Friday, February 18, 2011
Will Najib put democracy before party politics?
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is aware that we are observing the Middle East and North Africa. He knows what we are thinking. So he warned us that he would crush any copycat attempts to overthrow his administration.
Echoes of Tunisia’s uprising are reverberating across the Arab world closely followed by Egypt whose regime was the next to be toppled. The world watches with a mix of fascination and horror as repressive regimes in the regions make concessions to their people, like in Jordan. In contrast, Bahrain tries to assert even greater control.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is aware that we are observing the Middle East and North Africa. He knows what we are thinking. So he warned us that he would crush any copycat attempts to overthrow his administration.
He said, “Currently, there are demonstrations and activities to bring down the government by force in certain countries. These things need not happen here. We (the government) will not allow them to happen here.”
According to him, the critical difference between Malaysia and Egypt was that his administration looked after its people and practised its “People First” policies.
He said, “Firstly, we cannot equate what is happening in Egypt with Malaysia because things are very different in the two countries.
“The people will also understand that as long as we put the people’s interest first and understand the desires of the people, they will feel the effects and benefits by the government.”
Najib must take us for fools. Did President President Hosni Mubarak want an uprising in Egypt? Of course not; but it happened, all the same.
Copycat suicides
Perhaps Najib is too busy with important matters like FLOM or is preoccupied with Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s semen-covered undergarments. Maybe he is annoyed with the family of Teoh Beng Hock who refused to attend the flawed Royal Commission of Inquiry.
The spark for the longest-running protest in modern Tunisian history was lit when the police stopped an unemployed university graduate, from selling vegetables from his cart to support his family. He was exasperated at the injustice and immolated himself outside the governor’s office.
His desperate act sparked a wave of copycat suicides and street protests over unemployment. One graduate called it “the ritual humiliation of the people” and “a corrupt regime”. The ensuing demonstrations were violently repressed by the police.
The Egyptians were unhappy with terrible living conditions, economic stagnation, unemployment and corruption. They were also angry at political repression and election-rigging.
If Najib thinks there are no parallels between these two countries and Malaysia, then he is in denial.
The Egyptian demonstrations were galvanised by the young, who were mainly students. They communicated with the people using Twitter, Facebook and Google.
Perhaps this is why Najib and his henchmen – Information, Communications and Culture Minister as well as the Home Minister, Rais Yatim and Hishammuddin Hussein respectively – told us that they were drawing up plans to censor the Internet.
Repressive govermentes
Najib would be foolish to do that as Malaysians “socialise” using these cyber methods. Najib might well receive a shock in the next general election results.
In both Tunisia and Egypt, the revolutions did NOT start because they were instigated or motivated by an opposition party.
The uprisings happened spontaneously because the people were fed up with their repressive governments. The reasons were mainly financial. Many were protesting at the rising cost of essentials.
As it is, Najib is already using strong-arm tactics to scare the people. But we need not be surprised because we already live in a police state.
Around midnight of Feb 13, four policemen from the Dang Wangi police station went to the Jinjang home of entrepreneur, Norazimah Mohamad Noor. She was arrested for taking part in a demonstration against price hikes.
Norazimah was charged with illegal assembly, during the “price hike protest” at KLCC in January, 2008. It is also reported that 43 others have also been charged.
This is Barisan Nasional’s warning to the people that if we dare protest or speak out against them, they will hound us.
If Najib is unaware, Malaysians have legitimate concerns about their nation. How are we funding the many “mega projects” like the 100-storey Badan Warisan and the MRT project? Only recently, we are told six RM1 billion offshore patrol vehicles will be acquired.
We also know that in a few years time, the costs of these will have escalated to several times the original price, just like the king’s palace.
In Malaysia, corruption is rife but only the small cases are being solved. The illicit outflows of funds totalling US$291 billion or RM881 billion during the period 2000 to 2009, which the Global Financial Integrity report revealed, did not perturb Najib or his Cabinet.
By: Mariam Mokhtar, FreeMalaysiaToday
Echoes of Tunisia’s uprising are reverberating across the Arab world closely followed by Egypt whose regime was the next to be toppled. The world watches with a mix of fascination and horror as repressive regimes in the regions make concessions to their people, like in Jordan. In contrast, Bahrain tries to assert even greater control.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is aware that we are observing the Middle East and North Africa. He knows what we are thinking. So he warned us that he would crush any copycat attempts to overthrow his administration.
He said, “Currently, there are demonstrations and activities to bring down the government by force in certain countries. These things need not happen here. We (the government) will not allow them to happen here.”
According to him, the critical difference between Malaysia and Egypt was that his administration looked after its people and practised its “People First” policies.
He said, “Firstly, we cannot equate what is happening in Egypt with Malaysia because things are very different in the two countries.
“The people will also understand that as long as we put the people’s interest first and understand the desires of the people, they will feel the effects and benefits by the government.”
Najib must take us for fools. Did President President Hosni Mubarak want an uprising in Egypt? Of course not; but it happened, all the same.
Copycat suicides
Perhaps Najib is too busy with important matters like FLOM or is preoccupied with Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s semen-covered undergarments. Maybe he is annoyed with the family of Teoh Beng Hock who refused to attend the flawed Royal Commission of Inquiry.
The spark for the longest-running protest in modern Tunisian history was lit when the police stopped an unemployed university graduate, from selling vegetables from his cart to support his family. He was exasperated at the injustice and immolated himself outside the governor’s office.
His desperate act sparked a wave of copycat suicides and street protests over unemployment. One graduate called it “the ritual humiliation of the people” and “a corrupt regime”. The ensuing demonstrations were violently repressed by the police.
The Egyptians were unhappy with terrible living conditions, economic stagnation, unemployment and corruption. They were also angry at political repression and election-rigging.
If Najib thinks there are no parallels between these two countries and Malaysia, then he is in denial.
The Egyptian demonstrations were galvanised by the young, who were mainly students. They communicated with the people using Twitter, Facebook and Google.
Perhaps this is why Najib and his henchmen – Information, Communications and Culture Minister as well as the Home Minister, Rais Yatim and Hishammuddin Hussein respectively – told us that they were drawing up plans to censor the Internet.
Repressive govermentes
Najib would be foolish to do that as Malaysians “socialise” using these cyber methods. Najib might well receive a shock in the next general election results.
In both Tunisia and Egypt, the revolutions did NOT start because they were instigated or motivated by an opposition party.
The uprisings happened spontaneously because the people were fed up with their repressive governments. The reasons were mainly financial. Many were protesting at the rising cost of essentials.
As it is, Najib is already using strong-arm tactics to scare the people. But we need not be surprised because we already live in a police state.
Around midnight of Feb 13, four policemen from the Dang Wangi police station went to the Jinjang home of entrepreneur, Norazimah Mohamad Noor. She was arrested for taking part in a demonstration against price hikes.
Norazimah was charged with illegal assembly, during the “price hike protest” at KLCC in January, 2008. It is also reported that 43 others have also been charged.
This is Barisan Nasional’s warning to the people that if we dare protest or speak out against them, they will hound us.
If Najib is unaware, Malaysians have legitimate concerns about their nation. How are we funding the many “mega projects” like the 100-storey Badan Warisan and the MRT project? Only recently, we are told six RM1 billion offshore patrol vehicles will be acquired.
We also know that in a few years time, the costs of these will have escalated to several times the original price, just like the king’s palace.
In Malaysia, corruption is rife but only the small cases are being solved. The illicit outflows of funds totalling US$291 billion or RM881 billion during the period 2000 to 2009, which the Global Financial Integrity report revealed, did not perturb Najib or his Cabinet.
By: Mariam Mokhtar, FreeMalaysiaToday
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