KARPAL!!!! LIABILITY TO PR

Is Karpal becoming a liability to Pakatan Rakyat??? His words and actions are very disappointing. The people has accepted the change.... When will Karpal accept the change that he have to work with all including PAS & KEADILAN in order to provide alternative government to rakyat. Come on Karpal.. Pls wake up or else you will be shown the exit door on next election..!!!!!

We need more lecturers like you, Sir.

Since the recent general election, voices have risen up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now ‘under threat’. But perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony.

AND so it begins. Race-based rhetoric has raised its ugly little head in response to a democratic process. Over 49% of the people of Malaysia have voted for parties that have rejected race-based affirmative action in favour of a needs-based platform.

It did not take very long for voices, both common and royal, to rise up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now “under threat”.

“Under threat” from what, may I ask? Let’s take a bit of time to look at this so-called “threat”. Firstly, Malays are given special protection under Article 153 of the Constitution.

Article 153 is titled “Reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits, etc, for Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak”. Article 152 states that Malay is the National Language. The Supreme Head of the Federation, according to Article 32, is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, a Malay ruler.

This is the foundation of Malay “special privileges”.

None of the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, including the DAP, have said anything about removing Articles 153, 152 and 32. They remain safe and secure with no sign whatsoever of any sort of threat.

Besides, in order to change it, you would need a two-thirds majority in the lower and upper houses of Parliament plus the support of the Conference of Rulers. The last time I checked, no one has a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Secondly, due to simple demographics, it is unlikely that a totally non-Malay party is ever going to win absolute control of the government. Of the five state governments in the hands of the Pakatan, four are led by a Malay Mentri Besar.

Penang is an exception, but Penang has been led by non-Malays since the 60s. Why was there was no outcry before this?

Thirdly, the proposed doing-away with the NEP (or whatever it is called nowadays), I suppose, can be seen as a threat to the Malays.

But how it can be a threat is beyond me, because the replacement suggested by the Pakatan is not some sort of laissez-faire capitalist economy. Instead, it is an economic system with affirmative action promised to those in need.

If the Malays are the largest group of people in Malaysia who are in the most need, then they will get the most help. If they are not in the most need, then why on earth do they need help then?

This is the point where I will get angry letters about how the NEP is needed; because in the business world – the real world which I know nothing about because I am just a lowly-academic trapped in my ivory tower – Malays are discriminated against by the Chinese. So we need a policy like the NEP to provide some balance.

I disagree.

If there are racist business policies being conducted against the Malays, then you face it head on with anti-discrimination laws.

If some person feels he is being discriminated against, no matter what his race, then let there be a law to help him, and let us punish the racists with a hefty fine or jail term.

You do not meet racism with racism; you challenge it by destroying all traces of it.

The problem with the NEP, as I see it, is that it breeds a mentality of entitlement based on race and not merit. This mentality seeps into governance, and it creates an atmosphere of mediocrity. One example of this is how the Constitution has been disregarded in relation to employment issues.

The Federal Constitution states that you can set quotas at the entry points of government services, for example, the civil service and public universities. However, this is counter-balanced by Article 136 that says all federal employees must be treated fairly regardless of race.

This means that once inside a service, everyone is to be treated equally based on merit. In such a situation, only the cream will rise to the top.

However, since the introduction of the NEP, the practice in government services has been to promote Malays mainly. This has in turn led to a drop in the number of non-Malay actors in the service of the public.

Taking my profession for example, the closeted unrealistic world of academia, I look down south and I see that 30% of the staff in the National University of Singapore Law School are Malaysians.

How come these clever fellows who are good enough to teach in a university that is among the top 20 in the world are not here in the land of their birth? Why are the blinking Singaporeans enjoying our talent? Is it because that talent is all non-Malay and they feel they have better opportunities there than here?

This is a complete waste, and in the end this loss of talent means a loss for the university, the country and the people of this country, including the Malay students who miss out on the best possible teachers.

Perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony, in which case my answer to that is this: clean up your act, live up to your promises and listen to what the people are saying.

Make yourself electable by proving that you can create good government.

That is called democracy.

Dr Azmi Sharom is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely his own. (Views of all right minded Malaysians)

GUA CAYA SAMA LU!!!!! NST

IT’S been five weeks since the general election. The Barisan Nasional was returned to power, albeit with a smaller majority and the loss of five states.

Despite the shock of the result, it was still a mandate that no one could argue with, not even Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his wildest allegations of electoral fraud. But what has Umno, the leading partner of the coalition and largest party in parliament, been doing since March 8? Bickering, pointing fingers, baying for vengeance and doing everything imaginable except rolling up its sleeves and getting down to the work of governing.

Enough is enough. (Sound familiar?? Should be familiar to all those attended PR ceramah)

People are getting fed up with Umno’s moaning and groaning, the political wayang and sandiwara its cast of characters is playing up and down the country.

The truth is that the people have long been disgusted with the kind of boorish, loutish behaviour that Umno leaders had exemplified because of their grip on power since independence in 1957.
Brandishing the kris was hurtful to the non-Malays but the party leadership did nothing to take the Umno Youth chief to task for the menacing and insulting gesture. Which was why he was emboldened to repeat it and provide extra impetus for the Chinese and Indians to abandon the BN at the polls.

It also did not go unnoticed that the leadership put up with the racist and inflammatory rhetoric of the delegates at the televised 2006 Umno general assembly.

Then there was the desecration of the temple under the watch of the then Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo which did so much to outrage the Hindus throughout the country and turn them against the ruling coalition. And Dr Khir had the cheek to award a broom to a local council president, when neither he nor the party president could control the warlords who held the party to ransom over the choice of candidates, and stabbed the party in the back when they did not approve of the candidates.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is now paying for these and other acts of omission, including the undeliverable promises of change that he made when he first became prime minister in 2003.

Every other day, he has had to deflect attacks by party members and ex-leaders who conveniently have absolved themselves of any fault. But every day that he is sidetracked by party bickering is another day affairs of state are neglected — the nation and the people are the losers.

Abdullah has said that he has got the message; he has accepted responsibility for the unkept pledges; and this time, he vows he will deliver on his promises and set the country in order before he retires.

That is, in fact, the verdict of his mandate, and he should be allowed to get on with it. But all the worms crawling out of the Umno woodwork — especially the retired and those with shelf lives past due who have found new breath in their calls for a party coup — won’t let him. (Rafidah is one of them? Nasi jadi bubur kot. Very much relevant to her.)

They don’t get it. Abdullah is not solely to be blamed and everything will not suddenly be all well again if he goes. Umno from the roots to the high branches all have to share the blame for their silence, their greed, arrogance and shenanigans that have turned off voters. So stop the navel-gazing and infighting.

If they have to fight among themselves, at least have the decency to keep it civilised and behind closed doors. They don’t have to drag the whole country through their infernal politicking.
There are more important things than private peeves and settling of scores.

Neither the brewing crisis over soaring food prices nor other major issues are going to wait for Umno to put its own house in order. Now is the time for the grand old party to move on, do the things its leaders have promised and show that it still has what it takes to lead the nation.