YOURSAY 'If nothing else, this development merely proves we have a cabinet led by an utterly weak and befuddled PM.'

BN trio face reprimand for Section 114A gripe

Ferdtan: The right-wing authoritarians of the Umno cabinet won the day. It is more of former PM Mahathir Mohamad's people who are making the call to be tough with all internal dissension.

As usual, we can forget about the other BN partners, like MCA, MIC and the East Malaysian parties, whose views are irrelevant to them.

DPM Muhyiddin Yassin chaired the meeting on topic of the controversial section 114A of the Evidence Act in the absence of the PM. The PM, who earlier seemed to agree with most of the Internet users that the law needs further review, initiated the move for the cabinet to discuss the matter.

However, the decision of the meeting must have shocked him; in fact, it is a slap in his face. Could be a warning sign that the PM is in trouble as he was been checkmated by his deputy, and he cannot do anything about it?

Obviously the cabinet's justification of keeping the BN coalition strong ahead of the general election is imperative enough to keep the PM in his place. The score is 1-0 - ‘one' to Muhyiddin, ‘zero' for PM Najib Razak.

Cannon: Was it not Najib's initiative to open the issue for review?

The three - Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin - came forward to express their views.

For that, they are to be reprimanded by the cabinet? This regime is getting more crass by the day.

Ngecui: "This regime is getting more crass by the day." - Cannon. Yes, also confirming its (known) blatant inconsistency and hypocrisy. Not to mention, exposing its ineptness and laziness in governance.

First, they started with a bad and impossible regressive spirit in devising the Act and then aggravating the whole matter by becoming pridefully adamant about it all.

The ancient saying by Euripides is very true: "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad."

Not Confused: Najib, whilst on his jolly jaunt to Saudi Arabia stated that the cabinet would look into reviewing section 114A.

Then Muhyiddin came out of cabinet and it was reported that three free-thinking Umno members (wow... did I actually say that?) would be reprimanded instead for voicing out against 114A.

This is clearly another stab in the back for Najib - he says one thing and Muhyiddin says just the opposite. It really is amusing seeing them contradicting each other like this.

Disgusted: Well, who can blame them - they know this section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950 is an albatross around BN's neck and may be one of the principal factors where voters who are netizens will vote against them. They will lose most of the votes of youth and educated.

ONG: Since when was KJ (Khairy) appointed to any cabinet or government post thus qualifying him to be censured by the cabinet?

How can the cabinet censure KJ for airing his views in public, either in his position as Umno Youth chief or as a citizen? Don't tell me that Umno Youth is now part of the Malaysian government machinery?

TJK: An Umno fallout? Of all the Umno leaders, Khairy is one of the most intelligent. Although once in a while he may make stupid comments like on the NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) scandal, but he is supporting the party.

He is a future PM in the making. It would be good if he can join the opposition.

Quigonbond: It's a good sign that BN talks change but acts status quo. Transformation can go to the dumps. Also, the international IT community should send a clear signal to this government that it is contravening its Internet bill of rights and threaten to pull out its investments from Malaysia.

FellowMalaysian: The three BN good guys are just conveying concordant thoughts in support of the PM's tweet. They are definitely not expressing dissent and making a cabinet proposal to reprimand them is pernicious to Najib's call for transparency.

Caesar's Wife: If nothing else, this development merely proves we have a cabinet led by an utterly weak and befuddled PM. It looks like the end is near - I mean for the cabinet, not just the dissidents.

Wira: Obviously, the three are in the wrong party and any pretense that the party is open to reasoning and dissent has evaporated under the cabinet decision to reprimand them.

Remember, Umno also stands for ‘U Must Not Object', regardless of the stupidity of the law they have made.

Nazri: Cabinet rejected reprimand BN trio suggestion

Ksn: Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz, you were present at the cabinet meeting when Najib was away, right? Why not you tell the public whose suggestion it was to reprimand the three?

Cannon: Ksn, let me try to guess the answer to your question. Umno is a feudalistic party. The downliners will wait on the chief to make the first move. Then, everyone present will jump in and say, "Sokong."

They will "sokong" Muhyiddin and when Najib takes over the chair, they would "sokong" the latter. It's a duck society. They all keep in line and follow the head duck. They know from experience that anyone who challenges the head duck risk getting his head chopped off.

Why do you think former DPM Anwar Ibrahim is so savagely persecuted? It's to make an example to the Malays not to challenge Umno and, by extension, not to challenge the authority of the party leadership of Umno.

Ferdtan: Earlier, I put the score as ‘Muhyiddin, 1, Najib, 0'. Now with the boss having gotten wind of what happened and the decision to punish the dissenting members at the cabinet meeting which he was not present, he reversed it.

The score is now 1-1. More to come until the election and we shall see who wins.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .