I
repeat: politicians can never be trusted. They never serve the Rakyat’s
interest. We, the Rakyat, have to take matters into our own hands. We
need electoral reforms. So we need BERSIH to be able to bring about
those electoral reforms. It is about seeing clean, fair and free
elections.
NO HOLDS BARREDRaja Petra Kamarudin
Stay away from illegal rally, says Sultan
(The
Star) - The Sultan of Pahang has urged the people to not get involved,
either directly or indirectly, in the July 9 illegal assembly.
Sultan Ahmad Shah said the assembly would only bring trouble and won't benefit the people.
'I
appeal to the people not to get themselves involved in this. Whether it
is bersih (clean) or dirty, as long as it is a demonstration, it is not
clean,' he said after opening the new Mardi office in Muadzam Shah near
here.
The Sultan added that such an assembly should not take
place in Malaysia. 'I'm personally against this,' Bernama quoted him as
saying. The country's 1.2 million civil servants have also been told to
stay away from the rallies.
This is to safeguard the principle
of 'neutrality and impartiality' of public sector employees, Public
Service Department director-general Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah said. He
said in a June 30 directive that the General Orders clearly stated that
civil servants were not allowed to put their personal interests before
the Government's.
Mr Abu Bakar said civil servants were not
allowed to participate in any illegal activity, even after office hours.
'In fact, they cannot leave their work stations to even watch such
activities being held,' he said, adding that action could also be taken
against any civil servant who used government facilities for such
activities.
***************************************
Muhyiddin: Opposition wants to seize power through street protest
(The
Star) - The Pakatan Rakyat does not respect the mandate of the majority
and chooses to use street protest to wrest power from the government
said Barisan Nasional deputy chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said that it is crucial in any democracy for political parties to respect the mandate of the majority.
“The
mandate of the majority must be accepted by the parties. This is a rule
of democracy,” he said officiating the Federal Territories Barisan
Nasional Convention Sunday.
Instead of recognising this fact, he said the opposition has disregarded the will of the majority that had voted for Barisan.
“They
(opposition) does not respect the mandate of the majority but chooses
to use street democracy as a means to wrest power,” he said.
He said the Barisan would oppose the opposition's dirty tactics of attempting to wrest power via street protest.
He said the opposition was using the Bersih rally as a front to cause chaos.
“We know they (opposition) are behind several non-governmental organisation to hide their dirty intentions.
“They claim the gathering is peaceful which is guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.
However,
the deputy Prime Minister said opposition claims of the country not
having a free and fair democratic system is unfounded.
The opposition, he said, denied the reality of their victory in the previous general election.
“If
they claim that elections in our country is not fair and dirty, it is
impossible for the opposition to win in so many seats and control
several states,” he said.
He said it was a farce for the
opposition to talk about democracy when there are top leaders within
Pakatan Rakyat who were appointed' to power.
***************************************
It
is times like these that make me proud to be a member of the royal
family. When I read what His Highness the Sultan of Pahang said it
brought a tear to my eyes. Malaysia’s ten Monarchs -- the seven Sultans,
the Raja of Perlis, the Yam Tuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and the Agong
-- are Islam’s
Fidei Defensor.
For the uninitiated, ‘
Fidei Defensor’ is Latin for ‘
Defender of the Faith’ -- just as ‘
Petra’ is Latin for ‘
rock’ (now you know why I am stubborn and hard-headed like a rock).
It
is good that sometimes the Rulers advice the Rakyat about what is the
right thing to do and remind us to not do the wrong thing, especially if
that particular action violates the laws or religious edicts. If it is
not the Rulers who speak out then who else can speak out, especially
when it concerns wrongdoings perpetuated by the Rulers themselves?
Is
it not correct to say that one must be judged by one’s peers? That is
how the legal system works (although Malaysia has already ended the jury
system and you are now no longer judged by your peers).
My
peers are fellow-bloggers so let fellow-bloggers judge me. The Rulers,
on the other hand, must be judged by fellow-Rulers. You and I can’t pass
judgement on the Rulers.
In the past, only God could judge
Rulers as Rulers took instructions directly from God (thank God that
system has since been abolished or else God will not have time for any
other work with so many cases or Rulers’ misconduct to manage).
So
we need the Rulers to speak out when necessary. There are many
wrongdoings being committed not just by the Rakyat but also by the
Rulers.
Take gambling, as an example. Never mind whether you are Muslim or Christian, gambling is
haram
in all religions. But many Malaysians gamble and this cause a lot of
social problems. It is an even bigger problem when the Rulers themselves
gamble because they are not gambling with their own money, like the
Rakyat. They are gambling with our money.
Some Rulers go to
the US, UK, Australia, etc., and waste millions of Ringgit in a single
day at the casinos. And the government has to foot the bill for these
gambling loses.
Ask the two cousins -- Hishammuddin Hussein
and Najib Razak. Both their fathers were once-upon-a-time Prime
Ministers of Malaysia and they know how much problems their fathers
faced in trying to keep the Rulers in line. They both know how much
money the government had to fork out to pay off the gambling debts of
the Rulers.
So it is good that His Highness the Sultan of
Pahang has spoken out and has advised us not to do anything unlawful,
illegal or sinful. We need those kinds of reminders. If not many
Malaysians would misbehave. And this would cost the nation millions and
billions in taxpayers’ money.
What the Deputy Prime Minister
said is also very true. There are attempts to use the BERSIH march of
9th July 2011 to grab power through street demonstrations. But maybe the
intelligence agencies have not correctly advised Muhyiddin on what is
really happening.
He said that the opposition is using BERSIH
to grab power. Actually that is not quite correct. The opposition is
not using BERSIH. The Rakyat is using BERSIH.
The truth is,
to us Rakyat, both the ruling party and the opposition are all the same.
They are all politicians. And politicians are self-centred and serve
only themselves, not the Rakyat.
Politicians can’t be trusted.
History has shown us that. Look at what the Bolsheviks did in Russia.
They kicked out the Tsar but became worse than the Tsar. The Tsar’s
secret police murdered 6,000 dissident Russians. When the Bolsheviks
took over they killed 200,000 Russians. That shows we can’t trust the
politicians.
The same happened when they ousted King Louis
XVI of France. More people died at the hands of the Revolutionaries than
at the hands of the King.
So, no, I as the Rakyat do not
trust politicians. If we have not learned from history then we must be
plain dumb. And that is why I criticise the opposition as much as I
criticise the ruling party. And that is why I criticise Anwar Ibrahim as
much as I criticise Najib Razak. Both are politicians and we should be
careful with both. 2,000 years of recorded history has shown us that.
If
you are Christian, which means you probably went to church today, you
would believe that Jesus Christ was crucified. And who crucified Jesus
or went before the government and demanded that he be crucified? Was it
not politicians who were worried that Jesus was becoming too popular and
was undermining the power of the politicians?
If you are of
the Muslim faith you would believe in Prophet Muhammad. And who were the
ones who persecuted the Prophet and his followers? Was it not the
politicians, those heading the government of Mekah, who feared that they
might lose power if they did not act against the Prophet?
Yes,
all through history, politicians have betrayed us and have put to death
those viewed as dangerous to them, prophets included. So, no, the
politicians are not behind BERSIH. We do not trust them enough to allow
them to be behind BERSIH. It is the Rakyat who are behind BERSIH. And
both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat better know this and had better
remember this.
So Muhyiddin is wrong if he thinks that BERSIH
is about making Anwar Ibrahim the next Prime Minister. I would never
agree to that. I would oppose that even if every single Malaysian
condemns me and alleges that I have been bought, have done a U-turn, am a
turncoat, am a Trojan horse, or whatever.
I repeat:
politicians can never be trusted. They never serve the Rakyat’s
interest. We the Rakyat have to take matters into our own hands. We need
electoral reforms. So we need BERSIH to be able to bring about those
electoral reforms. It is about seeing clean, fair and free elections.
Who
eventually wins that election -- Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat --
is secondary. The important thing is that whosoever it is that may win
must win fairly. And if the majority of the Rakyat chooses Barisan
Nasional then Barisan Nasional it will be. And if instead they choose
Pakatan Rakyat then so be it. But it must be on the basis of a clean,
fair and free election.
Of course, if you were to ask me whom I
would vote for I will make no secret about it. I will vote for Pakatan
Rakyat. But this is not about whom I support or will vote for. It is
about ensuring that the election process is clean, fair and free.
Oh,
and one more thing, Muhyiddin said, “If they claim that elections in
our country is not fair and dirty, it is impossible for the opposition
to win in so many seats and control several states.” Actually, if the
elections had been clean, fair and free, the opposition would not have
just won so many seats and five states, Barisan Nasional would have been
kicked out totally.
So the Deputy Prime Minister’s argument is
terribly flawed. The fact that the opposition won so many seats and a
few states is not the yardstick to declare that Malaysia’s elections are
clean, fair and free. That fact that Barisan Nasional is still in power
is proof that the elections are not clean, fair and free.
KUALA
LUMPUR, July 3 — The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin,
moved to defuse tension tonight, advising the Najib administration and
Bersih 2.0 to hold consultations over the issue of free and fair
elections.
During the Datuk T trial, defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah 