‘Amateurs doomed Sabah from the start’

KOTA KINABALU: Amateurs in Sabah’s political arena were the cause of the state losing its autonomous rights and privileges when it joined joined Singapore, Sarawak and Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963, local opposition politician Jeffrey Kitingan charged.

He said Sabahans are now paying the price due to poorly educated and inexperienced founding leaders having been selected to negotiate Sabah’s entry into the federation as a founding member.

Open letter to PM -as the first ever women Minister

As the first ever male Women’s Minister, can you please end gender discrimination at work place!

Dear Prime Minister,

This letter is to request you as the Prime Minister and the first ever male Women’s Minister (Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development) in the country to give a strong message to the employers and unions to stop all forms of discriminations against women at work place. While the country is moving towards a developed nation status, it is very distressing to have the women in Malaysia suffer due to discrimination laws and poor implementation.

“For a Society, Civil and Decent” – Interview with S. Ambiga by Penang Monthly

(Photo by Puah Sze Ning)

By Ooi Kee Beng

Courtesy of Penang Monthly , August 2012

Penang Monthly editor Ooi Kee Beng talks to Bersih icon Ambiga Sreenevasan between sessions at the inaugural Asean Coalition for Clean Governance conference on civil society and why she thinks “Malaysians are a great people”.

Ooi Kee Beng: Let’s discuss the recent rise of civil society activism in Malaysia. We had a half-year of rallies in mid-2007, starting with 600 people from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress demonstrating outside the Prime Minister’s office against government refusal to initiate minimum wage legislation.

Several union demonstrations were held in the following weeks. Soon after the country became 50 years old on August 31 that year, the big rallies really began. It started with the Malaysian Bar Council, of which you were the president then, organising the so-called Walk for Justice on September 26. About 2,000 people took part.

Great Truths in Malaysia - very witty

By Louis Belmonte

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is the Malaysian Parliament.

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Parliament. But then I repeat myself.

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

S’wak assemblyman quits BN

KUCHING: Controversial Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat has finally resigned from his party Sarawak Progressive Democratc Party (SPDP), a Barisan Nasional component party, after months of speculation.

He said yesterday he resigned because of Julau MP and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (another BN ally) vice-president Joseph Salang’s ‘stubborn’ insistence on defending his seat in the next parlaimentary polls.

But some political observers here are of the view that Salang is “not the real reason” behind Judat’s decision to quit SPDP.

GE 13: What would Jesus do?

PETALING JAYA: The relationship between the Churches and the federal government has been nothing short of tensed as numerous contentious issues have placed both at loggerheads.

Though unspoken, it is an open secret that the faithfuls of the various Christian denominations and their leaders are seething in silent anger.

The grapevine claims that while these shepherds appear to be apolitical in public for obvious reasons, they however whisperotherwise in the ears of their respective flocks behind closed doors.

It has always been said that apart from the devout Christians, the eyes and ears of the government are also present during services in certain Churches to keep track of the subversive elements there.

Malaysians of all races should protest…….

Well, in case you have not realised, Yang Berhormat, not only same-sex marriages, as you said, erode the family institution. Sex outside marriage does as well. And there are many more Malaysians bonking outside marriage than Malaysians entering same-sex marriages. So why aren’t you appealing to all Malaysians to ‘protest en masse’ regarding this? This is a bigger problem than same-sex marriages.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Bernama) - Malaysians of all races should protest en masse the practice of same sex marriages as they would erode the family institution, advised Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.

Commenting on the recent wedding reception here of Malaysian gay Christian priest, Ngeo Boon Lin and his musical producer partner, Phineas Newborn III, who were married in New York last year, he said that even the Christians in the country prohibited such practices.

Greed: The Cause of Wealth Disparity Among Races

Every morning as I walk down my street I see the same homeless Chinese man sleeping on asphalt. Just around the corner there’s a Malay guy lying on his back, oblivious to the office workers walking by the sidewalk that has become his makeshift bedroom since even before I moved downtown five years ago. I walk a little further and I see a dreadlocked Indian lady getting up at a bus stop to make her way elsewhere.

Come evening time, as I am strolling back home through the neighboring vicinity, I see an Indian man driving a 2010 Jaguar XJ. A minute goes by and my neighbor, Mr Lee passes by me in his classic red Ferrari but only to pull up behind a Brabus that’s parked in front of a swanky Italian restaurant. Mr Lee had to wait for a big shot Malay broad to board the chauffeur-driven car before he could proceed to wherever the party is at.

Special Report: Petronas chafes at its role as Malaysia's piggy bank

(Reuters) - State-owned oil company Petronas is tired of being Malaysia's cash trough. Its growing pique at the government flared into public view here in early June at the World Gas Conference.

Chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas took to the stage and declared that the government's policy of subsidizing fuel was plain wrong. A murmur ran through the crowd - his boss, Prime Minister Najib Razak, was sitting in the front row.

Moments later, Najib went to the podium himself to remind everybody that the subsidies - for which Petronas foots the bill - have "social-economic objectives."

Be inclusive on RCI, says Bersih

KOTA KINABALU:Bersih Sabah calls on the government to allow views from civil society to be considered in the formation of the Royal Commision of Inquiry (RCI) and the drafting of the Terms of Reference (TOR).

According to Bersih Sabah spokesperson Andrew Ambrose (also known as Atama), "While we welcome the announcement, we also wish that the government would listen to its own people. We want to contribute and help the government in its effort in establishing a comprehensive and all-encompassing RCI."