I find these days that every event is being turned into a racial or a religious issue at any opportunity. It is baffling that PERKASA is warning against this rally when in fact, there is little to do with them. I was puzzled, so I looked up the reasons for the latest call to demonstrate.

From bersih.org ,

The demands of the rally are:
-Clean the electoral roll
-Reform postal vote
-Use indelible ink
-Free & fair access to media
-Minimum 21 days campaign period
-Strengthen public institutions
-Stop corruption
-Stop dirty politics

Is there anything wrong with these demands? Instead of engaging this group actively, there is an attempt to silence them. This only instigates more rebellion when the Government is seen as antagonistic to these ideas, which should be the ideals of any elections. Of course, the Government denies that elections are unfair and often points to their massive loss in the last General Election as a testament to its fairness. That was during PM Badawi’s time, a more liberal leader than PM Najib.

Back to PERKASA, why are they even involved in this fight?? Who do they represent actually? UMNO??

Let me tell you how corrupt our government agencies can be? A recent event by a non-governmental organisation representing patients, which needed police approval was delayed until a “payment” was made. Despite an initial attempt to resist this, there was little choice if the event is to materialise on time. It is accepted as a norm to “pay” police officers. If such an activity is rampant at this level, I shudder to think of the degree of corruption at a much higher level.

I think to avoid a BERSIH rally, the government should actively engage this group of people and show transparency in attempts to rectify or prove that steps are taken to ensure a fair and just election. This is not very hard to do. But any attempt to force the issue is usually met with stiff resistance and threats of violence.

Malaysia is my country as well and I hope that cooler heads will prevail on both sides of the divide.

The amazing thing is that a mainstream newspaper picked up the story and decided to splash it on the front page! Since then, it has become a factual news to the extend that the Prime Minister had to call for a meeting with Christian leaders to clarify the situation.

Apart from wrist slapping, there has been no concrete action taken against Utusan Malaysia and the blogger(s) concerned. Their actions are seditious and was meant to cause unrest among Malaysians. This should fall under the purview of the Internal Security Act. Unfortunately, this Act is commonly used to silence opposing politicians and not unscrupulous Government supporters!

I am sure many of us are astounded by the incredibility of the situation. Why has this occurred? Does the Government think that we, Malaysians are that stupid not to see the ridiculousness of the situation?

I hope that sensible Malaysians will see through the Government’s attempts to stir emotions by playing up racial and religious issues, to ensure political survival of a coalition government that is based on race. It is unfortunate that MCA and MIC are mute in response, and so are the coalition members, who are mainly Christian especially those in East Malaysia. It appears political survival supercedes national unity.

We will see in the next General Election. What tactics will the Government employ in their very desperate attempts at staying in power. As Najib himself has declared, he will do everything in his power to prevent the opposition parties from taking Putrajaya.

This is the battle cry of MCA. Such a desperate call is evidence that MCA is aware that they are no longer the legitimate party representing the Chinese in Malaysia. Although they may currently be in the governing body by virtue of being a component party of Barisan Nasional, in reality, they no longer can be the voice of the Chinese in Malaysia.

Holding voters to ransom is hardly a wise choice. It will likely backfire on a party that is losing significant ground in capturing the support of the people that they supposedly represent.

If MCA wants to vacate the traditional allocation given to them in the Federal government, it is their choice. It is a do or die gamble for them. Rather than attempting to recapture the imagination of the Chinese through innovative and progressive measures, they have resorted to such menial tactics.

The Chinese did not vote DAP because it is a “Chinese” party but rather because it believed in the Malaysian dream. It is obvious that BN parties are not getting this but instead play up racial issues. This is obvious when their very existence depends on such racial segregation. UMNO for Malays, MCA for Chinese and MIC for Indians. Such divide and rule tactics are from the colonial era and is archaic.

Unless BN moves with the times, they are likely to lose further support from Malaysians in general.

However, recent expose of sexual misconduct, led me to believe that our nation’s leaders and police are no longer objective when it comes to these abject attempts at character assassination.

For the sake of argument, even if it is Anwar in that video, let the voters decide. The fact remains that there has been a violation of one’s privacy. Putting a hidden cam with a malicious intent is a criminal offence. With the perpetrators identified, it is a surprise that they remain free today. The arguments of whether this issue should be debated in Parliament is a testament that politicians have lost sight of the facts. They are just drooling at the prospect that Anwar should be axed from Parliament.

BN do not have much credibility to comment on this issue as one of their leaders have been caught red handed in a similar expose. He has now been elected President of a second largest party in BN.

I think Malaysia is becoming the laughing stock of the world. Accepting invasion of privacy and attempting to shield the criminals with the Whistleblower’s Act, is just plain stupidity and a complete disregard for the Law.

Why are we wasting time and resources on this?

At the same time, circumstantial evidence is clear that Teoh did not commit suicide. So who was the culprit in ending this young man’s life, leaving his child fatherless??

I fear that many politicians, despite claiming to be devout Muslims, have little regard for the religion. Najib once swore in the mosque that he had nothing to do with Altantuya. This displays the extent he would cower to dodge the bullet. There is clear evidence that he had a part in the Altantuya saga. The prosecutor went to great lengths protecting Najib from being placed in the witness stand.

The General Election is near and there is no way in hell Barisan Nasional will allow Pakatan Rakyat to take over Putrajaya. Doing so will be like the Wikileaks expose. The damage of the release of fiercely guarded documents under the Official Secrets Act will certainly be irreparable to this generation of Barisan leaders.

The Teoh Beng Hock case is clearly a testament to political subservience.

I only have one question to ask, “Why was such a minor political aide murdered?”. Did he have important information that could be damning to the ruling elite? or was it just a case of uncontrolled emotions at an ungodly hour which likely irked both sides of the divide?

There is no doubt that this case will capture our imagination for decades to come. Someone has the answers to these questions but will likely carry them to his grave.

So how trustworthy is the intelligence source? Anwar claims that it is the dirty work of the Special Branch Police Force.

Being an avid follower of the court proceedings, there is little if any evidence that the crime did take place. Much of the evidence can be disproved circumstantially and using pure common sense. The stories are riddled with inconsistencies and the court judgements were clearly biased.

Unfortunately, WikiLeaks information did not come at the right time for Anwar. Although there is not much evidence to those intelligence wires, it appears that it has publicly given Anwar a huge blow in his attempt at proving his innocence.

It appears there is more to come.

So will our Official Secrets Act documents ever be leaked? It is certain to produce a tsunami that will wipe out a generation of politicians.

Converting this venue to a Parliament House is unwise in the long run. Is the current Parliament building so unusable as to necessitate a prolonged debate on the issue?

In view of the dire economic situation, perhaps only the utmost urgent renovations should be allowed. The Federal Government’s current dilemma leaves the public with a bad taste in the mouth as this came shortly after the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department went to great lengths to convince Malaysians that subsidies have to removed to avoid bankrupcy in 9 years!

It is thus unfortunate that even the royals have no regard towards the welfare of the country. Cost overruns in the construction of the Agong’s palace comes at an untimely period. Apart from being a showcase, there is little function in a grandiose palace. Unfortunately our economic planners see it fit to build for our constitutional monarch, awarding the contract to well connected companies.

Cost overruns can occur anywhere but to have such frequent misjudgments which amount to double the original predictions, is unacceptable. Unfortunately, transparency in such issues is sorely lacking.

On top of that, the Government now tells its brightest students that they cannot get anymore financial assistance as funds are severely limited!

I have had enough of this nonsense. The current Federal Government appears jaded and confused. Their only preoccupation is ensuring that Anwar is convicted and removed from the political scene, hoping that he is the vital link to the stability of the opposition alliance.

As a fellow “shareholder” of this country, I say that it is indeed time to change the management team which is clearly no longer competent at managing the country!

How about explaining measures taken by the Government in curbing unnecessary spending? If the Prime Minister can use taxpayers money as bait to fish voters, I fear that cutting subsidies will not be the answer to our debt woes.

There should be greater transparency in contract negotiations. Cronyism should also be condemned.

The recent auditor general’s report has also been poorly followed up. This report highlighted the gross mismanagement of funds. The Government paid RM 224 for a RM 32 screwdriver RM 1146 for a RM 160 pen, RM 5700 for a RM 50 car jack. This AG report goes on and on. Unfortunately all the shocking truths is blatantly ignored by this ruling Government and no one in the service has been brought to justice for this obvious form of corruption.

And now the Government has the audacity to ask Malaysians to pay more with the clear intention of helping the Government clear its debts!! I say it is time for a new fund manager before our country truly goes bankrupt in 2019!! The PM asked if we want to see the country bankrupt in 2019, my answer is OF COURSE NO! The best solution is not subsidy cuts but to remove a corrupt government. This should be a priority in order to save our country from suffering a similar fate as Greece.

Health is important especially for aspiring leaders of our country. When your health fails, your duty to the electorate will suffer. In the last US presidential election, there was a grave concern when John McCain won the candidacy for President representing the Republicans. His campaign party had to go to great lengths to convince the American public that he is in tip top health. He was 72 years of age when he contested for the 2008 Presidential Election.

It is important for the future aspiring candidates to reveal their health status. Choosing the right candidates depends not only on their political ideologies but their abilities to perform under strenuous conditions for the next 4-5 years.

Failure to do so will only result in the electorate losing representation and the resulting waste of tax payers money organising by-elections.

What is unsatisfactory is the fact that neighbouring countries, including Malaysia, is keeping mum. Surely such atrocities must be dealt with. Afterall, the current Thai government is not democratically elected and such high handed tactics must be condemned.

Unfortunately, Abhisit has found friends in high places of foreign governments. Such double standards with regards to democracy is typical. Sadly Malaysia is part of this conspiracy.

ASEAN ultimately serves little purpose when member nations have an understanding to look away despite major wrongdoings in these nations. Often times, the excuse of it being an internal affair is growing very stale.

More Thais, many who believe that democracy has not been upheld, will be killed. I tend to share their sentiments, when two democratically elected governments were ousted by the military.

Who can they turn to? Certainly ASEAN is hapless. If they cannot chastise Myanmar but in return, admit this military run nation to its fold, what else can we expect from ASEAN!

Perhaps it is time for China or Japan, as superpower nations in this region, to step forward with a proposal for a peace settlement. The time has come for them to resume this role.