2 Mar 2021, 19:01 Kuching
2 Mar 2021, 11:01 London
The huge allocations in the Budget running into billions will not reach the poor Malays though they were intended for them; the elite will siphon off much of it. More than 46 years of seemingly active and aggressive effort and endeavour since 1974 to lift the poor, rural Malays had failed miserably, simply because much of the aid didn’t reach them but went into the pockets of greedy politicians. This so-called approach to uplift the poor Malays has failed miserably and only created hundreds of Malay millionaires who are politicians.
The Malays are allocated RM11.1 bn for “bumiputera development”, compared to RM100m for the Indian community’s socioeconomic development… The RM100m allocation for the Indian community works out to RM50 per person per year, or RM4 per month or a miserable 14 sen per day!
The estimated 7.4 million Chinese are treated no better. They are provided RM177m. A simple calculation reveals the miserly sum the Chinese are entitled to under the Budget: RM24 per person per year; RM2 per month or 7 sen per day!..
A third group of people – the most exploited in their country of origin – are the Orang Asli, the most dispossessed and deprived of all citizens of Malaysia. They do not receive what they are entitled to as the original people of Malaya. It is to our utter shame that they continue to be exploited, neglected and marginalised.
Anyone with a Malaysian passport is allowed Malaysian citizenship only. Yet the present government blatantly admits its determination to discriminate based on a budget that sets out to define citizens not by need or contribution, but merely according to ethnicity.
It then seeks to create a caste system based on that ethnicity to benefit those born within one group of Malaysians over those born within another. Non Malays have only one country to call their own, but they are hereby categorised as second class.
In a modern and supposedly democratic country it is shameful, backward and astonishing that a budget should seek to hand out wealth in such a deliberate and discriminatory manner based on race with one community favoured exponentially above all others. No wonder Malaysia has been exposed as the second most racist country in the world in a recent perception index.
The ultimate irony, as this article points out, is that the favouring of Malays appears based on a concept of them being ‘original’ inhabitants as opposed to ‘immigrants’. Whereas, in fact, the original Orang Asli remain the most discriminated against group of all the races in Malaysia, just as their final territories are being wrenched away by greedy business interests who are hoovering up the country’s remaining resources.
It is the deeply impoverished Orang Asli who need most but gain least from this overtly and shamefully racist budget, concocted by a handful of corrupt Malay power-mongers in order to curry favour with that community whilst at the same time channelling the actual benefits into their own pockets.
Experience tells us the majority of Malays will end up with precious little, just like everybody else, from these handouts, despite the claims that they will be privileged by this toxic budget.
The Pahang state assembly has approved a constitutional amendment that would allow up to five people to become state legislators by appointment instead of being voted into office.
This prompted the opposition to stage a walk-out in protest.
Under the Laws of the Constitution of Pahang (Second Part) (Amendment) Bill 2020, a person can be appointed as a Pahang state assembly member if the motion for the appointment is supported by seven assemblypersons and is approved by a simple majority.
It states no more than five members of the state legislative assembly may be appointed in this manner.
The amendment bill was approved with 33 votes in favour of the new measure.
For the record, there are currently 42 seats in the state legislature, of which 25 are controlled by BN and another eight by PAS. The eight opposition representatives present had walked-out of the session.
Let us be under no illusions: the present situation with UMNO is that it is under the thrall of PAS, which has been the tail wagging this Muafakat Nasional dog ever since the two former political enemies joined hands following their rejection by the electorate at GE14.
Likewise, it is no secret that the concept of democracy, namely the rule of the people and one person one vote, is of little interests to this bunch of fanatical fundamentalists, who think they should have sole charge and should rule as they like – preaching obedience and humble living to the people whilst practicing luxury for themselves.
So, it comes as little surprise that the alliance in Pahang has been doing as much as it can to undermine and suppress democracy in the state and to put their own place-men into what should be elected positions only.
They want a stranglehold over government and do not wish to be inconvenienced by democracy. They are good authoritarians who will pave the way to even worse corruption as an inevitable consequence of releasing themselves from the danger of accountability.
Whether their outrageous attempt to subvert democracy by replacing the elected chamber with place-men can possibly be permitted under the constitution, which enshrines Malaysia’s commitment to democracy, is a different matter that should be explored.
MISREPRESENTED CONTEXT
30 Oct 2020
1. I am indeed disgusted with attempts to misrepresent and take out of context what I wrote on my blog yesterday.
2. Those who did that highlighted only one part of paragraph 12 which read: “Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past.”
3. They stopped there and implied that I am promoting the massacre of the French.
4. If they had read the posting in its entirety and especially the subsequent sentence which read: “But by and large the Muslims have not applied the “eye for an eye” law. Muslims don’t. The French shouldn’t. Instead the French should teach their people to respect other people’s feelings.
5. Because of the spin and out of context presentation by those that picked up my posting, reports were made against me and I am accused of promoting violence etc on Facebook and Twitter…….. etc etc ……
http://chedet.cc/?p=3210
1. When in a hole, the advice goes, stop digging.
2. However, some arrogant political types find it impossible to ever back down, say sorry, admit fault or just shut up.
3. Despite his other qualities ex-PM4/7 has amply proven himself to be in that category by this petulant blaming of everyone but himself for his own ill-timed and inappropriate comments that were crassly designed to curry favour with Muslim groups.
4. Instead of issuing a clarification and gracious apology for those remarks he has now moaned he was meanly ‘misinterpreted’.
5. Dr Mahathir has criticised the US President over just this form of behaviour, but fails to see it in himself.
6. Right thinking people, including Muslims, are therefore embarrassed and appalled.
7. There is only one way to respond to an outrage such as took place in a church and on the street in France, which is to issue a SHORT statement of respectful condolence and to condemn violence against unarmed civilians for which there are no excuses.
8. Everyone knows that. Except, it appears, this self-important old fellow who decided it was the moment to treat the world to in depth lectures from himself about perceived historic injustices that may or may not underpin this incident, but will NEVER justify such vile acts.
9. Next advised step? Hire a decent editor and issue thanks to Twitter for intervening to warn against your inappropriate remarks.
10. Better still, retire.
Twitter has hidden former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tweets regarding developments in France for supposedly glorifying violence.
When retweeted, the offending post is replaced with the message that reads “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.
Offending Tweet
“However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
The message from Twitter also provides netizens links to either “unhide” Mahathir’s tweet, or read more about its public interest exception policy….
The offending tweet was part of a series of tweets by the Langkawi MP, which contains the same content as Mahathir’s blog post regarding French President Emmanuel Macron.
Many Twitter users expressed alarm and condemnation over Point 12 of Mahathir’s post, where he said, “Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past.”
Points 1. – 12. of the lecture by Malaysia’s former PM, which appears to seek to justify the recent spate of beheadings (including an innocent woman attending church) in the name of religion in the streets of France, are not a recommendation for his desire to return yet again to the helm as PM9.
This list from an opinionated, offensive and outspoken old politician, who nonetheless seeks to silence the views of others, is perhaps best answered by a shorter list of well known proverbs:
1. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
2. Two wrongs do not make a right.
3. Sticks and stones may break ones bones, but words will never hurt me.
4. There is no fool like an old fool.
5. Blessed are the peacemakers.
Malaysians needs a leader who will not embarrass them after all the country’s been through.
Ronnie Liu has been released on police bail after being questioned over his Facebook post which is suspected of containing seditious elements against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
News of his release was conveyed by DAP national deputy chairperson Gobind Singh Deo this afternoon.
Liu, who is the Sungai Pelek assemblyperson, was detained when he went to the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters to have his statement recorded this morning.
The arrest was to facilitate police investigations under the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act.
Yesterday, federal CID director Huzir Mohamed said police were investigating the DAP assemblyperson and three others for their social media posts.
In his posting, which Liu said was made two weeks ago, the latter had published photographs of the protest in Thailand, with the caption: “Now in Bangkok. They are saying no to the king.”
In a democracy a voter must be entitled to an opinion and be free to discuss it. Otherwise, informed debate and decisions cannot be achieved. Nor can the purpose of freedom.
This fellow is entitled to his views about ‘saying no to monarchs’ or even to disagree with monarchical government. He may in fact think a republic to be a better form of government that Malaysia should consider.
There are many in Britain who express this view, however they are argued into a minority largely owing to the overall perceived good conduct of the ‘ruling’ family. The British Queen NEVER presumes to engage in politics and policies.
Such views are not seditious they provoke useful thought and debate, which might pave the future if need be. What IS SEDITIOUS is to attempt to by-pass the Constitution, the agreed principles of elected government and the rule of law by attempting to illegitimately snatch power and impose authoritarian solutions on the country.
The people who have been doing that over the past days are clearly not the opinionated observer of events Ronnie Liu, but rather the rebel leaders fronting Malaysia’s present backdoor government who attempted to impose an unconstitutional bogus State of Emergency on the country to keep in power.
These are the individuals that the bovine bullies at Bukit Aman ought to be questioning – they will have plenty of evidence to pull together a string of cases under these outdated and draconian laws.
Perikatan Nasional has called on politicians to cast aside their differences and pursue kesatuan (union) with the people to address the Covid-19 crisis.
“PN calls all quarters – especially political leaders – to go beyond their differences and immediately embrace kesatuan with the rakyat in the battle against Covid-19 and restore the economy,” said PN information chief Azmin Ali in a statement today.
This is the first public sign by PN that it was ready to reach out across the floor since taking power in a controversial fashion in March.
PN has come under intense pressure in recent days after its leader and prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, failed to secure a proclamation of emergency, amidst talk that he was losing the support of some Umno MPs.
Meanwhile, Azmin stated PN’s reverence for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s recent decree which recognised the “success” of the federal government in handling the Covid-19 crisis.
So, Azmin says all politicians must now unite – behind himself.
He tried this originally, of course, by attempting to blitzkrieg through a bogus and illegal State of Emergency, based on suddenly inflated Covid figures that are now widely subject to considerable doubt.
This having been rejected by the rulers, instead of resigning as a discredited minority ought, Azmin is now plugging his ‘Plan B’ for PN.
Plan B involves seeking to intimidate his opponents into supporting his minority bid for absolute power by saying the Agong has “Decreed” everyone should unite – which he interprets as being behind himself. Agong’s of course do not issue decrees to politicians, they have only a capacity to advise.
Azmin’s problem is that there is only one thing that DOES completely unite just about every politician and all people of Malaysia and that is the general loathing of Azmin himself.
A cross party government of unity that excludes Azmin Ali is therefore probably the only prospect for presently uniting Parliament and it is more than likely to be the resolution to this crisis that was after all initiated by the ambitions of Azmin Ali!
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said today that voters only have themselves to blame for the country’s current political instability, as the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration’s fate remains in the balance.
The deputy communications and multimedia minister said the precarious split in the Dewan Rakyat is the result of voters choosing their representatives during the last general election, which saw Barisan Nasional (BN) trounced by Pakatan Harapan.
“And the ones that caused this situation is the people. The people are the ones who voted like they did, because they were lied to,” he claimed after attending a BN meeting at PWTC this evening.
Despite his claim, the current PN government, which also included Umno, was the result of Muhyiddin and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia allying itself with former political enemies, after which Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as prime minister.
It is a brave politician indeed who blames voters, especially when they are the ones in office.
Perhaps it is a sign of the level of chaos and confusion that reigns in PN that this Zainul broke the golden rule?
Because voters will not need reminding that at the past election they booted Zainal and his present rivalling and bickering motley group of colleagues out of office.
They were landed back with Zainal because of of a coup spearheaded by bribes, treachery and lies to the effect that the ragtag coup leaders had a ‘majority’.
They don’t. The majority of electors did not ask for this government so it is not voters’ fault this government is making a dreadful mess of things and seeking to seize authoritarian power.
It is the fault of Zainal and his fellow power-grabbers who spearheaded an illegal coup. He just reminded all Malaysians of that point.
The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) has called on all politicians to set aside their differences and disputes to help the government and civil servants in preventing the spread of Covid-19 as well as revive the country’s economy.
Cuepacs president Adnan Mat said politicians should sit down and discuss the best way to help the people during this trying time.
“If the country continues to spiral into endless political disputes, efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and restore the country’s economy cannot be implemented,” he said in a statement today.
In fact, Adnan is worried that if this situation continues, civil servants, especially frontline staff, could become demotivated, as they would feel they are being made to work relentlessly without support from all parties.
It is surprising this civil servant has found time to return from the front, where he is battling Covid, to make this statement that civil servants want politicians to stop ‘politicking’. The message being that a fractious minority government should be allowed to continue to attempt to govern without being challenged.
However, who really thinks he would have criticised his bosses if ministers had not licensed (and encouraged) him to direct his remarks not at them but at their opponents who threaten to throw them out of office?
In fact, what this civil servant is doing is exactly what he is criticising others for, which is getting involved in politics at this testing time. And while that is the role of politicians it is strictly not the role of civil servants, so he is the worse offender.
The best way to deal with this pandemic is to play by the rules of the democratic process, which is to allow Parliament to rally behind the leadership that can command majority support. This matter is the remit of politicians to decide not civil servants who should continue to follow the instructions they receive so long as those instructions are legal and honest (a big if at the moment).
These employees should get back to fighting Covid and not indulge in joining the political disputes on behalf of their bosses while pretending that they are not.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has welcomed the decision of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong against a government proposal to declare a state of emergency, describing it as a “historic” moment.
“It is a stand based on the spirit of the Federal Constitution and one which shows understanding of the people’s concerns and voices,” he said.
He noted that political leaders and members of civil society, academic figures and those in the media had spoken out against the proposal as being against the democratic spirit.
Anwar, who is PKR president, said he took note of the King’s advice against politicking and said MPs of his party would ensure that plans to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, unemployment, poverty and economic growth could be implemented effectively.
Do as you would be done by and be done by as you did.
A bunch of politicians who deserted their party and their electorate to seize power by joining with their opponents are now complaining that other politicians should not ‘politick’. They have sought to interpret the King’s words as an invitation for them to continue their minority administration unopposed.
Politicians are elected to politick. They group to agree on policies. The rebel MPs who form the present leadership of the coup coalition minority government are seeking to brand it as somehow unacceptable that their policies are opposed. That is the point of an opposition, to check a government.
The problem facing the Backdoor Boys is that their policies are opposed by a majority – so they have admitted through their recents antics.
Anwar is right to graciously acknowledge the advice of the King and make clear he would govern in the public interest based on majority support.
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali today accused the Opposition of provoking political instability and even sowing hatred against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government with what he termed their “outbursts” against the possibility of a state of emergency being declared to fight twin threats of Covid-19 and the economic slump.
The international trade and industry minister singled out Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, branding the PKR president “a power crazy individual driven by selfish and egotistical motives with a pathological sense of entitlement” for attempting to unseat Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when health and economic conditions in the country were dire.
“In his relentless quest to become Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim has resorted to outright lies as well as subterfuge not only as against the nation but even as against His Majesty the YDPA,” Azmin said in a statement.
He made a dig at Anwar’s recent claim to have the majority support of lawmakers in Parliament that would be enough to trigger a government change.
Azmin Ali is the man who provoked the present political crisis in Malaysia. He had not expected PH to win GE14 and had long since developed his ties with PAS and UMNO with a view to outmanoeuvring his party boss to the top job. He profited from Anwar’s absence in jail to take the Selangor post.
Events forced him into second place however, and so throughout the PH government he sought to destabilise the situation by playing up divisions and undermining the transition agreement that by-passed his personal ambitions.
Instead of supporting the rightful and agreed succession of his own political boss and majority party he criticised it and called it ‘over-ambitious’ (we always criticise others of our own worst sins). Anwar behaved perfectly reasonably and with patience and decorum, yet Azmin shouted constantly that to expect to eventually succeed as was agreed was somehow not acceptable. He created confusion and discord on the matter. It was himself he wanted to succeed.
His clutch of MP supporters and grateful NGOs (his earlier hijacking of Selangor had given him opportunity to be ‘generous’) chorused his calls for ‘loyalty’ to Dr Mahathir, which was of course a nonsense bluff. He meanwhile worked also on the arrogance and ambitions of the minority party Bersatu MPs who had enjoyed the benefits of Mahathir’s leadership and did not want to pass into the shade under PKR.
Above all, he embraced outright treachery. Perhaps his anger at the circulation of a gay sex video purporting to be himself sharpened his vengeance, but probably not. He had been holidaying with leaders from the other side just weeks following the election.
Likewise, Azmin had informed his client Sarawak MPs that they were to be at the forefront of his plot to take over PKR from the first day of the PH government. They boasted to far too many that they were already ‘Azmin’s men’, ready for proud positions in an Azmin leadership of PH. It was never to be. Their role was merely to destabilise and undermine PH as Azmin and fellow plotter Moo took their team of remaining suckers straight over to join PAS, Taib, Najib and UMNO, thereby overthrowing all the proud efforts for reform that they had championed and were elected to support.
As for loyalty to Dr M? He got thrown right under the first passing bus. All this happened during the eruption of the Covid pandemic, which the conspirators disgracefully ignored until it became clear the pandemic provided an opportunity to cover up the fact that far less rebels had been willing to support Azmin and ‘PM8′ than they had anticipated. Yet now he who conspired despite Covid lambasts others for conspiring back during Covid.
Covid Crackdown provided welcome cover for many months of minority and illegal rule. But now the game is up. The rebel duo have realised they cannot pass their budget in a Parliament where they still have not the numbers.
At which point Azmin seeks to stamp his foot and complain that others are being rebellious; that others seek to destabilise his ‘legitimate’ government; that others are being selfish over Covid; that others are ‘pathologically’ motivated in considering themselves ‘entitled’ to lead (by virtue of leading the largest coalition group) instead of him and Moo, who have no majority.
One would expect no less of Azmin. As a woman called out on the night of his victory party of the coup “You have all worked so hard, you deserve this so much”. Azmin has worked and schemed for months and years to knife all around him to get to be the man behind the Moo.
Of course, he would stoop to such hypocrisy and of course he would stoop to descend his country into a bogus emergency in order to seize authoritarian powers. Those who once were taken in, should best forget they ever supported Azmin as a ‘reformist’ leader for PKR.
All can see him now for what he is, none other than “a power crazy individual driven by selfish and egotistical motives with a pathological sense of entitlement.. who has resorted to outright lies as well as subterfuge not only as against the nation but even as against His Majesty the YDPA” in pretending he had a large body of supporters in his party to give him a majority he never had.