‘It’s really unbelievable; Taib’s family controls S’wak’

Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund's revelations of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's billion dollar business empire is not going to let-up in 2012.

LOOKING AHEAD 2012
By Jessica Dacey

After two decades of environmental campaigning for Malaysia’s Penan tribe (in Sarawak) the Bruno Manser
Fund (BMF) is stepping up its fight against local political corruption.

BMF remains one of the few non-Malaysian organisations still campaigning on behalf of the Penan, an indigenous people living in some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

Two-thirds of its forests have been destroyed in recent years for logging or to build palm oil plantations.

Now the BMF is targeting the political powers behind these developments.

The choice of young Malaysians will be ABU

Moaz Nair

UMNO is singing their own praises of having over 3 million members but little do they realise that not all these members would vote for them or for that matter come out to vote in the next general election.

In politics, numbers can sometimes be deceiving, but at times quite convincing. Political parties often claim to have a big number of members and supporters thus the illusion is that they will win big in an election. More often than not, flying their own kite is but a political scheme to delude the people. Even if they have the numbers it is not always going to be the case that these members would vote for their party in an election.

There can be other pertinent variables that will determine members’ trend of voting, such as displeasure with the performance of the party, sabotage or even their lackadaisical attitude towards casting their votes. It is thus just too imaginary for any political party to assert that all members will vote for their own party.

Najib’s early elections plan in disarray

Cowgate and civil servant's salaries issue are likely to send Najib’s political strategists back to the drawing board in terms of picking a date for the polls.

During the last few months, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been pulling out one pre-election carrot after another from his inexhaustible supply of goodies aimed at persuading the electorate to vote BN’s way in the coming general election.

These range from indefinite postponement of the long delayed goods and services tax to financial grants and other handouts to Chinese, Tamil and Islamic religious schools as well as politically strategic groups including Felda settlers, Indian small entrepreneurs, low income communities, and imams and Kafa (religious) teachers.

Najib’s backroom boys must have been supremely confident that this mass saturation of money and handouts – so effective in past elections – would pave the way for a resounding victory as they plotted the timing of the next GE.

Two recent developments appear to have now derailed the BN’s plans for an early election to take advantage of the ‘feel good’ sentiments generated by the deluge of monetary incentives disbursed under the glare of fawning media coverage.

One is the spreading cloud of corruption and political irresponsibility associated with the National Feedlot Corporation’s (NFC) scandal-ridden project.

This is not only likely to result in minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s resignation very soon but is also causing consternation and reverberations among Umno’s grassroots members and supporters in the Malay heartland.

The arrogance and contempt displayed by Shahrizat, who received loud applause from Wanita Umno delegates for her bellicose speech, will not be easily forgotten.

If the elections are called during the next several months when the cattle-gate case reaches its expected climax, Malaysians going to the polling booths will not only have indelible ink on their fingers; they will also go in with the overpowering and indelible stench of the NFC fiasco influencing their choice of parties.

Menuntut janji Pulau Salak

TARIKH: 27hb. Disember 2011/1 Safar 1433 H

Pergi dan balik menaiki bot panjang

Kenyataan Akhbar : Menuntut janji Pulau Salak

Kami telah mengunjungi Pulau Salak pada minggu lepas. Tujuan lawatan ini adalah untuk meninjau tahap pembangunan di samping menilai segala janji parti pemerintah semenjak Pilihanraya Negeri Sarawak ke 10 April di kampong tersebut. Perjalanan dari Pasir Pandak (Sungai Daun) mengambil masa 15 minit dengan menaiki bot yang disewa khas oleh rombongan kami.

Putrajaya to table Race Relations Bill in March

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Putrajaya will table a Race Relations Bill in March to regulate interaction among the races and foster mutual respect, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz says.
The proposed law would be modelled on Britain’s Race Relations Act, the minister said.
He told Sin Chew Daily in an interview published today the proposed law, which will be used to combat racial extremism, was one of two replacement laws for the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had pledged to abolish the draconian ISA, which allows for detention without trial, in his Malaysia Day speech earlier this year.

Aziz Bari says Article 153 shortchanges no one

By Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 — Constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari said Article 153 of the Federal Constitution protects all communities and not just Bumiputeras, saying Perkasa is wrong to claim it is only for the dominant majority.

Perkasa had warned Christians yesterday not to question the provision the Malay rights group says is to protect the rights of Bumiputeras.

The International Islamic University (UIA) law professor told The Malaysian Insider “the constitution is clear that no one should be shortchanged.”