Hulu Selangor P94

Dust settled... result was in.

The corrupt won the battle by spending huge amount on Malaysian's tax money, YET they have nothing to be proud of. They know it well, and the cost of their win (so they called it victory) is enormous.

PR supporters and comrades,

Don't lose hope. You lost a battle, not the war.

You have countless of battles to fight on, and the next one -- Sibu.

And, the next one, next one, next one...

With all your persistence and courage, we will win the war!

Breaking Views

Hulu Selangor — Anwar Ibrahim

APRIL 26 — I thank the workers and volunteers from Pakatan Rakyat including our friends in DAP and PAS who supported our candidate in Hulu Selangor, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Tens of thousands of Malaysians joined us to show the people of Hulu Selangor that Pakatan Rakyat is committed to a Malaysia where all of its citizens have the right to peace, justice, and prosperity. I am thankful for the tremendous support you have shown.

Your commitment to change is commendable.

One setback shall not divert us from our goal. Any change worth making is hard and will be fought at every turn. While it doesn’t take away the sting of this loss, there is no road to real change without setbacks along the way.

Over RM100 million was spent by BN to win a thin majority in Hulu Selangor: that amounts to RM65,000 per person. Dozens of ministers campaigned every day; the Election Commission appears guilty once again of violating its mandate to ensure fair elections; and the police intimidated our supporters and there are reports that they even prevented some voters from reaching the polling stations.

This means that Barisan Nasional has learned nothing since the March 2008 election. Character assassination, racism, bribery and brute force may help to win one or two by-elections. But the people of Malaysia will not be deceived.

Our country still faces the same challenges which cannot be resolved by dirty politics or a few catchy slogans. The economy is lagging, jobs are scarce and our education system remains mediocre at best.

We must do more to address the plight of the poor and marginalised people throughout Malaysia. And we must bring credibility back to the Federal government as we have started to do in the Pakatan States.

We increased our popular support in Hulu Selangor. We know we have to do more to reach out to our supporters in the rural heartland, particularly the Felda settlements. I am committed to this challenge and my resolve is unwavering.

Let us look ahead to the next contest and work to bring change to Sarawak.

* Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the de facto leader of PKR and is MP for Permatang Pauh.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Article adopted from TheMalaysianInsider: Hulu Selangor — Anwar Ibrahim

You are Most Desired

Errrr...

Nope! We are not talking about the most desired women here, though Jessica Alba topped the list and was voted to the title.

We are talking about stability of a country, economic growth of a country, and democracy of a country.

It is, therefore, so many people continued to support and vote in the incumbent government, again and again.

Many of them, think that by doing so, they help ensuring the equilibrium of stability and economy of the country not be disturbed. And they think the only stability is key to prosper.

Many of them were tricked to believe what they see on the surface.

Many of them were conned on what they hear from the medias.

Unfortunately, they helped flourish the ideas of those cronies and fascists...

So, what have you decided to do, within your rights, to help restore justice and democracy?

"

The previous Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin (Zam), told Al Jazeera back in November 2007 that Malaysia is a democratic country because we have elections once every five years. Hitler won the elections as well and became Nazi Germany’s leader. Saddam became Iraq’s leader when he too won the elections. Does this make Nazi Germany and Iraq democratic countries?

...

In Malaysia, the political arena is not a level playing field. The media is controlled. You need a licence to start a newspaper, magazine or radio/TV station. And if you ‘violate’ the terms of your licence then you lose it. And so-called ‘violations’ are not clear. There is no hard and fast guideline. It is within the powers of the Minister to decide what constitutes a violation. And if the Minister, and only the Minister, is of the opinion that you have violated the terms of your licence then he can cancel it.

...

So they do not give space or airtime to the opposition for fear of incurring the wrath of the government. And whatever publicity the mainstream print and electronic media gives the opposition it is always in a negative light. Only bad news about the opposition is featured. The mainstream media never says nice things about the opposition. If they do, they will lose their licence.

...

In a true democracy, the TV stations would give equal airtime to the opposition. This does not happen in Malaysia. In Indonesia, surprisingly, it does. Therefore, in spite of elections being held once every five years, Malaysia has a long way to go in achieving the status of a proper democracy.

"

Read in details of the article here at MalaysiaToday:

There is democracy and there is democracy

Photo Credit: Ask Men reveal 99 most desirable

In the Name of Religion

If you are with an opposite-sex partner, whether you two are legally married or not, you should refrain from staying in any hotel and chalet in the state of Terrengganu in Malaysia. (except that if you are rich enough to put up in a 5-star)

You may not be allowed to dress properly before these fanatics break into your room. In fact, in many of the happenings, they like to see your naked bodies, particularly if you are females. They are no saints but only in the name of carrying out their "sacred" responsibilities.

You will be treated as criminals and taken into custody before your are given opportunity to prove yourselves.

So, think twice before you brave the risk!

Excerpt from news article:

"Guests at the Penarik Inn here were flabbergasted by the actions of a group of men said to be from the state Religious Affairs Department (JHEAT) who conducted a raid yesterday morning.

Guests claimed they were rudely awakened at 2.25am by loud, incessant banging on their chalet doors.

...

Haniffah was outraged when she saw one of the men peeping through a window about 20 minutes later."

Read in details of the news article from MalaysiaToday:

Anti-khalwat team annoys hotel guests in Terengganu

Her Rights Violated

Admire her?

Love her?

... and you should respect her rights, not violating it by intruding her privacy with such a despicable act.

Erin Andrews is a sportscaster with ESPN. She is beautiful, energetic, attractive, and knowledgeable in her working field.

Admiring or loving a person does not give you the liberty to do things against one's will and wishes. Certainly not butt in to one's privacy rudely.

"A federal judge sentenced an Illinois man to two and a half years in prison Monday for taping ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews in the nude."

Read more of the news here:

Erin Andrews' video voyeur gets 2½ years

Balls in Hand

Finally, it takes so much courage for Pakatan Rakyat to be the FIRST to propose the restoration of the Local Council Election (popularly being referred as the Third Vote), restoring the rights of the people in choosing their own local representatives, rather than being appointed and used by the winning state governments as rewards to bribe their cronies.

In this regards, again, Pakatan Rakayt outshine and outdo their opponent who governed this country for more than half a century. People with conscience receive well on this proposal, and most NGOs (I mean those truly independent NGOs, not those fed by the ruling parties) have been longing, demanding, and pushing this for decades.

Was it not true that Tun Abdul Razak, 2nd Prime Minister, promised to restore the Local Council Election at the time it was suspended? So, how long do the people have to wait if not now? Another 100 years? More lame execuses?

Come on, embrace the change!

Restore the Third Vote and return the right to choose back to the PEOPLE!

"And this is the problem Pakatan Rakyat is going to face. Parliament is controlled by Barisan Nasional, not by Pakatan Rakyat. And Barisan Nasional does not want local council elections for the same reason that PAS is worried about what would happen in Kelantan if local council elections were held. So expect this to be blocked by Parliament.

Let’s take Perak as an example. Say they hold local council elections in Perak, a state under Barisan Nasional control. And, say, Pakatan Rakyat comes in at all or most of the local councils. Can you imagine the headache Barisan Nasional is going to have? The state would move in the opposite direction. Pakatan Rakyat and not Barisan Nasional will be the real power in Perak."

"As I said, Lim Guan Eng made a brilliant move. And now he has Barisan Nasional’s balls in his hand. Guan Eng, you're da man! Hidup Guan Eng!"

-- excerpt from MalaysiaToday - Najib blinked first

"We have heard and seen many cases of council 'chieftains' and members wielding extraordinary power and amassing wealth and living lavishly. The people must be given their democratic rights to purge these 'local warlords', and the only way it can be done is through the proper process of holding elections for local government positions."

-- excerpt from Malaysiakini - Local polls: 'You're wrong, Mr Prime Minister'

Read the following for details:

MalaysiaToday - Najib blinked first

Malaysiakini - PM: Local gov't polls unnecessary

Malaysiakini - Local polls: 'You're wrong, Mr Prime Minister'

Malaysiakini - 'No local elections': Gerakan, Pakatan tick off PM

TheMalaysianInsider - Putrajaya not keen to restore third vote

TheMalaysianInsider - Third vote not likely - before next elections

TheMalaysianInsider - Pakatan states could follow Penang in third vote bid

TheMalaysianInsider - Make way for local elections

Free and Fair

Iraq must be proud, being the first Islamic country in the Middle East conducted a free and fair election.

So, how is Malaysia doing after going through more than 10 elections?

How was Malaysian Election Commission carry out their duty in ensuring a truly free and fair election?

Will Malaysians at large be at par to the brave Iraqis?

"(CNN) -- Israel may have to retire its title as the only democracy in the Middle East. With Sunday's free and fair national election, Iraq joins the honor roll as one of the very few Islamic democracies.

Other Middle Eastern countries hold elections too, of course. But those elections fall into two broad categories. The first category is the blatantly rigged: Iran, most spectacularly, but also Algeria, Egypt, and Yemen, among others. In the second category, elections are more or less honest -- but fail to exert much control over the actions of the government: Lebanon, Morocco, and Jordan."

Read in details here: Will Iraq's democracy vindicate Bush?

Photo Credit: dangerousintersection.org

Gerrymandering the Democracy

Now it is clear.

That is how UMNO/BN can survive the federal government-ship for half a century -- through cheating!

Artwork Description:

English: How Gerrymandering can influence the result of elections in a non-proportional system. In each case there are 36 green and 28 magenta dots in total. Depending on how the 4 districts are designed, there can be a 3:1 or a 4:0 win for the greens, a 2:2 tie, or even a 1:3 win for the state-wide minority party (magenta)

"I would completely overhaul our electoral process to ensure free and fair elections, and adopt proportional representation to replace our existing first-past-the-post electoral system.

Parliamentary democracy in Malaysia has been continuously undermined through gerrymandering (manipulation of electoral composition) and malapportionment (manipulation of electoral size). A clear example of malapportionment is how in the March 2008 elections, Putrajaya, with a population of about 5,000, sent one MP to Parliament while my constituency, Seputeh, which has over 76,000 voters, also had only one seat in Parliament.

If you consider the March 2008 elections, Barisan Nasional (BN) obtained barely half of the popular vote — about 51% of the 7.9 million votes cast and yet they controlled 63% of the seats at stake in Parliament, i.e. 140 out of 222 seats. If you exclude the voters in Sabah and Sarawak, where BN won all but two seats, their popular vote dips to 49.8% in Peninsula Malaysia. (Source:http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=10778)

This kind of electoral manipulation is traitorous to the people's will."

"“The reason we lost Selangor in 1969 was because of the non-Malay votes. So we decided to take Kuala Lumpur out of Selangor and turn it into Federal Territory to reduce the non-Malay voters in the state. Then we created a new Malay city called Shah Alam so that we can flood Selangor will more Malays and dilute the remaining non-Malay voters in Selangor.”

That was what Fahmi explained -- the reason why Selangor was split into two with the creation of the Federal Territory and the reason why Shah Alam was created as the new State Capital cum Malay city.

“It worked for awhile as long as the Malays vote Umno and the non-Malays vote opposition. But when the Malays also vote opposition then this strategy no longer works. So we need to think of a new strategy.”

The ‘new’ strategy Umno is talking about is not actually new but is an ongoing strategy. This strategy is called gerrymandering and it was invented by the Americans."

Read more on the following articles:

TheNutGraph - MP Watch - Teresa Kok (Seputeh)

MalaysiaToday - Why the two-thirds is crucial

Artwork credit:

Licensing

I, Gazilion, the copyright holder of this work, hereby releases it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

In case this is not legally possible:
I, Gazilion grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Fairness and Justice

No love to her father, but salute Marina (pic) for her open mind. A very fair assessment that speaks out loud on fairness and justice for the weak - in this case, the women.

In particular, she exposed the iron fist in using the PPA to sensor and silent the mainstream medias.

Unfortunately, she is now a victim of PPA for being open.

Read her blog post, you will like it:

The Column That Wasn't

(Marina Mahathir is a champion for Muslim women's rights and HIV/AIDS.)

Elected Officials betraying Voters and Integrity

These are among the politicians who blatantly betrayed not only their parties, but also their voters by attacking their leadership or hopping out of their alliance of Pakatan Rakyat into the Barisan National/UMNO side.

It is clear that BN/UMNO is working hard on stirring up to get and buy up all these unprincipled individuals from PR through all sorts of coercion and corruption acts.

Pakatan Rakyat Hall of Shame:

Example of People First, Performance Now

Wow! Unbelievably arrogant!

This is how the Home Minister and his team behaves... like they are the KINGS!

They have forgotten completely that they are civil servants and must service the people.

And this is a great example of 1MALAYSIA, people first, performance now.

What a SHAME!

Following news article adopted from Malaysiakini.

Home Minister declines to meet police shooting victim

Feb 25, 10 3:48pm

A 30-member delegation left Putrajaya disappointed today after Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein declined to accept their memo in person regarding the police shooting of unemployed single mom Norizan Salleh.

Arriving at the Home Ministry around 11.30am, the group, made up of representatives Lawyers for Liberty and Pakatan Rakyat were met by Hishammuddin's senior private secretary Azmi Zakaria in the lobby to receive the memorandum on behalf of the minister.

However a commotion erupted when Norizan's lawyer N Surendren and the Pakatan representatives insisted on meeting the minister in person.

“If we deliver this to you, you will not take action. We want to hand this to the minister,” declared Surendran.

Apparently annoyed by the remark, the Home Ministry's representative walked away.

Meanwhile, Teratai state assemblyperson Janice Lee said they were treated like nobodies although the victim was already in their building.

Norizan expressed her disappointment that she could not meet the Home Minister in person.

"I still hope to meet him and get explanation from him," she said.

Police had classified the incident as an accident and refused to meet Norizan's medical expenses.

"I do not know how to pay the RM18,000 medical bill," she, adding "I do not even know how to support myself."

PKR communications director Lateefa Koya, wondered why the minister did not take the opportunity to meet the victim himself, so that he could see what she went through.

Norizan, who was shot five times and beaten up by police after they stopped a car she was in on the MRR2, is claiming that attack on her was without reason and wrongful.

Earlier Norizan and her supporters had submitted similar memorandums to Bukit Aman on Feb 5 and the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) on Feb 11.

Kapar MP S Manickavasagam said they will send the memorandum to Parliament when it sits on March 15.

"He cannot run if it is sent to the parliament," he said.

Among those present to lend support were Selangor exco Rodziah Ismail, Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin, PAS Women's Wing Secretary Kartini Ahmad, Selangor Pakatan Rakyat elected Representative Officer (SELPRO) secretary Ng Yap Hwa.

Australia Against Anwar Trial

"The repeated attempts by Malaysia’s ruling party to drive Anwar out of politics by framing him up on obviously false charges is a disgraceful story which has now been running for more than ten years. Anwar was Deputy Prime Minister in 1998 when he fell out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – no friend of Australia. He was arrested, beaten up, tried on faked evidence and coerced testimony, then jailed for four years, before his conviction was finally overturned in 2004. Now the same charges have been laid again."

What would be your make of the statement above? -Situation being sharp-eyed by Australian MPs as an obvious conspiracy.

Would these 50 MPs be jeopardising their personal and country's reputations to speak out if not having high enough confidence level of this case?

Aside from these 50 Australian MPs, Senator John Kerry (2004 Presidential candidate) from U.S. Foreign Affairs posted similar comment requesting fair trial for Anwar.

Following article adopted from MalaysiaToday.

Why MPs protested over the Anwar trial

GUEST COLUMNISTS

Sunday, 21 February 2010 Super Admin

Recently the Wall Street Journal published a first-hand account of how the Malaysian Special Branch police fabricated the charges that led to Anwar’s first trial. Munawar Anees recalled how he had been starved and beaten into signing a false confession which implicated Anwar.

Michael Danby, The Punch

Last week saw an unusual event in Australian politics: backbench members of Parliament from both sides took a foreign affairs initiative, independent of their party leaderships. Sixty Members and Senators – Labor, Liberal, Green and independent – signed a letter which was presented to the Malaysian High Commissioner protesting against the current trial of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on charges of “sodomy.”

The author presenting the petition to Malaysian High Commissoner Salman Bin L Ahmad last Thursday.

The letter was signed by, among others, Laurie Ferguson, Malcolm Turnbull, Greg Hunt, Bob Brown, Nick Xenophon, Duncan Kerr, Deputy Speaker Anna Burke, Jennie George, Gary Gray and Mark Dreyfus QC.

It followed a speech which I gave in the House of Representatives on 3 February, in which I drew the House’s attention to the 2nd Sodomy trial in Kuala Lumpur of Anwar Ibrahim.

I’m very grateful to all the Members and Senators who signed the letter. I can’t recall another backbench initiative like this in recent times.

Why should Australian Members of Parliament stick their noses into the affairs of a country like Malaysia, which is a friend and neighbour? I would say it is precisely because Malaysia is a friend and neighbour that we care what happens there. No-one is surprised at show trials and political persecution in North Korea or Burma. When it happens in a country which is one of our region’s relative success stories, we are shocked and dismayed.

Many Australian’s have spoken for Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democratically elected leader under house arrest by an authoritarian regime. In some sense these legal torments of Anwar are more egregious as they are happening in a developing democracy that says organs of the state such as the courts or police should not be used to persecute a democratic political opponent.

People-to-people contact between Australians and Malaysians has become very close in recent years, through students studying in Australia, steadily growing tourism in both directions and growing business ties. The persecution of Anwar Ibrahim, however, does not put Malaysia in a good light.

The repeated attempts by Malaysia’s ruling party to drive Anwar out of politics by framing him up on obviously false charges is a disgraceful story which has now been running for more than ten years. Anwar was Deputy Prime Minister in 1998 when he fell out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – no friend of Australia. He was arrested, beaten up, tried on faked evidence and coerced testimony, then jailed for four years, before his conviction was finally overturned in 2004. Now the same charges have been laid again.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published a first-hand account of how the Malaysian Special Branch police fabricated the charges that led to Anwar’s first trial. Munawar Anees recalled how he had been starved and beaten into signing a false confession which implicated Anwar. The same things are happening again now. It would be intolerable in any democratic country for an accuser to front at the home of the Prime Minister before he then went to the impartial Malaysian police. This is what happened to Anwar Ibrahim when has accuser was succoured by Rosman Razak, the Prime Ministers wife, before he went to charge Anwar at the Police station.

These are the tactics which Anwar’s enemies are willing to resort to, in order to eliminate the threat he poses to those currently in power.

The reason the ruling party UMNO fears Anwar is simply that he is the first Malay politician to challenge successfully its monopoly of the Malay vote, which is the basis of its long-standing hold on power. At the 2008 elections Anwar’s People’s Justice Party and its allies won 60 seats away from UMNO and its allies, creating a viable two-party system for the first time. UMNO fears that he will win the next election unless he is stopped, and it seems that at least some elements of UMNO and their allies in the police are willing to resort to any means to stop him. Their nightmare scenario is for the urban, educated Malays together with Indian and Chinese minorities together with deputies from the rebellious Sabah and Sarawah provinces, uniting to form a parliamentary majority.

Malaysia , however is not like North Korea, sealed off from world opinion. The Malaysian people and the Malaysian government care about their reputation in the region and the world. There have been demonstrations by UMNO ‘youth’ outside the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. A leading supporter of the Malaysian Prime Minister sought to deflect Malaysian opinion by responding that ‘Michael Danby, who organized the petition is a homosexual’. Sad and pathetic though such a reaction is, the response on many blogs and new sites, by ordinary Malaysians who are outraged at the trial, repudiate such prejudice and show hope for a civic discourse as Malaysia’s democratic ethos develops.

The Malaysian media reports what is said about Malaysia in other countries. That’s why an intervention such as our bipartisan letter to the High Commissioner, politely but clearly setting out our strong protest against persecution of Anwar Ibrahim, can be effective, and why it is such an important initiative. Hopefully when Anwar is free of these torments the best answer to those who would like to keep Malaysia a one party state, will be the peaceful transition to power al la Japan, Taiwan and Korea of an Opposition Government.

When that happens, Australia’s politicians will have done more to cement genuine friendship with Malaysia than oodles of “diplomacy.”

- Michael Danby is the Member for Melbourne Ports and Chair of the Parliamentary Sub-committee for Foreign Affairs.