Clock ticking for the Najib regime

Najib must realise that the 'ball is now in the rakyat’s court' and they are no longer in a mood to witness any more rhetoric from the BN.

COMMENT

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s move to punish supporters of a rally supporting the call for clean and fair elections has brought him tremendous shame. Still, the premier continues to remain oblivious to the July 9 misdeeds committed and goes on pleading for the rakyat’s support.

International human rights agencies did not mince their words in condemning Najib for abusing the tenets of human rights and using the police to pulverise Bersih 2.0 “Walk for Democracy” rally supporters.

More recently, stinging criticism against the heavy-handed approach used by Najib to quell the rally supporters has come from LawAsia, a global organisation of lawyers, judges and legal experts.

LawAsia president Lester Huang hit the nail on the head when he said “the government of the day appeared to make political survival a priority instead of adhering to the country’s democratic principles”.

Malaysia, said Huang, did not comply with the “United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials” which it adopted in 1990.

In the July 9 rally, police allegedly fired tear gas canisters directly into the crowds of protesters. Premises like the Tung Shin Hospital also bore the brunt of the unbridled police action when water cannons and tear gas were fired inside its compound.

Huang is not the least convinced that the approach used by the police to disperse the rally supporters was a standard operating procedure.

The LawAsia head warned Malaysia’s leadership that it had to be more mindful of the rights of its citizens and take its regional role seriously. He said Malaysia’s membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council was called into question.

Malaysia was last year re-elected by the UN General Assembly for a three-year term on the 47-nation Human Rights Council based in Geneva.

“It is of profound regret to the regional legal community that the reaction to the Bersih movement sees these principles cast aside. Actions of this sort in any country will always deserve the strongest criticism from the legal community on both legal and humanitarian grounds,” Huang said.

But then the Najib regime has scant respect for citizens’ right to peaceful assembly or their right to know the truth, the latter referring to the purchase of the Scorpene submarines.

‘Gag’ order on rakyat remains

Be it the May 1 Labour Day rally or the Bersih 2.0 “Walk for Democracy”, the status quo remains in Malaysia, where a “gag” order is placed on the rakyat, preventing them from taking a stand and supporting any cause.

Likewise, all attempts are made by Najib to hide the truth from the people. The appearance of French human rights lawyer William Bourdon to speak about the procurement of the submarines left Najib, under whom the deal was inked, gasping for ways to get rid of Bourdon.

Bourdon was hired by Malaysian human rights body Suaram in 2009 to file a case against French naval giant DCNS over irregularities in the Scorpene submarines purchase that allegedly involved millions of ringgit in kickbacks.

The French authorities are currently probing the deal, which was also linked to Najib and the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Using the excuse that Bourdon had violated his social visa, the “powers that be” made it difficult for the lawyer, which prompted Bourdon to take a flight back to Paris two days ahead of his scheduled departure.

Three days after Bourdon left for Paris, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on July 24 said that Bourdon, 55, was deported because he violated his social visa by giving a speech in Penang. Hishammuddin insisted there was no hidden political agenda.

But to Bourdon, the home minister’s version was nothing short of gibberish.

“I don’t know what the minister is talking about because I didn’t even have a social visa. So it is very strange that he is speaking of one,” Bourdon told FMT in an interview from Paris.

Bourdon’s fiancee, Lea Forrestier, said citizens of the European Union do not need a visa for travel into Malaysia.

Do not continue shaming Malaysia

Meanwhile, Suaram in its Malaysian Human Rights Report 2010 said human rights standards in Malaysia continue to deteriorate under Najib’s administration despite efforts to project himself as a moderate leader. And the year 2010 saw little or no improvement in this area.

As for laws which provide for detention without trial, Suaram said the authorities were stretching the laws’ limitations.

Although the Penal Code makes provision to prosecute human traffickers, the government continues to instead use the Internal Security Act (ISA) against such offenders.

Suaram said that in 2010 there were 25 arrests made under the ISA. Of this number, nine were detained for human trafficking.

On the issue of Emergency Ordinance (EO), Suaram director Kua Sia Soong also said that there were similar developments with the EO.

Kua was referring to the detention of six Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members under the EO last month, for allegedly playing a role in the Bersih 2.0 rally.

“Traditionally, the EO is used for alleged kingpins and criminals. These six are probably a new trend, maybe because they (the government) are a bit shy over (public) condemnation of the use of ISA,” Kua said at the release of Suaram’s annual report on July 26.

The report also noted that the number of those detained under the EO had increased by 400% over the last 10 years.

Change for the rakyat’s sake

Najib has to reflect on his actions that have turned the rakyat against him. There is no room left for arrogance and post-July 9, the wrath that Najib has earned from the people back home and abroad will reflect poorly in his résumé.

The Bersih 2.0 rally, the Scorpene submarines deal and the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s report that DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock had committed suicide – these developments are the Damocles Sword that hang over Najib’s head.

Najib would do well to realise that the “ball is now in the rakyat’s court” and they are no longer in a mood to witness any more rhetoric from the Barisan Nasional leadership. For Najib, the saving grace would be to clean up the mess he has made, the latest being the July 9 attack on the Bersih 2.0 rally supporters.

The clock is ticking and there is no more room left for arrogance for Najib and his bandwagon of self-serving politicians. The rakyat have wisened up and this is what Najib is most afraid of.

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Villagers shocked over PM’s power, water bills

Sabahans in Kota Belud were in disbelief when told of the prime minister's exorbitant household bills.

BELUD: Villagers here were somewhat aghast when told that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s household electricity bill was RM160,000 and water bill RM66,000 a month.

Kota Belud, which is less than an hour away from Kota Kinabalu, has many homes without clean water and electricity.

Perhaps more irking is the fact that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) had just raised the electricity tariff in the state.

Even before the latest controversial tariff hike, electricity was more expensive here in Sabah than in the peninsula.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua, who told a shocked group here about Najib’s colossal bills, said: “It’s an insult to the people especially the ordinary people in Sabah and Sarawak.

“Najib’s monthly electricity bill runs into RM160,000, while his water is RM66,000 per month.

“Where is the credibility of the prime minister in calling the people to change their lifestyle in this hard time?

“His bills are outrageous, it is taxpayers’ money. They pay these bills.”

He told the audience in Tempasuk, near here recently, that these figures were revealed in Parliament but were unknown to residents in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The people of Sabah can imagine for themselves how much money is being spent to sustain the lifestyles of top Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders.

“All of them are being paid by the people and they a run into hundreds, perhaps thousands, ” he said.

Tian Chua, who was here to launch the Tempasuk PKR division, said PKR wanted to put a stop to this kind of wastage of public money, and hence it wanted a mandate from the people at the coming general election.

Cheating people

He said the elitist BN would continue to give Sabahans raw deals.

He added that in many instances, BN refused to give in to any of Sabah’s requests and often tried to force the people to accept what they don’t want.

He cited the proposed Tambatuon Dam in Tambatuon here where the BN wanted to “take money” from the people.

He said the BN appeared to “give” the dam to the people although the plan was rejected by Tambatuon.

“What the people here want is supply of clean water and stable electricity. Why can’t the BN give this if they have the money?

“Instead they spend people’s money at their whims and fancies without listening to the people’s views,” he said.

He also expressed shock that the majority of the kampungs here, which was close to Kota Kinabalu, did not have clean water.

Tian Chua said the botched coal-powered electricity plant in Sinakut, Lahad Datu, was another example of an expensive mistake by the scheming BN.

He said the compensation of more than RM70 million to consultants for the cancelled project could have been better spent on other more needy projects to alleviate the problems of many Sabah people, especially in Lahad Datu and in the east coast.

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Najib, Liow caught in a lie: Children demand explanation

Election promises made by the Barisan Nasional are often not kept, but for two siblings, they will never forget the broken promises made by Prime Minister Najib Razak and Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai,’which contributed to the death of their father. And both siblings want answers from the PM and Liow.

Tan Chong Chern and his sister, Tiney Tan from Sri Aman told reporters that during the recently-concluded State elections, both Najib and Liow went to Sri Aman and assured the people there that they would have a new hospital, two specialists, an ambulance (the present one is a van converted into an ambulance) and more medical staff. The BN candidate for Simanggan, Sri Aman, Dr Francis Hardin Hollis won the election.

That was three months ago, and today, nothing much has changed at the Sri Aman hospital where their father breathed his last.

Bureaucratic red tape

The siblings’ problems with the hospital go back July 19 last year when their 53-year-old father, national volleyball player Tan Ting Hui, had heart problems. Tan Sr was asked to go for surgery on August 18 last year at the Sarawak General Hospital, but doctors told him that he could wait and take medication instead.

On June 27, Tan Sr went back to the hospital for the operation but was told that since the SGH Heart section had moved to Sarawak International Medical Centre (SIMC) which caters for Heart diseases, they could not operate on him based on the booking appointments made previously by the SGH and he had to make new bookings.

Doctors at the SIMC gave the Tan family two options, which were to allow Tan Sr to stay in the SIMC, while they slot in a time for his operation or to go back and wait for the hospital to inform them. The family decided to let Tan Sr stay in the hospital as it meant that his chances of getting operated on would be faster.

Chong Chern said in the three weeks that his father stayed at the SIMC, his father complained of chest pains three times but each time, the doctors gave him medicine to stabilize him.

Dying and still the doctors delay

When the family asked doctors when they were going to operate, one doctor told the family that if they could not wait, they could go to the private hospital. Chong Chern said he learned that a Dr Jong was the same person who would be operating patients from both private and public hospital.

“We are not rich people so why do we need to pay a hefty sum of money to go to private hospital to be operated by the same doctor?’ he asked.

On July 18, the family was told that Tan Sr would be operated at 7 am the next day. The family expressed relief and after preparation was done at 6 am on the 19th July, a nurse told them that Dr Jong was sick and unable to operate. The next day, in the early morning of July 20th, they told the Tans that the doctor will operate on July 21st.

Chong Chern said doctors are human so he did not want to make any comment on the cancellation of the operation.

At 11 am the same day, a doctor came to see the family and said Dr Jong has to postpone the date of the operation again as his father’s condition did not allow him to do so. The same doctor said Tan Sr could be discharged on the same day and could come back on August 3 for an MRI check, Chong Chern said.

“It was already three weeks wait and my father was anxious to go back to Sri Aman after being away so long. The doctors even told us not to worry and gave us stronger medication for my father. They told him that he could walk around but to watch out for his food.

The last journey

So on July 20 afternoon, Tan Sri was discharged and went back to Sri Aman. On the 21st night, his father complained of being unwell and wanted to go to the hospital. The family rushed him to the Sri Aman hospital where he passed away. The hospital did not even have an oxygen tank, said Chong Chern.

Chong Chern whose sister sobbed quietly during the press conference said they may be poor but it did not mean that their father’s operation should be delayed just because he could not afford private medical care.

He wondered if Liow Tiong Lai only made the promise of hiring specialists to fish for votes before going back to West Malaysia and conveniently forgetting about what he hadsaid.

“Building a hospital is a long term plan but I am sure with urgent needs at Sri Aman, the Health Ministry should have transfer a specialist there as promised,” Chong Chem said.

State assemblywoman for Batu Kawa, Christina Chiew said SIMC, which was officiated early this year, was termed a five-star hospital like Hilton hotel.

“There is an estimated 1,500 heart patients annually and there is no point of having a beautiful hospital that lacks manpower to run it. A heart patient needs at least 6 months to wait for his orher turn to be operated on and that is a long wait for ill people,” said Christina.

Bail-out project

Chong Chieng Jen said the SIMC was a bail out project by the Federal government. “It took the SIMC 10 years to be constructed and cost RM400 million, that is a bed costing an average of RM1.2 million which was grossly over-estimated,” he said.

Pointing out that government is not taking the health issue as a priority, Chong lamented that two heart specialist surgeons whom he knew of had wanted to come back to serve in the state.

“One is working in England, another in Taiwan, both developed countries and had written in to the Ministry two months ago. There is always this talk of getting professionals back but to-date, the two doctors have yet to hear from the Ministry of Health. So are we saying that the two doctors are under qualified to serve in Malaysia and thus have been rejected," Chong threw the question to Liow.

Chong also wanted both the hospitals - SGH and SIMC - to give statistics of how many patients had passed on due to the long waiting list for surgery. He said the people needed to know how they were taken for a ride by such poor medical services, with the government only keen to spend on the construction of the building to benefit the crony developer firms.

- Malaysia Chronicle

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A mother of 5, an Umno newspaper and a PM on his last legs

Coming across the controversy surrounding Lilian Chan’s tweet has jolted Malaysians back to the reality about this Nation’s set of priorities.

Chan Lilian who tweeted last month 'I think all Christians should march for all the persecution they had done to us and our Lord. Don’t you think so? I go sleep now, bye-bye. :)' is now being investigated as a possible ‘seditious remark’ after one Tony Yew made a Police Report, which was picked up by the UMNO-owned Utusan newspaper.

Lilian is now being investigated by the police and faces jail if found guilty. They have also confiscated her Apple computer and modem.

It's pure and unadulterated bull

What a crock of bull! But for a moment, let's humour her persecutors and give some helpful tips to our wonderful police force. Let's start by looking at the 28 words that she tweeted.

Now, a complete analysis on each word may show a distinct pattern, a secret code or a cryptic message that may change the World. It would probably take at least 28 days to decipher each word, given the current outdated technology that we have. If all else fails, perhaps the police may engage the Americans again for their expertise to decipher such a secret message. It will surely be another Mission Impossible that requires high-speed super computers to crunch the billions of bytes in seconds before we can even hope to understand what Lilian's cryptic message is about.

Some says that the unadulterated words will make Christians go crazy, and join the march or take up arms and join a Crusade. Sounds way-out but someone actually did go crazy enough to take this conspiracy theory seriously - the Malaysian police! Never mind that it was started by Utusan and the pro-BN bloggers again, but the police cannot deny that they seized Lilian's Apple. Now that's not nice. Why not confiscate the computer of the Utusan reporter who wrote the story and why is Tony Yew spared too?

The Guan Eng-link is glaring

The relationship of this case to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is again unmistakable, but DAP still has not taken the hint, and is still as loud-mouthed as always. For his efforts to speak on a CAT government, the CM was presented with women’s lingerie by the Indian Muslim association. But even if Guan Eng were to take a less brash approach, chances are high Penang UMNO will still continue to dream up all the wonderful plots against his administration.

Whatever it is, what says it all is the fact that the Police have seen the need to investigate Lilian’s short tweet, but not Ibrahim Ali’s clear history of seditious remarks. For such injustice, Malaysians from all walks of life will be the ultimate judge and jury.

Even so, it is still hard to figure out UMNO's strategy. Why pick on the Christians? What have they actually done? Are they seen to be against the government? Are they actually a threat? Doesn’t the BN government need their support anymore?

Lately, more people are also starting to question the professionalism of the Police Force, which seems to have lost much of its Independence and commitment to serve and protect the Public. The people are asking the government what the hell happened to social liberties and freedom of expression? Has the government become so paranoid that censorship must be employed to silence the critics when the truth hurts? Does the government actually think that it can silence the people?

Why target Christians

Prime Minister Najib Razak may say his government is doing a good job, but the fact is that the government is seen to be trying all means to stop, curtail and destroy the Internet's influence. At the same time, Najib is also being criticised everyday for not taking real steps to reduce racial polarisation. For example, what does the PM’s recent speech actually mean when he called on Malaysians to move from racial tolerance to acceptance. Does Najib actually know what he is talking about?

His recent visit to the Vatican was meant to show Malaysian Christians that is he is not a reserved Muslim politician, who is anti-Christian. But why doesn’t he walk the talk and put a stop to this? Why go all the way to the Vatican and now, with his silence, sanction the outright buylling of a mother of five who so happens to be a Christian and a videographer for Guan Eng's administration.

Instead of tackling the deep-seated unhappiness felt by the Chinese minority, the Najib administration has embarked on another attack involving a Chinese Christian, while the antics of Ibrahim Ali, a real Malay trouble-maker is left alone. How does this jive with racial acceptance and not just tolerance?

Christians must be meek and must not question the status quo. Do not rise and fight against injustice. Christians should keep quiet, be invisible and not try to fan the fires of change. Is this what the government wants the Christians to do? Sad to say, Najib has been caught just one too many a time for saying different things to different groups. But his indifference to the people’s grouses is seen as his greatest weakness as the government goes overboard to curb dissent.

Death knell for UMNO and money wasted on 1Malaysia

The stage has been reached when Najib can say all he wants and do what he thinks is appropriate. But in the end, it will be the people who will voice their disapproval through the ballot box. As far as we know, most of the controversies that have happened in the past have not made the people any more sympathetic towards Najib or BN. As they continue to flip-flop, fumble and stumble with their ill-concocted strategies, it won’t be long now before the people completely give up hope on them.

In conclusion, most Malaysians feel that Lilian’s tweet was harmless. In fact, she was over-defensive. It was obviously blown gigantically out of proportion by elements who are against a free democracy. They may have thought they were helping UMNO and will surely get a big reward, but what they did was actually sound the death knell for a once-proud party that used to make Malays feel proud.

As the final lap approaches, Malaysians may feel a tinge of sadness at Najib’s government, so out of sync and so out of touch with reality. All the efforts and public funds spent on promoting 1Malaysia to gain the respect and trust of the people have fallen through and come to nought. In the end, it is not what the Opposition has done that caused all this ill-feeling, but what BN did and didn’t do that made the people lose faith.

Malaysia Chronicle

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'Najib is now on shaky ground as Muhyiddin plots again'

Aug 1: Following the Bersih fiasco, Najib Razak’s position as prime minister and UMNO president is on shaky ground, according to two PAS leaders.

They pointed out that several contradictory statements made by his administration gave the strongest signal that Najib was increasingly seen as a liability for UMNO and Barisan Nasional.

“Most significant is how Najib is left on his own to absorb all the negative impact following his administration’s mishandling of Bersih 2.0,” said Kubang Kerian member of parliament Salahuddin Ayub (left).

Describing Najib's performance in the run-up and aftermath of the massive July 9 rally by Bersih as "most unfortunate", the PAS vice president said the prime minister could have made things easier for himself if he had only "taken the simple way out" by agreeing to Bersih's eight demands on electoral reforms.

“He could have easily solved the matter because Bersih 2.0’s demands are only eight, not eight hundred or eight thousand,” added Salahuddin.

Deliberate mishandling

Salahuddin said it would not come as a surprise if it was true that the "mishandling" of the Bersih rally was a deliberate act by UMNO to accelerate Najib's ouster.

“This is aggravated by the attitude of his wife (Rosmah Mansor), a far cry from the wives of the previous prime ministers," said Salahuddin, adding that the recent revelation about a RM24 million diamond ring imported into the country by Rosmah had clearly left many within UMNO's ranks disappointed. Rosmah last week refused to entertain questions over the report, dismissing it as slander.

According to Salahuddin, the call for Najib's ouster could emanate from none other than his own deputy, Muhyiddin Yasin (pic, top right, with Najib).

"If Muhyiddin had once told (former prime minister) Pak Lah to step down as prime minister during the UMNO Supreme Council meeting, it is possible that he will do it again now against Najib,” he said.

He said worried about such a prospect, Najib was now forced to go on a state by state tour.

'Najib in Mahathir 2003's situation'

Kuala Selangor MP Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, writing in The Malaysian Insider, described Najib as the biggest liability to his own party in the coming 13th general election, and compared him to Dr Mahathir Mohamad's situation in 2003.

“History will repeat. Tun (Mahathir) was forcefully sidelined by UMNO to save the Malay party, because he had become the biggest liability... The strategy proved to work. Pak Lah won big in the 11th general election in April 2004, in fact it was the biggest victory in UMNO’s history,” wrote the PAS central committee member.

Dzulkefly (right) said UMNO was currenly at its weakest point and this could prompt an alliance among Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Mahathir’s son Mukhriz Mahathir, into doing something 'drastic'.

“Will Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and Mahathir plot to bring down Najib to ensure that UMNO continues to hold Federal power? Will this 3-M faction gain the support of the Chinese and Indians whom Najib had tried to win over?" he asked.

Dzulkefly continued to pose several other questions.

"Can UMNO rule with the support of Malays who are now divided? Will they be supported by Amanah launched by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah?" he asked, referring to the newly-launched movement by UMNO's Gua Musang MP which among others sought to encourage greater unity among races.

 Taken from Harakah

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