Anwar Ibrahim |
- Not everyone is as cowardly as you, Rafizi slams Zahid: Kedah rally is on, Mukhriz or not
- El Indio: A Tectonic Shift
- Disputed Election Sends Malaysian Politician Back to Fight on the Streets
- Voting denial proves phantom voters, integrity of ICs in doubt, says Rafizi
- PKR: GST will ‘punish the poor’, BN should cut corruption first
- Umno Baru’s hidden agenda
- Rafizi reveals evidence of phantom voters, dares Khairy to show his stand on GE fraud
- PKR to start revealing electoral fraud evidence
| Not everyone is as cowardly as you, Rafizi slams Zahid: Kedah rally is on, Mukhriz or not Posted: 20 May 2013 08:23 AM PDT PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli ridiculed his rivals in Umno for cowardice and being out of touch with the people over a spate of rallies that have taken the nation by storm. “Intimidation and fear tactics don’t work anymore. It only worked on Zahid Hamidi in 1998, that’s why he turned around within the first 2 weeks after the first demo. If Zahid Hamidi thinks everyone is like him, he is sorely out of touch with the public,” mocked Rafizi, who is also the newly-elected MP for Pandan. “You can see that despite several statements made by the authorities, the people are still coming out because this is a big issue. I would suggest that Zahid does not interfere in the job of the police. Let the police do their work professionally. We don’t need another Home Minister who makes the silliest comments.” Zahid’s U-turn of the decade! Rafizi was referring to Umno vice president Zahid Hamidi, who taking over as Home Minister from Hishammddin Hussein last week had promptly warned the Opposition and rally-goers that action would soon be taken against them. In the 1990s, Zahid was a staunch supporter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, who had then been the Umno deputy president. Zahid had protested against Anwar’s jailing on trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges in 1998, but recanted and cut all ties with Anwar after former premier Mahathir Mohamad threw him into jail under the Internal Security Act. Zahid was released in 1999 after he reversed his stance and declared loyalty to the Umno leadership controlled by Mahathir. It is also worth noting that during the 53th Umno General Assembly in 1997, Zahid had lashed out against Mahathir, calling for an end to cronyism and nepotism in the government. In response, Mahathir publicized the names of those Malay/Bumiputeras who had received shares and high positions in government-linked corporations (GLCs) and these had included Zahid. Not your father’s country either : Stop the polemics and do your job! Apart from sabre rattling on the Blackout 505 rallies spearheaded by Anwar and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition, Zahid has also attracted public odium for himself and his Umno party for saying that those unhappy with the current political system in Malaysia should migrate. His brash comments sparked a wave of public condemnation and added impetus to the Blackout 505 movement to protest electoral fraud and to demand re-elections in seats where the Opposition claims it has accumulated evidence of vote-rigging and phantom voters. Zahid’s comments have also sparked a wave of “lu siapa” and “ini bukan negara bapa kau” (who are you to ask us to leave, this is not your father’s country) comments against him at the rallies. "This country is also not (Anwar's) father’s. It is neither my father's country nor his father's country," Zahid said in an outburst to the press earlier this morning. Although not a week has elapsed since he was picked to replace the controversial Hisham, who was slammed for stirring up hornets’ nests and creating racial tensions, it looks like Zahid may “outperform” his predecessor going by the fires he has lit in just the space of a few days. “If he has time, he should tackle the issue of false I.C.s and phantom voters. That is more in line with his job. He needs to know the boundaries and not interfere with the professional work of the police,” said Rafizi. Would anyone take heed of what Mukhriz says? The 36-year-old PKR leader also slammed Mukhriz Mahathir for disallowing a Blackout 505 rally scheduled for Tuesday night to be held at a stadium in Alor Setar. Mukhriz, who is Mahathir’s youngest son and newly-appointed chief minister of Kedah, had drawn flak for his high-handed action and accused of being “like father like son”. “It doesn’t surprise us at all because they have always behaved us this way. It doesn’t even register on our mind what he (Mukhriz) says or what kind of warnings he makes because we have stepped forward to a new Malaysia to a much more liberated Malaysia. What he thins belong to the past and I dont think a lot of people will take heed of what he says,” said Rafizi “We are more interested in maintaining professional relations with the police because public safety and public order is of utmost importance and we are sure that any rallies if done properly and with full cooperation with the police will have positive results as has taken place in the past two weeks.” New IGP and Blackout 505 in Kedah to proceed When asked if the new Inspector General of Police Khalid Bakar who last week took over from the retiring Ismail Omar would affacet Pakatan’s relations with the police, Rafizi said he would wait and see. Khalid has been widely condemned over many cases and he has even been caught red-handed trying to cover up mis-practices and wrong-doings such as in the Kugan Ananthan murder case as well as in trying to insinuate wrong-doing on the part of the Opposition to give Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration a ‘boost’ in image. Such partisan conduct by the senior members of the police force has led to a tremendous loss of public confidence in the police, with most Malaysians having the perception that their cops were out to harm them or solicit bribes rather to protect them and maintain law and order. “We are more than willing to wait and see. I am more than willing to give the benefit of doubt to Khalid Bakar,” said Rafizi. He added that the Blackout 505 rally in Kedah would proceed and a new venue to be announced on the social media network soon. “I am sure 40 to 50,000 people will still come to Alor Setar or Pokok Sena, even if it has to be held in Mahfuz Omar’s house,” said Rafizi, referring to the Kedah PAS commissioner, who is helping to organize the event. |
| Posted: 20 May 2013 08:11 AM PDT After the 13th general election in Malaysia recently, Prime Minister Najib Razak grumbled about a "Chinese tsunami" that barged against his Barisan Nasional coalition, leaving it with only 47 percent of the popular vote. Barisan Nasional has a Chinese component, the Malaysian Chinese Association, but the Chinese vote went heavily to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat, a three-party coalition led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. Still, thanks to the gerrymandering of rural constituencies and to the huge perks of incumbency, Barisan Nasional won 133 of 222 parliamentary seats at stake and retained power. Najib remains prime minister.
So why is he grousing about a Chinese tsunami? I think it's because he has felt a tectonic shift — in this case a tectonic shift in the political mood of Malaysia. It well may be that Malaysian politics will never be the same again. That doesn't bode well for the Barisan Nasional, or for Najib himself. Perhaps it's a comeuppance. There were numerous reports of shenanigans attributed to the ruling coalition. Of flying voters. Of immigrants in Sabah who were given identity cards on condition they would vote for the ruling coalition. Of padded voters' lists. Of people long dead who were able to vote. Of the Barisan Nasional campaign doling out a total of $2.5 billion to poor voters, and resorting to other forms of subsidy schemes. If these reports are true, and the evidence is piling up that they're accurate, then there's nothing that the local politicians of the Philippines, past masters of election fraud, can teach their Malaysian counterparts. However, to the credit of the Malaysian politicos, although there were some accounts of violence, there wasn't a single shooting throughout the campaign. As for the tsunami, it wasn't Chinese. True, most Chinese Malaysians are sick and tired of the discrimination they've suffered over four decades. It rankles that they don't have equal rights in business, in the civil service and in education. They clamor for a Malaysia that is a meritocracy like next-door Singapore. But there aren't enough Chinese voters to raise a tsunami. The tsunami was Malaysian — Muslim Malay and Chinese and Indian Malaysian. Urban, young and idealistic Malaysian. It had nothing to do with ethnicity. It had everything to do with a thirst for change. They're through with divisive racial politics. They want an end to corruption and cronyism. They want to unleash the potential of a richly diverse Malaysian nation. Once again, Anwar Ibrahim has failed to win the prime ministership, but he has led Malaysian politics out of the wilderness — and that should be enough for now. He won't rest, however. Insisting the elections had been stolen from Pakatan Rakyat, he is leading public protests reminiscent of Cory Aquino's civil disobedience campaign in the Philippines after she thought Ferdinand Marcos had robbed her of the presidential election in 1986. Aquino's protest movement led to regime change only because it merged with a military coup. For a people power revolution to succeed it must be supported by a sizeable part of the military, or else the entire military must stay neutral. That won't happen in Malaysia. But national politics will continue to change. Meanwhile, the Najib government will try to rule with a weak and questioned mandate. It will have to cope with the divisions it has largely created, economic problems from exorbitant election spending, and extravagant promises impossible to keep. Najib himself is politically wounded. His rivals in the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization, smell blood. That's a pity because among party eminences, he is the one who has a streak of the reformist in him. To survive, UMNO must undergo sweeping and painful reform to match the shifting mood of Malaysian politics. Otherwise, the election this month was its last hurrah. |
| Disputed Election Sends Malaysian Politician Back to Fight on the Streets Posted: 20 May 2013 08:04 AM PDT
Not long ago he was flirting with the idea of semiretirement, maybe a teaching job at an American university. But now Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the Malaysian opposition, former political prisoner and longtime bugbear of the establishment, says those plans are firmly on the shelf. After a disputed election this month, in which he and his allies won a majority of votes but failed to capture control of Parliament, Mr. Anwar has returned to his roots as a political street fighter, drawing large crowds across the country to protest what he calls mass vote rigging. "Rise up!" he beseeched a crowd of thousands crammed last week into a field in this seaside city. "We won the election, but we were robbed of victory." Street politics is a sort of political oxygen for Mr. Anwar, who turns 66 in August. His wife jokes that when he complains of aches or fatigue, the only way she can revive him is with a microphone and a crowd. As a Malay radical in the 1970s, he led student protests for expanded Malay rights and was imprisoned for two years without trial. In the 1990s, he led tens of thousands of followers through the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, embarrassing the government during a visit by Queen Elizabeth II. He was later convicted of sodomy, a charge brought by his political enemies that was ultimately overturned. He spent six years in prison. Now, as Mr. Anwar poses a new type of challenge to his government, many questions loom for him — and indeed for this relatively prosperous but unsettled country of about 30 million people. How long will he continue to protest the election results? And how long will the government, which has been slowly relaxing its mildly authoritarian powers, put up with the unrest? At stake in the battle, besides the questioned validity of the election, is a fight over two visions for the future of this multiethnic country: the government view that continues to favor the Malays and those linked to the governing coalition with preferences versus Mr. Anwar's campaign to curtail patronage and make government assistance operate on the basis of need, not ethnicity. For Mr. Anwar, a Malay who once defended those preferences, the shift is a personal sea change, which some say is born of political ambition but that he says came to him during years of reflection in jail. "My dream was to have a Malaysian spring that would be unique in the sense that we would do it through votes, not in the streets — a peaceful transition into a vibrant democracy in Malaysia," Mr. Anwar said in an interview at his modest office in an obscure neighborhood outside Kuala Lumpur. Now, with victory elusive, he said he wanted a peaceful resolution but hedged when asked how far he would take his protests. Malaysian politics, so closely entwined with the country's ethnic complexity, can be bewildering to outsiders. Like Indonesia, Myanmar and many other countries in Asia, Malaysia is a product of European colonialism and still a work in progress. The mix of ethnic Malay, Chinese and Indians (a much smaller group) is far from a melting pot — more a Babel of language, a hodgepodge of foods and a tense coexistence of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. Malay Muslims have a slim majority of the population but have dominated politics since independence from Britain in 1957. Their wide-reaching set of preferential policies — cheap loans, scholarships and government contracts among them — were put in place in large part to help them rise in a society in which much of the wealth was held by the strongly entrepreneurial Chinese, who make up about a quarter of the population. Under the social contract of decades past, ethnic groups shared power within the governing coalition led by the United Malays National Organization, or U.M.N.O. But that informal compact is now in tatters, with a majority of Chinese Malaysian voters defecting to the opposition over resentment of what many term "second-class citizenship." The falling out between the governing party and Chinese Malaysians seems mutual. "It's the first time that a Malay government thinks it can govern virtually without any minority representation," said Bridget Welsh, an associate professor at Singapore Management University and a leading researcher on Malaysian politics who said that many people "feel traumatized" by the election and the alleged irregularities. The May 5 election was the closest that the opposition had come to defeating the governing party. Mr. Anwar and his allies won 51 percent of the vote, compared with 47 for the governing coalition. That was not enough for Mr. Anwar to win control of Parliament because the governing coalition is strong in rural areas, where it captured many more small districts, adding up to a comfortable majority of 133 seats, with 89 for the opposition. There are glimmers of a multicultural Malaysian identity among Mr. Anwar's supporters. At rallies where speaker after speaker proclaims interethnic brotherhood, Chinese Malaysian women in skimpy shorts stand next to Malay Muslim women fully covered in Islamic robes. Chinese Buddhists drape themselves in the green flag of the opposition's Islamic party. Mr. Anwar, his supporters say, is a sort of midwife in the slow birth of Malaysia's multiethnic identity. "Anwar sparked people's thinking," said Mohammed Razif, a 30-year-old Islamic teacher who attended the rally Tuesday. "Malaysia is a multicultural country, but only recently I realized that not every race is treated equally." Najib Razak, the prime minister who was returned to power after the elections, announced what he described as a "unity cabinet." It includes several new faces, including the head of the local chapter of Transparency International, an anticorruption group. "Together we will act to bring about national reconciliation," he said. Yet his new cabinet is most notable for the dominance of Malays — and the near absence of ethnic Chinese. Mr. Najib angered many in the opposition when he said that his coalition's weak showing was the result of a "Chinese tsunami," the withdrawal of support by Chinese Malaysian voters. The opposition said the shift in support was by voters of all ethnicities and that singling out Chinese Malaysians served only to deepen divisions. Such anger and frustration are palpable at opposition rallies, where protesters wear black because, as their T-shirts proclaim, they see May 5 as "the day that democracy died." At the rally in Kuantan, leaders of the opposition took turns addressing the crowd, but when Mr. Anwar's arrival was announced, people rose to their feet and cheered. An ethnic Chinese woman, wearing a Malaysian flag draped over her shoulders, began jumping up and down. "At the moment, he's the only leader who can keep the opposition together," Selva Raja, a courier-company employee who attended the rally, said. Mr. Anwar paced the stage, telling the crowd that the election had been stolen and that the governing party was trying to divide the country. "Look to your left; look to your right; look in front of you and behind you," Mr. Anwar said. "You will see Chinese, Malays and Indians. This is the new Malaysia." |
| Voting denial proves phantom voters, integrity of ICs in doubt, says Rafizi Posted: 20 May 2013 12:15 AM PDT PKR's Rafizi Ramli today offered proof of phantom voters, which he alleged was widespread fraud that could potentially "discredit" the recently-concluded general election, besides put the integrity of Malaysia's identity card in doubt. "The moment you have similar IC used by different people, so much so that the genuine or actual person proving the identity is denied to vote, that means this is part of a bigger planning to allow phantom voters to come in," the PKR strategy director said at a press conference.
Rafizi (picture)listed eight people who had approached PKR about being denied their right to vote as others had already voted in their names, while also showing reporters the police reports which he said they had lodged voluntarily. The Pandan MP said that these complaints were also made in the constituencies where the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had won, which he said showed that the alleged electoral fraud was "widespread" and "systemic". But Rafizi said that such evidence has bigger implications than just proving the existence of phantom voters in the electoral roll, claiming that the National Registration Department (NRD) had failed to guarantee that the country's ICs are genuine and unique to all Malaysians. "What comfort do we have that our ICs are now not subjected to counterfeiting, not subjected to fraud, where people can have multiple ICs to do various things with different identities?" he asked. In Sabah, a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) panel today resumed its hearings on the state's illegal immigrants issue and allegations that foreigners were given citizenship in exchange for their votes. |
| PKR: GST will ‘punish the poor’, BN should cut corruption first Posted: 19 May 2013 11:36 PM PDT The Barisan Nasional (BN) government should not introduce the "regressive" Goods and Services Tax (GST) which, together with promised tax cuts, will "punish the poor", PKR's Wong Chen has said. "It is regressive, it punishes the poor rather than the rich," the PKR trade and investment bureau chief said of the proposed GST scheme at the party's headquarters here today.
Wong (picture)claimed that the BN government's rationale of bringing in the new tax scheme to widen the tax base was "fundamentally flawed". The Kelana Jaya MP explained that the majority of Malaysians are not evading the payment of tax to the government, but are instead earning too little to pay taxes. It is estimated that currently only about 10 per cent of Malaysia's 28 million population pay taxes. Wong also said the BN administration should look at tackling corruption and dubious mega-projects first before looking at implementing the GST. |
| Posted: 19 May 2013 11:10 PM PDT When Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – the new home minister – told disgruntled opposition supporters that they should migrate if they were unhappy with the results of GE13, he had unwittingly confessed that Umno Baru has a hidden agenda. This little-known plan is Umno Baru's mass immigration policy and is a deliberate ploy fuelled by political self-interests. Asking people to emigrate will ensure that Malaysia is populated largely by Umno Baru-putras and selected foreigners. Zahid reluctantly acknowledged that the rakyat was disappointed with the rigging of the polls, but at the same time, he revealed the fears of Umno Baru leaders. The cheating did not go as smoothly and secretly as they had intended. Zahid possesses neither charisma nor intellect. His oft repeated line is for people to shape up or ship out. With each new political appointment, he stuns us with his ability to set new standards for boorish behaviour.
When Abdullah resigned and Najib Abdul Razak took over in 2009, Zahid was made the defence minister. He invited criticism when he said that the low percentage of non-Malays in the armed forces showed that they lacked patriotism. Last week, Zahid could not resist baiting the public, telling the people who opposed the results of GE13 to "migrate elsewhere". Now, one out of every seven people in the country is a foreigner. If we were to follow Zahid's advice, this would increase to one in five. This is based upon a population of 28 million, however, none of the rakyat know the true population of the country. The census figures are another of Umno Baru's dirty little secrets, which they use to exert control over the rakyat. Zahid has the ability to make remarks without thinking of the consequences. Perhaps his mouth works faster than his brain. On the other hand, his boss, Najib prefers to keep mum when ministers make provocative statements. A history with Najib and Anwar The two men – Zahid and Najib – share a long history which started when Zahid became Najib's political secretary in 1986, but Zahid has also been closely linked with Anwar. In 1998, Zahid supported calls for the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to curb cronyism and nepotism. After a brief period of incarceration, Zahid claimed that he had been duped by Anwar to challenge Mahathir. After a much publicised apology to Mahathir, Zahid returned to Umno Baru, presumably with more than just his reputation bolstered. Malaysia's youth are not as easily fooled by Umno Baru's tactics, social networking sites keep them informed and in GE13, they demanded fairness and change.
Most of us are shaped by our experiences in youth. Friends who grew up with Mahathir claim that the young Mahathir saw a lot of poverty on his rounds as a doctor. He would have known about the economic disparities between the various races, and to be fair, he treated many people without charge. When he became a politician, Mahathir probably realised that his affirmative action policies could not remain in perpetuity. He knew that as Malays became better educated and more affluent, they would not return to the rural areas. He understood that as people became increasingly exposed to global changes and opened their minds to different experiences, his affirmative action polices would lose their appeal.
Our poorer neighbours – Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan – have several million people who would willingly work for longer hours and less money. By giving them jobs and promising them citizenship, they became indebted to Mahathir. Only Malays may join Umno Baru, and hence only Malays are likely to vote for Umno Baru, so only Muslims who could become 'instant Malays' were imported. Mahathir used these people, in a most evil fashion, to provide short-term economic benefits at the expense of ordinary Malaysians. His desire to give Umno Baru (and BN) long-term political and electoral advantages was even more pernicious. The difficulty of introducing a Malaysian minimum working wage is widely known. Why would the authorities and employers approve this policy, when laws exist to import cheap labour to depress wages and control the people, the economy and future votes? Rural folk made vulnerable Mahathir abused people in the rural areas, as they were more vulnerable. He continued to neglect the rural communities by not providing job opportunities or by depriving them of infrastructure and services. Many children of Felda settlers are graduates, but they are hampered by a lack of suitable jobs back in their communities and cannot make a valuable contribution to society. Friends have complained of large numbers of Felda graduates who are unemployed. Some hold degrees in aeronautical engineering which cannot benefit their community, whilst others have complained that some graduates have skills which are not put to good use in their areas. In the end, the disheartened youth gravitate to the cities, to be followed shortly by the older generation. Then, the rural areas become depopulated, and to sustain the economy, more foreign workers are smuggled in by the authorities. With more foreigners, both legal and illegal being imported, the Umno Baru vote bank is endless. The migrants provide Umno Baru with votes, they generate production on the estates and boost the economy. Umno Baru does not care that the urban areas are bursting with displaced Malaysians from the surrounding countryside.
We know that from the 1980s onwards, Indians were displaced from the estates when plantations took over large tracts of land, perhaps, to satisfy Mahathir. If the import of foreigners is not properly managed in the near future, the remaining Felda settlers and rural Malays will complete the exodus to the cities. When that happens, and the Malays finally realise that Umno Baru has duped them, the recriminations will begin in earnest and Umno Baru will face a severe backlash from a cynical Malay community. Then, politicians like Ahmad Zahid will wish that they had acceded to the relatively mild demands of free and fair elections from genuine Malaysians, rather than tell them to migrate. |
| Rafizi reveals evidence of phantom voters, dares Khairy to show his stand on GE fraud Posted: 19 May 2013 11:08 PM PDT Newly-elected MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli challenged Khairy Jamaluddin, Umno’s newly-appointed minister, to speak up on the issue of phantom voters, which the political Opposition in the country has blamed as being one of the main factors that “robbed” them of victory at the May 5 general election. “I would welcome Khairy who has happily assumed his seat in the Cabinet to speak up on this matter. He models himself as a reformist – so what does he have to say in the face of the mass of evidence that has been accumulated,” Rafizi Ramli, who is also the PKR strategy director, told a press conference on Monday. The 36-year-old Rafizi had earlier revealed the names of 8 voters who have lodged police reports when they were barred from voting after the records showed that “other people had already voted using their names”. “This implies that false ICs (identification cards) may have been issued by the National Registration Department to allow the phantom voters to go to the balloting stations and cast their votes,” said Rafizi. |
| PKR to start revealing electoral fraud evidence Posted: 19 May 2013 11:05 PM PDT PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli today revealed the names of eight individuals who had made police reports about someone else voting on their behalf across the country, which he says proves the existence of phantom voters.
Rafizi (right) said that the party and Pakatan Rakyat coalition have now collected enough evidence and will be releasing them periodically. "We will have one press conference every two or three days to reveal things to the media, while others will go into our election petitions," said the newly-elected Pandan MP. |
In 2008, he was appointed a minister in the Prime Minister's Department of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with a portfolio which included religious affairs and agencies like the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim). He caused controversy when he warned officers that they had to support the government's policies, or leave.
Influential people like student activist Adam Adli have been threatened with sedition, Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (left) has been charged with organising a mass rally, and Anwar Ibrahim has predicted that the authorities will be arresting him soon.
Mahathir (right) knew that if ordinary Malaysians refused to vote for Umno Baru, he would have to bring people in from overseas to address the shortfall.
Recently, parts of some cities are also being populated by foreigners. Malaysians have complained about a decline in services provided by hospitals, schools and community housing. The worst places record high rates of crime.
He added that PKR will start revealing evidence of electoral fraud that happened during the May 5 election beginning this week.| You are subscribed to email updates from Anwar Ibrahim To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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