| 
| Page 4 << Previous || Next >> |
|
|
|
|
| 2005-12-26 | The National Front assumes its mantle on its way to destruction THE NATIONAL FRONT IS NOT absolutely in power as it thinks it is. It is true it has two thirds or more in parliament and 12 of the 13 state assemblies. but it keeps looking over its shoulders before it does any legislation. First it was the reformasi crowd, which was formed in the wake of Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's dismissal as deputy prime minister and UMNO's deputy president and expulsion from UMNO ... |
| 2005-12-24 | The women have lost, but has the National Front won? THE NATIONAL FRONT GOVERNMENT can only pass laws on the conduct of Islam for Kuala Lumpur. In other states, although they are in power, they can only do with the consent of the ruler for it is ordained in the Federal Constition, which the National Front and its previous Alliance is responsible. It got its first chance at enacting Islamic law when Parliament, which it controls, got the legal right to pass laws for the Federal Territory. The Federal Territory now consists of Kuala Lumpur, Putra Jaya, and Labuan ... |
| 2005-12-23 | The National Front makes another mistake THE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF PARLIAMENT, otherwise known as minister in the Prime Minister's Department. has made it clear that the Senate is not for discussion and eventually vote on contentious bills. He has warned the National Front women senators that they must vote against their conscience and for their own degradation. It does not matter what they personally thought ... |
| 2005-12-22 | ASEAN on its death throes ASEAN IS A DEAD LETTER. What started as a bang in 1967 will go out in a whimper. It is now beholden to outsiders, especially the United States. The chairman of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur which just ended, Malaysian Prime Minister, has made sure of it ... |
| 2005-12-21 | The National Front is confused THE PEOPLE IN POWER are confused. They have not realised the people challenge them at every turn. The post-information age, which is now, is as destructive to the people in power as the Industrial Age was when it began in 1832. That enabled the rulers to ride rough shod over the people, who found their unique ways to confront that ... |
| 2005-12-17 | ASEAN will not be allowed to exist, except as a body controlled by the United States NO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION SURVIVES if it is not altered to fit the times. Nor would it survive if the promoters are not keen. The latest that will not survive is ASEAN. Nor would the East Asian Summit ... |
| 2005-12-15 | Is one Myanmarese lady more important in ASEAN than 4 million Thai Malays? THE ASEAN SUMMIT IS OVER. It is held every year now, instead of occasionally as it was agreed in the past. The next one will be in the Philippines. The most important decision it has taken is to fine- tune the East Asian Summit, in which is invited the United States's Sheriff in the region, Australia, and New Zealand, which though has taken an independent stance in the past is always on the side of the West where it matters ... |
| 2005-12-13 | The Pengkalen Pasir byelection is faulty because of Malay Dominance WHEN DATO' SERI ABDULLAH Ahmad Badawi, or Pak Lah, was on his way to the airport on the morning of 6th December 2005, when the voters trooped in Penkalen Pasir in Kelantan to cast their votes, his aides told him that PAS would win that seat. But intelligence sources had decided the day before UMNO would get the seat by 130 votes. That prediction was like a chief minister of Sabah told he was returned in his constituency by nearly 10,000 votes - two days before the election. PAS, on the other hand, knew it had lost the seat if more than 80 per cent voted, with the UMNO majority rising as more than 80 per cent voted ... |
| 2005-12-12 | In multiracial Malaysia, the non-Malay looks to Malay leaders in the National Front as more credible than their own! THE ELECTION IN PENGALEN Pasir was important for UMNO that it had its leaders virtually staying in the constituency for the campaigning. The deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, for instance, was there virtually every day of the runup to the polls. The first reason is easily discernible: he did not want the Prime Minister's son-law and UMNO Youth deputy leader, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, steal a march over him in the Prime Ministerial stakes. The other reason, unmentioned, is that the voters took askance to the presence of the MCA President, Dato' Ong Kah Ting, the Gerakan President, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik, the MIC President, Dato' Seri S ... |
| 2005-12-09 | More postal votes were cast than allowed in Pengkalen Pasir MORE POSTAL VOTES WERE cast in the Pengkalen Pasir state byelection than allowed. The Election Commission not only accepts this as normal, it is aggressively defends it. PAS is consulting its legal advisers. The National Front, and UMNO, has stopped crowing about their 'success' and gone into hibernation, its propaganda repeating the untruth but its officials are concerned ... |
| 2005-12-08 | Was it UMNO vs PAS in Pengkalen Pasir, or Khairy Jamaluddin vs Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak? THE NATIONAL FRONT, OR rather UMNO, has won the Kelantan state constituency seat of Pengkalen Pasir. The National Front publicity machine is ecstatic about it, but UMNO does not think it a victory. They see it not as a gladitorial contest between UMNO and PAS but as between Khairy Jamaluddin and Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak to see who would have the inside track to be Prime Minister after Khairy's father-in-law, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The 140-vote win is neither here nor there ... |
| 2005-12-07 | Where the tourist is respected more than a Malaysian, but not much more THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT IS in disarray. It tries to do what it can, but not what it should. It now takes what it must to divert attention. The Malaysian home minister, Dato' Azmi Khalid, has apologised to Beijing on his arrival there ... |
| 2005-12-07 | It is still Saddam Hussein versus the United States in Iraq SADDAM HUSSEIN IN THE dock challenges the United States and its plans to make Iraq in its image and get at the second largest oil reserves known, after Saudi Arabia. He is on trial for his life, orchestrated by the US. He is in their custody. It decides when or how the trial will be held ... |
| 2005-12-06 | Waffling about torture in secret prisons WHEN LEADERS AND OFFICIALS waffle, they are caught. The US national security advicer, Mr Stephen Hadley, and his predecessor. Ms Condoleeza Rice, who is now Secretary of State, waffled when asked if the CIA sent people to be tortured. They have, as individuals have come out with horrifying statements of what happened to them once in CIA hands ... |
| 2005-12-05 | The US in Iraq is no different than the Mongols in the 11th century THE MESS IN IRAQ today would not have happened if the United States had planned before Iraq was invaded. Their plans were of quislings, who were not given positions in the Iraqi government unless they held Western citizenship. In Australia, its citizens could not be in politics if they held dual citizenships. In Iraq, that was a necessity ... |
| 2005-12-04 | Would the present crisis have happened if Malays at the top obeyed the law? THE DEPUTY INFORMATION MINISTER, Dato' Zainuddin Maidin, has called on Malaysians not to be racialistic, and the deputy higher education minister, Dato' Fu Ah Kiow, urged authorities not to be 'overzealous' as this 'could be misconstrued as targetting a particular group.' No Malay minister has told the authorities not to. Among the non-Malays in the National Front, only the Chinese members of the government has. Perhaps Dato' Zainuddin might tell the Malay leaders in the National Front, especially from UMNO, not to be racialist. The nude woman in the MMS videoclip is Chinese, the government now says she is not a Chinese tourist ... |
| 2005-12-04 | The National Front government in sixes and sevens over the Chinese tourist MALAYSIA IS A SAFE place to visit, says the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents. It is. But tourists from Asia and Africa must allow themselves to be harassed by agencies of the government. That they are is in no doubt ... |
| 2005-12-01 | The Pengkalen Pasir byelection is not to benefit the constituency, but to prove a point THE NATIONAL FRONT SET the pace for the byelection in Pengkalen Pasir state assembly byelection in Kelantan. It can because it owns the media. PAS has fallen into a trap. But it is the National Front through UMNO that is fighting tooth and nail to wrest the seat which it had lost in the general election by a mere 65 votes ... |
| 2005-12-01 | The Malaysian government in disarray THE PRIME MINISTER, DATO' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) is furious with his deputy internal security minister, Dato' Noh Omar for having said that foreigners could go home if they thought Malaysia was cruel. But he does not drop the deputy minister from his government. He dare not, for Dato' Noh and his supporters may join his opponents in UMNO, which has the power in the National Front government. The home affairs minister, Dato' Azmi Khalid, who had to postpone his visit to China from yesterday to 20 December 2005, blames 'negative press reports" ... |
| 2005-11-30 | A systemic failure that could not be solved with scotch tape THE HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER, Dato' Azmi Khaled, who is going to China on 20 December 2005 and not today as he announced to the press, said it is press reports that paint Malaysia as profiling tourists, not that it does, that is hurting tourism. He said that newspapers in China 'have been carrying negative stories on the treatment of their citizens, and it does not help when local newspapers reprint the stories'. But has there been a believable statement so far that it does not profile tourists? The deputy internal security minister, Dato' Noh Omar, says it does profile tourists. So far he has justified the police case against the tourists ... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This archive was created as a tribute to the late veteran journalist MGG Pillai. We believed his writings are useful to develop a critical thinking analysis. By the way, the original mggpillai.com web site (2001-2006) was actually created by one of us. |