Prepare for martial rule A la BN-Umno?
No News Is Bad News FLASHBACK: With the National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016, which came into force on Aug 1, 2016, the fears of seizing power from democracy is a real concern among Malaysians.
The NSC, touted as the most draconian of all laws ever to be enacted, gives the prime minister of the day sweeping powers to seize control of the administration of the country without having to go to the democratic national polls.
Even the abolished Internal Security Act (ISA) is a pale shadow of the NSC. And Malaysians have witnessed how the ISA was used to clamp down on politicians and not communists as the law was enacted for.
Malaysians may not have to wait long to see whether the NSC will be unleashed - the coming Bersih 5 public rally could be telling.
Online news portal malaysiakini quoted Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar as saying that all (public) rallies, including Bersih 5, will be handled under the provision of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012.
He said this when asked on concerns that the NSC would be invoked against the recently announced Bersih 5 rally.
“What has the NSC got to do with the rallies? Rallies are governed by the PAA.
“I don't see any relevancy between the NSC Act and the people who want to rally. I don't see that it is going to be used for that (purpose),” he told a media conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Now, that’s very assuring and comforting to hear from the IGP.
Malaysians will know soon or time will tell.
Here’s more on the concerns of Malaysians over power abuse:
"Why is Jamal so intent on creating trouble?
Mariam Mokhtar
October 24, 2016
If we were paranoid, we'd say he's giving an excuse for the government to declare emergency rule.
COMMENT
True to form, Jamal Yunos of the Red Shirts did not show any remorse after spending time in the lock-up. “With my release from remand,” he announced, “I’m declaring an all-out war against Bersih 5.”
Conveniently, Jamal was overseas when his Red Shirts began its harassment of the Bersih convoys, causing a public backlash that has been gaining momentum ever since.
Jamal was arrested at KLIA on his return from abroad. Would he have been arrested if the rakyat had not shown increasing anger against the authorities for apparently condoning the attacks of a racist and increasingly violent group?
But why, you may ask, are the Red Shirts so intent on creating trouble? Let’s try to speculate by looking at a bigger picture.
Last August, we were warned by various activists that the National Security Council Act would be used to strip us of our last remaining freedoms. The PM argued that the law was to fight terrorism. But we already have anti-terrorism laws for that.
Ambiga Sreenevasan, the head of the National Human Rights Society, warned that the rush to get the NSC Bill through Parliament was indicative of a grab for absolute power.
When the bill was presented to the Yang Dipertuan Agong and the Conference of Rulers last February for their approval, they recommended a number of amendments. The rulers wishes were ignored, giving us a sign that worse was to come.
The devastation left by the 1MDB scandal and the gloom over the global economy will make things more difficult in Malaysia. The ordinary man is struggling. He cannot tighten his belt further.
Umno-Baru ministers remain in denial. Despite the fall in the ringgit’s value, Nazri Aziz, the Tourism and Culture Minister, said that tourists would flock to Malaysia. They haven’t.
A few weeks ago, CIMB Chairman Nazir Razak said he was struggling to repair Malaysia’s damaged international reputation because of the fallout caused by the 1MDB scandal.
Jamal may provide an excuse for the men on the NSC Board to exercise their powers. Would we be paranoid to see his declaration of war on Bersih in this light?Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist."
Mariam Mokhtar
October 24, 2016
If we were paranoid, we'd say he's giving an excuse for the government to declare emergency rule.
COMMENT
True to form, Jamal Yunos of the Red Shirts did not show any remorse after spending time in the lock-up. “With my release from remand,” he announced, “I’m declaring an all-out war against Bersih 5.”
Conveniently, Jamal was overseas when his Red Shirts began its harassment of the Bersih convoys, causing a public backlash that has been gaining momentum ever since.
Jamal was arrested at KLIA on his return from abroad. Would he have been arrested if the rakyat had not shown increasing anger against the authorities for apparently condoning the attacks of a racist and increasingly violent group?
But why, you may ask, are the Red Shirts so intent on creating trouble? Let’s try to speculate by looking at a bigger picture.
Last August, we were warned by various activists that the National Security Council Act would be used to strip us of our last remaining freedoms. The PM argued that the law was to fight terrorism. But we already have anti-terrorism laws for that.
Ambiga Sreenevasan, the head of the National Human Rights Society, warned that the rush to get the NSC Bill through Parliament was indicative of a grab for absolute power.
When the bill was presented to the Yang Dipertuan Agong and the Conference of Rulers last February for their approval, they recommended a number of amendments. The rulers wishes were ignored, giving us a sign that worse was to come.
The devastation left by the 1MDB scandal and the gloom over the global economy will make things more difficult in Malaysia. The ordinary man is struggling. He cannot tighten his belt further.
Umno-Baru ministers remain in denial. Despite the fall in the ringgit’s value, Nazri Aziz, the Tourism and Culture Minister, said that tourists would flock to Malaysia. They haven’t.
A few weeks ago, CIMB Chairman Nazir Razak said he was struggling to repair Malaysia’s damaged international reputation because of the fallout caused by the 1MDB scandal.
Jamal may provide an excuse for the men on the NSC Board to exercise their powers. Would we be paranoid to see his declaration of war on Bersih in this light?Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist."
"NAJIB & ROSMAH’S RED-SHIRTS CREATE RUCKUS AT BERSIH EVENT IN PENANG WHILE POLICE LOOK ON
Politics | October 24, 2016 by | 0 Comments
A Bersih ceramah in Bukit Gedung, Penang was disrupted by about 50 people in red-shirts, who gathered at the opposite side of the road.
The red-shirts started their own ceramah at about 9.45pm when Deputy Chief Minister I Rashid Hasnon was speaking at the Bersih event.
Their voices nearly drowned out Rashid’s speech.
Undeterred, Rashid, who is also PKR’s Pulau Jerejak assemblyperson, told the participants at the Bersih event to chant “Bersih! Bersih!”.
The red-shirts, however, insisted that Bersih end their ceramah if they “do not want any untoward incident to happen”.
The red-shirts also chanted “Undur, undur!” (Retreat) and “Hancur, hancur!” (Destroy).
Police personnel stood watch at both events.
Comedian Leman Raja Lawak, who was at the Bersih event, told those attending to ignore the red-shirts despite the red-shirts shouting at Bersih to “balik” (go home).
Bersih secretariat member Mandeep Singh said this is the second time in Penang that he is greeted by the red-shirts.
“I think they love us who come from Kuala Lumpur to speak about Bersih, ” he joked.
The red-shirts also shouted “Malaysiakini jangan tipu rakyat!” (“Malaysiakini, don’t lie to the people!”).
Both ceramahs ended peacefully at around 11. 40pm, with no untoward incidents.
Red-shirts were still shouting on top of their voices, disparaging yellow-shirt leaders as “liars and traitors” until Bersih’s last speaker, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, ended his speech.
Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, dismissed the group, saying that soon they may be on Bersih’s side like former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
However, he ticked off the police for being unfair, saying, “If we were the ones disrupting a BN ceramah, we would have been whacked by the police.”
MKINI/Malaysia Chronicle"
"HIS FATHER WAS WRONG, NAJIB IS WORSE: GO BACK TO THE TUNKU’S POLICIES BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE – ANALYST WARNS RAZAK’S SON
Politics | October 23, 2016 by | 0 Comments
The philosophy guiding how a government relates with the people is something that not many Malaysians talk about. But if we go back to the early days of this country, ideology used to matter.
In a speech delivered at IDEAS Annual Dinner on 20 February 2016, Tun Musa Hitam, Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister who started his political career under Tunku Abdul Rahman, said, “In those early days of our history, politics was more ideological than material. There were indeed, yes, indeed, two camps in Umno: the Tunku camp and the Razak camp.
“The Tunku camp was clearly and unapologetically right wing, pro-west and pro-business. The Razak camp was allegedly socialist-communist inclined, a brand enough to scare and scuttle people away all the way in those days when communist terrorists were the biggest threat to our independence.”
This was a telling statement, because Musa was suggesting that the liberal administration of the Tunku was eventually replaced by a socialist-communist inclined administration of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister.
If we analyse history carefully, indeed we could see how Razak was leaning in a leftist direction. Among the most significant foreign relations built by Razak was with communist China, when he visited the country in May 1974. Razak was also the one who introduced huge government intervention into Malaysia’s socioeconomic system when he introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971.
Government domination of the economy is an important feature of a leftist ideology, and this naturally led to the government imposed ethnic-based affirmative action, and all its related policies, that plague our country until today.
Razak’s ideology was almost completely opposite to the market economy envisioned by the Tunku when he said that Malaysia is a country that believes “in the system of free enterprise”.
We must acknowledge that government intervention has existed since the time of the Tunku. Several times the Tunku too used government powers to stifle dissent. But government interventionism grew much bigger and was formalised under Razak’s administration.
TUNKU CAMP VS RAZAK CAMP: Behind the smiles, did Razak plot Tunku’s ouster
It was Razak’s desire effort to create an ill-defined “social justice” that gave birth to the New Economic Policy (NEP). As a result of their wrong definition of social justice, the NEP was implemented is such a way that nudged us to live our lives along communal lines until today.
Even worse, today we can’t even discuss this supposed temporary policy in rational way anymore. Today we live in a country where if you speak honestly on difficult and sensitive issues, you risk being accused of disloyalty to the country, or worse, being seditious.
Thus we see today how everyone, from activists to the media, thinking twice before commenting on the so-called sensitive topics. That is the legacy that was left to us by Razak’s imposition of big government on Malaysia. That is what we get when we fail to understand the real philosophy, and the potential dangers of the philosophy, behind a particular policy.
It will take a lot more time to change this situation. But it is important for those of us who dream of a more liberal future for the country to persist. We cannot allow the country to continue on the trajectory of big government paved by, as Musa Hitam puts it, Razak’s “socialist-communist inclined” thinking.
Instead of a big government philosophy, I propose that we should return to the philosophy of a liberal, small and limited government as originally envisioned by the Tunku for this country.
Politics | October 24, 2016 by | 0 Comments
A Bersih ceramah in Bukit Gedung, Penang was disrupted by about 50 people in red-shirts, who gathered at the opposite side of the road.
The red-shirts started their own ceramah at about 9.45pm when Deputy Chief Minister I Rashid Hasnon was speaking at the Bersih event.
Their voices nearly drowned out Rashid’s speech.
Undeterred, Rashid, who is also PKR’s Pulau Jerejak assemblyperson, told the participants at the Bersih event to chant “Bersih! Bersih!”.
The red-shirts, however, insisted that Bersih end their ceramah if they “do not want any untoward incident to happen”.
The red-shirts also chanted “Undur, undur!” (Retreat) and “Hancur, hancur!” (Destroy).
Police personnel stood watch at both events.
Comedian Leman Raja Lawak, who was at the Bersih event, told those attending to ignore the red-shirts despite the red-shirts shouting at Bersih to “balik” (go home).
Bersih secretariat member Mandeep Singh said this is the second time in Penang that he is greeted by the red-shirts.
“I think they love us who come from Kuala Lumpur to speak about Bersih, ” he joked.
The red-shirts also shouted “Malaysiakini jangan tipu rakyat!” (“Malaysiakini, don’t lie to the people!”).
Both ceramahs ended peacefully at around 11. 40pm, with no untoward incidents.
Red-shirts were still shouting on top of their voices, disparaging yellow-shirt leaders as “liars and traitors” until Bersih’s last speaker, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, ended his speech.
Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, dismissed the group, saying that soon they may be on Bersih’s side like former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
However, he ticked off the police for being unfair, saying, “If we were the ones disrupting a BN ceramah, we would have been whacked by the police.”
MKINI/Malaysia Chronicle"
"HIS FATHER WAS WRONG, NAJIB IS WORSE: GO BACK TO THE TUNKU’S POLICIES BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE – ANALYST WARNS RAZAK’S SON
Politics | October 23, 2016 by | 0 Comments
The philosophy guiding how a government relates with the people is something that not many Malaysians talk about. But if we go back to the early days of this country, ideology used to matter.
In a speech delivered at IDEAS Annual Dinner on 20 February 2016, Tun Musa Hitam, Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister who started his political career under Tunku Abdul Rahman, said, “In those early days of our history, politics was more ideological than material. There were indeed, yes, indeed, two camps in Umno: the Tunku camp and the Razak camp.
“The Tunku camp was clearly and unapologetically right wing, pro-west and pro-business. The Razak camp was allegedly socialist-communist inclined, a brand enough to scare and scuttle people away all the way in those days when communist terrorists were the biggest threat to our independence.”
This was a telling statement, because Musa was suggesting that the liberal administration of the Tunku was eventually replaced by a socialist-communist inclined administration of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister.
If we analyse history carefully, indeed we could see how Razak was leaning in a leftist direction. Among the most significant foreign relations built by Razak was with communist China, when he visited the country in May 1974. Razak was also the one who introduced huge government intervention into Malaysia’s socioeconomic system when he introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971.
Government domination of the economy is an important feature of a leftist ideology, and this naturally led to the government imposed ethnic-based affirmative action, and all its related policies, that plague our country until today.
Razak’s ideology was almost completely opposite to the market economy envisioned by the Tunku when he said that Malaysia is a country that believes “in the system of free enterprise”.
We must acknowledge that government intervention has existed since the time of the Tunku. Several times the Tunku too used government powers to stifle dissent. But government interventionism grew much bigger and was formalised under Razak’s administration.
TUNKU CAMP VS RAZAK CAMP: Behind the smiles, did Razak plot Tunku’s ouster
It was Razak’s desire effort to create an ill-defined “social justice” that gave birth to the New Economic Policy (NEP). As a result of their wrong definition of social justice, the NEP was implemented is such a way that nudged us to live our lives along communal lines until today.
Even worse, today we can’t even discuss this supposed temporary policy in rational way anymore. Today we live in a country where if you speak honestly on difficult and sensitive issues, you risk being accused of disloyalty to the country, or worse, being seditious.
Thus we see today how everyone, from activists to the media, thinking twice before commenting on the so-called sensitive topics. That is the legacy that was left to us by Razak’s imposition of big government on Malaysia. That is what we get when we fail to understand the real philosophy, and the potential dangers of the philosophy, behind a particular policy.
It will take a lot more time to change this situation. But it is important for those of us who dream of a more liberal future for the country to persist. We cannot allow the country to continue on the trajectory of big government paved by, as Musa Hitam puts it, Razak’s “socialist-communist inclined” thinking.
Instead of a big government philosophy, I propose that we should return to the philosophy of a liberal, small and limited government as originally envisioned by the Tunku for this country.
The liberal belief stems from a commitment to the principle of liberty, which is commonly described as the right to live our lives in any way we want to so long as we do not do any harm to others.
It is important to stress the second part of the description: “as long as we do no harm to others”.
A liberal way of life a highly responsible one. We take it as our responsibility to do no harm to others and we acknowledge that we will have to account for any harm that we do. Yes we want to live our lives how we wish. But we also undertake not to harm others.
Tunku Abdul Rahman puts it nicely when he said that “Life in this world is short. Let us make use of our lives in the pursuit of happiness and not trouble.”
In fact, the Tunku even put in the Proclamation of Independence that one of the roles of government is “ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people”. It is not the role of government to stop us from enjoying our happiness in the way we want. Instead the role of government is to help and to allow us to seek our own happiness in our own ways.
As I said above, it will take time before we can truly enjoy the fruits of the Tunku’s vision for liberty for this country. The liberal journey of this country was disrupted in 1970 and that disruption continues until today. We need to realign the country back to the right trajectory.
And the realignment process needs to start with us appreciating the importance of having a philosophy based on freedom and liberty to guide all our policies.
(Wan Saiful Wan Jan is the chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, IDEAS)MYSINCHEW/Malaysia Chronicle"
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