The political choice in GE-13 for many non UMNO & non PAS voters has become a dilemma, a very serious one, though some (but not all) are prepared to go for broke and take a chance.

It’s been two weeks since the stunning 250,000 people brave the burning sun demanding for clean elections during Bersih 3.0 rally. Interestingly the topic is still selling like hot potatoes. Actually the rally is still hot news simply because both government and opposition wouldn’t want it to die a natural death. Understandably both sides are fighting tooth and nail as it would deliver the precious votes come the next general election. The aftermath of Bersih 3.0 is perhaps the last and biggest propaganda tool before election so whoever can manipulate it to the best will benefits the most.

Reading an autobiography is like a taking a trip into an individual’s soul. By going down a person’s memory lane, we take time to appreciate the journey that one has taken into becoming the person one is today. Reading ‘The Right to Differ’ is a different experience entirely, probably because it was written from an interview. Simpler means questions and even simpler answers were used to tell the story.

Seorang aktivis, Saiful Mokhtar, 33, mengakui dia yang berada di lokasi kejadian dapat mendengar dengan jelas beberapa orang mengarahkan kereta polis itu diterbalikkan kerana kononnya ada mangsa yang tersepit di dalamnya.

The real issues — did Nades defame the businessman; did Nades make that tweet; what did Nades say; how did that tweet damage the businessman’s reputation; what reputation did the businessman have to defend in the first place — all these matters did not arise in court, were not discussed, were not heard, and were not judged. Neither was Nades’s own explanation about the circumstances regarding the tweet.

By having it in a stadium, where most are usually seated and quite stationary, it is easy to estimate the crowd. But they can’t spin to claim the crowd to be as much as 100,000 to 300,000.

In my note to Chandra on May 6 which he acknowledged, and which was sent well before this latest rebuttal, I had written: “I hope we can have a sustained discussion on the important subject that you have identified. I don’t think a one-off debate is a good way to have that discussion. I know politicians and their supporters love it but we are not politicians.” Chandra’s latest reply continues to insist on a one-off debate and argues that a prolonged discourse in lieu of a debate will “generate more heat than light”.

The High Commission is also arranging for free transport and provisions forstudents to attend the event from all over the UK! Students from as far away as Edinburgh University up in Scotland have been urged to attend in a highly organised effort by diplomats.

In a highly publicized press conference on 3 April 2012, Lynas demonstrated that their WLP waste is lower in radioactivity than table salt [1] [2].  The implication of this experiment is very detrimental to the stop Lynas campaign.  One of the main rebuttal against the IAEA review is that its International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model has underestimated the risk of internal emitters, which are radioactive particles that are ingested or inhaled.  If the common salt has higher radioactivity than Lynas’ wastes, the entire argument on internal emitters will be void.

When the Arab Spring happened in January 2011, our leaders reacted in a very odd fashion. The first response was to bring all our students in Egypt, all 11000 of them, home as if Egypt had just turned into a warzone and our students were in grave danger. It was very clear however, from what the students themselves said when they got home, that there was no physical danger at all. The ‘danger’ was more in the heads of our leaders who were perhaps afraid that our young people might get some funny ideas about democracy. Perhaps they thought the word doesn’t exist in Arabic.

I am all for free market competition, I absolutely abhor the “protection still being given” to other quite silly industries we need not have such as autos, cement, steel and IPPs. However, the government failed to recognise the lumbering giant in MAS and basically allowed for “unfair advantage” to Air Asia.  They should have removed the ‘shackles’ from MAS first before allowing Air Asia in.

When we first saw the screenshot of Maxis *100# menu above through a post onLowyat.NET Forums by bananajoe - the original image has since been deleted – we thought it was an excellent Photoshop job. Just to be sure, we then turned to our fellow Twitter friends who have active subscription with Maxis and asked them to check their *100# menu.

If Chandra is insistent on having this exchange take place, I would like to propose a more intensive discourse over the CPI website (www.cpiasia.net) as well as over his JUST and Yayasan 1Malaysia websites, or even over the Universiti Sains Malaysia website. That way the academic and concerned public interested in the subject of political change in Malaysia can participate in the cyber forum. 

Besides the requirement of naming them, Dr Chandra should realize that as a social scientist he must provide evidence to prove his argument that they are frauds and hypocrites. What actions have they engaged in to deserve such demonizing from a senior social scientist holding the esteemed position of Noordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies?

The questions to ask now are not about the success of Bersih 3.0 (that’s already indisputable), nor that of the horrendous police brutality (regardless of any misinformed ‘pay-back’ mental madness), nor about Najib, Hishamuddin and UMNO’s culpability (they will pay for it in GE-13), but about the correct person to take over.

We have heard many asking, including a senior journalist why Bersih not taking up the offer of Merdeka Stadium. These people must be naive to believe what the government said after having experienced the flip flop offer on Bersih 2.0.

The Countdown To Defeat For BN Has Begun – Will Najib Be The First Unelected Prime Minister of Malaysia?

This article follows from a discussion with my father who is now recuperating at home. My father was admitted to hospital on the 23rd April on the initial diagnosis of having a stroke but was discharged late afternoon on the 28th April after his condition stabilised. His concerns for the country prompted him to discuss with me his views and he has directed that I post them to the website asap.

Menaced by police – Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett speaking to camera shortly before his equipment was smashed

The Middle East’s leading TV News Service, Al Jazeera, has given its own appalled reaction to the discovery that its coverage of Saturday’s Bersih 3.0 rally may have also have been doctored by Malaysia’s Astro satellite station.

This is a screen shot of the terms of my subscription contract with Astro. Don’t bother reading it. It is one of the most lopsided agreement in this side of the universe. Basically, the agreement says I should pay Astro to subscribe certain packages. On the other hand, Astro is in effect not obliged or responsible to provide any kind of service whatsoever.

It is so tempting, isn’t it?

To throw up our hands and declare that this will never work. To say that’s it and throw in the towel. To lose faith completely in our fellow Malaysians and retreat into a corner, declaring that ideals can never trump human flaws.

From Malaysia-Today‘s Press pounces on Anwar and Azmin:

PKR de facto leader and deputy president were castigated in a media conference by reporters from various news portals and newspapers as the pair faced accusations of being the culprits responsible for inciting protesters to invade the barricaded Dataran Merdeka during last weekend’s Bersih 3.0 rally.

“What will be the worst consequence if the crowd breaks through the police barrier? The consequence will be about 100,000 gathering on Dataran Merdeka and sitting there for another hour.  It is not like they were trying to storm a sensitive government facility or a military installation, so where is the balance?”

Malaysia’s struggle for clean and fair elections in the Bersih 3.0 rally has been fought in the streets, but there is also an important battle occurring in the media reporting of the event. Control over how the story is reported is clearly seen as crucial to the Malaysian government, considering the censorship measures they have undertaken in the past week.

In a repeat of last summer’s protests, yellow-shirted mobs calling themselves “Bersih” have taken once again to the streets in Malaysia demanding “clean elections.” Their tactics and demands mirror similar movements that have come out into the streets in Russia and across the Middle East, and just like in Russia and across the Middle East, they are entirely funded, directed by, and working for the interests of Wall Street and London.

Zaharin Yassin’s big mouth is no myth. He has a mouth with large lips and opening. Being together with him in our struggle against Tun Dol and knowing him close enough, describing his mouth as big will not annoy him.

There is no denying that the Malaysian police went feral and metamorphosed into samsengs of the most brutal kind, not unlike the Argentinean police of that nation’s Dirty War (1976 – 1983).

ART HARUN

I wasn’t there on Saturday.

I was however constantly checking out the progress of the BERSIH sit-in through various social-media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook as well as some websites which provided updates from time to time.

Saudara Zaharin, Setiausaha UMNO BANDAR TUN RAZAK dgn x sengaja mengesahkan POLIS berpakaian BERSIH memang diletakkan di dalam peserta himpunan Bersih.Beliau menyatakan tak kurang drpd 2000 polis menyamar sebagai peserta BERSIH!

Pengalaman pedih 709 berulang apabila FRU membedil gas pemedih mata terhadap kira-kira 10 ribu orang yang berkumpul di persimpangan jalan berdekatan Dataran Merdeka.

It was the barbed wire that did it for me. Up til Friday afternoon I was still unsure about going. My hubby thought I’d already made my point last year. I was annoyed with continually being asked whether I was going or not, more so with the non-story that came out in M’kini which basically said I hadn’t decided yet. I mean, does it matter?

PAGI ini, rancangan saya “dicemarkan” oleh demonstrasi Bersih di ibu negara. Laluan saya sesak kerana beberapa batang jalan ditutup. Setelah beberapa lama tersangkut dalam kesesakan lalu lintas, saya berpatah balik dan menukar haluan.

Hari ini hari yang paling ditunggu-tunggu oleh rakyat yang dahagakan keadilan dan kesaksamaan bersiasah. Rakyat sudah tidak lagi menerima cara suruhanjaya pilihanraya mengendalikan pilihanraya dinegara ini. Ratusan ribu rakyat dijangka membanjiri ibu kota untuk menunjukkan bantahan terhadap SPR yang tidak telus dan suruhanjaya yang telah dicemari dengan politik UMNO dan BN. Ketua kepada suruhanjaya pilihanraya rupa-rupanya adalah ahli UMNO dan beliau tidak layak untuk mengendalikan pilihanraya dengan adil dan saksama.

Sarawak Report has obtained copies of a highly intimidating email that has been sent out by an official from Malaysia’s Education Department in Washington to all Malaysian students receiving grants in the United States.

If an order or directive, be it of a judge or otherwise, violates our very essence as human beings, defy it.

It is no significance that the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman were not active members or had forgotten that they are members. The fact that they are members is in itself sufficient to create the conflict of interest.

Something significant is taking place this Saturday in several cities across Malaysia – ordinary citizens are coming together like never before to stand up for their democratic rights and freedoms, most particularly their constitutional right to free and fair elections.

“Today I withhold this keris. But if one day I can’t tolerate anymore, I will use the keris against the enemy of this land!”

– Speaker at Anti-LGBT Rally, 12 Apr 2012

When the speaker at the Anti-LGBT rally talked about killing whoever he imagined is “the enemy of this land”, and by enemy he implied anyone who advocates for the human rights of LGBTs, the authorities looked the other way. But when Seksualiti Merdeka appealed for understanding, compassion and equality, it was deemed a threat to the national security and was banned by the police.

The Fear Factor Season 3 is here again. In another 3 days, the much feared Bersih 3.0 rally will rock and roll in Kuala Lumpur, capital city of Malaysia. Bersih 1.0 was held in 2007, followed by Bersih 2.0 in July 2011. Both rallies delivered embarrassing moments to the Malaysian Government – Bersih 1.0 to (former) Badawi administration while Bersih 2.0 to Najib administration.

PKR is currently struggling under allegations that its top leadership — its very top leadership — is pushing aside Nurul Izzah Anwar, First Daughter of PKR, Deputy President of PKR and MP for Lembah Pantai. The explosive allegations, from renegade blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, have prompted a range of denials from the flat (Nurul Izzah) to the angry (everyone else).

If someone creates a blog with your name, you are deemed to have published the articles there unless you prove otherwise. If you have a blog and someone posts a comment, you are deemed to have published it. If you have a Facebook page and an user posts something on your wall, you are deemed to have published it!

The SOA could perhaps be stomached if it was confined to terrorism. It however is not. In fact there is no mention of the word terrorism or terrorist in the legislation at all. Instead the SOA applies to what is referred to as “Security Offences” which is defined by newly introduced offences, hence the amendments to the Penal Code. This is where the real evil is.

If the “doubtful” 42,051 voters “manage” to vote in the 13th General Election, it could influence up to 42 parliamentary and state seats with a 1,000 votes majority. If it is a 300 vote majority, it could influence up to 140 seats.

Pakatan Rakyat could be led by a Malay for now, but the opposition leader’s position should be open to all races.

It was said that there was a time when Chinese Malaysians numbered almost 50% of Malaysia’s population. Following illegal (but) instituted influx of Indons and Suluks, coupled with low birthrates and migration, today they numbered less than 30%.

It is already happening. The people in the mainstream media and `mainstream new media’ do not have a clue about what is happening. They are seeing ghosts at every corner. UMNO is in total disarray. In desperate times, UMNO resorts to desperate measures.

The amendments in the Election Offences Act will now facilitate the tampering of ballot boxes, the surge of legitimized illegal voters, potential abuse on legitimate voters at the Barung and curbing of public rallies during the election campaign period. Is this what the government call as reforms?

We all know that Malaysia has become more and more ‘Islamic’ over the last 20 years. By ‘Islamic’ we mean not that people have become more inclined towards personal piety, to strive for establishing justice and mercy on the Earth, etc. Rather we are referring to the external dimension of Islam whereby you see institutionalized religion crystallized in the form of an official bureaucracy that seeks to legitimize itself by exerting social, cultural and political influence on Malaysia.

One interesting piece of news I read was the declaration by the president of Parti KITA, Zaid Ibrahim. He says he wants to contest in Kota Bharu.  Zaid is a native of KB and in fact served as its MP from 2004-2008.  He has a foundation there, committed to welfare work and of helping people.