Anwar Ibrahim |
- Haze displays malaise
- Can Umno’s ‘over-dominance’ be broken? Is the Pakatan up to the game?
- Foto Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim Semasa Pembukaan Sidang Parlimen Ke-13
| Posted: 26 Jun 2013 02:32 AM PDT If the world needed further proof that Malaysia's BN regime preys while the rakyat pays, it's this latest outbreak of so-called haze.
In fact these crooks are so contemptuous of the people that the Indonesian Environment Minister, Balthasar Kambuaya, had the gall to initially accuse Singaporeans of being "cry-babies" for complaining of the suffocating smoke. But of course what Singaporeans, Malaysians and a great many Indonesians are actually choking on are the noxious clouds of corporate and official corruption. The whole world knows, and has for years, that the haze is not just the product of 'burning-off' by a ragtag bunch of small farmers, but wholesale illegal clearance of what's left of Sumatra's peat forests by the managements of massive palm-oil plantations. And that many of these environmental vandals are so-called government-linked corporations which the respective ruling regimes involved are coy about naming because they and their cronies are the principal beneficiaries. Thus the newly and allegedly fraudulently 'elected' Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has responded to the haze by retreating into an apparent daze, leaving his so-called Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel, to try and quell the bad-publicity blaze – which Palanivel finally did after dithering for days, but only fanned the flames by doing it on Facebook instead of facing the people in person. Cough-up names, gov’t told With Najib himself later finally emerging from his strategic daze, or perhaps overseas holidays away from the haze, to emit one of his customary smoke-and-mirrors remarks to the effect that "all ministries and agencies involved in haze disaster management at the federal, state and district levels must plan and take the needed measures to ensure safety and public health is protected."
In other words, it was nothing but Najib's customary discharge of gusts of hot air, as to "plan" and "take measures" to protect public health and safety would require the naming, shaming and prosecution the many corrupt BN-crony companies responsible for the people's annual choke on their smoke. Of course the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore all know very well who the culprits are, but are maintaining a breathless silence in order to protect the guilty deny their own complicity in this atrocity. But the truth may soon emerge from the fog of obfuscation, as there are growing calls for the BN regime to cough-up the names of the companies causing the haze. The most definite of these demands to date has come from Malaysian NGO Memacu Arus Perjuangan (MAP), whose deputy president Ally Harzan Hashim has given Environment Minister Palanivel a 48-hour ultimatum to name the Malaysian companies involved in the ongoing haze crisis, or else. According to Malaysiakini, a lawyer for MAP, Ahmad Jufliz Faiza, has said that if the minister fails to reveal the name of the offending companies, the group intends to bring the government to court for failing in its duty of care to Malaysian citizens. Another MAP lawyer, Patrick Dass, "questioned whether the government had vested interests in the companies involved, judging from its inaction although the haze has been a recurring problem for about 15 years." Ally Harzan was quoted as saying that the MAP has "several suspects," and is working with Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and environmental NGOs in Singapore and Indonesia for confirmation on which companies are involved. And Ahmad Jufliz added that "we know the names of the companies, but we have to confirm this. That is why we request the government through the minister to give us the names, while we are also liaising with other NGOs to get their names." BN regime ‘failed to deliver’ Meanwhile, Malaysian Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam has stated that Indonesia must act quickly against those responsible for the haze situation even if it involves Malaysian companies," but added in typically hazy BN fashion that there is "no evidence" of the involvement of such Malaysian involvement. And the ever-BN-friendly 'news' agency Bernama has reported that the Association of Plantation Investors of Malaysia in Indonesia (Apimi) has denied that any Malaysian-owned companies are involved in the haze situation. Though there must be very few Malaysians remaining who are prepared to take any BN-connected spokesperson at his or her word, given that the regime has denied any involvement in literally countless scandals from all the massive financial and electoral frauds that have occurred under its watch to the hundreds of suspicious deaths suffered at the hands of its police and anti-corruption commission (MACC). The regime has also conspicuously failed to deliver on a single, solitary one of Najib's promises to "transform" Malaysia into the "world's best democracy" with "zero tolerance of corruption" and fair and equitable treatment for all.
A claim that is an attempted diversion from the fact that it is BN itself that is the malaise that betrays Malaysians of all races and creeds, including and even especially Malays, as both evidenced and symbolised year after year after year by this accursed, killer haze. |
| Can Umno’s ‘over-dominance’ be broken? Is the Pakatan up to the game? Posted: 25 Jun 2013 10:06 PM PDT Many governments in the world have established some sort of democracy and Malaysia has her own peculiar version which cannot be branded with any particular name. It is not even a Malaysian version of democracy per se but purely and totally – it is UMNO's own version of democracy. And sad to say, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party knows little about the subject, hence the great controversies and boorish clownishness. What UMNO has done to "democracy" is not to practice it but to institutionalize the facades of democracy, including regular multiparty elections to give the appearance of being a democratic country. These multiparty elections have never been free or fair, resulting in the formation of an authoritarian government. Many people – within and outside Malaysia – may take these democratic facades for real. Many others, however, do not. More than anyone, the Opposition parties and candidates here who have suffered the worst consequences of the cheating know very well that the present government is only playing a game and not practicing legitimate democracy or democratic elections. A new era of adversity where courage must be the first quality
Such a question may seem rude, but it is a very legitimate one for Malaysian voters to ask. As we often slam the Umno-BN, perhaps it is now timely to cast the spotlight on the Pakatan and what does it have to offer Malaysians in the face of a rabid Umno-BN, even more arrogant and dangerous now that it has ‘won’ another 5 years in power. Boils must be pricked and pus must be expelled otherwise gains made in the past few years will be lost and we become like the past generations – silent because we were afraid when we came face to face with ‘danger’! Old dogs and new tricks
Do Malaysians really want ‘Ubah’? If so, they had better stop wearing rose-tinted glasses and confront the fact that some of their revered leaders have in actual fact never managed to perform at all. The question begs – did Umno-BN rule Malaysia since 1957 because they were strong or because the Opposition until 2008 was weak? Malaysians must pick winners, if change is truly what they want. Of course, this is not easy and we could jump from the frying pan into the fire. But we still move – whether forward or backward, there is still motion. Life and strength still flow in our veins and limbs, and with a bit more courage, we can get to our goal. The worse option is to stay comatose, trapped in loss, stuck in defeat. Pakatan has to continue playing the game but they have to change their game plan. Otherwise, it is tantamount to allowing themselves to be cheated over and over again. And that is a mark of insanity. It is also a mark of cowardice and bad faith with voters who supported Pakatan because they wanted a change in government. What would help and are really needed most are fresh ideas to be get the county moving forward and not round and round in circles. The drastic responses from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat in the immediate aftermath of the recently-concluded 13th general election marks the start of an era to break the impasse and shatter once and for all Umno’s dominance. This is a tack that Pakatan leaders must hammer through and ferociously! Right direction but not yet there
So far, the desired outcome of their actions has not materialized but they must not give up. Umno-BN has still formed the government. On the first day of new Parliament session, Umno-BN continued to cheat with the election of the Speaker. Prime Minister Najib Razak made a laughing stock of himself by forcing his own reps to sign a so-called secret ballot so that all would toe the line and vote a controversial toady back into office. It was also ironic that as the re-elected Speaker was pompously calling for ‘change’ in his acceptance speech, 32 youth activists were roughed up and arrested by the police just outside Parliament. In other words, nothing has changed. Democracy has not deepened or widened. It may have shrunk even further following GE13. Meanwhile, the Black 505 rallies seem to have lost steam despite clear evidence of public support. No doubt, the crowds are no longer so large but obviously, if you have attended one or two such ‘ceramahs’, you won’t want to go again unless there are new issues or speeches to hear. So the right medicine is not to dump the rallies but to ask, what new strategies can we apply to keep the public interest intact? Actually, if the crowd size tapers down to sustainable levels, that’s fine because there may be another 5 years to go before the next general election, so don’t throw away this powerful and precious early momentum. Also, has there been enough ‘outreach’ to all the towns in the country yet? Who is really losing interest here – the Pakatan leaders or the people? Who is feeling the fatigue? Why are there no efforts to galvanize public interest with new issues? Why zero search for new tacks to keep the flame burning? Also, why are only PKR and PAS involved and not DAP? Does ‘Ubah’ stop with GE13 campaigning? What happens at GE14?
Let’s not forget that it is what the voters want that counts, not the DAP, PAS or PKR leadership. The Chinese ardently want change and if they don’t get this from DAP and Pakatan, they will look else where. So scrap the hype and thanksgiving rhetoric. The core electoral promise has already been broken. And to make it worse, it looks like the DAP leaders have no intention to stick their necks out to stop a repeat electoral robbery. It seems they just want to have their 5 years of being a Member of Parliament or state assembly-person. They want to stick to the safe and narrow path, immerse themselves in rhetoric but without carrying the burden of output. If this is so, at GE14, why should Malaysian Chinese vote for them again? They might as well stick with the mousy, greedy and selfish MCA. As for the Malays, it is odd but DAP is to most of them what Umno is to the non-Malays – something that the Pakatan leaders should take note of. Pulling wool over the people’s eyes: Fighters needed in the Opposition ring
Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t do it in the political space – especially that which belongs to the Opposition. In the Opposition ring – particularly in a semi-dictatorship like Malaysia -fighters are needed. Really tough ones. So like their counterparts in the MCA, DAP boys and girls should move on to the corporate scene where they can make more money although they won’t enjoy so much fame. But stop wasting the precious 5-year mandates of the people. Do not repeat the non-achievement of the elder leaders and keep Malaysia forever floundering in Umno’s ever-increasingly vicious cycle. The acid test is simple. There is nothing hazy about this. For example, what is the point of raising motion after motion on the haze? What real or concrete result can Teo Nie Chieng or her rival Wee Ka Siong from MCA achieve here other than a fleeting puff for themselves? Face it, even Singapore strongman Lee Hsien Loong and his dad Lee Kuan Yew are powerless to reduce the haze in their precious republic. Malaysian Opposition leaders should be honest and ask themselves – do the people want them to keep pointing out corruption case after corruption case, one cheating scam after another, haze year in and year out but at the end of the day be the same powerless people unable to make a real or concrete difference? We see Pakatan leaders at risk of failing in their primary duty, we believe they may lose sight of the main goal because of their desire for the fluff, and a good example is Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa who was apparently so terrified of being left out from Parliament that he broke party line to attend a briefing that was boycotted by the rest of the Opposition. Really, what is the point of being in the fight if the Opposition is only making the motions of trying to win the federal government. Just yesterday Pakatan could not even stop Najib from cheating again in the secret ballot for the Speaker. And yet some of the Pakatan MPs have brazenly and a tad arrogantly declared their ‘priority’ to ‘solve’ the issue of the haze and to ‘combat’ the even more complex matter of corruption! Seems to us that all the Umno-BN needs to do is to just threaten arrests, label an issue or event illegal and that’s the last you see of some of these so-called “brave but at the same time kiasu” leaders from the Opposition! We say why should Malaysians vote for ‘kiasu’ leaders at all – be they from the Pakatan or the BN? Round and round in circles
To stay relevant, some in the Pakatan – and they know who they are – must look at new strategies and stop the hot gas and rhetoric to mask their sheer political cowardice – no one is fooled! Look in the mirror and stop tricking themselves and the people. All Tony Puas in this world could never stop the corruption in KLIA2 or in the ministry of defense if they continue to keep their heads buried in the sand! Instead, the cheating and corruption only increases because as Tony and his Pakatan colleagues including Rafizi Ramli holler out the Umno-BN’s worst secrets, it is not in the least bit scared! Umno-BN leaders don’t care at all because they know – as proven in the past 5 years – that Pakatan can blow the whistle as much as they like but they can’t do anything more than that. So who wins then, and who loses? The answer is pretty obvious – Umno-BN gets the illicit cash, Pakatan gets the publicity, the people lose. Really, the time has come to stop being ‘clever children’. Political prodigies are a waste of time. Malaysia is near bankruptcy and no one has time for ‘smart-alec’ stories that yield no concrete results in the end. So what can Pakatan do?
Let’s have a quick look at just one. Let’s go to South America and take a look at Brazil where the citizens have marched on the streets, blocked roads and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, as well as swarming past the Congress and Presidential Palace because of a hike in transport fares from 3.00 to 3.20. We highlight this example because like in Malaysia, the ruling politicians in Brazil only defend their own interests, wasting public funds and unlawfully enriching themselves while the various law enforcement officials are known to be equally as corrupt. However, the economy is active. Money is easy to earn and the ordinary people there can still manage to get a small slice of the economic pie. Hence, it is easy to close an eye on the new government which had inherited the sound economy from ex-President Lula. But the new government, like Najib’s, has failed to sustain real or developmental growth and has to keep on spending without having priorities in order to hide the truth from the people. If the Brazil protests were just about transport fares, few would be taking notice. But the fare increase was merely the last straw –there were so many issues that had outraged the Brazilians. Ultimately, it all boils down to "their dissatisfaction and total disbelief in politicians." This was why the protest became so massive – enough to pressure a real solution, if not a complete change in government. Sense of urgency vital
At the moment, the Black 505 peaceful gatherings are not a threat and cannot spark any immediate governmental changes. But they sure make a helluva statement. And with the right approach and development, Black 505 can be used to harness enormous public support plus an all-important sense of urgency that is still sorely lacking despite Malaysia being in a really precarious position – socially, democratically and economically. The lesson to take home from the Brazilian example is that the focus of their protests was on “collective grievances", not just about transport fares. For the Black 505 gatherings here, the focus was on the "common grievances" suffered by voters due to the lack electoral reforms and the frauds perpetrated during the election. The scope of Black 505 can easily be expanded because the chest of wrongdoings of the UMNO-BN is too deep and way too wide. And another key point is that the Black 505 must retain its core feature of being a peaceful gathering. Given the amiable nature of the Malaysian people plus the good track of the rallies held so far, this should not be beyond the organizers. Mass civil pressure exerted peacefully, with dignity and regularly can achieve dramatic results. There is no need for the violence of the Arab uprisings to bring about change here. All it takes is for Malaysians to keep repeating their demands to the government in a very VISIBLE way – stop the nonsense. Enough is enough! How to fight a ‘law unto itself’
However, the Umno legacy of "collective grievances" inflicted onto the rest of the country may in the end be its own undoing. This is the crucial common denominator that unites 51% of Malaysians against them. The second tie is the social media network that helped to communicate down the line the latest developments and happenings in the Opposition, uniting it with the people of the county and the rest of the world. Without freedom of speech and a free press, the Umno-BN government could take any action or make any laws it wants unobserved by its own people and the outside world. It is ironic that in GE13, Pakatan has won 7 more seats and taken 51% of the popular vote while Umno-BN has slid further. Yet over the next 5 years, the going will be tougher for Pakatan than for Umno-BN. The call is very clear for greater courage from the Pakatan. It not yet time for it to rest on its laurels and to ‘enjoy’ the fruits of its hard work yet. Otherwise, Malaysians voters will dump Pakatan in GE14 for not doing enough to fulfill their primary request – which is to take over the federal government and make real, broad-based, structural reforms to save this country. The test before the Pakatan MPs as they doll themselves up to take their oaths at Parliament is far greater than for Umno-BN, which by now is practically a law unto itself and therefore lawless. Umno leaders have managed to get away scot-free despite all the outrageous tricks and stunts they pulled the past 5 years. So Pakatan MPs, especially the ‘boys and girls’, please get savvy and learn ‘guerrilla warfare’ real fast because you will now be fighting a completely lawless and amoral entity. |
| Foto Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim Semasa Pembukaan Sidang Parlimen Ke-13 Posted: 25 Jun 2013 09:37 PM PDT
Foto oleh: Republika Online |
Behind its smoke-screens and shadow-plays, this 'crooked' government, like its counterpart in Indonesia, couldn't give a damn about the well-being of its citizens as long as its members and cronies are free to continue in their corrupt and otherwise criminal ways.
And according to BN mouthpiece 'news' agency Bernama, he added that "the guidelines on the actions to take to manage a haze disaster were already in place and that all relevant agencies must discharge their duties accordingly."
And despite Najib's alleged eagerness to unite Malaysian society, much has been made lately both by him and other BN mouthpieces like
It takes a lot to be called a hero but what Malaysians need and deserve are heroes in their Opposition. This is the sad fact of politics. So do wake up, Pakatan. Also, wake up Malaysian voters. There is no doubt the so-called drastic responses that Anwar had tried to initiate are vital.
| You are subscribed to email updates from Anwar Ibrahim To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan