20 Dec: Peoples Petition Istana Hinggap Seremban

Handing of Peoples Petition to Swear Allegience to the Rulers by Malaysian Indian.
3.15pm at Istana Hinggap Seremban, Malaysian indian sent the petition to swear allegience to the Rulers and hope the Rulers can address issues of marginalization & discrimination of UMNO goverment against Malaysian Indians.

We were disappointed the Istana official was not there to received our petition. The official Datuk Abdullah who was not there, have instructed Lans Corperal Zurish (Police ID.No 146288) to received on behalf of Istana.

We were surprise the heavy present of Police and FRU. The way they look as thou we are not welcome there. The police were very rude, they give us 5 minute to disperse or they will arrest us. We left peacefully.

S.JAYATHAS
Makkal Sakthi
National Coordinater
JUSTICE FOR ALL MALAYSIAN

Isu babi: Pewaris adakan bantahan aman esok

(Malaysiakini) - Majlis Permuafakatan Ummah (Pewaris) akan mengadakan bantahan secara aman esok terhadap perbuatan pihak yang tidak bertanggungjawab menggantung kepala babi di atas kain rentangnya, kelmarin.

Kain rentang itu digantung pada pagar Sekolah Kebangsaan Pengkalan Balak, utara Melaka mengenai jemputan ke majlis perjumpaan bagi membincangkan isu-isu Melayu, termasuk mengenai ternakan babi, anjuran badan itu esok.

Ia juga akan membangkitkan beberapa isu semasa yang hangat dibicarakan tahun ini, termasuk isu pengharaman pengkid oleh Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan, ketuanan Melayu, hubungan antara kaum dan Dasar Ekonomi Baru.

Beberapa kain rentang yang menyentuh isu-isu tersebut dinaikkan di sekitar Masjid Tanah - tempat berlangsungnya majlis perjumpaan tersebut yang bermula 8.30 pagi.

Penduduk dilaporkan menemui bangkai kepala babi hutan digantung pada kain rentang tersebut, berhampiran bulatan Tanjung Bidara-Kuala Sungai Baru, Alor Gajah.

Jurucakap Pewaris yang enggan dikenali memberitahu Malaysiakini hari ini, bantahan akan diadakan kira-kira jam 11 pagi di sebuah dewan di Hotel Samudera Riverside, Masjid Tanah selepas perjumpaan tersebut.

Pewaris juga, katanya, akan menyerahkan memorandum kepada ketua Umno bahagian Masjid Tanah, Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop bagi menghapuskan ternakan babi di kawasan Paya Mengkuang.

Abu Seman juga merupakan timbalan menteri pertahanan.

"Ternakan babi di sini telah menimbulkan banyak masalah kepada orang Melayu di kawasan sekitar," kata jurucakap NGO itu.

Penggantungan kepala babi kelmarin merupakan insiden ketiga.

Pada 18 Oktober lalu, peniaga dan pengunjung menemui bangkai kepala babi di tepian Pantai Pengkalan Balak.

Pada 13 November lalu, kepala babi dilaporkan digantung di atas pintu pagar rumah seorang ahli jawatankuasa (AJK) Umno bahagian Masjid Tanah, Md Rawi Mahmud.

Ketua Polis Melaka, Datuk Mazlan Mansor kelmarin dilaporkan memberi amaran kepada mereka yang terbabit menggantung kepala babi di kain rentang Pewaris itu.

Sebuah skuad khas juga telah ditubuhkan untuk menyiasat insiden berkenaan dan sehingga ini belum ada tangkapan dibuat, tambahnya.

Sementara itu, seorang AJK Umno bahagian Masjid Tanah, Jamiluddin Junit berkata, perbuatan seumpama itu tidak boleh dipandang mudah.

"Tetapi kita perlu bertindak bijak menanganinya kerana tidak mahu ia menjadi isu perkauman.

"Kita tidak tahu pihak mana yang melakukan perbuatan itu... persatuan penternak babi menafikan mereka terbabit.

"Berilah peluang pasukan polis menjalankan siasatan...," katanya ketika dihubungi Malaysiakini.

Petisyen Kepada Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Selangor untuk mengadu berkenaan Ketua Polis Selangor

December 19, 2008(Haris Ibrahim)

This man took an oath to “obey, uphold and maintain the laws of Malaysia” and to execute the powers and duties of his office “honestly and diligently”.

He hasn’t.

He’s shamelessly lied and in recent days, has arrogantly bullied our brave young cyclists who have stepped out to try and make a difference.

And he has demonstrated a seeming determination to undermine the will of the rakyat of Selangor to mobilise and pressure for the repeal of the ISA and the immediate release of all ISA detainees.

The people of Selangor, and every other Malaysian who visits Selangor, deserve better.

Yes, we need protection from this cop.

Can our Sultan help us?

I don’t know, but I think we must try.

By this petition, we seek his royal intervention to :

1. direct the Selangor state government to lodge a complaint with the Police Force Commission in relation to the conduct of CPO Dato Khalid Abu Bakar as hereinstated and, if thought appropriate, to request that the Police Force Commission take such disciplinary measures against the CPO Dato Khalid Abu Bakar as the Police Force Commission thinks fit but, in any event, to transfer CPO Dato Khalid Abu Bakar out of Selangor;and
2) direct the Selangor state government to take all necessary steps to protect the right of the people of Selangor to peaceably assemble without arms.

I apologise at the length of the petition to His Royal Highness, but the team that worked on it felt that we were obliged to appraise His Royal Highness of the fullest possible facts that found our complaint.

The petition, in full, may be accessed HERE.

Like the many other petitions launched through this blog, this petition now belongs to you.

Its success or otherwise, is in your hands.

Abdullah’s sensible/commendable comments on nation-building - why not adopted in his heyday as PM?

In his interview with Sin Chew Daily in the past two days, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the most sensible and commendable comments on nation-building in Malaysia.

The greatest pity is that he did not adopt them when he has the real power to influence the government and nation in his heyday as Prime Minister.

Firstly, in “Change Or Perish, Pak Lah Tells UMNO”, Sin Chew reported:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Malays have changed their old thinking and value system, only that UMNO seems to have “forgotten” that the Malays have indeed changed.

He said the Malays have changed, but if UMNO remains unwilling to change, then the party will eventually head for destruction.

“UMNO has forgotten that the Malays have changed their own thinking and perspectives. It has forgotten that the Malays have changed their value system. The Malays are no longer what they used to be. They unreservedly express themselves. They even wave the DAP flags!”

Abdullah said during an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily at his private residence in Kuala Lumpur that during his five-year tenure as the prime minister, he has managed to change the mentality of the Malays.

He said young Malays believe they can stand on their own feet, and this is the major value that has changed the young Malays today.

“Young Malays feel that they need the opportunities, so they begin talking about DAP and PKR. They believe they have better opportunities there.”

Secondly, in “Pak Lah: NEP No Longer In Existence”, Sin Chew reported:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi emphasised that the New Economic Policy is no longer in existence today.

“The NEP is a policy which is no longer in existence. The objective of this policy has been to eradicate poverty, as you all know.”

He said during an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily at his private residence in Kuala Lumpur that the way the NEP was implemented had triggered the dissatisfaction among many people, including some Malays, adding that Malaysians needed a more transparent policy and open market.

The first question is whether the rest of the Umno leadership, led by the Umno President-elect and Prime Minister-in-waiting, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, are prepared to publicly endorse Abdullah’s “Umno – Change or Perish” analysis – accepting the reality that when Malays support the DAP or PKR, it is not because they are traitors to the Malay race but because they reject the political fallacy equating “UMNO with Malays and Malays with UMNO”, regarding themselves as Malaysians first and Malays second, just as their other Malaysian counterparts who must regard themselves as Malaysians first and Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans second!

Similarly, does the rest of the Umno leadership led by Najib accept that the New Economic Policy “no longer exists” as it is a specific policy meant for 20 years from 1970 and 1990, although the objectives of eradication of poverty regardless of race and restructuring of society to reflect the country’s multi-racial character in all sectors of society should be continuing programmes.

If this had been Abdullah’s clear-cut nation-building policy and philosophy from the first day he took over as Prime Minister five years ago, the country would have spared many nation-building crises arising from high-handed, arbitrary, hegemonic and most divisive extension of the New Economic Policy till 2020, giving rise to keris-wielding excesses and “ketuanan Melayu” demands.

Will Najib and the rest of the Umno leadership endorse Abdullah’s most sensible philosophy on nation-building, viz:

· that Malays have changed including supporting the DAP to further the legitimate aspirations of the Malays and that UMNO will perish unless Umno could also change; and

· that the New Economic Policy is no longer in existence and the country should no longer be divided by irresponsible calls for the extension of the NEP while the country should continue with its national objectives of poverty eradication and multi-racialisation?

What Sime Darby was eyeing in IJN

The government-owned National Heart Institute (IJN) is in the midst of a RM230 million expansion plan - that would be public money - to buy more equipment and to build a new wing, which would be completed next year.

This from The Edge:

The new wing would give it an additional 192 beds, four new operating theatre complexes, new intensive care units and coronary care units, dialysis centre, health screening centres, cafes and shops, according to the website.

Apparently, the plan was for Sime Darby to ride on IJN’s reputation, painstakingly built by the government and the IJN team over the years, and its “captive market” as a base to draw more patients - locally and from the region (medical tourism) - possibly into a private wing.

From another Edge report:

“As Sime may get to set up a private wing in the soon-to-be completed new wing in IJN, that private wing could be the cash-generating segment for IJN and Sime,” a source said.

Sime Darby has been eyeing IJN as the latter had gained recognition as the leading heart centre in the region with the number of referrals for complicated and demanding cases on the rise, sources said.

“The other part of the IJN appeal is the consistent number of patients it received because all cardio patients from government hospitals in the country are referred to IJN. As such, IJN has a captive market which has kept its bottom line high,” one of the sources said.

Sorry Sime Darby folks, any takeover appears likely to be met by strong public opposition. Just look at the public outcry to news of the possible privatisation - before it was hastily postponed.

See here for Aliran’s condemnation of the secrecy that surrounded the negotiations between the government and Sime Darby.

Sultan upset over use of kids in protests, says cop

PETALING JAYA, Dec 20 – The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, has expressed concerns over the use of children in campaigns organised by certain groups and individuals in pursuit of their personal interests.

The Ruler conveyed his concern to Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar before leaving for a trip abroad last Friday.

"The Sultan is disappointed with the actions by some irresponsible people for exploiting children in their campaigns or demonstrations.

"He has expressed concern on the matter and wants the police to take stern action against those involved," Khalid told reporters here today.

As such, he said, police would not hesitate to take action against anyone who used children in unlawful activities.

He also said that police were preparing investigation papers with a view of charging Sungai Siput member of parliament Dr D. Jeyakumar, who was detained in Rawang, for using children in the "Cycling for Change" campaign organised by Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) or the Oppressed People Network.

In the Dec 15 incident, 58 people, including 28 who were below the age of 18, were detained for participating in an illegal gathering.

On the Bar Council's tendencies to be critical of the actions taken by the police, Khalid said the council, as a respectable body, should act in the interests of the law. – Bernama

Anwar: No plans to replace Fairus as Penang DCM

PENANG, Dec 20 – Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has no plans to replace Mohamad Fairus Khairuddin as the state Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, said party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said PKR had no plans to appoint anybody else in the Pakatan-led Government as alleged by some blog reports.

Anwar was responding to alleged blog reports that claimed a delegation comprising several former staff of Fairus' office had met and urged Anwar to sack Fairus and replace him with someone more competent.

“Anyone can voice their views and opinions but as far as I am concerned, there is not going to be any change in the Pakatan-led government,” he told reporters after attending a local futsal tournament in Seberang Jaya, here today.

It is learnt that the state PKR would hold a meeting tonight and the Fairus issue is expected to be among topics discussed.

The blog reports, believed to be tacitly supported by several state PKR leaders, had allegedly attacked Fairus continuously with various allegations of non-performance since he assumed office after the political tsunami on March 8 saw the opposition wrest control of Penang from BN.

Meanwhile, on the cabinet's decision to postpone the sale of the National Heart Institute (IJN) to Sime Darby, Anwar said it was a “heartless political gimmick” by the Barisan Nasional ahead of the Kuala Terengganu by-election next month.

He said the Umno-led Federal government would go ahead with the privatisation plan after the crucial by-election in the east-coast state on Jan 17.

“The postponement is a mere political ploy to avert a voter backlash in Kuala Terengganu,” he said. – Bernama