‘How on earth can the IGP say we're safe? Then tell all the VIPs to do away with their security escorts and walk the streets of Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Imbi and Pudu road at night.'
On Najib, police chief accused of 'statistical sleight-of-hand'
Lee Wei Seong: How on earth can the IGP say Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are safe?
I am a 51-year-old ordinary guy who is afraid to walk on the streets of Kuala Lumpur at night and I am always cautious wherever I go during the daytime.
My stress level goes higher if my nine-year-old daughter is with me and I make it a point that we enter the car as fast as possible, even in shopping malls' car parks.
Tell all the VIPs to do away with their security escorts and walk the streets of Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Imbi and Pudu road at night.
On Dr M: Zaid gone, Najib to inherit 'headaches'
RS Dhaliwal: Yes, Dr Mahathir, you hit the nail on the head: ‘Umno has become a party led by many corrupt leaders'.
Yes. And you and Samy Vellu are at top of the list. It's your legacy left that's left behind to haunt Umno.
And can you say what are the steps to be taken by your son to wipe out the corruption? Umno is on the road of no return.
The only way to wipe out corruption is to stamp out Umno from the political scene altogether. That's the way I see it.
Ayob K: When Mahathir said: ‘The 'headaches' left behind by sacked Umno leader Zaid Ibrahim will be inherited by premier-in-waiting Najib Abdul Razak' perhaps he should be reminded of the ‘headaches' inherited by Pak Lah due to Mahathir's own corrupt and oppressive regime.
Let us not forget the corruption in the judiciary, in business and so forth was a result of his policies.
Mahathir has the audacity to call Zaid a ‘dubious character'. I suppose anyone who has a history of being a maverick and who challenges the wrongs of Mahathir's government is to be considered dubious.
Mahathir's hypocrisy is astounding. After stepping down, he was crying about media censorship because the government wasn't listening to him but during his tenure he was a greater tyrant with the people's freedom of speech.
Respect to Mahathir for developing Malaysia but the corruption in his later years really messed up our nation.
Pak Lah made the right choice with Zaid as the de facto law minister, unfortunately, the corrupt system inherited from Mahathir saw Zaid having an impossible task.
Mahathir says people hate Pak Lah. I think he should check his facts first.
On Mukhriz: Close down vernacular schools
Vijayandhran Valayatham: I would support Mukhriz Mahathir's proposal for a single school system but on one condition - that the single system principle also encapsulates all educational levels.
Therefore unifying matriculation and sixth form, ensuring all Malaysians can enrol in every single university including UiTM (minus the protest marches we saw recently) and the abolishment of any race-based admission system or quota allocation practice in all educational institutions.
If we combine all vernacular schools into one national school concept, do the same for all Mara colleges nationwide.
Racial unity begins with respect, followed by trust and accepting each other as equals. Instilling these fundamental values begins at home with the parents before the kids even hit kindergarten.
It's too late if we wait until university, as the deputy prime minister proposed recently, which I disagree with along with every other person I've spoken to regarding the subject. But why stop at the education system?
Extend the one-system rule to the housing sector - try explaining to a child why a rich bumiputera can purchase a new house at a discount but not a poor Indian or Chinese.
Every poster with the ‘7% discount for bumiputera' seen everyday dotting the neighbourhood is a message to a child that there are two systems in the country, and that fact will be ingrained in the mind for a long time.
Every job advertisement states ‘Bumiputera are encouraged to apply' sends the same message.
America has shown the world that a minority ethnic group member can assume the highest position in the government. Who would have thought of an African-American in the White House.
Can we convince the youth of Malaysia that the same is possible here?
Wan Nazari Wan Jusoh : Regardless of Mukhriz's ambition to be the next Umno Youth head, I feel the same consciousness to allow his proposal to be widely understood by all Malaysian.
I come from a Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Inggeris in Terengganu, year1967 to 1972. Half of my classmates were Chinese and Indians and right until today. I am still in contact with some of them.
We shared beautiful moments during our schooling days. Today all that has changed because of chauvinist-like thinking.
For me, it is simple. Science and maths from primary one to secondary five in all schools must be taught in English while history and geography be taught in Bahasa Melayu.
Bahasa Malaysia (Melayu) must be made compulsory for all while Mandarin and Tamil be compulsory only for the respective students.
This is what I had during my early days of education and which has stood by me as a true Malaysian.
TMI Thomas: I was a product of a national school and the only regret I have is my disability to read Chinese. Fortunately, I am able to speak most of the Chinese major dialects, so, I don't lose out too much.
Schooling in a Chinese vernacular school do not make you any less patriotic or nationalistic; it only makes you less fluent in Bahasa Malaysia, although not entirely applicable to all students.
Some of my mates, Chinese but educated in national schools are now taking of Chinese language classes. They are paying money and spending time to pick up a language that is supposed to be their mother tongue.
All for the very reason that they need to do business with China. And here we are trying to abolish what we have, just like how English language were abandoned in the past and we are still paying the price for it.
All this talk of Bangsa Malaysia is just political rhetoric. We already have ‘Orang Malaysia', we don't have to be ‘Bangsa Malaysia'. We are what we are and we have lived with what we have for the past 51 years.
We are evolving to share many commonalities that if not for political insistence on bangsa , would have created a more palatable orang .
I have no doubt that this is Tanah Melayu, I will not question it. I love this ‘Melayu-ness' as much as I love my ‘Chinese-ness'.
To me, there is no other country for me except for Tanah Melayu and I would have already been a Melayu if not for political distinction by politicians for their own gain.
To my Chinese friends from overseas like China and Hong Kong, I am already known as a Malay, no more a Chinese. Go figure.
On Reform of Umno doubtful, says sacked ex-minister
Siew Wah: Zaid Ibrahim is again wasting his time in writing to express his views on the ISA and other issues to a prime minister who does not read letters nor consider any views, more so coming from an ex-minister of his administration.
Now that he is no longer wanted in Umno, he should have welcome Anwar Ibrahim's invitation. If he needs time to think it over; so be it.
On another issue, did the current Education Minister Hishammuddin say, ‘It is better for leaders of BN component parties to join the opposition if they want to continue questioning historical facts'?
If he indeed threw this challenge, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP ought to take note and not waste any more time now that Umno will not change their stand. There is no point in haggling.
Just cross over to the opposition and this very act will spell the demise of Umno.It's just a question of courage and guts !
On MCA ministers must be morally upright
Charlie Tony: The writer must obviously be looking for a saint for as far as I'm concerned for none of the ministers in the cabinet, including the MCA ministers, fit the bill.
It is obvious that the letter was written as part of a continuous process to demoralise one MCA ex-minister and make him seem like the devil.
To the writer, please do not shed crocodile tears. For a while you felt sorry but then you felt that justice must be done and seen to be done. May I now ask what sort of justice you propose to dispense?
What sort of genuine reconciliation are you looking for when his family has forgiven him? Obviously, you don't know how to forgive people.
You talk about God's law of harvest but not God's forgiveness and some say that you'll be rewarded with a senatorship soon. Please do not deny, because that is morally wrong.
I hope you've heard Oscar Wilde's famous quote: ‘Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike'.
Let's hope that the MCA president will appoint you as senator since you sound so perfect.
And in case you forget, the prime minister-in-waiting obviously does not fit in your bill of the perfect leader that you are seeking since you're living in a world of your own.
On Petrol prices should be RM1.52 instead
Peter Yew: The government is not being transparent in reducing the retail petrol prices in line with the sharp fall of crude oil prices.
On the one hand, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister is asking merchants to lower their selling prices but on the other the government is not doing the same to reflect market forces.
It is quite clear now that not only has the government completely withdrawn the 30 sen/litre subsidy it was giving up till June this year, it has now begun collecting consumer tax illegally by unilaterally dictating what prices we have to pay for petrol.
My question is this: if I am paying RM1.90/litre to Shell and the real market price Shell is allowed to charge is only around RM1.52/litre, then won't the 38 sen/litre excess that I pay find its way indirectly back to the government via an accounting arrangement with the oil companies?
Isn't this illegal? Can the consumer associations please investigate if the government is legally allowed to do this?
Making us pay for fuel above the market price andthen taxing us when no law has been gazetted?
On Let's talk about 'Ketuanan Bukan Melayu' for a bit
Lakshmi: Why is it that when ever anyone talks of the privileges enjoyed by the Malays (I do not say bumiputra because the natives of Sabah and Sarawak have been given a raw deal by the BN government) regarding employment and education opportunities, housing loans, scholarships etc, someone has to come up and say that Ketuanan Bukan Melayu has it good in the private sector?
Two wrongs do not make a right. If the government feels that Malays are sidelined in the private sector, then come up with race relations act which will prohibit anyone from using race as a criteria for employment.
And the government will have to set the ball rolling. They are the guardians of the law. Just because the private sector discriminates, the government cannot follow suit.
But wait a minute. Did I say a race relations act? Oh, no, BN cannot do that. They are the ones talking of Ketuanan Melayu as though it is a god-given privilege.
As long as the government discriminates against the non-Malays, the Malays cannot blame anyone else. It is to the advantage of BN not to change discriminatory laws. Those in power can use such laws to shortchange the Malays themselves.
On Define Ketuanan Melayu very clearly
David Meow: The political parties are at each others throats again on another semantic issue of Ketuanan Melayu . In English, ketuanan would be termed as ‘supremacy'.
As an interest, I have done some basic research on world history to which nations practised racial supremacy.
The most significant ones were Nazi Germany and South Africa, the latter which practised apartheid against which our past-premier Mahathir was overtly vocal.
My conclusion is simple. All of us envision a better future for ourselves and our children. We work. We strive.
Most importantly, we need each other in a globalised world. We depend on each other. Economics is about managing the scarcity of resources.
It does not have to be based on racial lines. It should not be based on racial lines. History has taught us that racial divisions have never bone good fruits.
On Yoga a unifying factor for Malaysians
Choo Sing Chye: The recent yoga issue has brought back fond memories from my childhood days. In those days when our parents were dirt poor, the ultimate fun was to spend a day frolicking in the Kinta River with friends.
Mandi safar to us (non-Malays) meant a license from our parents to play in the river because we were taken care off by the Malay families with whom we had trekked along with - it was unadulterated fun.
Mandi safar was then a family event and at the end of the day, as heavy as our hearts were as the fun ended, we would all collect sayur paku for our favourite dish - sayur paku sambal - as the last leg of our day at the Kinta River.
The meaning of mandi safar meant little to us, 8-10 year-old boys and in any case, we were too young to have accumulated enough sins to have an end to end cleansing in the river.
One year, it all ended. There were no more calls from my two Malay neighbours, ‘ Jom mandi safar '. In the subsequent years our ‘ Jom, mandi sungei ' was greeted with ‘ Mak, marah '.
Later, we found out the real reason and we removed mandi safar and mandi sungei from our itinerary of fun.
My Malay friends still responded to our other calls, ‘ Jom main layang-layang ' or ‘ Jom coun-da-coun-di ' (an Indian game).
As we recall, mandi safar (a Hindu ritual of sin cleansing) was just a poor man's picnic and we had no idea of the religious reasons attached to it.
On Pakatan is failing the rakyat
Barry Michael Raj: As someone who travelled half-way across the world just to cast my vote for the opposition alliance in that so-called ‘political tsunami ' of an election, I have watched in disbelief as those we had counted on to make meaningful changes in our nation performed exactly opposite to our expectations.
Johns' fine piece is there to confirm all the failings of the PKR that have horrified us in recent months.
It is only that many of us have refrained from airing these views ourselves for fear of hurting whatever momentum is left in the opposition movement.
If I may, I'd like to ask a pertinent question Johns didn't: Just what the hell did we achieve in breaking the two-thirds parliamentary hegemony of the Barisan Nasional?
This question becomes all the more important to me as the economic situation around me and my job in the US. turn more perilous by the day. ,
It is prompting me to consider a return to my motherland, which unfortunately remains as politically disheartening as it was before my departure six years ago.
