‘Malaysia has made history; we have just shown the world that our apex court which has ruled against the Perak assembly speaker, is a prime example of a kangaroo court in action.'

On Zambry vs Sivakumar: Court revokes suspension

Danny Lo HH: The assault on democracy by unelected institutions has just been completed with this latest federal court ruling.

The notion of separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature has all but gone into the bin. Democracy is dying and we are heading in the direction of dictatorial rule.

There is another trickery and that is this ruling was made by the apex court, meaning that no other court is able to overturn the federal court's ruling.

There is no recourse available for Pakatan Rakyat to challenge this ruling.

Malaysia has made history; we have just shown the world that our apex court is a prime example of a kangaroo court in action.

Adcin: The federal courts ruled that the Perak speaker had no right to suspend the seven BN assembly persons.

If that is the case, the logical question to ask is, who does? If the argument is that the speaker abused his powers to suspend, then that has to be challenged in court.

Alas, there is no such provision.

The present situation in Perak should be akin to the cat chasing its tail, but somehow the federal court has been dragged into the imbroglio and the tail has now been 'forcibly separated' from the cat.

Didn't someone say something about the separation of powers?

Despite compelling arguments from many a constitutional expert that Sivakumar was acting within his authority, isn't it strange that the decision by the judges was unanimous?

It appears that it is such a ‘no brainer' to these judges.

Najib is using everything in his powers to retain control of Perak.

In the haze and throes of his power trip, he forgets that he is exposing himself in contradictory light to his lofty postulations of a ‘1Malaysia'.

It is eerily reminiscent of the time when Mahathir was in power, when the end always justified the means.

Andrew Goh: The federal court decision that the Election Commission (EC) is the final arbiter of whether a vacancy exists in the Perak state assembly raises an interesting point.

If a state assembly person were to resign now, to whom does he address his letter of resignation to?

There is no point now to write to the speaker since he cannot decide on whether a vacancy exists as the EC has the final say.

Writing the letter of resignation to the EC? Now, that is ridiculous! But that is what the federal court decision implies.

On 'So, Chinese ungrateful or not?'

Fletcher: Lately the government has been concentrating on politics rather than on the welfare of the rakyat. The Umno elites and BN still think they are indispensable.

Please Mr Muhyiddin, the rakyat do not owe you a living but instead it is the reverse. The rakyat have to thank you for destroying the harmony of this multi-racial country.

I believe your cronies are so rich while the rakyat have to struggle to make ends meet. What we need now is a loving and caring government - not one that plays politics and preaches about ungratefulness.

We are now a full-blown democracy, not a false democracy where you can trample on the people by using your cronies in the police, judiciary, army and government institutions.

If this is the scenario, the people should wake up and look for an alternative.

John Surresh: I strongly disagree with our DPM's remarks. The Chinese are the most grateful people in the universe and they even have a proverb to remind them all the time.

Just look at the bunch from Gerakan and MCA. They have the attribute of beggars and are always grateful to Umno no matter what Umno does to them.

P Dev Anand Pillai:

When the Malays are not voting for Umno, the Chinese become the bogeyman. This same tactic is used again and again when the current regime is not getting enough votes.

But the question is, is the younger generation buying this? They want to be equals and they are attracted to those who are forming policies which are looking towards that direction.

The Chinese should never be said to be ungrateful when they are the ones who pay the highest taxes in the country and this was commented upon by a former leader of the nation.

The Chinese are beginning to realise that if integration and the current slogan of ‘One Malaysia' is going to work, it must first start with the bringing down of racial barriers.

Thus multi-racial parties are the way forward - not some slogan chanting. Therefore, please don't just collect taxes from them and then say that they are ungrateful.

They would not be paying those taxes if they were not grateful. We should remember that once a upon a time, the nation's finance minister was an ethnic Chinese.

On Penanti polls: PKR has upper hand

Confused:

PKR has nine assembly persons. However, one would think they only have three, as the impression we get from all newspapers is that only Abdul Malik and Maktar Shapee seem to be on the shortlist for the by-election.

Does that mean that the DCM1 seat is reserved for a Malay? If so, on issue of racial politics, how is Pakatan Rakyat different from BN, where Umno, MCA and MIC have their quotas in the cabinet?

PKR, please clarify why your Chinese assembly persons are not in consideration for the DCM's post.

Timmy Say:

I hope BN can learn from PR on this; once they find they no longer can accept tainted representatives, they remove them from office.

This is a noble thing to do because once you are perceived as tainted, you are subject to threats and it will compromise your ethics and works.

Yes, the rakyat are tired with by-elections, nonetheless, the rakyat also knows that this is the right move to flush out all compromised representatives.

This is supposedly how our country's system should be working to ensure the integrity of public office is preserved.

On PKR: Fairus quits Penanti seat

Ong: He said ‘he is quitting in the interest of his party, PKR' and also ‘in the interest of the people'.

However in his Nanyang Siang Pau interview he exposed his hypocrisy when he threatened to blackmail Pakatan Rakyat.

He even compared himself with Elizabeth Wong, clearly not aware that in the case of Eli, most people continue to support her and urged her not to resign and to continue with her job both as assemblyman and exco member.

In his (Fairus) case, I do not witness anyone supporting him and urging him to continue as Deputy CM.

The case of Fairus also highlights Anwar's knack of attracting the allegedly tainted.

Fairus is only the latest of many that he picked, placed in his party inner circle and who eventually let him down.

On T'ganu MB accused of marginalising state reps

Millionth Citizen: When these Trengganu state reps said they are being marginalised by the menteri besar, what exactly do they mean?

Is it because they are not given projects or opportunities to make money or is it because their electorates were not being cared for by the state?

Don't they get paid from the state? What exactly is this ‘marginalisation'? Can somebody please explain?

On BN parties laud Najib's 'One Malaysia' concept

Fathima Idris: In these days of misgivings and discontent in the country, the aspiration to create ‘One Malaysia' should be welcomed. However, we should be candid in assessing the problem and all parties must be willing to set it right.

For a start, we should disabuse ourselves of the myth that there was more harmony among the various races in the past then there is now. I think we had a stiffer attitude to one another's race and culture in the past.

If we look back, how many inter-racial marriages did we have then compared to what we have now? Not only was it far less then but it was also frowned upon by each community.

How often in the past did one hear of the danger of being attacked if someone of one race knocked down (in a traffic accident) someone of another race in an area predominately of the victim's race?

I am not too sure whether such a thing would happen today. But we have to accept that every community has its share of racists and this is not the sole province of one community.

Of course there is no denying that the implementation of the affirmative policy has lead to resentment and alienation among many citizens.

There has to be a political willingness to address this, before this sense of alienation festers into something larger.

But, to me, even if this is done there is no certainty that we can overcome our racialism. This is what we should also look into just as much as we assess our policies and institutions.