29 April 2014

Susan Rice bertemu Pakatan Rakyat...

TPPA, kehakiman topik pertemuan Pakatan-Rice...

Pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat meminta Amerika Syarikat yang merupakan "juara demokrasi" dunia agar menegur amalan demokrasi di Malaysia, yang disifatkan sebagai tempang dan tidak mematuhi sistem demokrasi itu sendiri. 

Antara yang paling ketara adalah kerajaan BN yang memerintah Persekutuan tidak mematuhi sistem Persekutuan atau 'federalism' di Malaysia apabila hak negeri yang bukan di bawah kuasa parti pemerintah di peringkat negeri diketepikan, kata Datuk Mustafa Ali.

"Misalnya, kerajaan pusat menafikan hak negeri untuk mendapatkan royalti minyak di Kelantan," kata Setiausaha Agung PAS itu kepada Susan Rice, Penasihat Keselamatan Amerika Syarikat dan tiga lagi pegawai Amerika dalam pertemuan 45-minit dengan pemimpin PR itu.



Turut serta dalam pertemuan di sebuah hotel terkemuka di Kuala Lumpur pagi ini adalah Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan Setiausaha Agung DAP Lim Guan Eng.

Dalam pertemuan itu, Anwar menjelaskan pendirian Pakatan Rakyat tentang mengapa mereka tidak bersetuju dengan TPPA secara keseluruhannya ketika disoal oleh Rice.

Anwar turut menyentuh soal integriti kehakiman di negara, namun tidak menyentuh secara spesifik terhadap kes beliau sendiri, kata Mustafa kepada The Malaysian Insider.




Lim pula menekankan isu kegagalan sistem di Malaysia yang tidak memberikan kemenangan kepada PR, walaupun mendapat 52% undi popular dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13) lalu.

Pertemuan ini diadakan sempena lawatan Presiden Amerika Barack Obama ke negara ini.

"Saya turut menekankan kegagalan Malaysia dalam memberikan kebebasan media di negara ini, di mana semua media arus perdana dikawal oleh kerajaan," kata Mustafa.- harakahdaily

The White House Official Statement

Anwar, Guan Eng, Mustafa meet US advisor Susan Rice as Obama sends best wishes to Pakatan Rakyat

Perjanjian TPPA membolehkan warganegara asing bebas memiliki hartanah termasuk rumah...

Warganegara asing di negara ini bebas memiliki hartanah termasuk hartanah kediaman di negara ini apabila Kerajaan Malaysia bersetuju menandatangani Perjanjian Perkongsian Trans Pasifik (TPPA) nanti.Mantan Pengarah Bank Negara, Dr Rosli Yaakob berkata, ini berlaku apabila perjanjian itu tidak membenarkan sebarang sekatan kepada warga dan pelabur asing di negara ini untuk memiliki hartanah dengan menikmati keistimewaan yang sama dinikmati warga tempatan.

“Kedatangan Barrack Obama adalah untuk memastikan Malaysia tandatangani TPPA ini."




Di bawah TPPA rakyat Amerika, Jepun dan negara lain bebas membuat perniagaan dan membeli apa-apa sahaja di dalam negara itu.“Tentunya salah satu yang jadi tumpuan mereka adalah melabur dalam pemilikan hartanah termasuk perumahan.“ Ini akan menolak harga ke atas.

Harga hartanah jadi lebih tinggi, rakyat sendiri kena bersaing dengan pelabur asing yang mempunyai kewangan yang lebih baik untuk memiliki hartanan di negara sendiri,” kata Dr Rosli ketika dihubungi Selangorkini ini di sini hari ini.


Beritahu beliau lagi, kouta dan keistimewaan potongan tujuh peratus yang dinikmati kaum Bumiputra dalam pembelian hartanah pada masa ini juga bakal terhakis sekiranya TPPA dilaksanakan selaras dengan dasar Layanan Adil dan Sama Rata (FET).Mengulas kedatangan Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barrack Obama, Dr Rosli berkata lawatannya itu bagi memastikan Kerajaan Malaysia bersetuju menandatangani perjanjian TPPA.

“Rakyat kena sampaikan mesej kepada kerajaan, kita tolak kerana TPPA boleh gadaikan kedaulatan negara.“Jangan biarkan negara dijadikan alat politik dalam agenda Amerika untuk mengekang kemaraan ekonomi negara China di persada dunia,” kata Dr Rosli lagi.

Katanya lagi, langkah kerajaan menandatangani TPPA hanya menunjukkan pentadbiran Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak merupakan sebuah pentadbiran yang lemah dan boleh digertak sehingga terpaksa tunduk dengan kehendak negara kuasa ekonomi dunia itu.- selangorkini


We told Obama what Najib didn't...

Members of the civil society presented Malaysia in its rawest form to US President Barack Obama during their nearly hour-long meeting with him yesterday.

Human rights group Hakam exco member Ambiga Sreenevasen, who was among those present, shared with Malaysiakini what was discussed during the historic session.

"Some of the issues (raised) were the divisive politics, religious and racial extremism, discrimination, authoritarianism of the government by way of repressive legislation, free and fair elections and the rule of  law...," Ambiga said.

Also highlighted were the charges against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and the persecution of the opposition by way of sedition charges and charges under the Peaceful Assembly Act.

Obama, she said, was also briefed on how Malaysian authorities stifled the media.

"We made it clear that Malaysia was neither a  moderate Muslim nation nor was it a democracy in the true sense of the word," the former Bar Council president added.

Ambiga's views were similarly shared by Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abddullah, who said  Malaysia was neither a democratic nor a moderate country, and that old laws were used against the opposition, as highlighted by Bar Council president Christopher Leong, who were among those who met with Obama.

Earlier today, PKR vice-president N Surendran also pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had mislead the public by saying that the Sodomy II case against Anwar was private action when it was the attorney-general who initiated the charge.

Obama meets, Najib did not 


Ambiga said Obama had put the civil society leaders at ease and that the meeting very informal, throughout.

“Obama was concerned about what we raised and agreed with us on the importance of upholding the rule of law and human rights. Interestingly, he had apparently earlier said, at the town hall meeting (at Universiti Malaya) that Malaysia cannot prosper as a nation if there was discrimination against the non-Muslims.

“This is a significant statement by him and needed to be said. Sadly, we decry such discrimination in other countries but do not fully appreciate the effects of such conduct on the future of our nation.”

As what had been reiterated by Maria (left), Christian Federation of Malaysia general secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri and Leong, Ambiga said the US President indicated he would raise these concerns with the Malaysian government when he can.

Obama, Ambiga said, asked the NGOs to continue with their engagement on human rights issues.

She pointed out that lawyer Honey Tan, one of the proponents of the Universal Periodic Review and one of the participants, made an interesting observation, that while the Prime Minister Najib has not met with these members of civil society groups despite requests made, the US president has.

“Hence, we are very appreciative of the time the US president spent with us. More importantly, I believe that this meeting sends out a powerful message that civil society plays a significant role in the advancement of democracy the world over,” Ambiga, a recipient of the  US International Women of Courage Award in 2009, said.


'A divided nation for the next generation' 

In reference to Obama's statement at the state dinner that Malaysia should have, in the next generation, a better nation than the one given to us, Ambiga said in Malaysia's case, the next generation was not being handed over a better Malaysia.

“We are handing them a nation divided by religion and race. Ultimately we recognise this is our battle to fight. For us it was important the president knew about Malaysia as it is, and put the human rights on the agenda of cooperation with the Malaysian government.”

Ambiga said while Najib had stated the Peaceful Assembly Act for shoring his reform image, he failed to admit that this law prohibits street protests and that opposition members are facing charges on the matter.

While Najib also declared that the government had nothing to do with Anwar's sodomy trial, he failed to admit that it was the government that appealed against the High Court's acquittal of Anwar.

She also described Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's immediate response to Obama by saying that Malaysia does not discriminate as not encouraging and Ambiga wondered whether there would be a change in the Malaysian government's attitude to human rights and civil society.- mk


The Obama visit...

President Obama, came, saw and left. There must be some substantive issues discussed between him and the government- but  because it’s a discussion of a very high quality suited to the 21st century, just like the TPPA, the discussions were shrouded in secrecy.

The way Obama went about doing his visit to Malaysia appears to be an all American affair with little or minimal supervision or control from the PM’s office. He went to meet up NGOs who are critical of the BN government. This could not have been an agreed itinerary by the government. 

Obama went to visit the national mosque. He went to the University of Malaya where he engaged selected students. The American president does his thing the American way. Malaysians could only look on.

The president even brought his own car. The Malaysian government could not even get the car to fill gas from PETRONAS. Instead the Americans filled up from a brand familiar to Americans- Caltex. 

A phalanx of special agents and security personnel body-guarded Obama and his entourage.  Obama could not trust Malaysian security personnel who may want to allow a security breach by an unidentified entity assumed to be non-hostile.

UMNO has been silent about the visit. Usually the UMNO people and its controlled media will be jumping up and down proclaiming the visit a triumph and endorsement of what Najib is doing. 

Instead we are hearing counter attacks from UMNO leaders like Zahid. I hope Zahid understood what Obama said when the latter spoke because speaking English to Zahid is a tiring enterprise. 

The only person who have tons of bragging rights to regal whoever wants to listen to him is Khairy Jamaludin, the minister assigned to chaperon Obama. KJ’s braggadocio will not endear him to the UMNO warlords.

For the former ambassador Jamaludin Jarjis, the visit vindicated his appointment as a special ambassador on a special mission. His tour of duty as ambassador included tasks to cultivate da man Barack and to feed information to media cells and media guerrillas in USA to discredit Anwar. 

Obama came to Malaysia, Anwar is going to the lockup soon- so in that sense,  JJ has succeeded. He can now concentrate making money through PRIMA and other business endeavours. And continue to be a nuisance in parliament.

What has Obama achieved? We know the American president did not come to Malaysia to say good things about Najib. He has probably come to apply pressure to Najib to sign the TPPA.

So Dr Mahathir- who’s the America’s man for Malaysia now? Has Najib become America’s man for Malaysia? If it were Anwar, Dr Mahathir would have come into town and label him an American agent.

Democrat Obama is just another spokesman for big businesses who has come to Malaysia to say, open up or else. As consideration, we will slight Anwar by not meeting up with him; we will issue palliatives on the policies of the government and will say the politically correct Sound Bites.

There was one statement from Obama that is causing less than desirable implications. President Obama says Dato Najib has the instincts for unity and moderation. That’s a most diplomatic way of saying- hey man I think you suck. It only serves to confirm that Najib is not a rational leader who believes that the way forward is moderation and unity.

Instincts as we already know are associated with animals who don’t think but act on instincts and impulses. So what Obama is saying, Najib’s intelligence is at the same level of animals like chimpanzees and orang utans.

We are really not sure what Obama’s agenda is. It’s not all complimentary on Najib as we all saw. Patting each other is just a show of bonhomie that hides the bitter medicine which may have been communicated to Najib. Maybe it was hey yo jibby, when will yaalls sign the tppa? Hey man- you gotta jive in with the Chinamen.

Obama must have spoken about the sorry state of the rule of law, impingements on rights of the citizens, worsening race relations made by irrational UMNO and pro UMNO elements.

So Obama concedes that Najib does have the instincts  but elements within his party and outside are cancelling out what could have blossomed from instincts into rational thoughts and actions.

This is not a visit which Najib can rejoice on. It is more a visit of the college principal coming down to scold the errant student.- Dato' Mohd.Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul Aziz@sakmongkol AK47





cheers.

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