BERSIH 2.0

In conjunction with the BERSIH 2.0 event, this blog is now officially relaunched to view the latest political arena in Malaysia. Firstly, why BERSIH? The answer is simple, because it’s KOTOR!

Many of us believe that BERSIH 2.0 will remind us of what happened on the 10th of November 2007, when the Bersih Rally was first held in Kuala Lumpur (Dataran Merdeka and Istana Negara). The peace rally, organized by the NGOs and Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance – PKR, DAP and PAS) which was meant for good – aiming to reform the electoral process in Malaysia was proudly declared illegal, and worse still, the unarmed patriots, the innocence were treated well by the ruling government (Barisan Nasional) when the Malaysian riot police, or the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) served them with tear gas and chemical burst. This special response team, which supposed to be deployed to counter any emergency and public unrest were effectively used by the government to promote ‘democracy, Malaysian style’, as reported by Al-Jazeera English, an international 24-hour English news based in the middle east.

From the Youtube video showing the phone interview entitled ‘Menteri Bodoh Zainuddin jawab Aljazeera’, we can see the wisdom of the country’s Information Minister at that time, Zainuddin Maidin, as he proudly claimed that there’s democracy in the country when BERSIH was illegalized and the participants were dispersed with tear gas and water. This smart former chief editor of Utusan Malaysia (Malaysian Courier)- the so-called ‘penyebar fikiran rakyat’ (some call it ‘pencemar fikiran rakyat’), the most popular Malay language pro-government newspapers in Malaysia due to its truthful, reliable and independent news, had again successfully embarrassed the country by mocking at the Al Jazeera for taking the source of news from the opposition and not the government. He further added that it was unnecessary to hold the rally for the electoral system in Malaysia is clean enough to be relied on. As a result of the mass arrest and prosecutions done by the authorities, the Barisan Nasional government created a memorable history in Malaysia by losing its 2/3 majority in the general elections 2008, securing only 57% of the popular votes.

Tomorrow, 9th of July 2011, BERSIH 2.0 will be held officially, not just in Malaysia, but also throughout the world (United Kingdom, United States of America, Scotland, Ireland, France, Cabana, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and etc.) Despite the support, assistance and effort provided by the ruling government, such as demonizing the peace rally and its organizers Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and the committee members for being rebellious to the King and the country, accusing the opposition for attempting to overthrow the government through riots, banning the 91 influential figures from entering Kuala Lumpur, ‘protecting’ citizens with yellow shirts in police stations, having the police to set up roadblocks to smoothen the traffic flow and even sending 'encouraging' emails to the students (JPA scholars) in oversea, our Malaysian society has given good respond to participate in the gathering.

Many may question the possible result that may unlikely to take place after the event, in terms of bringing best benefit to the public and the country. However, what is more critical to us to understand is the importance of maintaining good governance in a country, in terms of credibility, accountability and transparency (CAT). Thus, we must not underestimate every single vote in our hands, for it is the collective power formed by every citizen that determines the bright future of a country. Every citizen has the right to voice out the weakness and shortcomings in government’s administration as it is indeed the citizens’ rights to decide the best for them and their children.

Some wise BN politicians gently ‘advised’ citizens not to be tooled and be fooled by the oppositions to grab the country’s administrative power, but are we ready to be used by the present authorities for a better country with ‘clean’ politicians and corruption-free government, promoting the freedom of speech and rights with Internal Security Act (ISA), respecting the freedom of press by acquiring the ownerships of all the main stream medias such as newspapers and televisions channels in Malaysia? Remember, the first BERSIH was able to attract more than 30000 Malaysians and tomorrow, BERSIH 2.0 is expected to draw more than 100000 patriots.

We are not alone, just that if you are attending this event in Malaysia, you must be extra careful, lest you may end up in police lockup, hospital intensive care unit (ICU) or …

Last but not least, have you registered as a voter?

“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - John Dalberg-Acton

That is the voice of the people.

CERITA SIBU

Sejak bermulanya pilihanraya kecil kawasan parlimen Sibu, kita percaya bahawa semua rakyat Malaysia sudah pasti tahu bahawa wujudnya satu tempat yang dikenali sebagai Sibu. Bagi penduduk di Malaysia Timur (Sabah dan Sarawak), Sibu adalah antara bandar utama yang penting dan terkenal dalam aspek pentadbiran, pentadbiran serta pelancongan. Akan tetapi, berapa ramai orang yang betul-betul tahu tentang sejarah Sibu ?

Pada zaman 1900-an, pembangunan bandar Sibu bermula dengan kedatangan saudagar-saudagar Cina dari Foochow, China yang diketuai oleh Wong Nai Siong. Setelah beliau mengadakan perbincangan dan perjanjian dengan pihak British, iaitu Gabenor James Brooke pada masa itu, perubahan yang besar telah berlaku di Sibu sehingga bandar itu menjadi tempat yang terpenting selain Kuching dan Miri. Antara tempat yang membanggakan penduduk Sibu termasuk pasar pusat Sibu (Sibu Central Market), candi Tua Pek Kong (大伯公庙) dan papan penunjuk tempat yang mempunyai bahasa Cina.

Hari ini, kalau kita lihat keadaan Sibu,kebanyakan penduduknya masih adalah kaum Cina yang mencapai 60%, diikuti dengan kaum Iban dan Melanau. Selain itu, penduduk Sibu juga telah biasa dengan satu tradisi yang diwarisi sejak dahulu, iaitu banjir semasa hujan lebat. Pada masa yang sama, kita dapat lihat perbezaan taraf kehidupan, kesihatan dan kemudahan awam adalah sangat tinggi. Semua masalah ini dapat diselesaikan dengan serta-merta oleh Perdana Menteri kita yang berwibawa, Najib dalam insiden apabila beliau dengan murah hatinya menjanjikan RM 500,0000 kepada penduduk-penduduk Rejang Park tetapi dengan syarat Barisan Nasional menang dalam pilihanraya kecil Sibu.

Dalam perkara ini, kita tertanya-tanya tentang persoalan yang sama seperti dalam kisah Hulu Selangor.Pihak mana yang patut bertanggungjawab ? Bukankan setiap tahun kerajaan kita yang kaya akan memperuntukkan sejumlah wang kepada wakil-wakil rakyat untuk membantu memajukan kawasan masing-masing ? Mengapakah perkara yang membanggakan rakyat Malaysia ini boleh berlaku ?

Kawasan tempat terlalu besar ? Bilangan penduduk terlalu ramai ? Jumlah wang terlalu sedikit ? ‘Feng Shui’ tak baik atau Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud terlalu tua ? Saya rasa soalan-soalan ini terlalu sukar untuk dijawab.

Keputusan pilihanraya kecil Sibu sudah menjadi kenyataan, iaitu Wong Ho Leng dari DAP telah berjaya menawan semula kawasan tersebut sejak 1982 dengan memperolehi 18845undi dan Robert Lau Hui Yew dari SUPP mendapat 18447 undi. Akhirnya Kerajaan BN telah gagal menawan hati masyarakat di Sibu dengan kekurangan 398 undi, iaitu hasil daripada perbelanjaaan lebih daripada seratus juta. Tetapi apa yang saya tidak akan lupakan adalah makanan tradisi Sibu yang masih kekal sama seperti Kampua noodles(干盘面) dan Dian Mian Hu(鼎边糊). Saya berharap keadaan penduduk-penduduk di Sibu dapat berubah dan sekiranya saya berpeluang, saya pasti akan melawat ke Sibu untuk mencuba pelbagai jenis makanan tradisi ini.

PERTANDINGAN BERMULA LAGI

Nama Pertandingan : Pilihanraya Kecil
Tempat : Sibu, Sarawak
Tarikh: 8 – 16 h/b Mei 2010
Nama peserta-peserta:

UTAMA
1.Robert Lau Hui Yew (BN – SUPP)
2.Wong Ho Leng (PR – DAP)
Kedua-dua wakil ini adalah calon utama kerana mereka mendapat sokongan pihak masing-masing.
(BN- UMNO, MCA, MIC dan GERAKAN manakala PR – PKR, DAP dan PAS)

SAMPINGAN
3.Narawi Haron (bebas)
Wakil ini adalah calon sampingan kerana dia dikatakan pasti kalah.

Barisan Nasional berlawan dengan Pakatan Rakyat
Pusingan Pertama
Kedua-dua calon adalah peguam yang mempunyai latar belakang profesional.
1 : 1

Pusingan Kedua
BN mendapat sambutan daripada 3000 penyokong, berbanding dengan PR yang hanya mempunyai kira-kira 300 penyokong pada hari penamaan calon.
1 : 0

Pusingan Luar Biasa 1
Perdana Menteri kita, Najib yang juga Menteri Kewangan dengan murah hatinya memberi bantuan kewangan sebanyak RM 1800,0000 kepada sekolah-sekolah yang membabitkan 60 Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (RM 10 juta) di Sibu, 5 sekolah menengah persendirian Cina Sibu (RM 5 juta), Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mary Sibu (RM 1 juta) dan Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sacred Heart Sibu (RM2 juta), berbanding dengan pemimpin-pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat yang tidak mempunyai modal politik yang begitu besar.
1 : 0

Pusingan Luar Biasa 2
Perdana Menteri Najib telah mengalahkan pemimpin-pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat sekali lagi dengan memberi bantuan kewangan sebanyak RM 3000,0000 kepada masyarakat Iban yang miskin dan menjanjikan RM 500,0000 kepada penduduk Rejang Park sekiranya BN menang.
1 : 0

Pusingan Luar Biasa 3
Kehadiran Perdana Menteri Najib telah menarik perhatian daripada lebih kurang 3000 orang manakala ceramah politik yang dianjur oleh pihak DAP berjaya mendapat perhatian daripada lebih kurang 15000 orang pada malam sebelum pilihanraya kecil.
0 : 1

Pusingan Terakhir
? : ?

Kita tunggu dan lihatlah keputusan esok.

IT'S SODOMY AGAIN

About 10 years ago, Anwar Ibrahim, our Deputy Prime Minister, was arrested and imprisoned for charges of sodomy and corruption against him. These series of actions were claimed to be political motivated as its purpose was to eliminate the increasing support and influence of Anwar in the ruling government at that time. The ‘Reformasi’ (Reformation) movement was born as to protest the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim and later, this movement by the coalition of different parties formed the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) or the People’s Justice Party.

The PKR was then led by Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah, a tough and independent lady who has strong faith that one day, justice will release her husband despite many obstacles and difficulties that are unpredictable. Her dream was finally fulfilled as we could see her happiness when Anwar won in the Permatang Pauh by-election and he was appointed to be the opposition leader of the Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance), a coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS.

Today, Anwar was alleged for the sodomy trial again. This 63 year-old opposition leader was accused of sodomising his ex-political aide, a 24 year-old young man named Saiful. Despite many critiques controversial issues about this case, either nationally or internationally, the powerful prosecutors are still able to handle the professional defense counsels led by prominent criminal lawyer Karpal Singh, who is also the Chairman of the DAP. Although the defense team had tried their best to appeal and apply for the rightful evidence, they are still unable to obtain any point of advantages from the fair judge.

Looking at the current situation, many people worry that the history will repeat itself, even though they ask the same question among themselves,
'How does an old man sodomise a young man?’

That is the voice of the people.

一石三鸟三部曲

马华新任总会长拿督斯里蔡细历医生新人事新作风，破天荒邀请一向来是“超越政党，不超越政治”的三大华团领袖：华总会长方天兴，商联合总会长钟廷森与七大乡团协调委员会主席孔庆庶列席马华会长理事会，表面上是说互相交流，让双方在华社利益课题上促进彼此合作关系；然而实际上我说是司马昭之心路人皆知，让马华在饱受名声受损、名誉扫地的逆境重拾华社的信心。

第一，此举是做面子给华团领袖们，使他们深感受尊重，改变党争时的负面印象，坚固彼此关系。

第二，借此声明帮助华社，靠他们的影响力挽回华社对马华的信赖，让马华在国阵成员党中抬得起头。

第三，间接迫使行动党与华团的关系紧张，制造让人误以为行动党心胸狭窄、不以华社大局为重的假象。

蔡总老谋深算，步步为营，其城府之深，手段之高，问谁能敌，佩服佩服！

此乃人民的心声。

1 MALAYSIA

In fact, many people did not understand this concept when it was first mentioned by our Prime Minister Najib, even until today. The reason is because the whole world has already learnt that there is only one country which is known as Malaysia, and yet we as Malaysians are still unaware of that. Honestly, I am more familiar with the 'Malaysian Malaysia' promoted by the DAP for quite some time. I believe others may agree with me. All this while, we always hear the importance of this concept and how it will improve the Malaysian government in every aspect.

However, many are confused with this concept due to the impressive incidents that seem to go against the concept, such as the crisis of Perak state government, Beng Hock's case and Datuk Nasir Safar's famous quote, 'Chinese(especially women) are here(Malaysia) to sell their bodies and Indians are beggars'. Besides, we can even see the rising of the so-called non-government organisation, the Pribumi Perkasa and its potential leader, Ibrahim Ali together with the capable Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin who claimed to have embraced the '1 Malaysia' concept with his 'Malay first and Malaysian second' supporting statement. Let us all hope that no one else will get confused with this great concept, especially our respective BN leaders.

That is the voice of the people.

非谈不可，非看不可！

我相信大家从电视机节目上都有看到NTV 7最新的时事论坛节目《非谈不可》Editor's Time。它打着“是非说清楚，黑白论到底”的标语，公开讨论国阵与民联所实行的KPI政策，邀请时事政坛风云人物如教育部副部长兼马青总团长拿督魏家祥博士，太平区国会议员兼民主行动党副总财政倪可敏律师，著名时事评论员唐南发和隆雪华堂执行长陈亚才，并由当红主播李晓慧主持，成功于2月8日在隆雪华堂吸引了上千人的观赏。另一个引人关注的是魏家祥与倪可敏于2005的马华和行动党辩论时交过手，两人更是曾得过大马杰出青年奖的从政者。因此，两人在此论坛上相遇，可说是“冤家路窄”。虽然我很遗憾地错过亲身到现场给予支持，但很高兴没有错过3月18日的延播。

节目的一开始很清楚地解释KPI源自企业界，并引用SMART原则。
S=SPECIFIC 特定的
M=MEASURABLE 可以衡量的
A=ACHIEVABLE 可达至的
R=RELEVANT 有关连的
T=TIMING 时间性的

我们可以看到，论坛的开始是由魏家祥替国阵评论。他身为国阵马华称职的领袖，果然是忠心耿耿，不断地替纳吉说话，对他所施行的KPI赞不绝口，还信心满满的给他这两年内的成绩打了75分。纵然他讲得口沫横飞，似乎头头是道，可是，正所谓“有姿势，没实际”，当倪可敏一开口，他美丽的话语不攻自破。节目制作组的专业果真无以伦比，当魏博士四面楚歌时，荧幕镜头马上转离他的慈祥脸，好让他光荣的一面不在电视机前展现。机智过人的李晓慧也急忙打圆场，好让这位博学多才的博士有个下台的好阶级。倪可敏在众人面前，依然不改其本性，不断大声地数落国阵政府的不是，让观众一饱眼福。然而，有道是“有理走遍天下”，他以民联实际的方案与政策，成功赢得观众的掌声。场面的欢呼声不断，跟魏家祥所赢得的倒彩声果然不相上下，可见他俩的无论是比口才、实力和受欢迎度都是难分高低的，让人越看越过瘾。

老实说，我喜欢看这节目，并非是现场嘉宾们所提出的种种政策，而是当中所获得的乐趣，就好比魏博士无法应对难题时灿烂的笑容，倪律师幽默的讽刺以及两位评论员所引用的例子和比喻，真叫人啼笑皆非。更重要的是，我们所学到的是，强词夺理是自取其辱，实际行动乃上上之策；包装宣传只属表面，成效结果才是内涵。言尽于此，希望“非谈不可”不会因政府的赏识而成为NTV 7“非禁不可”的节目。

此乃人民的心声。

PR's CHALLENGE

When the Perak Sultan used his power to manage the religious matter, it is clearly shown that this affair was directly against decision of the Menteri Besar of Perak, Nizar and this led to the dissatisfaction of the DAP chairman, Karpal Singh. After that, he made a statement which caused him into trouble. He claimed that in his opinion as a lawyer, the Perak Sultan should not carried out his duty in that improper way. Until today, more than 20 police reports were made to put him under investigation. No doubt, in our constitution, the Sultan of each state has the right to manage any of the religious matter. However, as a prominent lawyer, there must be reasons for him to say something which would affect the cooperation of the People's Alliance (Pakatan Rakyat). This is because a majority of people misunderstood his intention to voice out his personal view.

As many can see, many Malays were not contented with him and parties like Keadilan and PAS would have to be extremely careful in handling this problem so that their cooperation with DAP would not cause them to lose support from Malays. In this critical period, we can see many BN leaders took this opportunity to accuse Pakatan leaders for not respecting Sultan and his authority. Obviously, we know why they did this. Therefore, Pakatan Rakyat would have to get ready to face any possible challenge in future by strengthening its coalition of different parties.　

That is the voice of the people.

WORLD-CLASS PARLIAMENT

In the General Elections 2008, Pakatan Rakyat (coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS) won 82 (31, 28 and 23) seats to deny BN's two-thirds majority in Parliament. BN only won 140 seats out of 222 parliamentary seats. BN candidates who were defeated by PR include Acting President of Gerakan Dr Koh Tsu Koon, MCA Vice President Donald Lim, MCA Wanita Deputy Chair Chew Mei Fun, MIC president S. Samy Vellu as well as PPP President M. Kayveas. PR also won key parliamentary constituencies located in the capital cities of several states such as Klang (Charles Santiago) Petaling Jaya Utara (Tony Pua Kiam Wee), Lembah Pantai (Nurul Izzah), Bandar Tun Razak (Khalid Ibrahim).

The first parliamentary meeting shocked all the Malaysians when words like 'Bigfoot' and 'Big Monkey' came out from the respective YBs while arguing with each other. As representatives of the poeple, they should be able to control and abstain themselves from committing sins with their mouths, for example, MP from Kinabatangan (BN- Bung Mokthar) and Pasir Mas (IND- Ibrahim Ali) should not insult MP from Bukit Gelugor (DAP- Karpal Singh) by ordering him to stand up and talk. And even after they were found guilty by doing so, they refused to apologize for their misbehave in the Parliament. If any of you could still remember, there are some NGOs who represent the disabled had made request to these MPs with the hope that they could admit their fault and promise not to offend the disabled again. However, their attitude were so bad that especially MP from Pasir Mas even shouted to them, saying that he will never apologize for he did nothing wrong. He even claimed that he did not know that MP from Bukit Gelugor could not stand when he made the statement that 'Yang Berhormat dari Bukit Gelugor telah melanggar peraturan mesyuarat kerana tidak berdiri semasa bercakap'. If you have watched the Parliament on the first day, you can see he even laughed after he stated this.

Obviously, these people did not receive any warning or punishment, even the opposition MPs have been appealing for many times. Their request did not get any clear respond from the fair and just Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin from BN government. This matter should be taken into further consideration and immediate action should also be taken against these MPs so that they would learn how to behave themselves well while serving the people. Otherwise, they will remain like naughty kids who know nothing but create troubles and problems.

That is the voice of the people.