Umno Youth Chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein yesterday (April 25) apologised to the Malays and non-Malays for wielding keris two years ago… but does it sound like an apology?
He apologised to the non-Malays that the keris wielding has caused unease, while apologised to Malays for failing to uphold the Malay emblem as their symbol of heritage (video below)…
Thing is, most of the non-Malays have never denied the importance of keris as a symbol of Malay heritage… the non-Malays are offended because it was used at the wrong place, wrong function, and wrong timing.
And to add fuel to the fire, Hishammudin has in numerous occasions ridiculed the non-Malays for being too sensitive towards the keris issue instead of looking into the responds seriously.
In fact in this so call apology, he is trying to say that the non-Malays are scared of the keris as a Malay symbol, and as if the non-Malays are trying to take away a Malay heritage. Yet again the non-Malays are being ridiculed while he is trying to make himself a Malay hero.
The next thing he would say is that he has apologised, but too bad some of the Malaysians are not that forgiving… yada.
Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin has written to dispute Malaysiakini’s reports that there was a recount of votes on polling night of March 8 in the Rembau parliamentary constituency where he won by 5,726.
Malaysiakini has apologised regarding this matter… [Malaysiakini]
On election night, we were informed by PKR candidate Badrul Hisham Shaharin that he was told by an EC official that there would be a recount.
Our story on that night reflected this. In addition, on March 11 Badrul repeated that there was a recount at a press conference and this was reported by not only Malaysiakini but also a number of other newspapers.
However, we have come to know now that such a recount did not take place. As such, we would like to apologise to Khairy Jamaluddin for publishing that assertion in our subsequent stories.
I wonder if Badrul is ready to apologise regarding this mistake too.
DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has managed to screw BN again with the Lee Kah Choon saga.
The Lee Kah Choon controversy has probably been put to rest following the former Gerakan deputy secretary-general’s decision to quit the party.
Lee has earlier accepted the posts of director of Penang Development Corporation and chairman of the executive committee of InvestPenang, which was strongly opposed by BN leadership.
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Abdullah Badawi announced yesterday (April 21) that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) will be made a full-fledged commission by year-end. [Bernama]
The reformation plans are mostly focusing on improving the effectiveness and transparency of ACA, but there are a few big questions that remain unanswered. The biggest question is probably on how authoritative the ACA could be after the overhaul.
It’s reported that the final say on prosecution still lies on the Attorney General. Now, what would happen if the AG has ordered to stop an investigation prematurely?
The current AG Abdul Gani Patail has done it before, and who are going to stop AG from doing it again? And what freedom is ACA actually having if this situation is allowed to happen in future?
The reformation has to go hand in hand with other authorities, and there are lots of complications that need to be cleared to ensure a really independent ACA that could operate without any interference. Getting the right people to lead the ACA is another debatable issue too.
It’s a long way to go obviously, but it’s better than doing nothing. We’ll see how things are improve as time goes by.
Besides, reforming ACA is one thing… I think we need to overhaul our law and constitution regarding corruption as well. I believe there are many loopholes in our current system that could be exploited without breaking the law. ACA would be helpless in these situations regardless of how independent they are.
BN leaders are joining the blog-wagon as if it’s a gold mine. Here comes the latest… Muhammad Muhd Taib.
Well, he is the Umno information chief after all, he needs to lead the cyber-evolution for the party. However, a blog is just a medium to share thoughts and information; it doesn’t help if the politicians are not doing their best to make the country a better place.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has claimed that he has the support of enough defectors from the ruling coalition to seize power, although he will not act until he has a bigger majority. [Malaysiakini]
Frankly, I won’t write off his statement… I am not a fan of Anwar’s cunningness, but I do reckon him as a leader with vision and ability to execute his plans.
Thing is, if the situation does happen (seize power)… it would be the darkest page in our country’s democracy. People have voted during the General Election, and although the BN government suffered some shocks, they are still given people’s mandate to rule the national government.
The Pakatan Rakyat leaders and some political bloggers often forgotten the fact that half of the Malaysians are still voting for BN… and they are celebrating their ‘victory’ as if all these BN supporters are non-existence.
If the Pakatan Rakyat wants to rule the country… win the election, fair and square… not by using these dirty tricks. What Anwar claimed should not happen and must not be allowed to happen… it’s the ugliest thing that could happen to our democracy system.
Chua Soi Lek the blogger.
The Chinese writings are unnecessary, really… if we want to build a Malaysia for all Malaysians, at least show some courtesy to write in a language that everyone can understand. I know, the blog provides English version of the Chinese articles as well… but why not just in English, or perhaps in BM instead?
PKR, DAP and PAS have agreed to consolidate the cooperation between the three parties and proposed their alliance be called the “Pakatan Rakyat” (People’s Pact).
The first benefit of the pact is that we could now refer to these parties in a single term… it was a pain trying to mention their coalition like the “DAP-PAS-PKR alliances government” etc.
On serious note… it’s a good move to form the pact. The official alliance would hopefully create more understanding between the parties. Issues like the Perak MB joke could be avoided if the coalition was forged before that.
Also, as Anwar mentioned, this coalition would mean that the policies of the Pakatan controlled state governments would be in line with the policies of Pakatan Rakyat, which should be a good thing. However, I wonder how ‘in line’ these states could be… PAS’s Islamic policy would certainly create an obstacle in this matter.
I am not saying that PAS’s policy is bad; I believe Kelantanese are well treated regardless of religion… but it’s obvious that PAS is governing their state differently from the rest of the country. The only probable thing that PKR and DAP are sharing with PAS is the common goal to uphold the rights and interests of all Malaysians.
Just some simple questions… will PAS give up some of their religious based policies in Kelantan if the Pakatan is to be formally formed? Will DAP be happy if PAS want to implement some religious based rules at other states? It’s still a long way to go obviously.
Perhaps we should give the Pakatan Rakyat a bit more time to finalise their plans and ideology. I would like to see them forming a mock cabinet if the coalition goes well; I think they are thinking about that too.
