Anwar - "Saya rela baik dengan Guan Eng, yang 1001 kali lebih baik daripada Sooi Lek"...

Anwar Ibrahim menyandarkan sokongannya kepada DAP untuk terus memimpin Pulau Pinang menjelang pilihan raya umum (PRU) walaupun tidak disenangi oleh penduduk Melayu tempatan, sambil berkata beliau lebih rela menjadi “alat Cina” DAP daripada bekerja dengan MCA.

Perkara tersebut dinyatakan Anwar (gambar) dalam sebuah ceramah besar semalam di negeri kepulauan tersebut selepas Barisan Nasional (BN) mendapat kembali keyakinan memenangi semula 17 kerusi dewan undangan negeri (Dun) dan peluang sama rata di lima negeri lain milik Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Umno dan BN ketika ini memiliki 11 kerusi manakala selebihnya daripada 40 kerusi Dun adalah milik PR.

“Mereka boleh kata Anwar telah jadi alat Cina. Jadi apa masalahnya?

“Lebih bagus saya baik dengan Lim, yang jauh lebih baik daripada Chua tetapi jika kamu mahu memilih Chua, silalah teruskan. Saya lebih rela memilih pemimpin Cina dalam PKR dan DAP,” kata Anwar kepada ribuan yang merujuk kepada rakannya Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng, dan musuh mereka presiden MCA, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Dr Chua dan partinya dilihat sering mengkritip DAP dengan menggunakan akhbar rasmi mereka The Star untuk menghentam setiausaha agung DAP tersebut kerana mengawal projek pembangunan dan gagal melindungi kepentingan masyarakat Cina.

DAP juga dituduh sebagai mendokong rancangan kerajaan negara Islam oleh PAS.

Walaubagaimanapun, media lain yang dikawal oleh BN menggambarkan DAP sebagai anti-Islam dan anti-Melayu dalam negeri pengeluaran dan pelancongan tersebut.

Anwar merupakan penceramah utama dalam perhimpunan semalam yang diadakan sempena Kongres Kebangsaan DAP di pulau itu.
 
Kira-kira 10 ribu orang ramai menghadiri perhimpunan tersebut yang diadakan di padang berlumpur selepas hujan lebat, ramai membawa payung dan kerusi sendiri untuk mendengar ceramah pemimpin PR tersebut.

Walaupun Nibong Tebal mempunyai majoriti bukan Melayu (55 peratus) tinggi berbanding Melayu (45 peratus), ceramah semalam dihadiri lebih ramai orang Melayu yang datang untuk mendengar dan memberikan sokongan kepada PR.


 
Beberapa hadirin yang sempat dihampiri The Malaysian Insider memberitahu mereka tidak mempercayai laporan mengatakan Lim atau DAP sebagai seorang anti-Melayu dan Islam.

Salmah Ahmad, 41 yang datang jauh dari Bukit Mertajam bersama suami dan anaknya berusia 12 tahun berkata polisi pentadbiran negeri menjaga Muslim dan orang Melayu.

“Peruntukkan terhadap sekolah agama meningkat setiap tahun dan juga pemberian bantuan sekali bagi kepada warga emas yang didaftarkan dibawah Program Penghargaan Warga Emas telah memberikan imej baik kepada DAP,” kata beliau.

“Mereka (Umno) boleh kata apa yang mereka suka tapi kami boleh berfikir dan bandingkan antara yang baik dan buruk.”

Seorang lagi pengundi, Fairuz Seman, 44 dari Seberang Perai keliru apabila Lim dilabel sebagai anti-Melayu dan Islam hanya kerana berasal daripada kaum Cina.

“Bekas ketua menteri dahulu pun Cina, tapi dia tidak pula dituduh sebagai anti itu dan ini,” kata beliau.

“Selagi pentadbiran negeri baik dan menjalankan kerja tanpa masalah, ia bukan bermakna mereka sebagai anti-Melayu dan anti-Muslim,” kata beliau.

Ahmad Fitri, 31 bersetuju Lim sudah melakukan banyak perkara untuk membantu Melayu dan Muslim tempatan menerusi peruntukkan yang disalurkan.

“Orang Melayu Pulau Pinang memilih pemimpin yang bersih dan pentadbiran yang baik bukannya berdasarkan agama dan bangsa,” jelas beliau.

Perhimpunan tersebut yang bermula sejak jam 5 petang untuk lewat tengah malam itu menyaksikan pemimpin PR bergilir-gilir menyampaikan ceramah.

Terdapat juga pemimpin bukan kerajaan seperti Bersih dan anti-Lynas yang hadir untuk menyampaikan bantahan mereka semasa perhimpunan semalam itu.-malaysian insider

Anwar touts DAP for Penang ahead of polls...

Anwar Ibrahim pitched for a continued DAP leadership of Penang ahead of the next election despite uneasiness among the state’s Malays, declaring last night he rather be DAP’s “Chinese tool” rather than work with the MCA.

His appeal for support from the state’s Malays at a mass rally on the mainland comes on the back of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) renewed confidence of winning 17 state seats and having an equal chance in five other seats in the 40-seat assembly. BN’s Umno now holds 11 seats while the rest are held by Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

“They say Anwar has become a Chinese tool. What is the problem?

“It is better that I am good with Lim, far better than I go with Chua, but if you all want to choose him, go ahead. I would rather choose the Chinese leaders in PKR and DAP,” Anwar told the crowd, referring to his ally Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Dr Chua and his party have been critical of DAP, using his party’s The Star newspaper to slam the DAP secretary-general for bulldozing development projects and failing to protect Chinese interests by pandering to PAS’s Islamic state plans.

But other BN-controlled media are also painting DAP as anti-Islam and anti-Malay in the key manufacturing-and-tourism state.

 

Anwar was the key speaker in the rally held to coincide with the DAP annual convention held on the island.

Some 10,000 attendees braved post-rain sludge and stood on boggy ground, carrying umbrellas, snacks and even foldable stools, to listen to PR leaders.

Despite Nibong Tebal having a more non-Malays (55 per cent) than Malays (45 per cent) in its electorate, the muddy field was filled with more from the latter group who came to listen and show support for PR.

Some told The Malaysian Insider that they disbelieved reports that Lim or DAP was anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

 

Salmah Ahmad, who travelled all the way from Bukit Mertajam with her husband and 12-year-old son to attend the rally, said that Lim’s state policies took care of the Muslims and Malays.

“He has allocations for religious schools that are increased each year and also the one-off aid for heirs of senior citizens, registered under the Senior Citizen Appreciation Programme, and these are good for DAP’s image,” she said.

“They can say what they want but we can think and differentiate between good and bad,” she added.

Another voter, Fairuz Seman, 44, from Seberang Perai, was puzzled that Lim had been labelled anti-Malay and anti-Islam because of his Chinese ancestry.

“Our former chief minister is also Chinese but he was not accused of anti-this or that,” he said.

“As long as the administration is good and they do their work without problems, that does not mean it is anti-Malay or anti-Muslim,” he said.

Ahmad Fitri, 31, agreed that Lim had done a lot to help the Malays and Muslims in the state through the state’s allocations.

“The Penang Malays judge a leader through his clean and good governance and not based on race or religion,” he said.

The rally from 5pm until midnight saw notable PR leaders take to the stage. There was also a slot for non-governmental organisations such as electoral reforms advocate Bersih and anti-Lynas groups to voice their cause.- malaysian insider

 

 Ribuan rakyat sertai HKR peringkat negeri Pulau Pinang...

Sekalipun padang becak kerana hujan petang tadi, namun tidak menghalang lebih 15,000 orang menghadiri Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat peringkat negeri Pulau Pinang di Padang Awan Jawi, malam ini.

Hujan yang turun renyai-renyai kira-kira jam 5.40 petang, yang kemudiannya lebat selama 15 minit pada jam 6.00 petang menyebabkan padang menjadi becak dan sebahagiannya ditakungi air.



Begitupun, selepas solat Isyak, orang ramai yang terdiri daripada pelbagai kaum mula berpusu-pusu ke padang tersebut untuk mengikuti pidato yang disampaikan pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat termasuk Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng dan Mohamad Sabu

Para hadirin berdiri mengikuti ucapan pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat kerana padang becak.

PAS Pulau Pinang terus mengulangi tekad untuk menambah bilangan kerusi dalam Dewan Undangan Negeri pada Pilihan raya Umum ke-13 nanti. Pesuruhjayanya, Datuk Saleh Man berkata, buat masa ini PAS hanya mempunyai satu kerusi sahaja iaitu Permatang Pasir.

Menurutnya, dengan semangat dan sokongan yang ditunjukkan oleh rakyat negeri ini, bukan sahaja PAS dapat menambah kerusi bahkan kerajaan negeri dapat dipertahankan.

“Kita lihat semangat rakyat dalam program seperti ini, tak dapat tidak kita dapat sokongan rakyat dan keyakinan rakyat untuk kita tumbangkan BN dalam pilihan raya umum nanti,” ujarnya ketika berucap pada Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat peringkat negeri Pulau Pinang di Padang Awam Jawi, malam ini.


 
Sementara itu, Ketua Menteri, Lim Guan Eng yang berucap selepas itu menegaskan bahawa kerajaan negeri tidak mengamalkan dasar ‘I help you, you help me’.

Katanya, kerajaan yang bertindak sedemikian ialah kerajaan samseng.

Beliau berkata, kerajaan negeri terus melaksanakan dasar untuk menunaikan tanggungjawab kepada rakyat sama ada mereka menyokong atau sebaliknya.- harakahdaily

Mahathir, Rosmah and her biography...

When Rosmah refused to help the Penan girls who were being raped by timber loggers, did it anger Mahathir or was he uninterested with the Penan people’s issues?

It’s apt that Malaysia is dubbed ‘Bolehland’ for it is here that all things wrong can happen and the ‘perpetrator’ walks away free.

For 22 years, the country was dictated to by prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And nine years after his ‘retirement’, he is still dictating.

Perhaps the fault lies with the media for their unrelented moves to put Mahathir under the spotlight, allowing him to speak gibberish, most of the time.

One such recent incident was when Mahathir said that the soon-to-be-released biography of premier Najib Tun Razak’s wife Rosmah Mansor was a good move for it gave Rosmah the platform to rebut accusations that constantly come her way.

Not just that, Mahathir said Rosmah had the right to correct the negative perception about her made by irresponsible quarters.

A wonder how Mahathir has out of the blue turned out to be an admirer of Rosmah, a woman whom the rakyat have little affection for owing to her cold and flamboyant personality.

Just what ‘accusations’ have tarnished Rosmah’s image? 

Was it the controversy that she continues to bedeck herself with the most expensive jewellery money can buy, never mind that it is RM73 million for a diamond ring or that she is a spendthrift, having squandered away RM24 million during the inaugural First Ladies Summit that was held in Kuala Lumpur two years ago or that she used up the nation’s funds to sponsor Hollywood’s Robert de Niro’s stay in Malaysia in 2010?

There is more, the latest being the ‘clear my conscience’ claim by a carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan who claimed he shared a sibling-like relationship with Rosmah and that he was responsible for getting private investigator P Balasubramaniam to retract his first statutory declaration (SD) concerning murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Balasubramaniam’s first SD had linked Najib to the murder while the second one reversed it.

The scandals involving Rosmah are far too many and to hide or deny this fact is not helping Mahathir live up to his ‘statesman’ image.

 

Do not embarrass the nation

These days whenever he shares his thoughts, Mahathir comes out embarrassing the country and her people. His out-of-touch with reality remarks makes one wonder why he even bothers to comment.

Maybe being ‘sought after’ has become a way of life for him, hence the obsession to be quoted by the press.

But his words of ‘wisdom’ on the Rosmah-biography should be his last effort at speaking his mind for it only makes the rakyat repel leaders who never seem to get their acts in order and continue to play politics even in their twilight years.

When Rosmah refused to help the Penan girls and a wife who were being raped by timber loggers, did it anger Mahathir or was he uninterested with the Penan people’s issues?

 
When Rosmah defended the National Service programme all because it was conceived by husband Najib, never mind that the programme was doing more harm than good to the trainees, did it rankle Mahathir?

When this self-proclaimed ‘first lady’ blamed the homosexuals for spreading the HIV virus that causes AIDS, did her ignorance trouble Mahathir as it did the Cambodian Center for Human Rights?

The problem is that in Malaysia the so-called leaders are busy politicking and amassing unimaginable wealth, all at the expense of the rakyat.

And wanting to stay in the good books of top leaders has become the politicians’ agenda, instead of their mission of looking after the people of this country.

And for obvious reason, Mahathir is no different.

Did Rosmah ‘commission’ her biography?

After the 2010 incident where the Malaysian government forked out thousands of US dollars to feature Rosmah in a two-page spread in the New York Times, the now wary rakyat cannot be blamed for asking if she once again had a hand in ‘commissioning’ her biography.

Otherwise, there is little point in having a biography dedicated to Najib’s wife, who as the rakyat knows ‘wears the pants’.

There are many unsung heroes out there whose stories can inspire the people. One such personality is Rasammah Bhupalan(pic.below), a former school principal, freedom fighter and social activist.

 

Bhupalan was one of the earliest women involved in the fight for Malaysian independence and joined the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, the women’s wing of the Indian National Army to fight the British.

Bhupalan was also the founder president of the Women Teacher’s Union and fought for equal pay for women teachers and was the first Asian representative of the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession.

Are Bhupalan’s struggles and achievements not deserving of mention in our school history books?

Likewise, chronicles concerning the late Punch Gunalan, the badminton ace who made the country proud during his heydays and squash queen Nicole David too are worthy as subjects of discussion.

At the end of the day, it is not about who the person is but what she or he has done that warrants a place in history.

In Rosmah’s case, there is hardly anything she has done for the nation that makes her a deserving candidate for a biography apart from the fact that she is prime minister Najib’s wife.

In spite of her scandals, if Rosmah’s 164-page biography excites you, it will be launched and made available next month at RM150. - Jeswan Kaur,FMT.

 

 

cheers.