Why Is It Hard to Accept An Apology In My Personal Capacity?

Yesterday, Najib, whose job includes the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, the chief of Barisan Nasional whip and the Vice-President of UMNO apologised publicly for a racially-slanted statement made on Malaysian Chinese during the Permatang Pauh by-election.

Malaysiakini reported that Ahmad Ismail, division chief of Bukit Bendera UMNO purportedly described minority Chinese as "immigrants squatting" in Malaysia.

1) One must truly notice the irony of the situation. It was Ahmad who was alleged to have uttered such words but the person who apologised is Najib. Why Najib but not Ahmad?

2) Why did a representative apologise only after the Permatang Pauh by-election and not immediately right after the statement was made?

3) Certain leadership within the Party had tried to distance it from the unbecoming statements by attaching the term "personal capacity" on this matter.

Are leaders allowed to make such statements in personal capacity during election or by-election campaigning and get away from any punishments while another party representative apologises?

4) If the answer to the above (2) is a "Yes", then try to imagine this scenario.

Let's say (imagine), if most (take for example, 6 out of 10) leaders campaigning for their own Party in an election/by-election of constituent X tell the voters that certain races are "squatters" in Malaysia, would that still be considered statements made in "personal capacity" and not a party stand?

Wouldn't that be ironic or strange if it is considered of "personal capacity"?

5) If the answer to point (2) is a "No", a necessary question to ask : Will there be any punishment meted on leaders from the party uttering racially-sensitive slanted statements not in line with the stand of Party and causing dissatisfaction within Barisan Nasional components?

Isn't unity an important element within BN?

To date, the person who made the statement in "personal capacity" is standing by his words.

6) What if one of the person who said something like this holds an important position within the ranks?

Isn't Division Chief an important position?

There is something called "leadership by example". Can any leader who possess such sentiment and not apologetic about it be a good example to members? Can such leader still be trusted to represent Malaysians as a Member of Parliament?

7) If a leader said something which is not in the form of good leadership, not setting a good example, not synonymous with the party stand, not in the spirit of the Barisan Nasional coalition, not settling, in fact causing much Malaysians to be dissatisfied, not jiving with the spirit of unity in Malaysia, will the Party hesitate to take any publicly-widely-known action on a leader?

Did the Party advise the person to apologise personally on his statement made on "personal capacity"?

There is a plus point that Najib is willing to come forward to apologise but perhaps these issues should be addressed and the questions answered.

Pak Lah 2010

Malaysiakini reported PM hands over job to Najib in 2 years .

Why not now ? Why not 2020 ? Anyway, does anyone believe Pak Lah when he said 2010 ? It seems that Pak Lah wants time to finish his projects (Malaysiakini).

Did anyone remember Anyone saying the price of the fuel price will not rise but immediately raised. Did anyone remember Anyone saying 'getting married' are rumours but not long after that, he announced his marriage? Did anyone remember Anyone saying that he will not dissolve the parliament for election at a specific date only to eventually contradict himself by doing what he promised not to do? We shall never know when "Flip-Flops" would happen.

Previously I had written the entry No Contest for PM and DPM in UMNO . I loathed for the lack of choice that Malaysians have for Prime Minister within UMNO. Sincerely, if I had only two choices, unfortunately, between Abdullah and Najib, I would choose the former.

Sad, isn't it?

I have very pessimistic perception on the future of Malaysia.

In UMNO, my personal choice would be Tengku Razaleigh.... He speaks fluently and economic-minded (proven in the past). Unfortunately, he does not have enough support from the grassroots....

Perhaps, the best would be a change of government. It's high time for a CHANGE. It has been 50 years.

No Contest for PM and DPM in UMNO

Malaysiakini reported PM to declare no contest for Umno top 2 on Jul 10, 08 12:12pm
breaking news : According to Umno sources, Abdullah is also widely expected to announce that he would hand over the reins to Najib in two years. MORE
-> Ku Li, Muhyiddin affected
-> PM worried about nominations

The President and Vice President of UMNO are respectively the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. If the above news is true, would that be good or bad news?

For readers of this blog who knows my style, would have thought I would say it is a bad news. Perhaps, it is. Let's talk about the top spot, the President-cum-Prime Minister of Malaysia spot.

So, we will at least have Abdullah there for another two years. After Abdullah, who? Najib, perhaps.

At least we get Abdullah and not Najib for now. However, like it or not, if the political situation does not change, we shall get Najib around 2010.

Should I feel happy? Hmmn .. well .. seriously I do not know how to feel now. As for year 2010, "sigh".... we shall see how... "sigh"

We haven't got much choice anyway. Certainly ironic that this country is a so-called democratic nation but the top posts are not contestable.

I spoke to some of my Malay friends. They asked me ... if the posts are contestable and Malaysians do not want both Abdullah and Najib, who else can they nominate within UMNO?

Muhyiddin? Some say he is not Prime Minister material. Ku Li? Not enough support. Not much of good choices, they say. Now, that's really sad.

Clarification : Economy and Anwar-Najib Ding-Dongs

On my Sunday, July 06, 2008 post : Malaysia Circus Politics: Bloggers Declare Strike-Disgust , a reader sent me this e-mail ...
No body needs you really. Don"t put such a high value in what you write. There will be many others who will continue.No man is indispensable. Just take your ego to new heights. Cheers

My reply
I do not put a high value to what I write neither do I feel egoistic that my opinion must be embraced by everyone. This blog is written by a commoner, the average worker with average income who has a weekday job to make ends meet.

There is no intention to terminate this blog from socio-political issues but only having a temporary pre-empt (that's what the strike is all about) from writing about the Anwar-Najib ding-dongs.

Anyway .. if readers care to read the whole article in the post linked above, I wrote the statement "Instead, I shall put more concentration on economy and administration". The global economic crisis is coming and Sleepyheads in the Administration are plenty. That is where the concentration would be for this blog now, the Bread-and-Butter issue. Malaysians will suffer horribly if its economy collapses.

That is more important than the Anwar-Najib ding-dongs.

Everything else, BAU (business as usual). In fact, there are two entries today, about media, of which, one correlates with the PROTES rally.

Hope this clears up the issue on "strike".

To all readers, please put in more efforts in educating your fellow friends, families and relatives on what is happening. It is good to know there are Malaysians who care about the nation.

"Towards a Better Malaysia!"

Fed Up of The Starry Drama

Wong Chun Wai wrote Fed up with the political drama

This is what was written ....
After all, politics is all about perception. But in Malaysia, with the credibility of the government, judiciary, police and media in question, facts and evidence no longer matter.

And who can blame Malaysians? You have a private investigator P. Balasubramaniam who made incredulous allegations against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in a statutory declaration, which ranged from anal sex to commission for a submarine deal, and then retract them barely 24 hours later.

The man should be arrested and charged in court. The perception of Malaysians now is that a statutory declaration can be written by anyone, in the presence of any lawyer, and sealed for RM6 in front of any commissioner of oath.

The statutory declaration is in danger of becoming a piece of toilet paper. You can file a document, say the nastiest things, with no evidence except “reliably informed”. What the people choose to believe will depend on their political allegiance.
_______________________________________________

It is necessary for me to say a few things. Yes, I am indeed sick, tired and fed up of the current political drama.

Yes, I have low confidence on the credibility of the government, judiciary, police and media in question but it has nothing to do with Mr. Bala's act of retracting the first Statutory Declaration. Goodness gracious.....

Besides, on the part of the phrase "reliably informed", to ascertain whether it can be treated as valid, one should check out Haris Ibrahim's latest post Hearsay and speaking from the grave (1) and Hearsay and speaking from the grave (2) (updated 09 July 2008 08.36 a.m.)

Now I am sick, tired and fed up of "questionable" media too ......

Should Najib Go On Leave?

Yesterday, I posted an entry titled Explosive Statutory Declarations on C4 Case .

Balasubramaniam, the private investigator of the man implicated in the murder, Abdul Razak Baginda (political secretary of Najib) made a statutory declaration that allegedly name our Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Minister of Defence Najib as related to the mentioned case.

Bala was in a press conference held by Parti Keadilan. Blogger Hard-T posted a detailed entry of the given question and answers between Bala, Anwar, their lawyer and the press. It was said there is a possibility of more exposure on the case in the near future.

YB Lim Kit Siang wrote Altantuya Murder - Najib should go on leave from his DPM duties until cleared of allegations in Balasubramaniam SD.

It has been almost two years since the case presided in the court. I agree with the suggestion that Najib should go on leave to clear his name before returning to his duties.

As you can see, this is a case of international scope, involving relationships between this nation with Mongolia and possibly China (some records of Altantuya's immigration is mysteriously missing).

Furthermore, the reputation of our own government is at stake. Judging by the performance of Barisan Nasional and UMNO in the previous general election (PRU12) which highlighted major problems of these parties in garnering support from the masses, Najib should wisely take a leave.

After all, I believe one should place the interests of the nation as the highest priority, followed by party and eventually self.

Right?

Updated 11:11 a.m. 4th July 2008
Malaysiakini reports PI retracts stunning statutory declaration. In less than 24 hours, Bala had retracted his Statutory Declaration.

Explosive Statutory Declarations on C4 Case

Previously, Raja Petra Kamarudin made a Statutory Declaration involving a high-profile person.

Today at 11.00 a.m. , Anwar Ibrahim made a press conference. A private investigator by the name of Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal allegedly made another Statutory Declaration involving another high-profile person.

Nathaniel Tan's jelas.info and Anwar Ibrahim's Blog released an entry on Press Statement and Statutory Declaration of the aforementioned explosive exposure.

America has many "Confessions" to tell whereas Malaysia has many "Declarations" to make.

So, if the high-profile persons mentioned above are related in terms of marriage, what could that necessarily mean?

I think, me, as a Malaysian is starting to get quite concerned. I am not sure about the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini reported 'No' to soldiers on street duty. The excerpt states : "Unprecedented and dangerous was how human rights group Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng described yesterday’s suggestion that the armed forces be roped in to maintain public order."

Now, I am even more concerned with that.

Why, soldiers and not the police? I do not agree on that and I am not sure who came out with the idea. I would only be able to understand that if our nation is ruled by a military government but currently our nation is not running such a governance. From what I gather, Malaysia is a Constitutional Monarch government which is supposed to be aiming to become as democratic as possible.

Perhaps, in order to clarify the above, it is necessary to get the Minister of Defence-cum-Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak to explain.

Po Kuan's Batu Gajah Comeback

Najib's "Extremely Capable MP" Fong Po Kuan (of DAP) is back to defend Batu Gajah.

From New Straits Times :
"Now, an extremely capable MP (Fong) from the party is forced to take drastic action to show her disapproval."

From Bernama :
He said the refusal of a capable member of parliament such as Fong Po Kuan to contest in the election showed that there was a serious internal conflict within the party.

"What transpires shows that within the DAP, especially in Perak, there is a serious internal conflict to the extent that a capable member of parliament is frustrated and is not willing to contest," he said when asked to comment on Fong's announcement yesterday that she would not defend her seat in the coming general election.

Hopefully, the leadership of DAP has solved the issue. Lim Kit Siang, its leader reported Po Kuan returns! in his blog. It seems a Press Conference will be held at 2 p.m. in Ipoh.

Malaysiakini reported Po Kuan to defend Batu Gajah on the reversal of decision. I am not sure whether Po Kuan is touched by the words of Najib. However, I do think the repeated calls and support from the public could play a part.

I hope Najib, our Deputy Prime Minister of BN is happy that Po Kuan of DAP is back into fold if he thinks she is capable. Try to ask when you meet him. Sheesh.. Hehehe..

Weeping for a Merdeka State or Islamic State?

Oh dear! This is what I found in Malaysiakini regarding the Malaysian Government response towards the media after the sudden infamous statement ‘This is an Islamic state : Najib’ :

‘Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular one’
‘Islam is the official religion and we are an Islamic state’
‘We have never been secular…’

Jeff Ooi and Haris Ibrahim (of The People's Parliament) have given proof (with black and white) to prove Najib's statements as unfounded and false. MCA said "We are a secular nation", Non-governmental Groups is standing on the same ground . Malaysia Is Not What Najib Claimed to be.


With that, Ministry bans Islamic state debate in media (from Malaysiakini)
The Internal Security Ministry has confirmed that they have given a directive to all mainstream media not to publish any news on the issue of Malaysia being an Islamic state.
-> Sensitive, can cause tension
-> No negative reactions


This directive says so much about the freedom of speech in Malaysia.
___________________________________________

There are 8 questions I would like to pose to the Internal Security Ministry:

1) If discussions by the media would be considered "sensitive, can cause tension", why did Najib issue such "sensitive, can cause tension" remark in the first place?

2) Why was Najib allowed to spout such remarks but the media are not given the same permission?

3) What is Najib trying to do? Is he trying to uphold the Constitution as created by his father Tun Abdul Razak, Tunku Abdul Rahman with the support of Tun Hussein Onn or go against it? Tunku, the Father of Independence had said in 1983 that Malaysia has always been a secular state with Islam as the official religion.

4) Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin has periodically reminded media practitioners to respect the Malaysian social contract. Why is Zainuddin mum over this social contract issue?

Link: http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=263361

This is the remark passed by Zainuddin Maidin as reported by Bernama:
"Lately, I found that most of the (political) bloggers have the tendency to question the basis of the social contract which had been agreed upon by our forefathers," he said."

Why didn't Zainuddin Maidin remind Najib to "respect the status quo of the social contract which became the pillar of this nation."

5) If Najib thinks his claim is true, why did he not produce any supporting documents or thorough analysis on the issue when challenged?

6) Is Malaysia a merdeka state / freedom state? Does merdeka / freedom include freedom to speak and freedom to discuss and a free media? If not, what constitutes of merdeka?

7) Are there double standards on who should be banned, reminded or allowed to speak?

8) Does Najib have any hidden intention by bringing up an issue which has been solved aeons ago?

Tranungkite has the Malay version of the news. Even, the Muslims are ready for this dialogue.

Bobjots posted an interesting story Opposition representative Lim Guan Eng shared at a forum. :

The Thai media, Indonesian media and Malaysian media decided to ask God how to bring about media freedom.

After meeting God, the Thai media came out in tears lamenting how difficult it was to do so. The Indonesian media met God and came out in tears as well.

When the Malaysian media went for his audience with God, God saw who was coming ...

AND GOD WEPT!



Sad but true.

First it was wrongful arrest of Nathaniel Tan , and now this "strange" directive...

I can't hold back my tears. Now, I am weeping too ..... (while listening to Philip Glass's Violin Concerto - 1st Movement)