‘The situation in Perak can be solved simply by going back to the people and letting them exercise their constitutional right to vote for a government of their choice through the ballot box.'
On Perak crisis: What will happen in the next 48 hours?
Arianna:
Perak could have easily avoided these legal wrangle if only the palace had acted in the interest of the people. What is becoming of these politicians?The administration is crippled, Perakians and the civil servants are confused as to who is the legal menteri besar and the palace is in 'regal' silence.
From the high offices of the sultan to the MB to the excos and the civil servants, nobody wants to take responsibility for the Perak fiasco let alone put an end to this circus.
The Regenr of Perak, Raja Nazrin, had last week said the rule of law must be obeyed but looking at the political scenario in the state, one wonders whether he has been living overseas all this while.
The palace maintains its silence oblivious of what the appointment of Zambry has caused to Perak.
The situation in Perak can be solved simply by going back to the people and letting them exercise their constitutional right to vote for a government of their choice through the ballot box.
By going through the courts to sue and counter-sue only complicates matter and does no good to the state. And that's what exactly is going on in the Silver State.
The problem here is that those who have the power to do so are not willing to face the rakyat in a snap election for reasons best known to themselves.
But for the rakyat, it is obvious. These politicians and those in 'high offices' only serve their own agenda.
MohammadAfifi Kassim:
I'm an ex soldier and a Perakian. I've never seen a situation like this since our independence.Umno/BN is stupidly power-crazy and shows total disrespect for the wishes of the people of Perak.
General or by-election, I'm voting them out regardless where I'm voting. Rubbish to BN!
Peter Ooi: It is sad that Perak political wrangling between BN and PR had been dragging on for far too long. Legal batlles are being fought between the two parties with no certainty of winners.
But one certainty are the losers - Perakians. At this point in time when the world economy is facing a deep recession, Perak is no exception.
To overcome or cushion the impact of the dreadful scourge of recession, leaders are expected to focus their energy and time on finding solutions, in particular investments from abroad and locally.
Instead, Perak leader are embroiled in planning ways to snatch power. In fact, no matter which party ever ‘wins', they are no winners.
In the meantime, ordinary Perakians are asked to pay the price - a poor economy and more jobs lost. I am sure most Perakians are eager to see the crisis end and get on with their lives.
In this aspect, waging court battles is no solution. I believe an appeal should be made to the Sultan of Perak to have the state assembly dissolved paving the way for election.
This will definitely save Perakians a lot of uncertainty and suffering.
MySecret62:
There are really is no two ways about. BN has made every attempt to prevent the right of Perakians to choose their own government though a new election.It's basically BN versus the democratic rights of Perakians. Lets not fool ourselves by saying that they have not realised the mistakes they've made, or have not learnt the lesson of the last GE to reform. It's no ‘mistake'.
BN are not for the people and certainly not for Malaysians. Take back our country as it belongs to all of us and our future generations.
John Tan: With all these strikes and counterstrikes, I wonder who is looking after the affairs of the state or for that matter, the affairs of the country.
Government leaders who are vying for power in the Umno elections are too tied up with playing the hero to garner support. The same goes with MCA trying to ‘kill off each other' while the MIC is adding it's role to the already messed-up script of power struggles.
Both opposing sides seems to be bungling at every step and the comedy show is fast becoming a horror movie.
The enforcement arms are no better and the judiciary, MACC and police seem to be giving the public a perception of ‘what is good for one might not apply for all'.
The country seems to be running on auto-pilot waiting to crash and god willing I hope there are survivors.
On Gov't U-turn: Toll hike put off
Raj: Though Malaysians are at large relieved with the deferment of the toll hike, one wonders why the sudden change of mind and the peculiarity of the prime minister's request to his own cabinet.
Another U-turn by government was when the home minister retracted his earlier ruling to allow the Catholic church to use the word ‘Allah' with certain conditions. The bemusing factor was when the minister said it was a ‘mistake' on the part of government to enact the gazette allowing it.
I'm confused. How can a government that has been ruling a country for more than half-a-century and claiming to have all the expertise continue to disappoint us in every aspect of their governance?
A decision to raise toll charges was announced without due diligence and consultation while an order under the ISA was enacted without deliberation.
Simply put, it is difficult for Malaysia to progress with such incompetent ministers administering the government with recurring blunders.
Will any investor in his sound mind take a multi-million dollar risks with such an inconsistent and indecisive government?
On Kugan's death: Umno-linked NGO files report against AG
Bigfoot: If any of your family members were tortured and murdered by the police, what would be you reaction, Roslan? Do you think you will still talk in the same manner?
Come on, don't be a naïve. Police are to administer the country peacefully, not take the law into their own hands. No one has the right to do that.
I believe when Pakatan takes over the country after the next GE, their first assignment will be to reshuffle the entire police force to be public friendly instead of being a BN servant.
On Ku Li backs Hadi's 'unity govt' call
Meng Yee: Recently Tengku Razaleigh has come out as the lone voice of wisdom from Barisan Nasional. Razaleigh said ‘the BN system has broken down because the negotiated power-sharing arrangement which held the coalition together since independence has stopped working.'
The negotiated power-sharing arrangement which Tengku is referring to stopped working when Umno used May 13 as a‘fear tool'.
There is no more a belief that this power-sharing was for the good of the people. Much like Napolean, the pig in Animal Farm who started the revolt but later became a tyrant. Umno has become the Napolean of Malaysia today.
May 13 was always used to keep the other animals in check. At every election after 1969, the ghost of May 13 would be raised by BN to haunt Malaysia. Te ethnic Chinese and Indians would then ‘behave' properly to return BN back to power year after year.
What is Barisan Nasional without this fear tool? Their magic wand in the form of racial politics finally slid from their hands and they are exposed on March 8, 2008. In their nakedness, the people saw them for what they were.
The emperor may still hold the power, but the people have lost respect for without the coverings, corruption, deceit and desperation are exposed.
A unity government may bring back the shadows of racism which we exorcised on March 8. What we need is a new federal government who will concentrate on the economy and on other issues which have been long neglected like education, the infrastructure and controlled development.
Selangor has attained the highest foreign investment in over nine years even during a recession. How much more we could have prospered if the federal government itself was under the hands of a people-friendly government.
Francis Yeoh Song Min: Stanley Koh's views and analysis on the issues confronting MCA in particular and other component parties of Barisan Nasional in general are succinct, accurate and pertinent to the current political landscape in this country.
Only that the leadership of these parties wish to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything still smells of roses to their own eventual (I am afraid very quick) demise soon.
But again, as pointed out, the solutions are out of their hands and in the control of Umno. So, what choice have these parties got for their own survival but to leave BN?
This is a step which current leadership of these component parties would dread to take for self- interest reasons.
Kenny Gan: After 60 years, the Chinese have lost any illusion of real power-sharing with Umno through MCA. MCA together with the other component parties are totally excluded from the decision-making process of government.
Government policies are formed in Umno supreme council meetings, not in cabinet meetings.
In Parliament, MCA and the other component parties are expected to rubber stamp whatever has been decided by Umno.
There are severe penalties for not toeing the line and for even speaking out of line. Non-Malay ministers are not given any posts of any importance and even then they do not wield any real power. They do not make policies and they can even be overridden by the civil service.
We watch with bemusement as BN component party leaders sometimes issue statements urging the government to do this and that as if they are part of the opposition rather than part of the government.
A case in point is Koh Tsu Koon's recent call for the govt to re-negotiate toll agreements.
Half-a-century of MCA, MIC and Gerakan's participation in BN has resulted in a slew of discriminatory racial policies against non-Malays as testament to their powerlessness.
MCA should admit that Umno only needs them as window-dressing to maintain the facade of racial power-sharing. This is a government by Umno alone and a vote for MCA, MIC or Gerakan is a vote for Umno.
Why does MCA continue to take part in this charade of power-sharing and expect the Chinese community to support them?
The answer is that there are great personal rewards for playing along with Umno, rewards which are nevertheless earned to the detriment of the community they purport to represent.
MCA's glory is indeed lost forever. The Chinese have already woken up to their real function and will not support them anymore.
On We appreciate Japanese loans but...'
Wong Chin Meng: On a power plant project which I have worked on funded by Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan, the value of the work to be carried out by Malaysian contractors and suppliers is usually 30% of project cost.
As with most Japanese power plant consortiums, the contract arrangement is manipulated in such a way that the real value of work benefitting Malaysians was only 11%.
Japanese ODA loans are really not that cheap. Although the interest rates are low, most the money is channeled back to Japanese contractors, suppliers and manufacturers of the plant and equipment.
As can be seen from earlier comments on the Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer project, the unseen hand of Jica is manipulating to serve the best interest of Japan and not Malaysia.
It is about time the government wises up to this type of manipulation and be extra careful on accepting the so-called cheap Japanese ODA loans.
On Malays in PAS, PKR blamed for emboldening DAP
Yum: If you remember, he was the one who once told the Indians of a certain political party that their votes were not needed to win elections.
After eating humble pie, this same opportunist is now employing a sort of reverse race card tactic by blaming Malays so as to blame the non-Malays.
So, in his assessment, Umno has the best Malays? His are the alternate comments I read to get a good laugh on. The other are Syed Hamid Albar's, but that's another thesis for another time.
On Foreign workers in Sabah a serious medical risk
Maximadman: In is my opinion, the solution is with Malaysian employers - get them to adhere to laws on hiring of foreigners, get them to be solely responsible for all costs and expenses to be borne.
Rotan them - not the foreign workers! It must start with us, simple as that.
The hiring of illegal foreign workers is simply because employers do not need to pay for associated employment costs such as insurance, EPF and the like for legal workers.
There are instances that when a construction is about to be completed, the contractor would call the police to raid their premises and deport these illegals.
It is cheaper to pay fines then having to pay the workers' salaries that they withheld for months knowing that the workers have no legal recourse due to their status.
Question is, why are these foreigners still here? Malaysian employers, without doubt, need them. Most of these workers are law-abiding and are here to provide for a better life for their family back home.
It is us, Malaysians, who exploit them and as long as there are Malaysian employers who would greedily exploit them, the problem will never go away.
No, please! Do not provide free medical screening for foreign workers in Sabah; it costs us money to tell them that they are indeed healthy, let alone have communicable diseases.
It defeats the purpose. Hold Malaysian employers 100% responsible for expenses should the worker they hire be deported back - this will make employers screen their potential workers better.
Anyway, for those workers who got in here by just walking through - how do we screen them?
On Another U-turn: Ban on 'Allah' in Christian publications remains
Clive S Kessler:
I would be grateful if you would allow me to remind Malaysians of all faiths and faith backgrounds (and also none!) of this fact.Two centuries and more before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, Christian Arabs in the Middle East were using the name or term ‘Allah' to designate and to address, in reverential prayer, the one Abrahamic God of all humankind.
A simple study of comparative Semitic philology (Syriac, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic) will explain this common religious usage, awareness and sensibility.
Is it too much to hope that Malaysian government officials and institutions, and now especially the courts that are charged with deliberating upon this now unhappily and unhelpfully contested matter, will take full cognisance of this fundamental historical and linguistic fact?
Otto Steinmayer : Many writers have explored and defined the reason of this order. Let us look at the reason of it in the eyes of those who promulgated it.
If use of the word ‘Allah' is confined exclusively to Muslims - who in Malaysia are also Malays - then the effect is to set up a sharp and severe divide between Malays and the rest of Malaysians.
The present government is keen on promoting an ‘us versus them' view, or in the words of the unlamented George Bush, ‘whoever is not with us is against us.' The immediate result of restricting the term ‘Allah' to, in effect, the Malays is to type Malaysian Christians as the Other.
But the wide result is to set Malays apart, and above, every non-Muslim Malaysian. This tactic is clearly ‘divide and rule.'
As an aside, I wonder whether the cabinet is under the delusion that the term ‘Allah' is the name of God. ‘Allah' merely means ‘God,' and ‘God' just means God.
‘God' without a capital ‘G' can be the god of rain or anything you like. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Islam, God doesn't have a name, a personal name.
Yes, there are the ‘names of God,' which express God's attributes; but to say that God has a name like ‘Ahmad' or ‘Joe' is a wicked heresy.
The only Abrahamic religion wherein God has a personal name is Judaism, and the Jews consider that name so holy that they will not utter it. It is written or printed only in the Torah.
