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.

津贴危机

我国国阵政府终于在诗巫国会议席蝉联失败后，打破沉默，为大马人民烧来一个天大的好消息-那就是在不久的将来在各种政府的补贴上逐一减少，甚至是取消一些领域的津贴。根据首相署部长依德利斯贾拉所说，若不减少补贴，9年后的马来西亚将会面临高达11580亿令吉的国债而破产，步上希腊的后尘，搞不好还要落魄到要向国际货币基金(IMF)伸手要钱的地步。听到此话一出，大家都在担心事情的严重性。

依德利斯贾拉是何等人物？他的话到底有多少份量？我相信大家都还记得他曾经是鼎鼎大名的马航前首席执行员。他虽然在位不久，但却以惊人的魄力将曾经荣获世界模范航空公司美誉的马航转亏为盈，成为轰动一时的佳话。因此，许多人都认为他的话具备一定的可靠性。谈到补贴调整的利与弊，我相信大家都通过报章和网络媒体看得一清二楚。不过我相信大家的心里与我有一样的问题。

之前也是财政部长的首相纳吉不是高调地说马来西亚的经济成长率不是大幅度地提高了吗？他不是说到大马有望成为高收入的先进国吗？他不是慷慨地分别在乌雪派了3百万令吉帮助华小与诗巫承诺了5百万令吉来治水吗？他的下属-马华女强人黄燕燕医生不是在中国砸了几千万令吉来建造一个“夜市型”(Pasar Malam Style)的米南加保(Minangkabau)世博馆来响应今年以主题“城市，让生活更美好”的上海世博吗？这些钱从何得来？这一系列的动作不都显示了大马傲人的财富吗？

有人说，若政府落实这些新的补贴机制，这将会是纳吉担任大马首相的坟墓；也有人说，在施行新的津贴制度后，大马经济将会出现一番新景象。此时进展如何，这就考验纳吉的智慧了。大家拭目以待吧！

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.

FUEL CRISIS

As usual, after the General Elections, fuel prices increase again. This issue is no longer a hot topic for the entire nation anymore because it meets our　nation's expectation. If we refer back to the history, perhaps one would say this has become the trend of BN government after every General Elections. However, things that matter to us right now is the government's credibility. Before PM Abdullah announced the petrol hikes starting from the 5th of June, Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Sharir did promise that the government will not increase petrol price but within the following 24 hours, BN government proudly presented a wonderful gift to the whole nation, which created an unforgettable sweet memory (nightmare) to all the fellow workers of petrol station in Malaysia.

June 12 midnight........
1.Petrol ( RM1.92 ......... RM 2.70 )
2.Diesel ( RM1.58 ......... RM 2.58 )

For many people, especially economists, it's reasonable that government increases the fuel prices due to the petrol hikes in its world market. However, as oil exporter, isn't it improper to make such a disaster all of a sudden ? After comparing with other countries (especially oil consumer like USA), many feel that it is ridiculous to increase our burden as Malaysian in this way. The opposition started to voice out their dissatisfaction and they began to question on this matter through different methods. Why is it that there　is no earlier announcement made to inform the public regarding this plan? Why the government does not take this step by step? The explanation given by government was made clear and simple, 'We have to follow the global petrol market, if the government will suffer great loss if we continue to provide subsidy for petrol price.' As everyone knows, once the fuel price increases, price for everything will also increase. Nowadays, many unethical business fellows will take advantage to find trouble with our wallets. However, the BN government is smart enough to handle this by employing 2000 unemployed graduates to perform 'spot check' in order to ensure that those people don't over-increase price of goods such asrices, salt and etc. This shows that the government does care for civilians' needs and welfare. Thus, be proud for being a Malaysian !

Example-

1 packet of flour (1kg) = 5.00(before) 5.20(after)

Then, the packet of flour is used for the following:

1 plate of fried mee 3.50(before)3.70(after)

1 piece of cake 0.50(before)0.60(after)

Can anyone recall the joke made by our respective DPM a few years ago when the same scenario happened? It　was indeed　very comforting for everyone, because this indicates that poor people will be the smartest group in Malaysia.

'Maybe this will make help consumers to be wiser in purchasing things that are needed only, instead of spending thrift unnecessarily.'

That is the voice of the people.

THE AFTERMATH

The 12th General Elections has now become a hot topic of the public and the issue is so popular that one can hear it everywhere, even in the public toilet whereas the central government started to question each other ‘Why would this happen?’ Apart from having their unexplainable curiosity, some began to blame one another for the shocking defeat. They should have realised the importance of this incident for them to learn the lessons from their past mistakes, instead of blaming others for the poor election result.

In fact, this phenomenon is still comprehensible because according to some experienced senior politicians, 'pointing at each other' is always a common practice or culture in Malaysian politics. Therefore, it is not surprising for the public to see BN leaders like Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, Deputy PM Najib and formal Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh would still ask all the fellow Malaysians to stay calm and not to worry over the changes in state government. It seems like they were still unaware of the needs of the whole nation to change.

That is the voice of the people.

FOREWORD

This blog is created in conjunction with the Malaysian 12th General Elections which brought a 'political tsunami' to the country for the first time since Malaysia gained its independence in the year 1957. This is the first time in the history of Malaysia that the Barisan Nasional (National Front) government not only lost its administration in five states (Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor), but also lost its 2/3 majority in the Parliamentary seats. Thus, all Malaysians are now looking forward towards a better change in the government.

This blog consists of articles which collect news, evidence and opinions from all kinds of media, in which some may seem to be unacceptable to certain group of people. Anyway, we apologize at the first place for any contents of articles that may sounds offensive but our aim is to get the firsthand and truthful news for readers without any intention to blaspheme and slander persona involved or even cause disruption and tension to the society. Thus, there is no reason for any form of legal action to be taken against the author and commentators. Thanks for your cooperation and please do not hesitate to voice out your comments.