WHERE IS YOUR UNITED STAND ON MALAY ISSUES, WHERE IS YOUR WILL TO CHART NEW NARRATIVES FOR A RACIALLY UNITED NEW MALAYSIA: MILITARY VETERANS GIVE PAKATAN A WELL-DESERVED SCOLDING

KUALA LUMPUR— The National Patriots Association (Patriot) criticised Pakatan Harapan (PH) components and politicians today for being directionless and contradicting each other during recent communal controversies.

Its president, Brig Gen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamad Arshad Raji, noted that some groups were becoming radical in their demands for Malay rights, such as the mass rally to oppose the government’s plan to ratify the United Nation International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

“PH could have spoken in unison on the decisions taken by the Cabinet.

“Either a narrative on how our nation should move forward is unclear, or each tried to be individual heroes instead of providing the leadership that our society very much needed of them,” he said in a statement today.

Another example cited by Mohamad Arshad was the Seafield temple riot that started off as a land dispute, before it was turned into a racial issue to demand the resignations of Indian ministers.

“Hate speeches have become overly fiery and often devoid of rationale.

“These are works of sponsored thuggish behaviour and hooliganism intent on creating chaos that will benefit those who have been and will be indicted for their crimes against the nation,” he said.

However, he commended Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent call for the Malays to change their value system in order to succeed.

“Positive values are the very foundation of success for any community, groups and the nation as a whole,” he said.

He said therefore the government must devise a long-term strategy to steer the nation forward and solve the many problems inherited from the previous regime.

“Our nation is moving into a new year with a rising global interest rate, a weak stock market, a contracting world economy and a trade war between of the world’s two superpowers.

“Within our country, a weakening ringgit, a shrinking job market and a declining oil price threaten a situation that is both inflationary and an indication of stagnating growth,” he said, adding that Malaysia also has a RM1 trillion debt to manage.

Despite the bleak outlook for 2019, Mohamad Arshad urged Malaysians to close ranks in order to face the imminent hardship.

“If we stay united, the hardship will be shared and its impact lessened. Patriot urges all Malaysians to think globally and stay united, and together we shall weather the storm ahead,” he said.

[Source : MALAY MAIL]

Merry Christmas, PAS, as if you have not made a fool of yourself long enough.

Two days ago, PAS Youth Chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi warned Muslims not to celebrate Christmas as it has an element of “syirik” (idolatry) which is against Islamic teachings. Not only Muslims must not celebrate Christmas, they must also not post Christmas greetings on Facebook as it would be an acknowledgement of the Christian religion.

Mr Khalil, the son of Hadi Awang, the president of the PAS Islamist party, is precisely the type of ignorant and dumb Muslim who has done more harm than good to Islam, when the religion is supposed to be a religion of peace. With Muslim like Muhammad Khalil, can you blame the non-Muslims for linking the religion to terrorism, hatred, weakness, fear and whatnot.

As the world’s fastest growing religion, why was he so fearful of Christmas when Islam will be the largest religion in the world by 2070? Was he admitting that Islam is huge only in quantity but not in quality? Or does Muhammad Khalil, son of Hadi Awang belong to a special group of Muslims who are not only weak, but also fake, hence the tremendous fear of even posting greetings on social media?

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and wife Siti Hasmah have no problem whatsoever of wishing all Malaysians a joyous and blissful Christmas. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan has also wished Malaysians a Merry Christmas, and even thanked her nun teachers during a Christmas hi-tea reception for inculcating good values that shaped her into being a better person.

The biggest wish came from the Queen of Sultanate of Johor, Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah, who reminded Malaysians that everyone has a right to celebrate their own festive holidays. She said – “Instead of seeing shadowswhen there are none, I feel – as do my husband and our family – that everyone has a right to celebrate their festive holidays.”

The 59-year-old Queen shared her experience as a teenage student where she celebrated Christmas along with her Christian schoolmates in Britain, while not neglecting her faith as a Muslim. She said – “Have I forgotten about Allah and being a Muslim because I am in London during the days before Christmas? The answer is a simple ‘no’.”

The Raja Zarith Sofiah message was obviously a slap in the face of a racist, extremist and more importantly, a weak Muslim like Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi. Does the son of Hadi Awang dare to proclaim he’s more Muslim and Islamic than the 93-year-old PM Mahathir, Wan Azizah and the Sultanate of Johor combined?

It’s either Muhammad Khalil the son of Abdul Hadi Awang or the Sultanate of Johor was right on the issue of Christmas greetings and the festival celebration. Both can’t be either right or wrong at the same time. If Khalil believes he was right, then the holy boy should lecture the monarch to prevent the royalty from the deviation of the teaching of Islam, no?

However, the funny thing about Hadi son’s narrow-minded view of Christmas was that not everyone within the PAS agrees with him. PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan sent out his Christmas festive greetings to everyone, as did the Federal Territories Mufti, Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, who said – “Muslims can wish Christians Merry Christmas, as long as their religion is not glorified.”

It appears Khalil was quite alone in his stupid self-indulgence on Christmas greetings. Jordan’s King Abdullah II invited Catholic and other leaders celebrate Christmas in the spirit of fraternity and harmony the holiday symbolizes. Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joined the Dec. 18 gathering in downtown Amman, together with Catholic and other Christian clergy.

Heck, the King Abdullah II even enjoyed lively carols, performed by the Jordanian Catholic Fountain of Love choir, and sacred holiday songs – including “Ave Maria.” Has the Jordanian king suddenly transformed to become a Christian? Did Khalil the son of Hadi realise that under the 1994 peace treaty with Israel, Jordan is recognized as the custodian of Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim holy places?

Jordan was not alone in promoting a moderate teaching of Islam. A video made by the Egyptian Fatwa Institute and uploaded to YouTube earlier this month “encourages” Muslims to extend the Christmas holiday greetings to Christians and to maintain friendly relations with those around them, regardless of their religion.

The video warns viewers not to “fall prey to the extremists and the fanatics, who take from the religion only that which suits their whims. Whenever someone disputes with their narrow ways, they take the easiest path and accuse him of heresy.” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent out holiday greetings to various world leaders, calling Jesus “the prophet of peace and friendship”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also extended his Christmas greetings – “I wish that the Christmas, celebrated by our Christian citizens from different denominations, traditions and churches in line with their beliefs, will lead to the strengthening of the climate of solidarity in our country. I wish our Christian citizens and the whole Christian world a merry Christmas.”

So, who is a small fry, gullible and ignorant Muslim like Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi to warn Muslims not to celebrate Christmas? Can he prove that the God has gotten angry over the un-Islamic actions of Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan – extending Christmas greetings?

Perhaps the son of Hadi Awang should ask his father why they had missed the golden opportunity to become part of the new federal government. After 61 years in power, the previous corrupt and evil Barisan Nasional stunningly lost power to the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Unfortunately, the PAS Islamist party wasn’t part of the Pakatan coalition, when they should have been.

It was as if the God had played a terrible joke on the so-called holiest political party. PAS, previously under spiritual leader Nik Aziz, was part of now-defunct opposition Pakatan Rakyat.However, under Hadi leadership, the party had allegedly preferred a RM90 million bribe offered by crooked Najib Razak instead of fighting corruption. So, Hadi pulled out of the opposition coalition.

Ironically, the God had chosen to punish the Barisan regime at a time when the PAS was aligned and supported the corrupt ex-premier Najib. Perhaps racist, extremist and fanatic Muslims like Muhammad Khalil and Hadi Awang was the reason why God has punished PAS. Otherwise, how do you explain an Islamist party missed the chance after decades of struggle?

– Finance twitter

Najib bungled up big time on Al Jazeera interview

This is the first time I have heard of any world leader who threatened to walk out of a live interview when faced with hard probing questions.  Dr Mahathir was interviewed many times over many international news channels including the no holds barred programme, BBC Hardtalk, but you don't see him standing up and threatened to walk unless the interviewer switched to another subject matter.  The difference is Dr Mahathir always knew what he was talking about, Najib doesn't.  In order words, he was blur.

This is what Lim Hwa Beng has to say :

My belief

He is cornered. Checkmate!!

No verification of source of money when received

He said he did not verify, when the money was received, that it came from the Saudi King. He just assumed it was from him. Leaving aside the fact that it is totally unbelievable that anyone can be that lackadaisical or nonchalant with RM2.6b suddenly in his account, it would seem that it is in his narrative that he didn’t have any records, at that stage, of the source of the money.

Zahid’s meeting with ‘donors’ or their agent

It would seem that, later, Zahid met the donors but of course Zahid has now changed his story to say that he had met merely the agent of the donors. It would be interesting to know who the ‘agent’ he had met and his relationship with the King or the Prince, if any. It is doubtful that Zahid was telling the truth. We all know he is a liar like Najib.

Receipts etc which seemed fake

Some receipts, bank pay-in slips etc were divulged by Najib much later and those, as we have discussed many months ago, appeared to be obvious fakes. No doubt the prosecution will have that verified by the King and Prince and the bankers and if unverified, the forgery experts will
be engaged to perform the last rites.

Donation returned

Najib has repeatedly said he had returned a big chunk of the money to the donors. What did the King and Prince have to say to that? I am sure their Minister has told the truth of the ‘refund’ to Dr. M and/or Saifuddin and they are just keeping mum about it to let Najib guess whether they knew and in the meanwhile to make him run about telling falsehood after falsehood which will finally corner him and blow up in his face.

Najib should have just kept quiet

Najib should have just keep quiet and see what the prosecution has in their pockets as evidence before concocting or adjusting his story and his evidence to fit into those evidence which he cannot possibly dispute. He has to stop exhibiting and throwing his punches in the air without a clear view and sizing up of his opponent, his size, his height, his kungfu, his weapons, his macais etc.

My conclusion

Najib has lost in the chess game with Dr. M. Shafie has lost to TT.

Najib is a goner. Checkmate!! Shafie is a goner too and going to the slammer to sleep with Najib.

Postscript

Najib need not fret that much. He will have many comrades to accompany him in jail. He will have enough companions to have his usual Wednesday Cabinet meetings away from the glare of the public.

The most dangerous bugger to Najib is undoubtably Zahid.

Zahid is facing more than 40 charges and therefore has his balls all wrapped with explosives controlled by a remote in the hand of Dr. M. He is not using Shafie and that speaks a lot about his intention of being camaraderie or gung-ho with Najib.

Well, we can’t blame Zahid if he wants to jump out of the last floating part of Najib’s sinking ship. And we can’t blame Dr. M and his cohort if they agree to have Zahid as crown witness to make sure that the last nail is driven nicely into Najib’s legal coffin.

Zahid was just a tool and clown for Najib and he was just following orders. Zahid was not one of the main culprits in the 1MDB scandal. He was corrupt, yes, but nowhere near Najib.

Zahid must be the most dangerous bugger to Najib. If Zahid can successfully plea bargain and save his arse, many others will follow suit and Najib will surely die.

Again, we need a popcorn maker each. It’s more economical that way because we will need a lot of popcorns to watch what will be unfolding

The morning after, hypothetically that is.

Just thinking aloud. On the morning after GE14, the results declared that BN only achieved a 30% popular votes but yet proceeded to form the government. I dread to think how the rakyat will receive such a news. With 30%, or even 40% of the popular votes obtained by BN, can they still say they are the "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" when the majority of the people don't want them?

Come on, Arul, I say, 'Let's sue'.

ARUL, WHY SETTLE DEBTS WHEN 1MDB CLAIMED NOTHING WAS MISSING OR NAJIB DENIED ANY WRONGDOINGS AS OPPOSED TO WHAT SR, WSJ, THE US DOJ, THE SWISS AG AND SEVERAL OTHER NEWS PORTALS AND COUNTRIES CONFIRMING THAT US$4.5 BILLION WENT MISSING, PRESUMABLY STOLEN BY NAJIB AND HIS COHORTS??? THE ONLY REASON WHY NAJIB HAS NOT SUED ANY OF HIS CRITICS IS BECAUSE HE IS GUILTY OF THEFT, BRIBERY AND MONEY LAUNDERING ON A GRAND SCALE!!! AS FOR YOU, YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PROFESSIONAL LIAR AND A MASTER OF FACT-TWISTING!!!!

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"JOHOR BARU: Only lawyers will gain from lawsuits if 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) took legal action against those making baseless allegations about the company, says its chief executive officer Arul Kanda (pic).

He said that proving 1MDB can resolve its debts was of more importance than suing individuals.

"We have sued some individuals for defamation but these Opposition members, who always say 'sue me' will end up using whatever means possible to drag the hearings.

"If we sue everyone, who wins? Only the lawyers will end up richer.

"So for me, what is most important is to prove that we can solve our own problems," he said in replying to a question by a member of the public at a 1MDB discussion session here on Monday (March 19).

Arul said that despite all the claims by the Opposition, the company has been operating as usual.

"Whatever the allegations, 1MDB is still paying off debts and continues its development projects such as the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and Bandar Malaysia.

"These developments serve as good evidence to quash the Opposition's tricks in defaming the Government," he added.

He said the TRX project has successfully attracted investments from major companies.

Arul also said the 1MDB assets, largely in the property sector, currently stood at RM43bil, much higher than its total debt of RM31bil.

"It should be understood that the value of the assets will continue increasing from time to time in view of the majority of it being in the property sector.

"The company assets for now is more than enough to pay off the company's debt," he added.

Arul, however, did not deny that the 1MDB management earlier lacked experience and was a contributing factor to its problems.

[Source: TheStar]

Chance meeting ....... hmmmm

A chance meeting between Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong and former MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has ignited speculation for one Chinese newspaper.

According to Oriental Daily today, which published a photograph depicting the duo at the meet, had insinuated that there were “secret discussions”.

“These are two influential politicians on opposing sides. What were they secretly discussing?” read the report.

Although the photograph was supposed to have been taken on March 9, the Oriental Daily report was published one day after Liew’s candidacy for Ayer Hitam was announced.

The incumbent Ayer Hitam MP is MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong. It is widely known that Chua and Wee have been on and off rivals in MCA since 2008.

They are both influential MCA leaders in Johor.

When contacted, an irate Chua stressed that it was a chance meeting in Kluang and there was nothing political about it. Liew is the current Kluang MP.

“We were both attending different functions. What’s wrong with political friends exchanging pleasantries?” asked Chua.

When contacted, Liew confirmed it was a chance meeting but refused to comment further.

[Source: Malaysiakini]

Battling for the hearts and minds of the Chinese Johoreans.

A FEW days ago, DAP lawmaker Yeo Bee Yin bid a tearful farewell to her supporters in Damansara Utama when she confirmed that she would be moving from Selangor to contest in her homestate of Johor.

The Chinese vernacular media has indicated that Yeo may be fielded in the Bakri parliamentary seat which is considered a safe one for DAP.

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Yeo’s father was reported to have said that the iron tree in their Segamat home had bloomed during Chinese New Year and he saw it as a good omen because the last time it happened, Yeo was about to head off to Cambridge University.

DAP has begun shuffling its cards to move more of their heavyweights into Johor to give a boost to the party’s quest to make further inroads into the state.

There has been so much hype about Johor being Pakatan Harapan’s frontline state in the general election.

But the real battleground is in the seats where Chinese voters could determine which way the seats go.

There are some 30 such parliamentary and state seats and the stage is set for another face-off between DAP and MCA, the two parties battling for the Chinese hearts and minds in the country.

Actually, DAP has won almost all the Chinese seats in Johor. The 2013 Chinese tsunami delivered a total of 13 state seats and four parliamentary seats to the party.

But politics is about power and the party knows that to cement their place at the top of the Chinese mountain, it needs to take down state MCA strongman Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong in Ayer Hitam.

The contest shaping up between the MCA deputy president and Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong has already captured public imagination. The outcome of that contest could shape Chinese politics in Johor in the coming years.

Ayer Hitam, a nondescript town where agriculture is still the mainstay occupation, will be some sort of bellwether seat.

If it falls, then it means that the Chinese tsunami is still rolling on and MCA’s future will be cloudy in Johor and elsewhere.

But if Dr Wee manages to hold back the DAP challenge, then it could mean the start of a comeback for his party which has had a horrible time since 2008.

The political chatter in DAP is that Liew, currently Kluang MP, may also contest the Bekok state seat which is adjacent to Ayer Hitam. Bekok is a Chinese-majority state seat within the Labis parliamentary seat which MCA vice-president Datuk Chua Tee Yong won by only 353 votes.

Kulai MP and lawyer Teo Nie Ching is scheduled to contest in Yong Peng, one of the two state seats in Ayer Hitam, to provide back-up for Liew.

The party is also said to be toying with the idea of fielding Teo in Labis to take on Chua.

In other words, she will hold up the state seat in Ayer Hitam for Liew while Liew will hold up the Bekok state seat for her in Labis.

They will be the Bonnie and Clyde couple in DAP’s bid to dominate the Chinese battleground. The strategy sounds brilliant except that the mood in the small towns of Johor today is quite different from that in 2013.

There are rumblings on the Chinese ground and the feedback from Chinese press reporters is that not all Chinese voters in Johor want to change the state government.

This may result in split voting among the Chinese – state to Barisan Nasional, parliament to Pakatan. A segment of them are not convinced that Pakatan is a worthy replacement for Barisan. They are probably waiting for the candidate line-up and also who Pakatan will put up as their Mentri Besar.

They are also not impressed with the service record of some of the Pakatan lawmakers. They can now compare the service they used to get to what they are getting now.

The mood is not like before. When DAP tried to hold a kopitiam event featuring Lim Kit Siang in Chaah, a small town surrounded by thriving new villages in Labis, the coffeeshop owner agreed but told them: “No speeches.”

Some of the local folk have openly told Chua that they will support him this time.

Chua’s DAP rivals used to ridicule him, saying he has to work hard because of his narrow win. Chua is an intelligent and diligent politician and he had searched his soul to try to understand the 2013 election outcome.

“You can ask my voters, I am there for them on issues of education, welfare, temples. I am not just a festival YB. Even if you win by five votes, you have got to serve the electorate, you are still the MP,” said the Australia-trained accountant.

The first big show of force between the two sides will take place tomorrow. DAP is bringing in its top guns nationwide to celebrate the party’s 52nd anniversary in Yong Peng.

MCA will launch its Team Johor machinery in Johor Jaya, a state seat that MCA intends to take back from DAP.

The rivalry between DAP and MCA is as old as the history of electoral politics in Malaysia but it has taken on an extra-urgent tone in battleground Johor.

– ANN