PR: Permainan politik UMNO karut

Mesyuarat tergempar PR dipanggil berikutan permainan isu "Guan Eng gantikan Agong" yang digembar-gemburkan oleh UMNO dan media massa.

10 usul telah diluluskan dalam mesyuarat tergempar PR Pulau Pinang yang dipengerusikan oleh Ketua Menteri Pulalu Pinang and Pengerusi Pakatan Rakyat Lim Guan Eng.

Video oleh Jimmy Leow

Malaysia Kini and Malaysian Insider Barred from UMNO General Assembly

Mengarut! That's all I have to say about this barring exercise which seems to be more popular nowadays. If something looked threatening, bar it, lock it, beat the hell out of it and finally ISA it. That's all they know, sad isn't it?

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 24 - The Umno headquarters has today barred six internet media organisations from covering the party's annual general assembly, said a party official.

The ban came a day after the Umno dominated government suspended the publication permits of two opposition newspapers Harakah and Suara Keadilan.

According to party official Hamid Sattar the decision not to issue press tags to members of the six agencies including The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini was made after a high level meeting.

"We decided not to issue press tags to the bloggers," said Hamid adding that the media organisations involved could still appeal against the decision.

Untouchables vs Disposables

Sounds like a movie about a few good guys on a do or die mission to get rid of the mafias….Well, to think of it, there was a movie named The Untouchables (1987)  starring Shaw Connery, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro and Kevin Costner, not a good ending though.

How is this related to our local politic scene? The story line seems to be the same but of course with a lot of Malaysian twist.

Everyone knows the Untouchables in Malaysian politics are the members of UMNO, the latest addition to the list of many is Ali Rustam, CM of Melaka. Barred from contesting for the UMNO vice president post for condoning money politics because he allowed his agents to distribute money to the UMNO delegates to vote for him in the upcoming UMNO general assembly, yet he is free as a bird.  

Not suspended, no pressure to resign from the CM post, nothing shocking, no drama, it is like another day in paradise. No wonder so many Malays joined UMNO for the ultimate protection under its umbrella.

Corrupt is corrupt! Chief Minister or not, out you go! There are no two ways about it, some people say. But here in Malaysia, there are. So, tell me how will UMNO get rid of corruption in the party when a corrupted leader (found guilty by its own discipline body) still walks freely among the delegates and still have the ultimate control of the state of Melaka? How can this be the role model for the future generations to come? 

On the other hand sadly, we also have the Disposables (sound like diapers or like the nasi lemak wrappers) represented by the rest of the Opposition Parties such as DAP, PKR, PAS and the public. “Sikit sikit salah minta resign, tak salah pun minta resign.”

We are who the government is today, therefore we must be crystal clear who we want to represent us in the future. 

Who is the scapegoat of UMNO?

I am quite fond of her, she is strong and speaks from the heart. But is she the scapegoat of UMNO? At this point of time, diversion of such may come in handy for certain quarters. With Najib Razak taking over the government soon, little scapegoats like Azalina Othman and Khir Toyo played a distracting side line show for all. 

Yesterday, a team of MACC officers went to Azalina's office to remove a few documents, as part of the investigation into money politics leading up to UMNO party elections. Azalina was not in when MACC came knocking. 

As there are too much heat on Najib with the Mongolian model issue, he would want to start off with ministers with clean sheets. I will not be surprised if both Azalina and Khir Toyo sees their positions in UMNO go down the drain with the current allegations of money politics, unauthorized "loans" on the Saudi apartment deals, Disneyland and some "technical meeting" which ended up in a shopping spree in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Who is Azalina Othman Said....

Dato' Sri Azalina binti Othman Said is the Tourism Minister in the Cabinet of Malaysia and the auntie to Raja Afiq. Before that, she was the Youth and Sports Minister. She is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main component party of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.

Azalina is the Member of Parliament for Pengerang, Johor. She won her Pengerang parliamentary seat uncontested in the 2008 Malaysian general election. She also won theprevious election uncontested also due to last minute pulling out of opposition candidacy. Born in Johor Bahru on December 31, 1963, Azalina started his tertiary education in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) (or Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM) as it was known then) by taking her Diploma in Public Administration (DPA). Upon graduating with ITM, she read laws in Universiti Malaya and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours.) or LL.B Hons. After graduating in 1988, she went on to further her studies at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom and graduated with a Master of Laws (LLM) in 1990.

She first started her career in Malaysia as a legal assistant at Messr Raja Darryl & Loh law firm (1988-1989, 1991-1994). After gaining experience, she became an associate partner of Azalina Chan & Chia law firm (1994-2001) and with Messrs Skine (2001-2002).

In 2002, she formed a partnership with Messrs Zaid Ibrahim & Co [2002-2004], which is the largest law firm in Malaysia and later on with Zaid Ibrahim & Co. LLP, Singapore in 2003. Coincidentally, Zaid Ibrahim is now her cabinet colleague, having been appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in-charge of Legal Affairs at the same time as her appointment as Tourism Minister.

Before getting involved in politics, she was the host of various television talk shows, mainly discussing about political, economic and social issues, such as Dateline Malaysia and Lidah Pengarang on ntv7.

MACC, whose catspaw?

Just one day after Lim Kit Siang labelled MACC as the catspaw of UMNO, MACC pulls out a rabbit from the hat to somehow counter the DAP strongman's comment. Nevertheless, it is yet to be seen if the "latest catch" will ever be prosecuted by the arms of the law. Who's law? UMNO's law? If so, probably nothing will happen, things will just slide away from the public's view and forgotten.

On Wednesday, a senior aide to an Umno minister was nabbed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on for suspected graft. It has learnt from informed sources that the political secretary to the minister was stopped with more than RM50,000 in his car.

In January, MACC officers picked up 12 UNMO divisional officers as they were alleged to be distributing between RM 300 to RM 500 to some of the delegates who will be attending the general assembly-cum-elections.

Based on the MACC history of investigations on money politics in UNMO, none were found with corrupt acts related to the party election eventhough there were bread crumb trail of claims that money has been exchange.

How typical of a Malaysian political scene.

Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Calling the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission an Umno catspaw, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang today criticised the anti-graft body for clearing claims of money politics in Umno while harassing the Perak state speaker for abuse of power.

"Congratulations to the MACC chief commissioner for clearing Umno of all allegations of the corruption of money politics — which must have even caught Umno leaders, delegates and members by surprise that Umno is so clean, pristine and pure!," Lim said in a statement, referring to Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan's comments that no cases of money politics have been found.

Ahmad Said, who had earlier said there is evidence that Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had abused power over the donation of 46 cows and use of his Lexus car, also got into hot water for claiming that Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar had abused his power by calling for an emergency assembly sitting.

Scuffle in Parliament.

Megat Zulkarnain seems to warn Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong during the confrontation in the Parliament compound.

Another "wayang" by UMNO Youth, maybe there is another candidate for position of kepala UMNO Youth. Want to show terror, want to play hero, die for UNMO konon. Die for money maybe.

Karpal used words, UNMO Youth used force and they really looked like some gangsters from behind the alleys. If you have seen one, you have seen all. Behave, be properly represented, state your case, not show of force. Don't be like in some countries, they beat up each other silly in Parliament, it is not our culture. "Jagalah maruah sendiri, budi bahasa budaya kita"

Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — A group from Selangor Umno Youth, led by its Serdang chief Ungku Mat Salleh, attempted to stop DAP veteran leader Karpal Singh from entering the Parliament building today to demand that he apologise for saying yesterday that Umno Youth was responsible for sending bullets in the mail to him recently.

Pakatan Rakyat representatives N. Gobalakrishnan and Lim Lip Eng tried to protect Karpal but were roughed up by the Umno group members. Karpal eventually managed to make it into the Dewan Rakyat safely.

Also present outside the Parliament building was Gombak Umno Youth chief Megat Zulkarnain Omardin who told reporters that they are Umno members who are willing to die defending the party.