Rilek1Corner

Tag: Mahathir Mohamad

  • Malaysia Sparks Anger After Banning Book Published In Singapore About Moderate Islam

    Malaysia Sparks Anger After Banning Book Published In Singapore About Moderate Islam

    Activists and authors in Muslim-majority Malaysia reacted with outrage Tuesday (Aug 2) after authorities banned a book aimed at promoting moderate Islam, as concerns mount about growing conservatism.

    The book, Breaking The Silence: Voices Of Moderation — Islam In A Constitutional Democracy, is a collection of essays whose publication was organised by a group of prominent Muslim Malaysians pushing a more tolerant form of Islam.

    The ban, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said that printing or possessing the book was “likely to be prejudicial to public order” and “likely to alarm public opinion”.

    Anyone breaching the ban on the book — which was published in neighbouring Singapore — can be jailed for up to three years.

    Malaysia routinely bans books, movies and songs that may contain sensitive material regarding religion or sex, but critics say the government has been clamping down harder in recent times.

    The book was the brainchild of a group of high-ranking former civil servants and diplomats known as the “G25” — for the number of its founding members — which was formed to push back against intolerance, and some of the essays were written by its members.

    Mr Chandra Muzaffar, one of the authors featured in the collection, said the ban showed the government’s “authoritarian approach to Islam”.

    “It’s a collection of essays which is intended to show that extremists and bigoted thinking on matters pertaining to the practice of Islam in the country should be combated in an intellectual manner,” he told AFP.

    Ms Marina Mahathir, a rights activist and daughter of former long-serving premier Mahathir Mohamad, said the ban — signed last week — was aimed at silencing government critics.

    “It is about silencing anybody who has a different view,” she said.

    Critics say the government clampdown on anything deemed un-Islamic has accelerated in recent times as Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party seeks to appeal to its Muslim Malay base amid speculation elections could be called in the coming months.

    In July the hit song Despacito was banned on state TV and radio due to its racy lyrics after pressure from an Islamic political party.

    More than 60 per cent of Malaysia’s population of over 30 million are Muslim, but the country is also home to significant religious minorities.

     

    Source: http://www.todayonline.com/

  • Mahathir Hits Back At Dig About His Indian Roots

    Mahathir Hits Back At Dig About His Indian Roots

    Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad has been trading barbs with Prime Minister Najib Razak over the last two years over the scandal involving state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), with Datuk Seri Najib defending his record and mounting counter attacks.

    In the past week, however, the attacks against Tun Dr Mahathir have also come from Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as the government tries to weaken the standing of the 92-year-old politician among Malay voters.

    Dr Mahathir was a feared strongman during his 22 years as prime minister until 2003, but it is now open season for him as he leads the opposition alliance into the next election.

    Dr Mahathir still has some influence among older Malays, as his leadership brought economic prosperity to Malaysia and lifted many Malay families from poverty.

    Mr Najib has attacked Dr Mahathir in recent weeks by reminding the public that many scandals happened during the Mahathir era, including the foreign-exchange losses incurred by the central bank in the 1980s, which ran into billions of dollars, local media has reported.

    Mr Najib also claimed that the MRT system should have been built long ago to boost public transport, but Dr Mahathir instead threw billions of dollars away setting up a national car industry through Proton.

    Datuk Seri Zahid joined the attacks last weekend when he took a dig at Dr Mahathir’s ancestry, saying the veteran politician’s identity card (IC) showed he was Indian because his name was stated as Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty. The “a/l” refers to “anak lelaki”, or “son of”, a naming convention used by Malaysians of Indian descent. Malay men on their ICs carry “bin”, which refers to “son of”, in the patronymic style used in Malaysia.

    Mr Zahid also read out the full IC number of Dr Mahathir, which alarmed some observers as this was supposed to be confidential information.

    The former PM called Mr Zahid, who is also Home Minister, a “big liar” as there was no such IC.

    “This is good enough to show that Zahid is a big liar. A big liar because he cannot show the blue-coloured identity card,” Dr Mahathir said on Monday, in a video on the Facebook page of his party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. “I can still remember the first identity card I received. I was still in university at the time.”

    Dr Mahathir’s daughter Marina Mahathir said Iskandar was the name of her father’s grandfather.

    While not denying her Indian heritage, she said the late Iskandar had married into a prominent Malay family.

    Mr Zahid’s deputy at the Home Ministry, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, defended his boss yesterday, saying the IC is a public record and there was nothing wrong in sharing that information with the public.

    Dr Mahathir, in the same video, made his own explosive claim about Mr Zahid. The Deputy PM – not long after he was elevated to the position by Mr Najib – had asked him for support to become the next prime minister, said Dr Mahathir.

    “Zahid should remember, when he became the DPM, he came to see me to try and seek my sympathy, my support,” Dr Mahathir said in the video. “I told Zahid the truth. Even if Najib were to resign, which is impossible, Zahid must still wait for Umno to decide who should replace Najib.”

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/

  • Ismail Kassim: Grading Your Leaders

    Ismail Kassim: Grading Your Leaders

    Lately I have been thinking about the nature of political leadership.
    What is the difference, I ask myself, between good leaders and great leaders and between the former and those regarded as average, ‘’Ok, can-do or so-so’’ leaders?
    I think we can all agree that good leaders are good managers. They are relatively hard-working, efficient, and to some extent, able to deliver the promised material goods to the people.
    Great leaders, on the other hand, need not necessarily be good at managing, but they have a grand vision and the ability to inspire their people towards a common goal.
    They are leaders who are ready to sacrifice their lives for a cause they believe in. They become great only after emerging victorious after a struggle against great odds.
    History is replete with such great leaders: Mao, Nehru, Uncle Ho, Thatcher, Reagan, Mandela, Deng Xiaoping and our very own LKY. I will also put Mahathir and Putin, despite their shortcomings, in the same category.
    In short, the underlying common factor is struggle. It is only through a tough battle that a leader can stamp his authority and forge group cohesion and solidarity around him.
    There is no other way. Camaraderie cannot arise in the absence of a battle against deadly opponents and certainly not through devious means to achieve victory without fighting.
    How about good leaders who lived in stable, post-revolutionary times? Is there any hope of them becoming great?
    Of course – lots of hopes. One way is to create your own challenges through manipulating the internal or external landscape.
    Abe, I think, is on the way to greatness if his efforts to remould the Japanese mind after the traumas of WW11 succeed.
    Duterte and Modi too have a chance if they could last the distance in their valiant goal to reshape their nations.
    So good leaders can become great, but if they are not careful they can also be downgraded one rung down to the level of the ‘’so-so’’ leaders.
    Badawi is a fine example of a leader considered good initially but later downgraded. He had great dreams and goals, but he could not control the greedy warlords and also the religious misogynists in and out of his party. Under their combined onslaught, his vision evaporated into thin air.
    Cameron, after winning a second term, was on the road to greatness, but then he stumbled badly over the Brexit issue. After his defeat in the referendum and subsequent resignation, history will put him under the ‘’so-so’’ category.
    Other leaders who are currently classified as good will also meet the same fate as Cameron if they mishandle or spurn the challenges facing them.
    Actually, leaders who have to face tough but winnable challenges during their rule should consider themselves lucky. They do not have to manufacture a crisis. All they need is to brace themselves and rally their good-minded people to battle.
    But if they take the soft or easy option, shifting the goalpost and disqualifying their opponents through dubious constitutional manoeuvres, then they risk slipping from good to the ‘’so-so’’ category.
    Such ‘’so-so’’ leaders, of course, can still console themselves. At least they are one rung above the bottom group of rotten leaders; the corrupt who steal their people’s money to feed their family frenzied overseas shopping sprees and bribe or buy political support from friends and foes alike.
    There are so many of these rotten apples, near and far, that I don’t think it is necessary for me to mention any by name.
    Readers should not have any problems in identifying at least some of them. What, if in the process of dodging a fight, a good leader makes a monumental blunder, an error of judgement, with grave consequences for his people in the coming years?
    Will he just be demoted to ‘’so-so’’ or kick down two rungs to join the rotten lot? I will let history make that call.
    spurns greatness
    falls from good to rotten
    ah! what a fate
    Source: Ismail Kassim
  • Dr Mahathir Meets Anwar For First Time In Over 18 Years

    Dr Mahathir Meets Anwar For First Time In Over 18 Years

    Once bitter foes, former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad and the one-time protege he jailed, Anwar Ibrahim, exchanged a previously unthinkable handshake on Monday (Sept 5) that illustrated the country’s topsy-turvy politics.

    Dr Mahathir sparked a social media frenzy with a show of support at a court appearance by Anwar, who was jailed again last year by Malaysia’s current government following a sodomy conviction, the same charge Dr Mahathir used against him in 1998.

    “Pertemuan pertama selepas 18 tahun 2 hari..sejak 3 September 1998..,” (The first meeting after 18 years 2 days..since 3 September 1998) opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also Anwar’s wife, wrote on her Facebook page in Malay as she posted a picture of Anwar and Dr Mahathir shaking hands in a crowded courtroom.

    The brief and smiling encounter — images were shared widely online — underlined the political flux in Malaysia, where opposition to current Prime Minister Najib Razak has upended alliances. Mr Najib is facing calls to quit following irregularities in state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as well as over US$681 million (S$924 million) deposited into his personal accounts. Mr Najib maintained he had not used the funds for personal gain, and has been cleared of any criminal offence.

    Dr Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s prime minister for 22 years before retiring in 2003, has led calls for Mr Najib to be ousted and to face justice.

    Monday’s meeting capped months in which Anwar and Dr Mahathir have flirted from a distance, reviving memories of their stormy past.

    Anwar was deputy premier and heir apparent to Dr Mahathir until he was sacked in 1998 by his boss over political differences, an episode that continues to reverbrate. Charged with sodomy and corruption, Anwar spent six years in jail. But he emerged to lead the previously ineffectual political opposition to strong electoral showings until he was jailed again in 2015 by Mr Najib’s government.

    Dr Mahathir played down Monday’s meeting, saying he was merely showing support for a legal challenge launched by Anwar against a new security law. The law, passed by Mr Najib’s government last year, grants Mr Najib sweeping security powers.

    “I don’t know about friends but I know I talked to him,” Dr Mahathir said with a chuckle when reporters asked after the encounter whether the two were friendly again.

    “I met him and had a long chat with him about what he was doing.”

    Anwar said Dr Mahathir’s appearance in court showed the latter “presumably” supported the reform agenda. Anwar said he will continue to “engage” with Dr Mahathir.

    “He has showed preparedness to come and pledge his support and wish me well and I presume therefore he supports the reform agenda,” Anwar told the Malaysian media when asked if Dr Mahathir had earned his trust.

    “My position is this: No 1 the welfare of the people is paramount, the welfare of the country is paramount, which means whoever wants to engage must accept a reform agenda,” he said, without elaborating on what he meant by “reform agenda’’.

    “Now I think I have seen everything,” Mr Eric Paulsen of activist group Lawyers for Liberty said in tweeting an image of the handshake.

    It remains to be seen whether any real detente between the political heavyweights can be achieved — or dent Mr Najib. The next general election must be held by mid-2018.

    Leading independent pollster Ibrahim Suffian called the handshake “a big deal” and a sign that “Mahathir has come full circle”. “The fundamental problem for the opposition was that Mahathir and Anwar couldn’t get along,” he said. “Their shaking hands means their interests have converged.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

  • Muhyiddin Yassin Confirmed As President Of Mahathir’s New Party

    Muhyiddin Yassin Confirmed As President Of Mahathir’s New Party

    Mr Muhyiddin Yassin will be the president of the new political party backed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and will be officially registering the party with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) on Friday (Aug 5).

    “We had our first meeting last night chaired by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

    “TSMY as the president will submit the application to ROS tomorrow, Friday,” former Wanita Umno leader Anina Saadudin told Malay Mail Online when contacted, using the initials for Mr Muhyiddin.

    Ms Anina was present at the meeting on Wednesday night along with Mr Muhyiddin, Mr Mukhriz Mahathir, Gabungan Ketua Cawangan Malaysia president Kamarul Azman Habibur Rahman and student group Challenger leader Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

    Ms Anina added that the pro-tem committee members for the new party are Dr Mahathir, Mr Muhyiddin, herself, Mr Kamarulzaman, Mr Syed Saddiq and Mr Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi.

    Mr Muhyiddin also confirmed this in a Facebook posting on Thursday morning, and that a meeting on the matter was held last night.

    “I will be submitting an application to the Registrar of Societies and register this new political party in the near future.

    “Let’s us all pray that the application is approved. Insyaallah we will do the best for the rakyat and the country,” Mr Muhyiddin said.

    Dr Mahathir confirmed recently that he will be a founding member of a new political party that will ally with Pakatan Harapan to ensure straight fights against the BN ruling coalition in the coming general elections.

     

    Source: TODAY Online