On Politics, Freedom and Harmony in Malaysia

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The beauty in the basics of democracy is that there is mutual respect, ability to enjoy harmony in diversity and to agree to disagree. What is theory is of course not always the same in practice but in the case of Malaysia, I must say that the freedom I experienced living in what the world regards as a developing country is comparable even to some of the advanced democratic countries of the world. When I talk about freedom, I'm specifically referring to freedom of mind to believe what I choose to believe in, freedom to move around freely and safely in the country and with a freedom to chose my vocation and lifestyle with a choice of goods and services available in most other countries and perhaps even more.


My feelings that the freedom I had experienced in Malaysia is comparable to America was shared in an early day post here. I stated that perhaps the well-defined laws in the US created the environment of mutual respect of its citizens. In Malaysia, I believed that mutual respect of each citizen for the rights of another regardless of what race or religion they may be from could be due to existing tradition and culture of the people rather than due to the existence of law as developing countries are far less sophisticated in its legal framework. A point to note on the recent US economic and political scenario is that the complexity of the legal system of check and balances seem to have caused some dysfunctions in the government as some have expressed.

What I had not mentioned in the earlier post was more about the freedom that I had observed Malaysian politicians had displayed. Though press freedom is very much curtailed, again due to tradition rather than law, the politicians who end up being in the opposition somehow are able to share their stories and experiences through books they have self-published and circulated. These books were particularly very informative especially during a time when the internet was not available and you had to know everything from reading from a book or newsprint.

As a wide reader, I had my share of political books that kept me abreast of political activities in the country and around Asia too.


Though they made up just a small percentage of my personal library of books in the shelves that line the walls of my office and home, it was good enough to learn of the views and struggles of politicians of our young nation, trying to help this country progress or even achieve the status of a developed nation.

Thanks to the internet of today, I could refresh my knowledge and even get a faster summation of the life of some of our well-known politicians in our country. It also allows me to appreciate the political freedom that still exists in the country though not entirely free. The following would be the fruit of my labors :.

I would start with Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister and the longest-serving one too ie Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad who served from 1981 - 2003 with reference to more comprehensive information and updates to this journal by checking the latest from the Wikipedia site. A controversial man indeed as I first learnt of this when I read his book, The Malay Dilemma, when I started life as an entrepreneur in the early 80s.  He had written the book after he was sacked from UMNO supreme council and later expelled from the party itself at the end of 1969, the major component of the ruling coalition party. The book was subsequently banned until he came back to power again as Prime Minister in 1981. What a great man with leadership qualities and oratory skills that could inspire anyone, especially a new entrepreneur like myself I thought. I had always looked forward to his articles published in the newspapers during the time of his leadership as the Prime Minister as they were always inspiring and forward looking.

He announced his resignation in 2003 to the UMNO general assembly and fixed his retirement date on Oct 2003, giving time for him to pass on to his anointed successor, Badawi Abdullah.

Today, in the year 2013, much water has gone under the bridge as they say. Malaysia's political experience has  has become more mature and with the internet, the people are more aware of issues in the country.  In FaceBook just prior to the elections on May 3, I saw a post from Dr Mahathir's page and read its contents below :

This article appeared in the New Straits Times of April 30, 2013

1. Malaysia has enjoyed more than half a century of peace and stability and high growths under BN coalition Governments. The seizure of power by the Malay majority upon independence as predicted by foreign observers and some locals did not happen.

2. Instead under the Tunku they promoted a sharing of power and wealth between the three major races through a coalition, the Alliance. The Alliance won 51 out of 52 of the 98 Federal Legislative Council seats contested in 1955. The Tunku as Chief Minister agreed with Sir Cheng Lock Tan’s request and gave one million citizenship to unqualified Chinese and Indians, diluting the Malay majority from 80% to 60%.

3. In 1963 Singapore joined the new state of Malaysia. The PAP did not believe in sharing power. It promoted meritocracy, rule by the elites, by suggesting that Malaysia was not ruled by the cleverest and the most qualified but by Malays. This was intended to stop Chinese support for the MCA and antagonise them against the Malays and UMNO.

4. In 1964 elections the PAP contested with the Malaysian Malaysia slogan to reflect its meritocratic creed. It won only one seat. The Chinese in the Peninsular, under the MCA rejected the PAP.

5. The people of the Peninsular, in rejecting the PAP demonstrated their belief in the concept of “kongsi” or sharing espoused by the Alliance. Singapore and its chauvinistic meritocrats had to leave Malaysia.

6. But a Trojan horse was left behind in the form of a political party named DAP. The similarity of name is not accidental for the DAP was to continue the fight for a meritocratic Malaysian Malaysia. The fight against “kongsi” between the races was to continue.

7. Despite a claim that the DAP is multiracial, its leadership and the overwhelming majority of its members belied the claim to this day. The strategy was to antagonise the Chinese against the Malays by suggesting that the Chinese were second-class citizens.

8. This campaign was quite subdued when the Barisan National Government won strong support from people of all races in Malaysia. But as soon as the Government appeared to be weak the DAP extremists were let loose and the attacks against the Malays became blatant to the point of claiming that the Malays are as much newcomers to Malaysia as the Chinese and Indians. There should therefore be no special treatment for them. The DAP conveniently forgets the special treatment accorded to the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia.

9. The growth and prosperity of this multiracial country depend largely on Sino-Malay cooperation or kongsi. The Barisan National exemplifies this kongsi spirit. To break this kongsi the DAP must antagonise the Chinese against the Malays.

10. Through all the elections in Malaysia the people of Johore have personified the kongsi principle. In every election the Malays would support the MCA Chinese and the Chinese would support the UMNO Malay candidates resulting in Johore delivering 100% BN victories.

11. Now Kit Siang has decided it is time to break up the kongsi. True the Chinese majority in Gelang Patah is smaller than the other constituencies Kit Siang had contested. But Kit Siang hopes with the support of PAS he can split Malay votes, so as to defeat BN. Now UMNO is contesting Gelang Patah with little hope of getting Chinese support.

12. Kit Siang does not agree with the Islamic state and Islamic laws proposed by PAS but that party’s ability to break Malay unity in Johore would benefit DAP. Kit Siang knows that PAS would never be strong enough to impose its version of the Islamic laws in Malaysia if Pakatan wins.

13. Kit Siang is more wily than any of PAS’s leaders. He also knows that PAS needs the support of the Chinese in order to defeat UMNO. He holds the trump card in any “pakatan” of the opposition.

14. Johore is a Barisan National bastion. If it is broken then he could put an end to the MCA’s cooperation with UMNO under the old “kongsi” or sharing concept. Instead there would be meritocracy in everything where the winner takes all and the devil takes the hindmost.

15. A win for Kit Siang will be victory for racism and rule by the elites as is found in a nearby country. It will spell the end of good relations in Johore between the races.

16. Victory for Ghani Othman will mean a sharing of power and wealth of this country between all races and tribes in multi-racial Malaysia.



I was impressed to respond to it by leaving my comment in his FaceBook post, "The topic at hand really is not racism but corrupt leaders of any race that is ruining this country.

I grew up with these words from the Father of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra: Whereas, in the course of human history no nation, in order to salvage itself, will ever remain static for a long time. It will be compelled to decide on one of two directions, to go forward or backward."

My comment can be seen below with some others I've randomly selected. To read the hundreds of comments from the Rakyat or People, just click any of the blue Facebook logo to scroll down the FB post to read them :





I also started to re read his book again, "The Malay Dilemma" and this time round, I found the following paragraphs disturbing to me extracted from Chapter 2 entitled, "What Went Wrong?" which was an attempt to analyze why the racial riots occurred on 16 May 1969, the last year when he was still a member of parliament :

"Looking back through the years, one of the starling facts which must be admitted is that there never was true racial harmony. There was a lack of inter-racial strife. There was tolerance. There was accommodation. There was a certain amount of give and take. But there was no harmony. There was in fact cacophony, muted but still audible. And periodically the discordant notes rose and erupted into isolated or widespread racial fights.

Racial harmony in Malaysia was therefore neither real nor deep-rooted. What was taken for harmony was absence of open inter-racial strife. An absence of strife is not necessarily due to lack of desire or reasons for strife. It is more frequently due to a lack of capacity to bring about open conflict." 

Then I started to read in Wikipedia that described his early political career in the middle paragraph as follows :

Elected to parliament in a volatile political period, Mahathir, as a government backbencher, launched himself into the main conflict of the day: the future of Singapore, with its large and economically powerful ethnic Chinese population, as a state of Malaysia. He vociferously attacked Singapore's dominant People's Action Party for being "pro-Chinese" and "anti-Malay" and called its leader, Lee Kuan Yew, "arrogant". Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in Mahathir's first full year in parliament.[14][15] However, despite Mahathir's prominence as a backbencher, he lost his seat in the 1969 election, defeated by Yusof Rawa of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).[16] Mahathir attributed the loss of his seat to ethnic Chinese voters switching support from UMNO to PAS (being a Malay-dominated seat, only the two major Malay parties fielded candidates, leaving Chinese voters to choose between the Malay-centric UMNO and the Islamist PAS).[17] Large government losses in the election were followed by the race riots of 13 May 1969, in which hundreds of people were killed in clashes between Malays and Chinese. The previous year, Mahathir had predicted the outbreak of racial hostility. Now, outside parliament, he openly criticised the government, sending a letter to Abdul Rahman in which the prime minister was criticised for failing to uphold Malay interests. The letter, which soon became public, called for Abdul Rahman's resignation.[18] By the end of the year, Mahathir had been sacked from UMNO's Supreme Council and expelled from the party; Abdul Rahman had to be persuaded not to have him arrested.[16][17]


Anyone reading the own words of Mahathir before the latest elections in May 2013, the extract from his book on Malay-Chinese relations(of which no evidence or any survey results was provided) and last but not least the history of his early political career can surely conclude that he has been consistently raising the racial issue negatively against the Chinese. Maybe one could ask the question, "Why does he do it?" Could it be possible that it was a political strategy to win back popularity in his UMNO Malay  party? Yet to perhaps throw a smoke screen for the Chinese people, his book turns to dissect the many failings of his own Malay race with his usual straightforward and honest style of writing and giving speeches. Having to please everyone at the same time must surely be a skill of a good politician especially in a multiracial country like Malaysia I'm sure!

I really like to thank Tun Dr Mahathir for the freedom of the internet in Malaysia that he guaranteed should not be censored for the success of the Multimedia Super Corridor(MSC) when it was first initiated in the country in 1996. It has allowed me to piece together this post in analyzing the political climate of our country.  I have always appreciated his straightforward and honest way of writing or giving his speeches. Here is just an extract of the first 3 paragraphs of another article he wrote to show his candidness on the subject of Libel :

LIBEL

This article appeared in the New Straits Times of April 28, 2013

1. The DAP’s Kit Siang has learnt a lot from Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR leader. When unable to counter a critic, silence him by threatening to take libel action in court if the statement is not withdrawn. A long drawn hearing in the court with many postponements, will relieve Kit Siang from having to answer his critic.

2. Now he wants to sue me for calling him a racist. I have been called a racist and an ultra hundreds of times. I never sued anyone. I am a politician and ours is a democratic nation. I believe in free speech. If my political opponents call me names, I can reply or I can do something to prove them wrong.

3. I was called a Malay ultra when I became the Deputy Prime Minister. Yet in the 1999 Elections the Malays did not support me. It was Chinese votes which gave me a two-thirds majority. Incidentally Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, the loudest in calling me a Malay racist, lost in that election.



The issue of race seems to be again highlighted in this 13th General Elections (GE 13) by the ruling coalition BN party as reported in this online news where the term 'Chinese Tsunami' is blamed for their poorer results despite winning the elections for another 5 year term.

The following videos may be helpful to give us a better understanding of the political controversy that exists in Malaysia, behind the topic of race which to most Malaysians will be reminded about the May 13 riots of 1969 :

Seen on the video is the 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman (1957-1970)
The above hard to find video clip in Malay, that reveals the concerns of Tunku on how self serving politicians have brought this country into the regretful situation it is today, is extracted from this blog post.


The video is by a prominent leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Lim Kit Siang

As I had commented on Tun Dr. Mahathir's facebook page that corruption should be the main issue of the country instead of race, it is worthwhile to watch the video below of the head of the opposition coalition PR party, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He was formerly the deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (1993-98) and how he became an Opposition leader in Malaysian politics is explained in the Wikipedia site.


 He shares his plight as an Opposition leader in the country



Here is a former Finance Minister of the country, Tengku Razaleigh, who is still a member in the ruling political party but shares his honest opinion of why a change is needed extracted from his web page which is a must read as well!



In the height of the political activities in the country, I had a special personal experience to share below :

The plight as an Opposition leader makes me recall the above photo taken with a Member of Parliament from Sibu city in Sarawak state of East Malaysia on 19 April of 2012. The site was a student protest area at the Dataran Merdeka near my apartment in KL where earlier in the morning they were attacked by some mobsters as described in this blog post. I happened to meet the man by coincidence that I had read about to be the one who won the parliamentary seat in a by-election in Sibu despite Najib visiting earlier to offer to sign a cheque of 5 million for the city if they elected the BN candidate as per this video. Mr Wong Ho Leong  happened to be attending a parliamentary session in KL and dropped by to pay a visit to the students. I heard him giving them commendation for their courage to protest against the government but highlighted to them that it is not an easy path but one that will be filled with challenges, having experienced being thrown to jail before in his own life experience.

Another man whom I got to know personally before he became a politician is Edward Lee Poh Lin

I knew him through some social work that he was involved with as an active Christian, helping a Pastor Peter Low for cancer treatment at the local University Hospital in Petaling Jaya.

Sadly, by coincidence, both men Mr Wong Ho Leong and Edward Lee Poh Lin, the only politicians whom I got to meet or personally know, passed away from cancer. I've added a link to their names to click for more information about their life. For Edward Lee who lived in Section 5 PJ where I've been to his home with a few other meetings outside whenever social work was involved, I feel a certain closeness to his spirit and feel I would like to follow up with meeting his son who has this blog post in remembrance of his father.

So we can read about and hear from the politicians themselves to become aware of their stories, thinking, mission and vision. We also have views and expert opinions from third party sources. I have found bloggers who are very good in collecting informative views from various sources such as Din Merican with the following posts of related topics worth reading :

Making Corruption History

The last excerpt with the title of 'Corruption' caught my attention as a post-dated addition to this continuing blog post!

As time progresses, the honest and bold writings of other writers came to my attention :

Dr M’s lies and falsehoods (This original post is not available after GE14 with Dr M's leadership to remove Najib with the opposition coalition party of Pakatan Harapan but I found this in Din Merican's blog on the Sabah's Project IC controversy in which Dr M denies any knowledge! Details of Project IC can be found in this Malaysiakini post.

Year 2015 - Political Breakthroughs

This post that started when my mind began to think about politics of the world and eventually into the local scenario in my own country has become quite a journal of what has become the Story of Malaysia for good or for bad. Somehow as I perceive the many different people of Malaysia with it's multi racial and multi religious culture each has contributed to the progress of the economic and political systems in the country, for good and for bad. Basic senses come into play through different people wearing different hats but overall, the maturity of the people in their feelings and thinking can be perceived especially in the political thinking of the people.

Every story has it's troughs as well as its peaks and I've earmarked this year of 2015 as a peak of exposures or breakthroughs in the political environment of the country. The people can begin to see a division of the wheat and the tares so to speak in our democratic based system of government of its people. The world with its social media is now very involved to know what is happening in Malaysia that has created concerns by certain quarters of the government who are starting to clamp down on certain internet sites as well as the news media that it claims are confusing the public between the truth and falsehoods! As a result, some of the website links I have published in this post are not accessible any more.

The beauty about the information world we live in is that someone like myself, a stranger to local politics in the past can begin to do proper research by reading more of what is available and make my own assumptions or conclusions which I've shared openly in my writings. I have the benefit of public figures who have honestly shared their wisdom and experience in social media and one such person I have come across is Koon Yew Yin, an elderly successful businessman and philanthropist. His writings in the middle of the year like this one describes well the political scene of the nation in the middle of the year. One can click the home page of his website to find the archives of all his writings up to the present day to find him an active writer in politics as well as business.


February 2015
Dr Mahathir speaks out

Very enlightening session to hear the questions posed by the public to Dr Mahathir who gets a chance to explain his rationale of his leadership of the past, with admittance of some personal weaknesses of his own, with signs that he has a desire to correct the problems faced by the country where he was the one who had chosen his successors. Why English is important as a language for Science and Mathematics was well explained. His rationale for extended terms for a Prime Minister was well covered at the end of the video, highlighting the pro and cons of it. A question on the  NEP or New Economic Policy in Malaysia was the last he responded to. The event was organized by CENBET.

25 - 27 May 2015
Oslo Freedom Forum



Daughter of Anwar Ibrahim

August 2015 - Bersih 4

More information of the public progressive public rallys of Bersih from the first to the fourth can be read in this article.



Due to the exposed corrupt acts of the current serving 6th Prime Minister, Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak,  among other suspected criminal acts spread through social  media, a historic number of the citizens of the country took to the streets in Malaysia and gathered in other cities of the world to show their no-confidence vote to him! A live-report of the 2 days' event in Kuala Lumpur can be found here.

Even Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister and the longest serving one too i.e. Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad who served from 1981 - 2003 appeared himself to join the public outcry, explaining the reasons for his appearance in this public rally in the video below and the series following it :


Channel News Asia coverage :


Najib absent in IACC :


It is not surprising that Najib Razak did not show up at the International Anti-Corruption Conference when he was an assigned speaker as reported here.   Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal writes that the Malaysia protesters face an uphill battle to dislodge Prime Minister Najib Razak as per this article. 



Year 2016
  
 February 2016 - Opposition leaders exposes corruption of a gigantic scale by the ruling party leaders especially the current prime minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. 

 
Now and then some videos are removed from the online media. Here is an alternative also shared below:



1 March 2016 - Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad leaves UMNO

 


27 March 2016 - Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad appears on 60 Minutes Australia :
                             Click the video below to watch :

  

Australia Broadcast Corporation (ABC) programme on Malaysia :


28 July 2016 
 

 To read the full story above, click here.

5 September 2016
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir meets jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. Click here for the full story.

15 September 2016
Pakatan Harapan is a political alliance that was founded in 2015 as a coalition of left-leaning and centre parties. It is the second largest coalition in the Parliament of Malaysia. Coalition president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has been Opposition Leader of Malaysia since 18 May 2015. In state level, it is also the largest party in 2 of 13 state legislative assemblies of Malaysia and forms the government in the state of Selangor and Penang.
The coalition was formed on 22 September 2015, consisting the Democratic Action PartyPeople's Justice PartyNational Trust Party and Malaysian United Indigenous Party.[5] The movement has aimed to form a broad alliance of centre-left parties for the general election due to be held before 24 August 2018.
The coalition has chosen former Prime Minister and coalition chairman, Mahathir Mohamad, and coalition president, Wan Azizah, as their candidates for the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister post respectively for the upcoming General Election
Pakatan Harapan is a direct successor to the three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition that consisted the People's Justice Party (PKR), the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). Pakatan Harapan was founded on 22 September 2015, two years after the 2013 general election, due to disagreements and conflicts between PAS and DAP mainly regarding on the issue of the implementation of the sharia law, resulting in PAS splitting off from Pakatan Rakyat and the break-up of the coalition on 16 June 2015.[6][7][8] The dissolution resulted in the formation of a new coalition named Pakatan Harapan, consisting the former Pakatan Rakyat parties, PKR and DAP, and a PAS split-off party, the National Trust Party (AMANAH).[9][10]
On 12 November 2016, a UMNO split-off party, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, abbreviated as PPBM, confirmed that the party is committed to join the opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan, as stated by PPBM Chairman and former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad.[11][12] Later on 13 December, PPBM formed an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan through a seven-point agreement at the PKR headquarters,[13] and on 14 March 2017, PPBM officially joined Pakatan Harapan as a member party.[14]


19 November 2016

BERSIH 5

An interesting turn of events where Dr Mahathir now wears the yellow Bersih tee shirt to join thousands of protesters who created a yellow sea of people surrounding the KLCC twin towers!

I was in Kuala Lumpur ready for it with my cameras and did most of my posts in facebook which have been embedded in this post.

Activist Maria Chin Abdullah was released on 28 November 2016 after 11 days in detention. I was in the crowd on the day of her release seen with Opposition leader MP Lim Kit Siang. 


The following are some latest articles about his plight to remove the current Prime Minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak and moves to join opposition parties :










Click here to read about an interesting comparison of the two political leaders



Dec 2016




May 2017

Najib visits Saudi for Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh attended by Donald Trump 

News Report from local Malaysian online paper here.

Screen shot of Najib from a video coverage of the summit meeting with a speech by Donald Trump, the US President. Full video can be viewed here.

 
July 2017

Response to Najib's comments about Kit Siang and Mahathir reported here.


1 Aug 2017

Read in my WhatsApp message on this day :

8/1/17, 11:54:51 AM: ‪+60 12‑217 9110‬: UK : Don't like our VAT 20%? You can leave UK and go to Malaysia. Their GST is only 6 %

US :You want free healthcare ? You can leave USA and go to Malaysia . It's almost free there!

Hong Kong : Cannot afford a house ? You can leave Hong Kong and go to Malaysia . Almost everyone above 35 years old own houses there!

Philippines : What ? You want a car ? Leave Philippines and go to Malaysia . Every house hold owns more than a car there!

Sweden : you complain about high cost of living ? Migrate to Malaysia, they have one of the lowest cost of living around. 

Canada : petrol price too expensive ? Leave Canada and go to Malaysia . Their petrol is even cheaper than Coca Cola!

China : want to secure a place in high school ? Leave China and go Malaysia . They have lots of Chinese schools for you and everyone is secured of a place . 

Japan : want to enjoy life while working ? Leave Japan and go Malaysia . They have lots of Public Holidays, they work only until 5 pm, civil servants work until 430 pm, and everyone is on 5-day week. They can go movie, drink Starbucks, eat out regularly and always travel .

Australia : Unhappy that shops here close too early ? Migrate to Malaysia mate, they have 24 hour eateries everywhere and supermarkets open till 10 pm. 

Indonesia : want a Chinese mayor ? Leave Jakarta and go to Penang . The Penang Chief Minister has always been a Chinese, since 1957 ! 

Singapore : you want to curse and defame your leader in FB ? Leave Singapore lah and go up north . They can curse their Prime Minister everyday. 

And the list goes on...

*Whatever it is Malaysia is still the best! 👍*

*#malaysiabest*



21 Nov 2017


(LIVE) What Say Youth Town Hall - Conversation with Tun Mahathir and Lim Kit Siang
Posted by Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on Tuesday, November 21, 2017




Posted at Najib's blog on 17 Nov 2017 


18 Jan 2018
by Aliran
On 1MDB


The above video is a short one with a more detailed coverage by clicking - Clare Rewcastle Brown


Corruption in Malaysia from Boynie Chong on Vimeo.



6 Feb 2018
With the 14th elections of Malaysia expected to be around the corner, such action by the authorities is expected :



On checking the law to protect Whistle Blowers, it is found to be inadequate as it needs to be reported to the government agencies who take directives from the government ministers themselves as shared in this public article.

7 Feb 2018

SHAH ALAM: After seven years of trial, PKR vice-president Mohd Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to 30 months' jail by the Sessions Court today for exposing the bank account details related to National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFC) and its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail.



Source - NST Online News

This cartoon points out the irony :


Ambiga Sreenevasan: We Are Being Destroyed By The Massive Corruption That We Have Had to

3 Mar 2018
Kuantan

Personal encounter with Rafizi Ramli on a brief trip to Kuantan. 

13 Mar 2018
Last speech by Rafizi Ramli in Parliament


The above video was removed from YouTube by the owner. This can be done for various reasons. Fortunately, I know how to backup videos I have chosen to preserve in my own media and the above video can be watched below after the personal interview that I did with Rafizi Ramli


March 2018
Lim Kit Siang  is wanted out of a Parliamentary session by the Speaker and a commotion follows:


  


Latest - Gerrymandering tactics in redrawing electoral boundaries




23 Mar 2018




27 Mar 2018



28 Mar 2018
News Report from The Malaysian Insight



29 Mar 2018

Campaigning had already started even though Parliament has not been dissolved yet to officially signify it's time for all parties to start their campaigning of at least 30 days before election day.



7 April 2018
Parliament is dissolved.



Click here for the news


9 May 2018
Election Day  - 14th General Election of Malaysia

In the morning of the day for elections, I went to cast my vote and seen above is my ticket to vote in Room 4 with the number allotted to me as 1977 with a double 7 of my lucky number, a little miracle to start off the day indeed for me that is an auspicious sign to be noted in my Story of 7 journal.

Details of this real Mother of all Elections is recorded in my personal post.

By late night of the same day, Tun Dr Mahathir, the head of the Opposition coalition named "Pakatan Harapan" versus the incumbent government party "Barisan National" announced that the officials were delaying to announce that his party had won the elections! 




 

17 May 2018
Anwar Ibrahim was freed from jail and was interviewed by CNN




16 Jun 2018
Open House at the PM's residence for Hari Raya





3 Jul 2018


27 Aug 2018


https://www.thestartv.com/v/anwar-says-not-seeking-to-punish-sodomy-cases-judges-but-wants-injustices-corrected?tp=1

20 Sep 2018
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Singapore








27 Sep 2018
Dr Mahathir in a long speech and dialogue session at Asia Society in New York USA





28 Sep 2018
Speech from Dr Mahathir representing the New Malaysia in the United Nations!






29 Sep2018
Sharing our Malaysian view of how the World should be to be more peaceful.





6 Feb 2019
Multi Cultural and Peaceful Malaysia





22 Feb 2019
Malaysiakini - Opinion Mariam Mokhtar 


Cast your mind back to this time last year when many of you were still undecided about supporting Pakatan Harapan under the leadership of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

You were preoccupied with more mundane issues, such as the rising cost of living, the economy, the lack of jobs and the increase in crime. As if these were not bad enough, there was the #UndiRosak movement, Umno-Baru wooing PAS, the national debt and religious intolerance.

Many unexplained disappearances added to the climate of fear. The arrests for sedition, the travel bans and blocked websites silenced most of us.

Najib Abdul Razak told us to tighten our belts but every other week another Birkin bag, priceless gem or luxury watch was being paraded by Rosmah Mansor. The government jet was misused by ministers' spouses, but there was little you or I could do about it.

You were at rock bottom but with nothing more to lose, apart from your dignity, you threw your hat in with the rest of other frustrated Malaysians and gave us a Pakatan Harapan win on May 9.

Today, you are disappointed with the pace of reform. You want Najib behind bars but you ignore the fact that he has plenty of money for the best lawyers. If the government were to rush things and Najib's legal team were to pick at the loose ends, Najib's charges might be thrown out on a simple technicality.

Would you be happy then? Who would you blame? Yourself for your impatience? Or the government for acting without due diligence?

Today, you may despair at Mahathir's moves to entice former Umno Baru leaders and supporters into Bersatu. But try to dwell on the pluses instead of the negatives. For one, the MACC was emasculated under Najib but is now beginning to work more effectively.


If the former government was still in power, do you think he would have allowed the changes that have been made over the past 10 months? Billions would have been lost and more political appointments would have been made and the police, the army, the judiciary, the civil service, Felda, Mara, Tabung Haji and other institutions would have continued as "normal".

Perhaps, MAS and other once profitable companies would have been run into the ground so that a crony company could pick up the carcasses for a pittance. A fire sale? The newly-acquired purchase could then be rejuvenated with taxpayers' money. The taxpayer would also have to fund the high commissions. We would only look on aghast.

Last week's bombshell about misconduct in the judiciary does not surprise us. From the police to political parties, from awards to approved permits, from menteri besar to the various ministries, from the Tabung Haji to timber concessions, every institution and transaction is tainted.

None of this inspired confidence in the electorate and now Najib's trial has been postponed. He is taking this opportunity to rebrand himself. Using social media, he advocates all those things that he should have done when he was PM.

He even dresses and acts like the Mat Rempit whose attention he used to cultivate; perhaps they formed the core of his support base.

Inner circle protection

And Najib now points out every Harapan ministerial fault. He denies that his administration had created numerous problems which have been saddled on this Harapan government, such as the wasteful police study tour to Turkey.

The previous Najib would scurry away when faced with a barrage of questions and allegations but not today's Najib. Today, he welcomes reporters. He has made up with gusto for his previous silences with attacks on Harapan ministers.

Do not be deceived. Najib is only doing what a man who is in deep trouble would do. He has nothing to lose. He is on the offensive and there is little Harapan can do to contain him.

Najib is not a changed man so do not underestimate him. He does these things to change public perception of him. He cannot delay his trial indefinitely and so he has created a major facelift for his image.

The trick has worked and his response to his critics is to admit that he is a thief and here's the twist - that he is only guilty of stealing the rakyat's hearts.

A Harapan government that overreacts will only play into Najib's hands.

More so, Harapan is kept busy with infighting, dishonest ministers who lie about their academic credentials or prattle about succession plans. They forget there is much work to be done.

Najib's inner circle has protected him. In the past, they received his protection and patronage. People like his lawyers, his wife, his aides, some religious leaders, the former home minister, the former minister of the federal territories and the political appointees to so many institutions.

They have titles like Datin, Datuk or Tan Sri; 98 percent of them are Malay and Muslim They carried on their crimes because Najib closed both eyes to their felonies.

Today, most of them have been arrested and charged with criminal breach of trust, bribery, money laundering, stealing taxpayers' money or abuse of power.

Najib is not a thief of hearts but he has stolen the Malays' ability to reason.


There is no love lost between Mahathir and Najib. Najib will have his day in court but you have to be patient. In the meantime, keep on speaking your mind and pointing out the faults in Harapan.

Oct 2019
Clare Rewcastle Brown: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé


Postdated AlJAZEERA News: How 1MDB fugitive Jho Low tried to bargain for his freedom. Click here to read.


Dec 2019

The trial of Najib Razak became quite intense towards the end of 2019. Patrick Teoh has been giving a commentary of each day's trial on Youtube as shared in this Facebook post of his below:








Click here to ead the comprehensive press report here where graphics are given as to how the money from 1MDB was being transferred to Najib's personal bank accounts!


Corruption with Politicians and the Civil Service departments they are in charge of once called Government Servants who later became the bosses of the citizens who chose and elected the Government Ministers! This caused the people to be also corrupt who pay these bosses to get what they want. Introducing the case of www.BlueBoyMansion.com 

As an introduction, I have always been aware of corruption growing up in Malaysia and how it influences the ordinary citizen as shared in my old journal post here.  Note the year or date of the post which was when I just started writing online, transferring briefs of my old book journals to blogger.

Many years have gone by since then to find myself being involved at the forefront of a community of Malaysians in a central and important part of Kuala Lumpur known by many tourists as Bukit Bintang, The Blue Boy Mansion (BBM) link I created above gives details of how a community of elderly unit owners can suffer from irresponsible management and exploitation of the developers' company that tried to avoid conveying strata titles to the owners!

Only a lawsuit against the developer company, to be won at the high court level, could wake them up! What was the government servant/boss doing?  The Commissioner of Buildings(COB), may investigate the commission of any offence under the Strata Management Act 2013 (ACT 757)

If the government department/servant/boss was not functioning, I thought perhaps a call to the leader of our famous Malaysia Bersih(anti-corruption) movement I was actively supporting might help. YB Maria Chin Abdullah did help. She was rushing to parliament when I called her cell phone and told me she would talk to the Member of Parliament (MP) in charge of Bukit Bintang YB Fong Kui Loon to ask him to call me. I was anxious to hear from him especially that I now needed an MP under his area to help the cause of the many elderly owners of BBM plus the fact that he was the person I voted for during the past years since the late 90s when I was running my IT and management consulting business in Bukit Bintang!

He did call me but it was a couple of days later. I had invited him to come to meet with the owners. This was when I had organized a gathering after finding that the development company, despite losing in court in our lawsuit was still playing delay tactics in holding the first AGM. It was a weekend when all owners would be available but he said he was busy and could not make it. He said he might ask an assistant to come in place of him but none did.

I wanted to meet him personally at their DAP branch office in Pudu area but he only had one assistant follow up with me. It was just to meet me to hear my complaint that the COB did not follow their own letter of instruction to plan the forced 1st AGM for the new Management Corporation to take over management of the Blue Boy Mansion property from the developers in the month of September 2019, the lastest, in their official letter to the developer Embassy sdn bhd, the law firm they have used for many years Manjit Singh Sachdew, Mohammad Radzi & Partners and cc.ed. to me as I have been following up personally at their office for the past two years, trying to apply the rule of law as shared in this detailed post of what happened.


24 Feb 2020

Mahathir resigned as Prime Minister with several Parliamentarians changing camps!





18 Mar 2020



How credible are Politicians one may ask?
Look at how advanced countries like our former colonial rulers in England are doing with their Members of Parliament in this BBC documentary that exposes a huge scandal!




29 May 2020
Dr Mahathir still the Chairman of  Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Malay: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, abbreviated BERSATU or PPBM) 




30 May 2020
Fair Comments from ex-deputy minister of Defence, Liew Chin Tong on Malaysian Politics.

Read his opinion on a wide range of Malaysia's political topics in malaysiakini here or click his photo, where most can be read by paying subscription only. Older articles can be read like this one, or another here. I had first met this eloquent speaker in a talk organized by the Bukit Bintang Foundation whom I work with for a transformation project at Blue Boy Mansion.


22 June 2020
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim does not accept Dr Mahathir to serve for a 3rd term for 6 months but is more agreeable to have him as senior or mentor minister like Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore



28 Jul 2020
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of all seven charges of corruption in the first of five cases linked to the alleged theft of billions of dollars from state fund 1MDB, becoming the first Malaysian leader to be found guilty of graft.




29 Jul 2020
Najib Razak: Malaysian ex-PM gets 12-year jail term in 1MDB corruption trial - BBC News




6 Aug 2020




2 Sep 2020

Prime Minister Slayer? Mahathir's Last Fight





23 Sep 2020
Anwar Ibrahim claims 'formidable' majority to form new Malaysian government




26 Oct 2020
M'sia King rejects state of emergency – what's next for Muhyiddin and his opponents? | THE BIG STORY




6 Nov 2020
Malaysia unveils record US$78b expansionary budget as it grapples with COVID-19 pandemic


The budget was approved on 25 Nov 2020 with the following goodies approved.

17 Nov 2020
Jho Low: Hunt for a Fugitive (Part 1) | Featured Documentary




Jho Low: Hunt for a Fugitive (Part 2) | Featured Documentary




25 Nov 2020
Inside The Power Struggle Within Muhyiddin’s ‘Backdoor Government’ In Malaysia | Insight




26 Nov 2020
Mahathir live on world leader series, conversation with Muslim American Society (MAS)


The sound recording had intermittent problem but is audible for most of the online live recording. Here is a talk by an American Muslim woman from a previous conference and a wiki background about MAS. 

26 Jan 2021
Click the photo above for the news or click here. (Click X to remove any advertisement blocking)


6 Feb 2021
Indonesia News in Bahasa Indonesia acknowledges that the current government lacks the support of a majority in Parliament!




15 Mar 2021
Bersih 2.0 Official - Good analysis of how to allow anti-corruption entity to be more effective.




12 May 2021
A good review of Malaysian Politics. Click here for another different but good review with Malay/English translations




25 May 2021
Are the people of Malaysia hurt enough by the current "Backdoor Government"?  How have they been managing the COVID-19 pandemic since they took over in early 2020 to witness today again their poor leadership in managing public safety? The world is watching!




The beginning of the end for Muhyiddin Yassin, the shortest reigning Prime Minister with his backdoor government!

3 Jul 2021
The Vibes on latest of Malaysia's status of Pandemic and the Government

Click here or the photo above to watch the long video on the state of politics in Malaysia in the midst of the worse results of the pandemic in Malaysia. Note that the long video of 3 hours plus requires one to slide the video control to the parts that interest the user in this video. Read this shorter strong statement by Selayang Member of Parliament, William Leong Jee Keen, a former school mate from St John's Institution too.

11 Jul 2021
Latest news from a Member of Parliament in the midst of the worst Pandemic crisis.

Click here to read.

12 Jul 2021
Frontliners reveal truth about the COVID-19 crisis in Klang Valley Hospitals.



14 Jul 2021
An entertaining interview with Dr Mahathir by local celebrity Harith Iskander



26 Jul 2021
Parliament reopens again for 5 days starting today 


Wow what a fight in Parliament and glad they removed the emergency rule in force since January! It's a long video so slide further to see how they argue to settle issues in our Malaysian Parliament!

I recognize the Deputy Speaker of Parliament 

I was privileged to be in his room to take this photo not too long ago!

To capture our famous politicians in parliament doing their work! Malaysia Boleh!

31 July 2021
'#Lawan Protest' against the Government in the midst of confusion whether Emergency Rule was lifted or not effective July 21st.

Read the news from the Malay Mail on 29 July 2021 and 31 July 2021

16 Aug 2021
Muhyiddin Yassin's last speech as Prime Minister, partly in English only, after losing majority support from Parliament.




18 Aug 2021
From a close friend of mine:



From a close friend's grandson of mine:



To auto scroll to the top click here

To be continued to the next page here.

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