Power Changes People

Power is a necessity for survival and an agent for change, but it can also be a means for vengeance or fuel for those who are greedy. This is what we called politics where winners take all. In this case the new Prime Minister Datuk Najib who is steering the ship takes all. He has just named all his ‘people’ as ministers and deputy ministers while the UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and the one discarded by the people of Sungai Siput, Datuk Samy Vellu became the casualties. They are overlooked? Sidelined? Whatever one called it. Is someone else better?

While no single leader is able to carry out the mission or vision alone, those who are deemed insignificant and irrelevant should know that it is time for them to go gratefully. Is it the end of the road for them? Make a return if you can! Let the new team carry on the job.

For the newly appointed cabinet ministers, there are a few who have been recycled from the old government and some who have been rejected by the people in the 2008 general election but who have been appointed ministers by the ‘back door’ of the Senate. We accept those who are capable, trustworthy and righteous as the leaders of our beloved country but they should at the same time be accountable to the people of Malaysia. There are great tasks that face them at the moment.

First and foremost, Prime Minister Datuk Najib has to listen to the people of Malysia through the people of Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau that what the Barisan National are doing is not pleasing and acceptable to the people particularly the unethical power grab in Perak on the 6th of February 2009. This is of the utmost importance and needs immediate actions.


The draconian ISA and OSA need to be abolished. Vernaculars schools need to be treated fairly. The public service department needs to take in all qualified individuals to serve the public irrespective of race and religion. There must be separation of the powers of the executive, judiciary and the legislative.


Last November, China had unveiled a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package but we only got started recently. We hope our recovery plans will not end up helping only a few who know those in power instead of the people who really need help like the SMEs, SMIs and the people in the street who have been retrenched. There should not be any unnecessary wastage or leakage of public funds.

The tedious and tiresome process of navigating the government bureaucracy for local businessmen as well as foreigners who want to start up businesses should be simplified to reduce corruption. I was informed that one US health food company went through the many procedures for two long years trying to obtain permits from different departments finally gave up on doing business in Malaysia. Only God knows the reasons.

The government should encourage SMIs /SMEs to increase their production and to remain competitive by removing the 10% manufacturing sales tax imposed on companies with a total volume of more than RM100,000 per annum. With the high price of raw materials at present, it is not profitable for a manufacturer to produce less than RM100,000. This where SMIs/SMEs loose out to bigger producers who are able to apply for tax exemption (CJ5) when their products are for export. Therefore many products are cheaper to import than to manufacture locally.

The Prime Minister and the Education Minister should be bold enough to fully implement meritocracy in the intake of undergraduates at local universities so that our young people and our nation will expend their energies on being competetive internationally and not on competing only among themselves. We should take pride in competing without not within! We believe that education can transform and inspire people into building a great future for themselves, their family, their party, their community and ultimately our country.

National Inter-religious consultative councils should be re-established with muslim participation for better understanding between all religions and to deliberate on how best to minimise societal problems particularly among our youth. Problems such as divorce, drugs abuse, mat rempit and the high crime rate should be addressed by mean of religious teachings and premarital counseling etc. Premarital counseling such as already provided by certain groups should perhaps be made compulsory. This could help to reduce the marital problems and avoid the suffering of innocent children when their parents are divorced.

This is the time, the era to look beyond race, religion and culture in the world of globalization. We are in a borderless world. Therefore UMNO/BN should embark on the process of reform lest they be rendered irrelevant and insignificant by those who have the power of the vote. We need great, competent and clean leaders who are trustworthy and accountable. Pakatan Rakyat leaders have the attributes.

’Great leadership requires partnership collaboration, innovation and creativity from everybody ‘-Monshe F. Rabinstein.

posted by jason ling and edited by Bénévole Anonymne

Congratulations to Dato' Seri Nizar

Congratulations to the people of Bkt Gantang and Bkt Selambau. You have won the victory!

The by-election results in these two constituencies clearly show that the people of Malaysia and especially the people of Perak are still unhappy with the Barisan National government.

Despite all their election machinery; their domination of the radio, TV and newspapers; all the money the BN used; their many 'promises' and false accusations - the BN still lost. Worst of all the BN tried in many ways to prevent PR leaders from disseminating information and explaining the truth to the people the truth, such as not allowing certain PR speakers to give ceramah, bannign the mention of a certain Mongolian lady’s name, not allowing DAP and PKR to put up our flags and making police reports against YB Nga Kor Ming alleging that he quoted Quranic verses to belittle Islam. (Shound not one feel proud and thankful to God those of other religious traditions are appreciative of one's religious teachings?) At the end of the day we won anyway and with a bigger majority. God was on our side too in delaying the rain until the end of the polling period at 5.00 pm.

The people of Bukit Gantang have helped Malaysians to send a clear and strong message to the BN that what they are doing are not acceptable and in particular that the power grab in Perak is abhorrent to them. This was manifested by the supporters who were still angry and had come from all over Malaysia to give their support to YAB Mohammad Nizar. I met many supporters, including even elderly people from Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Kuantan etc. Some of them came a few days before nomination day and stayed in Taiping to help with the campaign and paid all their own expenses. I admire the spirit shown by these supporters.

The victory of Bukit Gantang means the people wants democracy, justice and good government as represented by the PR. They are angry over the power grab. They like Dato’ Seri Ir. Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin who is not racist, is a trustworthy person and was fair in implementing policies when he was the Menteri Besar.

While Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said the victory in Batang Ai was a vote of confidence in Datuk Najib as Prime Minister, we can also say the victory in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau were of no-confidence votes againt Datuk Najib - votes of protest and of anger over the power grab in Perak.

Therefore, the Perak State Legislative Assembly should be dissolved to allow for a fresh by- elections to let the people choose the government they want and not have the government they did not choose imposed on them. This fundamental democratic right should be returned to the people! The referendum of the by-elections has said so, loud and clear, and perhaps even indicated the likely outcome of state-wide elections. We hope that the voices of the people will not fall on the deaf ears and that they will be able to exercise their democratic rights.

posted by Jason ling for Dato’ Ngeh and edited by Bénévole Anonymne.

Vote for Dato' Seri Nizar in Bkt Gantang

Vote for YAB Dato’ Seri Ir Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin = Vote for Pakatan Rakyat
= Vote for a good, capable leader
= Vote for justice for all Malaysians

= Vote for democracy in Perak & Malaysia
= Vote for a caring leader, cares for all races
= Vote for transparency, trustworthiness
= Vote for a brighter future in Malaysia
= Vote for Malaysian Malaysia
= Vote against corruption in the BN
= Vote against the illegal power grab in Perak
= Vote against a PM saddled with ‘baggage’
= Vote for a good future for our children.

Your Vote Is Very Important,

Vote for Dato' Seri Nizar

Scenes from DAP dinner at Simpang, Taiping on 5 April 2009.

The crowd was estimated to be around 7,000 strong and composed of Malaysians of all backgrounds. The 200 dinner tables were fully sold out and those who could not get tickets were forced to stand along the road and between the tables. Even the sides of the stage were crowded. The speakers had a hard time getting onto the stage to speak. The weather was good. The rain was withheld until after the ceramah ended.

The guests were YAB Tuan Guru Dato' Hj Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, YB Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, YAB Lim Guan Eng, YB Lim Kit Siang, YB Dato' Ngeh Koo Ham, YB Nga Kor Ming, YB Teresa Kok, YB Chong Eng, YB Rinnie Liu, YB Liew Chin Tong, YB Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, YB Karpal Singh, YB Jeff Ooi and many other leaders of the Pakatan Rakyat.
This clearly shows that the Pakatan Rakyat team can work together very well.

posted by jason ling and edited by Bénévole Anonymne

Double Standard of EC

Statement by Ngeh Koo Ham during the lauching of mobile TV in Simpang, Bukit Gantang on Sunday, 5th April 2009:

EC, do not practice double standards

I urge the Election Commission (EC) not to practice double standards. They should pull down UMNO flags and Zambry’s posters/photos.

The EC has instructed its workers to take down DAP flags in Kuala Sepetang. When I asked the EC Chairman of Perak Tuan Haji Ahmad Adli bin Abdullah about this, he said that this was the instruction of Legal Advisor of SPR from Putrajaya. I then contacted the SPR legal advisor and she gave the reason that DAP is not contesting in the by-election.

In that case, I urge EC to pull down UMNO’s flags as well, as UMNO and the Barisan Nasional are separate legal entities and UMNO is also not contesting in the by-election. UMNO flags can be seen everywhere in the Bukit Gantang constituency.

The EC informed me that they do not even allow the photo/poster of Dato Zambry bin Abdul Kadir to be put up as he is not a candidate nor the supreme leader of UMNO. Yet I see Dato’ Zambry‘s posters everywhere in the Bukit Gantang constituency. Where is the consistency of EC?

I urge the EC stop practising double standard, they should conduct a clean, free and fair election instead of acting like an agent of UMNO and the Barisan Nasional.

Edited for grammar by Bénévole Anonymne

CORRUPTION?

No way Menteri Besar Dato Seri Ir Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin and Dato’ Ngeh are corrupted!

(Fr left-Cik Tijah, Mr Augustine Anthony, Mr Bah Tony, YB Dato' Ngeh, Yb Nga Kor Ming, YB M Kula Segaran, YB Leong Mee Meng, Mr Jason Ling at the press conference at Wisma DAP Ipoh)

I am compelled to respond to the allegation by one Hamzah Taha at one of the ceramah in Bkt Gantang. The allegation was also published in the Merdeka Review yesterday.
Hamzah Taha alleged that MB Dato Seri Nizar who is the candidate for the by-election in Bkt Gantang has instructed the State Financial office to dispense RM30,000 to Ling Lik Hock, Pegawai Khas to Dato’ Ngeh for the Orang Asli National Congress.

For the benefit of the public, I hereby wish to inform that on 27 December 2008,
Y.A.B. MB agreed that the state government would bear the cost of the congress after the Orang Asli appealed through Dato’ Ngeh, Senior Executive committee of the Perak Government..
On the 7 January 2009, the first meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur where leaders representing the NGOs and the Orang Asli communities from Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Bidor and Ipoh met to deliberate on the congress preparation which was agreed to be held on 1 March, 2009.
Since the committee members consisted of various groups of people and there has been no suitable bank account and the requirement of the state government that the cash advance for the approved allocation must be made to the ‘Kakitangan Kerajaan’. Therefore Dato’ Ngeh applied to the MB office on 9 Jan. 2009 for the advance to be made to his Pegawai Khas, Ling Lik Hock.

Meanwhile, to get the works going, Ling Lik Hock personally advanced some cash for the traveling claims by the Orang Asli leaders from Pahang state on 7 Jan, 2009. RM10,000 was further advanced to the committee chairman, Mr Bah Tony W. Hunt to be dispersed to various groups to pay for transportation (services of buses and vans) deposit on 20 Jan. 2009.

On 6 Feb. 2009 the Barisan Nasional illegally and unethically grabbed the Perak State government’s Power from the Pakatan Rakyat. The approved allocation was stopped. The amount of money was never released. Thus the first ever hope for the Orang Asli people from all over Malaysia to meet for social intercourse, for a good time of fellowship besides exchanging ideas on many issues related to Orang Asli was shattered.

The question is why the BN is so heartless as to prevent the good and meaningful gathering of the people who have been marginalized for so many years. These poor people are not politically affiliated and they are innocent. Our time and energy spent on the preparations were wasted. Besides the above stated meetings, we had met in Ipoh on at least 3 other different occasions for discussion. Do note the dates above to see how efficient the PR government and the committee members worked.

Worst of all, the UMNO/BN who is ‘bankrupt’ of ideas accused the good leaders of PR especially YAB Dato’ Seri Ir. Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin and Dato’ Ngeh of corruption.
I would like to ask Hamzah Taha to check and know the procedure of the state government to pay out the money before he accused the clean, trustworthy and God fearing PR leaders especially, YAB Dato Seri Nizar,YB Dato’ Ngeh, and others of corruption.
Is PR too clean that some people cannot ‘blend’ together like water and oil and have to leave PR to join other political party? Is the accuser claiming to be self-righteous? Please kindly use the time wisely to serve the people. Please do not waste your time! We need to change our (especially UMNO/BN) attitudes to serve the people and not to find fault with other people, especially the good leaders of the PR and the good works we have done.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude
from achieving his goal,
Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”
Thomas Jefferson

From the feedback I received from the Orang Asli communities, they are so happy and appreciated the initiative the Perak PR government took to set-up ‘high power’ committee which consisted of the Perak State Exco, State government agencies, NGOs and leaders from all the major Orang Asli tribes to look into their plights and especially the commitment of the PR government to give 8.25 acres of land to the Orang Asli household in Perak.

The Malay, Indian, Chinese and the Orang Asli supported and like the works and policies implemented by the PR government. The simple reason is we in the PR do not discrimate against any races as we are all Malaysians. We are one in the family.
For that reason, YAB MB is loved by the Chinese, Indian, Orang Asli as much as the Malays. Similarly with Dato’ Ngeh who is loved by the Malays as much as the Chinese, Indians and the Orang Asli as Dato Seri Nizar testified in many ceramah that Dato’ Ngeh and YB Nga always have the heart for other races too.
The examples he gave were giving of lands for building of Islamic religious school, mosques, Indian temples and helping the poor irrespective of race and religion. He also described Dato' Ngeh as a 'trusted deputy' in the Malaysian Insider's interview yesterday.

Therefore we should strive to serve the people well and let the rakyat who are wiser now to choose the selfless and capable people to serve them. Only in this way, every race, the state and the nation can progress and catch up with the first world in an increaingly globalized world.
Note: Cik Tijah-Setiausaha Jaringan Kampong Orang Asli Perak (JKOAP) Setiausaha Jawatankuasa Tindakan Tanah Orang Asli Perak

Mr Augustine Anthony- Legal Advisor for Orang Asli

Mr Bah Tony- Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Tindakan Tanah Orang Asli Perak
posted by Jason ling