Biasa DAP Pulau Pinang
Tarikh: 12-12-2010 (Ahad)
Masa: 9.30 pagi hingga 6.00 petang
Tempat: Dewan Tunku, KOMTAR, P.Pinang

3) Konvensyen Pakatan Rakyat Kebangsaan
Tarikh: 19-12-2010 (Ahad)
Masa: 9.00 pagi hingga 5.30 petang
Tempat: Dewan Milenium, Kepala Batas, S.P.U., P.Pinang

Semua ahli-ahli parti dari peringkat akar umbi adalah dijemput hadir. Yang bukan perwakilan bolehlah hadir sebagai pemerhati.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Penang CM orders stop work on MMC-Gamuda double tracking project

2010-11-14T16:33:00.002+08:00

By Regina William

The Penang state government has issued a stop work order on the RM12.485 billion MMC-Gamuda JV Sdn Bhd double tracking project.

Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said on Friday, Nov 12 the stop work order will be in force until MMC Gamuda fulfills certain assurances sought by the state government following floods in Kedah which have been attributed to the double-tracking project.

Both the Housing and Local Government minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha and Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Razak had been quoted saying the double tracking project had worsened the floodings in the state.

"These statements are not politically motivated and non-partisan as both sides of the divide have expressed the same views.

"We want assurances with attached conditions from MMC Gamuda that they will be willing to break any part of the tracks which prevents the flow of the flood waters.

"They must also bear full responsibility and all costs if that happens," Lim said at a press conference in the presence of the project officials.

This is not the first instance where MMC Gamuda has run into problems with the state government.

Previously, a flooding incident and failure to pay its development fees to the local authorities also resulted in several stop work orders being issued. The project started on Jan 8, 2008.

Guan Eng says Umno blind to history, Constitution

2010-11-14T16:21:00.002+08:00

By Clara Chooi

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng accused Umno leaders today of being “blind to history, the Constitution and in their hearts”, claiming that the ruling party promoted racial hatred and intolerance.

Citing several racially-charged incidents as examples, the Penang Chief Minister and Bagan MP charged that Umno leaders had “hijacked” the Federal Constitution and used it at their whims and fancies for the purpose of dividing Malaysians.

“When Umno talks about the Constitution, they only talk about the special positions of the Malays and not about the legitimate interests of the other communities.

“This shows that Umno is blind to history, blind to the Constitution, and blind in their hearts. We must fight them,” he said at his opening address at the Perak DAP 15th Ordinary Convention this morning.

Lim (picture) pointed out that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution states, “It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di Pertuan Agong to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any states of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this article.”

“But Umno always cites Article 153 of the Constitution on the special position of the Malays as justification for their racist Malays-only approach.

“They invariably fail to mention the legitimate interests of other communities must also be protected,” he reiterated.

As such, Lim pointed out that the “Malaysian first” agenda was enshrined in the Constitution but this was unfortunately ignored by Umno’s “racist” leaders.

He claimed that this “racist mindset” of placing racial interests above national interests was what fuelled Defence Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to claim that the low percentage of non-Malays in the military was due to the community’s lack of patriotism.

Lim also accused Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia of attempting to recreate the bloody race clash on May 13, 1969, when it called the incident a “sacred day” and a “blessing in disguise”.

“The government must take action against Utusan as it spreads hatred and extremism, behaving as if they want another May 13 by celebrating it as a sacred day. I believe the Malays in our country are not like Utusan Malaysia. Utusan is only their Umno extremists.

Lim also pointed to the recent racist school principals incident and the racial remarks made by a National Civics Bureau official during a Puteri Umno function. The official has since been reprimanded.

“Look at the derogatory and racist remarks by school principals who instill hate by calling Indians dogs and Chinese ‘pendatang’ who should go back to China or the BTN (National Civics Bureau) official who called the Chinese ‘si mate sepet’ and Indians ‘si botol’.

“Or the Umno leaders who openly said that they do not need Chinese and Indian votes,” he said.

At this juncture, Lim took a swipe at Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, and asked why the non-Malays in Perak should support BN in the next general election.

“Why should Perakians support a leader whose party comrades think that they do not need the Chinese and Indian votes?

“Ask Zambry to look in the mirror... you mean we do not need Indian votes?” he told the a1,000-strong audience of Perak DAP delegates.

Lim claimed that unlike Umno’s accusations against DAP, the party and its leaders were not anti-Malay, anti-Islam or against the Royal Institution.

“In our struggles, we have been forced to face many false accusations. I would like to state here – do not anyone dare to question our loyalty to the Constitution of Malaysia.

“They make these accusations but they cannot even find proof,” he said.

He noted that DAP’s stuggles were founded on the Constitution itself, pointing out that the party had amended its own constitution in 2006 to ensure this.

“We refuse to be what we are not, and to remove any doubts, the DAP amended its party constitution in 2006 to abide fully with the Merdeka Constitution that gave us our independence,” he said.

Lim also continued to expound on his “Middle Malaysia” theme, and listed out the five core principles behind the concept.

They are the Malaysian first agenda, basic human rights and a civil society, equal opportunity, rule of law and integrity and intelligent city communities.

“It is crucial to note that there is only one middle ground in Malaysian politics, and it is the middle ground that matters.

“Make no mistake that Middle Malaysia will decide which coalition will govern next,” he said.

SAPP slams Zahid's remarks as 'double insults'

2010-11-11T13:00:00.002+08:00

Racial profiling of Malaysians should be blamed for the dismally small number of non-Malays in the armed forces, said a former Sabah chief minister.

Yong Teck Lee, who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, noted that in the early years after independence, the armed forces, police and the civil service were multi-racial.

“By way of policy and practice, the federal civil service has changed from Malaysian to Melayu. It is not “lack of patriotism” but a “marginalisation of non-Melayu“ that has turned our armed forces from Malaysian into Melayu,” he said.

He was responding to remarks made by the Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in parliament where he cited “lack of patriotism” as one of the reasons for the small number of non-Malays in the armed forces. Ahmad Zahid has since come under heavy criticms from both sides of the political divide.

Describing the remark as one of 'poor judgment' and a ‘double insult’ to non-Malays, Yong said after being systemically excluded from the armed forces over the last five decades, they are now being labelled as 'less patriotic' than the Malays for not joining the military.

“This ministerial statement must not be left unchallenged,” stressed Yong. He said Zahid should not forget the country’s history when Malaysians of all races had fought side by side.

"Sabahans and Sarawakians from the Rangers and Iban Trackers had successfully defeated the communists during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960).

“In Sabah (then North Borneo), local people of all races had banded together to fight the Japanese occupation. The next time the Defence Minister comes to Sabah, he should visit the Petagas War Memorial and see for himself the final resting place of our martyrs.

“It is also dangerously racist for the Defence Minister to blame “concern over strict discipline and low pay” as other factors.

"It is as though non-Malays lack discipline and are interested only in good pay.

"The Defence Minister obviously does not realise the strict discipline that is required in the private sector and the selfless charity and social work rendered by so many citizens outside the civil service,” Yong said in a statement issued here.

He also said for the country to be strong and united, the Barisan Nasional government should rectify the “single-race civil service” into a truly Malaysian one.

“If you go to Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya, almost everybody from the security at the main gate to the lift operators, the drivers, tea lady, clerks, officers and top officials are all Malays.

"At federal ministries, only non-Umno politicians and their political aides are non-Malays. The same pattern is seen in most government offices and agencies,” he said - FMT.

DAP Parlimen Bagan 民主城行动党

行動黨新春大團拜26.01.2012 ( 年初四）

Testing Malaysia BN's Promises

Anwar: Strong opposition needed even if Pakatan comes to power

Umno and Perkasa hijacked Article 153

Penang DAP State Convention today

DAP winning over Malay voters

BN two-faced about PAS, DAP

Guan Eng questions Umno’s logic behind powerful DAP claim

Lim: Macam mana DAP boleh pimpin Pakatan?

Kit Siang warns of ‘disaster’ if assembly law passed

Cognitive gap

Unsubstantiated reforms

What the Auditor-General said about Penang?

08.10.2011 Majlis Jamuan Makan Malam Penjanaan Tabung Aktiviti DAPSY Bagan 峇眼社青团筹募活动基金晚宴

Say no to racist politicians

民联政府以民为本

Sekandal RM 300 Juta Kerugian ini Kembalikan Kepada Rakyat Pulau Pinang?

Majlis Penyampaian Bantuan Kemasukan Ke IPTA Pada 16.09.2011

Ada apa dengan politik perkauman?

Judicial independence and justice

Democracy is not just about voting

Historical truth

The real Malayan independence fighters

前途茫茫

Kekalkan kerajaan berjiwa rakyat yang martabatkan rakyat

DAP and DAPSY Bagan Wishes Selamat Hari Raya

Is fair and clean general election possible?

RM1,000 for Penang school leavers entering tertiary institutions

焚送大仕爺林冠英歷屆首位‧率檳華裔議員上香參拜

在歷任檳州首席部長中，全程參與大山腳人熱慶中元的焚送大士爺最高潮節目，林冠英屬第一人。

在歷任檳州首席部長中，

全程參與大山腳人熱慶中元的焚送大士爺最高潮節目，

林冠英屬第一人。

喜见双层排屋落成 豆蔻村24户谢民联践诺

11.11.2011 Pilihanraya Umum Yang Ke 13 ?

Penang: Getting back its mojo

Poll: Race ties deteriorating, politics blamed

Penang reviving under new leadership, says Economist

峇眼区社青团大会24.07.2011

DAPSY Bagan Annual General Meeting (Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan DAPSY Bagan)

Solidarity with Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

Bersih 2.0: A rally against injustice

Support Bersih 2.0 Rally on 9 July 2011

PAS rep files motion to free Sungai Siput MP

Bersih says will march on without permit

Talam dua muka: Satu Malaysia, Dua UMNO

Ambiga: Our rally will be peaceful

专才不回家?

黄燕燕不应该以游客生命作赌注

Confirmed: Mat Sabu is PAS new deputy president

DAP quibbles Tenaga CEO’s pay hike as tariffs rise

Scholarships: ‘No difference’ if MCA in Cabinet, says DAP

DAP Bagan leader’s son – from victim to suspect

Richard Lim receives his promotion

Sack Utusan editors for Christian PM claim

MCA Risks It All

After election, the blame game starts

Malaysian Chinese should learn from Barak Obama 华人要学奥巴马

行动党首晚讲座万人空巷破纪录 从古晋横跨诗巫美里人潮逾七千

Jom Ubah Sarawak - Sarawak For Change 2011

Pakatan: Alkitab row shows wider check on non-Muslims

Who next after Christians, questions non-Muslim interfaith council

Penang state government regrets that Pos Malaysia intends to increase the commission charges for payment of water bills

槟城人的心声

DAP Penang CNY Open House 11.02.2011

槟州首席部长在04.02.2011（年初二）在槟州华人大会堂大团拜­致词

一万粒灯笼迎新春

31.01.2011峇眼国会选区行动党新春聚餐会

Penang Chief Minister's Chinese New Year Open House

Chinese New Year Open House

Chinese New Year series of exciting events in Penang!

The 4 PR states RM25 billion investments have beat the other 10 BN states attracted 53% of Malaysia's total investments of RM47.2 billion

Zairil Khir Johari: Why I joined DAP

CM tells Gerakan chief Pulau Jerejak problems are of his own doing

Penang is proof that Pakatan can deliver, says Guan Eng

Utusan Malaysia's daily staple of lies and falsehoods

馬來西亞，該醒一醒了。 Dear Malaysia , it's time to wake up !

In Najib’s silence, priests forced to clarify ‘blunder’

Utusan calls Malays to wage war against Selangor state govt in Khusrin row, claimed interference from China

在歷任檳州首席部長中，
全程參與大山腳人熱慶中元的焚送大士爺最高潮節目，
林冠英屬第一人。

喜见双层排屋落成　豆蔻村24户谢民联践诺

行动党首晚讲座万人空巷破纪录从古晋横跨诗巫美里人潮逾七千

槟州首席部长在04.02.2011（年初二）在槟州华人大会堂大团拜致词