Pakatan Harapan's Victory At Malaysia #GE14 #PRU14

Public holidays on Thursday and Friday: Ali Hamsa

MAY 10, 2018 @ 3:49AM 

BY IRWAN SHAFRIZAN ISMAIL published by New Straits Times Malaysia.

PUTRAJAYA: The government has declared Thursday and Friday (10 dan 11 May) as additional public holidays in conjunction with the 14th General Election.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa said for states whose weekends fall on Friday and Saturday, the additional public holiday will fall on Sunday (May 13).

“The declaration of this public holiday is made under Section 8 of the Public Holidays Act 1951 for Peninsular and Federal Territory of Labuan.

“For Sabah and Sarawak, the state government shall have to declare the additional public holidays for both dates according to the respective General Public Relations Ordinance," he said in a statement here today.

Link: https://www.nst.com.my/node/367879/amp

Johor falls to opposition for first time in Malaysian history

(Updated: 10 May 2018 03:06AM)

By Justin Ong published by Channel News Asia.

Malaysia’s southernmost state and traditional ruling party stronghold Johor toppled to the opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance after general elections on Wednesday (May 9), in a historic moment for the country.

Pakatan’s component parties won 36 out of 56 state seats to take control of the state assembly, ousting the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition which had, up until now, governed Johor since Malaysia’s independence... 

And Johor's chief minister Khaled Nordin surprisingly lost his Permas state seat by 8,746 votes to Pakatan’s Che Zakaria Salleh...

And in Muar, BN’s deputy minister in the prime minister’s department Razali Ibrahim was stunned by nearly 7,000 votes courtesy of young Pakatan upstart Syed Saddiq.

Elsewhere, Muhyiddin also retained his Pagoh parliament seat by nearly 7,000 votes, while longtime opposition stalwart Lim Kit Siang held on to his Iskandar Puteri - formerly named Gelang Patah - parliamentary ward, trouncing BN challenger Jason Teoh by nearly 45,000 votes.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/johor-falls-to-opposition-for-first-time-in-malaysian-history-10218926

Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan pulls off shock victory at Malaysia general election

Updated: 10 May 2018 09:00AM

By Sumisha Naidu published by Channel News Asia.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a stunning result that made political history, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition crossed the minimum threshold of 112 seats needed to form Malaysia's new government, according to figures from the Election Commission early Thursday (May 10) morning. 

The result brings to an end the rule of Barisan Nasional (BN), which has dominated Malaysian politics for decades.

In a press conference just before the official confirmation, PH leader and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said PH had achieved a victory. 

"We have achieved a very substantial majority," said the 92-year-old.

PH component parties Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Democratic Action Party officially crossed the victory threshold at around 4am after a long night of results which saw power steadily ebbing away from Najib Razak and his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party. The final official result showed that PH had won 113 seats, with BN on 79.

Dr Mahathir also said that a palace request has been made for Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to be the designated deputy Prime Minister.

The 92-year-old pledged a government that would include a "young person" and said he would honour his agreement to help secure a royal pardon for jailed leader Anwar Ibrahim. 

However, he added that Anwar would have to win a by-election or be elected senator in order for him to take over as prime minister from Dr Mahathir, as per their agreement.

FIRST SIGN OF AN UPSET

The first sign that an upset was on the cards came when unofficial results started trickling in about four hours after the ballot boxes were closed.

At about 9pm, Bernama reported that caretaker Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, the president of BN component party Malaysian Chinese Association, had lost his Bentong seat to PKR’s Wong Tack.

Caretaker Health Minister S Subramaniam, of BN component party Malaysian Indian Congress, was the next major casualty, losing his Segamat seat in Johor to PKR’s R Santhara Kumar.

At 9.30pm, there was respite for BN when word came in that incumbent prime minister Najib Razak – had successfully defended his Pekan seat in Pahang.

But the bloodbath continued for the ruling coalition. 

By 9.45pm, another four deputy ministers fell. 

At about the same time, it emerged that Mahathir would make a return to parliament after winning his Langkawi seat.

WHAT FUTURE FOR NAJIB RAZAK?

The result throws into doubt Najib Razak's position in his party.

While he had been praised for his fiscal policies, he was also unpopular for rolling out a goods and services tax in addition to being a target of unwanted international attention over allegations funds were misappropriated from a state fund he advised, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He has denied any wrongdoing.

It was the controversy over the fund, however, that sparked Malaysia's longest serving prime minister's return to active politics after 22 years of retirement.

Mahathir had accused his former protege Najib of corruption and abuse of power before quitting UMNO to form his own party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

At a news conference where he declared victory, Mahathir was asked if he would act against Najib now that he would assume power.

To this, Mahathir said: "We are not seeking revenge. We want to restore the rule of law."

As well as seizing control of the national government, several state legislatures across the country fell into PH hands for the first time, including the highly symbolic bastion of Johor, the birthplace of Najib's party that was the lynchpin of the ruling coalition.

As it became clear that Mahathir had won, supporters took to the streets waving flags of the Pakatan Harapan alliance.

After polls closed earlier in the day, journalists had headed to the headquarters of Najib's UMNO, but he failed to turn up to give a speech and the media were told to leave.

Huge numbers of voters earlier turned up at the polls across the country, despite Najib having called the election on a weekday in what critics said was a bid to keep turnout down.

The BN wipeout is a disaster for Najib, who had been under pressure to score an emphatic win after the government lost the popular vote for the first time at the last elections in 2013.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-election-pakatan-harapan-opposition-shock-victory-ge14-10219070

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said

Painting by Simon Dewey entitled 'He Lives'. This sort of realistic painting, showing a triumphant Christ, is disparaged by the Art cognoscenti, but it is very popular, and in fact Simon Dewey is one of the most visible religious artists of the late 20th century. Its message is strong and direct: Christ is risen, he is the Saviour. The stone is rolled away, and darkness and death are behind him.

Matthew 28:1-10 

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." (NIV)

See also Mark 16:1-8 and Luke 24:1-12.

#MH370 Most people don’t know enough about Malaysia and its government. Here’s what you should understand.

By Adam Taylor. Published by The Washington Post on 20 March 2014.

Malaysia's government is in the spotlight due to its handling of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared just 40 minutes after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing on March 8.

It's an unusual situation for the country. Malaysia doesn't usually make headlines -- it's not a huge tourist destination, like its neighbor Thailand, and it hasn't had a recent disaster like the Philippines or Indonesia. Instead, Malaysia has mostly become known as a quiet success in Southeast Asia in recent years, where GDP per capita was well ahead of Thailand and Indonesia and the economy was expected to grow between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent in 2014.

Now, with the Malaysian government facing scrutiny from all corners, everyone is beginning to wonder: Is there more to Malaysia than meets the eye?

The geography and history of Malaysia

Look at a map of modern Malaysia and the geography of the place may strike you as unusual. Roughly half of the country exists on the Malay Peninsula, bordering the lowest tip of Thailand. The other part of the country is on the northern part of Borneo island, which it shares with Indonesia. In both of these two parts there are smaller states: the city-state of Singapore, which sits just off the coast of the Malay Peninsula, and Brunei, which is in the Malaysian part of Borneo.

The modern Malaysian state began with the Federation of Malaya's independence from the British Empire in 1957, but the area had been populated for a far longer time -- in Sarawak's Niah Caves in East Malaysia, there's evidence of human remains from 40,000 years ago. The first independent state covering the region is commonly considered to be the Malacca sultanate, an Islamic Malay monarchy that controlled the area from 1400 to 1511, when the city of Malacca was captured by a Portuguese invasion. After a long period of Portuguese rule, the Dutch took it over in 1641, with the British Empire gradually taking over Penang in 1786, Singapore in 1819, and Malacca itself in 1824, ultimately securing control of what would later become Malaysia.

British rule continued until World War II, when Japanese troops were able to overrun the unprepared British authorities and take over the area. After Japan lost the war, the British returned but could not regain the authority they had before due to their war. An anti-colonial insurgency known as the "Malayan Emergency" began in 1948, compelling Britain to create the Federation of Malaya that same year, which in turn became became independent in 1957. In 1963, modern Malaysia was created with the Malaysia Agreement; North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore joined it in a new independent state, though Singapore would be expelled two years later. (Brunei, which had once been at the center of the Bruneian Empire, remained an independent, and oil-rich, sultanate).

Malaysia's complicated ethnic politics

Toward the end of British rule, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) emerged as a political force dedicated to protecting ethnic Malays and the Islamic religion. Since independence, the party has been a part of every government alliance.

Today, Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, loosely modeled after the United Kingdom: The head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, effectively a monarch elected by Malaysia's traditional Malay rulers. The prime minister is the head of government, officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to lead a majority in Malaysia's lower house of parliament. While the constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957, says all Malaysian citizens are equal, Bumiputera (a designation that refers to the indigenous people of Malaysia, including ethnic Malays) are singled out for special treatment in Article 153. That section of the constitution begins: 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.

The logic behind Article 153 was that Chinese and Indian immigrants to Malaysia had been favored during British rule, and both had subsequently gained economically while Malays and others remained in poverty. After independence, these economic disparities had begun to cause problems in the country: Singapore's removal from Malaysia was based in part upon a number of race riots that took place in the country between Chinese and Malay groups in 1964, and Kuala Lumpur had its own race riots in 1969. In 1971, economic measures referred to as the “New Economic Policy” (NEP) were implemented to favor Bumiputera, offering them positive discrimination in the civil service and business in a bid to improve their economic standing.

The quiet, yet successful, economy

Under British rule, Malaysia became one of the world's biggest exporters of tin, palm oil and rubber. And as one of the three countries that controls the Strait of Malacca, an important shipping route, it still plays a key role in international trade. High-tech manufacturing has  become a successful part of Malaysia's economy, and Kuala Lumpur is now a global center for Islamic banking. The city is also home to Petronas Towers, which replaced Chicago's Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) as the world's tallest building in 1998 and held the title until 2004.

All this has resulted in a pretty favorable economy. The Doing Business Project recently ranked the country as 6th in its annual rankings, and GDP per capita is higher than neighbors like Thailand and Indonesia.

Despite these good signs, there have been criticisms that the country's ethnic policies were in effect creating a lack of competition and stifling opportunities for non-Bumiputera. The Economist recently noted that 25 percent of the population is thought to be Chinese and to control much of the country's business, while Indians were said to be around 7 percent and overrepresented in professional careers. The magazine warned that Malaysia faces a brain-drain unless more opportunities are put in place for non-Bumiputera ethnic groups.

An angry opposition

As you might expect, 50 years of virtually uncontested rule has resulted in some problems. Writing recently for Bloomberg Businessweek, Joshua Karlantzick argued that the country's ruling coalition only managed to win elections last year due to "gerrymandering, outright thuggery, and opposition parties’ inability to stop squabbling and make connections with rural voters." Despite some minor signs of change, the NEP remains a significant factor in Malaysian political life and its business world, with the ruling parties apparently afraid to alienate the Malay majority who make their base.

The Malaysian government's manner of dealing with opposition leaders also appears to show it's on the back foot. The best-known opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was sent to jail on corruption and sodomy charges in 2000. While the sodomy charges were overturned in 2004 and he was released, Anwar is now facing the threat of jail again on more sodomy charges.

An ethnic Malay and former member of UMNO, Anwar was once deputy prime minister of Malaysia but fell out with leaders. He now leads a multi-ethnic three-party opposition group called Pakatan Rakyat, running on a manifesto that aims to end the NEP ethnic policies and promote a system of meritocracy.

Why this all matters to MH370

The response to the disappearance of MH370 from the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines (a state-run company) is seen by many as evidence of a lack of ability among the country's political and business elite -- a result of decades of positive discrimination in favor of Malays and a lack of competition in business and politics. Malaysian officials aren't used to dealing with a free and open press, and they have blundered in their attempts to deflect questions about the plane. While they are no longer suspected of involvement in the plane's disappearance, the fact that two passengers were traveling on fake documents has embarrassed both the airline and the state.

It's possible Malaysia's internal politics could have played a direct role in the plane's disappearance. It's true, for example, that pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah was a member of an opposition party and distantly related to Anwar (Anwar himself has said that the speculation about political motives was "grossly unfair" to the pilot). The country's Muslim Brotherhood-styled Islamist party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), is also a part of Anwar's opposition coalition and increasing in popularity, though speculation about an Islamist-backed terrorist attack remains just speculation.

A more likely problem for Malaysia is that of perception. A country once known for its quietly strong economy is becoming better known as something else: a disorganized, unmeritocratic country completely unable to cope with a real emergency.

[Correction amended 3/25/2014] Link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/03/20/most-people-dont-know-enough-about-malaysia-and-its-government-heres-what-you-should-understand/?utm_content=bufferbbc30&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Baby Boomers: Egocentric Comes With A Price

By Yvonne Roberts. Published by The Guardian on 29 June 2013.

To some, it must have been a very long time coming but here it is at last. That smug, gold-plated, bloated slice of the population whose main preoccupation appears to be, on the one hand, continually bragging about their unique birthright of rock'n'roll, flower power, feminism and the sexual revolution while on the other grabbing jobs, income and bread from the mouths of their young, are running into trouble.

As newspaper headlines told us last week: "Baby boomers face a lonely future." According to Who Will Love Me When I'm 64?, a report published by the relationship charity Relate and the New Philanthropy Capital consultancy, the over-50s, unsurprisingly, rate health, financial security and strong relationships soundly – but many are ill prepared for the significant transitions that ageing brings. These include retirement, loss of income, loss of status and ill health. And these changes, in turn, have an impact on spouses and friends resulting, for some, in an isolated and difficult older age.

For my generation, as we all know, counter-culture Cupid fired his arrows in a variety of directions. Among those born between 1946 and 1964, divorce flourished for the first time; cohabitation became the norm and fidelity was for many no longer seen as an essential part of a relationship. In addition, women could earn a living and pay their own way while the stigma attached to being either a divorcee or a thirtysomething spinster evaporated. The bars on the matrimonial cage were removed, and many a canary fled.

But, according to Ruth Sutherland of Relate, that also means now, in later life, baby boomers face "a looming crisis … totally overlooked by government". They may have fewer intact relationships and a thinner financial cushion on which to look for support when they become vulnerable.

According to the Relate-NPC report, while the number of divorces is falling in every age group, the number of "silver splitters" is rising. In the late 1970s, a third of marriages ended in divorce before the 50th wedding anniversary. By 2005, that had risen to more than 45% while cohabitation has an even higher rate of attrition. One in three children will see their parents separate. "Blended families" including step-relationships add to the complication. Sons and daughters, second wives, husbands and partners – all of mature years – can still behave like children when family ties turn into Chinese knots. Add to that the inevitable loss of bereavement, and for those aged over 70, in particular, even the most gregarious, will see their circle of friends shrink.

So what is to be done? Relate offers recommendations, including a minister for ageing; health checks on relationships (depends upon who is wielding the stethoscope) and greater efforts in later life to add to the circle of friends (although one Ipsos-Mori poll shows that only 4% of the over 50s rate making new friends).

What the report irritatingly fails to point out is that an attitude of mind is crucial. Predict a pessimistic "looming crisis" and it will undoubtedly happen. A minister for ageing would have no budget, no clout and no seat in cabinet. Instead of encouraging each ministerial department – housing, health, communities to consider ageing as a natural continuum of its brief – it would allow them all to continue in their Peter Pan position and park any concerns on the secretary for senior citizens' very small and wizened desk.

What the report also omits is that the baby boomers are nothing if not inventive. The plot of 50 shades of silver grey has yet to unfold. So far, that has consisted of developing every kind of device known to man to deny that ageing is even taking place. But there is more to come.

Ageing is no longer a process tied to chronological age – the 60-year-old first-time father springs to mind. But it does trigger a physical and mental change of mind that eventually impacts on even the most ardent of age-deniers as time runs out. Because the baby boomers are "the pig in the python" according to demographers – a large group of people of similar age causing a bulge in population statistics that moves through the demographic cycle – they have left an impact in each decade through which they passed by the sheer weight of their numbers and financial clout. How they meet the challenge of ageing well – with or without a partner, in or out of love – is therefore of interest to us all.

Last year, Al and Tipper Gore divorced in the US after 40 years of marriage. Forty years is no mean feat. And still time for a second go. Why do people separate after a lifetime together? The reasons are as diverse as they are well rehearsed. Once the children are gone, silence may set in and boredom creep from the closet. Or it might be a case of: "Is that all there is?" And good enough is no longer strong enough; or one partner wants adventure and the other prefers more of the same. "It's not just about what you want to do," says Penny Mansfield of the relationship charity One Plus One. "It's also about what you are scared of changing."

In his 2003 book Aging Well, George Vaillant, an American psychiatrist, drew lessons from three longitudinal studies that followed 824 people – the parents of the baby boomers – for more than 60 years. He was fascinated by why some became "sad sick" as the years progressed and others "happy well". One of the studies selected a Harvard group for their soundness of mind. Yet a third had suffered mental illness by their 50s. "They were normal when I picked them," one researcher told Vaillant, "It must have been the psychiatrists who screwed them up." Childhood isn't decisive. How you start out, Vaillant learned, is no indicator of where you will end up.

He looked at those people, male and female, who had fared well emotionally as octogenarians and saw patterns in their 50s that gave signals. They were in a stable relationship, did not smoke, drank little, exercised, had a normal weight and had the maturity to handle emotional issues well, "and make a lemon into lemonade". Comfortable in their own skins, they would not have mouthed the words of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman: "I still feel kind of temporary about myself."

It is this "social aptitude" or emotional literacy that Vaillant discovered, not intellectual brilliance, or income or parental social class or genes that leads to successful ageing – that is being rich in well being and not alone.

Some of the wealthy in his studies died alone, prematurely and miserably just like a number of the poorest.

As you age, Vaillant advised: "Don't try to think less of yourself … try to think of yourself less." That, of course, may mean breaking the habit of a lifetime for some of the baby boomers. But it's worth a try.

Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/29/baby-boomers-old-age-lonely

The Baling spirit lives on

Published by Malaysiakini on 3 June 2013.

Thirty-nine years ago, a little-known incident in Baling caused a seismic shift in Malaysian politics, but very few Malaysians are aware of the incident or realise its significance and the impact it created. If the full details of this incident had been divulged in 1974, the government might have fallen... 

The Baling event referred to is not the historic meeting in 1955 of Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was the head of the Malayan government and Chin Peng, the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

Nor was it the Memali Incident of 1985, the shameful massacre of a defenceless community by forces loyal to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government.

The Baling Incident (BI) which occurred in 1974 was shrouded in secrecy. It was a series of many small expressions of the bottled-up feelings of anger, betrayal, fear and resentment, of the rural poor. 

In present-day Malaysia, the rakyat participated in democracy marches and rallies against oppression, injustice and the dictatorial rule of Najib and the BN government. In 1974, it was Abdul Razak, Najib’s father, who faced similar marches against social injustices. 

The root cause of the BI was abject poverty and starvation. The rubber smallholders faced ruin when the global price of rubber plummeted. The farmers could not cope with the rising cost of living and rural families had to forage for food in the jungles.

Bizarrely, in 1974 Abdul Razak announced in Parliament that the civil servants’ allowance would be increased by 50 percent, from RM1,000 to RM1,500.

When news broke of the deaths of a few children from eating ubi gadong, a type of poisonous wild yam, to stave off hunger pangs, the social unrest reached a tipping point. At its peak, around 25,000 of the rural poor took to the streets. 

Like father, like son; both Abdul Razak and Najib unleashed the might of the FRU and the police on peaceful protesters. Najib is a politician without imagination, but he knew that brutal action had served his father well. 

A dark chapter in our history

In 2013 Najib merely employed his father’s tried and tested methods of retaliation. The consequences of 1974 opened a dark chapter in our history. 

Then, like now, information was heavily censored. Abdul Razak did not want the rakyat to know that an uprising had occurred in Kedah. Five years earlier, the country had been overwhelmed by the May 13 clashes. The Chinese were convenient scapegoats.

Abdul Razak was in a quandary. The district of Baling was mainly populated by Malays. The significance of the BI had to be suppressed. 

In the BI there was no Chinese element, or communist subversives at work. BI was social unrest - a revolt by Malay smallholders and farmers. Peaceful hunger marches throughout Baling spread outwards from Baling town, Kulim and Sik. 

News travelled fast and despite media censorship in 1974, students at Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Kolej Mara, as well as the universities’ teaching fraternity expressed their support for the uprising. They organised a series of meetings and urged the government to address the plight of the poor. 

Syed Husin Ali, then an associate professor at Universiti Malaya, said: “At first they (the students) demonstrated within their campus. The police fired tear gas but some cannisters landed on the nearby squatter settlement, injuring some children. 

“The students joined forces and gathered in the centre of KL. When the police acted against them, they took refuge in the National Mosque. Over 1,000 students were arrested and detained for a few days. Some squatters joined some students to ‘run riot’ at the highway, putting up blockades and smashing traffic lights.” 

Abdul Razak warned of tough reprisals and over 40 students and lecturers were detained under the ISA. Among them was Anwar Ibrahim, who was detained for two years. 

Syed Husin said: “I was detained for six years. I was an associate professor and considered recalcitrant for refusing to admit guilt. “I was accused of being pro-communist and the brain behind the demos. They wanted me to serve as an example to create fear among those academic staff to prevent them from following my path. I think these are the reasons why I was incarcerated up to six years.” 

The education minister then was Mahathir. He and Ungku Aziz, the vice-chancellor of UM at the time, produced the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA). 

The UUCA has effectively curbed students’ freedom and deprived universities of their autonomy. Students and lecturers are fearful of speaking out on issues which are deemed sensitive to BN. Our universities have never recovered from Mahathir’s despicable legacy. 

Abdul Razak, his peers and successors’ children were sent abroad for their education, whilst the rest of the rakyat received a stifling Malaysian schooling. 

Baling not an isolated incident

In 2013, history repeated itself and the nightmare which descended on Najib’s father is now his own. Today, Najib has warned that he would get tough with students Adam Adli Abdul Halim and Safwan Anang as well as other dissenters. The ISA has been repealed, so what has Najib up his sleeve? 

Let this column warn both Najib and Mahathir, the joint rulers of Malaysia that their efforts to subjugate the rakyat will not succeed. Baling was not an isolated incident.

Prior to BI, there were unreported acts of unrest against the BN government. In Tasik Utara, Johor Baru, poor urban Malays camped in front the residence of then MB Osman Saat to voice their disgust at being cheated of housing and land. 

In 1974 and in 2013, the Malays opposed the government, but Najib has created a red herring and claimed that in GE13, it was a Chinese tsunami. It is not! It is Malaysians fighting tyranny. 

The wounds which Abdul Razak, Mahathir and Najib opened are still festering. Our awareness of their crimes and of their despotic rule are more acute.

Their policies have cast long shadows and there will be more Baling incidents until Najib and the illegitimate BN government step down.

---

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak', this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

Read more here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/231865

#RCISabah: Citizenship-for-votes probe stirs outrage

By Julia Zappei. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 23 January 2013.

For years, charges have swirled that a secret Malaysian scheme gave citizenship to huge numbers of illegal migrants in a politically important state in exchange for votes for the ruling coalition. Now, an inquiry is finally airing detailed allegations that have the government on the defensive ahead of elections that pose the greatest threat yet faced by the ruling bloc that has controlled Malaysia for 56 years.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry opened last week with ex-officials admitting they gave citizenship to Filipinos and Indonesians in resource-rich Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on jungly Borneo island. One former official said some 100,000 identity cards (ICs) were handed out in 1993 ahead of a crucial state election, Malaysian news reports said. Another admitted signing hundreds of thousands of ICs in the 1990s.

The testimony has revived accusations of treason against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is alleged to have masterminded the scheme to shore up support for his government. As head of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, Mahathir dominated Malaysia for 22 years with his famously hardball political tactics until he resigned in 2003.

Current prime minister Najib Tun Razak is now battling to rally support for the BN ahead of polls he is expected to call within months, in an era when the coalition’s power grip has slipped. But outrage over “Project IC”, as the alleged scheme is widely known, is undercutting his claims that the national electoral roll is free of fraud.

The opposition and election-reform advocates allege massive fraud in voter rolls nationwide and have seized on the testimony as proof of government vote-tampering. “What we are concerned about is that this is still going on. That’s what we want to stop,” S Ambiga, head of the clean-elections activist coalition known as “Bersih”, or “Clean”, told a press conference Tuesday.

The outlines of “Project IC” have been whispered about for three decades and have bolstered the view of Sabah as a reliable “fixed deposit” of votes for the BN to help it weather challenges elsewhere. The government allegedly targeted Muslims from neighbouring Indonesia and the predominantly Muslim southern Philippines.

Sudden growth in population

More than half of Malaysia’s 29 million people are Muslim ethnic Malays, but indigenous tribes, many of them Christian, predominate in Sabah. They have bridled at the foreigners, blaming them for crime, drug abuse and economic competition, and alleging their homeland was being stolen.

Najib last June gave in to calls for an inquiry, but the move could backfire, said Ibrahim Suffian, head of independent polling firm Merdeka Centre, calling the revelations “explosive”. “It probably will create a wave of resentment and dissatisfaction among native Sabah voters. This confirms their worst fears,” he said.

The population of Sabah, a region of rugged mountains and powerful rainforest rivers that is about the size of Ireland, has surged from some 600,000 citizens in 1970 to more than three million — more than double the national growth rate.

Malaysia’s opposition alleges some 700,000 may have illegally received ICs. A one-time battleground state, Sabah has been pro-BN since the mid-1990s. The once all-powerful BN suffered a shock setback in 2008 national elections, and analysts predict a close fight with a formidable opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy premier, raising fears that government fraud could play a role.

Najib insists the national electoral system is clean and has highlighted recent reforms such as plans to use indelible ink to prevent multiple voting. “Let the commission do its work and find out,” Najib was quoted as saying by state media, warning against a rush to judgement in Sabah.

Mahathir, still a vocal and influential conservative figure, has denied the existence of “Project IC,” but admitted at a press conference last week that foreigners in Sabah were given citizenship, saying no laws were broken. No one has yet directly implicated him before the commission, but witnesses said last week they were directed by officials close to Mahathir. There has been no testimony yet suggesting “Project IC” was still active.

Hearings will continue for weeks, with some 170 witnesses expected to testify. The commission has until late March to investigate. The commission’s final recommendations are not legally binding, but could lead to pressure for a crackdown on illegals. -AFP

Link: 

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/01/23/citizenship-for-votes-probe-stirs-outrage/

Related reports:

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=46666:own-up-dr-m-rci-testimony-confirms-hes-responsible-for-sabah-citizen-for-sale-problems-azmin&Itemid=2

Two of Mahathir's closest confidantes - Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin, his political secretary at that time, and Megat Junid, the late former Deputy home Minister - were implicated by witnesses who testified before the RCI a day ago.

"After receiving instructions from then-Sabah NRD chief Abdul Rauf Sani, we were ordered to go to KL and were placed at Pak Aziz Shamsuddin's residence in Kampung Pandan," Malaysiakini reported Yakup Damsah, who was the Tamparuli NRD chief at that time, as saying.

According to Yakup, they were tasked to sign the identity cards that were to be issued to the immigrants, which were subsequently laminated at the NRD headquarters in Petaling Jaya and shipped to the Kota Kinabalu NRD for distribution. "We were briefed about our special assignment by a person not known to us, named 'Mat Nor'. He told us to issue blue identity cards to the immigrants," Yakup added.

He told the RCI his group signed a total of 40,000 blue identity cards within a month, based on the filled up application forms provided to them. "We did not look at the forms in detail, we just signed... We know that they were immigrants, mostly Indonesians and Filipinos, but we did not know whether they were legal immigrants or not," he said.

Yakup also said the intent of their action was to increase the number of Muslim voters in Sabah and to ensure that these people would vote for Umno in the 1994 Sabah state election.

As for the late Megat Junid, former Sabah NRD Ramli Kamaruddin told the RCI  he received personal instructions from the deputy home minister to issue identity card receipts to immigrants using the details of people who were already in the electoral roll but had never voted before...

"These are the real traitors of the country. People who sell citizenship for the sake of political power," Azmin slammed Mahathir and the latter's Umno party.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/01/23/anwar-no-problem-testifying-in-rci/

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said he would have no problem testifying in the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) probing the ‘Project IC’ in Sabah. “I have no problem whatsoever. I knew for a long time the project was under the prime minister, that it did not involve a Cabinet process, so it is the full responsibility of the prime minister and finance minister.

Clearing the confusion on the use of Allah in Bahasa Bibles

From Dr SK Teoh. Published by Free Malaysia Today on 31 December 2012.

Many Muslims and even some Christians have misunderstood the use of “Allah” in Bahasa Bibles.  To clarify some of the confusion:

• The BM Bible or the Alkitab is not translated from the English Bible but from the original languages, i.e.  Hebrew and Greek.
• The Hebrew word for God is El or Elohim (similar root as Ilah in Arabic) and YHWH or Yahweh for LORD. The Greek words are Theo for God and Kurios for Lord.
• Biblical translators all over the world have used the local language terms for Elohim and Yahweh e.g. God and LORD in English; Dios and Senor in Spanish, Shangti and Zhu in Chinese
• For 15 centuries, Arabic Bibles have used Allah for God and Rab for Lord (predate Islam)
• The first Malay translation of the Bible was made in 1612, and Allah was used for God and Tuhan for Lord in this and all the subsequent translations till today.
• Malay-speaking (and Iban) Christians have used the term Allah for more than 100 years in Malaya and the Borneo states in worship, prayers and reading their holy scriptures.
• Twenty million Christians in Indonesia have used Allah for years without any misunderstanding or objection.
• English Bibles nor Bibles of other languages obviously do not use the Bahasa terms.
• Forbidding the use of the term “Allah” by Christians not only infringes their rights to practise their faith but also leads to confusion. For example, is the “Tuhan” in Negara-Ku and Rukun Negara not the “Muslim God” or can Christians sing the Selangor Anthem where “Allah” is used?
• Theological  meanings between Christianity and Islam  will always be different whether the term used is “Allah” or “Tuhan” or “God”.

Link:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/12/31/clearing-the-confusion-on-the-use-of-allah-in-bahasa-bibles/

Johor State Anthem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johor_State_Anthem

Allah peliharakan Sultan
'Nugrahkan dia segala kehormatan
Sihat dan ria, kekal dan makmur
Luaskan kuasa, menaungkan kami
Rakyat dipimpini berzaman lagi
Dengan Merdeka bersatu hati
Allah berkati Johor
Allah selamatkan Sultan

Related report: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/embrace-islam-if-you-want-to-use-allah-harussani-tells-non-muslims/

Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria today told non-Muslims who insist on using the word “Allah” to refer to their Gods to convert to Islam if they refused to accept that the word belongs only to Muslims.

CS Lewis to be honoured in Poets' Corner

Published by BBC News on 22 November 2012.

A memorial stone to writer and scholar CS Lewis is to be placed in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey in 2013. A service will take place on 22 November 2013 to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Lewis will join such greats as John Keats, William Blake and TS Eliot in a tradition going back 600 years.

Vernon White, Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey, said Lewis was an "extraordinarily imaginative and rigorous thinker and writer". Lewis, he continued, "was able to convey the Christian faith in a way that made it both credible and attractive to a wide range of people". The author, he said, had "had an enduring and growing influence in our national life".

Lewis (1898-1963) is best remembered for writing The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of books that has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first instalment in the saga, was published in 1950 and has been adapted since for stage, TV and film.

Other works by the Belfast-born novelist, essayist and literary critic include The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy and the non-fiction titles Mere Christianity and Miracles. 

Former poet laureate Ted Hughes was the most recent writer to be commemorated at the Abbey with a posthumous memorial stone. His memorial was unveiled by Seamus Heaney at a service held in December last year.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20426778#TWEET383477

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

Published on 19 November 2012.

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) - Herewith the full text of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

adopted by Southeast Asian leaders Sunday:

WE, the Heads of State/Government of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as "ASEAN"), namely Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, on the occasion of the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

REAFFIRMING our adherence to the purposes and principles of ASEAN as enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, in particular the respect for and promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance;

REAFFIRMING FURTHER our commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and other international human rights instruments to which ASEAN Member States are parties;

REAFFIRMING ALSO the importance of ASEAN’s efforts in promoting human rights, including the Declaration of the Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the ASEAN Region;

CONVINCED that this Declaration will help establish a framework for human rights cooperation in the region and contribute to the ASEAN community building process;

HEREBY DECLARE AS FOLLOWS:

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of humanity.

2. Every person is entitled to the rights and freedoms set forth herein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, gender, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, disability or other status.

3. Every person has the right of recognition everywhere as a person before the law.  Every person is equal before the law. Every person is entitled without discrimination to equal protection of the law.

4. The rights of women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, and vulnerable and marginalised groups are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

5. Every person has the right to an effective and enforceable remedy, to be determined by a court or other competent authorities, for acts violating the rights granted to that person by the constitution or by law.

6. The enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms must be balanced with the performance of corresponding duties as every person has responsibilities to all other individuals, the community and the society where one lives. It is ultimately the primary responsibility of all ASEAN Member States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

7. All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. All human rights and fundamental freedoms in this Declaration must be treated in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis. At the same time, the realisation of human rights must be considered in the regional and national context bearing in mind different political, economic, legal, social, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds.

8. The human rights and fundamental freedoms of every person shall be exercised with due regard to the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others.  The exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others, and to meet the just requirements of national security, public order, public health, public safety, public morality, as well as the general welfare of the peoples in a democratic society.

9. In the realisation of the human rights and freedoms contained in this Declaration, the principles of impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity, non-discrimination, non-confrontation and avoidance of double standards and politicisation, should always be upheld. The process of such realisation shall take into account peoples’ participation, inclusivity and the need for accountability.

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

10. ASEAN Member States affirm all the civil and political rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Specifically, ASEAN Member States affirm the following rights and fundamental freedoms:

11. Every person has an inherent right to life which shall be protected by law. No person shall be deprived of life save in accordance with law.

12. Every person has the right to personal liberty and security. No person shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, search, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty.

13. No person shall be held in servitude or slavery in any of its forms, or be subject to human smuggling or trafficking in persons, including for the purpose of trafficking in human organs.

14. No person shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

15. Every person has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. Every person has the right to leave any country including his or her own, and to return to his or her country.

16. Every person has the right to seek and receive asylum in another State in accordance with the laws of such State and applicable international agreements.

17. Every person has the right to own, use, dispose of and give that person’s lawfully acquired possessions alone or in association with others. No person shall be arbitrarily deprived of such property.

18. Every person has the right to a nationality as prescribed by law. No person shall be arbitrarily deprived of such nationality nor denied the right to change that nationality.

19. The family as the natural and fundamental unit of society is entitled to protection by society and each ASEAN Member State. Men and women of full age have the right to marry on the basis of their free and full consent, to found a family and to dissolve a marriage, as prescribed by law.

20. (1) Every person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a fair and public trial, by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, at which  the accused is guaranteed the right to defence. 

      (2) No person shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed and no person shall suffer greater punishment for an offence than was prescribed by law at the time it was committed.

      (3) No person shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he or she has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each ASEAN Member State.

21. Every person has the right to be free from arbitrary interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence including personal data, or to attacks upon that person’s honour and reputation. Every person has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

22. Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. All forms of intolerance, discrimination and incitement of hatred based on religion and beliefs shall be eliminated.

23. Every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information, whether orally, in writing or through any other medium of that person’s choice.

24. Every person has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

25. (1)  Every person who is a citizen of his or her country has the right to participate in the government of his or her country, either directly or indirectly through democratically elected representatives, in accordance with national law.

       (2) Every citizen has the right to vote in periodic and genuine elections, which should be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors, in accordance with national law.

ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

26. ASEAN Member States affirm all the economic, social and cultural rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Specifically, ASEAN Member States affirm the following:

27. (1) Every person has the right to work, to the free choice of employment, to enjoy just, decent and favourable conditions of work and to have access to assistance schemes for the unemployed. 

      (2) Every person has the right to form trade unions and join the trade union of his or her choice for the protection of his or her interests, in accordance with national laws and regulations.

      (3) No child or any young person shall be subjected to economic and social exploitation. Those who employ children and young people in work harmful to their morals or health, dangerous to life, or likely to hamper their normal development, including their education should be punished by law.  ASEAN Member States should also set age limits below which the paid employment of child labour should be prohibited and punished by law.

28. Every person has the right to an adequate standard of living for himself or herself and his or her family including:

a.The right to adequate and affordable food, freedom from hunger and access to safe and nutritious food;

b. The right to clothing;

c. The right to adequate and affordable housing;

d. The right to medical care and necessary social services;

e. The right to safe drinking water and sanitation;

f. The right to a safe, clean and sustainable environment.

29. (1)  Every person has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical, mental and reproductive health, to basic and affordable health-care services, and to have access to medical facilities.

       (2)  The ASEAN Member States shall create a positive environment in overcoming stigma, silence, denial and discrimination in the prevention, treatment, care and support of people suffering from communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

30. (1)  Every person shall have the right to social security, including social insurance where available, which assists him or her to secure the means for a dignified and decent existence.

     (2) Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period as determined by national laws and regulations before and after childbirth. During such period, working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits.

      (3)  Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. Every child, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

31. (1) Every person has the right to education.

    (2) Primary education shall be compulsory and made available free to all. Secondary education in its different forms shall be available and accessible to all through every appropriate means. Technical and vocational education shall be made generally available. Higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

      (3)  Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of his or her dignity. Education shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in ASEAN Member States.  Furthermore, education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in their respective societies, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial and religious groups, and enhance the activities of ASEAN for the maintenance of peace.

32.  Every person has the right, individually or in association with others, to freely take part in cultural life, to enjoy the arts and the benefits of scientific progress and its applications and to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or appropriate artistic production of which one is the author.

33.  ASEAN Member States should take steps, individually and through regional and international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights recognised in this Declaration.

34.  ASEAN Member States may determine the extent to which they would guarantee the economic and social rights found in this Declaration to non-nationals, with due regard to human rights and the organisation and resources of their respective national economies.

RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT

35. The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and the peoples of ASEAN are entitled to participate in, contribute to, enjoy and benefit equitably and sustainably from economic, social, cultural and political development. The right to development should be fulfilled so as to meet equitably the developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations. While development facilitates and is necessary for the enjoyment of all human rights, the lack of development may not be invoked to justify the violations of internationally recognised human rights.

36. ASEAN Member States should adopt meaningful people-oriented and gender responsive development programmes aimed at poverty alleviation, the creation of conditions including the protection and sustainability of the environment for the peoples of ASEAN to enjoy all human rights recognised in this Declaration on an equitable basis, and the progressive narrowing of the development gap within ASEAN.

37. ASEAN Member States recognise that the implementation of the right to development requires effective development policies at the national level as well as equitable economic relations, international cooperation and a favourable international economic environment. ASEAN Member States should mainstream the multidimensional aspects of the right to development into the relevant areas of ASEAN community building and beyond, and shall work with the international community to promote equitable and sustainable development, fair trade practices and effective international cooperation.

RIGHT TO PEACE

38. Every person and the peoples of ASEAN have the right to enjoy peace within an ASEAN framework of security and stability, neutrality and freedom, such that the rights set forth in this Declaration can be fully realised.  To this end, ASEAN Member States should continue to enhance friendship and cooperation in the furtherance of peace, harmony and stability in the region.

COOPERATION IN THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

39. ASEAN Member States share a common interest in and commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms which shall be achieved through, inter alia, cooperation with one another as well as with relevant national, regional and international institutions/organisations, in accordance with the ASEAN Charter.

40. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to perform any act aimed at undermining the purposes and principles of ASEAN, or at the destruction of any of the rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in this Declaration and international human rights instruments to which ASEAN Member States are parties.

Adopted by the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN Member States at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this Eighteenth Day of November in the Year Two Thousand and Twelve, in one single original copy in the English Language.

Link:

http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ODYwNjEzMDgzNTIzODcwMGIyNTNiZGRkZWM4ODM0