|
MGG Pillai Commentary Search
|
| 
| Page 3 << Previous || Next >>
|
Found 45 matches for Reformasi
| |
| 2000-09-07 | The Deputy Prime Minister Flexes His Muscles The government and UMNO is rudderless, the captain angry and sulking
but refusing to repair the UMNO hulk damaged by the Anwar anchor it threw
overboard, which the Reformasi fish swimming beneath grabbing it and
pushing the ship irrevocably on to the rocks. Dato' Seri Abdullah grabs
the rudder but cannot yet steer it. And cannot yet lift the anchor from
the choppy political seas. If he does not, he sinks with the others. As
he only realises too well. He takes the politically shrewd decision to
re-position himself. He has no choice. Especially, with rising pressure
within UMNO for changes to its constitution to remove those
power-entrenching provisions the Prime Minister insisted to prevent any
one challenging him for the UMNO presidency after the 1988 split.
Indeed, the present UMNO supreme council, elected last year, and its
divisional and branch leaders are so ineffective and voiceless that quiet
demands of fresh elections ahead of time, possibly next year, is demanded.
The Malay community's political and cultural divide is focussed on the
official mistreatment of its former deputy prime minister, one UMNO
politicians cannot answer, and when they do try are subjected to much
abuse and unanswerable questions. What Dato' Seri Abdullah does is to
contain the flak and move the party forward. The future of UMNO depends
upon his success.
|
| 2000-08-25 | Mr Lee Kuan Yew Comes A-Calling THE SINGAPORE senior minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew's four day visit to Kuala
Lumpur last week shook the Malay community more than he and it bargained
for. As usual, his visits to, and comments about, Singapore's neighbours
clarifies bilateral ties, not in the way he wants it but in the reality of
it all. What saved it is his reflective tone, his as usual careful choice
of words, the wisdom he exudes, the schoolmasterly tone of a political Mr
Chips. The Malays were squirming in their seats, especially at his
lecture at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).
His talks with local journalists must have convinced him of a "Reformasi"
in the making. He was discreet in his assessment, but the import of what
he said struck home to all who listened.
|
| 1999-05-25 | Sabotage and skullduggery in University Canteens? Universiti Putra Malaysia looks over its shoulders for saboteurs, the
deputy education minister threatens to expel 4,000 demonstrating
undergraduates, over unmentioned fears of the dreaded "Reformasi"
invading the campus. This, we are led to believe, is why 53
undergraduates were poisoned after "consuming a drink at their hostel"
or "after having breakfast", depending on whether you believe column 5
or 6 of page two of the New Straits Times of 24 May 1999. The
university and the canteen caterer is convinced it is sabotage; the
student council disagrees; "unproven and hypothetical", it says.
Fourthousand undergraduates staged a peaceful demonstration at the UPM
campus in Serdang. The deputy education minister, Dato' Khalid Yunus,
who has nightmarish dreams of Reformasi unseating him, said the students
should have used "proper channels". He believes fresh undergraduates,
who do not yet know their way around, should not be upset when 53 of
them are felled by food poisoning, should not show their displeasure at
the shoddy goods they are fed with? Or is the deputy minister saying
that the undergraduates have no grounds to show their displeasure in
public? Besides, does he seriously think the government would survive
if he begins to expel undergraduates because they fear food poisoning?
|
| 1999-05-10 | Is there a Shifting of Alliances Within the Prime Minister's Circle? So, how is it that a consortium of a company named Ibsul and the
Teacher's Co-operative, linked to the high profile resident of Sungei
Buloh jail, is given the contract to build the Cameron Highlands
hospital? The Penghulu has given Ibsul "Beribawa" status and a Class A
construction licence. Why? How? Both Ibsul and the teachers'
cooperative are irrevocably pro-Anwar; the Ibsul chairman, in the wake
of the Reformasi affair, went underground; the Teacher's Co-operative
has as its leading light a still-active organiser of pro-Anwar support
groups. This consortium has no experience in hospital construction nor
has it any experience in building on hilly terrain. So, why is the
Penghulu, as finance minister, awarding the contract to a company openly
linked to the Prime Minister's nemesis? Is he perchance hedging his
bets so that he is free, even if his Prime Minister is not, should the
situation turn, as it did to President Suharto, against the Old Man? Or
is he already the proverbial drowning man clutching at straws?
|
| 1998-12-02 | Shi'ites and Reformasi Rallies The Malaysian minister in charge of Islamic affairs, Dato' Abdul
Hamid Othman, is a very worried man. In this Sunni land, he worries
that renegade Shia followers have combined to make the prime
minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed's life difficult. They gang
up with Reformasi supporters to cause demonstrations against the
government. So, he has told the police he would help identify the
Shias. He is not worried about the Sunnis who form the bulk of the
demonstrators. But the Shias! They should be rooted out. It is
not a political issue, of course, he reassures us. He says it was
unfortunate that Shias are involved. Good. But is he now saying it
was fortunate that the Sunnis are involved? If Shias join the
demonstration, he says, "this cannot be seen as a political issue or
an individual matter anymore as it could turn into a religious
dispute." Is the minister saying it is Pusat Islam's view that
Sunnis may demonstrate against the government, but not the Shias?
|
<< Previous | 1 2 3 | Next >>
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
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.
|
|