Terima kasih tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekelian.
Pertama sekali, izinkan saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Profesor Bridget Welsh, tuan rumah yang baik budi, serta Pusat Pembangunan Penyelidikan dan Maklumat Strategik [Strategic Information and Research Development Centre] kerana sudi mengundang saya untuk melancarkan buku mereka, The End of Umno? Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party.
Saya yakin ia perlu dibaca memandangkan penyumbang rencana yang terkandung di dalamnya merupakan empat tokoh akademik terkenal dengan analisis dan komentar sosio-politik. Saya pasti ia harus dibaca oleh sesiapa yang berminat terhadap hal ehwal politik semasa dan juga perkembangan Umno dari zaman Datuk Onn Jaafar hinggalah ke hari ini.
Acara pada pagi ini memberi peluang untuk saya menjawab soalan mengenai kedudukan saya sebagai ahli Umno. Saya ini sememangnya ahli politik Umno . Pengkritik akan mengalih perhatian umum ke arah Semangat 46. Mereka akan sengaja lupa untuk memberitahu bahawa pengikut dan rakan saya dari Umno tidak keluar dari Umno.
Sebenarnya kami disekat daripada kembali bersatu dengan rakan-rakan lain selepas Umno didapati menyalahi undang-undang pada 1987. Di antara yang terbabit ialah pemimpin seperti Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra dan Tun Hussein Onn.
Umno Baru ditubuh selepas Umno diisytihar menyalahi undang-undang pada 1987. Tetapi Umno Baru bukannya Umno . Budayanya berbeza daripada semangat perjuangan Umno 1946. Umno seharusnya prihatin terhadap apa yang berlaku kepada LDP di Jepun dan Parti Congress di India demi mengelakkan apa yang berlaku terhadap kedua-dua gergasi politik Asia ini.
Untuk itu, Umno hendaklah sentiasa relevan. Umno hendaklah bertindak seperti negara yang mengamali demokrasi dengan cara sebenarnya. Pada hemat saya, sebagai proses pemerintahan, politik tidak kotor ataupun bersih. Tetapi pengamalnya lain sedikit, kerana terdapat berbagai jenis di kalangan mereka.
Seperti juga kumpulan lain, ada pengamal politik yang korup dan tidak beretika. Sekiranya kita hendak menuding jari ke arah yang kotor, maka kita hendaklah tujukannya kepada pengamal politik dan tidak sebaliknya. Ini tidak bermakna bahawa tidak terdapat pemimpin dan pengamal politik bersih yang amanah lagi jujur.
Ahli sesebuah parti hendaklah berhati-hati terhadap pemimpin politik mereka. Dalam hal ini, saya ingin menarik perhatian mereka kepada pepatah yang menyatakan bahawa ikan mulai busuk dari kepala dalam memperihalkan pemimpin dan kepimpinan. Lazimnya keadaan beginilah mencetus akan amalan pilih kasih yang melibatkan saudara mara dan konco-konco, ataupun apa yang sering disebut sebagai amalan nepotisma dan kronisma.- Ku Li. Baca renana penuh seterusnya...
Ku Li: Umno must reinvent itself to remain relevant
Ku Li vows to vote against Hadi's bill and warns against secession fever in
Sarawak,Sabah and Johore...
Kelantan prince and Umno MP Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah expressed shock today after learning of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) plans to table amendments to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act similarly to PAS..
The Gua Musang MP also confirmed that Umno and the rest of the ruling coalition had never discussed such a move before, much less reach a consensus to do so.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know. This is the first time I’m hearing it,” he told the media after launching a book on Umno here.
“Maybe? I didn’t know,” he added when told that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said on Thursday the government is working on its own revisions.
“NO,” he replied again when asked if the matter was ever discussed among his party before.
‘NO’ To Any Unconstitutional Bill
According to Malaysiakini, veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said today he will vote against any bill in Parliament that contains provisions that go against the Federal Constitution.
This stand, Tengku Razaleigh said, is in line with the oath he had taken as a parliamentarian to protect and uphold the provisions of the Federal Constitution.
“If brought to Parliament, if it is consonent with provisions and the various articles of the constitution, I will support it.
“But if it is against any part of the constitution or not in line with the constitution, I will vote against it,” the Gua Musang MP said during the launch of a book of essays on Umno at the Royal Lake Club in Kuala Lumpur.
He said this in response to a question from the floor on how he would vote on PAS’ president Abdul Hadi Awang’s controversial ‘Hudud Bill’ to strengthen the enforcement of syariah laws.
When met later, Tengku Razaleigh said he is not aware of any plan by the BN to amend Act 355 or the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t know. This is the first time I’m hearing it,” he said.
“I don’t know,” he added when told that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic Affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom, announced last Thursday that the government is working on its own revision to the Act.
Tengku Razaleigh also denied that the matter has ever been discussed within Umno in the past.
Critics have raised concerns that Hadi’s motion could pave way for the implementation of hudud, the Islamic penal system.
The motion is number five on the Order Paper, but is not likely to be heard as debates starting this week would focus on Budget 2017, which was tabled last Friday.
Meanwhile,amid calls for some states to secede, Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah issued a warning today that any move away from federalism would be impossible to reverse.
The Gua Musang MP from federal ruling party Umno however admitted that “regionalism” and “regional loyalty” that are being bandied about has crept in because the federal government has lost respect.
“It would seem that regionalism has crept in because of eroding respect for central government due to the lack or loss of legitimacy,” the politician better known as Ku Li said while launching a book titled The End of Umno? Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party.
“Those clamouring for it does not take into account the role of Constitution in binding us together.
“We must not forget this. If we do, we would not be able to put Humpty Dumpty together again,” he added.
Secession Fever in Sarawak,Sabah,Johore
Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Ibrahim had on several occasions suggested that his state was entitled to leave Malaysia if it was unhappy with the federal government, most recently in June.
The Johor royal family has also turned the “Bangsa Johor” catchphrase into an unofficial motto it said is aimed to rally its people regardless of their race or religions.
There have also been citizens’ groups in Sabah and Sarawak who have been pressuring their state governments to secede from the Malaysian federation to regain autonomous rights.
Calling for the secession from the Malaysian federation is considered seditious.
Wrong to blacklist companies supporting Bersih
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today rejected the call to blacklist companies that sponsored the Bersih 2.0 movement, saying that it was not the right thing to do.
Tengku Razaleigh who is the longest serving MP in the country said that there was nothing wrong for companies to give donation to Bersih 2.0 which is fighting to have clean and fair elections in the country.
“Anybody can donate to any cause so long as it does not break any law or the constitution,” said Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li. He was asked to comment on the call made by Utusan Malaysia columnist Awang Selamat, published in the Malay daily yesterday.
The call was also backed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan who said that he would direct the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Public-Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) to conduct background checks on companies that seek government contracts for their financial support for Bersih.
Tengku Razaleigh also shot down Special Affairs Department (Jasa) representative Faisal Ismail Aziz’s message to the civil servants to leave their position if they do not support the ruling coalition.
“There is no such thing. They have the right to exercise their freedom. It’s democracy and I am not defending Bersih or anybody. I just talk about the law.
“If Bersih can hold rally under the present law, I don’t think there is anything to fear for people to be present (during the rally).”
The Gua Musang MP also reminded Umno not to be lackadaisical and arrogant, highlighting the defeats of the ruling parties in India and Japan.
“This is an advice to the ruling party to be aware,” he said. -mk/mm
PAS to DAP - We Dont Care
We Will Contest Wherever You Contest...
We Will Contest Wherever You Contest...
PAS has dismissed the possibility of joining a greater Opposition pact that includes its former Pakatan Harapan partners.
Hashim Jasin , the party’s newly-appointed spiritual leader, said it would have no qualms facing DAP in three-cornered fights.
“If there is a three-way fight, so be it. We do not care. We will contest where DAP is contesting,” he said in a recent interview with the party’s news organ Harakahdaily.
PAS had effectively cut all ties with DAP, and blamed it for initiating the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat.
Hashim, who replaced the late Datuk Dr Haron Din as the party’s spiritual leader, also said that PAS was not afraid of losing to DAP.
“Lose? Losing is normal for us. But we want to portray the image of being their rivals. They thought they are the ones who helped us win, but they must realise that PAS too worked to help DAP win,” he said.
Hashim also blamed DAP for initiating the Pakatan split, claiming that the party did not want to work with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
“The one who decided to break up is DAP, because they did not want to work with Hadi.
“This is firm action on our part, we too will not work with DAP,” he stressed.
Because of this, he added, PAS was no longer bound by any agreement with its former allies.
“We needed to follow agreements within Pakatan Rakyat. But now that we are out, we are not restrained anymore,” he added. - mc
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