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Yoursay: If no 'dedak cartel', why should PAS worry?

YOURSAY | 'The more you gag, the more suspicious your members will become.'

After 'kartel dedak' revelation, PAS issues gag order

OceanMaster: To PAS’ credit, they have been consistent at being an oxymoron. They call anyone other than PAS "kafir", but they sleep with Umno.

They sing phrases from Quran and the Hadith like canaries, but they oppose the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), though both address equality and fairness.

They despise corruption, but they take ‘dedak’ (animal feed). They fight for free speech, but slap a gag order on their members.

Astrologer: "This (the gag order) reflects party discipline which guarantees freedom of expression, while ensuring organisational secrecy," said party secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan.

Hmmm... I am confused (as usual).

Tanah Air: Nothing confusing here. The whole idea is to receive dedak “secretly” but don't talk about it “openly”.

Fairview: PAS, the more you gag, the more suspicious your members and the public will become.

Honma: The gag order imposed by Takiyuddin on its members shows they have a lot of skeletons in the closet. If there is no ‘dedak cartel’, why has he to worry, unless there is truth?

I have my reservations about this so-called Islamic party which, under Abdul Hadi Awang's rule, has changed its political direction.

PAS is no longer the party I knew during Tok Guru Nik Aziz's reign. Sigh.

Anonymous_49d8b96c: PAS leadership is heading for implosion. It has become dysfunctional.

Members must be restless and suspicious of the double talk, lies, counter lies, avoidance of press queries, contradictions, bare denials despite audio evidence and out-of-court settlement demonstrated by the PAS leadership.

It is so serious and indefensible that the leadership has to resort to a gag order. It is clear they could not deal with the allegations of taking corrupt monies. Public perception of and belief in this allegation is getting stronger, while dissent within PAS is also rising.

The PAS leadership is dumbfounded, unable to get rid of this RM90 million stigma. This stigma will continue to erode credibility and support for PAS until it succumbs to irrelevancy, just like other BN parties.

Yong Yeok Fong: But what's wrong with a ‘dedak cartel’ as long as it is syariah-compliant?

Human rights NGO slams deportation of Thai asylum seeker

Anonymous_3f4b: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that if there was an extradition request from another country, then asylum seekers would be sent back.

In that case, why did it not send Zakir Naik back after India requested for him to be extradited? Likewise, why did it not send the Uighurs back after China requested, but instead sent them to Turkey?

Tidak Harapan: Malaysia under BN had a poor human rights record, especially in relation to the protection of refugees seeking asylum. It was in constant violation of international law relating to refugees. It would seem that Harapan is no better.

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin should wake up and respect the rights of refugees. Deporting Praphan Pipithnamporn in violation of her rights is wrong. It would seem that they will only allow Muslims such as Zakir to stay.

Certainly, it looks like the government is making decisions based on religion and not rule of law. It’s very sad and disappointing when people were looking for a better government.

Kangkung: Activist Praphan Pipithnamporn was immediately arrested and sent back to Thailand, but Zakir, who is wanted for money laundering and hate speech by India, is given full protection and PR (permanent residence).

The government must not talk about the rule of law as they are hypocrites if they do.

Dizzer: It's part of the Asean ethos - we are all a little bit corrupt and authoritarian, so let's not criticise one another, but always help one another on 'sensitive internal' matters.

The Thai and Malaysian police collaborated over Wang Kelian and Xavier Justo; the Indonesians helped us out with the Equanimity.

Forgetting May 13

Non-Evader: Writer P Gunasegaram, you can't cherry-pick historical events to remember or to forget.

If that can be done, then all Malaysian parents should stop telling their kids about their ancestors and their ancestors' countries of origin so that the next generation can start fresh and new, and live together happily ever after.

History and interpretations of history make who we are. If you stop telling your kids what actually happened on May 13, others will and the victims of an ugly historical event could be interpreted as the perpetrators.

Lodestar: You seem to present the view that 90 percent of Malaysians who do not carry the baggage of May 13 memories are less divided than the remaining 10 percent. In fact, I find the converse to be true.

I am in the 10 percent and I remember how little race mattered while I was in school. I am still in contact with many of my multiracial classmates of yesteryear and we still sit down occasionally for a meal.

But the 90 percent have suffered through BN's racist policies, as well as creeping Islamisation due to the religious agenda in schools, so they see everything through racial lenses.

In my opinion, the New Economic Policy (NEP) was the wrong response to the May 13 riots because it exacerbated racial divides, while still leaving the majority of Malays poor. It would have been better to adopt a policy that sought to uplift all the poor, irrespective of race.

This would have automatically helped more Malays without creating a layer of ultra-rich Malays largely through corruption, and without creating the racial divide that we see today.

May 13, 1969, was a crossroads for the nation and after that, we went down the wrong path.

FellowMalaysian: Yes, May 13 was a watershed massacre which turned the country's youthful expectations as a nascent democracy into one which was compelled to govern based on race-affirmative measures.

Since then, the entire nation has been shrouded with a miasma of despair as all the nation's agendas, narratives and policies became race-based rhetoric.

May 13 was the forerunner event that engendered the wave of a million of our citizens to leave their homes because what they saw in the country was just hopelessness - a country which has been utterly wrecked through race and religion.

With new Malaysia comes new hope that the single most far-reaching event of the nation's history, which has been cast in a shroud of secrecy the past 50 years, could finally be reconciled and hopefully, some disturbing questions will finally be answered.

Ipohcrite: The truth of the May 13 riots should be told by declassifying documents that pertain to the event. As it is, the so-called official version of events was commandeered and written by those in political power to serve their vested interests.

Hence, generations of Malaysians have been indoctrinated by an untruthful account of the event and have animosity in their hearts against another race.

As they say, the truth shall set you free. Otherwise, the political opportunists will always resort to using that tragic event to foment divisiveness among the rakyat to serve their selfish political interests.

A good example would be the claim by many Umno politicians that DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang started the riots in Kuala Lumpur when at that time, he was actually away in East Malaysia.

Mo Saladin: For closure, it is important for us to identify how did a rally and counter-rally in Kampung Baru result in a spontaneous combustion of murderous rage that arose from perceived collective insults.

In a country like Malaysia which is saturated with political rhetoric, it is important that we ask what is the nexus between a seemingly harmless public rally glorifying race and religion that can result in acts of violence and destruction.

What is the critical threshold that changes everything in a public protest rally? It is the killing of your fellow citizens, neighbours and friends.

The Wakandan: History is a great teacher. May 13 is a lesson for us to learn so that it must never be repeated. The blame game and political expediency, one will not find the answers there.

In my personal view, it is not so much the motive and the scheme of those who made it happen, but rather, why the perpetrators allowed themselves to be driven to a killing frenzy. You can call for war, but if nobody comes, there will not be a war.

For people to come, they must be sufficiently motivated to fight and to give up their lives for the cause. Yes, the cause that drives these people to do the unimaginable things they did... it's not pretty.

That’s why it’s best to move on with the lesson learnt so that never again our beautiful Malaysia will undergo the darkest moment in our history, for the sake of our children and their children’s children.


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