Straight Fight in Kajang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kajang by-election is a straight fight between BN's Chew Mei Fun and PKR's Wan Aizizah Wan Ismail. March 23 is polling day.

 

This is the third by-election since GE13 last year. The state seat comprises 38,965 registered voters. At the last general election in May, 2013, the seat saw a voter turnout of 87.9% with 541 spoilt votes. It has 48% Malay voters, Chinese 41%, Indian 10% and others 1%.

 

And PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh garnered 19,571 votes to win the seat with a 6,824 majority. BN-MCA’s Lee Ban Seng received 12,747 votes and Mohamad Ismail (Berjasa) 1,014 votes.

 

The three independent candidates who contested the seat are Mohd Iwan Jefrey Abdul Majib (249 votes), Ong Yan Foo (85 votes) and Mohd Khalid Kassim (83 votes).

 

Aside from the two Lees, the rest of the candidates lost their election deposits.

 

I was at Cititel MidValley for the MidValley Toastmasters meeting – at the invitation of Vice President Education Timothy Nakayama – and I delivered CC speech #3 of Round 1 of Project 15 titled “Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock”. Again I was careless with my timing – I exceeded by six seconds.

 

But that aside, it was an excellent meeting for many reasons. The Toastmaster-of-the Evening was in his element, the Table Topics session was engaging and the speeches and evaluations were engrossing. And the meeting was very businesslike. Better still, members were not only punctual but they faithfully kept to time. I am happy to give this meeting a score of an 8.5 over 10.

MH370 Goes Missing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope is still strong even if it has been more than 60 hours since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from the radar. The plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China after taking off from KLIA at 12:41 AM on March 08, 2014. It should have landed at its intended destination at 6:30 AM local time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BiQnv50CUAArh44.jpg

 

An international search and rescue team from nine countries have turned up nothing so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A man takes pictures of a flight information board displaying the Scheduled Time of Arrival (STA) of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 (top, in red) at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, March 8, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon

 

My heart goes out to those impacted by the MH370 incident.

[Blogger's note: MH370 was the same flight I took when I went to Beijing in July 2012].

A Miscarriage of Justice

 

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has described the Malaysian court decision to jail Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy as a miscarriage of justice.

 

The judiciary watchdog said in a press statement released on Saturday that the overturning of the 2012 High Court acquittal of Anwar and the appeal by the Malaysian government contravened international human rights standards and the rule of law.

 

“The ICJ condemns the use of the colonial-era article 377B of the Malaysian Penal Code,” it said, adding that the article had seldom been used in Malaysia but had been applied twice to stop Anwar from challenging the government. The statement was signed by ICJ’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific, Sam Zarifi.

 

It also said the decision on Friday “certainly casts doubts on the independence and impartiality of the Malaysian judiciary” and “tarnishes the reputation of the country’s legal system.”

 

ICJ commissioner Elizabeth Evatt, a former member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, was at the Court of Appeal to observe the proceedings.

 

The Malaysian Bar Council similarly issued a press release yesterday on the court judgment, insisting that “this glaring anomaly and inconsistency brings the administration of justice into disrepute. It also fuels a perception that Anwar Ibrahim is being persecuted, and not prosecuted”.

 

Since 1998, it has been a concoction of lies about Anwar. Every lie has been a travesty of the truth.

 

Just what kind of country are we living in today?

Wan Azizah Puts on a Brave Face

In the wake of Anwar Ibrahim’s five year jail sentence, his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ahmad put on a brave face.

 

“Tears are meant to wet the cheek only for a short moment, so wipe it away and continue to fight. This is what I feel now,” she said yesterday.

 

Malaysians are ready to fight the good fight! Lawan tetap lawan!

 

 

On Thursday, I was at KDU University College for the D’Utama Toastmasters meeting. (I was absent from my own Sunway University Toastmasters meeting on that same day). But I must confess the meeting was just so-so – a score of 6 over 10 would have been considered generous – and I left after the General Evaluator made his opening remarks. I already knew that the meeting had been draggy and it was twenty-three minutes behind schedule.

 

One of the two speeches was supposed to be inspiring but it turned out to be uninteresting and I was unmoved. I sometimes wonder why the speaker used a visual aid – unless of course if she was attempting CC speech #8 – when words should be more than sufficient to leave a good impression.

 

I would like to draw attention to Diane Setterfield’s writings: “There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic” (The Thirteenth Tale, 2006).

Day of Infamy Explained

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The forces of evil came together to corner Anwar Ibrahim and yesterday the Court of Appeal overturned his acquittal for sodomy, and sentenced him to five years jail. It was cleverly staged, the script faithfully followed and of course, it was an unanimous decision.

 

Judge Balia Yusof Wahi, who led a three-man bench – the other two were Justices Aziah Ali and Mohd Zawawi Salleh – delivered the court's decision in ninety minutes after hearing submissions from both parties on Thursday and Friday.

 

[Anwar, who is PKR de facto leader and Permatang Pauh MP, was charged, in August 2008 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, with sodomizing his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. And he was found not guilty in January 2012. The prosecution filed an appeal against the decision, which led to the overturned verdict on March 07, 2014].

 

Two individuals in particular are celebrating this momentous event. I can hear the drums beating and the trumpets blaring to commemorate Anwar’s misadventure in the judicial labyrinth that serves as yet another example of a national institution that has gone rogue.

 

Former prime minister and devil incarnate Mahathir Mohamad was furious when the Federal Court released Anwar Ibrahim in 2006. He blamed his successor Abdullah Badawi for this and the latter became his punching bag until his quick downfall.

 

The fact that a resurgent Anwar energized the opposition forces that comprise of PKR, DAP and PAS and then brought all three together under the banner of Pakatan Rakyat exacerbated Mahathir’s anger and made him even more bitter when the PR coalition shattered the myth of BN’s invincibility at the 2008 polls.

 

And Anwar has been a thorn in the side of Mahathir and in the run-up to GE13, the former hammered and chiseled away at the latter's Achilles heel: his sons’ embarrassing wealth. All he could manage was to feebly deny and the voluble Mahathir could not offer any other comeback.

 

Mahathir’s plan to end Anwar’s political career in 1998 finally came to fruition yesterday.

 

The other happy person is Najib Razak, the current prime minister. With Anwar behind bars, Najib would have one less formidable adversary to contend with. For a chickenshit who enjoys an approval rating of just about 50%, an Anwar who is locked away comes as a mighty big relief.

 

Besides, Shafee Abdullah’s appointment as the prosecutor was down to Najib and this was a rare and atypical move that blatantly showed how much Putrajaya wanted to win in court.

 

Anwar Ibrahim showing himself to take the lead with the Kajang stratagem caught napping UMNO off-guard and they scrambled to stop him – at all costs. When Anwar wins the by-election this month, he can position himself as a potential Menteri Besar of the richest state in Malaysia and this would have been all too much for his foes.

 

After all, UMNO understood the dire consequences if Anwar not only becomes the MB but he does a more than decent job. The danger lurks when Anwar has a platform. Therefore, Anwar must be finished off before he assumes the position of Selangor MB.

 

And so I urge Malaysians to remember March 07, the day of infamy. We must know the evil that UMNO do. And we must no longer keep silent when injustice shows itself. I am angry; in fact Malaysians must get angry because wickedness has decided to set up home in this country!

 

If Anwar is out, then Nurul Izzah must be ready to lead. Anwar's fate is to be the sacrificial lamb for our better future. His redemption will come one day but for now, I fear it is too late to save Anwar.

Malaysia's Day of Infamy

Chew Mei Fun and Perkasa

There was much hullabaloo about MCA’s Chew Mei Fun (left) being spotted on the same stage with Negeri Sembilan Perkasa chief Ruslan Kassim at Teratak Pekembar, Kampung Batu 10 in Cheras on February 28, 2014.

 

MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong defended Chew when he dismissed it as being a no “big deal”. I agree with him on this score. After all, this is not the first time, MCA and/or the other lackey BN parties have been caught sleeping on the same bed with Perkasa. So, no big deal!

 

Please understand! UMNO need Perkasa. MCA need UMNO. So MCA and Perkasa (and UMNO of course) coming together to cohabit as a threesome is a natural progression! They are living in sin, after all.

 

As if we didn’t know that MCA are prostituting just so they can hang around the corridors of power. It’s not even about political survival – since they are going to be totally wiped out in GE14! – Rather it is to scavenge the crumbs on the floor discarded by their UMNO masters.

 

Anyway, UMNO or Perkasa – what’s the difference? It’s a case of birds of a feather flocking together!

 

At the AFC Toastmasters meeting on Wednesday, I delivered a speech that was supposedly a practice contest speech. To me, it was my CC speech #2 of Round 3 of Project 15. I thought my speech was good but I must be careful about the timing. My evaluator was Lim Thian Seng (Taman Indrahana) and true to his word, he was honest with me and even better, he gave me some invaluable tips. There was an open evaluation too and I received good feedback from fellow Toastmasters.

 

It was a good meeting and I had enjoyed the speeches and evaluations. Even the meeting was blessed with good vibes and I don’t think it was because John Lau, TI’s Immediate Past International President was present. Having said that, he did generously share with us a message that was both significant and meaningful and wrapping it with warm sincerity. Overall, this meeting deserves a score of an 8.5 over 10.