Barisan Nasional’s hope of retaining Tenang by a majority of at least 5,000 votes has been made difficult as the DAP’s campaign for the January 30 by-election has begun to gain momentum, particularly among the Chinese.Umno campaigners, who are confident of winning the majority of the Malay votes, have started blaming MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek for his alleged failure to curb the DAP’s rising influence since nomination day.“I think they have underestimated the influence Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng have over the Chinese community. They are the crowd pullers here and unlike PAS, DAP ceramahs are only attended by locals,” said an Umno official who spoke on condition of anonymity.Kit Siang and his son, Penang Chief Minister Guan Eng, spent one day each in the constituency, addressing two well-attended rallies in the Labis Tengah polling district.Both rallies, held on Monday and Tuesday night respectively, attracted at least 300 local residents, a huge number by Tenang campaign standard.
World at Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism (Vintage)
Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Religious and Secular Perspectives (The Ethikon Series in Comparative Ethics)
Source: http://www.GutterUncensored.com
The DAP is now confident that PAS candidate Normala Sudirman would win at least 60 per cent of the Tenang Chinese votes especially as most of them will return for next week’s Chinese New Year holidays. In Election 2008, PAS obtained 58 per cent of the Chinese votes.“Currently, we have about 60 to 65 per cent, we are targeting to increase by over 70 per cent, it is still very difficult because in some areas we are not very strong yet,” said Johor DAP chairman Dr Boo Cheng Hau.The DAP’s estimation is almost similar to projections by Umno campaigners who estimated that the Chinese support level has not gone beyond 30 per cent since the start of the campaign period last Saturday, leading to some in Umno demanding to have more say on how the campaign should be run in Chinese areas.“The problem is we can’t even have frank discussions with the component party on the situation in Chinese areas,” said another Umno official.“Without strong support from the Chinese areas, it will be difficult for us to get a 5,000-vote majority,” he added.The MCA has been under pressure to regain the lost Chinese support in a constituency perceived to be the stronghold of Dr Chua to prove its relevance in BN. The party won only 15 of the 31 parliamentary seats it contested in Election 2008.In 2004, BN won the seat with a majority of more than 5,517 votes but it was reduced to 2,492 votes in Election 2008, which was largely attributed to the shift of Chinese support to the opposition.Tenang has about 14,500 voters, with the Malays making up about 49 per cent while the Indian voters make up 12 per cent, leaving the Chinese with 39 per cent.There are three Chinese-majority polling districts in the Tenang constituency — Labis Tengah, Labis Timur and Labis — where in 2008 PAS secured 50 to 67 per cent of the votes.- Malaysian Insider
World at Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism (Vintage)
Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Religious and Secular Perspectives (The Ethikon Series in Comparative Ethics)
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said excessive politicking gave an impression that Malaysia is too preoccupied with political bickering that more important things are being neglected.
Muhyiddin should walk his talk on curbing excessive politicking in his own backyard too. He should immediately put a stop to making a pass of the history subject a compulsory at the SPM level.
He should order a review of the history curriculum and contents to reflect a true and comprehensive account of the national history. Repeated calls for an immediate review were ignored by him and his ministry. The fact is the history subject aims to promote certain distorted views/facts about the making of this nation.
It is one of the worse abuses of Malaysia's diversity and national history by trying to corrupt the minds of young Malaysians.
On the same breath, he asked for Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim's resignation for failing to obtain 2/3 majority to pass the motion to amend the state constitution to empower the state top executive on appointment of top state civil servant.
This is another form of politicking. Muhyiddin has resorted to poor politicking as quick as he has asked for it to be curbed.
Although I am appalled by the Selangor Pakatan's government fiddling with feudalism, I support the amendment on the basis of power decentralisation. Malaysia is a federation of states. In the true spirit of the federal constitution, a state government should be allowed to appoint its own top civil servant.
Over the last few decades, the federal government has usurped almost the entire state autonomy. It was allowed to happen because the same ruling regime has been controlling both the federal and most of the state governments since independence.
For the sake this country, Muhyiddin should support the amendment and return the state power to the state executives. It is obvious that BN state representatives had been partisan in their rejection of the motion to return the power to appoint a top state civil servant back to the state.
Muhyiddin should walk his own talk. He should not over politicize his own ministry of education and look into the grouses on the recent controversial book 'Interlok'.
Muhyiddin should walk his talk on curbing excessive politicking in his own backyard too. He should immediately put a stop to making a pass of the history subject a compulsory at the SPM level.
He should order a review of the history curriculum and contents to reflect a true and comprehensive account of the national history. Repeated calls for an immediate review were ignored by him and his ministry. The fact is the history subject aims to promote certain distorted views/facts about the making of this nation.
It is one of the worse abuses of Malaysia's diversity and national history by trying to corrupt the minds of young Malaysians.
On the same breath, he asked for Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim's resignation for failing to obtain 2/3 majority to pass the motion to amend the state constitution to empower the state top executive on appointment of top state civil servant.
This is another form of politicking. Muhyiddin has resorted to poor politicking as quick as he has asked for it to be curbed.
Although I am appalled by the Selangor Pakatan's government fiddling with feudalism, I support the amendment on the basis of power decentralisation. Malaysia is a federation of states. In the true spirit of the federal constitution, a state government should be allowed to appoint its own top civil servant.
Over the last few decades, the federal government has usurped almost the entire state autonomy. It was allowed to happen because the same ruling regime has been controlling both the federal and most of the state governments since independence.
For the sake this country, Muhyiddin should support the amendment and return the state power to the state executives. It is obvious that BN state representatives had been partisan in their rejection of the motion to return the power to appoint a top state civil servant back to the state.
Muhyiddin should walk his own talk. He should not over politicize his own ministry of education and look into the grouses on the recent controversial book 'Interlok'.
- Straight Talk
DPM: Too much politicking in Malaysia
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Star) - There is currently too much politicking in Malaysia and many citizens living overseas are wondering what has become of the country, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin said the excessive politicking also gave an impression that Malaysia is too preoccupied with political bickering that more important things are being neglected.
“For example, the latest issue in Selangor over the appointment of the state secretary. What we in Barisan Nasional wanted to do was to focus on work, but they (Pakatan Rakyat state government) turned it into political controversy.
“They bring it (proposed amendment to the state constitution) to the Dewan but failed to get it approved because they cannot get two-thirds.
Work of craft: Muhyiddin with Education directorgeneral Datuk Abd Ghafar Mahmud (far left) watching a student at work during their visit to Sekolah Vokasional Nakhoda Ragam in Bandar Seri Begawan yesterday. — Bernama“The MB should in principle resign if the motion presented cannot be passed in the Dewan,” he said during a dialogue with Malaysians living and working in Brunei during a dinner-dialogue at the Malaysian High Commission office here last night.
Muhyiddin said if the politicking could be minimised the government machinery would be able to move forward much efficiently and smoothly.
Earlier he said Brunei was keen to invest in real estate development – land, housing and commercial property – in Sarawak, Sabah and Johor.
He said the sultanate’s financial investment arm – the Brunei Investment Agency – was keen to invest directly or through joint-ventures in mega projects in the three states.
“The Sultan said the agency is keen on real estate and hotel projects in Sarawak and Sabah as well as in the Iskandar Development Corridor in Johor.
“Brunei also wants to invest in the halal meat, food production and cattle-rearing industries in Sarawak and Sabah,” Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said at a press conference after visiting Sekolah Vokasional Nakhoda Ragam here.
He had earlier met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at a 30-minute closed-door session as part of his two-day visit here to attend three regional meetings on education – the 6th Asean Education Ministers’ Conference, the Asean School Principals’ Conference and the Asean Education Leaders Roundtable Meeting.
Muhyiddin also said Malaysia and Brunei would have more exchanges in the education sector at the school, tertiary, vocational and technical education levels.
He said Brunei has agreed to cooperate with Malaysia to create better cyberspace linkages, especially for the rural areas of Sarawak and Sabah.
Umno is now looking at fielding winnable candidates for the next general election rather than candidates from amongst the local warlords like in the past. And they are experimenting with this in the ongoing and coming by-elections. This has stirred things somewhat but eventually the grassroots accept the decision of the leadership. Let’s see if this actually helps them win the by-elections.
When Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak attended the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur’s Christmas tea party on Christmas day, Najib’s officials arrived ahead of him and inspected Archbishop Murphy Pakiam’s premises. They wanted to see if their directive to remove crucifixes and other religious symbols had been adhered to.
There were reports that Najib himself had not requested a ban on crosses and crucifixes, or other religious paraphernalia. Everyone seemed to take great pains to deny everything that had been leaked to the press. So who is wrong and who is right?
When the PAS candidate Normala Sudirman went to meet the electorate in Tenang, she stuck to her religious convictions and shook hands using gloves. The MCA president Chua Soi Lek called Normala unfriendly and projected an image that she and her party were not suitable to represent Tenang.
It was obvious that BN had ordered Chua to demean Normala but this plan fell apart and the ensuing public spat between MCA and Umno did not do BN any favours.
Chua was brought up and has lived in Malaysia, a multicultural society. He should have known better than to impose his western views on Normala.
If only Chua would study and learn from what they do in other parts of the world.
Last weekend, the Iranian foreign minister Saeed Jalili met with his European Union counterpart Baroness Ashton, for talks over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Lady Ashton kept her arms firmly folded behind her back to avoid accidentally causing diplomatic offence. There was no backlash the following day about Lady Ashton’s or Jalili’s “unfriendliness”, just because both avoided shaking hands.
At the recent Thaipusam celebrations in Batu Caves, kavadis and devotees were blessed by the large statue of Lord Muruga overlooking the entire Batu Caves temple complex. However, at the temple gates, there was an even bigger cut-out of Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak towering over everyone.Najib’s larger than life presence must have been embarrassing to the true devotees of the festival.
If I were Najib, I would have instructed the temple authorities that his (Najib’s) image was totally inappropriate.
Surely Najib must have known that despite the good intentions of the temple committee to promote his 1Malaysia message, the PM’s cut-out in a place of worship stood out like a pork-pie in a synagogue. It seemed to diminish the religious significance of the day.
People must have noticed how the commercialisation of our festivals and profiting from religion has eroded our values.
However, it appears that this is not the first time that Najib’s cut-out has appeared at the Batu Caves temple.
A cut-out of those proportions must have cost a lot of money. This money could have been spent on the good causes supported by the temple like helping the poor, and needy children.
Najib could and should have offered words to that effect to the temple committee, unless of course he prides himself on being compared favourably, with a deity?
A believer should be allowed to practice his or her religion freely. There is no reason why religion should be politicised nor should there be excuses for sycophants to hijack religious causes, just to gain the extra mile in politics.
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