Was asked to put a quick plug for FFF. If all goes well, I might help submit some proposals :P :)
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May 122010
Sorry haven’t had chance to blog much about Sibu – being so far away, am not as in tune as I wish I were.
Lately, the polemic seems to be around religion.
I hope the few Sibu voters who might be reading will see that surely Pakatan has been a better voice for the various religious communities in Malaysia.
The coalition includes Malaysia’s only Islamic party – with a strong track record of integrity and Islamic credentials; and yet Pakatan has beyond doubt had a better track record of speaking up for the rights of religious minorities.
PAS-led Kelantan has been a beacon of religious acceptance (no, no chopping off hands etc), and the Pakatan stand on the Allah issue has – in my view – demonstrated great maturity and reason.
It has been deeply gratifying to see that in the Peninsular, Malaysians from all walks of life have rejected this ridiculous politics of fear and subtle Islam-bashing which BN component parties like to use on non-Muslims.
The irony of course is that as BN paints Pakatan as attacking minority rights, BN component parties have yet to do anything to disprove the Umno lapdog label so often thrown at them. This picture says it better than anything:
So Sibu, refuse to bow to Umno supremacy, and help return the pride all of us should feel as Malaysians.
*
ps- A brilliant piece of logic from George Chan:
At another press conference, SUPP president George Chan slammed the Pakatan for using the churches in their attempt to bring a ‘Semenanjung problem’ to Sarawak.
He said the Pakatan and DAP are playing a “very dangerous” game by mixing religion with politics merely to gain the upper hand in this by-election.
But when asked about SUPP’s campaign tactic in equating a vote for DAP with a vote for PAS and its vision of an Islamic state, Chan (left) sidestepped the issue saying it is unrelated.
“We are not discussing a religious issue, we are just saying that we don’t want PAS or an Islamic state.”
Soooooooo, the Allah issue is not a religious issue, but Islamic state is. Mmhmm.
May 112010
ps- is it just me, or is that photo of her like SUPER Photoshopped? :P :)
*Excellent* investigative reporting by Koh Lay Chin @ The Nutgraph! I reckon this is an excellent example of the media playing its most pivotal role, and I’ve reproduced most of the article below.
But do check it out. An ad agency (read:APCO probably :P) placed the ad on behalf of our government, and then made it sound like it was done by adoring fans of Rosmah (the very thought of such fans makes me geli!!).
To top it all off, who paid for this deception? You and me :P :P
I also love the part where the ad is to congratulate Rosmah on an award that no one knows or cares about.
I note with great interest how the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) was not mentioned in the ad. Their website also makes no list of their awards and awards recepients.
I strongly suspect this is because organisations like the BCIU make up awards from thin air, and give them to gulliable third world ‘leaders’ desperate for Western recognition – usually of course, *for a price*. Lelong lelong!!
According to some interesting Google results, no one else has ever received this prize, and there isn’t even a single mention of it on BCIU’s website.
Clearly, we are dealing with a meaningless “off the shelf” award, most likely bought and paid for through agents like APCO.
And for this, Malaysians probably forked out over RM 1 million (RM 10 million??) to glorify our ‘treacherous‘ “First Lady”. Contrary to the last line, I assure you that Malaysians are NOT proud of you, or of any of this :P
What a shameless attention ho!
Highlights from the article:
A recent two-page spread in the New York Times, costing thousands of US dollars and featuring the prime minister’s wife, was placed on behalf of the Malaysian government.
In an e-mail response to questions from The Nut Graph, the New York Timessaid: “The advertisement was placed by an ad agency on behalf of the Malaysian government.”
The response from New York Times executive director of community affairs and media relations, Diane McNulty, reveals that the ad was not placed by private individuals, as suggested by the last line in the ad’s congratulatory message.
However, research on previous full-page ads taken out in the New York Timessuggests that the cost of such advertisements ranges from US$180,000 toUS$230,000. This amounts to between RM580,000 and RM740,000 for a one-page ad.
A two-page colour spread such as the one featuring Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor is expected to cost far more.
“Friends and family”
The ad was placed on 16 April 2010, on the last day of Prime Minister Datuk SeriNajib Razak‘s visit to the US, to congratulate Rosmah on her being conferred a little-known International Peace and Harmony Award.
The ad welcomed Rosmah as Malaysia’s “First Lady” to New York, and carried the message: “In recognition of your effort to promote peace, harmony and understanding among the people of Malaysia and your courageous acts in making a difference to the lives of people and children around the world. Malaysia is proud of you.”
It was signed off: “Best wishes from family and friends in USA and Malaysia.”
The ad did not name the Business Council for International Understanding, the outfit that gave Rosmah the award.
Against a backdrop of controversies surrounding the hiring of media relations firmApco Worldwide Sdn Bhd, and Rosmah‘s alleged interference in government matters, the two-page ad has stirred up gossip and blog postings about who paid for it.
It has also been noted that while Rosmah was prominently featured in the ad in a respected and established newspaper, US media coverage of Najib’s visit and meeting with President Barack Obama was scant. (nat: the only way N/R can get ppl to care, is – as usual – to pay. Shameless!)
Malaysian Ambassador to the US Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis was pictured in Malaysian media showing US newspaper coverage in conjunction with Najib’s visit. But as the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang has pointed out, this appears to have been an advertorial in the Washington Times.
The New York Times‘s McNulty would not reveal which ad agency placed the order for the ad on behalf of the Malaysian government in her paper. But if the Malaysian government has hired an ad agency, why is taxpayers’ money being used to promote Rosmah and an obscure award in the US, instead of the prime minister and the country?
If I recall correctly, back in the Pakatan days, we heard stories of land being given out to the rakyat.
Now that Perak is back to Barisan, we see the exact opposite >:(
PKR Teja assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang today exposed another land scandal in his constituency allegedly perpetrated by Umno cronies, this time involving two acres of state land in Kopisan Baru in Gopeng.
The land is a squatter area currently being occupied by three generations of seven low-income families for over forty years.
According to Chang (right), these urban pioneers (squatters) have made several attempts to obtain a land grant for this area since the 1970s, but have never succeeded. Kampar land office has consistently rejected their attempts, allegedly citing that the area is road-reserved and is off-limits to the public.
“Then out of the blue, how did the Kampar land office suddenly give this land – claimed as road-reserved land … to one company named Duta Bermutu Sdn Bhd?” asked the angry PKR state vice chairman.
Duta Bermutu Sdn Bhd is owned by Orang Besar Perak Abdul Karim Mohd Jamil, and its two directors are Abdul Karim himself and Gopeng’s Umno Kampung Tersusun branch chief Taharudin Ahmad.
Only a few days ago, Najib so brazenly proclaimed:
The Najib administration has abandoned the policy of helping just one or two Bumiputera businessmen as it does not bring economic or political benefit to the grouping.
“People come to see me, asking me to approve contracts. I can do so but this is not the way to help the Malays as we don’t want to help only one or two of them. We want to help them overall,” he told reporters after opening the Penang Malay Economic Convention here today.
And yet, right under our noses, in the state that Najib himself bought in the most contemptuous manner, we see exactly this type of cronyism.
Three generations, forty years – but all it took was one Umno branch chief to deny these settlers a home to call their own.
Where is justice?! Take Perak back!
However, he said that the level of street crimes was exaggerated by the continuous chattering that made it seem worse.
“Most victims are women. What do women do? They go to the hairdressers… they chit-chat and suddenly it is everywhere and cause people to fear,” he joked.
O.O
Joking matter yah?
What do you think? Is crime getting worse? Or is it just false perception created at hairdressing salons?
TMI:
The Najib administration has abandoned the policy of helping just one or two Bumiputera businessmen as it does not bring economic or political benefit to the grouping.
Instead, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said his government would focus on prospective entrepreneurs who genuinely qualify for assistance and have the potential to venture abroad.
“People come to see me, asking me to approve contracts. I can do so but this is not the way to help the Malays as we don’t want to help only one or two of them. We want to help them overall,” he told reporters after opening the Penang Malay Economic Convention here today.
Oh really? Then I suppose the French investigation into the RM 500 million “commissions” for the Scorpene purchases that went to Razak Baginda’s company will find nothing fishy :P nothing fishy at all :P
May 092010
Happy Mother’s Day! :) I woke up this morning thinking about great moms (hi mom!) and great future moms :)
On an absolutely unrelated note, quick point to latest TMI column, original title I gave was 1SellOut: Palanivel, Ezam, Hee :P :)
May 082010
My thoughts and very best wishes to all comrades in Sibu this morning :)
This is a momentous battle, the first shot in the war over BN’s ‘fixed deposit’.
Marilah, rakyat Sarawak, bangkit menentang penindasan!
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has lamented that Umno – the party he led for two decades – has failed to defend the Malays in the face of attacks from the minority Chinese.
“What is happening now is that Malays are forming NGOs because of Chinese attacks against the Malays, and Umno seems unable to defend them,” said Mahathir in a posting on his Cetdet blog.
The former Umno strongman has lambasted “Chinese extremists” for their unreasonable demands.
“We hear a lot about demands by Chinese extremists questioning the provision of Malay special rights in the constitution, demanding an end to the NEP, reduction of quotas for Malay students. They even say the Malays are also ‘kaum pendatang’ or immigrants.
BUT:
“Playing race politics in Malaysia is dangerous.”
Haha. Only TDM can contradict himself so brilliantly.
So sad. MK:
Despite promising residents that a joint committee would first be formed to discuss the building of high-tension cable towers in the area, utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) today forced their way into the Rawang New Village and began survey works.
Some 50 villagers comprising mostly of women and the elderly tried to form a human chain to stop the 200 TNB employees backed up by police personnel but failed to do so.
Rawang state assemblyperson Gan Pei Nee told Malaysiakini that during the 15-minute confrontation at 8am, several villagers were injured.
I was also told of an ADUN’s PA who was hit and the back of the head and dragged around during the altercation.
Seeing that the Selangor government has already offered alternative land for the development of the high tension cables, I really don’t understand why TNB is so hard headed about making life difficult for villagers who have made this land their home for so long.
Will we keep on living in a land where profits come before welfare? >:(
