Pakatan Rakyat MPs walked out of the Dewan Rakyat during the debate on the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 and will not participate in voting on the Bill.
The MPs said that they were disgusted that the speaker had only allowed three Pakatan Rakyat MPs – one from each party – to debate what they consider to be a very important piece of legislation.
The three who were allowed to speak were Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim (Permatang Pauh-PKR), Lim Guan Eng (Bagan-DAP) and Abdul Hadi Awang (Marang-PAS).
Upon Abdul Hadi's concluding his debate, Pakatan MPs walked out just as Ibrahim Ali (Pasir Mas-Independent) was beginning his speech.
Ibrahim was followed by P Kamalanathan (BN-Hulu Selangor), after which Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz addressed the House.
Speaking to reporters later, Shah Alam MP Abdul Khalid Samad decried the unfair treatment and said Pakatan MPs were unlikely to stay back and vote.
Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching also said the speaker's decision to allow only three Pakatan representatives to speak was unfair.
"For example, during the debate on the Supply Bill 2012 at the Education Ministry committee stage, 42 MPs spoke. About half of them were from Pakatan," she told Malaysiakini.
Abdul Khalid said that there was "no point" for their presence in the House as they have presented their views, but it does not appear that their call would be heeded to withdraw the Bill.
"The government has done whatever they think they should do, in terms of amendments, but everything is still the same," he said.
"Their attitude is very slipshod… (We are walking out and boycotting voting) as it is all just window dressing."
Asked if Pakatan will participate in the debate in the committee stage reading of the Bill, Teo said that they are still deciding on this.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 5:25 pm and is filed under Human Rights, Pakatan Rakyat, Parliament. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has made public its alternative to the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill, saying it takes "significantly different approaches" from the one the Dewan Rakyat passed today.
The council said in a media statement that its draft, also called the Peaceful Assembly Bill, complied with international conventions. It gives every person, regardless of age, the right to assemble peacefully.
It also gives legal immunity to participants in a peaceful assembly and provides for the establishment of a Peaceful Assembly Board to resolve disputes between the police and assembly organisers.
It requires organisers to notify the police five days before an assembly and provide such details as the purpose of the gathering and the proposed procession route.
It exempts wedding receptions, family gatherings and religious, festive, cultural and similar assemblies from any of the conditions.
"The proposed Peaceful Assembly Act 2011 as drafted by the Bar Council takes significantly different approaches from the bill drafted by the government," an explanatory statement said.
The statement criticised the government's draft as "very limited", "restrictive", not in accord with "international norms", and giving excessive power and control to the police while imposing "onerous duties" on the organisers and participants of public assemblies.
Copies of the alternative bill were distributed before the Dewan Rakyat passed the government version. After receiving his copy, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong told reporters: "Let the MPs debate on the issue. I'm sure they'll address the issues.
"We look it holistically. You can't take the proposed bill piecemeal and say that it is restrictive."
The collective persona of Lord Bobo's minions (yes, all the cheeky monkeys and monkettes). Haven't you heard? LoyarBurokking is a lifestyle. Join us, and your life will never be the same again. Because it's fun.
Posted on 29 November 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Peaceful Malaysians taking a walk | Photo by Marcus van Geyzel for LoyarBurok
The Peaceful Assembly Bill has been passed amidst accusations of the Bar Council having a political agenda, "Bebas Himpun" twisted into "Seks Bebas", and the burning of yellow T-shirts.
The Bill has been passed with "unholy haste" and our petitions, our marching, our twitterature has been ignored.
A young Malaysian who attempts to take on the thorny (and occasionally horny) realities of Malaysian politics and its woes in his own tiny, smelly way. A person who has heard the twin arguments of "You youngsters don't care about anything else except Justin Bieber", and "You youngsters shouldn't get involved in what is too advanced for your age" and wants to disprove them once and for all ( especially the Justin Bieber part, ugh!) Read more of his posts at duriandemocracy.blogspot.com, or tweet him @duriandemocracy.
Posted on 29 November 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Mereka lebih mementingkan hubungan diantara orang bukan Islam daripada orang Islam walhal mereka sedia maklum Islam bukanlah satu daripada agenda utama untuk dilaksanakan Video Rating: 1 / 5
NOV 29 — Everyone in the media industry knows that if over the past year anyone would associate the "Jasmine revolution" or "Arab Spring" with Malaysia, he is seriously looking for trouble.
The authorities will give you a lecture on international politics, telling you what the Jasmine revolution is all about: riots, bloodshed and anarchy.
And then toss the question at you: "Do you think Malaysia is like this? Do you want Malaysia to go down this way?"
What comes next is not going to be fun.
So, jasmine or spring, they have absolutely nothing to do with this country. Jasmine will never flourish in tropical Malaysia, and if you are trying to champion spring or jasmine or anything like that, you are in for real trouble.
But, beginning today, the government is going to lift the ban on jasmine and spring.
Najib said if Umno was not going to change, it would find itself face to face with an Arab Spring a la Malaysia.
The prime minister-cum-Umno president said this at an international forum on the eve of Umno's general assembly. I wouldn't say he was trying to alarm the country or was harbouring any ill intention.
He was telling that to everyone in Umno.
As the party president, Najib would never make such a sharp-pointed and sensitive comparison unless he wanted to convey a very distinct message.
In fact, what he said resonated with Mahathir's statement on Umno's failure in getting the support of Malays days ago.
Well, we can explain by saying that the former and incumbent party presidents have indeed placed very high hopes on party members, but it could also be interpreted in another way: the current environment may not be that rosy for Umno and BN, and they must no longer hide in their little cosy house and savour their carefree ways of living, otherwise even the giants will get slaughtered one day.
Some of my earlier predictions have begun to come true. BN has missed the most opportune timing for general election, and Najib failed to dissolve Parliament earlier this year to pave the way for election.
The international political climate has experienced dramatic changes after this spring. The global economy is on a downward spiral, and Malaysia is now encountering daunting economic challenges.
On the domestic front, the political environment is not that promising after all. Response to Najib's transformation programme has been lukewarm at best, and the Peaceful Assembly Bill has suffered an unexpected setback.
BN has lost its dominance, and even if it were to stoop so low to please the people, it might not be entertained by the voters.
Najib can only hope that the Umno general assembly would fully co-ordinate with him, supporting him in his effort to fix things up so that he can sail past another general election, and win big.
Jasmine revolution and Arab Spring do not always have to do with bloodshed and conflicts. They could also take the form of a gradual shift in people's mind that will slowly take on a long-established administration.
Umno needs to accept the changes to shun the full impact of the jasmine. — mysinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
Bahasa Malaysia, English, 华文。Sabah, Sandakan. 2011.09.15 The eve of Malaysia Day Dear friends, all of u can do a lot of things & be part of the team. It will make a difference! First, help to "Share" our contents in Facebook or other social networking to create viral spread of information. Video Rating: 5 / 5
NOV 29 — It is again time for the annual Umno general assembly and this time, due to the impending general election, the assembly is expected to strengthen some political strategies to consolidate the party's base.
Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched a Bumiputera Economic Transformation Roadmap on the eve of the assembly to tell the Malay community that Umno has never given up defending the rights of Malays and Bumiputeras.
However, since the BN government is now committed to promoting economic transformation, would strengthening the Bumiputera equity policy be contradictory? As the world economy is heading towards a recession, would it bring a negative impact to highlight a racial policy?
Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin denied that the 1 Malaysia concept is contradictory to Umno's struggle but stressed that the 1 Malaysia concept does not mean that Umno has given up its original struggle and Malays should not think that they have been abandoned.
Umno leaders must strike a balance between the implementation of the 1 Malaysia concept and the Malay agenda to avoid taking one into consideration to the neglect of the other. They should also prevent the confidence of foreign investors from being affected by the Bumiputera equity quota or it will hinder the implementation of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), as well as the achievement of a high-income economy.
How is Umno going to achieve the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity quota this time? It is impossible for Umno leaders to repeat former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's practice of blindly issuing stocks. Instead, they should focus on implementation and the identification of potential Bumiputera enterprises.
The current Umno leadership has its own set of strategies to implement the Malay agenda. Najib launched the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) on February 8, 2011 and said that five Bumiputera companies were expected to be listed on Bursa Malaysia this year.
In August, a fund of RM2 billion was allocated for the development of Bumiputera companies.
In the Budget 2012, Najib announced that the government will allocate RM200 million to guide 1,100 high-performing Bumiputera companies with potential to be listed on Bursa Malaysia through Teraju.
On November 26, the Bumiputra Economic Transformation Roadmap was launched.
The Bumiputra Economic Transformation Roadmap is more ambitious as it aims to help 1,100 Bumiputera companies to become world-class enterprises by 2013 though three major strategies, namely reform of policy instruments and rationalisation of delivery system; strengthening education and building capabilities; and acquiring, creating or developing businesses with sufficient scale.
The government also has set up the Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera targeting to build a RM500 million fund within five years to fund 12,000 Bumiputeras, to improve their educational standard.
Najib knows that there is not much time left for Umno to implement the Bumiputera agenda because the world economy is deteriorating and national resources are consumed each year. Therefore, instant-effect solutions are included in the roadmap, hoping that they could bring results in a short time. If the roadmap does not work, it will slow down the pace of transforming the country into a high-income economy.
Most importantly, are the Malays ready to make changes? Do they know the urgency of it?
Obviously, Umno leaders know that it does not meet the global trend to talk only about racial agenda and thus they hold an international forum in the conjunction with the party's general assembly. The Umno's greatest challenge at the moment is how should it achieve the goals of its struggle while leading the Malays to the international arena? — mysinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
Hina Johor: Khairy Jamaluddin Selar Lim Guan Eng Sebagai Pengkhianat Negara!
Hina Johor: Khairy Jamaluddin Selar Lim Guan Eng Sebagai Pengkhianat Negera! Lim Guan Eng merangkap Setiausaha Agung DAP merangkap KM Pulau Pinang telah memburuk-burukkan negeri Johor ketika sessi bersama Foreign Coorespondents Association (FCA) Of Singapore pada 12 Ogos 2011. Sila layari : brojinggo.blogspot.com Video Rating: 3 / 5
NOV 29 — In a democracy it comes down to numbers. Barisan Nasional has more numbers in Parliament and is able to push through legislation, even when it is self-serving and meant for regime preservation.
This afternoon the Peaceful Assembly Bill was passed in Parliament by BN members and the frogs (calling them independent would be a disservice to independents the world over). Pakatan Rakyat MPs walked out because they wanted the Bill to be withdrawn and redrawn.
But that was never going to happen. As it is the Najib government was forced to eat humble pie and amend the Bill after it was pointed out that the legislation was even more regressive than Myanmar's new laws on protests.
There is no use wailing or crying foul. BN has the numbers and we gave them the numbers in 2008. So it is perfectly legitimate for them to rubber stamp any legislation they want, except any change in law which requires two-thirds of Parliament's support.
It is not the end of the world. We can always take back the numbers we gave them in 2008 and make sure that the next government repeals the Peaceful Assembly Act.
But if there is one lesson which we should take from today, it is this: it will be a dangerous gambit for us to give BN enough seats for them to have two-thirds majority in Parliament. Very, very dangerous.
Because then they will be able to change the Federal Constitution, put restrictions on the freedom of religion, assembly, revocation of citizenship and the like.
* Lucius Goon reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
While there is a flicker of progress in Myanmar, the light of democracy has been crushed in Malaysia. And it happened in Parliament, as the Umno-led ruling Barisan Nasional government muscled its way to bulldoze the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
The parliament saw the play of a lethal game as only three opposition lawmakers were allowed to debate the bill while the BN and government-friendly lawmakers whined down their razzle-dazzle debates supporting the new piece of legislation.
Earlier this morning, hundreds of lawyers staged the "Walk for Freedom" march to register their opposition to the bill which is repressive, encroaches into the civil liberties of the people and violates the Federal Constitution.
It is a rare protest as lawyers do not take to the streets in a whim and fancy. But when they walk, it is a slap on the face of the government as it caricatures the lack of democracy and poor governance.
There has been a significant change in Myanmar after the military handed over power to a nominal civilian government last November. No one could deny that releasing the country's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was a big step forward.
Since then, the new government has reached out to her, allowed for street protests, called for peace with ethnic minorities, freed some 230 political prisoners and suspended a highly-suspect Chinese-funded dam project.
In Cambodia there has been concerted effort by the government to weed-out corruption, empower women politically and institute electoral reforms.
Najib's flip-flop policies
We, in direct contrast, are moving backwards by curbing the civil liberties of the people.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, addicted to his flip-flop policies, has gone back on his promise of reforms in the country.
In September, Najib scrapped Section 27 of the Police Act that requires a permit before holding rallies.
It was, however, replaced with the more repressive Peaceful Assembly Bill with unacceptable restrictions on freedom of assembly, association and expression – the fundamental principles in a democracy.
The new bill outlaws all street protests, forces the organizers to give a 10 day notice to the police, regulates, restricts and imposes conditions on an assembly and prohibits anyone under the age of 15 from taking part.
Furthermore, protesters could be slapped with a maximum of RM20,000 fine while organizers who failed to give sufficient notice may be fined up to RM10,000.
Erosion of civil rights
We will see the play out of this controversial policy in the next weeks and months.
We will witness further clamping down of dissent, persecution of opposition politicians and an erosion of civil rights and liberties in the country.
In the lives of ordinary people, we will see tractors bulldozing down their sweat and blood as they are powerless to protest against corrupt contractors and an equally corrupt police force. We will see the voice of the poor being muffled even further.
Is this the future we envision for our country?
Yes, the Peaceful Assembly Bill is unconstitutional and unfair. But could the government win?
To answer this question with a resounding NO, we need the rakyat to exercise their right at the ballot boxes to vote out a corrupt regime.
Charles Santiago is DAP's Klang member of parliament.
In an act of crazy stupidity, Sarawak's Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has responded to growing condemnation of his family's illegitimate wealth by claiming that others in Sarawak are poor because they "do not have it up here" (tapping his head)!
What he meant is that, unlike his own "clever" children, most Sarawakians are too stupid to make money.
But, surely it is he who is stupid to say such things? We can already see from his actions how Taib holds his people in disdain.
He has stolen from them and provided only a pittance to the desperately poor Dayaks in his richly resourced state.
But, even the most monstrous dictators usually avoid going on record admitting such disdain!
Under pressure
Taib made his remarks in a recent recorded interview, in which he attempted to deal with the growing slew of revelations about his family's wealth.
That interview was then posted on his own official website.
The plan had been to stage questions from a tame reporter so that the chief minister could counter the allegations that his family have been "creaming off" the wealth of Malaysia's richest state
However, he immediately responded with an enormous lie. He claimed that he and his family had always avoided doing businesses inside Sarawak in order to avoid being "hounded" by accusations that "I used my influence to enrich myself".
In fact, anyone who knows anything about Sarawak knows that the opposite is true.
All the members of Taib's family are up to their eyes in business in Sarawak, benefiting and enriching themselves from state contracts, plantations and timber concessions handed to them by Taib himself.
Indeed, just last week the DAP revealed that 90 acres of prime state land, worth some RM225 million, had been sold for just RM2.5 million to a company, Shoreline Development Sdn Bhd, which is owned by his own four children, his uncle and his timber crony, Samling.
This scandal broke just days after the state government had announced it could only afford to allocate a paltry RM3.47 million to alleviate the suffering of the hardcore poor in Malaysia's richest state.
Even the stupidest Sarawakian could work out that if Taib had tendered those 90 acres in an honest manner, then that sum could have been increased immediately to over RM225 million!
Instead, he gave that profit to his already fabulously wealthy children!
Loading insult onto injury
Showing the dangerous effects of an old age and complacency, Taib nevertheless blundered on in this interview and compounded his lies to reveal just how self-deluded he has become.
He explained that by doing business outside the country, clever people like himself and his children can easily make themselves rich.
"Anyone who is clever can make themselves rich over 30 years" he claimed.
It was then that he went on to make his biggest blunder when he said "But, if you haven't got it up here (tap tap on his head), then I am afraid we cannot help you!"
What a disgraceful insult to the poor in his state! By such a statement, he has laid the blame for poverty on his people themselves.
He has also made clear that he thinks there is "nothing we can do" to help such stupid people!
So, no wonder BN was only prepared to allocate RM3.47 million to all those hardcore poor.
The chief minister thinks there is nothing one can do to help such stupid Dayaks. In his view it is better to give the money to his "clever" family instead!
The truth is out
The worst part of this disgraceful episode is that this is clearly the genuine opinion that is held by Taib and all the spongers supported by his regime.
Privileged and thoughtless people in Sarawak can often be heard guffawing that if you help the Dayaks, they will "just spend their money on alcohol and cars they can't afford to run!"
Likewise, Taib thinks he and his family are a race apart of superior intellect, who deserve to be enriched and pampered through his abuse of political power.
(In fact, most of his family members are a poorly educated lot who have done virtually nothing to deserve their wealth.)
End game?
Yet the fact that Taib made such a grotesque misjudgement is an indication of his growing weakness under increasing pressure.
In previous times, he would not have bothered to answer questions about his corruption. Now he cannot avoid them.
What this whole episode has done is emphasised just how isolated and weakened he has become.
Rather than expose himself to questions from genuine journalists, who would have pounced on his slip-up, he relied on the cosy company of a subservient interviewer and so the blunder was missed.
It is up there for all to see.
Likewise, in the State Legislative Assembly, Taib has been relying on old and useless tactics by his tame Speaker Asfia Awang Nassar, who has been struggling to silence outraged YBs and to get all mention of their questions expunged from the official records.
But, in the Internet era, such outdated techniques have only lent more weight to the criticisms and have dreadfully backfired.
This information can no longer be suppressed and the chief minister seems not to know how to cope with the changing circumstances.
More to come
There is much more about to come out about Taib's raids on Sarawak's resources on behalf of his own family.
Ludicrous excuses about their "cleverness" and the stupidity of others are not going to get him off the hook.
Also, his lies about "not doing business in Sarawak" will come back to haunt him as the names of hundreds of companies linked to Taib start coming to light over the coming days.
He needs a better strategy – and quick.
Clare Rewcastle Brown is the founder-editor of SarawakReport and an FMT columnist.
Temubual Bersama Orang Kampung Sungai Kerandang,Hulu Selangor Part 1
Temubual bersama orang kampung sungai kerandang,hulu selangor berkenaan dengan isu tanah TOL.Siapa Yang Bersalah?Adakah Kerajaan Negeri Dulu Atau Kerajaan Negeri Sekarang? Sila Lihat seterusnya Part 2 www.klpos.com Video Rating: 0 / 5
NOV 29 — It may sound simplistic but the choice before Malaysians in the coming general election boils down to either good or evil.
And we don't have to fear evil because evil can never prevail against goodness. You do not have to take my word for this. Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein believed that they could rule forever with an iron fist. They subjugated their own people, threatened them, killed them and struck fear into their hearts with secret police.
But when their time came, they were hunted down like animals and treated with utter contempt, treated nothing more than common criminals. They will be remembered with contempt in history. Contrast that with meek and humble people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa and others who are remembered fondly because of the good works they did and because they carved goodness in the hearts of everyone they met.
These people may not have been rich, backed by the state apparatus or holding senior positions in government but they were men and women of virtue and had goodness in their hearts.
Contrast that with people like Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief who today sought to create more division in a country polarised along racial and religious lines. Contrast that also with the state-sponsored demonstrators who were allowed to disturb a peaceful march by lawyers who disagreed with the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
Ahmad Maslan speaks through both sides of his mouth, a common characteristic of the likes of Gaddafi. On one hand, he makes a pitch and says that Umno members should not hurt non-Malays. And then before an Umno audience he says that the DAP are agents of Christianisation. Who gave this man the authority to denigrate Christianity, the religion of many Chinese and Indians and east Malaysians?
He then went on to frighten Malays about the loss of political power? When threatened, this is also what Mubarak, Gaddafi and Saddam did; they painted minorities or foreigners as bogeymen.
Interestingly, these dictators also unleashed supporters against their people who went to the streets with legitimate grouses. In the last days in Tahrir Square, Mubarak's hoodlums tried to intimidate the people calling for his resignation. They rode horses through the crowds and bashed up leaders of the protest movement.
In Kuala Lumpur and Penang, the state-sponsored thugs come dressed in yellow (aimed at discrediting Bersih) and are tasked with the job of intimidating those who don't agree with the establishment. Today, they were given the task of disrupting the march by lawyers. Like their counterparts in Egypt and Libya, they never fall afoul of the authorities and don't have to worry about being arrested.
And I believe that if we are united in our love for this country and belief in each other, these forces of evil and their sponsors in the high positions will not prevail.
History has shown that the meek and good-hearted, guided by our belief in God, can wear the mantle of victory over the forces of evil.
It is up to us to stand up to bullies like Ahmad Maslan.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 5:51 pm and is filed under DAP, nation building, UMNO. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.
It is interesting that DAP's Pantai Remis state assemblyman and Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming should use the term "black" recently to refer to Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir. May God have mercy on those black souls responsible for the Perak power grab.
Whites will naturally see Nga's remark as a case of the pot calling the kettle black. They would probably die laughing at "the freaky blackies making comparisons of their respective skin tones among themselves". The fact is the whites are the ones who are the real freaks of nature.
In the extreme politics of race, any white – racist or otherwise – will tell you that anyone who is not white is black. Black, in the wider political use of the term by whites, includes anything from brown and red to yellow and gold.
For example, a person can appear as white as snow, but if he has even a drop of black blood running somewhere in his veins, he is considered black by the whites of this world. His black past will sooner or later catch up with him in his white present to haunt his black future.
The acid test will come when such a person marries a "white white" person only to discover that their child, in a genetic throwback to as far as even 500 years or further back, comes out suspiciously looking less than white. It is at this point that the cat will be out of the bag.
They tell the story of a Han Chinese girl somewhere in a village in western China who gave birth to a blond-haired, blue-eyed, snow-white baby. Her husband was Han Chinese like her.
Village elders were puzzled because there was no white around for thousands of miles.
They diligently looked through the village records and discovered to their surprise, shock and awe, if not horror, that a passing Russian general bedded a local girl some 500 years before.
If genetic throwback can bring out the white in a person, it can also bring out the black in one.
Mystical 'black blood'
The preoccupation of the whites is not with blacks discovering the white in them but a white discovering, horror of all horrors, the black in him. Hence, better to be safe than sorry by drawing that line in the sand: he who has even a drop of black blood is black no matter how white he looks.
A white can be as tanned as tan can be and still be considered white because he does not have that mystical "black blood" which makes all white men live in fear for their women.
Again, there is nothing in between white and black. There are no greys, browns, red skins, yellow skins or gold skins. All these are considered black in the language of the whites, since there is some colour. The various shades do not make any difference to the whites. They consider themselves a breed apart, which in itself is non-science, or nonsense.
The whites cannot consider themselves superior to the black because, both being of the same species, there is no genetic barrier to breeding between them, unlike between man and the great apes. If a man were to jump on a great ape in a moment of fantasy or sexual frustration, nothing will happen. Millions of years of evolution – with apologies to creationists – set them apart.
The proof of the human species: if the blackest man in the deepest jungle of Congo were to jump on a blondie in Iceland, little Johnny or little Jenny will be bawling his or her way into the world 40 weeks later.
If superiority is an issue, science tells us that the black man from East Africa is physically the most superior of the human species. This is because all 23 genetic variations of humans can be found in East Africa. The grey matter, or the apparent lack of it among many, is of course another issue, but science again comes to the rescue by declaring that "intelligence, as we define it, does not exist".
By comparison, people in Europe come from only three genetic variations.
Three great waves
According to the Out of Africa theory, man originated in East Africa and made his way out of that great continent in three great waves. DNA studies have since established this.
The first wave out of East Africa along the coasts of Africa, Arabia and India saw the Orang Asli – who emerged as the yellow race after specialisation – reaching Malaya and ultimately the aborigines – archaic whites after specialisation – arriving in Australia.
The second great wave out of East Africa saw the migrants stop over in Afghanistan.
From Afghanistan, they branched into two. One branch entered India and made their way to the extreme south of the subcontinent to emerge, in the course of specialisation, as the Dravidians or archaic whites.
The other branch entered Yunnan, from where it again branched into two, with one making for South China and the other heading to North China, both eventually emerging as Mongoloids after specialisation.
The group in South India got on the move again, along the coast, and made their way to South China and Taiwan, where they mated with the local tribes. It is from this mixing of the yellow and the archaic white that all the people of Southeast Asia are descended. They are generally considered Mongoloids.
The third and final great wave out of East Africa saw the migrants convene in Central Asia. From there, they broke into three branches. The first branch made their way northeast and entered the Americas to become, after specialisation as Mongoloids, the Natives or first settlers of that great continent.
The second branch entered Iran as Aryans, after specialisation as new whites. While some of the branch remained in Iran, the rest entered India and spread all over the continent in an admixture with the earlier Dravidians.
The third branch in Central Asia – only three families – entered Europe. All Europeans are descended from these three families. The people of the continent must have gone through a long period of inbreeding before the advent of Christianity forbade marriage between close relatives.
In any case, Zambry must be commended for not bleaching his skin, as most Indian Muslims do, to pass off as "brown-skinned" and therefore "Malay". This is in line with the popular perception in Peninsular Malaysia that "anything brown is Malay, and that anything black must be Indian". Zambry is proud of who he is and for that he deserves every praise.
Or, it could be that even bleaching will not help Zambry with his complexion, the problem obviously being too deep-rooted to offer any "remedy". But let's not go there too much.
Let us look to America, where millions proudly identify themselves as black even if some look as white as snow. For example, US President Barrack Hussein Obama – black father, white mother – does not call himself white or Euro-African or Afro-European, but black.
After all this, it is difficult to fathom the point that Nga was trying to make. We learn that he actually made his offensive remarks during a ceramah in Kamunting in September. The recording of it has only now gone online.
He may have been trying to point out that Zambry is an Indian who has no business being in a Malay party and passing off as Malay to be Menteri Besar. That might be hitting a little below the belt, since Islam speaks of the brotherhood of man.
If the Malays want to elect an Indian as their leader on the basis of a common faith, no one should throw stones at them.
KUALA LUMPUR: An anti-Seksualiti Merdeka group marched to Parliament in opposition to gay rights, just as the Bar Council members gathered to protest the proposed Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011.
In what appeared to be a strange counter-protest, the 20-strong group marched opposite the Bar Council members, shouting anti-gay slogans.
"We are against free sex! We are against anal sex! We are Muslims, Allahukbar (God is great)!" they shouted at the lawyers while the two groups were walking on Jalan Parlimen.
One of them shouted "Balik India (Go back to India)!" at the lawyers.
Speaking to FMT, Gerakan Memartabatkan Pejuang Negara (GMPN) chairman Razali Zakaria claimed that the Bar Council was marching in support of "free sex".
"The Bar Council's gathering has elements of free sex. Gathering peacefully is one thing, but they (lawyers) are here because of free sex," he said.
Majlis Ayahanda Malaysia spokesman Zulkifli Sharif said the lawyers had an ulterior motive in their opposition to the bill.
"We don't like to see political agendas, which is what we're seeing here. That gathering is illegal!" he said, pointing at the lawyers.
The group then claimed that the Bar Council had been carrying banners in support of gay rights and free sex.
Before the lawyers started their march at 12.15pm, a separate group of 20 Malay youths were seen holding these banners at the Lake Gardens.
Standing only metres away from the larger body of the lawyers, the group was seen wearing plain yellow T-shirts, holding banners which read: "Free Sex Gathering 2.0″ and "LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Gathering 2.0″
These banners also had the Seksualiti Merdeka logo printed on them.
When quizzed by reporters, many in the group hid their faces, shying from the cameras.
They also refused to speak to lawyers who asked the youths what they were doing there.
Sivarasa Rasiah: Satu tindakan Terancang Oleh Umno BN Untuk Aibkan Anwar
Police have requested to record a further statement from Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim pursuant to the police report lodged by him on 22nd March 2011 at IPD Dang Wangi. Video Rating: 4 / 5
PETALING JAYA: PAS Terengganu sudah menghantar senarai calon kepada ibu pejabat parti untuk pilihan raya umum ke 13, kata Pesuruhjaya Negeri, Abdul Wahid Endut.
Ketika dihubungi FMT hari ini beliau berkata, termasuk dalam senarai itu ialah calon-calon muda dan baru tetapi berpotensi untuk menang.
"Senarai calon itu dicadangkan oleh negeri, cawangan dan Dewan Undangan Negeri (Dun) masing-masing dihantar kepada Majlis Syura untuk kelulusan," katanya.
Bagaimanapun, Ahli Parlimen Kuala Terengganu itu berkata ia adalah senarai awal dan nama itu mungkin berubah mengikut keperluan dan kesesuaian.
Mengenai muka baru atau calon muda, Abdul Wahid enggan menyatakan jumlah sebenar senarai calon yang dihantar ke Majlis Syura itu.
Beliau juga memberitahu calon PAS yang kalah dalam pilihan raya umum lalu dicalonkan semula kali ini jika nama mereka termasuk dalam cadangan PAS cawangan, kawasan, Dun atau PAS negeri.
Populariti calon
Abdul Wahid berkata, walau pun PAS Pusat menetapkan setiap Dun menghantar tiga nama tetapi ada juga yang menghantar lima hingga enam nama.
"Kriteria pemilihan calon biasanya berdasarkan populariti d kalangan masyarakat. Kalau calon di peringkat setempat, lebih kepada, dari segi populariti calon itu sendiri dengan masyarakat di peringkat Dun dan cawangan.
"Kita mahu yang aktif dan berdampingan dengan masyarakat pada setiap hari," tambah beliau.
Sabtu lalu, Ketua Penerangan PAS Pusat, Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man berkata, PAS akan meneliti bakal calon untuk pilihan.
NOV 29 — It may sound simplistic but the choice before Malaysians in the coming general election boils down to either good or evil.
And we don't have to fear evil because evil can never prevail against goodness. You do not have to take my word for this. Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein believed that they could rule forever with an iron fist. They subjugated their own people, threatened them, killed them and struck fear into their hearts with secret police.
But when their time came, they were hunted down like animals and treated with utter contempt, treated nothing more than common criminals. They will be remembered with contempt in history. Contrast that with meek and humble people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa and others who are remembered fondly because of the good works they did and because they carved goodness in the hearts of everyone they met.
These people may not have been rich, backed by the state apparatus or holding senior positions in government but they were men and women of virtue and had goodness in their hearts.
Contrast that with people like Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief who today sought to create more division in a country polarised along racial and religious lines. Contrast that also with the state-sponsored demonstrators who were allowed to disturb a peaceful march by lawyers who disagreed with the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
Ahmad Maslan speaks through both sides of his mouth, a common characteristic of the likes of Gaddafi. On one hand, he makes a pitch and says that Umno members should not hurt non-Malays. And then before an Umno audience he says that the DAP are agents of Christianisation. Who gave this man the authority to denigrate Christianity, the religion of many Chinese and Indians and east Malaysians?
He then went on to frighten Malays about the loss of political power? When threatened, this is also what Mubarak, Gaddafi and Saddam did; they painted minorities or foreigners as bogeymen.
Interestingly, these dictators also unleashed supporters against their people who went to the streets with legitimate grouses. In the last days in Tahrir Square, Mubarak's hoodlums tried to intimidate the people calling for his resignation. They rode horses through the crowds and bashed up leaders of the protest movement.
In Kuala Lumpur and Penang, the state-sponsored thugs come dressed in yellow (aimed at discrediting Bersih) and are tasked with the job of intimidating those who don't agree with the establishment. Today, they were given the task of disrupting the march by lawyers. Like their counterparts in Egypt and Libya, they never fall afoul of the authorities and don't have to worry about being arrested.
And I believe that if we are united in our love for this country and belief in each other, these forces of evil and their sponsors in the high positions will not prevail.
History has shown that the meek and good-hearted, guided by our belief in God, can wear the mantle of victory over the forces of evil.
It is up to us to stand up to bullies like Ahmad Maslan.
* Jacob Sinnathamby reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
Malaysian lawyers gathered at the Lake Gardens near to the Parliament House in Kuala Lumpur to protest a Bill they believe will destroy all rights of the citizens to congregate to express their views on any issue.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has refused to acknowledge the criticism of the Bar Council and other civil society leaders including the Bersih movement for free and fair election.
To Najib, the Bill is even "revolutionary" and a "giant leap". But to the protesters, who include opposition politicians, the Bill is oppressive, subjugates the citizens natural rights to the police and regresses Malaysia to below Myanmar, which is known for its black record on human rights.
Vow to keep up the pressure
On reaching the august House, president of the Bar Lim Chee Wee and 9 others were allowed into the lobby. They handed over a copy of the Bar's alternative Bill to Deputy Minister Liew Vui Kong, plus a letter reiterating their call to MPs to vote wisely on the Bill.More than 2,000 lawyers from the 14,000-strong Bar Council turned up for the much-anticipated protest despite the short notice given. They began begin their 2.5km 'Walk for Freedom' to Parliament at around 12.30pm.
"We are not anti-government or pro-opposition. We are anti-injustice and anti-unconstitutionality. We are pro-justice and pro-rule of law. We have always worked closely with the government," Lim said.
"The Bar will continue knocking on the doors of Parliament if the Bill makes it to the statute books in its current form."
Kill the Bill
Earlier, the peaceful greenery of the Lake Gardens was temporarily disrupted by cheerful lawyers in good spirits and eager to chip in their cents worth for
greater justice and democracy in Malaysia.
"As the placards here say, 'I cannot believe I'm protesting for my right to protest'. The Bill must be withdraw. There is just no excuse to push it through and extensive changes must be made," prominent human rights lawyer and PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.
He had gathered at the Lake Gardens to participate in the protest. PKR Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong, DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng, PKR assemblywoman Gan Pei Nei, and PKR legal affairs director Latheefa Koya were also present.
Speeches were made by Lim Chee Wee and his organizing committee members including Edmund Bon and Syahrezan Johan.
"This Bill takes away the very act that granted us independence," Lim had told reporters.
Indeed, it was the grandfather of current Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Najib's cousin, who had inspired many Malaysians to fight for independence with his courage to defy the British colonialists with street protest.
However, the idealism of the late Onn Jaafar does not appear to have captivated the current batch of Umno leaders, despite Hisham – touted to be a potential prime minister – bearing his genes.
Critics say since the days of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, Umno has gone to the dogs and is now a party of carpet-baggers, warlords, petty chieftains all out to demand and seize lucrative development contracts from the government – offering in return substandard and in many cases dangerous results.
KUALA LUMPUR: More than 400 members of the Bar Council marched to the Dewan Rakyat today to protest the proposed the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011.
Led by their president Lim Chee Wee, they asked MPs not to pass the controversial Bill, claiming that it would curtail the right to peaceful assembly.
Lim said that Malaysia was founded on public demonstrations, citing founding father Onn Jaafar's leading of the Malayan Union against the British.
He also pleaded to the MPs not to rid Malaysians the right to assemble peacefully "with the stroke of a pen"."Our country was founded on a procession… it is deep in the history of Malaysia," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here.
Lim said this after marching with the Bar Council members from the Lake Gardens to the gates of the Parliament at about 12.15pm.
They were stopped from proceeding further by the police. However, a group of 10 lawyers, including Lim, were allowed in.
The 10 later presented an open letter to the MPs and the Bar's drafted alternative to the Bill to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong.
Penerangan terperinci dari tokoh agama berkaitan demonstrasi haram dan hukumnya menurut pandangan Islam. Kupasan secara langsung melalui soal jawab bersama khalayak. Video Rating: 3 / 5
SUNGAI ASAP: Tribal chief Danny Ibang lived most of his life in the pristine jungles of the Malaysian portion of Borneo island until he was pushed into a modern world he was told would be better.
And in many ways, it is.
His Kenyah community of 2,000 enjoys electricity, running water, health and educational facilities previously undreamed-of since being moved out of the jungles to a new village to make way for the huge Bakun hydroelectric dam.
But as expanding dams, oil-palm plantations and other development force thousands off ancestral lands in the state of Sarawak, a host of modern new problems threaten to break down once tight-knit tribal communities.
Village elders and activists say alcoholism, drug use, and crime are on the increase and anger is rising over continuing encroachment on native lands.
"There have been a lot of social changes after the Bakun dam," said Ibang, 66, whose people were among the first moved to the relocation village of Sungai Asap 14 years ago.
"Some teens who go to school learn to rebel against their parents, and boys and girls now mingle freely as they see it on the television," he said. There were 10 recent teen pregnancies – something unheard-of in the old days.
The state government is pushing to develop the economy of Sarawak, which is blessed by rich natural resources yet remains one of Malaysia's poorest states.
'We are really angry'
But critics say the effort, while necessary, is plagued by graft and harms tribes that are ethnically distinct from the nation's majority Malays.
Tribal lands make up about 80 percent of Sarawak and "nearly all has been taken for logging and plantations", said Mark Bujang, head of Borneo Resources Institute, a body working in defence of native land rights.
In October, Penan tribespeople blocked roads into their lands for a week to protest logging and alleged river pollution by Malaysian firm Interhill until the blockade was dismantled by authorities.
At a forum on native concerns in the town of Bintulu in October organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, about 150 Iban tribespeople alleged a palm oil company illegally seized their land for a plantation and disturbed ancestral graves, said Joseph Laja, an Iban.
"We are really angry," Laja told commission members.
"If they move into another part of our land, there could be violence."
About four million of Malaysia's 28 million people belong to indigenous tribes, most of which are native to Malaysian Borneo where some retain diminishing traditional rainforest hunting and farming ways.
Officially, they enjoy the same preferential treatment in business, education and other areas accorded to Malays – a controversial policy meant to lift Malay socio-economic standing.
But natives and activists say this has meant little to tribes, who remain among the country's poorest groups.
As a result, many youths welcome their new life and opportunities in Sungai Asap, which now has 11,600 people from a range of tribes living in traditionally inspired longhouses.
White elephant
Roads linking the village to coastal cities have, along with modern telecommunications, opened new employment vistas for tribal youths.
"I love living in Sungai Asap," said Lenny Prescially, 18, as she tapped out messages to friends on Facebook in a local community centre.
Her family moved here from the jungles when she was four and she knows little of the old ways.
"Only the elders want to continue the old lifestyle. They don't know anything," she said dismissively of the older men who still hunt wild boar in forests and nearby palm plantations, machetes strapped to their waists.
The Bakun dam has been widely criticised as a white elephant, disastrous for uprooted tribes and pristine jungles that are now inundated by a reservoir the size of Singapore, its projected power output exceeding Sarawak's needs.
Transparency International has called the dam, which began generating electricity in August, a "monument to graft".
Much of the anger in Sarawak is directed at Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud – himself from the Melanau tribe – who has governed the state since 1981 and is widely accused of corruption, cronyism, and plundering the state's resources, which he denies.
But Sarawak Land Development Minister James Masing said the state must develop the economy and give youths new opportunities.
"I have to support (the state's youths). We need to develop Sarawak," he told AFP.
But there is a palpable sense of rootlessness today for communities whose identity was long linked to ancestral lands passed down through generations.
"When our land is taken away, there is no longer any blood in our body," said Sungai Asap resident Stem Liau, 48.
Ibang, the Kenyah headman, said his people were promised eight hectares (20 acres) of farmland per family at Sungai Asap but only received a little more than one hectare of poor-quality land.
"Promises have been broken," said Ibang, who has struggled to grow pepper, cocoa and rubber.
Hasmy Agam, chairman of the rights commission, said it had received nearly 2,000 complaints over native land rights infringement in Malaysia over the past decade. Many of those complaining have threatened violence.
"We sense that. We hope that is not the solution," Hasmy said.
SHAH ALAM: Jaminannan Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim bahawa 100,000 permohonan tanah akan diselesai dalam masa terdekat menyaksikan 80 peratus Melayu bakal menerima tanah dari kerajaan negeri, kata Exco kerajaan negeri, Yaakob Sapari.
Menurutnya, jaminan itu juga mencerminkan sikap kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat yang telus dan tidak memilih latar belakang politik dalam soal pemberian tanah kepada rakyat.
"Dasar kerajaan negeri jelas di mana pemilikan tanah diberi kepada individu yang telah menetap dan telah mengusahakan tanah tersebut," tegas beliau dalam satu kenyataan media.
Yaakob yang merupakan Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Tetap Pemodenan Pertanian, Pengurusan Sumber Alam dan Pembangunan Usahawan berkata, antara kawasan yang diberi tumpuan adalah Sabak Bernam, Kuala Selangor, Gombak, Ijok, Dengkil dan Kuang .
"Selain itu, kerajaan negeri juga akan mempertimbangkan permohonan tanah kaum Cina di Sekinchan dan kaum India di Batu Caves yang sebelum ini selalu dipinggarkan oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN)," katanya.
Katanya, keadaan itu berbeza dengan pemerintahan BN dahulu apabila setiap permohonan tanah perlu melalui jawatankuasa daerah tanah yang dipengerusikan oleh seseorang Adun.
Sistem itu katanya, menyebabkan berlaku kepincangan kerana permohonan tanah hanya akan diluluskan sekiranya pemohon memiliki 'fahaman politik' yang sama dengan seseorang Adun tersebut.
Tambah Yaakob, kerajaan dahulu juga dilihat gagal menangani masalah tanah dengan baik, malah, bekas Menteri Besar, Dato' Seri Khir Toyo juga gagal menyelesaikan pemohonan tanah orang Melayu di kawasannya sendiri di Sungai Panjang.
Anwar Ibrahim: We Respect Other Cultures & Contributions
Q & A session at a dialogue with more than 200 community leaders from some 65 Chinese associations and guilds in Subang Jaya, Selangor 08/11/2011 Video Rating: 2 / 5
PETALING JAYA: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has forecast a solid growth performance of 5.6% in six Southeast Asian economies between 2012-2016. The six countries are Malaysia, the Phillipines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
In its Southeast Asian Economic Outlook report released this morning, OECD noted that while global uncertainties and natural disasters have negatively impacted the region's growth prospects these six economies have been spared the worst.
The report projected Malaysia's average GDP growth to be a steady 5.3% over the next five years and hit 5.6% in 2016.
This has put Malaysia at the third spot among the six nations with Indonesia leading at a forecast 6.6% followed by Vietnam at 6.3% for the same timeframe.
The Philippines is looking at a possible 4.9% GDP growth, Singapore at 4.6% and Thailand at 4.5%.
The OECD Development Centre director, Mario Pezzini, meanwhile observed that the nature of growth in Asia is changing in response to global uncertainty and new regional challenges.
"It is becoming more balanced, inclusive and sustainable," he said in a media statement this morning.
"A new type of economic growth is needed in Southeast Asia. Every cloud has a silver lining and the global uncertainty is an opportunity to re-invent growth."
The report also noted moderate growth in external demand have prompted Asean economies to seek out domestic drivers of growth in the medium term.
A particular focus is now being given to the exploration of green growth as an alternative strategy for long-term sustainable development.
"Previously heavily dependent on external demand, domestic drivers will play a more important role in Southeast Asian economies going forward," said the report.
"Large-scale investments in infrastructure and private consumption, driven by the growing middle class and reforms in social policies, are two increasing engines of growth in the region."
The report also stressed that Southeast Asia's ability to weather the impact of global macroeconomic uncertainty rested heavily on the implementation of structural policies aimed at enhancing productivity.
Changing growth dynamics
It pointed out that many Southeast Asian countries already recognise the need to shift their development strategies in ways that reflect the changing growth dynamics of the world economy and are including several new elements in their five-year national development plans.
"The Malaysian economy has to become more productive, innovation-led and diversified to avoid the middle-income trap," OECD added. "The 10th Malaysia Plan provides a strategy to face this challenge."
The report meanwhile hailed green growth as offering a viable development model for Asean countries in the long term.
While it acknowledged that Asean's carbon emissions remain modest they are also growing faster by 5.5 % a year between 1990 and 2010.
"As a fast-growing economic bloc with a projected population of 700 million by 2030, Asean countries will make a much larger contribution to global carbon emissions," the report predicted.
It further warned that much work still remains to foster green growth in the region with the biggest challenge being balancing short-term economic needs and long-term environmental imperatives.
"Better use of enviromental tax instruments, access to green technologies, more public-private partnerships in energy conservation, and taking part in the global carbon market will all be determining tools," the report concluded.
Anwar Ibrahim: How Am I Going To Turn Around The Country?
Q & A session at a dialogue with more than 200 community leaders from some 65 Chinese associations and guilds in Subang Jaya, Selangor 08/11/2011 Video Rating: 5 / 5
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Vow to keep up the pressure
"As the placards here say, 'I cannot believe I'm protesting for my right to protest'. The Bill must be withdraw. There is just no excuse to push it through and extensive changes must be made," prominent human rights lawyer and PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.
